Jackie's Stitches

Theme-A-Licous Update

2012-02-29T19:41:00.004-05:00

It's time for a Theme-A-Licious update! Theme-A-Licous is hosted by Heather at It's Geek to Me. February was Fangirl February. Let's revisit what Fangirl February is about:

Send a Valentine to your favorite designer...or at least work on his or her designs for the month!

Our sampler guild is having a stitch a long so I chose to work on Ann Dale by Shakespeare's Peddler. It's a BIG project and I need to keep going forward on this one.

See where I started the month here.

I also worked a bit on Long May She Wave by Ellen Chester of With My Needle (make sure you check out Ellen's new teaching project at the top of this link - it's gorgeous). This project is sweet. I'm not quick with the speciality stitches and stitching the white on the similarly colored background is a challenge for me (that means not a lot of progress). I love every stitch though! I'm especially looking forward to the completed project as I know I'll get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

See where I started the month here.

March is March Madness. That Heather is CrAzY. Look what March Madness is about:

Stitch or knit on something different every day...it's madness...of the funnest possible kind.

This is going to be a tough one for me. I generally stitch pretty faithfully on a single project. So in March, I'm going to try and stitch a little on a few projects. It might not be much but I'll try it. It's been a while since I've stitched on AotH (I put in maybe 10 stitches in it in Feb) so I'm hoping to pick that up and I'll keep working on the two from this month. Trust me, three projects is going to be a challenge! Does anyone have any good rotation tips?

Happy Monday!

2012-02-27T10:57:00.002-05:00

Today I have a little finish to share with you. This is a project from Prairie Women's Sewing Circle Club. If you've clicked the link this project is from Journey 2 and you will notice this was a 20 block project and mine is 9. I assembled this while I was at retreat last month. Each little block (4"?) took an hour to paper piece. That's if I got it right the first time - which I didn't. It took me some time to warm up as it's been a while. I chose to use all Jo Morton fabrics. Anyway, 9 seemed to be a good size. This will be a nice little quilt for a table top - I'll put it out around Memorial Day and leave it up until after the 4th of July.

The Quilting Gathering (paper pieced) from Prairie Women's Sewing Circle

Finished size 17"x17"

Fabrics: Jo Morton (various lines FROM STASH!)

I received a very unexpected surprise in the mail last week. Heather from It's Geek to Me decided to have an unannounced give away and pulled a name from her commenters. I won! If you're not a follower of Heather's blog - you should be! She is an extremely talented stitcher and knitter and quite funny. She is also the host of Theme-A-Licious which is a year of fun monthly themes geared toward stitching and knitting that can be adapted for any hobby/craft/art. The thread winders have been put into immediate use with my threads for Ann Dale. They'd otherwise be quite a mess! The chart is gorgeous and the notepad will be great for little notes to my DH. Thank you Heather - I love it all!

I hope to be back this week with a Theme-A-Licious update for February!

I Have to WORK at This!

2012-02-14T16:35:00.005-05:00

I have mentioned before that sewing and quilting isn't intuitive for me. I *really* have to work at it. Proof is in the photo below. I'm sewing my rows together and think "I need to make sure those points match up when I sew the rows together. That's honestly all I thought about and I was quite pleased at how well they lined up. The points from the flower, while they don't match up ARE supposed to align. Too bad I didn't notice until I sewed several rows together. They were all out of alignment.

Sooo....here's where it ended up!

It seems like many quilters have that natural 1/4" seam and blocks just line up for them like they should. I'm not that girl!

I have an addition to my sewing room to show you. I finally framed the print that I purchased from Heather Ross from one of her online studio sales. She autographed it for me which I wasn't expecting. You can see the reflection of a valentine mini quilt in the glass of the print.

We've had a lot of sunny days this winter and I've been able to get a couple of pics of the pups to show you. Kenzie is hard to photograph because she generally shows up as a dark blob. She's tiny - about 10 pounds. She looks like she needed a good brushing too.

And poor Cody, he's afraid of the red light on the camera so getting a good picture of him is rare. He loves the sun though!

For those of you who watch Downton Abbey - Did Lord Grantham do what I think he did?

Hope your stitches this week are happy ones!

It's Been A While...

2012-02-05T20:49:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted. Work is crazy. I'm coming home exhausted. This past week I didn't really pick up a needle of any kind which is very unusual. I'm now back to trying to at least stitch for 30 minutes during the week. It soothes me and I need it.

I've started another Block of the Month. I don't need another one but I love the red and thought it would be a good summer quilt. Air conditioning can be so chilly. This quilt is comprised of big blocks. I didn't crop out my Farmers Wife blocks so you could get an idea of the scale. Some of the seams were a bit bulky on this so I'll probably start pressing them open.

My Jardin January Theme-A-Licious progress on Ann Dale. We're supposed to post twice a month but I'm only going to do it once. Honestly, I don't have enough progress generally to post twice in a month.

Amber at a Little Bit Biased hosted a scrap giveaway and I won! I've already been sorting through it and have pulled some fabrics that I think will work well with my Farmers Wife blocks. It's been fun going back through her blog and revisiting the projects that resulted in the scraps she sent me. Thank you Amber!

Amber is not only a talented quilter but is also a talented designer. In the box of scraps she also sent me some of her patterns!

Last weekend, I spent at Camp Blanding at a retreat. Most of the people there were quilters. There were a few rug hookers thrown in. I always have a great time when I go. Here is a picture of our Florida sunset that I captured after dinner. It was a crisp evening (we've since turned the a/c back on) and the wind had died down so the lake was calm.

The sunset and the moon.

I turned 50 a couple of weeks ago. Being 50 doesn't bother me but I've done a lot of thinking about how quickly time seems to be passing. I'm really working on enjoying the present instead of looking towards the weekend. It's harder than it sounds! Right now, I'm enjoying the present watching Downton Abbey and putting a few stitches into Ann Dale! Wishing you all happy stitches!

Having a Talk with Myself and Meeting a Blog Friend!

2012-01-22T18:28:00.005-05:00

I joined the Free Motion Quilting Challenge hosted by SewCalGal. I've always wanted to learn free motion quilting and to be able to execute it well. I'm here to tell you - I'm a long way from any type of proficiency! After seeing the photos on the FMQC Facebook page, I was almost too embarrassed to post my own photos here on this blog. Everyone seems to be already so good. But then I had a talk with myself. I'll never get better without practice and comparing my skills to someone else's isn't really the right thing to do. Even at just turned 50, I still have a need for this type of conversation with myself! Ugh!

Each month a tutorial is shared on SewCalGals blog and we practice and post our photos. This months tutorial was brought to us by Frances Moore. The photos below show my efforts:

Some of it looks better than other pieces of it.

I hope to keep up with this Challenge all year long. My skill set has no where to go but up!

Last Monday I had the pleasure of meeting Terri from Dixie Samplar. What a sweetie she is! She was visiting her precious grandmother and sent me an email asking if I'd like to meet her on her way home. We had a great time in Trenton exploring the shops. Here is a pic of Terri and I at Sally's shop, Suwannee Valley Cross Stitch. Sally was very gracious and we spent a fair amount of time chatting with her and a few of her regulars. We had a nice lunch at the Rose Cafe. I could have sat there for hours talking to Terri, she is so warm, friendly and easy to talk to. And of course we had to visit the quilt shop too. If you don't know Terri, please visit her blog. One of my MOST favorite posts of hers is this one about her stitching studio reveal.

Me on the left, Terri on the right

Don't you love that brick wall?

I put all my goodies away before getting a picture because my sewing/stitching room was so seriously messy and I needed to get in there. I do have a picture of something I purchased to put on my shelves. Three vintage spools. Two have lace (vintage?) that Sally bought on a trip to Germany. I wound some hand dyed rick rack (purchased from Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler) on the other.

Thank you for visiting my little corner of the blogging world. Happy Stitches!

Dipping a Toe In

2012-01-08T18:38:00.002-05:00

I've never participated in a swap of any kind. I have been interested in the online quilting bees but just haven't felt like an established bee was a good place to start. And frankly, it's kind of scary. I stumbled on a bee that was just forming and was intended for quilters new to Bees. Perfect! It's called We Bee Learning Beginner Bee. Here is my block for the first month. Hayley chose the quilt block but allowed us to pick whatever fabric we wished. I'll send this off as soon as I get the signature block made. My month is August and I'm already thinking of it.

My design wall was empty so I put my bee block up along with the Cotton Club Blocks I sewed this weekend and my Farmers Wife blocks. I'm hoping that it will be a reminder to get back to making my FW blocks. Does that ever work for anyone? :)

I'm always amazed at how different a block can look when set on point. Here is an example from this months Cotton Club blocks:

It looks totally different and much more pleasing on point:

It's so hard for me to sew during the week. I was able to do some stitching early last week after work but as the work week progressed my energy in the evening seemed to diminish too. Sometimes it seems that I'm wishing the week away for Friday night and that's really not how I want to things to be. I need to use my time during the week more thoughtfully and efficiently. Tonights plan? I'll be multitasking. Stitching Ann Dale and watching the Downtown Abbey Season 2 Premier! Hope your stitches are happy and plentiful!

Keeping It Simple

2012-01-01T12:36:00.006-05:00

Last year, I set goals for specific things I wanted to accomplish. In my year end recap, I found that for me, I did pretty good. I hesitate to say, however, that having a goal list was the driver of what I accomplished in 2011. So for 2012, I'm keeping it simple:

Use My Stash

Don't misunderstand - this is not a "no buy" goal. For some of you, that may be realistic - for me it is not at all. But I do have some wonderful fibers for stitching, knitting, and quilting in my stash that I'd like to use.

In that vein, today I'm starting the wonderful Ann Dale sampler. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it on Theresa's blog when she received the original sampler she had purchased. I think there are 8 of us in our Sampler Guild stitching this one. I wouldn't call it a stitch along, more like a start a long!

And funny enough, she is coming out of my stash! Since the kit arrived two days ago (way back in 2011) it's officially stash. :)

40 Count Lakeside Linen Vintage Pear (a muddy green)

Assorted Silks

This is also my Themalicious Project for January along with AotH.

I Did It!

2011-12-29T14:15:00.004-05:00

I can't believe it - I actually created a mosaic! I'm totally thrilled. It took about 10 minutes - I am NOT kidding 10 minutes - using this tutorial from Diary of a Flutter.Kat. It's not perfect because my hornbook in block 10 is cut off but not bad!

1. Jo Morton LW Club: Log Cabin Tabletopper, 2. Prairie Basket, 3. Lizzy's Little Quilt, 4. Amy's Choice, 5. 2010 $5 Quilt Finish, 6. DSC03611, 7. First Ornament Finish!, 8. Linen Schoolgirl Sewing Book, 9. Jenny Bean Halloween, 10. Primer Hornbook, 11. DSC03812, 12. Scarf for Chris, 13. The Age of Brass and Steam, 14. First Leaf Shawl, 15. Raindrops on Roses by IrishGirlieKnits

Lesson Learned: Sometimes things are not as hard as you think they might be!

These are my 2011 finishes. I'm counting the flimsy in block 5 as a finish. My most recent knitting finish isn't featured here because it's not been blocked or photographed. I'm still calling that one done because it's a HUGE project and it's on my goal list for the year. It's off the needles and that's a finish in my book.

Speaking of my 2011 Goals - here is my list as I wrote on Dec 31, 2010 in the black font and progress notes in red font were added today:

1. Grid and Grommet Bag - currently about half done Goal: finish it or ditch it

I went to throw this in the trash yesterday and just couldn't do it. I was very surprised by that.

2. $5 Quilt - currently 50% complete. Lots of applique left. Goal: progress

Finished the flimsy - see block #5 in my Flickr Mosaic above

3. Stitchers Garden Quilt - currently 75% complete Goal: finish the top

Progress made but no finish. I actually thought my goal for this one was progress.

4. Quakers and Quilts - currently 80% complete Goal: progress

I don't think I've touched this all year! I don't feel bad about it either!

5. Jenny Bean Halloween - currently 50% complete Goal: progress

Finished and framed. Block #9 above

6. Knit to Fit Sweater - currently 70% complete Goal: progress

Another one I haven't touched and feeling guilt free about it.

7. Per Terras (a/k/a the Albatross) - currently 80% complete Goal: finish it

Done - this is the one that needs to be blocked! Maybe then I'll quit calling it the Albatross.

8. Scarf for Chris - currently 60% complete Goal: finish it in February

Done. Flickr block #12. I blogged about it in January so I met the timeline.

9. Jo Morton's Prairie Basket - currently 50% complete Goal: finish

Done - Flickr block #2. This is the first/only experience with hand applique.

10. Jo Morton's Log Cabin Table Topper - currently 90% complete Goal: finish this week?

Done - Flickr block #1. Blogged about January 2 so I met the timeline.

11. Stacy Nash Peacock Pinkeep Drum and Linen School Girl Sewing Book - neither currently started as I'm waiting on my pre-stitching kit. Since I'm taking a class on this my hope is to finish these both in class with Stacy this month. Not sure that is realistic.

Both are finished! Flickr block #6 and #8

12. Scarf for Mom - not started but have yarn and pattern Goal: Progress

Done BUT I keep forgetting to give it to her. Flickr block #13 or #14 - her choice!

13. Try to do the finishing on an ornament. Goal: Learn a new skill

Done - Flickr block #7

I've surprised that I finished so much - much more than I did in 2010. I've always poopoo'd goal lists. Let's face it, I have more than enough deadlines at work. Perchance said goal list kept me a bit more focused normal? Hmmmm

I'd like to take a moment to thank Teresa who blogs at GirlWithNeedles for walking me through finishing my stitching projects. New things don't come easily to me and she held my hand though it all. It would be very remiss of me to not thank all of YOU for reading my little blog, for your comments, for your support and most of all for your friendship and inspiration! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

A Thank You and a Block Finish

2011-12-18T17:48:00.003-05:00

Last week, I received a wonderful package in the mail from Becky. If you've never visited her blog, please do so. She is an amazing stitcher who finishes all her own projects. She has finished 500 smalls! Not only is she very talented with the needle but she's also very generous. Recently she decided to stitch and gift some of her favorite projects. I was fortunate to receive The Gathering Basket in the mail this past week. It's bigger than I thought it would be but I love that about it. I generally use my pincushions for pins and needles so the larger size really works. It makes me smile every time I look at it. Thank you Becky!

Yesterday, I finished up Block 5 of AotH - with the exception of the personalization which is why the roof isn't completely stitched. When I started this block, I didn't think I'd like the colors together. Was I wrong! The coloring isn't quite right here but I really like the Avocado color that looked so garish on it's own. I'm really enjoying this project!

The next block is on hold because I'm missing the thread for the borders. I don't think ~~that much~~ any stitching, knitting or quilting will be completed in the next week as I still have holiday prep to do. Wrapping, cooking, and maybe even a wee bit of shopping yet to do. Let's not forget work and possibly a business dinner next week. Wishing you and yours a happy and safe holiday season!

Dreary Weekend

2011-12-11T18:43:00.002-05:00

It's been a dreary gray weekend and I've had a cold. I missed 3 events I had scheduled - all of which I was looking forward to attending. No Christmas shopping which may be a bit of a stressor later. I've made peace about not sending Christmas cards this year. That was easy.

Some people can sit and knit, stitch or sew when they're ill - I'm just not one of those people. So most of the weekend has been spent sleeping and in my pjs. I managed to get my 4 Cotton Club blocks done late this afternoon by working a few minutes at a time.

Another horrible picture but it was dark. I'm loving these blocks as they come together but they do take a bit of time. I'm getting a bit better at piecing and making things work. And while my blocks will most likely never come out perfectly square - I'm getting a bit better at that too.

This week will be spent scrambling to get the shopping done I need to get done to put packages in the mail. I also need to come up with a label for something I started in September. Nothing like last minute! You know, I always say that I'm going to have a less hectic holiday season. It never happens. What has changed though is that each year I'm a bit less freaked out about what has to be accomplished. It always manages to get done! In the meantime, I'm going to pick up a book and the box of Kleenex and spend some time in front of the tv.

Raindrops on Raspberries

2011-12-07T17:17:00.002-05:00

This is a finish I've been meaning to show you for a while. I just kept putting off getting it blocked because it's not my most favorite thing to do. If you're a knitter, do you like blocking?

Raindrops on Roses (Ravelry Link here)

Designer: IrishGirlieKnits

Yarn: Madelinetosh Sock

Colorway: Raspberry

Needles Size: 6 (I think)

Blocking the points didn't come out as well as I thought it would. Why, you ask?

Because I have a too tight bind off. I was running out of yarn...

I think I had 3 inches left!

Next time I block this project - which won't be any time soon, I'll go for a curvy look instead of trying to make points where there can't be any. Isn't the yarn delicious? I love this kind of semi-solid colorway. I love the pattern too and it's all thanks to JooLee (Ravelry link) who gifted me the pattern. A knitter I've never met by the way. The pattern is part of a sock kit club that won't be available to knitters outside the club until March 2012. I wasn't in the club and JooLee was. Thank you JooLee!

You may have noticed that I turned off any kind of comment moderation about six weeks ago. I did so after reading this post from Jody at Pleasant Home. I've had spam in the past - more than I would have expected - but I'm happy to report that I haven't had any problems since turning off comment moderation.

The year is coming to an end and I'm looking at my goal list for 2011 and thinking of 2012. I'll do a wrap up the year kind of post at the end of the year. I'm happy with what I accomplished on the list and won't feel a bit guilty at what I didn't. I'm hoping to get some things done yet too - one project to finish and one project to throw in the trash. Yep - trash! My stitches aren't all happy ones!

Off the Design Wall..

2011-12-04T18:37:00.004-05:00

This quilt came off my design wall this weekend. It's been there since September. Friday was Elf Day at my LQS and I decided to make this my focus project for the day. It's all been sewn into rows and then I attached pairs of rows together. It's in 4 pieces so I've made major progress this weekend. I'm not going to say that it'll be finished this month but I'm hoping for a finish early next year. I've had to label each row to make sure I assemble it correctly.

I've got to find a better way to manage threads. When do you clip threads?

We've been busy with holiday preparations. Tree has been put up and some shopping accomplished. Lots more to do. It's going to be a crazy few weeks! Hoping you all have time for some happy stitches this week!

More Farmers Wife

2011-11-21T17:46:00.006-05:00

Here are the five Farmers Wife blocks I made this weekend. One of these blocks took significantly longer than the others to sew. I decided to paper piece for accuracy.

Guess which one it was?

This is the offender.

Notice anything?

That center needs to be reworked.

It took like 3 hours.

I may just live with it.

Lesson Learned:

Trust your piecing skills! You/I can do it!

A Stitching Hodge Podge

2011-11-16T22:08:00.005-05:00

In my last post, I left you with a quilting finish. That same evening I picked up my stitching and got to work. Here is my WIP at the point where I did a counting check. Sorry for the bad pics.

And here is my stitching at the end of the evening. Yep, I went to the frog pond. I was off by one stitch in the length of the border. I would have fudged it but I'm stitching each month of Anniversaries of the Heart on one piece of linen and they need to line up. I got caught up late last night so I'm back on track. It hurt at the time though.

Lesson Learned: Count Often. And Then Count Again.

While on vacation, I was able to finish the April block. No personalizations as yet but I do have a good idea what I'll be doing on this one.

A couple of weekends ago, my EGA chapter welcomed Ellen Chester of With My Needle for her Long May She Wave workshop (scroll down). It was my first formal workshop and I loved every second. Visit Ellen's blog for her retrospective . Ellen is just delightful and I would encourage you to take one of her workshops. The quality of the materials and instruction (both Ellen's during the workshop and the written instructions) are superb!

I have only 3 pictures because my camera battery died right off the back. The three photos are of show and tell items.

Carol's Stitched Project Bag - Front

I didn't get specifics on the project.

Stitched Project Bag - Back

Carol's Petit Carnet d'Ouvrages (Designer With My Needle)

Her group of stitching friends each stitched one page making this even more special.

It's tiny and oh so precious!

My project at the end of the workshop is pictured below. Not much progress as yet but I'm LOVING this! I'm thinking of finishing it with the slight alteration that Ellen suggested.

It's been a busy work week and I'm looking forward to prepping for Thanksgiving and getting a little stitching, knitting, and quilting done over the weekend. Enjoy the rest of your week and may all your stitches be happy ones!

Time Away and a Happy Dance!

2011-11-13T13:52:00.005-05:00

Greg and I spent the last week in a cabin nestled in the Smoky Mountains. We stayed in the same place we did last year. Here is the view from the back deck, taken in the morning. I promptly put my camera away for the rest of the week so nothing else to show.

We got home Friday night later than we'd planned. I purposely stayed home on Saturday and finished up my 2010 $5 BOM from one of my LQSs. This picture isn't the greatest, the quilt needs to be ironed, threads trimmed and it was really windy today. BUT I didn't want to wait until next weekend to take a picture. I'm SO excited to have this done!

I've learned a lot since beginning this quilt. I kind of like that it shows my growth as a quilter.

I've been thinking a lot about what kind of quilter I want to be. I like modern quilts and I like traditional quilts. I've decided I don't have to pick one or the other - I can be both! There aren't any rules. Isn't that great?

This is also a stitching and knitting blog and I assure you that I'm still doing both. I promise I'll be showing those in the next couple of weeks.

Tomorrow is Monday so back to work I go. I'm in such a peaceful place that I'm finding it hard to think about the fast pace at work and the hustle and bustle of the upcoming holidays. I can't stop time so I'll be jumping back into all of it with both feet.

But that's not until tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy these last few moments of vacation. And look at my completed quilt top! :)

Wishing you all happy stitches!

The Generosity of Bloggers

2011-10-30T19:55:00.002-04:00

I only made one Farmers Wife block this week. I'm not happy with my fabric selection so I'll probably make it again. I need to get some more solids in my stash - I'll hopefully work on that in the next couple of weeks.

Bat Wing

My last two Cotton Club blocks have been made too. They are not wonky in real life - I went back and checked! Twice!

A couple of weeks ago, I saw this lovely fabric in a couple of places within blog land and fell in love with it. I left a comment at Blue Elephant Stitches and Jolene ended up gifting me a yard. What a sweetie she is! Do stop by her blog and say hello - she is a beautiful modern quilter.

Then I won a give away from Mary Catharine at Warmth in the North who had just returned from Sewing Summit.

And included was......a Kona Color Card! I've been really wanting one of these! Thank you Mary-Catharine!

As you can see, it was a good mail week!

I still haven't blocked my shawl and I'll probably have a wrap finish within the month of November. I'm working on the next Anniversaries of the Heart block and took a stitching class but my camera battery was dead. I was very disappointed about that. I hope to get a beanie knit up for Jake soon too. What are you working on?

A Few Blocks and Some Family Time

2011-10-23T16:18:00.005-04:00

It's been a busy weekend but not much completed in the quilting/knitting/stitching arena. I did get two Farmer's Wife blocks done. A lot of quilters aren't making the basket blocks (there are two variations in this quilt). I've never made one so decided to give it a go. I'm glad I left it in and will probably do the other one as well.

#3 Basket

The color placement is off within one of the smaller blocks that make up the block below. Since the red is more saturated than the other fabric colors, it's really not noticeable so I'm leaving it in. I didn't think it was worth ripping.

#4 Basket Weave

I also got two of the Cotton Club BOM blocks done for the 2nd month. There are a total of 4 for this month. These finish at 5" - smaller than the Farmer's Wife blocks.

Last weekend my brother and his family were visiting my parents. It's been a while since I've seen my nieces - I sure wish they lived closer! Saturday my husband and I along with and Chris and Jake went down and then Sunday Greg and I drove down alone.

Here are both of them sitting on my oldest sons back while Chris was doing push ups. He could only do about 4 with good form but they thought it was a good time. Lots of girl squeals!

Alex's birthday is the end of the month so we had a little gift giving. My brother and his wife gave her their big gift early - tickets to a Taylor Swift concert. She was so excited that she started crying. I'd love to go with her and her friends but that's one of the big drawbacks of living so far apart. It was SO good to see them!

November and December will be busy months and typically my quilting/stitching/knitting take a back seat to other activities. I have scheduled two days off in early December and I hope I'll be able to go to my LQS for at least one of those days to quilt.

In the meantime, I'm going to get some fun things in while I can! For those of you who sew, knit, or stitch after a long day at work, how do you do it? I'm usually so mentally wiped out.

May all your stitches be happy ones!

Joining In...

2011-10-16T21:39:00.002-04:00

...on the Farmers Wife! I've been reading blog posts about this, have seen pictures pop up on Flickr and can no longer resist. My first two blocks are below:

I'm using Ruby along with some Bliss. Both are by Bonnie and Camille. Throwing in a couple of solids (that bright blue is coming out) and other bits and pieces as I go along.

This quilt will be a loooong term project. Stayed tuned for more and wishing you happy stitches!

A Bad Choice

2011-10-09T17:25:00.004-04:00

I honestly expected to be showing you a completed quilt top today - my 2010 $5 Quilt. It's been laying over the chair in front of my design wall for a bit. It just needed borders. Today I ironed and trimmed it up. Greg helped me measure the width and length in 3 places. I measured and cut the inner border and sewed it to one side. And realized I had made a horrible fabric color choice. I need to use a fabric the same color as the sashing pieces - not the cornerstones like I had planned - to frame the quilt. Greg tried to convince me that it would be "fine". Well, we all know that to a woman "fine" it's generally anything BUT fine. I laid out the leftover sashing fabric next to the top and the difference was dramatic. I found the fabric I needed online and it should be here soon and I ripped that border off!

Here's the quilt where I left it. Right on my ironing board that needs a facelift. I can't believe I'm showing that ugly thing to you. I still have threads to clip but I just didn't have it in me.

I finished up the 4th block of Anniversaries of the Heart. Personalizations to come as with the rest of the blocks. This isn't a block that I think I'll have anyone to commemorate as we have a small family. I think I may stitch my maiden name in the lower right corner and the year completed in the upper left. I used the called for fibers except for the windows. There just wasn't enough contrast.

I'd like to wish my Canadian friends a Happy Thanksgiving and all of you happy stitches!

Cheddar Anyone?

2011-10-03T06:55:00.006-04:00

I have another Jo Morton's Little Women Club finish to share with you today. This is the first time I've used a cheddar colored fabric and I like it. I don't know the exact measurement of the finished quilt but if I remember correctly, the blocks in the center finish at 3". I've had the top assembled for a bit but just got around to the quilting.

Amy's Choice

Jo Morton's Little Women Club Project

My LQS isn't renewing this club on their schedule. Our instructor, Jan Vaine, is teaching Prairie Women Sewing Circle at another LQS and I'll be joining them. I hope I'll enjoy this group as much as I did the Jo's group. I've learned so much from Jan and we're so fortunate to have a published author as our instructor.

We're experiencing fall like weather this week in Florida. Our temperatures will be in the low 80's this week and there has been a break in the humidity. The weatherman said that this morning we're experiencing December weather. I'll take it! We even had the windows open for a few hours yesterday. It's hard to believe it's October already and that the holiday season is quickly approaching.

I have a knitting finish but the project isn't blocked yet and I hope to have a AotH block finish soon. I've picked a BIG knitting project back up again and I might have that finished in the next month or so. It's going to be a bear to block it's so large. I'll hopefully have pictures of the shawl for you in the next couple of weeks - there are a lot of activities over the next few weekends for me. Thankfully, next weekend is a 3 day one for me due to Columbus Day. I hope each of you have a great week and I hope your stitches be happy ones!

A Surprise and Progress

2011-09-26T07:15:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, I was able to get a chance to stitch for a few hours, knit for a few hours, and quilt for a few hours. I don't quite have any knitting or stitching to show you but I do have some quilting. I was able to finish my last 8 Harvest blocks and play a bit with the arrangement. My design wall isn't crooked, the blocks are on there wonky As you can tell, my design wall is almost completely full.

And at the very bottom are the first 5 blocks for the Cotton Club BOM. These came together really quickly and easily. The instructions are fabulous! All the blocks will be set on point. I'd like to do the one on the far right in more modern fabrics one day and as a larger block. I think it would make a great modern quilt.

I received a wonderful surprise in the mail last week from Catherine. She sent me this cute stitched pillow as a thank you for a chart I'd sent her. It's my first fall stitched small.

Here's a closeup of the stitching. I love the thread! Thank you Catherine!

Wishing you all a good week and happy stitches!

Cotton Club Beginning

2011-09-20T15:11:00.002-04:00

Happy Tuesday! Over the weekend, I started the Cotton Club BOM by Bonnie Blue through a LQS. I had hoped to have the first 5 blocks completed (this months installment) to show you but that didn't happen. There has been a flurry of closet cleaning instead. As I mentioned in a prior post, I'm using a Harriet Hargrave tip to get my 1/4" seam more accurate. While not perfect, it's much improved. These blocks finish at 5" and will be set on point. As you can see, it starts simple!

I've been playing around at drafting blocks - the tutorials by Lori Holt really captured my attention. I checked out the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns and 5500 Quilt Block Designs from my library to see if I could draft a block in a size I wanted. I'm having some success! Both of these books will be purchased as the possibilities are endless!

Question for you all - Do you know how to convert a block sketch/layout to a paper pieced pattern? I'd love to learn to do that as well.

I've also become very enamored of all the Farmers Wife blocks I've seen in blog land. I think I'm slowly losing that battle!

I hope you all are having a great week. Thank you so much for your visits and your comments! I appreciate you and continue to be inspired by you!

Trying Something New

2011-09-05T14:00:00.004-04:00

Before I get to the something new that I'm trying, here is my progress on my Harvest Quilt. I placed the blocks on my design wall without much thought so some rearranging is in the cards. In the meantime, I ran out of fabric. I need to check my scraps to be sure.

Now on to the something new that I'm trying. It's no secret that I've struggled with my 1/4" seam. It's not that I want to be perfect, but I do want to be close. The ladies that own my LQS shared what Harriet Hargrave told them she does when she was here last year for a class. It's all detailed in her book Quilters Academy Freshman Year. Page 23. I'd picked this book up earlier this year. I had gotten up until page 21 when I put it down. Go figure.

Anyways, it involves this notion called the Perkins Ruler. A $5 notion!

It has a hole right at the scant 1/4" place. I put my needle down through this hole.

I then put my seam guide through the hole in the back of my #13 foot placing the seam guide tightly against the ruler.

I screwed it down tight so the seam guide does not move.

Here's what it looks like:

This would work with any machine as long as the foot being used has the setup for a seam guide. A Bernina is not required. I still have some work to do but I must say that my piecing has definitely improved. I'm getting pretty close! I've not had any luck with other feet that have seam guides on it. I couldn't understand why I couldn't get it right and was frustrated. I think it's because those feet allow the fabric to slip underneath and this setup doesn't.

Lesson Learned: What works for one person, might not work for another. Keep looking for a solution! One size does not fit all.

Wishing you a week of Happy Stitches!

Unpacking and Tidying

2011-08-28T16:21:00.003-04:00

Today I'm unpacking all my sewing stuff from retreat last weekend and doing a bit of tidying. My portable Rowenta that I love and use all the time was bit by a power surge I think. I didn't have it plugged into the surge protector while at retreat. I'm going to get another one, I love it so much. It gets HOT and it's small - perfect for ironing blocks. My only complaint is that it gets so hot it takes a while to cool down.

I decided to throw the blocks I finished at retreat on my design wall. After all, that is what it's for, right? So in no particular order, here is where I'm at on Harvest. I'm using Christmas fabrics instead of the featured autumn colors. The rest of the pieces have been chained pieced and assembly should be quick once time is found. These blocks still need sashing (white) and cornerstones (black with red dots) but you get the general idea.

You can also see a peek at two other projects I'm working on here and there. One is my 2010 $5 quilt with the border fabrics laid over it and the other is very small glimpse of a Jo Morton project. Sadly my quilt shop has discontinued Jo's Little Women. In September, I'm going to join the Pioneer Women Sewing Circle led by the same instructor Jan Vaine but hosted at another shop. I've learned so much from her and enjoy these small (but not quick) projects.

I picked up Anniversary of the Hearts yesterday. Other than the hornbook I did last weekend, I have not stitched a stitch in 6 weeks. It felt good to be back to it and I stayed up late stitching. I have about 2/3 of the house for March completed.

I hope that everyone has a great week and that your stitches are happy!

Retreat Weekend!

2011-08-25T19:04:00.003-04:00

My retreat was last weekend. It was a BLAST! You'll just have to trust me because my camera battery was dead when I took it out to take the very first picture. I'm signed up for the next one in January. You can read about my previous one here. This time the General brought his wife with him and a 2 star General and his wife. They spent quite a bit of time with us. There were 27 Quilts of Valor that were donated to the base.

I haven't unpacked so I can't show you the blocks I made....and honestly there aren't a lot of them. There might have been a bit of socializing. I did all my chain piecing and trimming and all that stuff so I'm pretty ready to go on the quilt I'm making with Christmas fabrics.

I did have one stitching start and one stitching finish and it's the same project. Quick and easy to assemble!

Primer Hornbook

from

Priscilla's Pocket

40 Count Lakeside Linen Vintage Pearl Barley

Thread: Gloriana, Florimel, and Belle Soie

I'm still catching up on blog posts. I hope your stitches have been happy ones this week!

Busy Weekend But...

2011-08-14T21:33:00.005-04:00

...not much to show for it! My friend Teresa and I are going to the Old Green Cupboard Retreat next weekend and I thought I'd finish cutting out an entire quilt. I took a free class for it a couple of weeks ago. Cutting is SO not my favorite thing so I generally cut a little bit and then sew a little bit. I was also inspired by Teresa (another Teresa, one I don't know in real life) and her very organized log cabin project box that she posted about on her blog Fabric Therapy. So this was a bit new for me. And boy, did it take a LONG time! I spent almost all day yesterday cutting fabric. I cut everything but some of the 1.5' sashing and the border. I had so much fun I almost don't want to sew the thing together.

I even separated my pieces by color! One of the good things that came out of this was the recognition that there is a lot more of the green in this jelly roll than I thought. I'll make an effort to use some of it in each block so I won't get stuck with using a lot of green in each block at the end. This quilt uses almost every strip of the jelly roll so there won't isn't a lot left over.

I even drew the lines for the triangles on the backs of 192 squares.

Not. Fun.

Though I'm sure I'll be very happy about it later!

Threw in my pattern, the extra background fabric, and my test blocks and I'm ready to go!

I'm curious, is this how most of you start a quilt? Cutting everything out?

Something I generally do all the time is label my fabric. I know me and my memory. I'll have no clue what I planned later on. I just don't finish quilts fast enough to remember.

I need to add "Border 2" to the red polka dot fabric.

Today was Greg's birthday so I started the day making him breakfast and then making sure he didn't do anything all day. It was hard. Then I went looking for a chart and absolutely tore up my sewing room doing so. It's still in bad shape but I found the chart and 7 out of the 8 monthly BOM packages. I hope I can find the last one. I also started pulling things for retreat and hope to have my quilting, knitting and stitching packed up by Tuesday night.

So a busy weekend with out anything to show for it. But I'm sure I'll be grateful for all the time spent prepping when next weekend comes along. So what did you do this weekend?

First Leaf

2011-08-10T18:39:00.003-04:00

I do still knit! As evidenced by the completion of my First Leaf Shawl! This project was one of my goals for this year so I'm happy to cross this one off the list.

Pattern: First Leaf by Brenda Patipa

Yarn Lisa Souza TImaru

Colorway: South Pacific

Needles: US6

I didn't get my points blocked uniformly but I'll do better next time and I don't expect it will be really noticeable when wearing. LOVED this yarn. The color repeats are so small that there wasn't any of the big pooling of colors that you sometimes see in hand knits. It didn't split at all either.

As far as that list I mentioned above, I think I may avoid a lot of what's left! There aren't any list police that I've seen lately so I think I'll be pretty safe. Happy Stitches!

My Design Wall...

2011-08-07T19:14:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I mentioned that we (and I mean Greg) were going to put a design wall up in my sewing room. After a brief delay due to illness, it's up! We did it on the cheap.

We bought sheet insulation from the big box home improvement store. They'll cut it to size for you there. We bought 3 sheets because I wanted it a bit bigger than the size of one sheet and since we mounted it slightly off the wall I wanted two thicknesses for stability. I think they cost about $10 each.

Greg first laid the sheets out in our living room to get an idea how they'd stack together.

After using a bit of white duck tape, Greg glued the sheet insulation together with construction glue. He thinks it was $5-$6 a tube. It dried pretty quickly.

Then we wrapped the flannel around the sheet insulation. I ordered 108" flannel online becauseI didn't want to have to piece it. I think it was $25. The flannel was then taped to the back with duck tape. We could have pulled it a bit more taut.

Since I didn't want it glued directly to the wall, Greg screwed in a very thin piece of wood to the studs ($5) top and bottom and then screwed the design wall into the wood. We covered the screw heads with little pieces of flannel.

Design Wall Complete!

You can see a slight line where the two pieces come together in the bottom half but I didn't want to use duck tape on the top side as I might need to use pins.

I was really glad I went with the flannel (thanks Karen Dianne) as it's held everything I put up there very well, including a small quilt top (one of my Jo's projects that is less than 24" square) without pinning. It measures about 6'x6' so I should be able to keep a lot on it. Maybe I'll finish up some of these projects if they're not out of sight! Right?!

I do have the some sheet insulation left over from having some of the length cut off. It'll be enough for me to make a mini portable design board like Lori uses. Living in Florida, I always have the ceiling fan on and it blows my smaller pieces of fabric around when I have them laid out in block formation.

In stitching news, there isn't any. I haven't stitched in over 3 weeks. Not sure why but I never picked it back up after being sick. I am knitting more and hope to have a picture of a finished project soon. I'm even feeling like casting on for another shawl....see, I'm still a knitter!

Thank you for all your well wishes after being sick. I'm fully recovered now, thankfully, and back in the groove of every day life. I hope all your stitches are happy!

Unintended Hiatus

2011-07-31T10:11:00.002-04:00

It's been a few weeks since I posted last. My hiatus was unintended. A couple of Fridays ago I caught some type of stomach virus necessitating an urgent care visit. It was most likely food poisoning and it's taken me some time to recover and to gather up energy for anything other than work.

I have not stitched in over 2 weeks. I just picked up my knitting needles Wednesday (where I immediately messed up my project so bad that I had to rip and rip and rip). I did some sewing last weekend which was my first foray back into my hobbies. When I don't feel well I read - and there hasn't been much of that either. I'm glad to get back to my various needles.

I did pick up my framed HallowEden. My camera settings must have been moved as these pictures are a bit grainy. The linen color is off here as it's a light green in real life. I really enjoyed stitching on this linen.

Not where this will stay but another picture.

A close up of the frame. I've found I enjoy selecting frames, it's fun!

I have been reading blogs posts, just not commenting quite so often. I'll get better at that this week. This weekend I've purposely spent at home - not that I've accomplished much but these days Saturdays seem to be spent on the go and away from my husband. It's been nice to have two whole days with him without any list of things to get accomplished. I hope you all had a great weekend and I hope to have something else to show you soon! Happy Stitches!

A Need and a Special Treat

2011-07-10T15:48:00.004-04:00

As many of you know, my husband converted our spare bedroom to a sewing space for me at the end of 2009. It's a small room, after all we have a small house. The room has been more than sufficient for my needs. The one thing I've really wished I've had is a design wall. I've been having some trouble with a fabric choice for my current Jo's Little Women project. So I hammered in a nail, hung a hanger on it and attached a bit of batting creating a makeshift design wall so I could play around. Wow! I can't believe what I've been missing! I sent a quick email to Karen Dianne over at Living Life at LeehHaven about what fabric she uses for her design wall (she has 3 of them). Flannel is now on it's way and a 6x6" design wall will hopefully be part of my sewing space soon!

I decided to cut out 4 fabrics to audition for the center solid blocks. Having this up on the wall all week has helped! I didn't anticipate it, but I'll probably change the setting triangle fabric too. One day it would be nice to feel confident about fabric choices.

I finished the first bonus block of the Anniversaries of the Heart series yesterday at a stitching gathering. This was a quick block - even for me. I stitched most of the border twice. Ugh! Counting is not an over rated skill!

Our sampler guild, The Azalea Sampler Guild, had a special visitor at our last monthly meeting. This link will take you to our visitor's post about the visit. I'll post a couple of my photos later on in the month. Needless to say, it was a very special treat!

Wishing you all a good week and Happy Stitches!

Quick Post...

2011-07-04T10:26:00.003-04:00

I finished the second block in the Blackbird Designs Anniversaries of the Heart series recently. I must say that the satin stitch and I are not friends. I stitched that part twice and am not completely pleased. Chain stitch was a first for me. I'm really enjoying this project. I have a feeling that I'll love each block more than the last one. As with the first block, I'm saving the personalization until I have time to sit down and really plan out the entire set of personalizations. I do have some ideas!

Valentine Rose by Blackbird Designs

36 Count Lakeside Linen Vintage Light Examplar

Called for threads - no substitutions

Back in the Saddle Again!

2011-06-26T16:16:00.002-04:00

I've been back from my business trip to Texas for a week and am happy to report that my presentation was great. Thank you all for your well wishes!

It's been three weeks since I've picked up a needle of any kind for any length of time. Last weekend was our monthly meeting of Jo's Little Women and being around like minded people had me energized.

As you know, our instructor is the wonderfully talented (and published author), Jan Vaine. Here is Jan holding up the project that we're working on now. I really like her idea of using a plaid for the setting triangles.

For Show and Tell, Cherie brought two of the Jo projects she's been working on. Both are beautifully pieced. I didn't make this one with all the half square triangles. It's definitely one I'll come back too as it's grown a little bit on me. I think I'll go with red and blue for my version. Or maybe something with black....

Here is Cherie with her Lizzy's Little Quilt. I managed to complete this one.

I've learned that these little projects appear to be quick. Very deceptive. So I decided today to not leave it for the last minute and get started. My color ability leaves much to be desired and I always agonize over every choice and am rarely completely satisfied. I also am not fond of the cutting out step. So it wasn't the most fun day for me. Especially after it seemed I cut for ages and ended up with this little bitty pile. Not even the complete project but just the pieces for the 9 pieced center blocks. 28 fabrics I think. Even though these parts of the process are not my favorite, it felt good to be back in the sewing room.

I also ended up with a mess in the sewing room. This picture was after I'd folded up a lot of the fabric that I'd pulled. I didn't follow my 5 minute rule today (clean for just 5 minutes when I'm done). Most of the time, I'm successful with that rule and it's amazing what can be accomplished in 5 minutes. Today just wasn't a day for it!

I've also picked back up my knitting and my stitching. I'll probably have a stitching update for you later in the week.

Though I've not been posting, I have been keeping up with blog reading. So many exciting things going on in blog land! I continue to be wow'd by and inspired by each of you. Thank you for visiting my blog!

First Framed Piece and Quilting Peek

2011-06-05T16:41:00.004-04:00

I picked up the first piece I've had framed from the framers a week or so ago.

Close up of the frame. The fabric color is more accurate here than in the picture above.

Here is a peek of my 2010 $5 quilt in the process of assembly. I'm at the point now where I have hours of thread clipping and ironing in front of me. I decided I'm done with this for the weekend. Anyone who knows me, knows I hate to iron.

Here's a quick pic I took of Cody. He hates getting his picture taken. A second before he was sitting up pretty, looking right at me. A second after this picture, he'd taken off.

I'll most likely be taking a blog break. I started my new job this week and I have to give a presentation in Texas the week of the 14th. A one hour presentation on a topic on which I knew nothing about on the 1st. The yet to be created presentation I can handle, the questions I'm not sure about. So I'll probably have some late nights this week and possibly spend some time in the office over the weekend. While I won't be posting myself, I'll continue to read your blogs. I'm always so inspired by you! Happy stitches!

New Start!

2011-05-29T20:20:00.004-04:00

I had indicated I was going to hopefully start a new project while on vacation. As I finished up HallowEden early in the week we were gone, I not only was able to start a new project but I finished the first block shortly after I returned home.

Anniversaries of the Heart

by Blackbird Designs

36 Count Lakeside Linen Vintage Light Examplar

Called for threads (substituted Light Khaki for the thread in the windows)

I do wish I'd used a 40 count fabric in retrospect. You'll notice that I haven't added the personalization as yet. I need to review the entire project and plan out what I'm going to do. I'm now well into the February block - border done and into building the house. I'm really enjoying this project. I think this block is the fastest I've ever stitched anything. I don't have this kind of time to devote to stitching, quilting, or knitting while I'm working or frankly when we're at home. There is just too much else that needs to be done. I appreciate the time I had to get to a good start but recognize that things will be very slow going from this point on.

I spent today cutting out some sashing and cornerstones for my $5 Quilt. I might be able to spend some time tomorrow laying out the blocks and possibly sewing together some of the rows. We'll see how it goes.

I've been watching Extreme Couponing. Wow! I can't see the need to stockpile so much but I'd certainly like to save some money on groceries. Does anyone out there done this successfully long term?

Wishing you all Happy Stitches!

Rested

2011-05-22T10:27:00.002-04:00

Greg and I just got back from our annual "No Tech" vacation at my parents cabin in the NE Georgia Mountains. By no tech I mean no internet or cable services - only NBC on the tv. It was a gray and cold week. We loved every second of it! Plenty of time to stitch, read, watch movies and just be together without distraction. The temperatures were about 30 degrees less than what we are experiencing here in Florida. Yep, the loooong hot summer has started. Not my favorite time of year.

I took some knitting and my sewing machine. The sewing machine didn't see the light of day. I did knit a bit but stitching and reading captured my interest. I finished Hallow Eden. What a joy it was to stitch! I also started a new project but don't have pictures as yet.

Hallow Eden by Plum Street Samplers

Called for threads

40 Count Purely Primitive Newcastle

Here is a close up of the snake. Oddly enough, my favorite part of this project is those little stars one of which you can see a bit further up. The use of muted color with the bright bits really seem to catch my eye.

So it's back to work tomorrow. Exciting news for me in that area - on June 1st I'll be starting a new position with the same employer in another division. I'm very excited about it! Lots of new things to learn, little to no travel, and while it started as a lateral move it's ended up being a promotion.

I have lots of blog reading to still catch up on and I hope to do that today and tomorrow. I'm not feeling overly inspired to do much today. I hope everyone has a great Sunday and that your stitches are happy!

Hodge Podge

2011-05-10T19:54:00.003-04:00

This post has a little bit of everything in it. I apologize in advance for the pictures - it wasn't a good day for natural light at the hour I had my camera out.

Here is my latest Stitchers Garden block. Not my favorite of the bunch. I was supposed to use the fringe foot and sew in some fringe into the center of the flower heads. I'm not a fringe kind of girl so I omitted it.

After finishing the Age of Brass and Steam I started another shawl. This is yarn purchased at Stitches South 2010 along with a pattern I found there as well. This is only the 2nd project I've used my Stitches South purchases for. I think I bought 19 skeins of yarn. Not a good success rate! This shawl is on my goal list for the year. I'm not sure I'll end up giving it to my mom as planned. I'm using a lighter weight yarn and it may end up being neckerchief sized.

I like the short color pattern in the yarn. Hopefully you can see it below. It's just a couple of inches before you transition into another color. I'm not a fan of color pooling like you get with longer sections of color.

I was so very pleasantly surprised yesterday when a box came in the mail for me. I knew I had not ordered anything. I saw the name and I kind of started getting a feeling that I knew what it was. Sharon at Daffycat is doing a random RAK and she picked me this month!!! Is this little guy adorable? If you're not familiar with Sharon, not only is she a bea-u-tiful stitcher, she is an amazing finisher. I didn't get a good picture of the pins but she made those as well. Thank you Sharon! I'm still smiling!

I just realized that I never thanked Tonya for sending me this bag. I saw her video on installing a zipper in a coin purse. She can crank these things out in minutes - about 10 to be exact. I'm not sure I could get a needle threaded in that time. Tonya sent me one and it's beautifully stitched. Thank you Tonya!

I forgot to get a picture of my stitching project. I'm thinking of starting another project - a big one. We'll see if that happens before I talk about it. You know how quickly things can change!

I hope everyone is having a good week. Happy Stitches to you all!

I Still Knit!

2011-05-01T20:49:00.000-04:00

When I started this blog, it was a knitting blog. Since then, I've branched out into quilting and then stitching. I don't knit as much as I used to knit but I still do. Here's the evidence:

Details

Pattern: The Age of Brass and Steam

Needles: Size 9

Yarn: Cascade Rustic, Colorway 12, 2 Hanks (13 grams were left)

Modifications: 1 extra repeat of both the stockinette and garter pattern

There was a lot of dye discharge in the rinse water when I was preparing the shawl for blocking. I didn't think to throw some vinegar in there to stop the bleeding. I'll have to do that next time around. Other than that, the yarn blocked well.

You may remember but this is the project that I was halfway finished and decided to start it again as I'd messed up the pattern. I didn't mind starting again and am actually quite happy that I did.

Now it's time to think about what's next! Wishing you all Happy Stitches!

Done!

2011-04-25T13:58:00.000-04:00

I've finished Jenny Bean Halloween! I enjoyed every minute of her.

Shakespeare's Peddler

Jenny Bean Halloween

Gentle Art JBH Sampler Pack

Lakeside Linen 40ct Vintage Pearled Barley

The picture looks wonky but it's not. I was taking the picture with one hand while holding the scroll up in the air against the side of the house. Between all that and the wind, I'm happy the picture is not blurry.

Happy Monday and Happy Stitches!

New to Me!

2011-04-17T19:29:00.000-04:00

I've ventured again into the area of things that are new to me. So far it's all enjoyable!

I worked on my Stitchers Garden blocks (BOM from last year) this weekend. These 6 blocks used a new to me technique - bobbin work. I hand wound DMC (as it comes with all 6 strands) onto my bobbin. I purchased a new one so I could play with the tension. Many sewists and quilters are skilled enough to mess with bobbin tension - I am not and I wanted to make sure I had a bobbin I could sew with. Since the DMC is in the bobbin, these blocks were sewn with the back of the fabric facing up. Kind of fun! This method was used for the applique and the block around the flower petals.

I'm also reading a new way. On a Nook! I decided to get one as I'm traveling more for work. My library has a modest e-book circulation with long waits so I joined the Philadelphia Free Library. They allow out of state residents to join for a very nominal fee of $35. I've gotten 3 books so far and am quickly adapting to this method of reading. I thought I would NEVER enjoy an e-reader.

I also desire to venture into the arena of modern quilting. I picked up some Amy Butler and Sugar and Spice at my LQS. The Sherbet Pips layer cake I won from Thelma and the Dream On I won from Megan. I have a pattern in mind for the Sherbet Pips and for the others just some general ideas. I need to get some solids to co-ordinate with these. I've never used Kona Solids or Moda Bella Solids - nor have I ever seen them so this should be interesting! Any ideas for patterns or co-ordinating solids would be very welcome. This is outside my comfort zone!

The hopping from this to that continues. No real focus on anything for any great length of time. The finish I hoped to show you didn't materialize. It will eventually! Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead!

Attention Please!

2011-04-08T21:02:00.000-04:00

I seem to be having a lack of focus these days. I'm working on a little bit of everything and not getting much accomplished on any one project. I ripped out my most recent knitting project completely and started over (I was pretty close to being finished with it). Worked on 3 stitching projects. I also worked on two different quilting projects that I think will never be finished. Here are the latest two blocks from my Stitchers Garden quilt. The pink flower was supposed to have ribbon on the petals but I didn't like it so I ripped it out. Ripping blanket stitch isn't fun. On the block to the right the wavy part of the flower is rick rack which I enjoyed. I'd love to use it again in another quilt.

I'm hoping my weekend will end with a finish to share with you next week!

Please enjoy your weekend and Happy Stitches!

Jan's Book!

2011-04-03T16:33:00.000-04:00

As you've heard me talk about before, my instructor for our Jo's Little Women Club is Jan Vaine. Jan's book, The Art of Elegant Hand Embroidery, Embellishment and Applique has been released! Jan's book can be found on Amazon and Barnes and Noble web sites (I can't get links to work in this new blogger with my Mac - ugh!). Jan came to our quilt shop for a book signing.

She also brought the quilts that were photographed for the book. I don't know why I didn't get a picture of this entire quilt because it's certainly the star of the show. Her father even used the instructions in the book and made a square that's included in the quilt. Isn't that so fantastic?

A closeup of a center block of another quilt.

As you can tell, Jan is an extremely talented quilter. I have learned so very much from her and feel very fortunate to have her as my instructor.

The same day we had our Jo's Little Women Club meeting. Judy brought two of her finished projects. I love her use of the cheddar color in this one.

This is just the top but it's so cute! I haven't even started this one.

The last two weeks have been extremely busy. I've had two business trips which required late Friday night travel and Sunday travel. Weekend time is very sacred to me and I cannot say that I enjoyed business travel at that time. I came back to two consecutive days of 8 hour training as a student. It required me to give a presentation to my peers on Friday which I prepared for until very late Thursday. I did well so it was worth the extra time. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to a couple of quiet weeks! I spent a little time in my sewing room today and hope to end the day with some stitching and some knitting. I hope your weekend has been full of stitches too!

More $5 Quilt

2011-03-18T16:28:00.004-04:00

I managed to finish my last two pieced blocks for 2010 $5 Quilt from my quilt shop. They need to be pressed. These came together quickly because I'd already had them cut out. I have the four setting triangles for the corners of the quilt to piece and then I'll be done with the blocks and can begin assembly. The pattern calls for the setting triangles to be pieced with background fabrics and they are rather plain. I think I'm going to add some applique to them.

My latest knitting project is probably going to be ripped back to almost the beginning. I have almost 200 yards knit but I don't mind ripping it back. It's a quick knit and I really enjoy the process.

It's supposed to be 86 here tomorrow so I expect our air conditioning will be turned on for a few days. I imagine it won't be long before it's running 24/7. We put in a new a/c unit last fall but I wouldn't mind not using it! It looks like spring is still a short lived season here in Florida.

Thank you all for visiting and I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Happy Stitches!

A Quick One!

2011-03-13T16:24:00.003-04:00

Last weekend I finished up the first quilt in this years installment of Jo's Little Women Club Quilts. This is called Lizzy's Little Quilt. It's about 15x18". It's very lightly quilted because I was thinking of putting a candle or something on it at Christmas and didn't want it to be stiff.

Sometimes you just need those quickie projects!

A Finish and an Experiment

2011-03-07T18:13:00.003-05:00

I finished this wall hanging last month. Tonight I took it off the wall and went outside to get pictures. Not great but good enough. The applique in the center of this quilt was done by hand by the back basted needle turn applique method. You can find a tutorial here. This is my first hand applique project and I'm not sure if I'm going to be much of a hand applique quilter. I am going to try another project or two in order to get more proficient and see if I learn to like it more. A good tip from our instructor is that when your curves are pointy to take smaller stitches. That helps more than I would have thought. This was a Jo Morton's Little Women Club project and our instructor is Jan Vaine who just had an amazing book released! I've seen the book several times while it was in production and it's a must own if you love applique.

Lessons Learned From This Project:

1. Break hand applique projects into smaller time blocks to avoid hand pain.

2. Don't leave things until the last minute (see Lesson Learned #2).

3. When you just want to get it done, it's time to stop!

On Friday, I received this little goodie in the mail from a blogging friend, Karen from Karen's Handiwork. Last year she set a goal of stitching and finishing 3 ornaments a month. I watched in amazement as month after month she posted pictures of her finished ornies. She didn't give up and she met her goal! This year, she changed it up a bit and is stitching one ornament a month for herself and for one of her followers. I was the lucky follower in February.

Isn't this just gorgeous?!

The back is cute too! I've been studying the beaded edge. I want to do this one day. Just beautiful! Karen, thank you. I'll treasure it!

Sunday I was glancing through the Pioneer Woman blog when I came across this series on aperture. I decided to pull out my camera and take my fiddling around with it ~~a bit~~ much further. Her blog posts made it sound simple enough so I decided to give it a try. The ornament photos above are a couple of the resulting pictures and are completely unedited. I like how the hanger is a little fuzzy in the background and how the foreground is really sharp. I've always had difficulty photographing red and the top one is pretty true colored. The background is dingy though. I'll continue to work on it and hopefully learn more. I'm thinking of getting a DSLR camera and I really need to step up my game. If any of you have found any online resources helpful but that are also in simple language, I'd love to know about them!

Oh, and if you don't know who the Pioneer Woman is, you really must check out her blog. Her food is amazing and her story of how she met and married Marlboro Man is wonderful.

I hope each of you had a good start to the week and will have a few moments to spend doing the things that you love. Thank you for your visits and your comments. I appreciate you and continue to be inspired by you!

Retreat Wrap Up!

2011-03-03T07:06:00.000-05:00

On my last post, I talked about the first day of my retreat and showed you a picture of our room at midnight. Here it is full of quilters with some knitters, stitchers and hookers (the rug kind) thrown in.

On Saturday, Paula Barnes of Bonnie Blue Quilts stopped by for a trunk show.

I think I like her quilts so much because she uses a lot of red. I love red!

This was a favorite and would look fantastic on my bed. One day!

Teresa and I spent all of Saturday doing some finishing. First up was the Schoolgirl Linen Sewing Book by Stacy Nash, a class project from our trip to A Primitive Gathering hosted by The Attic Needlework in January. The photo below shows our supplies laid out on craft paper to protect the table and our assembled sewing books waiting to be aged. Knowing my personality, you'd think that this would be the part that I would have the most angst about. In fact, I love this step! It feels so free form reminding me of the abandon with which I approached my projects as a child. Fun!

Here is Teresa working on her sewing book - just painting away with the walnut stain made with walnut crystals and water.

Teresa's finished sewing book is on the left and mine on the right. As you can tell, she likes the aging to be featured more predominantly than I do. The stain on the linen dried a little lighter (these are dry here). Surprisingly, the cotton on the backside didn't lighten up much at all.

Next up, Teresa took me through finishing an ornament step by step. I put this down around 11pm to dry and finished up the cording on Sunday. It's not perfect but for a first attempt I must admit I'm very pleased. It's a testament to Teresa's patience and skills as a teacher. The part that I thought would be the most fiddly - sewing on the cording - was actually the easiest.

I added this charm to the backing. Isn't it cute? You can find them at Down Sunshine Lane about a third of the way down (great shop if you're looking for one). Next time I'm going to maybe stitch my initials and year on the back. I started finishing another ornament but it's not quite completed yet. Hopefully soon.

My Lessons Learned from my first retreat experience:

1. I don't enjoy finishing 14 hours at a time. I should finish in stages over time.

2. I took too much stuff to work on. I'm going to work on editing and finding that happy place.

3. There is too much food. The meals are too big. Snacks are not necessary.

4. I need to bring very warm slippers. The floors were so cold that my wool socks were not warm enough (I can't sew with a shoe on).

4. Staying up late each night and so we could enjoy every moment was totally worth it!

I came home to find a surprise waiting for me. Patty sent me a beautiful biscornu and some thread. I've never seen a biscornu in real life before. It's stitched and finished beautifully. Thank you Patty! If you haven't visited her blog Hanging on by a Thread please do stop by and see what she is up to. I promise her blog is full of good stuff!

Spring has definitely arrived here. The sun is shining, our a/c has been on twice, and there is pollen everywhere. I'm sneezing like crazy! I hope that where ever you are that it's warmed up a bit and you can feel the hint of spring in the air. Enjoy your week and happy stitches!

Weekend Recap

2011-02-28T13:27:00.003-05:00

Friday, Teresa and I headed out to our retreat very early. I had indicated in my prior post that the retreat was located somewhere a bit different. It was at Camp Blanding which is located in a more rural area and is on a beautiful lake.

Our retreat activities were held at the Armory in the Drill Hall. We took all our meals in the dining hall with the service members and ate what they did. The food was delicious - lobster for lunch? Really? Yep, really!

We had to be out of the Drill Hall by midnight so it could be locked up. Here is the scene Friday night at just a few minutes before midnight. Teresa and I stayed until midnight both nights and were at our table by 9 am each day. I was worried about it being so loud with about 200 men and women at the retreat but the high ceiling height helped. It wasn't loud at all.

The first day, the General came to see us at lunch and the retreat organizer donated a quilt for him to give to a soldier. They had just got back from Afghanistan and one solider was killed. The General was going to give that quilt to the family. It was a very emotional moment. 4 more quilts of valor were donated - I know one is going to a service member with lung cancer. I'm not sure about the other 3. The General talked to us for a few minutes. He was entertaining and not stuffy at all. Not a good picture but he wasn't hard on the eyes either!

Here's the view from the armory in the day time. You can't see it here but there were boats, jet skis, and skiers on the lake as the lake is shared with the public and private residences.

And another shot closer to dark.

Friday after setting up my "nest" and socializing more than I thought possible, I worked on my applique blocks for the 2010 $5 quilt. I have two more pieced blocks and 4 applique setting triangles to make and I'll be ready to sew the blocks together. I had already had the backgrounds on these blocks pieced and the applique fused down. I just stitched around each piece. All those thread changes took some time (and so did all the gabbing). The day just flew by and I was shocked at how little I got done.

Next time, I might hand applique those tiny circles in the picture above.

I also managed to start a new knitting project.

Barely. I started at 11pm.

I took waaaay too much stuff to do. I guess you could say I was over prepared. I'd rather that happen than not have enough to do. Next time, I'll edit just a bit to see if I can find a happy place with how much to bring. I really underestimated how long the applique would take. I'll post more about Saturday and Sunday activities later in the week. Happy Stitches!

Working for the Weekend

2011-02-24T20:53:00.003-05:00

I thought I'd show you a progress picture of Jenny Bean's Halloween today. I'm still really enjoying stitching this one even though progress is slow. Work has been crazy, other commitments, etc. You all know how it is.

A big highlight for me this past week was the arrival of the goodies I won from Deborah at Cranberry Samplings for her 300 followers celebration. I felt like it was Christmas! Deborah, thank you so much for your generosity. If you're not familiar with her blog, do visit her, read some of her posts and say hello. You won't be sorry!

Early tomorrow morning, DF Teresa (Girl With Needles) and I will leave for a weekend retreat. I spent the entire 3 day weekend last weekend getting prepared. It's not that far from home but it's located in an entirely different world than the city we live. It should be fun though. While I'm gone, I might start a scarf/shawlette called the Age of Brass and Steam. I love dark colored yarn so this heathered gray is perfect for me. I have another knitting project ready to go but I have a feeling I might not start that project.

Teresa and I will most definitely start Hallow Eden by Plum Street Samplers. We're going to have a SAL. For us that means "start a long". We'll start it at the same time and then do our own thing. I've wanted to do this one for a while. I have another very small stitching project kitted up ready to go should the mood strike. I'm also taking a couple of WIPs and a few ornaments as we're going to try and finish a few of them.

My time consuming prep work was all quilting related. I've never been to a retreat before but I do know that any ironing or cutting areas will have a steady stream of people going to and from. As a result, I spent a lot of time cutting things out over the weekend and prepping most of the blocks that I'm behind on from last years $5 Quilt and Stitchers Garden. I had kept up what seemed like most of the year and then all of a sudden I was really behind. I also have a small Jo Morton project planned to start should I want to and a WIP that needs some ripping and a pieced border made. The retreat location is pretty remote so there isn't anyplace to go buy something that I've forgotten. I have a lot of stuff to haul with me. There will also be about 200 people attending (I hope I won't get sensory overload) - many of whom I will not know. I thought it might be a good idea to have a rolling tote type thing to pack/haul my stuff in so Greg went to the big orange box hardware store. This is what he came home with:

The thing is HUGE. 50 gallons. And I managed to fill it up with my knitting and quilting (stitching is packed separately). I'll find out this weekend if I forgot something critical. We loaded up tonight and I made should I could get this beast into the van without killing myself. It was close.

Greg has been telling me "You're only going for 3 days, not a month". And I have to wonder if he actually saw the size of the tote he bought me. I mean, seriously, did he think I was going to take the thing half filled?

Not Completely Finished

2011-02-13T20:17:00.002-05:00

I finished stitching the last Stacy Nash piece that was a project at A Primitive Gathering that was hosted by The Attic Needlework in January. The color of the fabric isn't true here - it's a cool bluey green. Quite lovely. I'm hoping to completely finish it at the end of the month with my DF Teresa. This project will be aged with walnut stain and will be assembled into a sewing book.

I'm off on another work trip tomorrow morning and will return on Thursday. I have yet to finish packing. I'm going to try driving this time so I might take my personal computer so I can keep up with my blog reading. If not, I'll catch up with your posts when I return. Happy Stitches and Happy Valentines Day!

A Quick Visit and Tis Red

2011-02-07T13:23:00.002-05:00

I have a small ornament finish to show you. Well....the stitching is finished. This is Tis Red from the JCS Christmas 2010 Edition. Stitched with the called for fabric and fiber. Now I just need to learn how to finish finish it! That's a goal of mine for 2011. One I want to be sure to meet so stay tuned!

A week or so ago, I had the pleasure to meet one of my blogging friends Pat from A Little of This and a Little of Pat. I met Pat for lunch and she brought along her friend Nancy. Both were just a delight. As you can see, we had a warm sunny day - over 70 degrees. I commented on Pat's blog that it's been rainy and gray since she left Florida and that it must not be a coincidence. Pat is just that sweet and nice!

I've picked up Jenny Bean Halloween again and hope to have a progress picture for you soon. I've also been working on my Jo Morton Prairie Basket. I've gotten almost all the quilting done. I'm unsure what to do in one of the borders though. It's 3 inches. I stippled around the basket, did cross hatching in the 1" squares and am stumped now. I might just go ahead and sew on the binding and see if I get inspired later. This project is one of my 2011 goals as well.

How is everyone doing on their 2011 goals? I'm surprised that I've even paid them the least bit of attention! Maybe there is something to writing them down?

Happy Monday and Happy Stitches!

Chris's Scarf

2011-01-23T11:24:00.003-05:00

Last year when I gave my oldest son Chris a Noro Striped Scarf, he asked for a black one. In the last couple of weeks, I finally finished it. The picture is really poor because I haven't mastered photographing black and it was dark.

Chris had very definite ideas about the size of the stripes and the distance between them. He was really excited to get it (and wore it out of the house when he left even though he was wearing scrubs). Then he said the next one he wanted to be brown.

Next one? :) Thankfully he realizes he'll have to wait a year like he did for this one!

I'm glad I haven't made him a sweater!

SWAG

2011-01-21T21:17:00.002-05:00

I thought I'd show you the goodies we received at A Primitive Gathering. I was so surprised! Two pair of scissors (one goes in a class project), some Gloriana Florimell silk floss, a couple of patterns, a hornbook pendant with my initial, and a hornbook frame and pattern. The quilt pattern also has a pattern for primitive stitching/sewing accessories included.

Here is close up of the hornbook pendant. Someone said that Jean Lea's husband made these for us. He's quite talented, don't you agree? I can imagine working with something so very small and using power tools.

We received this from Apryl and Bunny of Priscilla's Pocket. Too cute! I've purchased my fabric and fibre to stitch this. I changed the colors up just a bit. It will be a quickie!

I truly feel so fortunate to have been able to attend such an event. This is the first time I've done anything like this. Are they all this good?! I'd love to hear of your experiences with classes.

I hope you're getting plenty of time with your stitches this week!

A Primitive Gathering

2011-01-18T16:19:00.004-05:00

This past weekend I went to Primitive Gatherings hosted by Jean Lea of Attic Needlework. I cannot even begin to tell you how much fun it was! Teresa and I stayed up late every night and took advantage of every experience that we could. It started Thursday night where we went to the Attic's regular stitch night. In attendance were two of our "Rock Stars" of the weekend. Linda of Chessie and Me and Vickie of NeedleWork Press. All of the stitchers were very nice and welcoming. Jean has a gorgeous shop and a wonderful staff.

Friday Night was our first project with Linda which is a book of specialty stitches. No pictures yet. It's put together but not stitched but it is a project that I'll finish. I did make my first cording. I had no idea it was so easy! I'll definitely be doing this again.

Saturday was Linda's Unfinished Sampler which I barely started. Saturday afternoon Vickie opened her home up to us. Amazing! Her home is located on acreage and is full of samplers both old and new. Her collection is so large that she had several people in the home helping and each area had a sheet of paper giving details on most of the samplers. She also had several items that have been featured in Sampler and Antique Needlework to include the bag featured on the cover of the most recent issue (Winter 2010).

On Sunday, we spent the entire day with Stacy Nash working on this Drumroll Pincushion. We had prestitched our piece so almost the entire day was spent on assembly. After assembly, we aged them using walnut crystals diluted in water. This was the really fun part.

This is my drumroll before aging.

After aging with the walnut crystals. And wouldn't you know it, I've lost the strawberry.

The weather was in the 70s and the sun was shining the entire time we were there. It was tough to come home. I'll definitely be doing something like this again.

I didn't take many photos but I thought I'd post these few of the pictures I took of the Jean's group of Rock Stars she brought in for the weekend.

Stacy Nash of Stacy Nash Primitives and Bunny of Priscilla's Pocket.

Teresa talking to Renee Plains of Liberty Star.

Linda Lautenchlager of Chessie & Me talking to Linda Danielson of Samplers Remembered who was there as an attendee.

Anne Fraser of Gloriana. Teresa and I spent some time talking to her late one night near the dessert counter in the hotel. She couldn't be any nicer!

Vickie Jennett of NeedleWork Press.

We also got some great swag but I haven't photographed any of it as yet. Let's just say we were surprised over and over again.

The weird part of the weekend is that we seemed to run into people wearing their pajama bottoms everywhere we went. Seriously, we saw at least 10 people wearing PJ bottoms. Odd.

Yesterday we had a rude awakening. At 3:45am when we had to get up to get ready for our flight back home. It was either that or get home really late. Today it was back to the real world. Soon this retreat will be in the distant past but it will always carry great memories for me!

Running In Circles

2011-01-09T17:20:00.002-05:00

I'm back home from my business trip and it went well. I made good food choices except for one meal. I consider that a win. I'm really happy actually as this is a vast improvement over past trips. I still need some work with packing but I know I'll get better at that too.

I'm leaving Thursday for another trip. This time I'm attending classes offered at Attic Needlework with my friend Teresa. I'm SO excited. I finished my pre-stitching for a class we're taking with Stacy Nash. I'm hoping to come home with this completely finished. It's my first attempt at finishing any needlework! Though I sew, it's with a machine, so this should be interesting!

I'll be home two days and then I fly out again for a 2 day work trip. I'm hoping the weather will be nice. This Florida girl doesn't need to learn to drive on ice in a busy unfamiliar city.

I've posted my goals at our sampler guild blog. You can check what I hoping to do in 2011 here. Some of them are very attainable and others are probably pie in the sky dreams. I've really enjoyed reading what you hope to accomplish in 2011. I've started quite the list of things I'd like to do. Thank you for the inspiration!

A Different Kind of Challenge for 2011

2011-01-04T10:44:00.002-05:00

I'm facing another challenge in 2011 - significantly more business travel. Something I battle while traveling is food. I eat too much and the foods that are available are typically more processed than what I generally eat. I'm going to really work on this. My other challenge? I always seem to overpack. I am determined to not check a bag for a 2-3 night trip. Todays trip is 2 nights. Here's my bag that I'm carrying on. I hope it will be allowed.

Ugh! This bag looks 9 months pregnant!

This is really hard for me. Hopefully I'll have a nice TSA agent who won't want to flash my personal items to the world. Hmmmm....I need to check to make sure my unmentionables aren't packed on top just in case!

Let's hope I can hoist this baby into the overhead bin.

I hope you all are having a great week. Happy Stitches!

A Great Start

2011-01-02T20:04:00.005-05:00

I swore I wouldn't join any New Year challenges but somehow I managed to get involved in an UFO challenge. I'm not a serial starter and I'm not a serial finisher. I do have some projects that don't seem to be progressing. I can see how those with tons of unfinished projects can feel the weight of them. I am determined in 2011 to either finish some of my projects or pass them on to someone who will if I'm not making progress on them.

I decided to put my money where my mouth is so to speak. No New Years start for me. I wanted to instead try and FINISH something! So Thursday and all day Friday, I worked on hand quilting my Log Cabin Table Topper. I finally finished the hand quilting Saturday morning and today I finished the binding. This is a project for my Jo's Little Women Club. One thing I quickly learned is that these Jo projects take a load of time. This is 15" square and each 5" square has 15 pieces. It was a perfect project to try hand quilting for the first time. I can't imagine hand quilting a big quilt as the process was slow and by Friday night my hands were aching. I do want to hand quilt small projects in the future and I love learning a new skill.

Lesson Learned - Small does not mean quick!

Quite often is means the opposite.

The colors are more accurate in this picture. All the fabrics are Jo Mortons.

I'll post a list of the projects I'd like to finish or have some progress on in the next week. It's a combo of knitting, stitching and quilting projects. One project will either be done by the end of the year or it and the supplies will be up for grabs.

Another goal is to learn how to do a Flickr mosaic. Technical things do not come easy to me. I did go ahead and make up a set for my 2011 finished objects so next year it will be easy to pull those photos for a finished project mosaic. Hopefully there will be lots to put in one!

At the end of 2011 I'd like to say I started some projects, finished others and made progress on those that didn't get finished. I'd also like to learn some new skills. What I want the most though is to have fun and to continue to be inspired by and build relationships with other creative people! Wishing you all a happy, healthy and safe new year!

Busy, Busy

2010-12-13T21:42:00.003-05:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks - busy with holiday preparations. Shopping, wrapping, mailing. Steady progress has been made. I'm determined to not have a stressful holiday and so far I've been successful. There hasn't been much time in the sewing room or the stitching/knitting chair as a result. I did manage to finish one of the applique blocks for $5 quilt.

For me, baking and sending out holiday cards is a sign that things are going well. This past week saw cards getting to the post office and the baking of two batches of cookies! It's a small baking session but I'm considering it done. Most of the cookies are gone - just a few saved in the freezer for Christmas Day. These are the Neiman Marcus cookie.

Yes, I have navy blue countertops.

No, I don't know what I was thinking!

I also got a chance to go by the Holiday Open House hosted by my quilt shop. Everyone received a coupon for 50% off any item and all fabric off the bolt was 30% off . Nancy Mahoney was also there with a trunk show. She is a fabric designer for P&B and an author of several quilt books. Her most recent is Treasures from the 30's. Her quilts are gorgeous (sorry no pictures of those). She'll be teaching a class next month at my quilt shop. I'll probably not take her class as January is already busy with business travel and a few other things (more to come on that in late January).

I'm also traveling to Atlanta on Monday. Flight leaves at 6:30 am and I'm back at 6:30pm the same day. Ugh! I'm not looking forward to that. It will be a long day. I have the week after Christmas off and I'm really looking forward to getting back to some serious stitchy time!

I hope each of you are having a wonderful holiday season - one with as little stress as possible!

Getting Back in the Groove

2010-12-05T15:32:00.002-05:00

Thank you to all my readers for your supporting comments on my last post. I appreciate each and every one of you and I cannot even begin to tell you how much your support means to me.

I've not been stitching much since I got back from vacation but I have managed to make a bit of progress on Jenny Bean's Halloween Sampler. I am finding that I like stitching letters as they seem like quick little finishes. Looking at this photo, I realize I have forgotten to go back and add those two single crossed stitches that are on either side of the moon.

In the last month, I've won two giveaways! I was thrilled and surprised to win both. This beautiful pair of scissors and the fob came from Averyclaire. She is a very talented quilter and stitcher. I've already put both of these to good use! Please visit her blog and say hello!

Then I won a skein of Wollmeise 100% from Lina at Photo.Knit.Dog. She is a wonderful knitter and photographer. Her handknits always fit her beautifully. The color of this yarn is very saturated - I could use some serious photography lessons from Lina! Visit her blog and you'll see what I mean. I've been thinking of this skein of yarn and need to find the perfect shawl pattern for it that makes the best use of it's 574 yards.

I did get a little sewing in this weekend after not laying a hand on my sewing machine for well over a month. I did a little of this and a little of that and didn't get a whole lot accomplished but it still felt good! We also got our tree up - it doesn't look much different than last year - and we wrapped and packaged up four big boxes of gifts to be mailed out tomorrow for our 3 nieces and nephew. Now to shop for the adults, bake cookies, and get Christmas cards out! Loads to do but I'm feeling pretty good with where I am so far. Hopefully I won't see any "X Days to Christmas" widgets anywhere!

Perspective

2010-12-02T14:54:00.004-05:00

Over the past few months, much has been going on that has caused me more than a little anxiety:

1. My mother was diagnosed with the very beginning stages of dementia.

2. My job - total upheaval and change. Not necessarily bad but dramatically and completely different.

3. Add to that the typical stress of life. Not enough time. Hustle and bustle.

I have most definitely been in a funk period as a result of all of the above. I'm not prone to whining or complaining so I've kept most of this very private or have spoken in very general terms.

This past weekend (Thanksgiving weekend in the US), I received a real dose of perspective. Dan is home on leave from deployment overseas. He's the one on the right in the picture below. The one with the uncombed hair is my son. He's been friends with Dan for several years.

Dan came over for a couple of hours Sunday night to talk to me because he knew I wanted to see him. He was deployed in May almost directly from Basic Training and he's been through so much. He's always been very chatty so he shared a lot.

He's been shot. In the head. His kevlar helmet saved his life. Most of us will believe that it was more than a helmet that is responsible for him being here today.

He works 12+ hours a day 7 days a week. He also has PT daily. He's a medic with a trauma unit (level 2 I think he said) that receives wounded directly from the front line. That is, if he's not out there treating them in the field while putting his own life in the line of fire. He has seen unthinkable things.

When he goes back, he's being assigned to a new squadron. Dan shared with me the prior 8 medics with this squadron have been "lost".

Lost meaning ALL prior 8 medics were shot. 4 fatally.

My worries? Insignificant. Funk to thankfulness and a new positive perspective with a single conversation.

Please keep Dan and the thousands of others serving their country across the world in your thoughts and prayers. They truly need them.

Halloween???

2010-11-20T17:55:00.002-05:00

I know many stitchers are seasonal stitchers. I think I have my seasons mixed up! I started Jenny Bean Halloween last week while we were on vacation. I'm using the called for fabric and the limited edition thread pack for this project. The picture below isn't flattering at all as it was taken indoors after dark. I struggle with getting nice pictures of stitching - it's so difficult!

It's hard to believe that we'll celebrate Thanksgiving in the US on Thursday. Time has flown this year. Do you have special plans? My parents will be driving up and hopefully my sister will be coming with them. With my mother in law, we'll be a small gathering - just the 8 of us - but we'll enjoy spending the day together.

We're now in the holiday season where things get crazy. We don't have small children anymore but do like to have a traditional Christmas holiday with some surprises for all. We also have family in Austin and Phoenix with little ones and it's always exciting to get something special for them. There are generally two things that indicate how organized I am for the holidays. 1: Whether or not I get Christmas cards out and 2: Whether or not I make cookies from scratch. This year I hope to do both!

If I don't get a chance to post again this week, I wish you all a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

We're Back

2010-11-13T18:08:00.002-05:00

We're back from a week long visit to the Smoky Mountains. Greg & I had a wonderful time and miss it already. We rented a cute little cabin. It was really cozy. Here's a view from the loft:

We had a great view from the back deck. We didn't get to spend much time here because it was either cold or dark when we were there. Not a lot of fall color compared to prior years but he view is still beautiful.

One of the best part of the trip was seeing snow! I wanted to be out in it while it was snowing but the major snowfall happened the night before we got there. The higher elevations within the park got 8.5" so we went looking for it 2 days after we arrived when the roads were opened in this area. There was loads of snow near Newfound Gap. Or at least this is a lot of snow to me. I know many of you don't get my excitement but I've lived in the south most of my life and in Florida for 3 decades. I can count the number of times I've seen snow on one hand and have fingers left over!

We cancelled the hike we had planned for this particular day. I'm not sure I could make it down the inclines safely nor do I know how I'd manage to climb back up. This trail is off the parking area for Clingmans Dome. It happened to also be very windy there.

We did find some other trails to hike later in the week and had a great time. Here is a picture of a favorite water crossing. The tree is really quite sturdy to walk on and the hand rail was worn smooth by the hands of the hikers before us. It was fun!

I should have taken pictures of all the stuff I took with me. I took books, stitching, knitting projects (3), my Jo's Little Women applique and my hand quilting project. Almost all of it was untouched. I read a couple of books and started a new stitching project. It was very comforting to have it all with me "just in case". Greg is always so accepting of all the stuff I like to take with me and never complains about the extra packing and unpacking. This time, I even took my stand up Verilux light which I used every day.

So we're home again and getting back into the groove of our normal life and routines. I have over 400 blog postings to read and hope to get through those soon. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you've been up to while I was gone!

Quick Update

2010-11-05T12:07:00.004-04:00

I've finished this block a bit quicker than I anticipated so I thought I'd post a quick update. I have a little bit of finish work to do in the green center but that shouldn't take long once I get to it. I have 2 blocks to complete this project. Unfortunately, they're the type of block that I enjoy less than this one. So it might be a while!

I'm thinking of starting a new knitting project. I'm not sure the yarn is going to work with the pattern. Going down a needle size might help. We'll see. This picture does not do the yarn justice. It's really a bit shiny in person and the color is more vibrant. Hopefully it will end up as a shawlette for my mom. It's not for Christmas unless it just happens to get done. I don't do deadlines generally. Nothing takes the fun out of a project faster - at least for me!

Happy Stitches!

A Bit Quiet

2010-10-31T10:10:00.003-04:00

It's time for my Bernina to go in for it's annual service. I dropped it off yesterday afternoon.

My sewing room looks empty.

I do have some quilting related activities set up and ready to go. I've pieced 8 setting triangles and 1 block that need applique fused onto them. The black rolled up fabric is my Jo's Little Women project that needs hand quilting. It's about half way finished. I also have my needle turn applique for the next project to do. As you can tell, I've made zero progress on it since I posted about it. I'm not going to be able to get all this completed in the next couple of weeks while my machine is in the shop due to other activities we have planned. It sure is nice to have options though! I have a couple of stitching and knitting projects to work on too so there won't be a lack of things to do.

Things around here will be a bit quiet for the next couple of weeks or so. I'll still be visiting your blogs and seeing what you have going on! My blog list gets longer every day! Thank you for visiting and I'll be back soon. Happy Stitches!

Mail Call!

2010-10-27T10:16:00.001-04:00

The mailman brought goodies on Monday. I received my package from the Heather Ross Studio Sale. This is a $25 package. I didn't expect the Flea Market Fancy nor did I expect a personalized print. We had no idea what we were going to get.

Then I got the Flea Market Fancy I purchased from the Lucy & Norman Destash! 21 fat eights of an out of print and hard to find fabric line.

There is very little sewing going on but I did finish my pieced block for October for the $5 Quilt. The center block has a little give in it but not enough to worry about. It will quilt out so it stays. Other than this block, I've pieced together a few background blocks for the applique on this same quilt. I'm behind and hoping to somewhat catch up. I must admit, I'm not feeling it now though so it's probably going to sit for a while.

I've been in more of a stitching mood lately. Our sampler guild met on Saturday - I didn't really get a lot done there but I've kept at it since then and I've made a lot of progress when you consider my normal stitching pace. I have 3 motifs left on Quakers and Quilts and my mind is already turning to the next project. No decisions yet.

Our weather has turned hot again. Almost hitting 90 today. I'm so ready for the cold weather to get here. I want open windows and fresh air! This weekend it's supposed to dip below 80 and I'm really looking forward to it.

Thank you for visiting my blog! I have a long list of blogs I follow and I rarely miss reading them. I'm always so interested and inspired by what everyone is doing. Bloggers are awesome in so many ways, I appreciate each of you! Happy Stitches!

Exploring Something New and and Update!

2010-10-20T09:46:00.004-04:00

As I shared in my last post, my Jo's Little Women's class last weekend had instruction around hand applique. I've only machine appliqued so I took loads of notes. The method Jan taught us is commonly referred to as Back Basting but Jan uses the term Perfect Placement. In this method, you don't cut out templates that are fussy or can get lost. The first thing to do is to pin your applique pattern face up to the background fabric which is also face up. Pining has it's own technique as you want to make sure the background fabric is pinned smoothly to the pattern without any "bubbles".

We laid a sheet of tracing/transfer paper - we used Saral - underneath your background fabric facing the back of the fabric. We didn't pin this to the backing fabric because we wanted to move the transfer paper around as our pattern was bigger. We used a Sewline Tracer to trace the pattern onto the back of the fabric by following the lines on the paper pattern that we pinned to the background fabric. If you have not tried the Sewline Tracer, you must. It glides like butta! I used the ruler to make the lines for the stems straight and the template to make the circles more circular. I'm sure they won't end up that way though!

Flip over your fabric and there is your pattern!

This is as far as I've gotten so far as I'm waiting on my silk thread to back baste. I'm using Sherri's tip for that which I'll share with you when I give you an update.

I finally finished the next motif on Quakers and Quilts by Rosewood Manor. I'm stitching this on the called for fabric with the called for threads. The lower half of this project seems to be going much slower for me.

I'm thinking of pulling out something new to start....something small. We'll see where I go on that. Something new is always fun!

I hope you're enjoying your week. I always appreciate your visits and comments and I enjoy visiting your blogs as well. Happy Stitches!

Weekend Update

2010-10-16T23:51:00.004-04:00

I finished this Stitchers Garden block this week. This block used the #31 pin tuck foot to add piping. I enjoyed it but this isn't my favorite block. I don't like the stitch I picked for the quilting of the background. They can't all be my favorite!

My technique needs come work but I can see myself using it again in other quilts. I really like the little pop of color.

Today was our Jo's Little Women Club meeting. Our leader and instructor for this club is Jan Vaine. Jan has a book coming out next year. She brought 2 of the projects to our meeting that will be included in the book. They're silk and let me tell you, they are GORGEOUS! She is truly a talent.

She brought her projection setup for the class. We didn't even have to get out of our chairs to see her demonstrations. This time around we're learning hand applique - specifically needle turned applique that is back basted. I have heard so much about hand applique that I'm going to give it a shot. I love to learn new techniques and there are SO many!

Two ladies had their quilts from last month completely finished. Mine is basted and I just started the hand quilting stage so it will be a bit before mine is ready to show. I will say that one my blocks ended up as a coaster!

Here is Marilyn with her quilt. I love the touch of green!

And this is Nancy with hers. Her stitches are tiny.

Everyone is so nice and Jan is a wealth of knowledge. I have learned so much from her already. Funny thing is that the Jo Morton fabrics never appealed to me but in these smaller projects I'm totally in love with them (and furiously collecting, I might add). I am so glad that I'm not a natural at this quilting thing as it's been so rewarding to learn and to grow. Doing things perfectly right from the beginning sure would be boring I think. At least that's what I tell myself - if that isn't true, I don't want to know! :)

My knitting and stitching projects are progressing slowly but I promise that I'm still knitting and stitching. Nothing to show there. I hope each of you are having a fantastic weekend. Florida is experiencing a sunny but cooler weekend. I'm loving it! Happy Stitches!

100% Finished!

2010-10-12T17:47:00.002-04:00

This weekend I put the last stitch in the binding of this quilt. This is the 2nd quilt I pieced and is the first bed size quilt that I have finished. I was originally going to use a green fabric for the binding but decided to use the same brown as the backing fabric.

Our temperatures are back into the high 80's this week. I'm glad this quilt is finished in time for the cooler temperatures that are hopefully on their way. Greg and I are both tall so we'll probably use this as a lap quilt. Perfect for snuggling!

Sneak Peeks

2010-10-10T19:33:00.003-04:00

Here's a sneak peek at my first project for Jo's Little Women Club at my LQS. The marker is for scale. There are 17 pieces in each block. I've never done a Courthouse Steps or a Log Cabin block before. The key to the Log Cabin block is to keep the piece most recently added closest to you as you sew on the next piece. Once finished, I'm going to hand quilt this small project. I'm actually a bit nervous about that! Anyone out there have any hand sewing tips?

Here's an almost empty project box. Actually I'm not going to use the fabric shown for my binding so that yard or so of fabric can go back into my stash. I hope to have a finished quilting project for you soon.

I've spent just a bit of time sewing this weekend. I managed to come down with a cold just on the cusp of the long weekend so I've not gotten done as much as I hoped. I enjoyed what I did though!

I hope you had a great weekend and had opportunity to do the things that make you happy!

Family Treasures

2010-10-07T12:42:00.005-04:00

In my last post, you could see a wagon wheel quilt my grandmother made. She passed away when I was 8 (I'm almost 49) and her quilts are my most prized possessions. I always feel really close to her when I am quilting. This is the other quilt that I own that she made. No one is home with me to hold it up so the back of the couch has to do. My grandfather used to go to the cotton mills along the river in Phenix City, AL and get scraps for Grandma. My grandparents had very limited means and these scraps were cheap. If I remember correctly, they came cut in squares already.

I can't imagine what this fabric looked like as a bigger cut. But when you have to, you make do with what you have and nothing goes to waste.

This is one of my favorite fabrics. There is just the one square so it must have been the only one she had.

Simple fabrics, simple placement. Priceless to me!

New Toy and New Project

2010-10-03T22:04:00.008-04:00

I have a new ~~toy~~ laptop:

This is the greeting I saw when I opened the very small booklet that accompanied the MacBook. I'm not a believer yet. The transition from a Windows based product to a Mac has not been as easy as I hoped it would be. There was not an instructional manual so I guess I'll slowly work through the 23,987 tutorials that are on the Apple site.

I started my first project today for Jo's Little Women Club that my LYS is offering. I cut what seemed like tons of 1" strips (these are just a few). My hands hurt from gripping the rotary cutter and working with the small pieces. I really don't like to cut out fabric.

This is a small project - 15" square - and I hope to hand quilt it. It will be my first hand quilting project so the small size will work well. I think I'm going to enjoy hand quilting small projects.

Greg rode in the MS150 this weekend. He cycled 160 miles with almost 2000 other cyclists to raise funds and awareness for MS. The North Florida chapter of his bike group raised almost $1million! He's a bit tired but happy that he could do something to make a difference by doing something that he loves.

I hope you all had a good weekend! Thank you for visiting and Happy Stitches!

Storage for Quilts

2010-10-01T23:33:00.008-04:00

Last week while at QuiltFest, I passed a vendor whose product I'd been oggling for the past 2 years. I chatted with the owner for a while where he mentioned he would not be coming back. They were simply tired of the constant travel; can't say I blame them. After walking around for a bit, Jeannine reminded me that work had been really stressful lately (SO true) and said that I deserved one (isn't she good?), I went back and purchased one. It's a cabinet to store quilts in but you can see them through the glass. Here is what it looks like with one of my grandmothers quilts hanging in it.

It's neat in that you can either hang quilts or fold them and stack them from the bottom. Or you can do both. There is a door on the side where you can easily put the folded quilts on the bottom without disturbing the hanging quilts. I'm going to have to refold my grandmothers quilts so they don't hang quite so low so I can put my folded quilts on the bottom (well, those quilts I'd have if I'd finish any).

The hanging quilts can be removed and put back from the top which swings up.

My decor is comprised of furniture with clean lines combined with traditional touches so this doesn't stick out like a sore thumb. I really love this piece and look forward to storing quilts here. I guess I'd better get busy and finish something, huh? Thank you Jeannine for your ~~enabling~~ support!

Quilt Fest

2010-09-26T18:26:00.004-04:00

Friday I took the day off and went to QuiltFest with Jeannine of Sleepy Weasel Studios. We had a great time! I'm just going to show you a few photos.

This little quilt amazed me because it's 1/4" hexagons. The quilt was not much larger than my hand.

This quilt was designed, pieced and quilted by a 9 year old! Can you imagine?!

We were also fortunate to sit in on Bonnie Hunters trunk show. She is pretty funny and is a talented quilter and scrap user. The hour just flew by. This is her current quilt that she is hand quilting. She takes it with her to work on when she has some free time while traveling.

I left the house Friday morning at 9 am and besides coming home for a quick hour to meet a service guy, I didn't return until almost 11pm as I went to knit night, dinner with friends and then to Barnes and Nobles. I was exhausted but in a good way!

I made a purchase that I'll show you later. Other than that, I just bought fabric, a marking pencil, a stencil, some needles, crushed walnuts and a couple of pin cushion patterns.

Oh! I forgot to take a picture of the Best in Show. Part of it was micro micro stippled. The quilter used a magnifying glass to quilt it. It was so small that I wasn't even sure it was quilted as I could not see the stitches or pattern.

I hope each of you had a great weekend! Happy Stitches and thank you for visiting my blog!

Newbie Mistake Sends Me to the Frog Pond

2010-09-22T10:07:00.003-04:00

There used to be a commercial on TV that promoted reading. It's tag line was "Reading is Fundamental". It's proven to me over and over again that we often learn life lessons early in childhood. Take this for example. I'm a newbie stitcher and I just missed this.

Look at the difference. In my mind, this outside work wasn't backstitching per se. It wasn't until I looked at a photo in blog land that I realized the error of my ways. I'm not frogging this now. I'll come back to it later.

Lesson Learned: Reading IS Fundamental.
Seriously.

There has been little knitting content here lately. That's because Quilting has taken over much of my free time. Plus I'm working on 2 big projects that don't show well in progress.

This weekend is QuiltFest and I'm looking forward to attending and maybe do a little retail therapy! My quilt show generally has more traditional leanings so I'm hoping to find some Jo Morton fabrics. I've just joined Jo's Little Women Club and do not have a red that I like for our project. I only need a 12" strip 1.5" wide. Still, it's a big deal to me - that red has to be perfect! If I don't find it this week, I'm going to have to move on with what I have which is more rust.

Are you on Facebook? Did you know that AccuQuilt gives away a GO Fabric Cutter every Friday on Facebook? Several blogging friends have won one! I want to be next but thought I'd share with all of you as I was talking to someone last week who didn't know. Hey, if I can't win one, I would rather a blogging friend get one. At least I can send you fabric to cut for me because you all know how much I dislike that part of the process!!

I hope everyone is having a great week! As always, Happy Stitches!

Small Finish...But a Finish Nonetheless

2010-09-17T07:01:00.000-04:00

I finished LHNs Pear Tree ornament from the "All Dolled Up" series yesterday. I don't have a beading needle so the beads haven't been added. This goes off to the drawer with the other ornament I've finished stitching until I'm ready to do the final finishing. The only complaint I have about this series is that the ornaments are bigger than I'd like. I'm on auto ship from Drema at NeedleCraft Corner for the pattern and fabric (which is nice because you get all the extras too). I might call and see if she can offer a larger count fabric for next year.

I also finished another Stitchers Garden block. This one and the block before are 2 of my favorites. I'm finding that I really like using buttons in my quilting. Yo-yos not so much.

The lesson this month was making pintucks with Bernina foot #31. We didn't use the cording as demonstrated in the video I linked. It was fun and easy! I made mine really close together. A double needle was also used for the background. The pink thread is darker than I'd have liked but it really isn't as glaring in person as it photographs and once the quilt is finished it will be a non-issue.

I've been working on re-establishing an exercise routine and for the past 4 weeks I've exercised at least 3 days per week. It's dropped below 90 here so I've been trying to exercise outside as much as possible. I'm doing it but beginning to think all the hype about endorphins is an urban legend. I really envy those of you that enjoy exercising and hope one day I can say the same!

Snails Trails and a Good Report

2010-09-12T17:43:00.003-04:00

Today I worked on my $5 quilt block for next weekend. As you may remember, I've had some trouble with my blocks turning out too small. This one was too big. I'll make it work because I'm certainly not doing this one again. It took a long time. Overall, it's not my favorite block.

Cody and Kenzie had their spa day this week. You can now see their faces.

Kenzie was playing in the wet grass. I had to post this picture though as generally her face comes out black due to her coloring.

They get a report card when they get groomed. Cody was a "Little Angel". Not sure I believe that because he just tolerates these visits. Kenzie, however, got a blue ribbon and a note that she was a sweetheart. She IS a sweetheart but under all that don't kid yourself - she is Alpha dog. All 10 pounds of her! She is small for her breed but she thinks she is a German Shepherd.

Greg and I were off all week and stayed at home. Had a really nice relaxing week together. I did a lot of reading which is my ultimate activity for chilling. Today Greg had his first 100 mile bike ride (bike as in bicycle). He did really well though his back is a bit sore. My exercise efforts have been respectable for me though I've been sidelined for the past 2 days. Hopefully I can get back to it tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Monday so it's back to work for me. I hope you all had a great weekend. I appreciate your visits to my blog and your comments. It's also wonderful getting to know each of you. Have a great week. Happy Stitches!

I Need to Spend TIme on Ebay!

2010-09-07T15:35:00.004-04:00

I think my mojo is coming back. I was able to get this next block in my Stitchers Garden BOM completed. There is something about yellow and blue that is always so crisp.

This block featured the cording foot #25 from Bernina to sew down the DMC thread which becomes the stem of the flower. I forgot to do decorative stitching so the applique was blanket stitch.

My favorite part of this block without fail is the background stitching with the twin needle. I really like the way it looks. I've definitely gotten comfortable with using a twin needle and can see doing more of it in the future. It's not as scary as it looks! I think it would be great to use on bag handles.

Last weekend a lady at the quilt shop brought this beauty in to show everyone. It's a 1939 hand crank Singer sewing machine in fantastic condition. She paid $63 for it on Ebay. With $35 shipping, her total cost was just less than $100. To me, that seems like a great deal! I don't spend any time on Ebay but I'm now thinking I need to visit there every once in a while. Another great thing about this machine? She can keep sewing if her electricity goes out!

I'd love to have a vintage sewing machine!

I hope you're having a great week so far. Happy Stitches!

Out of Jail!

2010-09-05T13:39:00.003-04:00

In late May while we were on vacation, Cody tore his ACL so we turned around and came home so he could have surgery. Since then he's been on a leash or in his crate. He's managed that much better than Greg and I have. It wasn't until we saw how much it hurt him to even be on the leash that we realized we needed to comply 100% with the vets instructions and give him a lot of crate time. In the last 2 weeks, he was deemed fit enough to be off leash. He has now resumed his rightful place on my new couch!

Kenzie maintains her rightful place on Greg's back. He's napping and so is she!

Both dogs have gotten so shaggy and are hopefully being groomed this week. I just didn't feel comfortable taking Cody to the groomers while he was on restricted activity. Since he has a little anxiety when he's separated from Kenzie, she didn't go either.

Cody and Kenzie are truly part of our family and we're all glad to have his surgery and recovery behind us. We've noticed he's not quite as active and I'm hoping that he'll get stronger over time. Hopefully our next vacation will go as planned!

Not a Walk in the Park

2010-09-02T06:38:00.003-04:00

Last Saturday our Sampler Guild had our monthly get together. Linda and I arrived quite a bit before anyone else so we had a great chance to chat with each other. I thought I'd show you the beautiful piece she has almost finished. It's called the Six Hem Sampler by Indigo Rose.

Here is a close up of Linda's wonderful stitching. As a newer stitcher, I can't imagine doing this!

After I took these 2 pictures, I put my camera away and forgot to take any more pictures. Too busy chatting! Karen and I also had brought some of our yarn to show each other - indie dyed stuff so we could compare. Needless to say I had a great time!

I mentioned in my last post that I had intended to get up that morning and take a walk but it was raining. Lo and behold it quit raining right after I hit "publish" on that post. So off I went. I live in a neighborhood but to walk any distance you have to leave the neighborhood if you don't want to walk the same route over and over. No parks nearby to walk in as my walk took me along what can be a busy street.

I'm ashamed to say I haven't exercised in months. Greg booked our cabin in the mountains for later this year and if I want to hike while we're there, I need to get off the couch now. How does a girl train for elevation changes when she lives in Florida? Bridges and overpasses. Here is the one I walked over - it's an overpass over an interstate. Looking at the picture, it looks just as flat as everything else around here.

Who am I kidding? I better get my rear in gear and get back to the gym. I have to say, it's not something I enjoy. Endorphins? What are those? I'd love to be one of those people who look forward to exercise. Maybe enjoy it a little. Is that too much to ask? I think it quite possibly might be.

Do You?

2010-08-29T09:44:00.002-04:00

I wanted to show you the quilt that Martha, one of the owners of Calico Station, is working on. Isn't is gorgeous? She is going to enter it into QuiltFest. My picture does not accurately represent the colors. I love the applique and the half square triangle sashing.

I'm not at the point in my quilting journey that I would consider entering a quilt into any type of show. I use my hobbies to relax me, to have fun, and to grow the creative side of me that frankly I didn't know I had. The thought of entering something into a competition would just take all the fun out of it for me. I'd be curious to hear of any of your experiences with entering your projects (not only quilting) into shows. Was it an experience you'd repeat? Did you get any value or take aways from the experience?

It's a rainy day in Florida today. Go figure - I was going to start walking outside again this morning. I really need to get back into a regular exercise routine. I'll take the rain as a sign that I need to do something else this morning!

I thank each of you for visiting, reading, and commenting on my blog and thank each of you who have your own blogs. I learn so much from you and feel so inspired by you! Thank you!

Shocking!

2010-08-24T20:50:00.003-04:00

To recap what I've shown you so far: Take a charm pack and sew the squares however you'd like. Use as many or as few as you'd like. Border with 3" strips of fabric.

Use the Little Twister Ruler (you can barely see it in the lower left) and cut out squares lining up the lines on the Little Twister Ruler with the seams on your piece. See the scraps? They're perfect for 2.5" border squares or to piece your backing.

You lay your new squares out in the same order that you cut them. Then sew together row by row. I actually got my entire table runner cut out and pieced in our 2 hour class last Tuesday. That is shocker #1 - I never complete what I'm supposed to in class.

Shocker #2? I actually finished my table runner. Quilted and bound!

Easy, quick and finished!!!

They All Deserve a Hero's Welcome

2010-08-21T19:37:00.003-04:00

The latest $5 quilt block is below. A couple of points will be chopped off a bit when this is sewn together. That bothers me a bit but not enough to do it again!

What I saw on my way to knit night Friday just warmed my heart. Tyler Southern was coming home to a hero's welcome. People were lined up everywhere. They were lined up from the interstate exit ramp to the front door of his family home.

I saw the front end of his police escort but didn't see his motorcade.

I couldn't help but think about all the men and women who won't be coming home. What the service men and women (and their families) do for us is something we should appreciate every day, not just the 4th of July, Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Thank you Tyler Southern and Welcome Home!

Update!

2010-08-18T21:50:00.005-04:00

I finally finished the next page of my Quakers and Quilts chart. I love the star but I dislike the 1/4 stitches! It sloooowed me way down. I was surprised that I didn't mind the back stitching. Of course, there is quite a bit of back stitching in the bottom half of this chart so I might change my mind on that later on.

In my last post, I showed you my homework for a class I was taking. During class last night , this is what my homework looked like. I'm hoping to have more pictures for you soon. Keep in mind that "soon" for me and most other people is not the same! It was a fun class and I was surprised that I completed more than the other students. That has *never happened* before.

I'm feeling a little itchy....dare I hope that I might be getting a bit of my mojo back?!!!

Homework Completed

2010-08-15T16:40:00.002-04:00

My home work for my quilting class this week is done. We had to take as many charm squares as we wanted, sew them together however we wanted and then add a 3" border.

Class is Tuesday. I'll do the pressing there.
After I was done, I folded up my homework and left the room.
Enough for today.

Maybe I'll get more of my mojo back in class.

Saturday night was Midnight Knit. I went and knit for the evening and I've done a small amount of stitching. Not enough to show.

I hope you have had a good weekend!

Baby Steps

2010-08-11T21:20:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, I walked into my sewing room for the first time in 2 weeks and sat down at my sewing machine. I decided to sew the buttons on to one of my Stitchers Garden blocks. My Bernina sewing machine offers a stitch (#17 on my 440QE) specifically for this purpose. I had no idea that there is a standard size for button holes. Who knew?

Bernina also has a specialty foot to sew on buttons - #18. See how it has that prong in the middle? You use it to line up the foot in the right place. When you stitch the button on the thread goes over that prong so some give is built in and it does not get sewn on too tight. Neat, huh? I sewed on a dozen buttons in just a few minutes. The biggest pain was clipping threads. I really love this feature of my machine because I hate to sew on buttons.

Here's the completed block with the buttons. Evidently I didn't notice the border was crumpled before taking photos.

Here is a close up of some of the details.

So I sewed on my buttons, took these photos, turned off the lights and left the room.
Maybe next weekend, I'll do a few minutes more?

Seriously???

2010-08-09T19:32:00.002-04:00

I don't usually makes this type of post on my blog but today I'm going to. Saturday I went to the mall for my monthly skunk stripe removal (hair cut and color) and thought I'd stop by and check on swimming suits for my nieces (ages 7 and 4). I live in Florida and this is a good time of year to purchase them at a deep discount from a nice department store.

I always go for the pink.

As I got closer, I noticed the sticker on the bodice.

Are you kidding me????

This was on a CHILDRENS size 8. Can someone tell me why an 8 year old needs a padded swimming top? This was not lining - it was padding. I know the difference.

Either I'm officially a prude or there is something seriously wrong here.

The Dog Days of Summer...

2010-08-05T19:03:00.003-04:00

...and I'm doing a lot of reading. Either it's so hot, I'm drained from the heat, or just feeling BLEH about doing much of anything else. I'm a huge reader - if I don't read each day I'm ~~probably~~ seriously ill.

This Mortal Instruments series is not something I'd normally read. Definitely not my genre. But one of my knitty friends put them in my hands and after a few months, I started with the first book. I was hooked within just a few pages.

What are you doing these days?

Done!

2010-07-29T18:54:00.002-04:00

In my mind, this table runner is done 11 months ahead of schedule.

It's not wonky like it looks. The ground is a bit uneven. I have horrible problems getting true colors with photos taken indoors but I do need to find an alternative to the ground.

I actually started this on the 4th of July and realized that the kit didn't have backing fabric and I didn't already own something I liked. I finally made it to working on the binding last week. It's now hanging in the closet.

I sure love finishing projects ahead of schedule!

Unsettled

2010-07-25T14:33:00.004-04:00

I've been feeling unsettled the past week. Can't focus on much of anything. I managed to stitch yesterday with the Sampler Guild for a few hours. Today I played around with some flying geese. My UFO project uses a method that is similar to this method (very little waste) from Linda at Flourishing Palms. My attention span is short, so I didn't get much done. I've read a bit from a book I'm reading and I've caught up on email and blogs.

Jeanne at Willow Tree Stitcher was having a contest to give away the Plymouth Sampler chart and I won. She sent along a couple of other little goodies with it. I love Brenda Keyes and The Sampler Company.

This unsettled feeling has been here for a couple of weeks. I have some thinking to do. I know it will all work out, I'm just in a hurry for that to happen.

I think I'm going to knit for a bit.

Runner Up!

2010-07-23T09:57:00.005-04:00

Heather at A Passionate Quilter had a contest on her blog. I wasn't the winner but was the runner up and the winner never contacted her. Look at this lovely Chocolate Lollipop fabric by Anna Maria that she sent me! Stop by and give her a hello.

Here is my next block on for the $5 Quilt. For the first time, I was sewing at midnight the night before our meeting. Bad move. The block isn't sized as nicely as it should be. I'm going to live with it though. In the words of Tim Gunn "make it work" is what I'm going to do!

When I was packing at the last minute for my trip to Dallas I decided to pack an old friend. My Per Terras big knitting project. I actually knit 12 or 14 rows on it while I was gone and a few since I've gotten back.

I think I started this project a year ago. When I started it, I thought I'd never get the hang of it. I knit and frogged, knit and frogged, frogged some more. Then it got better but it wasn't intuitive. When I picked this back up after having it sit for over 6 months I realized how much I've grown with my pattern reading and reading my knitting. It's SO much easier. Dare I say it is EASY now? This project is going to be special in that it's going to tell the story of my growth as a knitter. Don't you just love those kinds of projects?

Traveling Woman

2010-07-19T19:39:00.004-04:00

I finished Traveling Woman a couple of weekends ago but didn't get a chance to block it. This weekend, I threw it in a tub of water with some Soak. I was very disappointed to see the water turn pink as it meant some of the dye was releasing back into the water. Hopefully, I've rinsed it enough. Out came the blocking wires and few short hours under the ceiling fan and my shawl was completely dried and ready for it's photo shoot.

I love this pattern and I love this colorway!

Traveling Woman (Ravelry Link)
Yarn: Madelinetosh DK
Colorway: Tart
Needles: 9
Modifications: Use of DK weight yarn and 1 extra repeat of Chart A

Too bad it's in the 90s with high humidity. I'd like to wear this one right away!

Home Again!

2010-07-16T19:15:00.004-04:00

I'm back home after a busy week in the Dallas area. I must admit, I was surprised at how much I liked Dallas. I could easily live there. It's very modern and clean and definitely has an urban vibe. Love it. This was the view from my hotel window. We stayed at the Nylo Hotel which is boutique hotel. The rooms feature concrete floors with concrete and brick walls. Funky bathroom. Hanging egg chairs. I loved it! The earliest we finished up at night was 9pm so I came home today and slipped into a coma. I'll probably be up all night as a result.

Inspired by Terri at Quilternity who blogged this week about her Grandmothers gorgeous afghan, I thought I'd pull out some pillowcases my Grandmother embroidered. I knew they need some attention but I really don't know what to do.

A bit of a back story, my grandmother died before I turned 8 (which was 40 years ago). I am the only one of my siblings that really remembers her. I remember is her sitting in a chair in front of a big plate glass picture window and crocheting doilies. She has one of those metal TV dinner trays set up to hold her supplies. I have a few of her things which are my most prized possessions. I always think that she's smiling down at me as I explore my hobbies as she quilted and crocheted. I ~~think~~ know she'd be happy!

Now for the part where I need your help. There are black spots on some of the linens which I can only assume is mold since I live in Florida. The whites have also gotten dingy. So how do I get this cleaned up without damaging the crocheted edgings, the embroidery or the linen? I could google but I think personal experiences would give me better direction.

I think this crocheted edging may need to come off as it feels like it may have shrunk a bit. I'm thinking of dampening it and then seeing if it stretches a bit.

These have been stored in a cedar chest (not touching the wood) for the last several years. Is this a bad/good thing to do? What is the best way to store linen? These items are just too precious for me to not take care of them.

I'd love to see your special treasures!

Quiet Week

2010-07-11T14:32:00.003-04:00

Not much is going on at Chez Jackie's Stitches. I've been busy shopping for a business trip to Plano/Dallas next week. I'm taking a small stitching and knitting project with me but I'm unsure as to how much time I'll have. The work days will be long.

The camera I always carry in my purse is still missing.

I did manage to completely finish this block. The square on point in the corners were a pain to line up. It's not perfect but it's good enough and it's done.

Some recent stash added:

Isn't the owl cute?

I'm not sure if I'm taking my personal computer or not but if not, I'll catch up on what everyone is doing when I get back. Have a great week!

Holiday Recap

2010-07-05T20:03:00.005-04:00

The winners of the pattern giveaway from my last post are Barb and Susan! I'll send an email to each of you and hopefully get the patterns in the mail this week. Please visit their blogs, they are each so talented. Congratulations to you both!

Yesterday, we went downtown to see the fireworks. It's always so hot here but it's on the river and there is always a bit of a cool breeze. Jacob and his girlfriend went with us and we really enjoyed their company. I really like his girlfriend a lot and I know he's crazy about her too.

It was overcast but it didn't rain on us thankfully. We had a great time!
The pictures with fireworks didn't come out so I'll spare you those.
I think it was because of the bad weather but there weren't a lot of boats out.

I'm still puttering around working on my Stitchers Gardens blocks. Next weekend is another class and I needed to get my background ready to go. We're quilting the background using a decorative wavy stitch using a twin needle. I really like the way this looks and the twin needle was not the pain in the rear I expected it to be.

Here's another block I finished up.

The flowers were supposed to have DMC corded on around the center of the flower. I didn't like it so I took it out of the one I had completed.

I worked on something else this weekend but I got close to being ready to quilt it and realized I didn't have backing fabric. I'm going to save that for another post once I get it completed.

Today was an interesting day. I couldn't find my camera - the one I always have in my purse. My phone stopped working. Greg pulled down one of the shelves in my sewing room by accident. The day started off rough. My phone is now working (who knew it could be reset by pushing 2 buttons at the same time). The shelf has been fixed and Greg installed a light under the same shelf. The camera is still AWOL though. The weird thing is that I think I put it somewhere with the idea it would be easy to find later. Clearly a bad move. It was still a great day - I'd certainly vote to have 3 day weekends every week!

I hope you had a happy and safe holiday. Happy Stitches!

Pattern Giveaway!

2010-07-02T21:06:00.003-04:00

Contest is Closed
Last weekend when I was straightening up my sewing room, I realized I'd probably never make these two projects. So I've decided to give the patterns away!

How to enter? Simple - just leave me a comment and let me know which one you want. If you'd like both, you can say that too. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to give both patterns to one person or not. I'll pick a winner this weekend.

Another Block on the Wall

2010-06-30T06:52:00.003-04:00

This block is one we worked on earlier in the year. The circular attachment was the specialty "foot". Using it, you can sew in a perfect circle. The corner pieces are 4 rows of decorative stitches sewn in a circle and then cut into fourths. A fifth line of decorative stitches is then used to applique the corner piece down. Thankfully, I was able to figure out a way to do this without purchasing the attachment as I didn't think I'd use it again. My pencil lines are visible a bit but will come out in the wash. All in all, this came out much better than I expected.

Here is the finished block. I'm glad this one is done!

I worked on the other unfinished blocks too. It didn't go well. I broke a button for one of them. I didn't sew on the other 11 buttons in case I can't find a matching button. On another block, I'm just a wee bit short some fabric. I finally got the message and went on to organize my patterns and do some straightening in my sewing room. There is always something to clean up, isn't there?

It's turning out to be a very challenging week at work and I'm looking forward to the upcoming holiday weekend. We're off on Monday and the extra day is going to be fantastic!

Latest Stash Acquisition

2010-06-27T20:56:00.002-04:00

I've managed to get my hands on some of this coveted fabric.

Yep, Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt.

I wasn't interested until I saw This. My friend Melody mentioned it to me.
It pushed me over the edge to Etsy.

One Day....

2010-06-26T08:53:00.002-04:00

My friend Henri (who should have a blog she is SO talented) made this bookmark. Isn't it just the cutest? I'd love to learn to scrapbook and make cards one day and I could only hope to be half as talented and creative as Henri.

Unfortunately, the picture of the entire bookmark came out fuzzy. Here's a picture of the back:

Today my sampler guild is having their monthly gathering so I'll spend the afternoon with friends doing one of the things I love to do. Greg is out on a long bike ride with his group so he's having a good day. I hope you spend your Saturday doing exactly what you want to do too!

2010-06-24T07:09:00.003-04:00

I've made a bit more progress on Quakers and Quilts. I finished up another page of the chart and now am working on the bottom half of the piece.

I'm thinking of pulling out another ornament so I'll have something small being stitched too.

Or maybe I'll start this....

I Want A Longarm!

2010-06-21T20:37:00.003-04:00

Saturday at my LQS, 2 people brought a Quilt for Kids quilt they had completed for Show and Tell. BOTH had ordered their kits after I brought my pieced top to show. I felt determined to quilt mine and finish it off this week. And I did!

If you'd like to do some charity quilting order a kit from Quilts for Kids. The kit comes with all the fabric including backing. You supply the batting, the thread, and the labor. They even send a label. Hey, do you sew on your label before or after washing? This label is commercially made.

Lessons Learned:
I learned that my sewing table is too high. This can easily be fixed.

It would be easier if my sewing machine was inset at the height of the table top. Unfortunately, the table I have has metal supports in the area that would need to be cut.

My shoulders hurt after a few hours of straight line quilting with my walking foot.
Badly.

I no longer want to quilt twin or queens sized quilts on my Bernina 440QE.

I think I want a long arm!
Or a frame for my Pfaff Grand Quilter.

How Long Does It Take To Finish A Block?

2010-06-19T06:54:00.004-04:00

A couple of posts back I wrote that I was buzzing from flower to flower not getting much of anything done. I figured out why. I've been trying to catch up on my Stitchers Garden BOMs and frankly, they are a LOT of work. I'm a progress person - I really enjoy it. But these blocks do tend to test my limits. I'm not finishing them before I start the next one. I've just now gotten to the point where I have 3 completely finished and 4 are almost finished. I'm not sure how many I'm behind.

Here's the lowdown on why these blocks are taking so long. Granted I'm slow but even allowing for that......

Background quilted
Applique
Decorative stitches used sometimes in place of the blanket stitch
See the yarn? That had to be sewn down (we used Bernina Foot #21)

Two frames around the block
My first Yo Yo (which I now notice is off center along with the applique UGH)

This one has additional decorative stitches within some pieces and see the decorative stitching off to the left?

That decorative stitching goes around the whole block. This background is pieced before it's quilted.

All of the blocks have many steps to them. While I am learning a lot it's been a challenge to actually completely finish a block before it's time to prep for the next one.

Next month the background is quilted with a double needle and we're using the cording foot #25 for a flower stem.

YoYos? I must say, I'm not a fan. Just not my thing. If you love them, it's fantastic. Me? Right now I'm just not getting it.

Already?

2010-06-16T20:43:00.002-04:00

Seriously???

Official high yesterday - 102
This is why I love the winter!