Friday, April 28, 2017

Because I didn't have to. . .

Well, I completed the Cross Stitch Christmas stockings (by sewing on the red corduroy on the back, inserting the previously made lining, and putting some faux fur around the top).  It was time to look for the next thing to work on.  I've been wanting to clean my sewing room since January but knew it would take some serious time.  I didn't want to take any time away from the stockings or the quilt in the hoop so I delayed tackling the job until yesterday.

It's always hard shifting from a project that I've been working on for a while and getting the rhythm going for the new project.

I decided to start with the big basket of scraps.  I took a bag off of the top of the pile.  Inside the bag was all the leftovers from a baby quilt I made for one of my grandson's four years ago.  I say one of my grandsons because I got 3 that year.  I took the fabric out and found 22 blocks already made along with some big pieces of the leftover fabric.   "Hmmmmmmm,"  I said to myself.  "There's enough material in here to make another quilt."

So I did just that. . . 


It's a very low value quilt top.  Not my usual high contrast style.


I trimmed down a piece of fabric to 18 1/2" for the center.  I alternated the pinwheel-like blocks with a framed 4-patch made from the squares I had previously made for the border on the other quilt.  I found some trimmings from the back of the original quilt and some of another quilt I made last year for the frames and border.  It measure about 50" square.

It was so fun to spend the morning doing something I didn't have to do.  

Now, I need to get back to the scraps.

And, as for spring, it snowed AGAIN!

Robin

Interesting snow design on my outdoor mat,

The snow almost looks fake with the little pellets of frost.

This little fellow looks irritated.

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Christmas never seems to end. . .

around here.  I am currently working on three projects and they are all Christmas themed.



The first is all but done  It is my Peppermint Quilt from the book  "Quilting the Garden"  by Blackbird Designs.  It is all quilted and bound.  It just needs a label and a sleeve so I can hang it above my couch next Christmas.  I hate to put it away without the sleeve because when I'm ready to decorate it will be frustrating if the quilt needs a sleeve before it can be hung.



I quilted a baptist fan around the border.  It went fast and filled up the space well.  I would do it again.  I wanted a design that didn't call attention to itself since it would almost be lost in the floral fabric.

I quilted stars on the vases and baskets in red thread so it would not detract from the applique flowers.

It is a pretty little quilt, only measuring  61 1/4" square.

It took me 5 months to hand quilt it because of all the distractions.  Christmas itself was the biggest distraction but I spent a lot of my time doing cross stitch for the stockings below.



This is the 2nd project.  The cross stitching is all completed.  Now I need to make them into the stockings which shouldn't take very long except that I'm dragging my feet.  I get that way when a project is taking too long.  I push and push and then have to take a break before I finish it to refind the joy in sewing.




Above are the old stockings made out of red corduroy that I'm going to take apart for the backing.  The musical fabric is the lining already sewn together.  It is a deep cheerful fabric but only the back side is showing.




Here are the Mom and Dad's stockings made in 1990 and 2005 respectively.  My goal is to get them all finished by the end of April.  I'm running out of month - only one more week to go.




The 3rd project is this Christmas Row Quilt.  It is the 12 days of Christmas.  I'm sure this is familiar because they were all the rage around 10 years ago.  Gasp!  Has it really been that long?  It's time to get this quilted and out of the way.  I was able to big stitch two rows today.  It will quilt up quickly and then it will be time to embellish it.  That will be fun.


And now I'm thinking I want to make this little tree skirt quilt out of the plaids I have leftover from this little quilt for my sister-in-law.  NOT ANOTHER CHRISTMAS PROJECT!!!!

 How am I going to get out of this loop?





On another note, it was my DH 66th birthday this week.  I made a 3 layer Applesauce Carrot cake.  It is really yummy.



And, finally, I have six blocks done on my take-along project.  I'm in no hurry on this one.  I'm just enjoying the process.



Merry Christmas~
Robin

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Doll Swap Quilt Done


I finished hand quilting my Doll Swap Quilt (can't show you yet) and decided to make a little quilt out of the leftovers (above).  It is about 12" X 10".  I machine quilted in the ditch along the vertical stripes and then hand quilted down the center of the stripe.  It turned out so cute.


I rearranged the shelf above my kitchen.  I often decorate for holidays and once it was just full of my bear collection.  But this time I wanted to do nostalgic items.  With a few small quilts thrown in for color and Hey, I'm a quilter.


This is the left side.  I rolled up quilts and put them in my enameled kettle.  I put a small mug rug inside the 1/2 gallon mason jar.  My new little quilt is hung above my beehive muffin pan.  I put that in to balance the color of the cherry pitter on the other side.  Then a hand grinder that was my grandmothers, a 50's metal canister from my MIL's kitchen with a spool of lace on top is put into place.




The center section has once of my favorite pictures of a women with geraniums in her window.  I've probably said this quote before but it is one of my favorites so here it goes again;

"Long experience has taught me that people who do not like geraniums have something morally unsound about them.  Sooner of later you will find them out; you will discover that they drink, or steal books, or speak sharply to cats.  Never trust a man or a woman who is not passionately devoted to geraniums."

From Rhapsody in Green: The Garden Wit and Wisdom of Beverly Nichols

The bird on the nest pin cushion is from my friend Denise and the hurricane lantern is from my sister.



And on the right I have an old yellow ware bowl with a doily made by one grandmother and an old weaving shuttle (?) from the other grandmother inside.  Then I placed my y other cheddar item, the cherry pitter, another lantern of sorts, and an an old photo album etc.  It was fun to put together.




We have had beautiful weather.  The trees are in bloom, the daffodils and tulips are in abundance.

                                   AND THEN IT WENT AND SNOWED LAST NIGHT - GASP!




I'm a bit worried about the plants that were well on their way to spring.  The maple tree above has it's little helicopter seed pods already to disperse.




This lilac is heavy with blooms.



The forsythia had shown it's golden glory and is dropping yellow leaves and replacing them with the green ones.



The thing I'm the most worried about, and it distresses me a lot, is the snow on my wisteria blossoms.  I think I'm going to be disappointed this year - sigh~

But, I haven't given up hope.  Maybe the snow insulated the blossoms so they didn't freeze.  Time will tell.
Robin

I linking with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's quilts.

Ongoing progress

I finished the center with the gifts and put on a double star border.  It now measure 48" square. Now I'm at a standstill. . .  I&#...