Up and down the stairs each season

 Well, it's transition time again.  I'm slowly taking my fall decor down and putting it away for another year.  

It makes me a little sad this year because I love fall and always look forward to it and it's rich colors.  

I put the fall things out much earlier than I usually do this year and then I interspersed Halloween with them when it was time.

But now, the cooler weather and gray days are telling me to make the change to winter.  So, each time I have to go downstairs for some reason I take pumpkins or crows, or fall leaf items down with me to put away.  Only a few Christmas things have surfaced - like a Cardinal snow globe and one of my Christmas colored wall hangings.  

We aren't celebrating Thanksgiving at my house this year so no one will notice the difference.

I'm making slow progress on my denim jacket.  I've decided to call it a denim jacket instead of a "Boro" jacket because of some things Katherine of K3N Cloth Works said on one of her lastest youtube videos. 

 She made me think that to honor the people that had nothing else to wear except these much mended old pieces of clothing (Boro means rags) perhaps I should  just mention that I was doing Boro-type mending embellishments to a homemade denim jacket.  I'm also using Sashiko embroidery and applique.

I found these Japanese Rabbit squares when we went to Santa Fe (of all places) and I could buy them by the square or buy the whole piece.  I bought the whole piece but I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with them  I just know they are lovely. 

Right half

They look yellowish but are deep indigo and bright white.

Left half

They are adorable.  I wondered what the writing was because I wouldn't want to use it on something and have it say something negative.  I found someone who spoke Japanese and they are the symbols for Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.  

It looks better in real life.

I think this little guy will look great appliqued to the left front I finished piecing and embellishing yesterday.  This sure isn't coming together very fast.  There are so many decisions to be made not the least of which is the actual construction of the jacket.

I kind of lost a week in thought because the left front wasn't turning out like I had envisioned.

I've decided to sew the pieces I want together to make the parts and then actually construct the jacket. Then I will work on the embellishment as a ongoing project.  

Yesterday was my youngest son's 35th birthday.  I remember when I thought 35 was old.

Robin 

Joy and gladness shall be found therein,

thanksgiving

and the voice of melody.

Boro sleeves

Well, this is a work in progress.  I did a chalkline grid on the front for the first embellishment.  It worked okay but I thought I would try pen on the back to see if I like that better.  It is much easier to see but the piece I used to make the grid was larger and I didn't like that as well.

I did an buttonhole stitch around  big hole and then just randomly stitched around it.  My first attempt had the buttonhole stitch backwards and so I had to take all that out and redo it with the overcast on the inside instead of the outside of the circle.

I think it looks like a beehive.  I'm not sure I like it so it might not get used.

This is the pair of jeans that I decided to use for the boro method of mending.  

And here are the boro patches on the leg of the jeans.

This is the embellishment close-up.  It was fun to do.  I'm not sure if I'll do more stitches or not.  It seemed very overwhelming yesterday with figuring out what pattern to use . . . what size?  What fabrics should I use for the raw edged patches?  How did I want to arrange the patches, what stitches did I want to do for embellishment?  It got to be too much and I just left the sewing room and came upstairs to lay down.

But, it didn't take long to find myself back in the sewing room.  I figured out I just need to do one part at a time and not try to plan the whole thing out ahead of time.  Here is the embellishment on the back.  It covered the rips and worn out places but it didn't really repair them per se. 

And this is the right sleeve pieced, patched, and embellished.  I need to unpick all that stitching on the left seam (tedious) and then I want to top stitch the seams.  The one on the left will just get stitched by machine and the right one might get a strip of embellishment.  One thing at a time  I'm not sure if I've finished embellishing the patches or not.  

The thing with Sashiko is you can just keep going until all the blank spaces are full.

Here is the other sleeve in progress.  I basted it down and now I need to decide what stitches I want on top.

This is a fun project.  I wake up each morning with ideas spinning in my head. 

I'm cutting this out as a medium but I hope it's not too big.  Normally I am at least a medium (12-14), sometimes large but I've lost 10 lbs. over the summer/fall.  I had to go on a special diet for health reasons and now I don't know what size I've become.  I went to buy sweatshirts last week and came home with two XS ones.  It doesn't make any sense.   

I  better go get busy with the quilt on the frames because past experience has taught me that the only way to get a quilt done is work on it. 😅

Robin

Also I've been asked what it's like sewing on denim.  I've been doing "Big Stitch" on my recent quilts so it's not an adjustment using a very large needle and sewing with thicker thread.  The Boro approach has you loading up your needle with stitches and then pulling the thread through all of them at once.  I find that very hard.  So, I'm just sewing one or two stitches at a time.  I'm using my regular thimble - not the one suggested in Sashiko instructions.  

Keeping busy

 

I have been wanting to make a Boro type jacket for months.  I got a big 5 gallon tub of dismantled jeans and cut up pieces from my daughter who has been saving it for some future project.  I also got a pair of jeans from my husband that should have been discarded years ago because they are so worn.  But, that is exactly what I want to use in this project.  I finally found a pattern I want to use and it's on it's way.

There are patterns in these wonderful books but they are more blocky and traditional and I wanted something with a little more shape. 

I decided to experiment in making the Sashiko embroidery.  I do a lot of "Big Stitch" on my quilts so I figured it wouldn't be that hard to get used to stitching on thick fabrics like denim.  I drew a grid on the right side of a square of denim (from the stash) with my white pastel pencil.

Then I stitched a basic alternating stitch and with my white Aurifil 12 thread and a needle I had on hand.  I used two threads as instructed by measuring out a long thread, folding it in half and pushed the fold through the eye of the needle.    I'm going to experiment with repairing that hole in the jeans next.  

I have some varigated blue  and some red Aurifil thread that I want to use too.

I'm going to stitch this pattern on the back yoke of the jacket.  This pattern was free online and I've had the package of floss for years.

I must be in a some kind of shaded indigo rut because it's the same colors that I'm "Big Stitching" the current quilt on the frames.  

I went to buy some new sweatshirts this morning.  Who knew Penneys doesn't open till 11:00am.  Here I am waiting outside.    I also found a cute pink purse.  

Hope you're having a good day.

Robin

Feel good finish

 

I finished our quilt group "Bound Together" 's Mystery SAL this beautiful afternoon.  (Just the top)

I struggled with the pattern and was about to give up so many times but I'm glad I stuck with it.

I don't normally do the "victory lap" of machine basting on the outside of the quilt top but this one has so many bias edges that it needed to be done.

It's spread out upon tall grass so it doesn't look very smooth in this picture.  It measures about 60" square.

I was unable to get a really good picture on this old trellis but I wanted to include the absolutely beautiful autumn sky.  It really is that bright blue color!!!  Amazing!

Enjoy you day!

Robin

Happy Fall to Everyone!

 

Happy Fall to everyone!  I found this darling platter at the grocery store of all places.  I love it!  It adds so much ambience to the room.

This is my mantle so far.  I'm waiting for my two grandsons (ages 7 and 5) to come and make decorations for Halloween/Fall.  The are so delightful and stinkers all in one.

I decided I wanted to make a fall bouquet for my living room wall.  I'm not much for flower arranging but I'm willing so I picked out flowers at Hobby Lobby, bought some of the spongy stuff to stick them in, found a little bling and got to work.  I found the basket at CF Furniture in Gardner Village.

I found a large doily that my mother made, folded it in 1/2 and it adds nice contrast to the flat hanging basket.  There is enough basket leftover that I'd like to find a photo or quote to hang there.  There is a 'Welcome' plaque under the doily but it's too dark to really notice.

If you look closely on the right you'll see a little mouse that I added for whimsy.

And here it is above the couch in my living room.  I think it will be fun to change the flowers etc. for different seasons.  And I'd like to roll up a row of little quilts to put inside as another idea.

As far as quilting goes, I've been trying to catch up on the Mystery SAL in my quilting group.  I picked New Mexico colored fabric from my stash.  At least they look New Mexico to me . . .   I made one of the strips to finish the outside border.

I have seven more strips to go.  I cut out all the colored squares today and need to cut out all the backgrounds next.  And then it will be done.

I finished "Big Stitching" my flying geese quilt.  It time to do the binding around this 88" square quilt.  It's going to take a while.  The temperatures have been dropping and this is for my bed so I'm motivated to get it done.

A lady gave daughter #2 boxes of old fabric she didn't want any more.  I was invited to come over and look through it.  I found this 1/2 yard print by Debbie Mumm in one box.  I still love Debbie Mumm Fall and Christmas things so I was excited to find it.  I'd like to make it into a little wall hanging but I have no plans yet.  I'm thinking it would look cute to just surround the big piece with blocks.  We'll see.

I've made a little more progress with my hexagon quilt.  It's so hard to show much progress with projects like this.

 This is a picture of my "Rolling Office".  It's really the kitchen table but it's what I always use for computer work (it's where I'm sitting now) and the rolling cart contains everything I need.  I can roll the cart into the bedroom when not in use.  

I'll close with my husband's (the garden gnome) harvest of pumpkins this year.  It always makes me happy to see them all together.  I probably should have taken the picture in the early morning when the sun shines in on them  but I didn't think of it till this afternoon so it's in the shade.

 

I hope you're having a lovely fall and Happy Thanksgiving to you if you live in Canada.

Robin

Autumn is sauntering in . . .

I'm still working on this quilt.  I hand quilt every morning (except Sunday) and it's looking great but I'm always so surprised by how slow hand quilting is.  The full quilt is pictured at the right

Kinda crazy

We had a pumpkin block exchange in my quilt group.  I wanted to get something made out of them before they get stuck in a box and forgotten.  I tried all sorts of ideas and none of them worked with what I wanted or the amount of time I was willing to spend putting this together.  I had three of the corner pumpkins done so I needed to make one more.  I also made the double stacked pumpkins.

I found this leaf print in my stash from many moons ago.  It's not quilt weight fabric but it is really pretty.  I call it "The Pumpkin Patch" because it looks like the pumpkins are sitting among the leaves.

 

Look closely for the pumpkin

And speaking of pumpkin patches, it's really looking like fall around here in the garden.

Another pumpkin further along in the garden.

A small green pumpkin above and one just beginning below.

The patio looks lonely without the grandkids running about and people sitting down enjoying food.

We had our last family gathering of the summer.  It was a backyard campout.  One of my grandson's found an unguarded bag of gummi bears and promptly stuffed his mouth before anyone found out what he was doing.  Sugar. . . we love how it tastes but it does a number on a child's activity levels.

My husband always plants big clusters of marigolds that shine so brightly in the noonday sunshine.

Of course, they weren't very big when they were planted but by this time of year they out-do themselves.

The concord grapes are starting to ripen.  The leaves are spent and ready to be done with summer.

This corner of the garden has pumpkins growing in among the iris'.  This is where the quail hang out so I didn't disturb them looking for more orange orbs.

It's a lovely day,

Robin

I love it!

 I finished the quilt top I was making with my Blackbird Designs fabric.  I used Ella's Linen Closet (my absolute favorite), Madeira, Meadow, Blueberry Crumb Cake, Chelsea Boutique, and Nell's Flower Shop.  You might recognize some Jan Patek, Robin Pandolph, and Jo Morton too.  

I love love love how it turned out.  It's going to be fun to quilt and sleep under.  I'm making this to go on my bed to replace the quilt that has been on it since 2002.  It will have cotton batting and a great vintage blue print backing that I think came from a Thimbleberries Christmas line.  (Gotta use up those Thimbleberries).

And speaking of using up things. . . no, I didn't use up all my Blackbird Scraps.  There were just some that didn't fit into the theme.

Like this yardage from Beach House and At Water's Edge.  Both lovely fabrics but I'll have to use them for something else.

Along with a 3 yd. piece of the Madeira line in the red colorway and 2 1/2 yds. of Meadow in a blue colorway that just didn't fit in with the other pieces I had chosen.  

Here is the quilt with the flying geese going East.  I just like them all going North the best.

The pattern called for a mixture of directions for the flying geese but I didn't like it.

It just looked all jumbled up.

I prefer the North point configuration.  The pattern is called "Northbound" by Mary Fons.

We have had such lovely (although dry) skies lately.

I got up "at dawn's early light" the other morning and the hibiscus was delightfully blooming.

I love how nature blooms all summer long.  Each flower has it's time to stand out and sparkle.  How dynamic but sad it would be if everything bloomed at once and then it was over.

I made a pie with whole wheat crust from dried apples.  I rehydrated the apples but I forgot how much apples expand when they cook.  They raised so high the crust broke away around the outside.  It was very tasty.

This picture is for Michelle McLaughlin Pennsylvania Piecemaker if she happens to read this.  It's concerning her post about knitting spools.

Looking forward to a beautiful day~

Robin