Finally...

...my quilted wall hanging is done!

The overall effect is a bit more autumnal than I'd like.

And here is it hanging from it's wooden bar.

I think as a reward for finishing this,

I'll start another project from my list.

Thanks so much for all your kind comments
on my last post!
To Bea who said that I did a good job
coordinating the fabric with the piece--
that is all my finisher, Miss Averyclaire.
She has an awesome fabric stash
because she's a quilter;
and if she can't find just the right match,
she takes the piece to the fabric store
to make sure it's perfect.
I and her other customers are
lucky that we have such a gem.

That's it for now.

Thanks for visiting!

The 2017 List - Part 6

Today we have something a little different.  My passion, of course, is hand embroidery, but every so often I try a little quilting.  I had made a quilted runner as a Christmas gift, and since my machine was still out and I had a slight urge to continue sewing, I figured I'd better run with it.

I have had this fabric sitting around for at least 6-7 years, and I have planned every year to make it into a wall hanging.  It's the remains of two different jelly rolls. A jelly roll, for the uninitiated, is 40 strips of fabric, 2.5 inches wide and 42-44 inches long, many times packaged after winding into a circle to resemble the bakery treat.  I got the inspiration for this block from the book Still Stripping After All These Years by Eleanor Burns.

The wall hanging will be 3" by 3", and the above block is 18" square, so I will need to assemble only three more blocks.  When it's all finished, it will be laid out into a pattern that will resemble Summer Logs...

I'm thinking that I'll position my blocks 

with the dark colors on the outside, though.

The first photo I took made the block appear rectangular!

I can now show you the runner that started

all this sewing madness,

since the recipient has it in her possession.

That's it for today.

Hope you had a grand weekend.

See you tomorrow!

Stitching from Stash in July

Hey Blog Buddies,

It's the end of July already and that means it's time for my Stitch from Stash report.  This is a Stitch-a-Long hosted by Mel of Epic Stitching where we all try to stick to a $25/month budget for new stash acquisitions.  I have three finishes and a new little start to show you, too, but first the stats.

I spent a total of $10.25 this past month,
all of it on this one little chart:

I guess I was just in a patriotic mood.

And, it's very cute!

This month I've been stitching on the usual suspects:  Mates, A Tree by Itself and, currently, 99.  And I stitched and finished...

 ...my Semaphore quilt.  My self-imposed deadline was September 1st for this autumn-colored cutie, but I beat that by a lot!  (That usually never happens around here.)  The bottom part of the quilt that's in the shade shows the quilted fern design a little better.  You can click to make any of the photos larger...

...and here's Nancy Buhl's Flowers from my Needle from the workshop I took in back in May.  This had been my traveling piece, because it was so mindless and small--and it was stitched on 18-count canvas so it was easy to see.  What looks like a frame is really the top of a lovely music box.  All I had to do for finishing was trim the piece a little and pop it into the top of the box.  Easy peasy!  It was fun to stitch--I'll miss it.

Oh, don't worry!  I have another small 18-count canvaswork piece in my stash that's been kitted up since last year and which I'll start the next time I go a-traveling.  This is why the Stitch from Stash SAL is so easy for me.

And finally, finally:  The Long-Lost Pumpkin.  That's not its real name, but that's how I was starting to think of it, since it took so long to get it finish-finished.  Remember this?

If you've looked at this blog at all in the past year, of course you do!  And you were probably hoping never to see it again!  I posted about my June 4th finish of this weeks ago.  It was at the finisher's until the day before yesterday.  It took a long time to be finished--much longer than the three weeks which was promised--and then it was weighted wrong (very lopsided) and the green crocheted stem had it's wire poking out.  It was a mess.  Why would the finisher/store even think that a customer would be happy with something like that?  I had the store send it back to the finisher to be done properly, even though I had wanted to enter it in the Lake County Fair and didn't think that it could be fixed in 10 days' time, which is all the time that was left at that point.  But it was more important to me to get it finished properly.  So I did get a call on Friday that it was done (again) and went to pick it up.  Saturday was the Fair deadline.    Did I mention that it's a 120-mile round trip to the store?  The weighting issue was fixed and the stem was fixed, but overall it was just OK.  To be honest, I probably would have been happier with the result if I had not been mentally comparing it to the stitched model that Debbie (Stiehler, the designer) had brought with her when she taught the workshop last year.  And the store owner did give me a 10% discount for my extra trip.  All I have to say is it's a good thing that paying for finishing doesn't count against the Stitch from Stash budget, even with a 10% discount!

Debbie Stiehler's Autumn Pumpkin Patch.

Yes, it looks fine in the photo.

All's well that ends well, I guess.

Last but not least,

here is my new little start (from stash, natch):

This is Blackbird Design's Bird in Hand.

I seem to be in a bird mood recently.

My friend Anne gifted me the chart a while back.

Yes, I just finished another small piece called "Bird in Hand,"

but that was from La D Da.

This will be just a bird, a branch and a border, no words.

I'm using a dark blue floss instead of the red

which was used on the original model.

The ground is a 40-count piece of mystery linen from my stash.

So that's it from here.

I'll be back in a week or so with 

the Lake County Fair report.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Thanks for visiting!

June Stitch from Stash Report

Hey Blog Buddies,

Mel from Epic Stitching is hosting a SAL this year where the participants try to keep spending on new stash to $25 or less per month.  This is the last day to post progress for June, so I'd better hop to it.

I spent a grand total of $6.25 for the month on this quilting book:

It was on sale, and I had a $10 gift certificate.

This little pattern from the book caught my eye...

The blocks are a combo of Log Cabin and Courthouse Steps designs.

I like everything about it.

 I did finish piecing the top to the Semaphore lap quilt

that I started earlier in the year,

but do not have a photo.

I'll show it to you once it's all quilted and bound.

No new starts (other than the workshop last weekend),

and I'm still working away on Mates, 

my hardanger table topper and 99

for the Turtle Trot SAL.

I spent the better part of June catching up

with the Nordic Needle Canvaswork Club piece.

I hadn't worked on it since February,

when it looked like this...

We get the instructions for this piece

in monthly installments.

I decided to do all four month's worth of instructions

that had been accumulating

in the project bag,

and it now looks like this...

The piece is Laura J. Perin's Nordic Panel.

I believe it's a little over half done now.

That's it from here.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Thanks for visiting!

NBOTB

Hey Blog Buddies,

It's quite the lovely spring day here (finally!).  In addition to my round robin project, I've been working a little on my quilt.  After I got my blocks completed, I laid them out on the bed according to the pattern (don't have a design wall) and then carefully sewed them together in strips.  Well, when I went to sew strip #1 to strip #2, I sewed them together in the reverse order, so I had to "unsew" that long seam...

As you can see, I've gotten the strips almost separated--only 1.2 more blocks!  It's amazing how much longer it takes to unsew than it does to sew strips together!  I'm definitely out of my comfort zone any time I use my sewing machine, so after I get the strips separated, I think I'll take a short break from this piecing project and do some stitchin' instead.

Speaking of quilting, the cryptic title of my post refers to a New Blog on the Block that I want to introduce:  Prairie Quilts and Other Things.  Shirley and I go way back--all the way to high school--and she is a much better quilter than I am!  If you have a minute, please click on over to her blog, take a look around and say "hi."

That's it from here.  Hope you all had a great weekend.  And thanks, as always, for visiting!

March Stitch from Stash

Hey Blog Buddies,

Mel over at Epic Stitching is hosting the Stitch from Stash SAL this year.  We all have $25/month to spend for new stash.  Obviously, the goal is to stitch from stash as much as possible.  So, time for the monthly SFS report.  My purchases for the month so far are three packages of beads for a blackwork freebie that I plan on starting later on in the year.  

You can find the instructions for the piece over at Blackwork Journey.  It's gorgeous and looks like a lot of fun, but it's yet another really large piece--it's called Save the Stitches and the directions are coming out in installments.  

I also got some fabric from JoAnn's.

This will be the backing for a lap quilt that I started a couple of weeks ago.  The pattern is called Semaphore and it's from the Fall 2013 issue of Easy Quilts.  Here's a photo of the model:

All my blocks are sewn. I chose an autumn colorway:

So, beads:  $4.50; fabric, $15.70.  Deduct that from the $25.00 spending money for March, and there's $4.80 left over.  Add that to my $35.08 carry-over, and I have $39.88 going into April.  (Too much math!)

I had a birthday this month, so I got some stash as a gift.

These are GHI and JKL of the Prairie Schooler Alphabet series.  There's also a little seasonal chart from Heart in Hand called A Spring Day with a cute bunny and flowers.  I still need five charts from the PS Alphabet series.  I plan on stitching them as one large piece.  Not this year, though.   (smile)

Finally, I participated in a workshop this month hosted by my Guild.  The piece was Carrots by Jennifer Riefenberg, and the pattern was so cute I couldn't resist...

See what I mean by cute?

Here is where I'm at.

Other than that, I've been stitching along on my rotation

which seems to be filled with BAPs at the moment.

This week I'm stitching on a round robin piece

which unfortunately I won't be able to show.

So that's it from here.

Hope everyone is having a lovely spring or fall,

depending on where you live.

It's technically spring here,

but we're expecting more snow (and cold) tonight!

Thanks for visiting!

January Stitch from Stash

Hey Blog Buddies,

It's nearing the end of the month (January can't leave fast enough to suit me!), so that means it's time for the Stitch from Stash check-in.

Mel, over at Epic Stitching has organized this SAL.  If participants spend less than $25/month on new stash, they'll be entered in the monthly drawing.  My reasons for joining the SAL have less to do with saving money (although I like that added benefit), or winning prizes (but that's nice, too) than they have to do with not buying any more new charts.  So going by that criteria, I was successful in January.  I spent $1.60 on four skeins of DMC which I needed for my Mates WIP, and $15 on fabric needed to balance out the tones on a lap quilt which I intend to start soon.

 

The two orangey fat quarters on the left,

and the two brown half yards in the middle

were my new purchases this month.

The new DMC skeins have already been sucked

into the vortex of the ring of floss

which is being used for Mates.

You didn't miss anything colorful;

they are light grays and beiges. 

My new starts from stash this month were:

Nordic Needle pre-work (click here, if you missed it),

 the pincushion that was part of my

Third Blogaversary Giveaway (click here)

and a Christmas ornament...

 I know this looks a little strange,

but it will be cute when made into a strawberry.

Here's the chart.

It's the one on the top left.

So that's a grand total of $16.20 spent, and $8.80 left.

I have a $25 gift card which can be used as

stash money, so that gives me

$33.80 that I can roll over into February!

I know, too much math!

I hope to do better, money-wise, next month.

That's it from here.

Folks in my area just have to make it

to Wednesday, and the temps

are predicted to rise above 0 degrees F.

Isn't that special?

Stay on the warm side of the door

if you've been visited by Polar Vortex, The Sequel.

Thanks for visiting!

The Pumpkin and Friends

Hey Blog Buddies,

How was your weekend?  Did you get to do some fun summer (or winter) activities?  We had really nice weather here, so we biked, sat out on the deck and played with Molly in the yard.

She's a fast runner, and

my panning skills are lacking.

 

One can always get a better shot

just before throwing the ball!

 

And since I'm a little behind in showing you my stitchy stuff, let's not waste another minute.  I worked on the pumpkin (Debbie Stiehler's design--you can see the finished model on my sidebar), and I finished my first football!  Here is where we last left it:

Not the greatest picture, but you get the idea.

 

And here is what it looks like now:

 

You can see why I called it a "football."

There are 16 sections to each football.

They all repeat, but the stitches are placed

a little differently on each one.

 

Here is more detail of the finished sections:

That was a lot of stitching!

 

Here are some close-ups:

 

The darker section is an eggplant-colored

metallic ribbon couched with orange,

then diagonally backstitched with alternating

light and medium shades of green.  Fun!

 

Debbie gives great instructions

for stitching plaid designs easily.

The bottom right design is one of the layered stitches.

There is never a dull moment here.

 

I'll save other close-ups for later progress reports,

because I can see this might get

a little repetitive.

 

The first "friend of the pumpkin"

is a quilted table topper.

 

I pieced the top months ago,

and it's been sitting on the dining room table

in an unfinished state ever since.

I thought leaving it there would shame me into

finishing it a lot faster than I did--obviously not!

Yay, for a long-awaited finish!

 

The final "friends" of the pumpkin are two crocheted bunnies

which I made to sell at my guild's annual holiday boutique.

I was originally going to make just one bunny,

but you know how rabbits are--they multiply!

 

Here's my first bunny:

 

See how forlorn he is all by himself.

He looks like he's been run over by a truck.

 

I had an extra skein of yarn left, so...

...now he has a sister.

DH has named them Donnie and Marie.

(No, he's not quite right, either.)

You'll notice that the tips of Donnie's ears are rounded,

but Marie's ears come to a point

as per the instructions--but it was ugly getting there.

I used Cascade Cherub DK yarn,

and I found it somewhat difficult to work with

because it tended to split quite a bit.

The pattern is from Simply Crochet,

a British publication.

I learned the hard way that a British double crochet

is an American single crochet!

 

I guess Donnie gave Marie a tour of the backyard.

They probably climbed the tree

trying to get away from Molly.

Don't worry--I rescued them.

 

I have a third (and last) bunny in the works,

but he will look a bit different--

perhaps a third cousin twice removed.

 

That's it from here.

Thanks, as always, for visiting.

 

The Last Dance

Hey Blog Buddies,
This will be the very last post featuring my Circle Dance quilt, I promise!  I had my pieced top quilted by a very talented lady named Inta from my quilt guild.  She got it done in record time.

Can't see the quilting very well?

Don't worry--I have more photos.

Inta is a free-motion quilter,

she doesn't use pre-programmed software.

When I suggested that I wanted to emphasize

the curved seams in the quilt,

she did a lot of very dense quilting with circles!

This is the back, which is solid yellow!

The color's all wrong, but you can sure see the quilting!

Needless to say, I'm quite happy with the finished product.

It will be going up on my wall very soon!

But to reiterate:  no more curved seams for me!

Hope you have a fun, stitchy weekend.

Thanks for visiting!

First Finish of 2013!

Hey Blog Buddies,

First of all, thank you all so much for the kind comments on Hare's Christmas!  I think I photographed the piece while it was still a little damp.  As it dried, the small bleed became less and less noticeable, so that's good news.

I didn't finish my January 1st start, if that's what you were wondering.  My "slow and steady" sewing strategy paid off sooner than I expected:  I finished piecing my quilt top yesterday!  And sewing only 2 or 3 blocks a day was a totally painless way to do it.  (Definition of a block:  two pieces and one curved seam.)  I started cutting the fabric in early November, so the entire process took about two months.

It was a little tricky

laying out the blocks to be sewn.

The pattern is somewhat random,

but I wanted to keep the circle-in-a-square design evident.

The batik fabric is just beautiful--

the photo doesn't do it justice.

DH (he's in the above photo,

you can see his fingers in the upper left corner)

likes muted colors and traditional quilt patterns.

However.

He did say that this quilt top is "growing" on him.

I plan on using it as a wall hanging in my dining room

which is very neutral and needs a pop or two of color.

Here is a close up:

The curved seams were a big challenge.

I'm happy with the way the project turned out,

but I am "one and done" sewing curves--too stressful!

Hope your new year is off to a flying start!

Thanks for visiting!

The 2012 WIPocalypse-Final Report

Hey Blog Buddies,
For those of you celebrating the holidays, I hope you had a wonderful time.  I did.  I even managed to carve out time to stitch!

In an effort to catch up with the actual calendar month, I stitched two months' worth of Crabby All Year this month.  If I do the same thing in January, I'll be caught up.  October you've already seen--here is November:

That cat is awfully fat!

I don't know if he's a relative, too, or just a friend...

I've also made progress on my Circle Dance quilt top this month:

I've been sewing just three blocks per day.

As the tortoise said in the fable:

"slow and steady wins the race."

About a week ago I decided to sew

what blocks I had into rows.

Above are four of the five rows I've sewn together.

If I keep at it, this should get done

in a couple of weeks.

I've also made progress on Hare's Christmas.

I'm hoping to finish it soon, and

will show you a photo when that happens.

We survived the Apocalypse and even the WIPocalypse, too!  This was a fun SAL, and though I didn't complete everything on my list--it was a really ambitious list--it kept me focused throughout the year.  I had 22 projects on my list, 12 were finished, 3 are WIPs in my current rotation, and 7 are (cough, cough) still UFOs.  Of those seven, there are only two that are still calling my name.  I'm working on my 2013 to-stitch list, and it's really hard to get it down to a manageable size.  I'm trying to be more realistic about what I will actually have the time to stitch next year!

All of my 2012 WIPocalypse before-and-after photos are on a separate page.  If you have some time and are so inclined, grab a cuppa and click here to peruse them.

Have a good weekend!

And thanks for visiting!