Hand Quilting… A finish and a beginning too!

Happy Sunday Y’all!

From near the most famous beach….

to the serenity we found on that beach over the last few weeks…

Now to play catch up with you all… I have been slow stitching quite a bit since we last visited on my blog…. And to link to my favorite Sunday blog linky too.. Right HERE!  Click that HERE link to see what Kathy is up to and what others who link are up to on this fine day wherever you are!!!

I reached the last row of hexi flowers in this Hollyhock Garden Quilt 🙂

 And just after celebrating my 51st birthday reached the LAST Hexi Flower stitching !!!

 Then I marked all the top border row….

 And big stitched it….

 I had several requests for a photo once off the frame and trimmed (before binding) so I obliged…

 And here you can see the quilting a bit more….

While completing this quilt my honey and I had a welcomed visitor though as well!!!  My bestie and quilting mentor Connie!!!!

This year she flew down from Tennessee for her yearly week visit.  It was so good to see her and with all that has been happening in our lives here a welcomed relief to have someone to visit with that truly understands things we are dealing with presently.

The 3 of us all have July birthdays… Connie’s is July 3, mine is July 4, and Rick’s is July 20 🙂  Happy Birthday to us!!!

My honey and I had done a bit of clean up and straightening in prep for her visit… here are a couple shots of her room she took upon arrival here…

We enjoyed preparing this space
for her and she enjoyed it too!
She also spent time in the living room
using the recliner my knees won’t help
me get out of so I rarely use anymore!

Daisy even hung out with her 😀

We also took photos … some posed…

 And some unexpected! lol

Once we delivered her back to the airport it was time to get the binding on the quilt… and get it ready for the home I had decided through prayer… this Hollyhock Garden Quilt should be destined for…

 Here is the label and the beginning of the binding started being sewn down… I add the twill tape labels to all my quilts… I get them from an Etsy shop…

 And here is the whole quilt after binding and washing and drying 😀

 Here is a collage I made of the finish!!!  I love the backing for this quilt almost as much as the front!

And Monday it will go into the mail for the lucky recipient .. my dear friend Brandy… a nurse who I trained to the PICU I worked in and who continues to serve others her nursing career.  She loves to read so I hope to find a pic some day of her snuggled in this quilt reading a good book. ❤

While finishing the slow stitching on this quilt… I finished the fast stitching of the outer borders on this quilt for my son and his new bride…

It is named Amethyst Stars Quilt …my own design from a quilt called Morning Star I found on the internet.

I used my stash and a layer cake of “country” colored fabrics to make this quilt… as well as some donations from Connie… in fact the outer border is the end of the green fabric I backed and bordered my very first quilt with.. it has now been retired do to overuse and it is needing repairs! lol  But the fabric is even better looking on this quilt!!!

Would y’all be interested in a tutorial on how to do a nice n easy mitered corner on outer borders of a quilt??  Leave me a comment about it if you would… I took pics to do the tutorial but until now I haven’t had the time! lol  Now I am ready IF there is interest!!!

The backing is a rusty brown and dark brown mix of paisley prints… very modern country in how it looks and may become the binding as well!  Here it is now on my frame… my honey helped me with that job and we got it on there yesterday… Saturday morning….

You can see the nice Hinterberg frame my honey fashioned for me from a kit we bought directly from the company here in the USA… I use a gooseneck lamp that had a torchier on it but that was long ago removed as I only need the gooseneck and love how functional it is… I left on the light for this pic so you could see how nice and bright a white daylight bulb is… they come 4 or 5 in a pack at Lowes or Home Depot… a hardware store that carries a large selection of flourescent bulbs 😉

I use a rolling chair with arms… and a rolling table and all this moves as I need it to to get to what I am quilting… by hand 😀

Check out that “relax” sign on the upper right of the picture… that was my birthday present from my bestie Connie last year… this year I got…

 <<>>

She found the funniest card with 2 nurses on it to give me this year… so fun!!! and on the right is a pin that I added a heavy duty magnet to so it can hang on the refrigerator… along with this cute vintage card that came from the maker of this vintage quilt piece that is embellished with the saysing “Ever day is a Blessing”!  LOVE IT!  My honey gifted me with a matching tea pitcher and iced tea glass… I drink iced tea (diet that is) about 50% of the day or more… between bouts of water and coffee… and we use reusable cups/glasses for most of that … so a very practical gift and a card that made me cry he found it quick he said but it was perfect for the LOVE we share with each other!!

Suffice it to say the crazy busy week we had when Connie was here was over much too fast… we didn’t even get our birthday lunch in at our fave restaurant because life was so busy when she was here… but next year she hopes to stay a bit longer… maybe that will work out too!!!

So I have shared my finish and my beginning… I did a little piecing on a project yesterday and the day before also… but now am stumped… so off to Connie I mail it to get finished….

To the left is the beginning… & to the right is the final layout.  Below is my version of a checkerboard dresden layout… with inspiration from MSQC and
Jenny Doan.  But just using the scraps from the quilt I made for Connie’s room to make this pattern work!

But how do I get the backing and batting on this without zig zagging each top of each dresden piece!!!

So Connie has a couple ideas… and I got ink refills for my printer and printed off some pics from our visit to send to her along with some requested private pics too ❤

Here is a collage I made of her time here!

And here is the stencil I will be marking today….

Along the bottom wide border of the Amethyst Stars quilt… currently I am doing the supportive stitching in the ditch… so that this fun stitching will show up nice!  More on that next week I am hoping!!!!

Have a blessed week and thanks for stopping by y’all!!!
And PLEASE in this time of strife all over the place make time to….

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Slow Stitching Sunday Yippee!!!

I can’t believe it have been a month since my last post… live has been sooo busy I didn’t realize… so sorry my bloggy friends!

Here is a great pic to express my regret for keeping you out of the loop!

From our beach to yours.. happy season change… for us it is Summer… and for Australia I think it is officially winter now!!! This shot shows how empty the beach can be early in the mornings 🙂

My honey has been in and out of the hospital this last month… here is a pic we took after his most recent hospital stay where we got a diagnosis finally…

When my honey goes into the hospital I go too… and stay nearby having been a cardiac nurse for so many years I navigate the medical world and medical words for him… and this time for me!  He has tracheomalacia or a floppy airway most commonly found in newborns… why he got it we can only conjecture… the cure is unknown and probably just to fix the floppy airway for a stable airway (aka a tracheostomy) but for now we are using a CPAP machine most of the time to assist his breathing and keep that airway open!

That is probably lots of Greek to you too… and that is simplified!  Sorry guys… but your THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS are appreciated as we navigate this path.. I want my honey to stick around a while longer and he wants to stay here too… for him a tracheostomy is NOT something he wants ever… so his natural airway needs to get stronger if possible or the breathing machine needs to be helpful in helping him rest well at nighttime!  So that is what has kept me so busy lately… my honey has had his own personal nurse! lol

Meanwhile… our first night at the hospital in a town over an hour away.. I came home to find carpet torn up and my quilt I have been working on torn partially out of the frame…

 So I finally… almost a month of looking at it later… made time and energy to get it back in the frame properly… and now I am making slow stitching progress once again!!!

I am linking my slow stitching progress to Kathy’s Quilts Slow Stitching Sunday… I have missed you all … my fave linky so go check it out HERE!!!

While that quilt was in an “unquiltable” state… I had to keep myself occupied with something and reading wasn’t gonna do it so I worked on my son James and his new brides’ quilt…

Above you can see the new “Strip Stick” I found via a friend’s youtube vid and requested more info… they are available in sizes too… I found this size fits my needs for now!  And it fits my pressing surface well… it aids in ironing seams open which is what I was doing as I watched a quilt cam with Bonnie Hunter 😀

And I finally have the center finished between doctor and hospital runs with my honey…

Next up is the pieced border that is framed on the inside by a “floating border” and on the outside by a anchoring border and the top will be an official flimsy!!! lol  Getting ahead of myself though… the pieced border will take a bit of thought… review of the pattern I made… a video instruction… and some good old fashioned math…

 And don’t forget comedic relief like that my honey provided below! lol  Thanks to our Daisy dog for being the comedy… she is pretending to be a lab in this shot! hahaha 🙂

While the video tutorial I purchased helped me figure out the basic way to construct the pieced border… it did NOT help me figure the math correctly… for that I am glad math was a subject I “got” in high school and college… So I will not mention the name or where I purchased this video when looking to make this certain style of pieced border but I don’t regret the purchase really either…

I plan on leaving feedback once I have a flimsy to share and am complete… here are shots of some of my progress thus far though…

The inner border also called the float border to this pieced border as it will give the custom fit it needs for the quilt… is a bit skinnier on the sides finishing at 1″ on each side while the top and bottom finish at 1 3/4″ each… This float border is vanilla fabric like the first row of sashings are on the outer edges of the center of the quilt… so should all veg together  🙂  I hope so anyway!!!

I have the top and bottom borders complete on the pieced borders now and they fit as they should.. today when I am not slow stitching I will be constructing the side borders.  Once both are together and tested in place I will add the vanilla float border and see how they really fit… maybe have all this done and the flimsy finished by next weekend???  No promises on that… EVERYTHING depends on my honey as his need to be hospitalized again until we have a home plan that is stable for his airway! and his health overall!!!  Here is my pattern again though… how I planned it to be looking! lol

And here are a few pieces I had left over from the center and my triumphant start on the pieced border after watching the video and reviewing my own plan above! lol  This WILL BE HAND QUILTED once it is a flimsy too 🙂  That was requested by my son’s new wife in the early planning stages!!

Here is an updated shot of me I took… it now resides as my facebook profile pic 🙂  This was the end of May though…

Here is my 301a Gloria who has made my work on this quilt top.. Amethyst Stars… so enjoyable and a great destressor for me 🙂

And here is a “new” thrifted ironing board… with a cover I made after watching some youtube tutorials…. along with a new iron I got too (my old one had leaked so much the ironing board was all rusted under the cover that was stained and falling off! lol

I have had this fabric for some time … waiting for the right project for it… now I have this fun cover to look at every day and interact with when ironing needs to be done properly on a board instead of my quilting ironing surface!!!  I love the cradle it has to keep the iron off the ironing board itself… and a new iron does not leak!!! Yippee 😀

Well… that is about all I have time for today… Thanks again for your coveted thoughts and prayers for us and the VA medical team my honey has…

Remember to …

6 years blogging y’all & still so much to share!

Happy Sunday… lots to share including a 6 year Anniversary Celebration here too!

So above are 6 candles on my celebration cake!!! lol

This has been a crazy busy week… yet I still made headway with my slow stitching progress….

 Above is my frame this morning when I woke… and a close up of that is below with the legend of my progress…

 Below is that same area completed for you 🙂  60% done now!!!!

 Here is the t-shirt I recently got… I love it!!!

It says “Live well ~ Laugh Loud ~ Quilt often”  !!!  It is very cozy cotton fabric 😍

I am linking on this fun quilty progress to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday post HERE!  Come and see what others are linking on this happy Sunday!!!

I also woke this morning to confirmation my bestie is coming for a visit for our birthday’s in July!!! I am mega excited!!!

I told you this week was very busy… well we also have been getting used to a new addition in the house…

Wednesday we went to LOOK but then came home with a new vehicle!  We have named her Cassie as she is Caspian Blue color… it is a deep metallic blue with silver trim… but occasionally she really looks a deep purple too! Totally love at first drive for us both!!!

My honey got an N scale train on eBay last week and finally felt good enough to try it all out this week…

This scale is small but so cute and ornate… it also came with some buildings but since he is currently on medications for his cold that are making him jittery… those will have to wait to be added to the decor of this train 🙂

Here is my honey driving Cassie down the beach with the tide out quite a bit too!

We also went shopping for a couple other things we needed and found very cool place to keep our oil can collection…

 A wood shadow box with glass front we can now hang on the wall!!!

 And here is Francis our White sewing machine from the early 1900’s in a Martha Washington case…

She is now closed back up and decorated with a clone of a Willcox & Gibbs machine and a cool old Singer chain stitch childs toy machine also from the early 1900’s…

Change can be nice…. progress is good… funny when I reflect though on my first blog posts… they are about eBay sales… well we still sell on eBay but now instead of clothes and misc… we are selling vintage sewing parts and supplies 🙂  HERE is the link to some cards we are selling on eBay.  From there you can view other items if you are interested… we don’t have a store there…

eBay has gotten harder to deal with and more expensive for selling while PayPal has become more central and handy to use! lol
For our Singer Featherweight sales we use Facebook primarily with PayPal for invoicing and security!

Thanks for stopping in … thanks for celebrating with me and us… and hope you have a blessed day today!!!

Make time today to show you …

😚

Happy Mother’s Day Y’all!

Hope you each have a …

I am 50% DONE now on the Batik Hollyhock Garden Quilt I am hand quilting!!

This shot above is halfway through the 6th row of the quilt… all together there are 11 rows 🙂

I did acquire a new gadget for my quilting frame this week too… from a Missouri Star Quilt deal of the day I bring you a pin cushion that stays on my frame just perfect and holds some pretty sharp scissors that came with it!!

I am linking this fun pincushion and my hand quilting progress to Kathy’s Quilts … come see what all other handies are sharing HERE!

Also … for Mother’s Day I have changed my facebook profile pic to a shot of my needle keeper…

Here are my two little grands I am thinking of today!!!

CJ on the left will soon be 3 and Kaydence on the right will soon be 2 🙂

Besides hand quilting and sewing a bit on a quilt for my son and dil… we have been working on a puzzle…

 And I watched a great Chick Flick on Netflix too!!!

 

But sometimes the above is sooo true… so we go to the nearby beach to see the sunshine in all it’s glory!  This time we also got to see this cool big sail boat!!! 

 So keep smiling my friends!!!

There is so much to smile about for sure and don’t forget to…

So much to share!

Hello my bloggy friends!!!  You will see as you read that I have been following my own advice to…

I am so excited to share my progress in so many areas of my quilty life!!!  As I am linking this post to my fave Sunday blog to read and enjoy (Kathy’s Quilts HERE) I will start with hand quilting progress on my Batik Hollyhock Garden quilt but there is more hand quilting below too!!!

 I was on the 2nd row a couple weeks ago when I linked up… now I am almost done with the 4th row!  The blue arrow on the left of the above shot shows where I am and you can also see the legend in the bottom right of that shot! 🙂

And here is a shot looking back on this row a bit too…

I love my Hinterberg quilting frame my honey built for me to use… and use it almost exclusively now even though I have a hoop and a project in that hoop that is to small for the frame.. I haven’t worked on it in a month or more!!!  Here is a shot you can see the frame better in if you haven’t seen my frame…

It has metal poles we got at Lowe’s… the kit we ordered from Hinterberg.com right here in the USA … I found a long length of cotton striped fabric on eBay and we used duck tape to apply the assigned length and width to each pole… this fabric is known as “leaders”.  The kit came with fairly good instructions on how to put this all together and how to cut and apply the leader fabric to each pole.. once in place it stays forever and I haven’t had any issues with using the tape to apply the fabric to the metal!

Unfortunately I broke a fingernail on my quilting hand into the quick of my nail bed… so I am taking a short break from handquilting as that fingernail grows back and it isn’t so sensitive… me and regular applications of Bag Balm are healing it fairly quick though… soon I will be back to quicker progress on this quilt! 🙂

While that is going on there… I have been piecing a quilt for my son and his wife that live in Tennessee… James and Heather… it is called Amethyst Star quilt.  I am using Gloria and loving her💖  I love my vintage machines to piece with!!

Glorious Gloria is her name!!!

Here is how I am laying out my rows for machine piecing in a controlled scrappy way…

And here are the first couple rows…

 I have all my pieces cut and in piles…

It took me a while from getting all pieces cut until I started piecing the center of this top… but now I am having a blast with it since I am not able to hand quilt too! lol  Make the best of a situation I say!!!

I am marking all the little squares with a silver glitter pen on the back across the middle diagonally…

… Then I am sewing just to the right of that drawn line to make my star points on the scrappy sashing strips…

I am piecing the squares and sashings into 4 patch units like this…

Above you can see how I make the join of the “4 Patch” rotate so each square can join like I have below in a row…

 I then have ironed the joined squares open as that seemed to make the most sense… and sure enough when I now have 4 rows all joined in this center section it looks MARVELOUS if I do say so myself….

 There will be 15 rows before this center is completed… and now my pile of parts has decreased some… I am hoping to keep the scrappy look going til the end though!  I started this with some of my stash and a layer cake cut all into 5″ squares… sashing strips… star centers… and a LOT of star point squares for the flippy corners I am marking! lol

 Yesterday.. April 29… was my honey and I’s 6th year anniversary!!!

 

I feel so blessed to have him in my life!!!  

 He got me a couple things to celebrate our years together… first we found this water bubbler for our foyer… summer is here already and we aren’t outside to enjoy those much anymore!

And a quilt pattern I just ordered last night on eBay….

This will be a Christmas wall quilt for our foyer if the size is right in the ad 🙂  I have always loved the feathered star pattern and this one is perfect for that space!

Here is the one currently opposite the bubbler …

 And a larger view… it was a rotary cut with templates, machine pieced and hand quilted finish quilt!

 Here is a pic of the way I label my quilts… I get these off Etsy from a seller there 🙂

And I finally made the banner for a local charity with some fabric I found online and a new t-shirt the charity owner brought to me…

I used the front tshirt logo on the back cross… and the back tshirt image for the front of the banner.

I really enjoyed making this up… I took a break after 2 rows of the quilt center on Amethyst Stars to get this made and delivered.  The lady that runs the charity is in LOVE with it as a banner for her charity!  She will be using it in parades and to mark her charity’s spot when in public places!  This was all machine done… my finger was hurt already at this point! haha  

I will continue to machine make things for this charity including quilted pillows for those that are injured and need a comfort pillow to help them feel safe again.  There is such a strong need for us all to be kind for sure in this world we are living in!

Another couple days of taking is slow should have me able to wear a thimble again though!  So no worries 🙂  

In this time of so much negativity going on everywhere in the world  … make sure you take time to…

Blessed Easter… Slowing down & "BE-ing"!!!

When was the last time you just “were”… that is what is meant by “being” 🙂

Ponder what Easter means to you today as well.. instead of rushing to wake and rushing to quilt.. this week I have pondered this holiday weekend and slowly welcomed it to me … how nice it has been!!!

When I did wander outside my bedroom this is what greeted me…

Happy Easter to me was my first thought… how blessed I am to live in Florida and it is just us 2 here now ( all the kids are doing their own things) … and God is watching over us… it is nice to finally be in a place where I can “Just Be” as Kathy shares today an article on this subject HERE… I am linking to her blog also with my hand quilting progress from this last week…

 Above you can see the “legend” of sorts I have made for myself… I had 94 flowers to quilt plus the triangles in between!  This legend came from a mini drawing I did then enlarged on my printer a couple times until I got it big enough to see and use a highlighter to color in the finished parts…

Today I am watching episodes in Season 5 of “Call the Midwife”… I love this show and will happily wait till season 6 is released in the fall sometime… I sure hope so anyway!!! lol

In order to get this far I had to come up with a design for the bottom border… none of my stencils worked… or were the right size… so I had to think of something on my own… I am not very imaginative so I pulled out this book I keep in my library for just such occasions…

 I got this off Amazon… it has been my most “go-to” book I have in my quilting library I do believe!

I flipped to borders and found one I liked…

 Then I filled up my printer with a few sheets of cardstock and printed off the “orange peel” part in larger sizes until I got it large enough!  this is trial and error for sure though…

Once I got that shape large enough.. and cut away the curliques I didn’t care for for this quilt border…. I decided it needed a circle or something … but then I couldn’t find my “perfect circles!” lol  so I found this circular object that was just the right size and put a circle of tape on the back to make it stay in place for each move …

 And ta-da… here you can see the first few done… along with my own basting at the edge and quilting 1/4″ in across the top!!!…

Here are the tools I used to mark this border… if you look closely you can see this border is marked now… but I just use a Dritz Mark B Gone marker that spritzes away once stitched with water…

Here are a couple of finished “flowers”… I am using Aurifil 28/2 thread I had in my stash of threads…

Aurifil 28 wt and YLI 40/3 wt are my go to threads for hand quilting… I enjoy perle cottons too and used a white 12 wt perle for the border I was sharing above… but am sticking to the lighter weight Aurifil throughout the center of this quilt.  Quilting design of the flowers I decided and the centers needed something so they wouldn’t puff up… both the flowers and triangles needed that extra bit (thanks Wendy for your advice here .. spot on!)… so with my quilting plan in hand I am moving forward slow and steady!!!

I have also been pondering a new project that is coming up for me…

Last year we donated some kid stuff we had to a fledgling local charity… she gave us a tshirt for our donations… instead of using the tshirt to wear I offered (once I got caught up) to make her a banner from the tshirt… using the tshirt as a center for it.  The founder of this charity loved the idea then 🙂

Well that charity has grown quite a bit since them… I remain an anonymous donor and am now gonna exchange this first tshirt for her newer more streamlined logo tshirt and make that banner… no time like Easter to make you realize charities you serve deserve your time as well!!!  This will involve imagination, experience, and machine quilting though.. so should go together quick once I decide what I am gonna do with her on Monday!!!

Meanwhile this sits right where I left it last week when I finished cutting…

And I have marked about 50 or so of these little 1 1/2″ squares so far with glitter pen…

That part is so fun and relaxing… but I wanted to make progress on the hand quilting because when this quilt gets finished to a flimsy I KNOW I will want to quilt it up for my son and his wife to enjoy as quick as I can.. so I am making headway first on Batik Hollyhock Garden… about halfway I figure I will get bored or need a change.. I will then pick this up and run with it… that PLUS I am a bit gunshy about some of the parts of this quilt… you know each quilt is a learning adventure and this one is no different… lol!  I will share my learning points as I put it all together down the road.

As for today.. I will hand quilt only… also working out some today on my new recumbent bike I got last week….

 It is a fun way to relax my joints and back after hand quilting a while and it is sooo quiet too… lol!

So hope you take time to “be” today and have a blessed Easter day as well… Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice… and was glorified by His Father to rise up again… so now you can show your appreciation by “be-ing” today!

Lots of Productivity… Now to SLOW it down a bit!!!

So since our last chat… I have been VERY busy 🙂

Saturday I got the frame loaded with my latest finish “Batik Hollyhock Quilt”… This is where I will be most all day Sunday… In hand quilting BLISS!!!!   Linking this post to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday post HERE 🙂  Hope you make time to slow stitch with me today and to check out Kathy’s post… this quilt I am working on today was a LOOONG time UFO that I am happy is now being quilted… and it is for ME!!!

This pattern is Hollyhock Garden in this booklet you can find online…

In my last post I shared the making of the “flowers”… so in this post I thought I would show you all the triangles I cut using the SAME template….

And check out how festive my design wall looked as I put this quilt top together!!!

Don’t you love the vintage doilies above my design wall?  That is something my friend Wendy made for me … this April 1 we celebrated 3 wonderful years of friendship too!!!  

Finally I had it all together and it was time for me to piece a backing…

Because I made it bigger than I originally planned on it to be! lol

Oh well.. that is the life of a UFO… this quilt will be my personal living room snuggle quilt.  I stay cold a lot!!!  So this quilt will keep me warm while others are comfy already! hahaha   So here is my pieced backing…

Hard to tell but the colors are all coordinating with the front… once it is quilted I will get some close ups of the backing that remains as this was a bit big… and you will see the design better and colors! 🙂

All this I sewed on my vintage 301a GLORIA the Glorious!!!

Check out the new clock I found on facebook marketplace local to me….

 For a steal of a deal the original owner isn’t a sewer and received it as a gift… she agreed to take $30 for it !!! Yippee… It now happily adorns my sewing room and keeps me aware of the time.

We are selling LED lights we just got in that fit many vintage machines… but specifically my 301, 401 and 221!!!!  Soooo excited… this picture is on eBay if you are interested look for it there or message me HERE 🙂  We were unsure if this was a good deal or not as in… did they really fit so many different machines in 1 design… THEY DO!!!!  No flange between bulb and base is the reason!

There are like 104 little LED lights and it really brightens up my sewing space when I am using my machines now!!! Yippee!!!!

Finally I am ready to share a bit more about my designing focus I shared a bit last post with you but just enough to confuse you probably… let me share more with you today.

James ( my 2nd oldest child and father to Kaydence) recently married Heather… his true soulmate 🙂  I had sent him his father’s wedding band and my wedding band from that marriage which was originally his grandmother’s wedding band (Tony’s moms wedding band) for a wedding gift… but after sending Kaydence a quilt for their home… I wanted to make them a snuggle quilt to celebrate their union … it just seems right… so here are some quilts they sent for inspiration to make them one of their own.. hand quilted of course!!!

They wanted country colors… not much light colored fabrics… and a punch of dark purple to it as James prefers that color Heather said when she was giving me pointers.  Here is some of what I have designed…

It is the Amethyst Star Pattern!  I found out just the other day though that this is a spin on Pat Speth’s “Morning Star” pattern from her “nickel quilt book”.  So it is and the photo top left is a civil war take on that pattern I sent to Heather and she LOVED it!  So I ordered a layer cake and drew out and partially colored a pattern on graph paper I keep for designing on.

I love the name of this layer cake too!!!!  Gratitude by Jo Morton for Moda 🙂

And added a few fabrics from my stash and Connie’s to round out my needs for this quilt…

In the end I came up with a nice assortment of charms!!!

The sashings will be vanilla mottled around the edges and cheddar/light brown everywhere else in the center sections…

Above is a test sashing strip with the wrong fabric for star points but I was testing the pattern size needs to make sure my plan was accurate… well the left side is more accurate than the right side… so I will be marking these all and using Bonnie Hunter’s tutorial for flippy corners you can find HERE!  I enjoy learning from Bonnie … I think she if a great teacher!  And she is all about accuracy too 🙂

 You can see on the left where I am counting and ironing a final hot press… all the little squares… flippy corners to be! lol

And above I am now gonna use a stardust glitter pen from Sakura with a little ruler to mark a center line down all my little squares… then sew just inside that line to get the perfect flipped corner… I will NOT be saving the bonus triangles and these little squares are just too small already!  But I will have fun I hope as I had to make 1,120 of these little squares for this quilt!!!!  Wowee!!!!

I got fun mail this week from my best friend Connie… a sweet card and some goodies too!

And found some quilty inspiration online this week as well…

I took my beach photo from my last posting and used it to do a bit of fun photo editing to make a new blog header for summer time… it already feels like summer here in Florida anyway! lol

And I finally caught Daisy looking at my phone for a good minute so I could catch her cuteness…

She is such a fun companion.. even if we did find out doxie’s (dachshund by full name) are on the higher end of having dander… my honey is now gaining allergies!!!  Daisy is HIS dog! hahaha

Well, I hope you have enjoyed your visit and until my next post my time to show someone that you …

Hand quilting, Machine piecing, and Designing too!

Since finishing Kaydences sweet Butterfly Woven Quilt… she did receive it and she loved it her parents said… so all is well there!!!

Here is where I have spent some of my Sunday last week!!!

Daytona Beach Shores, Florida!

We have a driving pass to drive on the beach and walk around whenever it is open for driving on… when the surf isn’t dangerous or in the driving path… so that is what we did last weekend… what a great way to rest and relax!!!

My bloggy friend Kathy is talking about how relaxing and restful taking slow stitches is… I couldn’t agree more!  I have picked up a UFO that was sitting beside my recliner and have made a refreshing focus on it this week.  Here it was when I had it pieced and ready to layer and pin baste…

And here it was in my hoop as I started going closely around the “flowers” coming out from the center…

Daisy is always close at hand when I am hand quilting… above I was working on this project on my back porch Florida room (screened porch)… now I have brought it in and am working on it in my recliner in the air conditioning and in the living room 🙂

If you look at this photo above… the flower closest to this writing is not yet quilted around… the other 3 flowers and berries are quilted around now…  This is raw edged applique done expertly by my bestie Connie… I made it into a wall hanging but she did the applique I am not skilled enough to manage! lol

I am using wool batting on this project so once finished and out of the hoop the quilting will really show too 🙂  It will be a while yet as I have quilting for the borders… all to be decided as I go… this is my relax and enjoy project… because that is also Kathy’s theme today for our slow stitching and I am working on this today as well… I am linking my post today to Kathy’s Slow Sunday stitching HERE!!!  Come see what others are slow stitching while they relax and refresh 🌸

When not slow stitching on Sundays and when I need to relax… I have been designing a new quilt with this cool new book I just received.. it is an older book but still a GREAT book for designing borders…. it has 12 different quilts in it too 🙂

These quilts aren’t so easy to make and far more than I would design myself… but they also explain how to add fun pieced border designs to your own quilts… the authors are great precise quilters on their own and together I think they are just FAB!!!!

Judy Martin is the queen of precise piecing log cabin quilts and Marsha McCloskey is the queen of the feathered star pieced patterns!!!  Yippee!!!

In between slow stitching and designing a quilt for my son and his new wife…. I have found ANOTHER ufo to unearth and continue working on piecing on Gloria my Singer 301a!!!

It has been over a year I think since I have worked on this quilt … I had to discover how to piece the “flowers” all over again! lol

Here is 1 flower and a pic of the pattern…

 Here are several finished flowers and the template…

 Here is the booklet the pattern is in… it is full of lots of cool information though and is compiled by Darlene Zimmerman… this pattern is Hollyhock Garden and comes in 2 sizes in this book… but I am designing my own size! lol

 Here is some of the flowers on my design wall…

 This collage of pics shows a better view of what the finish may look like as well as my designing process… so I know how many flowers I will be needing!

 I am making the flowers from batik fat quarters… each fat quarter makes 6 flowers… 3 positive and 3 negative ones… I am using both types in my quilt… the pattern says to use just the positive ones though… I just can’t see wasting those negative triangles though….

 You make strip sets then cut the positive and negative triangles…

Once the 2 sides are sewn together you best bet is to double pin the center to get a perfect flower each time… this is a pic I sent to Bonnie Hunter after her most recent Quilt Cam.. I was just sewing them….

Her quilt cam reminded me of the importance of taking time to pin some things… so I am now!

I need 102 flowers if you noticed that in my notes above… I am over halfway now so hopefully I will start adding the green triangles later this week.

Today I plan to work on a quilt I am designing for my son and his new wife…

 Above they are in Gatlinburg last weekend when they finally tied the knot!

And after seeing quilts that inspired them I am designing on graph paper something similar to the pic below I found on pinterest in Civil War colors at their request….

I love how the sashing of the charm square fabrics make stars 🙂

I will be adding a fun pieced border from my new to me book on borders to this to make a nice living room snuggle quilt for them as a belated wedding gift… it will be hand quilted once pieced on Gloria!  I am planning an extra long quilt as my son is 6 foot 7 inches tall with big feet … his sweet wife Heather is only 5 feet tall! lol

I have recently printed new pics of my grandkids… thought you may enjoy seeing them…

Kaydence’s new grandma does a great job of sharing pics… and CJ’s mom caught him with a big smile I think as his dad swings him big!!!!

Hope you have a restful and relaxing Sunday y’all!

Please make time to …

Still Slow Stitching!

It has been a slow … slow stitching week around here! lol

I have been a bit under the weather with an upper respiratory issue… the cold medicine that helps leaves me a bit foggy headed and it is hard to stitch for long! lol

So earlier this week I was here for a posing shot of her quilt in progress …

 I was working on the second row of cross hatching.  Here are the tools I use with my 16″ hoop…

Cotton thread (this is YLI 40/3 in white), little scissors.. these were my first pair!, and some hemostats to help pull the needle through occasionally (when I put too many stitches on the needle! ha)… and speaking of needles I am using John James 8 Quilting with the YLI and Dritz Quilting Betweens because they are very stiff with large eye is a multitude of sizes in 1 container for the Perle cotton stitching. 

What tools do you like when hand quilting??

Well I finished the cross hatch and moved on to the middle green border on this little baby quilt…

 It is heart and swirl pattern in Perle 12 cotton in white 🙂

And here is a texture shot so you ca see the design a bit easier on camera with the morning sunlight coming in on it 🙂

 And after just moving the hoop I approach the halfway point of this border!  Yippee 🙂

I am linking this hand quilty post to Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday HERE 🙂  Where Life is Beautiful today !

Hope however you spend today you are able to get a few quilty stitches in.. happily I feel more like stitching today..

I will start back on a piecing project next week… if you remember my Hollyhock Gardens quilt 😉

I also have chosen my “charity project” for the year… Last year I made a quilt for a friend with a new diagnosis of cancer.  She loves the quilt!  So stay tuned as more of my next quilt I will make for all my cost with no expectation of payment… just a gift for someone in need !  I am excited about this!!!

Do you try to touch lives of those around you with your crafty gifts?  I would love to hear your stories!!!

Linking this post to Karen at Sew Many Ways LInky Party HERE as well 🙂
Hope you have all Blessed Stitches today 🙂

As 2014 comes to a close…

I have taken time to review my “be kind” motto for the year 🙂
And I do believe I have learned a lot about kindness and how many people are in need of it… take time to share a smile with a stranger… you never know when it could change a life!

If you notice my closing will change with the new year so stay tuned to my focus in 2015!!  I am really liking having an aspect of my personality I focus on to improve.

Let me say… I do think I was already Kind… I just think I needed more kindness overall in my home last year and that was achieved!  Yippee 🙂

My sewing room is coming along and I am working away at my hexi flowers…

I have done a bit more decorating and “moving in”… and got me a different chair that I LOVE!!!!

This chair was a craigslist find for $45 and it needed work and a new seat cushion and cover when I paid for it! lol  My honey thought I was crazy then … but after a lot of elbow great and a new cushion (we found at a thrift store for $6.00 … 3″ green foam nice n dense too)…. and some final adjustments…

This Shaw Walker vintage industrial office chair is from the 1930’s and in mint condition would now be worth quite a bit but I could easily get $200 I think… not that it is for sale! lol  But nice to know all that work made it worth more 🙂

Mail call brought something I won on a blog!

I am so excited to share that I won a handmade 6″ x 6″ wall hanging for my dd!

I had told her something snow globe related was coming for her that I had won on a blog… well LeeAnna… the sweet quilter who designed this and made it special for my daughter and who blogs HERE… sent this and we got it yesterday 🙂
But here is the best pic …

With my darling daughter in her room in front of her custom cabinet holder her snowglobe collection !!!  How cool is that for a snowglobe gift for my daughter… from one quilter to another!  LOVE THAT!

So stop by and visit LeeAnna and see what she is up to… the link above is for the blog post that talks about these adorable things 🙂  Thanks LeeAnna!

Meanwhile, my dd is now spread out in the hall for “best lighting” to work on a puzzle with a couple friends who came to help…it is my Christmas present delivered by New Years she says! lol

And  Daisy has found an “inside spot” in the sewing room 😉

My honey is working on his side of the sewing room… but pics of that side will be slow as I must dress the window before pics! lol

Here is his work desk though 🙂

We bought a treadle sewing machine we thought was salvagable but on closer inspection was not… so my honey will repurpose the top and get the treadle head working… but the base he pressure washed and painted black.  He will be repairing and reconditioning Singer Featherweights that we sell… Perfect!

Do you have a motto, try to do something new and different, eat a certain food, or have other New Years traditions?  I would love for you to share with me 🙂

Until my next post…