Slow and Loving Stitches Here!!!

Happy Sunday Y’all!!!

 This week I have had a very busy week to be slow stitching… but I find the beginning of a project busy as I gather supplies and make final design decisions on the hand quilting…  So I have been to the beach a few times!

We also were celebrating here more this week… my honey celebrated his birthday this week!  This was a pic I posted on facebook 🙂

 My bestie Connie took a couple of good shots of us when she was here… nice to have an ocean background as that is our fave place of late!

There is NOTHING to me besides hand quilting that equals beach visits for therapy of the soul!!!

Speaking of stitching let me show you the progress I have made slow stitching on this beauty Amethyst Stars…

I shared this planned stencil to use on the outer border…

 Here is where I marked it with Pounce Chalk… and enhanced those markings as I went along with a chalk pen I have…

 Here is the right side stitched up…

 Here is the joined area… this is a directional stencil… so because of that at the center of the sides, top and bottom I have a “join” area to deal with… which I prefer actually so it is all good…

 And here is that joined area stitched and cleaned and dry 😀

 Here is a fun photo I caught in the early morning one day this week too…

 Thought you would enjoy that shot! I love catching the stitching in different light.

Here is the inner border in the design I had planned… and argyl-esque look with 2 colors of perle cotton in use here…

Here is a shot of the “Argyling” I did… it looks oh so cool in real life.. I hope that is captured in these photos taken with my iPhone though! lol

Now I have rolled the quilt yet again (yep that is twice in a week!!!) and have ordered some stencils… I get stencils from 2 different places… The Stencil Company and Quilting Stencils International.  Both can be google searched and ship in the USA as well as overseas for a price I think!  I had exhausted the fun charm square sized stencils from the first place so I checked out the second place… I am now patiently… NOT… waiting for my stencils to arrive via mail.

I do wish there were local hand quilting outlets… I live 1 hour from a big city but there is no hand quilting shops near me … so most of my shopping is done online.  So I wait PATIENTLY! lol

As I wait I am using the stencils I had in my stash/or had ordered from the first mentioned place anticipating my need for charm sized stencil designs.  In this shot you can see my markings from a stencil to the far right charm square…

 And in this shot you can see that charm square is now stitched … as are the 3 stars …

So how many different threads am I using on this quilt all together you may wonder??! hahaha… let me share this shot with you then…

Yep, I am using Aurifil 28/2, YLI 40/3, Valdani 12 wt perle I get from the Rusty Crow online shop, and DMC 12 wt perle cotton too!!!  Each different brand has it’s own texture though so just like using lots of fabrics can make a quilt scrappy.. using lots of different types of threads can make it more scrappy in it’s finish too… I only bought a couple of these for this quilt… the rest if from stash!  I LOVE THREAD!!! lol

And here is my Pounce marking pad…

It comes in white, blue and pink … there is a good video on YouTube by Leah Day showing how to properly use a pounce marker… there is a definite learning curve to this way of marking… and when you “charge ” it to use you have to whack it against something pretty firmly and it makes a startling noise to others around who may not be expecting it! lol  So if you need a quiet environment or quilt with others in the room work out a communication for when you are charging your pad to mark is my advice 😀

I have a Facebook group that I started several years ago… it hums along usually but of late has been languishing… so I am trying to resuscitate it…

 Here is the group name and the Facebook header I just put up this morning 🙂  I have been so preoccupied with my honey and his health and my own health concerns… I am just getting back to keeping up with things I enjoy like this Facebook group ❤  If you are interested in quilty talk and sharing in a small group setting… as to join in this group if you like!  Would love to get to know you each better… if you aren't already in my group that is.

Also to add to my productivity this week I straightened my sewing room quite a bit…

 The top shot is my 401a (on the left) ~ Zena, and my 301a ~ Gloria ready for action… you can see my design wall and ironing surface there too… then below to the left is my cutting surface and it is MUCH tidier.

My bestie gave me that cool wood ruler organizer/holder over a month ago… I finally made a space for it and put a note she left me LAST summer on it along with my small cutting mat and my most commonly used rulers 🙂

To the bottom right is a collage I made of my next project coming up to piece and thus the reason my sewing room needed this tidy.  I now have all the major cuts made to this Christmas wall hanging… you can see the red and green and white with grey fabrics I am using… this will be a wall hanging for the foyer when the season arrives I am hoping!  While I was ordering the white/grey fabric during a clearance sale online… I found some remnant pieces I felt needed to be added to my existing stash to enhance it! lol  They will be used on a future quilt I am planning also!

Here is a closer up shot of my 401a… Zena… with the cool pin cushion my bestie gifted me for my birthday… I sent it to the lady on etsy that fashioned it from vintage stuff … and filled it at my request with walnut shells!  It is weighty and useful… I LOVE LOVE LOVE it ❤

Here is a cool way to use art to decorate and say something meaningful too that I found on Pinterest I think.  I sent it to my daughter but it has spoken to me also…

 I haven’t heard from my daughter since the 4th of July (my birthday) .. hoping all is well with her and helping her to see a silver lining if life isn’t working out as she thought it might!

For now I encourage you to each …

Stitch and enjoy… come over to Kathy’s Quilts to see what others are slow stitching this week too… that is where I will be posting this too!!   HERE is a direct link to make it easy for ya! 🙂  She has a fun interpretation of this too… this is just mine because it has the ocean in it!!!💕

Y’all … there is PLENTY of meanness in our world of late… please be the change in your area… I will be in mine by showing my love to others… won’t you try it too?!!!  

Have a blessed Sunday and a great upcoming week and grab the opportunity to make a difference around you!

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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….

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 …

Blessed Easter Sunday All ~ Progress Report!

Hope you are slow stitching some on this Blessed Easter Sunday!  I went to the beach this morning at sunrise!

My honey got up early with me this morning and we headed to the beach for a 7 am sunrise 🙂

It was so glorious… it was also cool, and VERY breezy.. check out the blowing sand…  this is looking each way as we walked on the beach!

But the sunrise, although it was overcast… still shined through!

                              The waves were busy but not ferocious today.. and we went while the tide was about midway… I love seeing the birds on the water’s edge… God provides us so much natural beauty to enjoy!  

We are very blessed for sure!

Now that we have enjoyed Daytona Beach USA… I bet you want to know more about my progress on THE MAN quilt… I had set a goal mid week of having a post ready to go with my latest duo complete… and here is block #7 and feather #8 in my countdown to completion of this part of the quilting.

Tah Dah!

Now to get off those pencil marks on the feather… the chalk I used on the swirly block you can see is virtually gone already!

First I lay out the feather to remove the markings from…

 Then spray on the magic stuff that has virtually no odor and leaves no stiffness in the fabric afterward!…

See the bubbles it makes when you spray it on the pencil markings??

 Then I wipe it down scrubbing it really … with a soft dry cloth.  And Whallah!

If you want to get some of this Marking Pencil Removal solution try the great prices at my friend Debbie’s shop on Ebay here!  I am not paid to advertise her shop… I simply think she rocks customer service and has great prices.. lol!

So for my finale…once I complete 6 swirly blocks.. 7 fun feathers.. and 2 yin yang cornerstones… I will machine bind the binding to the front of the quilt THEN do the quilting of the chain that is the outer border of this quilt… that way my lines stay even to the binding and all looks nice… THEN I will add the label my honey hasn’t seen yet… and sew down the binding to the back by hand!  Whew!  That is still a lot of steps.. but there is light at the end cuz I could list all that needed to be done in 1 paragraph! lol

So how do you plan to spend your Easter.. Do you celebrate at all?  Would love to hear your traditions of the season or just how you plan to spend this day of this year!

Linking this post and my awesome goal met to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy’s Quilts here!  

And with Karen at Sew Many Ways linky party here!

I have missed my bloggy friends :)

2 1/2 weeks is too long not to blog… in celebration of getting back to blog land I updated my cover 🙂

This is a recent pic of me in a shirt I really like 🙂

The smile took some convincing… to not blog about me and my life for 2 1/2 weeks is a lot!  I have been a two to three time a week blogger for over a year!

One highlight while I was off the grid was that we rescued a turtle from certain danger on the path he was on…

So we watered him up as he was shy and we couldn’t tell if he was okay or not… but look at him!

 We rehomed him to a neighborhood lake where he would be out of harms way!  Yay 🙂

And there is always good therapy to be found nearby at the beach…

I really do love being only 10 minute drive from this 🙂  That is my dd in the water playing!  She has a  blast playing in the waves and I have a blast watching her.

The aloe blooms are gone and no insects came to enjoy them… so soon this aloe will get trimmed and replanted somewhere it can enjoy itself and heal from the rough life it had before we came around.
 
I haven’t stopped quilting… last week I rounded the 3rd corner on this beauty!

Here is one of my fave fabrics and some close up of my quilting 🙂

I really enjoy hand quilting…

If you enjoy quilting by hand instead of machine you should request entrance to the greatest show on earth… a worldwide group of handquilters are uniting on facebook.  The work I see there encourages me every day and there are answers to so many questions… Celebrate Hand Quilting request for entry as this is a closed group and you have to request entrance by clicking here you can see our header this week and request entrance to this group.  There are almost a thousand quilters right now that are members from all over the world!  It is so fun to show and tell hand quilting… some hand piece but all hand quilt what they show.  Most is much more refined that my quilting… lol!

If you are interested in a smaller low key group of weekend quilters by machine or by hand check out my facebook group called Patchwork Friends here… we have show and tell too but not daily ! lol  But it is a great group for newby and not so new quilters to get together and chat!

Please pray for me to be the decision maker that God and my family need during this time and I will try to write you at least twice a week from now on!

Thanks and have a blessed week!

Kathi

Memories of my summer quilt retreat :)

So many happy memories to share… my bestie Connie and I planned a week of quilting fun and here are some highlights and details for you to enjoy.  Plan your own quilt retreat with your quilty friends 🙂

Me n Connie

Birthday quilty shirts on and beach approved!

First we pinned this quilt….

All pinned here but it took some effort from all of us 🙂

We had to touch up iron the backing… thanks honey for the nice tile floor to lay the quilt tops out on!

then Connie, me and my dd all pinned the quilt

Brandi put the last pin in!

Making quilt tops that we both got pinned and pictured….

Sister quilts

From a pattern called Picnic in this book!

And this great fabric from Basic Grey for Moda “PB&J” line… jelly rolls 🙂

Connie used cream background and I used tone on tone whites for my background… LOTS OF FUN!

We also celebrated birthdays!  First was Connie’s on the 3rd, me on the 4th, my honey on the 20th and my dd on the 26th 🙂  July is a fun month in this home 😀

We also squeezed in shopping and beach time… and of course a snooze in the hammock 🙂

Finally my dd and all of us worked on a quilty puzzle that we mod podged and sent home with Connie as her personal souvenier 🙂

Hope you enjoy this quick trip through our quilty week!

Have a blessed week 🙂

Kathi