Lots of Hand Stitching this Week !

Memorial Day is a hard weekend for me for many reasons… 

 So when I found this Bonnie Hunter ism… I knew it needed to be my opening reminder… in case some of you have a tough time and need a lift out 🙂

Early last week I had all the pieces of the stuffy I was making for my sweet Ellie for her 1st birthday…

 This kind of pattern comes with LOTS of hand stitching in the beginning…..

 I was happy to have such a great strong machine though.. as this stuffy was thick and needed a heavy duty machine like Cleopatra my Singer 319w!!!

 I did also spend a bit of time on my red work…..

 And the second bear paw over is where I stopped last night on Appalachian Delight…

 In my search for a more comprehensive yet smaller sized book on embroidery….

 I unearthed this in my stash ….  And it is hard backed but has spiral binding inside…

 And it comes with such a fun way of chatting…

Linking all this hand stitching fun to Kathy and the crew at Kathy’s Quilts link up HERE <<<

 Lori Holt has come out with a new pattern…
 I love what she is using as a bed runner as a baseline idea for flowers for a spring table runner next spring!!!

Remember the meaning for those in the USA for Memorial Day… I time to remember those that gave the ultimate sacrifice to maintain our freedoms we have come to expect in the USA.

So as I close… and let this weekend slide away into next week … stay well and safe <<<  People are still dying from Covid 19 here in the US as we begin to return to a new normal.  What does it look like where you live?  Do you see lots of masks on others when you go out.. do you wear a mask when you go out around others???

We have some masks seen in this part of North Carolina but not enough for me yet!

Have a blessed week and thanks for stopping in!

Advertisement

Showing off my Sewing Room Decor and Rolling the Frame!

Well this has been a BUSY week around our home… getting ready for some freezing weather was quite an undertaking for sure!  And I have been sewing on a secret project commissioned to me by a very good friend… using my Cleopatra for the job of appliqueing letters and fashioning the intended banner… more to show when it has been sent off and received by my friend 😉

I started the week, however, slow stitching quite a bit on the Swoon quilt and machine stitching this rooster to the background fabric…

I don’t know if you can tell but I carefully mitered each corner… I will machine quilt the rooster as there are sooo many seams and fabric bits on the back side of this lovingly english paper pieced rooster… it is a pattern by Violet Craft… but I and my bestie who pieced it by hand do NOT recommend her EPP patterns as they are quite a challenge!  But now it is done so I thought I better get on with finishing it… it will find a home in our home to be displayed year round as yet another dual effort of Connie and me 🙂

The rooster now measures 28 1/2″ square & I still need to trim out the black fabric from the strips I appliqued it on to the rooster with… so no shadowing of the black through those neutrals happens!  That will be tediously slow and may be part of my hand work today!

Then before I could do anything else… my honey decided it was time to decorate my room with me!  Yahoo I said and stopped all my other efforts to focus on what would go where ….

My honey has had the honor to work with some of Nashville, Tennessee’s finest decorators so his knowledge in this area is VAST!!!  

Here is how it turned out… 

the left wall as you walk in the room …. over the buffet

to the right of that… or what you see from the doorway directly

to the right of that… as you look out by the pond & around my 301 Julius

finally the last wall in the room is my design wall and up high I can’t reach well so he added my banner there!

I don’t know if my captions made sense but here is a panoramic view of my room before decorating to help you see where all things are now…

I got my hair trimmed on Friday… and was I GLAD!!!!  I’ll share a selfie I took… 

 And on Saturday I rolled the frame… see how foggy it was over the pond through the windows that morning???

 Here is a close up of the quilting I worked on this morning…

 I am linking all this hand stitching and other hand work I shared this week being glad God gifted me with 2 hands that are ambidextrously useful… to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching Crew HERE .  Click on the link to open a new tab on your device to see what everyone else is linking up too!!!!

>>> Finally I need some input from y’all! <<<

My best girlfriend Jannessa gifted me this honeybun & yardage – fabric kit by Moda called “Winterlude”.

 It comes with the above pattern… or I could create my own!  Do you like one of these other options???  Or do you like the original???
I like both but this would make a table runner 18″ x 60″ for our kitchen & 2 smaller sized placemats as a gift for Jannessa.
The one on the right seems fun for this but I can’t figure out how to make those flatter than 45 degree zig zags… hmmmm

 The pattern is in this PDF only version of a book published in 2009 and now out of print….

Here is a photo of the book called “On the Run”  by Heather Moulder Peterson.  Anyone own this book and wanna sell it???  Or have you heard of this talented designer before and know how easy to follow her patterns are???

I would love to own the book over a PDF that is harder for me to use in the sewing room without LOTS of printing!!!

And that wraps up my week.  Hope you are having a great weekend and having tolerable weather no matter where in this world you live… I am enjoying our cold weather for sure!!!  It is 35 degrees F at this writing and supposed to top out at 55 later this afternoon.

Until next Sunday… I may have a bag completed (we worked on it yesterday and got about 1/3 done) as a Christmas present for my daughter. 

I certainly hope you leave feedback on your thoughts on this post if you read to this point 🙂  Have a good week ahead and hope you turned your clocks back an hour too (if you live where Daylight Savings Time is a thing! lol)

Swooning Downhill Now and Sew Much More!!!

Happy Sunday to you and thanks for visiting my blog today!

I am swooning with progress on the Swoon Quilt in my frame… so I would like to start this post by linking to Kathy’s Quilts where she is welcoming anyone in the Ontario, Canada region to come share her first annual play day with her and other “hand-ee” friends 😀  Follow THIS link to find out how you can participate !!!

Slow Stitching this week started out with sewing binding which I will share in just a bit.. it also included getting over the 50% completed part of the quilt in my frame…

 Here is a close up  of the border just past the medallion I finished above…

 And here you can see both areas better… I can’t quite reach the top of the medallion piece so I save that last bit for the next pass over the quilt…

 Like this… once rolled down! …

This is such a fun quilt to quilt… and because it was pieced by Connie … aka my bestie… I am honored to do this … I work on it some most every day too!

I had more hand work in my week this week though…

 It started when I gathered all the supplies to get this quilt layered together… I had to piece some batting scraps together but it worked!!!!

And soon I machine quilted the center… thinking I would do the outer border by hand…

 But before I knew what I had done I had pulled out the decorative stitching cams on my Singer vintage 319w and added them to the border… did a victory lap of basting stitches around the outer edge… then added the binding that Jannessa had donated along with the fabric for the outer border 😀

 The backing is a autumn scene I pieced at the center where it wouldn’t be too noticeable… and look at that rich binding fabric.. looks great no matter which side is up!!!!

 Almost sewn on.. I spend early Monday morning using my new iPhone caddy to hold my phone at the perfect angle while watching and stitching.. put on my  headphones so as not to wake the house and had a cup of coffee to enjoy as I finished the stitching of the binding in short bursts of activity!

 Finally I finished… I was astonished that it took me most of the day to finish the binding.. but quick and into the washer it went!!!

 And before long it had been washed twice and dried well and was ready to adorn our bar in the kitchen!  This serves as a double place mat of sorts for us and decor to brighten up the room too for each season 😀 

Linking this to Julie’s WIP & UFO Challenge the end of October  HERE 🙂  Go check out what other finishes people are linking or link one up yourself 😀

 Here is a direct on view too…

The final and perfect size is 18″ wide by 60″ long 🙂  I will aim for this size for future table runners… this pattern was offered free last fall by Jordan Fabrics… they have a youtube video I linked to in last Sunday’s post too 🙂

So this Sunday I want to encourage you to watch THIS VIDEO if this photo interests you at all…

Jannessa and I are planning to make a boy and girl themed turkey couple using the larger turkey’s as our model…

Then surround it with this fun and intricate design I have in a stencil… I have been dying to use it and this will be 32 x 46 or so … perfect to hang in our homes this fall… I will share more on this project next Sunday too!

In a couple of weeks we are planning to take a trip to Tennessee and see our kids and help out Connie realize her she shed dreams… in planning for that I decided we needed bags to keep our medications organized while away from our normal routines.

Here is the one I made for Rick from some gorgeous fabric Jannessa let me us of her stash…

 Then … with Cleopatra completely installed in the cabinet now by my honey with the hinges successfully in place thanks to Lowe’s having the specific sized bit he needed to drill the exact type of partial hole for it… I got a swiveling sewing machine again so I can safely change bobbins and service my sweet machine too ❤

 I made this cute bag for my medications too!

 Here is my gorgeous and favorite daughter (she is my only daughter! lol)  Who not so long ago said hello to 21.  I am looking forward to seeing her in just a couple weeks too and meeting her boyfriend too!

 I fixed my wallet wristlet I made several months back but I put the handle on the wrong end… it let my credit cards and such slide out if it wasn’t full with my phone and such in it… so I removed it from the wrong side.. closed that hole and opened a hole on the other side and stitched it into place.. works PERFECT now 🙂

 And here are more pics of my sweet granddaughter at 4 months old.  She is the child of my son James and dil Heather… Ellie is such a sweetie.. I have a whole evening set aside to see them and play with her 😀

Well, I hope you have enjoyed hearing about my busy week and seeing some of my family I am getting more excited about seeing every day as our trip nears.

Take care and be ready to welcome in autumn tomorrow… we have had our windows open at night here lately… sooo ready for a break in the heat outside and air conditioning inside!

Lots of progress to share!

I hope you have each had a wonderful week.  I really appreciated your feedback on last weeks post !!!  You all spoke and we listened!!!!

 Above is a more narrow valance to use over her window … it will be quilted and layered with batting to protect it from sunlight 🙂

But this progress is a surprising show of events…

 Amelie’s banner is done !!!  The fabric showed up Monday and my gears started moving and soon me and Cleopatra were sewing it into a banner of sorts 🙂

The recipient, daughter of my post office dude, loves it as does mom and dad (who celebrate Halloween all year round!!!)… pic of the room will be coming 🙂
Linking this finish to Wendy’s Peacock Party HERE
and
Linking to the Crafty Quilter’s UFO Link Up HERE as this has been on the list for 6 months to get done!!!!

I have spent a good bit of the week hand quilting on Connie’s Swoon Quilt…

 Above I finished the center swoon… in the center 🙂

Below I have the right side center to finish and the outer right border to complete… that will get some of my undivided attention today 🙂

Jasper’s quilt got finished with the machine quilting and the binding got applied to the front!!!

 Now Cleopatra finally gets a rest!!!!

 Molly is inspecting the finished quilt as I work on the binding…

 Sewing it down… here is the hand fashioned label that needs a date added to it 🙂

Linking this and swoon quilting to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitchers where we share what hand stitching we plan to be doing this day… HERE!!!  She has a lovely post today to to share!!!

Here is a center design for a medallion style quilt…

 Using my already made kaleidoscope blocks…

 Here’s some left to make!

 And here is the beginning of my rough draft plan…

 I will use this new book to my collection…

 Here is Connie’s EPP progress… she is currently working on those variegated neutral backing hexi’s!!!

 And here is a sweet little tea cup pin cushion my new friend Jannessa gifted me 😀

 Here is a perspective photo for a 12 oz coke 🙂

 Here is sweet Ellie … my grand daughter with a milk mouth picture sent during the week!!!! 😀

 Here are some cell phone cradles my honey made for me and Jannesssa this week too…

 And here is one more square completed this week.

Overall a VERY accomplished week I would say… thanks for stopping in for a visit… and if you have made it this far.. tell me which project of the many I shared you enjoyed the best!!!

Celebrations all Around & a Giveaway Winner too!!

Wow !!!  What an amazing week I have to share with you all!!!  I finished this table runner this morning….

In building this table runner I spent precious last moments with my Singer 301a Gloria… linking this finish with Julie’s UFO and WIP finishes for May HERE!

 I love sewing early in the morning with the window open to hear the pond and water trickling there 🙂

I won at bobbin chicken too!

 That was very exciting… and the ending came out with this flimsy measuring about 17″ x 51″ 🙂

It was a fun make and took my mind off lots of other things happening this week.

Today is the 11th anniversary of the day my husband died.  Changing my life path forever.  I am happy today that things turned out the way they did as he was not in good health at the end… but his sudden death left me speechless for a long time.

So to have this completed project in the washer and where I spent my slow stitching hours all weekend …
and now where me and my honey will enjoy a meal this evening is a blessing for sure!  I am linking this awesome project with machine quilting filling but a slow stitching ending for the binding… as you can see to the right>>>  To my favorite blog Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching HERE 😀

I am also linking this project to Wendy’s Peacock Party HERE… I love her blog posts and enjoy linking there too!… The machine quilting was LOTS of fun actually.. I used my tools for marking quilts when hand quilting to mark this for machine quilting.  Click on the photo and i t should blow up for you 💕

On Wednesday…

Gloria bowed out of my sewing room as my honey surprised me with a black early 301 by Singer… Manufactured in South Carolina in October 1952 I officially added Julius my clan of machines 🙂

I celebrated with this photo collage of my 2 main machines…. Julius (Singer 301) and Cleopatra (Singer 319w)…  What an awesome duo they will be !!!  As the story of old goes too 😀

I was still reeling over the excitement of this new addition to my sewing room when I found out my son and his wife had their baby girl Elliana!!!! 

Born at 6:43 am on 5/23/19.  Elliana Marie came into this world weighing 6 pounds and 10 ounces and 20 inches long … Mom and Elli went home with dad driving them yesterday and all is well ❤

So I am a Gram and Rick is a Papa 😀  My heart melts to meet her in person too ❤  Soon I hope!

We bought an area run this week… Molly has decided it is her daytime bed 😀  She is soooo cute rolling around on it like it is a big playground! lol

 Have you seen this panel?  I am looking for where to buy this if anyone knows where it might be found!!!

I enjoyed some times on the swing by the pond this week….

 Sew Relaxing… until Molly comes and gives me a wet willy!!! lololol  She likes being up in the swing too though …

We have this orange blooming bush that comes out this time each year in full blooms… I don’t know that I have ever seen this before… any ideas on what kind of bush this is???

 Here is a view of our pond and home from the other side of the river that runs through our yard…

 And our home as you come up the driveway… on the golf cart these photos were taken 😀

 Not much progress on this front but this will be my BIG PUSH this week… no pun intended ! hahaha

 Here is a fun attachment to free motion quilt on a featherweight 221 we are selling this week on facebook….

 And here is a newer Sew Handy we sold … this one was quite complete and sewed great… The new owner should be very pleased 😀

Now for what you have all been waiting for …

The giveaway WINNER!!!!!

#18 in the 20 comments left that qualified with a return email address:

>>>> YTSMOM <<<<

with her comment…

Sooo… now what will Julius first project be?  Well he sewed together binding for the table runner as a dry run of sorts…. He did a fab job with none of the glitches I had noticed over the years with Gloria so I was happy for that… I am pondering a wall hanging like the one below:

 With a 3d bow like the one to the right 😀

We shall see… my Etsy shop is empty and will be closed officially soon.  So I plan to sell things I make on eBay where we already have a presence for vintage things.  We will see…

I have emailed the lucky winner celebrating my 8 years blogging… I am excited to get her address and get her the winning lot of things 🙂

Have a blessed weekend and remember the true reason for Memorial Day is not extended weekend time for family celebrations but a sobering time to remember lives lost by soldiers who fight for the freedom we have here in this country.  God Bless America!