Happy July y’all and a stencil tutorial !!

What a Historic Month we are in now!!!

July 4 is actually my birthday 💖…

and when we celebrate our Independence as a Nation here in the USA so….

Today… July 6 is also my Gaga’s birthday… she passed away in 2004 but is fondly remembered each July 6… just 2 days after mine!  I like to think we look a bit alike too 😀

Here is a Birthday wish someone left me on Facebook… 

for me and my Gaga and you if you have a July birthday too!!!!

Isn’t this a cool mix of applique 😀

Here are a few of my birthday goodies I got…

First from my LQS…

Then I woke on the 4th to find this from my honey 🙂 

 My post for my facebook friends from a photo I took on our property 🙂

And if you look close.. there is a flag waving far off… that is our post office!!! lol

Here is a current photo of me… with a tag I added on Facebook 😀 

And HERE …. I   I   I   I

                       V  V  V  V

are the photos of the divided caddy I made for my friend Debbie I told you about in my last blog post…She received this yesterday in the mail so I was so excited to share it with you!

It has pockets added to each end for keys and cell phone when she is on the move with her stuff!  She loves bright colors and pink and yellow are faves as well as green… I used from my stash only for this … the handles are black wide ribbon from my stash too!!!  The insides are also covered in matte vinyl fuse like the one I made for my honey to use for his shaving gear… this one is a bit bigger and much more sturdy though in it’s construction 😀  I am well pleased… this is made by a video on YouTube by Sewspire 😀  Andrea makes making this very easy to understand too!  

Before the tutorial… I want to share my progress on the quilt I am hand quilting!!!!  I am linking this hand quilting goodness on Sunday to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday post … HERE (had computer issues so didn’t link up until 5:30 pm EST USA … sorry!)  Go see Kathy and Congratulate her as she enters her 7th year as a Sunday slow stitch linky boss 😀

I am about 57% completed with the hand quilting in these photos…

 And  here you can see what I am doing in the star blocks with the chalk lines I follow then spritz away the residue of chalk when I have stitched the wavy lines ….

Above you can also see how I am big stitching the swirlies in the sashings…. using a black perle cotton 12 wt.

The swirlies are from a stancil that is a bit LONGER than the space I had to fill … soooooo

This is how you make a stencil fit YOUR space <<< TUTORIAL

Here is my stencil over the sashing… see how the sashing is about 1/4″ shorter on each end than the stencil?? 

While in the above position… mark the center parts of the stencil… but not the outer parts of the swirlie or whatever your design is… that way the center parts are centered!

Then below you will move each end to the desired spot and line up with the lines already marked… I am using a water soluble marker for my marking…

Here is a closer up view… I am marking the other end now… the stencil does not have to stay straight on the sashing but the end you are marking must be right in place!  mark carefully 😀 

 Now that all parts of the stencil are marked… it is time to fill in the “legs”… the legs are the parts where the stencil is held to the base and left gaps in your swirlie! 🙂

 Now you can see my swirlie marked well… downsized to fit my sashing with legs filled in too!

Feel free to click on any of these photos to enlarge them to see those blue lines more clearly… and scroll back up to see the stitched and spritzed away markings of my sashings… 

Another consideration I realized after marking the first row of this stencil was the orientation of the swirlies… so I put the center loops facing my blue blocks on all my swirlie designs for consistency… just a thought for your stencil marking too 😀

Now a look at our Lazy Daisy homestead and future and present harvesting…

First here are some not yet ready peach, apple, grape, and blueberry!

And here are some ready to enjoy squash and tomatoes from our garden 😀 

Here is a crane we have seen several days recently…

And a closer up view of the sandhill crane… native to this area a friend who lives here told us 🙂

 Love these vibrant fuscia / purple conical blooms on this bush!

 And a corkscrew willow in full glory!

A look back at our home sweet home… 

And the grist mill and edge of the pond where we often stand to feed the fish their high protein floating food 🙂 

And a look from the other side of the pond toward the back of our home… 

And the back porch with the blooming hostas all in a row! 

We finally finally got a North Carolina tag for our Cassie… she is legal and so are we… now true North Carolinians and happy to be that! 

And in closing…

A bit of patriotic quilty inspiration I saw online this week!!! 

A Very inspirational saying to add to your thought process today as you leave this post and do your own thing… 

A wish from me and my honey to you and your household ❤ 

Thanks for visiting !!! Have a blessed weekend 🙂

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Lots of Fun Ideas Bubbling Up!

First I want to open with a Happy Father’s Day to any Dad’s or Dad’s to be or Step Dad’s in the reading today!!!

I have lots of fun things to share in this post… first let me start with a great announcement!!!

I am 33% done with the quilting on my current hand quilting project… This will be linked over at Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday post too right HERE 😀

Here are a couple close up views showing all the different thread types I am using… 

 Yes, my thread stash is quite fun!!!

 And a view of my view and the quilt frame in full… I am working on the red row just up from the bottom of the frame presently …. ROW 5!!!

My progress slowed a bit this week as I watched vids and stitched learning how to make a divided caddy for my honey for his Father’s Day celebration 😀

He was a wonderful support for me in looking at things from a guy’s perspective as I raised my kids… and he is also the father of a son himself who is also grown… now that we are enjoying empty nesting though… I thought I should make him a bit of a Father’s Day something and this fabric yelled to be included….

 Train fabric… like the tracks we have running right beside our home… and like the trains he loves!!!

 The inside fabric I covered in vinyl to make it water resistant watching a video by Sara Lawson HERE…  I used Pellon MATTE vinyl I ordered via Walmart and picked up there for less 😀

 This divided caddy has ribbon I had in my stash for handles but otherwise the instructions came from a youtube video by SewSpire… HERE 😀

I will say that Sara’s vid is quite comprehensive and if you follow her channel you will be blessed to find out she has Sunday night and Tuesday evening live shows where she shares some of her bag making knowledge….

Andrea’s videa for the divided caddy was easy to watch  but harder to put into reality of sewing… I was happy to have boxy knowledge and sewing background to figure out some of the finer points she didn’t explain… I had watched A LOT of videos on different pouches and totes before I found this perfect one…. and as you see my honey ❤ loved it and put it to use right away in our bathroom holding his man stuff for shaving and whatnot!  SCORE!!!!

Still waiting to be done is his pillow top….

And layering that charity quilt and starting the machine quiting on it.  But my honey… who is still suffering with his sciatic nerve flare on the right side…  (thanks for those of you who have been inquiring and sending up happy thoughts and prayers for healing)… decided to do a bit of painting yesterday to finish the kitchen… he got most of it done but still has some cutting in to do before he had to quit for the day and rest his body.  So the counter I would layer on is full of painting and household stuff he took off the walls… lol!  So…. I have an excuse not to iron all that stuff and layer it up today anyway!!!

Have you heard of Jacquelynne Steves ???  She is a home decor and quilting super star and she is starting a 4 block BOM in August but you must sign up soon …

It will finish like this… however I plan to make the 4 blocks in the center (Only 1 block made per month with her FREE pattern if you join the BOM group) 

And instead of finishing her way … I will do the applique and embroidery and piecing with her guidelines… and finish with one of these kind of ideas maybe…
These ideas are for finishing a panel creatively… but this should be about the same size… we will see… I just don’t need a large wall hanging but a medium one 🙂

So wanna give it a go??? Come ask to join my closed group facebook group where we share all things quilty … hand or machine quilting / piecing / home decore… and general chat like this! 

Patchwork Friends 

We have the links there too to sign up for Jacquelynne’s QAL and will be sharing our progress there as well as there is a facebook group Jacquelynn runs and she shares her link when you sign up for the QAL 😀

Here is Shakespeare in the Park by Judy Martin … I have a book this is in and am planning this as the second quilt for our bed… I plan to do something more like the quilt on the left but the directions are for the quilt on the right… hmmm… will take a bit of mind bending to cut it out right !lol  We shall see how it turns out once I start with the leftover of my current quilting project 😉

And here is a swoon block renovation I LOVE <3!!!  I think this would be fun in our kitchen supersized a bit … and in cream and reds… lol with the blue sky still… I have some fun fabric for that!

I got my official hard copy of my Drivers License for North Carolina this week too… goood until 2026 😀  Yipee!!!!

 So until my next post … make time to Live a Life you Love!!!

And if you aren’t already a member… I hope to see your invitation come through Patchwork Friends facebook group by clicking that name above ❤