Happy February … Working towards a Finish Here !!

As we welcome February in I have been quilting by hand quite a bit!!

I want to invite you to look at all my photos and visit my bloggy friend Kathy and consider doing her scrappy football sew along mystery.  Read more about it HERE on her blog today is a link to that blog 😀

I started off the week of snow and very cold temps looking at this…

 And before i knew it is was ready to roll!!!

 Once rolled the left side got marked and started on…

 The pond is now unfrozen and the sun is out and we are back to doing things outside but it is a tad muddy ! So I am careful…

 This morning I took this photo for you…

 And a closer up of where I am… see my bronze thimble there on the quilt??  That is where I am this morning on the quilting… my last swipe of it going across the center part 😀

 So yesterday I pulled out this wall hanging that has a ruffly bottom outer border and started the slow arduous process of taking that border off… repressing it all and sewing it back on… mitered corner and all y’all!!!!

I added these corners without pins or measuring … do not do as I do but learn from this photo… 3 went on fine but one did not and needs removed… I will finish this today during Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching and the Peacock Party too right HERE!!!

Are you watching the Superbowl today??  We may or may not … we have no vested interest in it and I go to bed early so I will say I probably won’t ! lol  How about you though… tell me if you are rooting for one team or the other… I do look forward to seeing the stadium in Atlanta that this competition is happening in 😀

I am curious… are you making anything for valentine’s this year?  I hadn’t planned anything… well I did but other things got in the way.  So now it is near and I have nothing made! lol

I did get a photo of the ironing board cover I sent off to my good friend Debbie for her birthday last month!!!

It looks so good and fits so nice to only have general measurements… she loves it and I loved getting the photo!!!

I am anxiously awaiting a charm pack to make a gift requested by a different friend.  She is decorating her sewing room and wanted me to hand quilt her something… but the more we talked we narrowed her real need down to a window dressing across 2 windows that are right together and she looks out of all the time over the farm she lives on when there with her dad and kids too ❤  I will make her a special something fun for that window to dress it up using the 30's charm pack she has in route to me as I write this ❤ 

More to come in a couple weeks… oh but she wants to be surprised so all the info will be happening behind the scenes y’all!  Sorry!  Keep me and my imagination to properly finish this project in your thoughts please… I hope to have it done and delivered before the end of the month!!!

This happened here this past week …

Or can you see it better here ….

I am sharing it  both ways via blogger’s video and directly under that so you might see our SNOW!!!

We live in North Carolina in the southwestern tip of it and had a good bit of snow but not nearly what other’s had!!!  While I was quilting above… my honey was fashioning a return on the chair rail and finishing the pantry he started…

 Here is the pantry… waiting for the tv that will sit on top…

 Here is the whole area so you can see better how important the return on that chair rail was for him to do so nicely 😀

 And after we went to the grocery store and stocked up!!!  It held all we bought and we bought more than usual ❤

After a lot of wondering and shopping about we finally decided a 24″ smart tv from Best Buy was our best bet to fit nicely without looking squished on this pantry… Rick will be able to use his iPad on it or not… and we had have news and such playing in there or casted things from the iPad too while cooking or just hanging out!  It will be as a kitchen should be… the heart of our home as he continues to make little changes … stay tuned 😀

I got this book in the mail this week..

So many of my bloggy friends are joining in on sew alongs that have started and other plans… as for me I will read this book for a sew along that will follow Ask Sara of Sew Sweetness on Tuesday evenings on Youtube!  I am looking forward to this fun read… she has 6 different books in the month planned but this is the only one I have agreed to do… more info coming up on Feb 12th on her show.  I had to get the book from the UK but it looks like the perfect read for me and my honey to enjoy as he recuperates from his hip replacement… so that is what will happen with this book I think 🙂

Meanwhile we are wondering about the outer border for Appalachian Delight… a wide (14″) border is now replacing all those littler borders I had planned.

 We decided this taupe print might work best… so later this week we should order this to go own…

What do you think?  The bottom is what we have left from making the cornerstones in the center of the quilt… we want a little something different and are planning to make a fun design hand quilted in big stitch quilting threads on this wide border that will end in the burgandy solid binding 🙂  This will be on our bed when the current quilt isn’t … this will give us 2 quilts at this point… and then I have more things planned for my time at this moment 😀 lol!

I look forward to hearing from each of you and hope you are each living a life you love … I sure am!

Is remains my sign off as we wait for those hyacinth or some buttercups to emerge… but with the frigid cold we have had… it may be a while yet! lol  Kathi

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Finishes and Progress to Share … YAY!

Welcome y’all!  Thanks for stopping in and thanks for all your uplifting comments to last weeks post 🙂

I did not make this and I do not have this cute little hanger but both are doable… look how the quilter used little clothes pins to hold up this cute patchwork! 

But I did make this…

And you will see this photo over at the UFO& WIP link up Julie is doing HERE !!

It was a fairly easy sew.. but I had to prod myself to do it! lol  First I disassembled the old one and used the old padding to determine the size of the top of the ironing board… I laid that out on a big counter with my new fabric washed and ironed and pretty side DOWN with the old batting on top.  Then cut out leaving about 4″ all around 🙂

I replaced the batting and added another layer for a fresh topping on my ironing board because this had just been added a year or so ago and was ok still …

Next I decided this cover would have 1/4″ braided elastic to hold it in place… my last ironing board I had used cording with cord locks… didn’t care for it not staying tight consistently… I LOVE THIS FINISH!!!

I first zig zagged the edges then  pressed them down about 1″ all the way around and went back and straight stitched it down… leaving an opening do deal with the elastic.  You can do this a number of ways actually and I snipped a hole in a zig zagged section I fashioned like a button hole on the back side of mine.

All of this stitching you are doing will be hidden underneath but keeps it washable too !!!

Then get out a nice sized safety pin and guide the elastic around from one side all around til it comes back out the same hole … then pin them together so they won’t go in the hole while you form fit it to your ironing board… knot and trim off the tails and poke the knot inside the hole you used… all done and ready to press your next block or iron some clothes! hahaha   I jest there right??!!!  Actually I do iron a bit of our clothing … but not often! lol  I even made another for a friend for her birthday!!!

Next I will turn this 5 yards of vintage fabric into ironing surface covers… 

more on that process next week when I have done it 3 times! lol

Before I even started on the ironing board covers though I I put Cleo my Singer 319W to work sewing on binding to the front of the finished wall hanging I shared a pic of last weekend!

 Here you can see how I measure how much tail to leave between my staring point and ending point to have room to make a perfect join….

 I open the piece I cut off and use it as a measuring device 😀

Then in no time I had the binding hand stitched down on Monday and my honey with his stronger fingers pushed in the corners to hold in our wall hanging in the tobacco showing basket we found 🙂

This is a big part of southern history and this vintage piece is perfect for it’s center in our bedroom 😀  This is my link up for Julie’s UFO and WIP link up I linked to with the ironing board show off.  You get 2 entries to win something fun!!!

I have been watching my list and marking things off…

While one list is full.. it IS getting marked off little bits at a time. 

My hand stitching finish above is also getting linked up with Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday… without her link up I wouldn’t have pulled this out and finished it !!!  HERE 🙂  Come see her free form stars she is hand appliqueing on circles and the circles on squares… all very fun looking to me!!!

Also in the hand quilting progress arena is this…

 Friday I had over a star’s width to stitch the overall design on… well I buckled down knowing this weekend was coming up quick and stitched and stitched and stitched until…

I was ready to roll!  And roll I did and you can see in the lower of the 2 above photos 🙂

This morning I woke with itching fingers to mark and stitch… so I did…

 I use the pink pounce to mark the overall design on the center with my stencil then go over it with the chalk pencil you can see below found on Amazon by Allary company as it is hard to see on it’s own…. Below it is now half marked 🙂

As a note… I did use some of this same pink chalk pencil I have been warned may not come out completely … on the rustic wall hanging border and all came out!!! Now this quilt is holding the chalk longer than that wall hanging did … but I have faith that with soap and warm water and soaking a couple rinses too… I should have a clean and ready to share quilt when done… we shall see!

As you can see also in the photo above… I thought I would have 2 more passes after this one… now I am thinking 1 and a bit more than I can fudge into 1 more pass left so I am now hyper focused to work on this… also

The quilt I have been piecing is now stalled at this point… approx 78″ square!

We have decided… after auditioning SEVERAL borders… 

That we need more of this fabric in 1 wide border… 

This fabric was used in the cornerstones so it is not foreign to this quilt and it is a civil war blue and wheaty tan color.  Have a few yards laying around by chance?? lol  So it waits and marinates for more sewing to happen to it…

I did get a new scissor fob in the mail from my favorite Etsy fob designer … Lauren of Mountain Laurel Designs HERE 🙂

She made this fob short at my request… everything was just to my liking actually… I ordered from her in the past so she knows my style too… I ❤ it 😀

Here is some eye candy I found on facebook this week too…

 And a non traditional take on valentines coming up but I love it!

I also wanted to share a new “personality” I found on YouTube thanks to a friend in my facebook group… HERE is  her take on 3 ways to make the Economy Block… take a watch it will open in a new window so you don’t lose your place here too 😀 

Now aren’t you glad you watched some or all of that .. she is sooo entertaining and informational at the same time!!!

My honey is beating the pain he is dealing with by building us a new and built in pantry in our kitchen… our own design and his own knowledge… here are some photos in process…

Still needs the bottom cross members and doors… those may come today or he may rest and watch tv for a bit today 🙂  He has been working on this the last 2 days leaving me to my own devices like stitching!!!

So where ever you are HOT or COLD weather prevails… is there anywhere it is just nice relaxing weather I wonder???  Australia is very very Hot… North of the Equator we are very very cold all compared to regular weather patterns for this time of year so be safe and careful and watch your pets!

Have a blessed one and thanks for visiting and don’t forget to check out ALL the Links I left for you this week as I …