A Slow Stitching Challenge Met and Other cool stuff!

Welcome Y’all from wherever you are reading this … to where I am in south western North Carolina I hope you are all doing well!  And I wish each of you a Happy September 2018!!!

I have made some fun slow stitching progress this week and am sharing a challenge from my favorite Sunday Slow Stitching blog linky over at Kathy’s Quilts HERE!  Kathy has a super fun challenge today so go read all about… then come back here to read how I am meeting her challenge in this post!

So here is a close up view of what I see every day when hand quilting at my frame…

 And here is the long view of all I can see from my frame view!  I LOVE THIS VIEW!!!

 Here is outside my windows….

 Here is the pond that was hard to see from the inside shots… it has crappie, bass and trout in it.  We feed them and invite friends to fish them… but we don’t! lol

 Here is a close up of the grist mill and water wheel….

Now back to slow stitching progress….

I got the view on the left done early in the week… then the view on the right done later in the week….

Now I am here… end of the row and 82% or more complete with this behemoth quilt for our bed!!!

 I love mixing big stitch and regular quilt stitches together on this project… I think that is “my style” now too 🙂  I have a nice selection of both kinds of threads now and add to it as I am able with each project I work on!

Then I went into the sewing room and look who was right next to me making herself at home!!!

Little Molly likes my fabric scraps and plays in them whenever I leave the door open to the sewing room or am in there!
Here was a photo op I enjoyed doing with her last weekend…

Now she is 12 weeks old!!!  Still working on potty training but she eats well and enjoys playing and staying under foot for sure!!!

This week we also said a short but sweet goodbye to a fellow veteran and US hero John McCain.  This was our tribute as posted on facebook…

Our flag and the post office just above us in this photo will return to full staff status on Monday after he has been buried at the Naval Cemetery.  I am glad he didn’t suffer long from the time he decided to quit treatment of his brain cancer.

This is STILL my view on my 401 where I am machine quilting a quilt for a friend… I wish I could force myself to work on it more!

 And I saw this meme this week… it is VERY appropriate so I thought I would share here with you all…

 Our post office lady is moving to another post office on Tuesday next week so I quickly made her a snap bag… a bit bigger than my last one but I thought she might use it for snacks or make up or something for her new job 🙂

 She cried when I gifted it to her and loved it very much… she said she loved the angel fabric and purple was her fave color too ❤  I love happy endings!!!

But my favorite thing… other than the hand quilting progress I made this week was this cool wallet I made for my daughter from THIS youtube tutorial and using these fabrics … some from stash and some from Walmarts fat quarter selection…

 Here is a bobbin race losing shot… I had half a bobbin of black 50 wt aurifil already wound so I figured that would be enough…

 Well I was 2″ or less short of my finish line !!!  So I unthreaded… wound another bobbin and finished it up properly… I usually win bobbin race games… but not always I guess! lol
Here you can see Glorious Gloria my trustly 301 from 1956.  She is a strong and hard working machine and my favorite snips… as well as my trusty corner poking tool… you can see the Precision Turning Tool better below… it works as wonderful gadget in my sewing space when making bags and such!

 Above is outside of the wallet with a change zipper pocket made for my daughter and below is the inside credit card slots and sewn in velcro closure of the wallet… plus a money slip that is plenty long enough 🙂

 Here it is all folded up on the velcro side:

 Closer up view but if you look above you see I have the same view from my sewing room of the outdoors as I have from my quilting frame 😀  I LOVE THIS VIEW!!!!

 And the back side of the wallet when folded up….

 And a fun compilation photo I made for facebook groups to see…

School started for lots of kids this past week too… including my nieces and nephew!!!

 Also 2 of my nieces won blue ribbons that competed in the Wilson County fair … the largest fair I believe in Tennessee!!!!  I am a VERY proud aunt too ❤

So take time to participate in Kathy’s slow stitching photo op… whatever kind of slow stitching you enjoy doing… and share what is going on in your world… I would love to read your post!  Have a blessed weekend, a safe Labor Day holiday if you are in the US, and a safe Labour Day holiday if in Canada… and make time to slow it down and enjoy the views!

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Slow Sunday Stitching and Photo Challenge… Yippee!

I am sooo excited is is FINALLY Sunday y’all!

Time to head over to Kathy’s Quilts HERE and see what this photo challenge and slow stitching is all about!!!  Here is my camera!  An iPhone 6 I have had for over 2 years 😀

 It is part of a wristlet style wallet that is my go everywhere hold-it-all wallet that I slide out of that outer protective case when at home and snap shots like all the ones below!

Here is the goal of today’s shooting… my hoop is a 17″ plastic hoop with a ridge around the center that makes it hold the quilt in it quite nicely… in it is a wall hanging called Homespun Wall Hanging that is my travel project and aside from the quilt I am working on … is my now longest waiting to be worked on UFO in the house… It was made up for me over 3 years ago I think by my best friend… then I added borders a couple years ago and layered it up with excitement to start and finish it quick.
Then it sat waiting for it’s turn since I don’t sit in the recliner it sat next to anymore due to my arthritic knees needing replacement.  I sit in this chair and have this view instead! lol

See the hoop to the left…
It has now been made my travel project for when we make trips north of here looking for a new home… we have our home up for sale presently and every now and then we will be making trips north in search of more seasons and less hurricane weather!  So whilst I wait to find the right time to spend with that one… I am working on my oldest UFO in a PVC frame my honey made me before I got the big wood Hinterberg frame that has now been disassembled and packed for this upcoming move!

Here is the quilt I shared last week… sitting out to be enjoyed before I stuff it in a cotton pillowcase and pack it for our move….

 Now I am working on a colorful wholecloth I have had pin basted and worked on in that hoop for a time now I am putting it in the PVC frame for a faster finish as I can work on a larger area at a time and my arthritis and frame quilting gets along better ! lol

Here are the colors of thread going into this project…

 The pink sewing machine charm is actually a needle minder given to my by my good friend Debbie one year in the past… I LOVE IT!  I never knew such a device existed but it is just a heavy duty magnet on each side of the quilt that attract to each other to hold them together topped with a charm of your preference… this one reminds me of the giver too!

See how nicely it holds my needle spot for me 😀

 Above is a shot of my frame when I am stitching watching “When Calls the Heart” on Netflix… such a sweet show in this day and age of so much crazy stuff on the television channels… this one is one you can share with young viewers or enjoy by yourself… I enjoy it by myself 😀

And below is a close up of the hand quilting I imagined and completed whilst watching this series on Netflix….

Here is a shot of where I am this morning… almost ready to move the quilt in the frame!!!

I wish you could feel the texture all this quilting makes on this quilt!!!  It’s legal name is Garden Bouquet Whole Cloth Quilt… and it is quilt sized… I did change the edges you will see by next week to be scalloped.  I will have to make bias binding for this one because of that!!!  But that is a ways off still.. about 1/3 done with this one so far working out from the center that is completely finished.

And here is a series of 3 shots of close ups of my hand quilting for you to enjoy!

While featherweight 221’s have been taking a back seat to our home selling focus lately… we found one local on Craigslist and are in the midst of parting out right now as it was in poor cosmetic shape but so nice to find an older (1936) featherweight to spend time with that was working too!!!

So take some time and visit around at Kathy’s… and take some slow stitches today whether it be quilting or some other way of getting needle and fabric together… share what you are up to at Kathy’s with a pic to join in her Photo Challenge… or just leave me a comment about what YOU are up to!!

Remember most of all though to …