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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Pincushion Reveal & Whole Cloth Update :)

Thanks to all of you that voted for your favorite Pin Cushion design for the little cast iron truck.  This will be a much used pin cushion.. so I wanted it to look fun and be functional…

What do you think???

I also ordered some ultra fine pins for it & for my future quilt piecing adventures

and I think I will love them!  They also have glass heads so they are ironable! Yipee!!!

Linking this cute pin cushion idea to Karen at Sew Many Ways linky party HERE!

While we were running errands this week we say the funnest thing ever…

Yep… if you see that dog… on the Hog… you are right!!!  Wouldn’t you love to be that dog!!! 🙂

Also this week I got to visit with my oldest son DL and CJ too!

CJ loves his Papa… and his Papa loves him 🙂  And we found a steal on a play pen for nap times here too!  And you know me… pediatric nurse.. I had to get him a few age appropriate toys too…

So next time they call for a babysitter we will be ready without them having to bring half their house with him 🙂  Yippee again!  And aren’t his cute baby cheeks just so kissable in this shot??!!! lol

Now on to the best stuff of the week.. 

My progress with the colorful Whole Cloth quilt… amidst my busy week I am learning to balance a bit more and have made so much progress I am ready to move my hoop now 🙂

Here are a couple close ups of my work for you to enjoy…

 The heavier blue areas in the top of these shots is where I needed to see the stitching lines better… some of them are quite faded from sunlight and time… remember this was a estate sale find for $8… so I will be happy to mark some along the way when necessary!  I am so blessed my friend Connie found and got this for me 🙂

I love the texture created when a section is all quilted.. it feels sooo cool too!  Very soft and supple for sure!!!

I have a couple secret projects coming up

.. and I have resurrected my Spools quilt top and will be finishing it…

would love your feedback on what I should use on the sides???  flying geese maybe…

should it have a small outer border??? 

I am also planning to tea dye the center piece so it matches the antique white of the spool blocks..

So quite a busy week ahead!  For today though I will happily be moving my hoop and working on secret projects! lol  And I will be linking this post with Kathy at Kathy’s Quilts.  She is talking about having a project tote.. I have 2 actually that I use all the time but have no shots of them.. Check out her slow stitching linky party HERE!

Hope whatever you do today you find time to…

Catch up and back to slow stitching! Yippee!

 This week has been a whirlwind of activity as we have been doing lots of eBaying

One of our items we are proud of currently for sale on eBay 🙂

and I have been doing lots of quilting and straightening of things.

My honey has been keeping up the house and working on his things… however, we are both delighted this week to see Sunday roll around… a day we keep to ourselves and relax and reflect on the week behind us and focus on the week ahead!  I love that about us 🙂

But I am most excited about the progress made on THE MAN quilt!

 On Friday I was looking at this last block on the left…
And yesterday I sewed on the binding there on the right…

Now I am hand stitching down the binding!  Yahoo!  Such a glorious job to do on a Sunday as well!

I don’t use a thimble but already have my electrical tape out to cut into unique shapes to fit my middle “binding” finger… last large quilt I bound it wore a hole in my fingernail… so I have been taking my calcium.. using cream occasionally made to condition my skin and nails… and have trimmed my nails last week in preparation for this binding… we shall see how my hands hold up…

Using my new “binding clips” aka Wonder Clips… love them 🙂

May be that I will buy a leather thimble to use just for binding… but we shall see.. I hope not really!

Also yesterday I got the border added to the Aida cloth label my bestie Connie made for this quilt… isn’t it lovely!  It is the only part my honey hasn’t seen and won’t see til the end! lol  His decision to have a surprise 🙂

And since I needed a place to “park” my needles while I machine sewed the binding yesterday and this morning… I found a bit of batting and put in the top of the bottle that holds my thread and threader!  AWESOME 🙂  Excited to do multiple needles now by prethreading several then just picking one out at a time.. more on that when I get back to quilting as I will be using more needles too 🙂

Now I want to share something VERY SPECIAL! 

 I will be chatting more about it this week but be following me here…. you won’t miss an update!  Next weekend we are sponsoring a linky with GIVEAWAY for all to enjoy and enter in.

& my friend
Wendy

The idea is you write a blog post with goals you have made… short or long term.. and that you met this month… then share what you plan to accomplish the following month… you have your blog post to keep you honest and each of us reading your goals met as well as your goals set!  Sound fun??

We call it M4.. but that is just short for Motivation Mayhem Monthly Muster blog 🙂

Finally… I have some very exciting news personally this week… as I was cleaning things out I found my old nursing license and had a sad feeling that I hadn’t kept up my license… just to have it.. not that I may use it again but I worked hard to get it and used it professionally … so it was important to maintain it… I thought it had lapsed…

Well according to the State of Tennessee it is still good and Active til my birthday!!!!

I will have to call them and register my new addy so I get an update to renew.. once renewed I will move my licensure to Florida.  But that is in the future…

Thanks for sharing in all my little victories this week!  Would love to hear about yours … please feel free to leave a comment!  I respond to every one that isn’t spam-a-licious! lol

Linking this slow stitch binding post to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching here! 

Have a blessed Sunday!