Finishing up on the cozy/rug :)

I had hoped to share on Kathy’s slow stitching Sunday here… check out all the great handwork going on… but the only pic I could have shared of hand stitching is this one… my last row to stitch 🙂

And this my overall done now time to figure out that pairie point border!

So first I trimmed the edges above to 1/4″ bigger than the quilt top… to give the bottom layer extra “fudge” room for my plan on finishing this up 🙂

Then I turned the whole thing over and pinned back the backing piece… to reveal all that batting (I used 2 layers of leftover batting for this project).

Then to trim the batting back so that the seams from the prairie point border will fold back and meet them like they do in this pic….

Yippee!  I trimmed off just enough… had to sliver trim a couple places but mostly it played nice 🙂

Finally I pinned down the backing like I wanted it to look… finally I took it back to my Janome and added a straight stitch finish to catch all the borders and a decorative edge finish inside that … pretty fancy stuff!

 All turned out well as you will see in the grand reveal when her name comes in and is placed on the case 🙂  For now I pet her often and talk to her too… shhhh don’t tell anyone though! lol

Do you name your sewing machines??? Do you have any specially handmade things that adorn your machine… maybe a spool doily??  I would love to have one of those next… 🙂  Only problem is I don’t crochet… my fingers don’t move that way… anyone up for making me a spool cozy next!?? hehe 🙂

Have a wonderful Christmas season and take time to enjoy it!

Advertisement

It is a Friday to WHOOP about :)

Have you ever been happy to close the books on a week and see Friday come??? I sure have this week… we have been so busy… but I took a little time to show you some progress we have made this week!

Starting with my sweet girl Capo… she is 15 1/2 years old… senile… and silly these days… she just came back from being groomed though and wanted to primp for the camera! lol  Her groomer gifted us the sweetest ornament for the Christmas tree for her 🙂  Whoop!

My daughter is all into the rubber band bracelets… well let me tell you she is mastering it and enjoying herself and really using thought process to do it… I am loving that addition this week!  Whoop!!

Next pic is a big whoop, with my busy week anyway… I am over halfway done hand quilting the little rug to be a cozy for my new sewing machine table top cabinet my honey is making me for Christmas… I am only doing a simple 1″ cross hatch…

I marked with graphite and have fabric erasers by Sewline coming in the mail from here 🙂

Right side DONE!  WHOOP!

Second side cross marked to stabilize ~ now let the quilting begin!!!

 The navy with sea water and fish is a preview of an upcoming project I am still planning and gathering for… but work has been done on that this week 🙂  It is for my favorite therapist… she will use it in her office… it is 27 x 45 panel I will quilt larger and embellish and quilt with gold thread!!!  Any helpful hints for dealing with hand quilting gold irridescent thread??? lol

Next is the case my honey has been devoting quite a bit of time too… yesterday morning it looked like this…

Heading to get sanded and the base stained 🙂

Now it sanded with rounded corners… the base is two toned inside but not out.. and we went shopping today for “jewelry” for Fiona!  The grand reveal with rug/cozy, cabinet and machine should be very soon!!!  Stay tuned 🙂  WHOOP!!!!

Finally is a project I am sure you will see a lot of.. It will take me 2 to 3 months to handquilt it.  It will be my 11th quilted item and made especially for my honey THE MAN quilt I call it now 🙂  He has to name it as it comes to life!

The templates arrived today so now to finish this cozy and get to marking his quilt top and get it sandwiched!!!  Those are my weekend plans anyway.. see if “other” things pop up as they have all week! lol

Linking to:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict ~ Sarah ~ here!

Finally back to stitching!

Wow!  I haven’t written since Sunday!  Hope you like the grainy blog header but I wanted something Christmassy and everything I have made I can’t post there yet! lol 

It turned into quite a busy week and not much time for quilting really til yesterday… then I zipped through one side of the cozy

here is the cozy Wednesday … not quite half done yet!

 I am working on for Fiona to sit on in the cabinet being fashioned for her by my honey for my Christmas present… Fiona was my Christmas present to me! lol

Here she is trying out her new case… the base if finished but the red oak we got hasn’t been stained yet… I chose a mahogany stain with a contrasting honey oak for the larger flat parts you don’t see there yet 🙂  Soooo excited about this!!!

Here is the cozy/rug this morning after some early morning stitching!

Note the left side is marked but yet to be stitched… I better hurry! lol

Close up of stitches 🙂

You can read more about how I designed this cozy for my tabletop machine here.

Meanwhile I patiently wait for the stencils to be delivered for my honey’s quilt.  It is ready to be marked and sandwiched.. patiently waiting hanging neatly over some soft backed dining room chairs 🙂

 And I did squeeze in some time sewing with my dd 🙂  She is the mastress of buttonholes on that Janome machine I don’t like but she LOVES!  Yipee 🙂 

So what is on your Christmas list… do you buy your own gifts???  Do you give of your time or money to help others less fortunate???  How do you celebrate for you???  Would love to hear!!!

Sewing Machine Rug… ready for hand quilting :)

Many people make mug rugs… so I thought my vintage Fiona (who is getting a new oak case as I write this..) deserved her own place to rest 🙂

I started with some fabric left over from other projects in my sewing space…

And mapped out a pattern with the mermaid inspiration fabric…

Then fussy cut my mermaid fabric and reauditioned the fabrics… the royal blue is supposed to be turquoise but just doesn’t blend to me… so I chose the orange paisley fabric… what would you have picked???

I love how it illuminates the mermaid hair and orange fish 🙂

Then I followed my pattern sans more cornerstones that had made my original design and this is what I had in under 2 hours…

My cozy had to be bigger than 10 1/2″ x 23″ (the size of the base my honey is building)!  Mission accomplished as this will come in finished at about 13 1/4″ x 25 1/4″ before washing.

I marked it for quilting… you will see the final in the final reveal.. for now here is a sneak peak of my vision…

I used graphite for marking (Fons & Porter) :).

Next I decided to add prairie points as a binding method.  I want Fiona to feel she has a place of honor on this cozy rug (using 2 layers of batting for a nice soft place for her to sit 🙂 … so I went to youtube and blogs and didn’t find anything that answered all my questions but a Fons & Porter vid helped understand the process… I cut my squares 3″ and wound up with about 1″ finished prairie points.. there is a formula but I was just having fun designing! lol!!!

So far everything is sewn on my Bernina super electronic machine that I don’t like.. can’t wait to get back to my Fiona for all the rest of my stitching 🙂

The prairie points will flip over and stick out all over the sides like this… 

Do you have a better method for doing prairie points???  Would love to hear your method 🙂

So now I am ready for a slow stitching evening… as I plan to hand quilt this and figure out how to finish it up over the next day or two.

As I have been stitching (and ironing prairie points) my honey finished the cabinet base that is made as a table top style cabinet with lid for protection.  I also ordered her name in brass to go with the brass and mahogany finish the case will have… or at least that is my vision… more on the case later… for now I must get on with my need to slow stitch a while!

Linking this start to:
Kathy’s Quilts ~ Slow Stitching Sundays here
Confessions of a Fabric Addict Friday Whoop here

Have a blessed Sunday and a great week!