Making good progress here on my Colorful Whole Cloth Quilt and MORE!

Happy Slow Stitching Sunday to you all!!!  I am happy to be linking up magnanimous progress today at Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday Celebration day… check out all the linkers HERE 😀

Before I share my AWESOME progress this week I wanted to share this Needle Nanny  / Needle Minder / Needle Keeper Notion that so many of you asked about last week.  This one was gifted to me by a great friend…. but I have made them as well since receiving this one!

Here is how it works with craft magnets on either side of the quilt and attached to a flat backed bauble of your choosing.  I have even added a craft magnet to a magnet… just make sure you put happy sides together before adding hot glue ! lol

Glue the magnet to your object of beauty then put a magnet happy sides together on the other side of your quilt … they will hold on to each other THROUGH your quilt sandwich!!!!  Tah Dah 😀  Hope this helps you make or to at least understand how they work!  I also use mine to hold my thimble onto my tilted frame… keeps it from rolling off this way because it has the lip avoid the rolling! 🙂

This week I think I hadn’t made much progress until I looked at last weeks blog post and WoW!!!!

Here is where I am this week!

I started here just moving the quilt in my PVC frame….

 I did take a peek at how much was left and it was one more move in the frame to get to the cool border!!!!

 So once I determined how much was left I decided to make this quilt even more my own and not leave what I call the “honeycomb” sections open to be puffy once washed but to fill them in like this…

 Doesn’t that look sooo cool??!!!!

I did that using these items…

 I used my honey’s medication for his inhaler that has a convex top side to leave an indention on the quilt once rubbed in well…

 Like this … can you see!!??

 Then using colored chalk lead in my mechanical pencil I marked that indention… then quilted it …

Here is a section that is now completely done….

Here is the whole edge with the wavy outer border…

 And here is either side to see better is you like… I think you can click on the pics to get a big view if you are on a computer 😀

Here is where I am this morning though…

I hope you can see the circles I will be working on today… I have 2 more sections this size to do then I can move to a different side of the quilt!  Oh my!!!! Very exciting!!!

Many people have asked about the blue lines that come premarked on this whole cloth quilt as well… do they really come out after all that work… well go back and look at some of my shots but I am spritzing and erasing as I go so YES they do come out… but best to soak in the washer for a bit I think.. and that is what I have heard as well from other hand quilters who have done this sort of whole cloth quilt.

Here is a fun pic I made for a hand quilting group… maybe you will like it too!

So whatever kind of project you are investing your time in… use your own creativity to make it your own I say!!!

Here is a cute Solar Dinosaur we found at Dollar Tree this week!  It keeps me smiling as we make our way around our town…

And here are some blocks I have also been working on this week when I am not slow stitching on this quilt….

These blocks (40 of them ) represent about 1/3 of the quilt to be for us to use… it is going to be a cool quilt I think when finished but kind of a Bonnie Hunter style scrapiness to it 😀  Speaking of Bonnie… did you catch her Quilt Cam yesterday afternoon?  Check that out HERE on her blog post this morning if you are interested!!!  She is actually lining up to be near me tomorrow but the class is full and my wallet doesn’t have $$ budgeted for her this time… but hopefully once we are relocated closer to her neck of the woods I can catch a class of hers in real time!!!  Have you ever seen someone you adore in real life?  What was it like??  I saw Jenny Doan of MSQC a few years back… she is as adorable in person as she is on youtube if not moreso… I saw her trunk show and HIGHLY recommend you seeing her trunk show too if you ever get the chance!!!

As for facebook groups… I do have one…

We chat about hand and machine quilting and piecing there… It is a closed group so you are safe to share your hidden objects and ask questions or share advice and progress as you make it.  It is a small group under 100 people and I plan to keep it small.  If you are interested in being part of this style group then click HERE to ask for entry.  Right now I am asking what everyone plans to focus on for February 😀

I hope you have a blessed end of January and welcome February with open arms!  Make sure you …

along the way too!  Until my next posting… Happy Quilting!

Advertisement

What happened to August Y’all?? Happy Labor Day Weekend! Hello September!!!

Wow!  I have been so busy… I didn’t blog a bit in August!!!

So I wish you a Happy Labor Day weekend for those in the USA and Canada and a WELCOME to you ALL!!!!

August went by so quickly… but we were also sooo busy!

Above right is our new door hanger for this month!  I have one for Christmas time too that is a holiday wreath of seashells 😀

Quilting was one area that had ups and downs…

My piecing on the wall hanging came to an abrupt stop and it has been put in time out… I even reached out to the pattern writer for assistance … but she couldn’t help me 😦

So this is where I am stuck… with uneven joins… before recutting and resewing I just put it up… I have other projects to focus on anyway! lol

First I took this out of hiding…

And added a flange to it… it will end up like a 3d pillow/cushion and eventually will be gifted to my friend Brandy who got the quilt these leftover bits came from 🙂

And I can’t forget about this quilt….

Here I am working on row #3 of the center rows … 15 total so a ways still to go! lol

Row #3 is almost done… this is all hand quilting and all my designs 🙂

But most recently my honey showed me his sleeping snuggle pillow!  It is getting holey.. not holy!!! lol

 If you look closely you can see that the fabric is breaking down even though my stitching is all still in place…

So what is a good quilter wife to do???

Like I did above… find a pattern… blow it up to the right size… print it off in 1/4 size pieces.. tape that back together to make a 16″ pattern all together… make a light table on a glass top table … trace it onto NEW fabric that is nice and thick… then layer it up and start stitching! lol

As of last night when I went to bed I was about 1/3 complete with the stitching on this pillow top… I am using YLI 40/3 in a blue grey color to stitch with on this fun batik fabric… it was a backing fabric and if you look close you will see my wholecloth pillow actually has a seam down the middle! lol

Here is a close up of my pencil marked pattern that I have stitched from the front…

 and easier to see on the back side…

I wanted to use cotton/wool blend on this to show the stitching better but my honey requested cotton only!  so that is what he is getting 🙂

I will soak it in Palmolive and warm water to remove the pencil marks I made when I am done … then wash it properly and dry it well once it is a pillow 🙂  I will be making an envelope backing on it and that is all prepared … maybe I will finish the pillow top today?  Maybe tomorrow! lol  But I am enjoying the slow stitching… this will be the 3rd pillow in 6 1/2 years he has had!!!

Linking all this quilty progress to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching linky HERE !!!

We have also been doing decorating throughout the house…. from a puzzle framed and put in the guest bathroom…

To some pictures and artwork framed …

All in a focus to Relax….

We also have been buying things for a little and rehabbing them and selling them for more… like this sewing machine we found at a local thrift store last month…

 Then we put it on eBay like this with a starting bid of $49.99 to pass on the good fortune of what we found… well it went for more that we thought!!!!

Wowee!!! Did it ever!!!  

So we did some more redecorating…

 In the laundry room we found this cool hanger to coordinate with new shelves my honey fashioned for me 🙂

 In the kitchen we added a clock and bulletin board for pics and notes and keeping us on time 🙂

 Here is some fabric I found at a different local thrift store… someone had turned in their stash and I was lucky enough to buy some including this cool 1980’s fabric that will be a baby wholecloth or 2 for a future grand baby 🙂

 We gave our bedroom a life with this new headboard / footboard/ and pillow shams….

 Then we found these cool 2 cube shelves to use as bedside tables with our new bed…

But first my honey is prepping them for use with our CPAP machines… first his is getting fit and when I get mine later this month he will get mine all ready too!  He added the shelf his hand is on with rollers like a drawer to roll out the machine to fill with water chamber and do anything else… the back side is open for the plug to come out of 🙂

Another fun find for us this past month was some holiday solar pets…  we had the flamingo already! 

  The little lizard sitting in front was a gift from one of my nieces years ago and stays with us 🙂

Then there was a little upgrade for the business side of things too…

So my honey got a new iPad… the older one was giving him troubles!  And this one isn’t all it was supposed to be but it is better!  I think 🙂

So we have been working really hard the last month and a half to lose weight and make true lifestyle changes… so we did!  We met our first goal of losing 22 pounds each… and enjoyed a meal fit for royalty at one of our favorite seafood restaurants!

We had lobster tail… salad bar… and shrimp n chips too!   Totally yummy but I don’t mind how we eat these days either so back in the saddle we go!!!

As we continue to pray for all those left homeless and feeling helpless from Harvey’s wrath… we hope you all have a blessed weekend and can Make Today Great somehow and some way!!!

This month my grandmother I call Nanny will turn 99 years young y’all!  Here she is just last month too!!!!

I am so happy to still have her and her sage advice still in my life today!  

Let’s make time to show appreciation and caring to each other today and EVERY day please…  

So until next time…