Lots of Progress to share on this last Sunday of January 2020!

Lots to share today y’all!  Starting out … I spied this pic of my sweet grand daughter on Facebook on Friday as Elliana celebrated 8 months old!!!!

 And Saturday we woke up to SNOW!!!!!

 Yes it was also overcast most all day until afternoon… we live near the Nantahala National Forest.  Nantahala is Native American and means “land of the midday sun” well that is most usually true for us… the afternoons get sunny …. not always the morning times! lol

I worked on the curtains a bit this week for our bedroom.  I am using this fabric seen close up and sideways from how it hangs in the pics below for the cafe curtain…

 And here it is on the window…

 Here is a better view of it without competing with the bit of light coming in the window too…

 I also started early in the week on cutting out the black border fabric from the backing with some special scissors I borrowed from my friend Jannessa… I will be getting me my own pair now that I have used them though! lol

 So now the rooster still needs the eye put on before layering but will soon be in my PVC hoop to hand quilt!  I am planning to quilt it all by hand now that I have spent more time with him.  Any ideas for the rooster itself???  Color of thread or design is greatly appreciated!

 I found this vintage pattern online but can’t find a reasonably priced pattern to buy.  However the pic may work to decide how to make my raggedy Ann a new dress to match the deep blue of the pants her new mate Andy is wearing!

Here are my Raggedy Couple….

I am most proud of my hand quilting progress this week though… I am linking this progress to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitchers HERE <<<  Take time today to slow down and do something fun  you enjoy with no pressure!!!   

Monday I rolled the Appalachian Delight quilt after finishing the stitching on the outer border on Sunday evening…

 I quickly filled in the quilting to the right of the first block shown here…

 And focused on quilting in the ditch on the HST inner border and the sashing and cornerstones too…

 All this close quarters stitching is made possible with my awesome thimbles!!!  The metal one is a Clover brand one that is open and adjustable but stays sized as desired.  And the green one has a small bit of stretch to it to stretch onto my thumb… it is made by Dritz…

Both are available at Amazon if big box stores are not near you 🙂

I thought I would be marking this design in the wide sashing with chalk so I had purchased a new Allary brand Chalk Cartridge with chalk for under $10 at Amazon… instead my handy blue wash away markers showed up on the burgundy fabric!!!! YAY 😀

 Here is a close up of the bear in the cabin block I designed … a variation of the bear claw.  I am excited to roll the quilt later this week and start stitching on these blocks… I have so many ideas floating around about HOW to stitch on them to enhance the design best… I don’t know what will wind up happening… if you recall I had thought I would use a stencil but in the ditch surrounding each bear claw has won out… now to decide on inside the bear claw blocks!

 You can see better in this photo… I am halfway across the quilt already… so if I have a low key week otherwise… I should be rolling mid week or so…

In Kathy’s post she shows how she binds her minky backed quilts… I love  her technique… I will be binding a minky backed quilt for Jannessa later this week or next week… I am excited to work on this for her and to experience minky as I have shied away from using it!  It may be fun though!!!!

I had a check up with my doctors this week and got good reports from both of them!  Yippee !!!

February I will be starting an official bullet journal for sewing and quilting and other creative adventures I have thoughts of in 2020… I am loving these sheets I am making…

But want to take it further.  So we will see!

My thought this week is to be real… be genuine … BE YOURSELF … others may be more willing to be themselves around you too!

So until next week when February will finally be here and the long month of January will be behind us… take care !!!

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Showing off my Sewing Room Decor and Rolling the Frame!

Well this has been a BUSY week around our home… getting ready for some freezing weather was quite an undertaking for sure!  And I have been sewing on a secret project commissioned to me by a very good friend… using my Cleopatra for the job of appliqueing letters and fashioning the intended banner… more to show when it has been sent off and received by my friend 😉

I started the week, however, slow stitching quite a bit on the Swoon quilt and machine stitching this rooster to the background fabric…

I don’t know if you can tell but I carefully mitered each corner… I will machine quilt the rooster as there are sooo many seams and fabric bits on the back side of this lovingly english paper pieced rooster… it is a pattern by Violet Craft… but I and my bestie who pieced it by hand do NOT recommend her EPP patterns as they are quite a challenge!  But now it is done so I thought I better get on with finishing it… it will find a home in our home to be displayed year round as yet another dual effort of Connie and me 🙂

The rooster now measures 28 1/2″ square & I still need to trim out the black fabric from the strips I appliqued it on to the rooster with… so no shadowing of the black through those neutrals happens!  That will be tediously slow and may be part of my hand work today!

Then before I could do anything else… my honey decided it was time to decorate my room with me!  Yahoo I said and stopped all my other efforts to focus on what would go where ….

My honey has had the honor to work with some of Nashville, Tennessee’s finest decorators so his knowledge in this area is VAST!!!  

Here is how it turned out… 

the left wall as you walk in the room …. over the buffet

to the right of that… or what you see from the doorway directly

to the right of that… as you look out by the pond & around my 301 Julius

finally the last wall in the room is my design wall and up high I can’t reach well so he added my banner there!

I don’t know if my captions made sense but here is a panoramic view of my room before decorating to help you see where all things are now…

I got my hair trimmed on Friday… and was I GLAD!!!!  I’ll share a selfie I took… 

 And on Saturday I rolled the frame… see how foggy it was over the pond through the windows that morning???

 Here is a close up of the quilting I worked on this morning…

 I am linking all this hand stitching and other hand work I shared this week being glad God gifted me with 2 hands that are ambidextrously useful… to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching Crew HERE .  Click on the link to open a new tab on your device to see what everyone else is linking up too!!!!

>>> Finally I need some input from y’all! <<<

My best girlfriend Jannessa gifted me this honeybun & yardage – fabric kit by Moda called “Winterlude”.

 It comes with the above pattern… or I could create my own!  Do you like one of these other options???  Or do you like the original???
I like both but this would make a table runner 18″ x 60″ for our kitchen & 2 smaller sized placemats as a gift for Jannessa.
The one on the right seems fun for this but I can’t figure out how to make those flatter than 45 degree zig zags… hmmmm

 The pattern is in this PDF only version of a book published in 2009 and now out of print….

Here is a photo of the book called “On the Run”  by Heather Moulder Peterson.  Anyone own this book and wanna sell it???  Or have you heard of this talented designer before and know how easy to follow her patterns are???

I would love to own the book over a PDF that is harder for me to use in the sewing room without LOTS of printing!!!

And that wraps up my week.  Hope you are having a great weekend and having tolerable weather no matter where in this world you live… I am enjoying our cold weather for sure!!!  It is 35 degrees F at this writing and supposed to top out at 55 later this afternoon.

Until next Sunday… I may have a bag completed (we worked on it yesterday and got about 1/3 done) as a Christmas present for my daughter. 

I certainly hope you leave feedback on your thoughts on this post if you read to this point 🙂  Have a good week ahead and hope you turned your clocks back an hour too (if you live where Daylight Savings Time is a thing! lol)

Lots of progress to share!

I hope you have each had a wonderful week.  I really appreciated your feedback on last weeks post !!!  You all spoke and we listened!!!!

 Above is a more narrow valance to use over her window … it will be quilted and layered with batting to protect it from sunlight 🙂

But this progress is a surprising show of events…

 Amelie’s banner is done !!!  The fabric showed up Monday and my gears started moving and soon me and Cleopatra were sewing it into a banner of sorts 🙂

The recipient, daughter of my post office dude, loves it as does mom and dad (who celebrate Halloween all year round!!!)… pic of the room will be coming 🙂
Linking this finish to Wendy’s Peacock Party HERE
and
Linking to the Crafty Quilter’s UFO Link Up HERE as this has been on the list for 6 months to get done!!!!

I have spent a good bit of the week hand quilting on Connie’s Swoon Quilt…

 Above I finished the center swoon… in the center 🙂

Below I have the right side center to finish and the outer right border to complete… that will get some of my undivided attention today 🙂

Jasper’s quilt got finished with the machine quilting and the binding got applied to the front!!!

 Now Cleopatra finally gets a rest!!!!

 Molly is inspecting the finished quilt as I work on the binding…

 Sewing it down… here is the hand fashioned label that needs a date added to it 🙂

Linking this and swoon quilting to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitchers where we share what hand stitching we plan to be doing this day… HERE!!!  She has a lovely post today to to share!!!

Here is a center design for a medallion style quilt…

 Using my already made kaleidoscope blocks…

 Here’s some left to make!

 And here is the beginning of my rough draft plan…

 I will use this new book to my collection…

 Here is Connie’s EPP progress… she is currently working on those variegated neutral backing hexi’s!!!

 And here is a sweet little tea cup pin cushion my new friend Jannessa gifted me 😀

 Here is a perspective photo for a 12 oz coke 🙂

 Here is sweet Ellie … my grand daughter with a milk mouth picture sent during the week!!!! 😀

 Here are some cell phone cradles my honey made for me and Jannesssa this week too…

 And here is one more square completed this week.

Overall a VERY accomplished week I would say… thanks for stopping in for a visit… and if you have made it this far.. tell me which project of the many I shared you enjoyed the best!!!

More than sewing… but that was the funnest part! lol

Hi Friends 🙂  I saw this on facebook somewhere this week and saved it… 

Sewing is the blissful part of our days isn’t it!!!  Well in the spirit of FULL DISCLOSURE… I wrote to y’all last Sunday morning and this was in our river…

But by Sunday night we had it up in the right hand photo of the collage and by Monday night my honey was driving and mowing again!!  Just running out the gas he couldn’t get to empty from the tank! lol

Well.. when something happens to shift your perspective.. like your only lawn tractor taking a 15 foot drop with your honey on board and both eventually walking away … simply AMAZING and energizing too!!!  So what is a girl to do that loves to sew???  Well… SEW!!!

Early in the week when we were on edge I finished 2 swoons in my sleeplessness during the night…

 But by the time I reached the 3rd swoon I was ready for a break and life was slowing down… our mower could be fixed by my honey we realized at this point!!!

 I took a photo of 4 of the 7 primed blocks to share with you this week too…  While he was practicing on the mower and working out the kinks in the mower I stitched these outside… VERY PORTABLE!

 And while I slow stitched I enjoyed a month of free Netflix…  I have most enjoyed Mary Poppins returns… Emily Blunt did not disappoint!!!

Linking my slow stitching progress to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching gang HERE <<<<  Come see what is happening over there today 😀

While I didn’t make a ton of progress slow stitching I am not disappointed in my week as a whole in the stitching department because I got some major items off or active again on the UFO list…

 These lovely boy quilts are for a couple boys who are close to my dd Brandi… she had requested these several months ago and I pieced them then.
What is fun about each of these flimsies is that they were each made from extra fabrics I uncovered from my deep and donated stash items…. I uncovered this group and didn’t buy a thing for either quilt, backing or binding!!!

First I took them from being stored off to the side to layout out on the design wall where I measured and determined how much batting each needed and  used the rest of the batting I had in a basket waiting for these quilts 😀

 then I layered up Simon’s first…

 And quickly (about 1 full day of stitching) machine quilted the top into a quilt…

 Here it is ready for the binding to be sewn down…

 And the label my daughter and her beau helped me figure out …

 Binding in process …

 And  a view from the back 🙂  I sew the binding down by hand… this is what I am linking to HQAL group I belong too….

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen and Kathi

Soon I was itching to mark and layer and start the stitching on the other quilt… as these do get shipped together !!!

I printed off my picture of the flimsy (quilt top) and drew on it…

 Then I took my white chalk pencil lead and a ruler and marked the quilt top 🙂

 Soon it too was layered up with pins and I was cross hatching the center panel 😀

Cleopatra and Julius… my 2 vintage lovelies … have handled all these jobs quite nicely!!!

Linking Simon’s quilt progress with Wendy’s Peacock Party <<HERE… I didn’t think these quilts were even on the horizon to find a place in my line up at the beginning of the week.. now they are both almost done!!!  AMAZING!!!

Also today I linked this project…

And this project ….

As finished for the month of July with Julie ~ The Crafty Quilter at her link up HERE <<<

Here is a great meme a friend shared on facebook this week… this should be EVERY DAY!!!

 Here is sweet Ellie… just passing 2 months old … I am a proud Gram for sure 😀

 Jannessa … my new friend … is making great progress on her wall hanging…

 She got the center medallion stitched and is making wonderful first stitches 🙂  We have a play date scheduled for later this week and we are both looking forward to it…

While doing yard work and playing catch up we noticed butterflies around our butterfly bush and took a bit of a break…

 Here is a black and white lovely butterfly …

 and light yellow and block…

 And a rose for you each…

 Connie’s progress on the Rooster project… I am LOVING it ❤

 My latest read in the bedroom is a quilt instruction book but it is written like a Quilt Folk mag really… quite enjoyable!

 Here is a great Bonnie-ism from last week…

We know we had a close call last weekend… we are extremely grateful to still be here for each other also… maybe that is where all this energy came from! lol

Or maybe from the update rx my doctor gave me for my arthritis pain when I saw him this week 😀

Have a blessed week y’all and don’t take any of it for granted… you are here for a reason!!!

Hope you had fun & productive National Quilting Day / Week Y’all!

I want to open this post by wishing you each a Happy and Blessed St Patrick’s Day…

I used to know all the history of our holiday celebrations… but now I just focus on quilting and current events more than anything… so I thought this sweet wish to each of you would be nice whether you are Irish or not I hope you pursue good luck each morning and night too!!!

I know National Quilting Day was supposed to just be Saturday but after sharing it’s coming with you last week… I had the MOST PRODUCTIVE WEEK SEWING & QUILTING & ORGANIZING TOO!!!!

Sunday I spent between focusing on slow stitching on my quilting and my english paper piecing to sewing this on Gloria for a sweet 5 year old named Jasper…

But what to my tired eyes appeared when I took this photo but a big OOPS!!!  Do you see that on either side of the center panel both sides are laid out the same instead of mirror image…OH NO!!!

So out came my trusty seam ripper and bit of coffee and patience to fix it right up and re sew!!!

 The photo above made me say “Tah Dah!!!”  I was sooo excited to see what I thought I was gonna see in the first photo happen finally in the second.  This sooo energized me that I pieced together a backing for this 47 x 53″ flimsy and figured the binding and found a square of fabric to make a nice label too & took another photo…

Now the 2 brother’s quilts (I shared Simon’s flimsy last week) are ready for some quilting… but I need batting and that isn’t in my mind at the moment… because I have lots of other things happening too.. and a large batting will hit our budget next month for sure and then I can focus on 3 quilts that need to be quilted… for now production continues!!!  lol

For Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching Linky HERE I wanted to share a fixed seam… come see what she is slow stitching today!

I used a ladder stitch I found on youtube HERE… I loosened the tension of the top and batting only… so that the backing remained taut.  I thought this would lessen the chance I would catch it and that was true for me… Then I used 50 wt Aurifil that I use for regular machine piecing and knotted a single ply of it and inserted it into the fold of the fabric on top and started ladder stitching into the good part of the bottom fabric … I had completely missed this in the preparatory ironing this quilt top got as it waiting 2 or more years to get quilted… CRAZY!!!  But it happened and it is now fixed!

Here are some progress photos of this Spiral Log Cabin too…

 Last week I was smack in the middle and thought I could avoid hand quilting some this week to slow down the progress I was making as I let my best friend finish my next project to hand quilt… I do not like an empty frame gawking at me… many of you commented that I should keep on quilting and the urge was too great in the end… I did as you can see above.

In the photo below in you lok to the far left of the photo where the green marks of the baptist fan disappear… THIS is the area I had to fix that I shared above!

 And here is a view to the top and end … Just one more row of baptist fans.. and not even a full row really… and I will be on to the top border!!!

So as not to rush my bestie as she works 50 plus hours each week and has a very busy life otherwise too with kids, grands and a guy besides finding time to piece her quilt she wants me to quilt together… I will focus on binding and labeling and enjoying this quilt when it gets done and now on the empty frame that will be left in it’s wake.

I also have another hand project I can more fully focus on then too… many of you wanted to see progress I was making with my English Paper Pieced Rooster 🙂  I am sharing this with Wendy’s Peacock Party Linky HERE.  Come find out how cool SMOYG is 😀

Here is my basic setup… batting on a tray from the meat department (cleaned of course) is my holder of these little pieces of varied sizes…

 above you can see the cool pin cushion my bestie made and sent to me… I ❤ it!!!

Here is my progress if I flip over my progress to see the front with all the papers still in place of course!

 And with 2 more pieces in place this will be the head of the rooster and the eye is a sultry grey 😉  I may change that… but we will see as this project progresses… I planned it grey for a reason I think and that fabric is VERY special to me too!

 Here is the project all put together from the back side…

 This rooster finishes as a 20″ square wall hanging then I may add a border… this was Violet Craft’s colorway… My colorway is red and black and tan neutrals….

I can tell my EPP stitches are getting more small and less noticeable as I go along… I have watched many many vids on EPP stitching by Violet Craft, Rob of Man Sewing, and several others on Bluprint and youtube to mix it up for me to think of a bit of each of those teachers in making my stitches the least noticeable… I enjoy the thread I am using for invisibility and durability… I will be glad to get to a place where I can take some papers out too! lol
Right now it is a struggle to remember all the things of making my stitches stay small and not to take big bites of fabric with my needle… but I am persevering and it is getting easier… this will coordinate when I am finished with the Spiral Log Cabin Quilt too ❤

I have been working all week on finishing the organization of my sewing room and stash… I have lots of progress to share and this is the only part of the room I haven’t done yet … so I may finish that today too… it is hand work anyway and not a machine that does the sorting!!!

 I sorted all I had containers for and bought all they had (two!!!) at a store while my honey saw the surgeon for his follow up appointment (2 weeks post op now 😀 )….

So yesterday while I was out to go to the quilt shop and some other errands for Quilting Day… I stopped by Dollar Tree and got one more container for my white scraps that need desperately to be divided to cream and white instead… so the lids will go on and stay on until needed… like all of these are now!!!!

I couldn’t find the link where I had printed off the colors initially so I found this link and saved it… but I need to make a handmade one for offwhite or cream for the not really white box… what do you all think???

So my door is skinny but I wanted to share all my fabric stash in this closet away from dust and light and our low dander pup too…
Above you can see the shelf that is to the left at eye level

To the left is the left side of straight ahead… the shelf system my honey built to the wall for me to use with my board wrapped fabric system.

To the right is more of that shelf system and you can see the rest of the U shaped shelves with book and such at eye level (yep even phone books for string piecing – thanks to Bonnie Hunter for that tip! )  And a bit more fabric in that tower of shelves on the bottom right of the photo … I am sorting that into my main fabric storage as I get to it though 😀

Here is the photo I will share at the Crafty Quilter end of the month though… more concise 🙂

Finally for my sewing room review is a corner I haven’t shared in AGES because it was piled up with civil war fabrics and junk… now it is actively holding only what I need to see for current and future projects 🙂

The green tray is my EPP stuff and also has the binding for the Spiral Log Cabin… along the back of the table are frequently used rulers and other such things that I need quick access to that I haven’t seen in ages so I was happy to find some of those things again and get reacquainted.  

On the front edge is fabric for my granddaughter to be’s quilt I am planning… more on that as it happens 🙂  My grand daughters name will be Elliana… I will be appliqueing her name on her quilt as well as some wilderness animals at her parents request… it is their anniversary tomorrow on the 18th… 2 years married!!!  I will probably work on that project then as I enjoy thinking of them and maybe ring them and see if they can chat! 😀

Here is the backing I will expand and plan to use… it is Moda and Flannel and soft!!!

 Here is the print I plan to put into use on a bag for a friend of my daughter’s… she will pay for the supplies for a purse and has chosen blues and elephants and this print from several I shared with her…

I am excited to have a bag to make and another coming soon too… more on this stuff next week though!

If you have Bluprint or access to it and are looking for a good comprehensive applique class… check out this one … Bluprint was Craftsy in the past…

I have 1 class I can buy and this may be it before my subscription expires… I may re up next month for a new year but it isn’t in the cards this month and that is okay too… I have certainly enjoyed it… if you ever want to expand your crafting horizons consider a year of Bluprint as a gift for yourself… I did and I have and I don’t regret a penny I spent doing it 😀

 As part of a parcel of loveliness I got from my bestie yesterday (she sent me the pink fabric I shared in the fabric for my grand daughters quilt to become)…. she sent my honey a sweet “get well” card and a gift card to his fave store!!!

He was floored to get such a thing from her and excited to start a post op project he had wanted to do… so off we went on our way to the quilt shop to afterward take him to Lowe’s for wood to expand our bedside tables….

We both use cpap machines at night… his is a fancy version that is top of the line sleeping assist for severe sleep apnea called IVAP and mine is the low end version for minor sleep apnea … just CPAP… he converted a couple 2 cube tables into pull outs on the top for our machines and baskets below to hold our supplies… now he is adding wood to the tops of each to give us more room for books and remotes and clocks and change… the list goes on… he made us hooks off the lamps that hang on the walls… so it has been a project to get us all fixed up to sleep well… but these table tops (thanks to Connie) are something he really really wanted next month… so he got them this month and found the energy to cut the wood and fit them yesterday and let us try them out before staining them to match the bases then poly will cover them to make them fluid resistant since we like water or a soda to drink at bedtime.

Rick got out yesterday and fed our fish in the pond for the first time since winter… they hibernate and won’t eat in wintertime!  CRAZY!!!!  So he grabbed my phone and took some pictures… the ground is still saturated from all the rain we have had of late… but he managed to find a dry enough spot to stop on the golf cart to take these photos for you all…

Soon it will be warm enough out I can go out and swing on the swing and watch the nursery grow in the pond (nursery of fish that is)… I love our home and our pond and yard!!! I feel so blessed to have the grist mill attached to it too… it is fun to feed the fish and watch the little ones become teens and the teens become grown ones… we love having friends stop by and fish in our pond too!!!  I enjoyed winter… don’t get me wrong but I love spring too.. and here it comes!!!!

So take time this week to be in love with your life… share your fave part of your life with me in a comment if you will… give gratitude for what is going great for you or what makes you happy!

Appalachian Delight becomes a flimsy and one more does too!

Welcome to my blog y’all!  It has been a busy yet still restless week of recovery around here… and LOTS and LOTS of rain has been going on!!!

And now it is our time in most of the USA to lose an hour… so spring forward if you do… don’t forget every clock in the house too! lol

For those of you that aren’t regular visitors to my blog … my honey had his right hip replaced on Feb 27 and came home on the 28th.. Whirlwind major surgery and now he can’t cross his legs anymore either!   Physical therapy started this week and in depth exercising and lots of healing and more independence by my honey is occuring… so all is going well.. but leaving us both rather sleepless still in the whirlwind of so much going on… I think when it is time for our next joint replacement (I have 2 knees that need replacing yesterday or last week even … and what caused his right hip to need replacing may take precedence for the left hip to get replaced next though…. so time and healing of this hip will help us decide which is coming up this summer when he is properly healed from this.

Meanwhile… I have been hand quilting and sewing like crazy!!!!

I got all 4 borders mitered on my Appalachian Delight Quilt…

 And made this collage of all my efforts 🙂

 I used a youtube video by Laura at SewVeryEasy where she actually showed how to make a nice wide border on a signature quilt… with miters… her directs were precise and easy to follow… my mitered border wound up measuring 13 1/2″ wide and 3 yards long… the bottom side was pieced to keep it on on the length of fabric to avoid any waving border syndrome with this one ! lol

Now all the pieces … flimsy top, binding strips already cut, leftover outer border fabic and backing you see peeking out from below the border fabric… are in a basket in my sewing room as it will be mid summer or later before this sees the frame.

With that done and still sleeplessness abounds I started trying to figure out the Rooster EPP project I shared a couple weeks ago…

It is a Violet Craft pattern I bought last year and prepped to coordinate with the spiral log cabin quilt… so mine won’t be these colors exactly.

Here is my kit set up…

 Above you see everything posed on a melamine tray we have in our stash for just such a project… to keep glue from getting on everything and keep it all together.  My portable design wall I thought would do well for a start of organization and a box I bought just for EPP organization from Dollar General stores… 3 layers with the top layer having dividers .  You can see it better below…

 She says you can start anywhere you like but she had intended the pattern to be started with the #1 and progressed to the end… so I am 🙂

 Above you see the back side of the pattern… she uses pictures to designate a fabric color.  I then used my vintage dry iron and a piece of fabric meant to help keep my iron clean as a pressing cloth between the glued piece and my iron 🙂

 In the box in the photo above you can see my planned use of items.  And below in a well cleaned and ready to use meat packing styrofoam dish I have all set up…

 And I am making good progress with all my excitement for a new skill to learn…

My stitches are a bit more obvious than I first hoped … but this is new to me … so off I went to find a great video on Youtube by Sara at SewSweetness on EPP and making a pouch from the pieces of hexi shaped EPPing… I learned a lot more from her than I did from the video she recommended… she is very sweet and knowledgeable!  I have tackled a few more pieces and will share more of BOTH sides of my work next week.  I am much happier with my stitches though as I progress which is expected I would think.

I finished the row of hand quilting I was on last week and rolled the quilt… Now I am at the center and moving over that center to a down hill pace…

 Here I am sharing the border completed on this section and the center marked and started on….

 I actually am at the center of the center now though!  But I must slow down a bit unless I want an empty frame with I do NOT… my next project is a quilt for my best friend … she is piecing it and while all the blocks are done life still happens and she won’t have the sashings and borders done properly for another few weeks I am afraid.  So I am trying to pace my finish on Spiral Log Cabin.

Linking both the EPP and Spiral Log Cabin hand quilting to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday post HERE.

I did take these messy sheets for the UFO/ WIP challenge Julie is hosting as a linky party the end of each month…

 And reprinted sheets on card stock and rewrote things I had on this list making better use of my space…

Some of you mentioned rewriting sheets and not keeping track of the completed projects but even if each page grows to the next page or even a 3rd page… I will keep them all to look back at years end and see all I have accomplished 😀

I love the wristlet purse I made and shared last week… it is soo handy and awesome!  Everything has a place in this bag too ❤

Gloria (my Singer two toned 301a) and I pieced a quilt top this week… but I used Cleo my Singer 319w to do the applique zig zag stitching…

 Here is how that panel I appliqued turned out …

 And here is the quilt top flimsy in full…

 Here is the backing folded (had to border it to make it big enough for the quilt top.  Also there is a label and binding already cut there too!!!

 Simon is an almost 1  year old child of my daughter’s good friend.  This friend is taking her to GED classes and such so Brandi and her boyfriend Timmy requested a quilt for their 2 kids… above is the younger one’s quilt to be and below is the beginning brainstorming of the older one’s (almost 5) quilt to be…

His name is Jasper and it will be somewhere on the quilt too.

I hope to be quilting these both during the worldwide quilting day next Saturday… what do you plan to do during the worldwide quilting day???

Linking this quilty post to the Peacock Party by Wendy Welsh who is traveling around New Zealand this weekend and knitting a scarf too ❤ HERE !!

Have a great week ahead wherever you are and hope your weather and projects are both enjoyable to you…

Playing Catch up ~ A New Quilt is in the Frame!!

I missed blogging last week because my best girlfriend came for a quick visit…

Connie lives about 4 hours from me and because her life is so busy.. she had not yet been to our home!!  She visited at least once a year when we lived near the beach but not since we moved to the mountains… so she left us with this souvenir shot of her visit on an old oak tree 🙂

While she was here she worked on some hand quilting… while I finished up the stitching on this purse for our friend Debbie!

 Molly is watching out for me as I stitched it all together too! lol

And here is the finish…

 It was Priority mailed this past week and already received and put into use!!

Also Connie brought gifts when she came including this cool quilt hanger that my honey installed in our kitchen…

 She also left us some apple juice bottles that are glass and she uses the leftover glass bottles for flower vases… well we loved that idea!!!  So my honey went into our yard and made me a vase for the computer area…

And once I got my quilt loaded in the frame … He also filled another vase with more flowers when I napped one day!!! 🙂

Here he is suprising me with flowers on a day I didn’t feel so good…

 And here they are posed from the opposite side of the jar on the quilt I am working on intermittently 😀

And last night it was to freeze here… so this was the last of the flowers from our yard … so I wanted to share their delightfulness with you all!!!

Molly is now officially 4 months old !!!

 And after celebrating her birthday with a nice bath!!!  We prepped our guest room for Connie’s soon arrival… I love this quilt but soon I think it will be time to wash it one last time and send it to it’s destiny… to be with my darling daughter (dd) Brandi ….

She chose this quilt top and the quilting plan and colors … I just did the work! lol

Once I finished the bag for Debbie… while Connie was here I started prepping the Rooster EPP project …

 And even got out the organizer I had bought for this project too…

Pulled fabrics from my stash… and that pin cushion on the neutral fabric on the left… a gift from Connie too!

 Glued the templates to the fabric as the directions called for using scrapbooking adhesive I had in my stash 😀

 Soon my pattern had MY colors in place of the makers colors… so it will match the vibe in our home…

 Here is a close up of that sweet hexi pin cushion Connie gifted me too …

 And long after Connie was gone back to her home and her crazy busy life… I finally got it all organized!!!

Now to find the time to work on it some more… time to glue baste down all the edges with my Fons and Porter fabric glue sticks.

I removed the doggy themed border fabric and not jiving cornerstones and made this more civil war looking with remaining fabric left from Roberta’s quilt finish….

 Daisy’s Stars is now “Stars Among Us”  Tutorial to the scrappy star blocks is on my blog HERE.  It is truly more of a memory quilt we will use on the foot of our bed in honor of her… as none of this coordinates with Connie’s decor! lol

I chose these stencils … both I have never used before… for this quilt…

The left for the border and the right for the body of the quilt where the stars are 🙂

With batting and backing already pulled long ago for this quilt loading went quick…  First was the backing to put on the 2nd rail and the bottom rail… winding it twice to make sure all was straight…

Then the top and batting were added first to the top rail and rolled on (twice as well) …

 Until they were going on straight and even…

 Then pinned to the backing at the bottom rail and tighted all up….

 Now I am ready to mark and begin quilting once I baste the bottom edge!!!

 Molly is my steady companion when I quilt… she tries to squeeze her growing body in this little box… so I traded it out for a larger box but she teethes on everything right now.. so don’t know how long that will last !!! lol

 Soon the bottom border was all stitched in place…

 And I am now making great headway on the slow stitching of this crazy triangle pattern from my stencil!!!

 Here is my set up.. early each morning I bring in the day slow stitching…

 And here is how I am marking these designs.. with pounce chalk and with a piece of pink chalk in a marking tool…

I am linking this fun slow stitching … where I will be today and every day… with Kathy’s Slow Stitching Squad of hand work specialists HERE!  Come see what others are doing following the link and if you blog come join the party too ❤

This week Bonnie Hunter posted this Bonnie-ism…

 And I received all this wonderful fabric in fat quarter form…

 Then I organized it with some in my stash like this…

 And checked value like this (Batman is for sale and was just a quiet space to rest your eyes between the colors at the top and those same fabrics in value only in black and white at the bottom! lol

 All in hopes of making 16 big 14″ blocks of log cabin bear paw blocks like this…

 So this weekend I cut out the log cabin blocks in medium and light with red centers to keep the home warm 🙂

 And here is a close up of my piecing plan per bear paw block… with the first 4 log cabins pieced on Gloria the Glorious 301a!

 Here was my inspiration block found on Pinterest and shared there by the Stashing Sisters…

 If you are into log cabins…mine are not quite as intense as theirs… but I think it will work!!! lol

In closing this long post… I want to reward you with a glimpse of the Valley Eagle!!!  A bald eagle that lives in this area but we had never seen him… until the day before we got these photos and this day too…

 Here is my dd… now in Kentucky with some of her tribe.  We have a growing friendship now that she is grown up…she is in the center with Jasper the 6  year old sitting on her back! lol

So until my next post … NEXT SUNDAY!!!!  Have a blessed week and…

October 2018 is around the corner!

Welcome to the last day of September 2018!!!

It is just so hard to believe that TOMORROW will be October 2018!!  Fall is here in North Carolina too!!  Cooler temperatures here in the mountains and crickets in the morning and early in the eves too… leaves are starting to fall on some of our trees and a faint yellowing is present on others…. ooooh soooo exciting!  I will take some pictures as this becomes more obvious for you all not in this area of the world to see… but I am so ready for natures show!  Keep your face toward the sunshine y’all… and your glass half full!

On that note I have an ALMOST finish to share and I am linking all this slow stitching post HERE to my good bloggy friend Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching… binding is where I will be today 🙂  Come over and see what everyone else is linking up… Grab a cuppa and enjoy the show and share!!!

Above I finished the quilt close to bedtime and cut it off the frame where it has been pinned since May…  Molly (our shih poo puppy) immediately claimed it as hers to enjoy! lol

So Molly has become my official quilt inspector!!!  She loves quilts even more than our Daisy did… she is so darling with her love of hand quilted quilts too… more than the ones I machine finished (which are few)… she prefers the softer hand quilted ones!

Getting Molly to pose for a photo is near impossible… but after letting her leisurely lay on the quilt as I trimmed up all 4 edges to prepare for adding the binding…  She even posed with my honey for a shot!  SCORE!!!!

Zena has been tied up quilting a quilt … I unattached the quilt mid quilting for her to do a more important task as she is the machine that can use the walking foot most effectively… so now the Cotton + Steel Optical Black cotton fabric… my favorite solid… got sewed on early the next morning…

 I used all I had and had to substitute some other black I found in my stash … all together 11 strips of width of fabric it took to bind this big old quilt!  It is about 109″ square now… I will remeasure it once it is washed and dried in the dryer this week though 🙂

Here I decided instead of the thicker YLI to put the binding on with 50 wt Aurifil in black… I love how it sinks into the fabric too ❤

 I added a label but this quilt was a lot of collaboration between my honey and I and my bestie… in fact 2 of the stencils I used were mailed to me by my bestie!!!  So I think I will add a proper label to the back side bottom as well to document this cool quilt better.

 Here is where I am this morning as I type this….

Here was the flimsy before it got layered and added to my Hinterberg frame…

 Here was the beginning photo I shared on my blog and social media too!!!

 Here are pillow shams I made with the leftovers of the fat quarters and yardage this quilt was made from…

 Here is one finished… we are using them now though…

 And here is how I feel in life right now…

So in other news… as I was finishing the stitching on the quilt earlier in the week… I took a partial day break from the stitching to make this cute table topper…

 And I tried out this NEW TO ME pen ….

It did NOT fade with washing and drying…

I didn’t dry it hard and it did need a quick steamy press for the three dimensional pumpkin stems.  It is added to my Etsy shop HERE and a quite popular addition I must say 😀  And it was fun to make something on the fly of my own design with new fabrics in my stash !!!  It is machine quilted in the center with hand quilting around the edges in the black border ❤

My giveaway winner from earlier this month was Jill who blogs HERE … she chose a pencil pouch from my shop as her prize!

She is going to use this pouch to wrangle her slow stitching crochet hooks 🙂  I can’t wait to see a photo of it in use too ❤ 

Congratulations Jill … she let me know what she was using it for and was so happy to receive it last week and impressed with how colorful it was and how wide it opened to easily see her different hooks 🙂  I am so happy for her!!!

Finally I wanna share a bit about my next slow stitching project… well I guess there are 2… I have a little pillow I am stitching on whenever I am on the go in my “go bag”… it will become my main project and will be completed before my next blog post so I will share it then.  It is just a simple wholecloth pillow I am hand quilting for my honey to snuggle as he sleeps… he has one but it doesn’t match our new decor in the bedroom with this soon to be completed quilt… so I will finish the pillow and make an envelope opening in the back for easy washing of this pillow covering.  The backing will be the same wide back backing you see on the quilt… I had a tad left over!

Once that is done I will start on my Violet Craft  EPP Rooster Project.  I am adding Project to it’s name for the blog because look at this…

It is 8… yes EIGHT pages of cardstock templates to make this rooster via english paper piecing!!!

This will be a project!!!!  So I pulled out the project tote my bestie Connie made me several years ago for projects that need a place to be laid out and organized on the go…

I even invested in a spool of Bottom Line polyester thread to keep my stitches as hidden as possible.  Connie also sent me a video of thread basting the hexies but the author of this pattern recommends glue basting with fabric glue because the pieces are mainly odd shaped.  After seeing this … and the hexies in this project are a bit larger than what Connie uses too… I have the fabric glue and will use it.  The tape runner is the author’s remedy to hold the back side of the fabric temporarily to the template… she says it won’t stick to the fabric permanently and it is similar to her recommended type… so I should be good there… It was from my paper scrapbooking days! lol

The pattern can’t be used to make to sell… but after seeing how many pieces this will take for a 20″ square finish… I think I will be fine making one for us and having fun with it alone…

 I will also be sorting my “scrap users system” I adopted from Bonnie Hunter into colors instead of colors and neutrals then sizes … With my new endeavors I find I need colors specific scraps not size specific scraps more for my Etsy shop makings.  I have a big bin in my sewing studio that needs to be sorted so I will start there… and end with these boxes relabeled into colors with a could neutrals bins maybe … maybe one dark and one light neutrals… hmmmm.

 So my question this week is about this sorting I will be doing this week in prep for the rooster start after I complete the binding… that is my sole focus until it is in the washer!!!!!!!!!!

Do you sort your fabric scraps?  How do you sort them if you do??  Do you use any type of scrap users system???  I know Bonnie does hers by size AND color but as you can see from my photo above.. I don’t have the scrap volume Bonnie does… but I am heading there as great friends are sending me scraps for my making … so I need to get a handle on this.  Please send me a photo if you will to my email HERE or leave a comment explaining your system if you have one… Thanks All for visiting!!!

Happy Fall Y’all ~ A Giveaway Winner and Sooo Much More!

Fall has always been my favorite season and last night in the USA Fall began!  Leaves are beginning to fall here in North Carolina too… it has been 6 years since I have enjoyed a true fall!!!

 The above wall hanging was inspired by Bonnie Hunter’s string pumkins she did last year 🙂 

I had sooo much fun taking scraps from previous quilt making and from my stash and sewing them together to make pumpkins….

 This year is hangs in our kitchen over our little kitchen table…. we have a HUGE countertop level bar in our kitchen that we use regularly but this is nice too and cozy ❤

 Our weather is cooling during the night and early mornings and a heavy dew is present until mid day usually now… but the afternoons still get quite warm!  Waiting for that evening cool down to start as the trees are starting to lose their leaves with the wind blowing occasionally too.  What is your weather like where you live?  Is it comfy to be outside?? 

I have been inside mainly… working toward a slow stitching finish at my frame!!!

Since this collage.. I rolled the frame for the last time for this quilt…

 When I finish this row I will be cutting the quilt off the frame!!!  SEW EXCITED TO GET TO THAT POINT Y ‘ALL!!!

To the left are my quilting tools… and to the right I am ready for action with my thumble and thimble and a bit of electrical tape wrapped around my pointer finger to increase my gripability! lol

Here is the corner where I started on this row…

 And now I have a lot of wavy lines and black line in the ditch stitching to do … as well as basting that top edge…

I have truly enjoyed every bit of the 4 months this quilt has been on the frame … every stitch was added with love and devotion to me and my honey and our relationship… this quilt will next be shown (hopefully) off the frame .. bound… washed and dried… and on our bed!!!  Yippee in advance 😀 

Linking all this fun slow stitching accomplishments (including that Fall quilt I opened my post with as it is slow stitched too!) to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday link up… There my tribe is gathering today to share their slow stitching accomplishments… whether is it needle and thread like me or other slow hand accomplished work like crochet or cross stitch or embroidery or knitting!  Come see us all HERE!  Kathy even has a new blog header up with her latest finish on it… beautiful!

So everything else I have been up to has been LOTS and LOTS!

First I want to announce the

 Jill is the lucky lady I drew out of the coffee mug!  I have sent her an email… next week I will share what she chose as her prize if it is ok with her 😀  SEW EXCITED FOR HER!!!!

And here is a peek at what is new at MY ETSY SHOP!

Pencil cases for trendy students… mug rugs for any time but perfect for the season we are in and a table topper I hope will find a home soon when I get it quilted and listed as well!!!

And these sets of fabrics are for sale on facebook!

Wowee… I have been sooo busy this week 🙂

So what will I work on next you ask???

The rooster is an EPP project by Violet Craft… 

I have always wanted to try EPP but never found a project that I felt like inspired me.  So this darling rooster I will do in reds and blacks and greys with a tan background to coordinate with a wall hanging still left undone… hopefully I can show you all this stuff next week when I post a blog entry 😀

For now this is my wish for your all…. 

 Do you drink coffee???  Or do you prefer tea or water or something fun otherwise when you stitch???  I love sugar free sweet tea and coffee with a little bit of coconut creamer in it! lol  I would love to hear your favorite stitching beverage 🙂

Until next Sunday y’all…