So much to share!

Hello my bloggy friends!!!  You will see as you read that I have been following my own advice to…

I am so excited to share my progress in so many areas of my quilty life!!!  As I am linking this post to my fave Sunday blog to read and enjoy (Kathy’s Quilts HERE) I will start with hand quilting progress on my Batik Hollyhock Garden quilt but there is more hand quilting below too!!!

 I was on the 2nd row a couple weeks ago when I linked up… now I am almost done with the 4th row!  The blue arrow on the left of the above shot shows where I am and you can also see the legend in the bottom right of that shot! 🙂

And here is a shot looking back on this row a bit too…

I love my Hinterberg quilting frame my honey built for me to use… and use it almost exclusively now even though I have a hoop and a project in that hoop that is to small for the frame.. I haven’t worked on it in a month or more!!!  Here is a shot you can see the frame better in if you haven’t seen my frame…

It has metal poles we got at Lowe’s… the kit we ordered from Hinterberg.com right here in the USA … I found a long length of cotton striped fabric on eBay and we used duck tape to apply the assigned length and width to each pole… this fabric is known as “leaders”.  The kit came with fairly good instructions on how to put this all together and how to cut and apply the leader fabric to each pole.. once in place it stays forever and I haven’t had any issues with using the tape to apply the fabric to the metal!

Unfortunately I broke a fingernail on my quilting hand into the quick of my nail bed… so I am taking a short break from handquilting as that fingernail grows back and it isn’t so sensitive… me and regular applications of Bag Balm are healing it fairly quick though… soon I will be back to quicker progress on this quilt! 🙂

While that is going on there… I have been piecing a quilt for my son and his wife that live in Tennessee… James and Heather… it is called Amethyst Star quilt.  I am using Gloria and loving her💖  I love my vintage machines to piece with!!

Glorious Gloria is her name!!!

Here is how I am laying out my rows for machine piecing in a controlled scrappy way…

And here are the first couple rows…

 I have all my pieces cut and in piles…

It took me a while from getting all pieces cut until I started piecing the center of this top… but now I am having a blast with it since I am not able to hand quilt too! lol  Make the best of a situation I say!!!

I am marking all the little squares with a silver glitter pen on the back across the middle diagonally…

… Then I am sewing just to the right of that drawn line to make my star points on the scrappy sashing strips…

I am piecing the squares and sashings into 4 patch units like this…

Above you can see how I make the join of the “4 Patch” rotate so each square can join like I have below in a row…

 I then have ironed the joined squares open as that seemed to make the most sense… and sure enough when I now have 4 rows all joined in this center section it looks MARVELOUS if I do say so myself….

 There will be 15 rows before this center is completed… and now my pile of parts has decreased some… I am hoping to keep the scrappy look going til the end though!  I started this with some of my stash and a layer cake cut all into 5″ squares… sashing strips… star centers… and a LOT of star point squares for the flippy corners I am marking! lol

 Yesterday.. April 29… was my honey and I’s 6th year anniversary!!!

 

I feel so blessed to have him in my life!!!  

 He got me a couple things to celebrate our years together… first we found this water bubbler for our foyer… summer is here already and we aren’t outside to enjoy those much anymore!

And a quilt pattern I just ordered last night on eBay….

This will be a Christmas wall quilt for our foyer if the size is right in the ad 🙂  I have always loved the feathered star pattern and this one is perfect for that space!

Here is the one currently opposite the bubbler …

 And a larger view… it was a rotary cut with templates, machine pieced and hand quilted finish quilt!

 Here is a pic of the way I label my quilts… I get these off Etsy from a seller there 🙂

And I finally made the banner for a local charity with some fabric I found online and a new t-shirt the charity owner brought to me…

I used the front tshirt logo on the back cross… and the back tshirt image for the front of the banner.

I really enjoyed making this up… I took a break after 2 rows of the quilt center on Amethyst Stars to get this made and delivered.  The lady that runs the charity is in LOVE with it as a banner for her charity!  She will be using it in parades and to mark her charity’s spot when in public places!  This was all machine done… my finger was hurt already at this point! haha  

I will continue to machine make things for this charity including quilted pillows for those that are injured and need a comfort pillow to help them feel safe again.  There is such a strong need for us all to be kind for sure in this world we are living in!

Another couple days of taking is slow should have me able to wear a thimble again though!  So no worries 🙂  

In this time of so much negativity going on everywhere in the world  … make sure you take time to…

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What is up next :)

After this finish yesterday…

 This beautiful wall hanging now proudly hangs in our foyer…

 If you look closely you will see we fashioned some yard sticks into a hanging rod.. it took 3 to make it but it works great and looks fun too!  The wall hanging is about 40 x 60″ wide so 1 yardstick was way too short 🙂

So what is up next???

Hand quilting a Singer Featherweight Banner for my honey!  Here it is as a flimsy hanging on the wall…

I decided to “bag” this quilt instead of binding it traditionally as it will only be washed infrequently… it measures 15 1/2 x 25 1/2″ once bagged…

The pic above shows the hanging loops I made and attached during the bagging process… it went quickly and I think the corners came out nice and crisp too!

Before bagging it I marked it and ironed the 100% Hobbs Tuscany wool batting flat to aid in the stitching of it…

Bagging simply refers to layering and sewing a quilt together leaving a small turning spot on a straight area.. in my case I chose the center bottom to leave about a 3″ or 4″ opening… all else got a 1/4″ seam sewn around… I turned it through the hole so all right sides were out and hand stitched the opening closed after ironing in place for a nice unnoticeable closure.

Hope that made sense as I didn’t take pics of this process.. it was my first time to try it for quilted items so I was quite excited! lol

Here it is this morning… now in my hoop 🙂

And this means more black on black stitching for the center…

I will be back stitching all around the center medallion and quilting the radiating lines going outward from the center medallion 🙂

Also you can see the chain on the edges of my hoop where I marked lightly with graphite (pencil works just as nice as well) … it is a chain pattern I will big stitch with BLACK Perle 12 cotton thread 🙂

Linking this quilty post to Linky Tuesday by Connie at Freemotion on the River HERE!

So I am gonna get stitching.. and I hope you have something crafty planned for this week as well!  Would love to hear what YOU are up to!

Happy February :)

Well February is coming in a bit cool and quite windy here on Florida’s east coast….

I have a wonderful drawing my daughter did over the weekend I wanted to share with you…

The actual art is made with little dots of ink with an uber fine tipped pen… then a touch of color can be added in the same way… I just love this.. it measures about 5 x 7 maybe a bit larger and is a project she did for her French class 🙂

Also I have completely left sewing out here…

For sewing in my new Sewing Room!

I do all my hand quilting outside still though.. that won’t change I doubt as I love being outside in Florida most all year long!

I was very happy with my valance finish last month… so I decided to start early this month and have a finish myself!!!

This silly wall hanging started early in October 2014 with a pile of vintage fabrics I had collected through an eBay adventure (I bought a estate sale bundle of 1980’s cottons… great stash builder )….. and some vintage white cotton and bought that great vintage machine fabric to encircle it all …

My honey made the templates the pattern called for out of this wood and they rotary cut excellently!

Well this was started to let me rest my hands during a long process so the need to hand quilt again was strong and after a few “stars” were made I set it aside to quilt more on the project with a deadline…

Finally I have a finish though… and although it is February 2 and Punxsutawny Phil saw his shadow… so the forecast (if you buy into that) is more cool weather! 

Here are a few more shots of the wall hanging in place…

And the stencils I used to get all the cool designs on this wall hanging…

It has been a fun journey but one I was definitely ready to finish up!!

 I added my label and dated it with a Pigma pen… I used 100% wool Hobbs Tuscany batting and love the texture it leaves behind with all the quilting I did on this piece…

So here it is now at a bit of a distance…

Hope whatever you have plan for February comes true!

My wall hanging… has been hanging around too long!

I am sooo happy to report I am currently BINDING!!!

I just looked on my blog for curiosity sake… I first showed the first blocks of this wall hanging on October 10, 2014!!! 

This has been my “in-between” project and I have really enjoyed that about it 🙂

But I must admit getting this binding finished, hanging pocket on, and washed properly… I will be happy to show you a pic of it hanging in the foyer in all its beautiful glory.

Stay tuned!!!

Midweek Musings ;)

As I plod along on this wallhanging… I try to stop and enjoy the texture the quilting is creating… here is a good shot of that in close up view…

Here is a pic of my current location “in the hoop” view…

And once I got that part finished you can see some of the texture in this freshly marked view…

This corner only looks distorted in the photo! lol  It is actually straight 🙂

I really love how effortless it is to mark using a stencil with the pounce powder!  Loving this project again now! haha 😀

HERE is a link to the video on Youtube that shows how to properly use a Pounce Pad.  They come in white, pink, and blue chalk powder.  You need an applicator for each color chalk then can buy refills if you need to.. I haven’t had to and my white is getting a bit low.. I don’t have the blue yet.

And to make the middle of my week even more exciting…

New fabrics to show off!!!!

12 new fabrics here… Thanks goes to my quilty cyber friend Kathy Porter.. she sent me all this fabric to make room for fabric she liked and would use more of!  WHAT!!! Yeah 🙂  Check out her blog HERE & see her tiny hand quilted stitches in a gorgeous log cabin quilt!  Anyway, as they say.. one man’s trash is anothers treasure… this is MY TREASURE TROVE here 🙂  Very pleased with this transaction!

Here are some close ups…

 It is folded (over a yard) and organized on boards (1 yard or less)

For storage in my fabric chest.

This fabric will breed many quilts in years to come… I am blessed to be the recipient of this… my honey agrees too!  Honestly he is bowled over by the top quality fabrics!

Next is some fabric I have been collecting for my granddaughter that is due to make her appearance the end of May!  Here are the beginnings of Kaydence’s quilt to be….

 

Here are the fabrics laid out on my ironing board I use for piecing… did you see that finished project??

 Here is my vintage iron I use for piecing and my new ironing board made from a thick piece of plywood… covered with a towel then covered with decorator grade fabric that is all cotton 🙂

I got the idea from a Missouri Star Quilt Company vid… and I love this one.. I used a fluffy towel that had found bleach somewhere and discolored it… folded it over the board and sewed the sides.. slipped in the board after trimming and turning the towel (messy process by the way!).  Then I measured and sewed the sides of the fabric.. I made french feld seams so no strings will appear over time as I am hard on my ironing board!  My old one is faded and flat in comparison!!

What you will see me quilting next…

I am making a banner for my honey from an piece I had embroidered for him with the Singer logo and leftovers from the valance.. plus some other fabric to bring our design to life.

Here is my design process… I started on the notepad … then moved that design to graph paper… but I keep my original “idea” paper because it is where I doodle quilting designs during the piecing process 🙂

The banner itself will be ready to show off once I have it to a showable state ! lol

So what are you up to during this last week of January… can you believe February is coming soon?!!

Linking this post up with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts HERE!

Hope you have a wonderful and productive rest of your week.. and when you have a minute don’t forget to …

Slow Stitching Weekend :)

My normal quilting interests and time devoted to actual quilting has been low the last couple weeks since I got sick.. even though I am now fully recovered it was only this weekend that my mojo for being quilty came back… yes I finished the valance.. but I just wasn’t as stoked about that awesome finish as I should been.  But I am back now  and OVER Halfway around the outer border of this wall hanging!!!!

I have a stencil for the clamshell border… each clam shell is about 2″ on this stencil and it marks very easily with white chalk called Pounce Powder and the Pounce applicator.  Have you used this before??  You do NOT pounce it actually you swipe it to apply the powder from the applicator… using a very firm hand to press as you swipe.

There is a great Youtube video Leah Day does for this product and how I learned to use it properly. 🙂

I have lots of things going on in the background as I hand quilt… I am making a special banner for my honey and a baby quilt for my first grandbaby to come in May!  So follow along so you don’t miss anything!

Linking this awesome Slow Stitching progress to Kathy’s Quilts HERE

Have a blessed Sunday 🙂  I am glad to be back to Relaxin’ & Enjoyin’

Slow Stitching and Recovering…

Sorry I have been quiet on the bloggy front lately.. last weekend I had a tooth abcess on me and swell up fast!  I went to the dentist Monday morning and had it pulled as the infection had gotten so bad in such a short amount of time the dentist said best to get it out and I agreed!

But recovery has been a bit more painful and slower than expected… I have felt like that side of my face is recovering from a punch in that jaw! lol  Anyway… since I have been recovering and not ready to bind the valance because of the pain meds I am taking intermittently… I have had the urge to slow stitch 🙂

My progress on this project has been slow but enjoyable… I am in no rush to finish this so just working on it as I can… however this recovery time may change that a bit…

Just about 1/4 around the whole wall hanging if you can see my arrows 🙂

And here is a cool texture shot I caught this morning just after I moved the hoop some!  Yippee!!!

But as I mentioned there are other projects needing to be done too…

The valance needs its binding and hanging sleeve added then washed and hung.

My honey made me this totally rad design wall for the new sewing room… it is about 4 feet tall by almost 7 feet wide and is totally built in using a flannel backed table cloth, a piece of white batting that size, and topped with the beautiful mahogany stained wood with rosette corners!  Oh I am giddy to feel better and be sewing with this design board next to me!!!!

I finally found some fabric I liked and my honey liked it too… so we were happy to find it also on sale… for a new ironing board and a pillow for a chair in the room as well…

I think this will go with the room and the valance too 🙂

While picking up my pain medication I also picked up this photo from the local pharmacy I use… It is a collage print and was on sale… paid $12.00 for the print that I designed online… then used the frame I had from a long time ago when I had done this :)… check it out!

It was hard to find a glare free shot so this is a low glare shot anyway! lol

It has all my kids but 1 as I didn’t see him in 2014.  This is full of memories from my Be Kind year 🙂

Hope you have a great weekend… I am returning to slow stitching for now but hope to have a catch up post on Sunday or Monday with more 🙂

Weekend Catch Up :)

It has been a very busy week here at Casa Del Loro… I successfully machine quilted the middle of the Sunny Side Up Charmer valance that I introduced HERE!  WHOOP!!!!

Didn’t take a pic of the machine quilting parts… I just wanted it done! lol  But I am now finishing the busier top and bottom portions by hand.  Here is my design up close on the bottom…

And here is a wider shot once I got the bottom finished and laid it out a bit…

I am NOT using a hoop for this as it is the border and this is how I am used to stitching as well 🙂  I am watching my tension and feeling for any wrinkles on the back side and pinning very well before quilting it 🙂  All came out good here ..

QUESTION… I plan to bind this along the outer quilting line in a zig zig… would you use bias or straight cut binding for this type of application?

I machine sew my binding to the front then hand sew to the back.. I have an upcoming quilt with this type of zig zig pattern on the sides.. my Batik Hollyhock Garden quilt.. so I thought this would be a good place to learn the best technique 🙂

Here is a view of the top border…

And a close up of the date I added to the blank spot on the left far end…

I will put my initials in the far right side… these shouldn’t really be seen… I thought this was a good place to put the date and my initials 🙂  Do you ever put a date on your quilted items?

This week we also did a bit of thrifting at our local thrift shops…
My honey found this cool cup that now hold screwdrivers on his desk…

It has his name engraved on one side of it!  Funny to find your own name on a cool looking item… we had to get it! lol  It is pewter with a glass bottom in it.  But it holds his tools perfect and is heavy with a wide base so it won’t tip over 🙂

Then I found this frame…

I didn’t get a pic before this… but here is the frame with my beloved QUILT sign inside it… You see my honey made me the quilt sign in his wood shop about 2 years ago & it found a home adorning the top of my design wall … now that we are inside in the new sewing room it had not found a cool new home yet… so here it is mounted inside the frame I found thifting!  The frame is made of some kind of oak and is very old and handmade… we paid $16 for the frame… and just over $2 for the cool cup… That was a score!

Here is the idea we are trying on the frame now…

The black fabric is from my stash… and will be used on a wall hanging that will be near this frame once finished…  The scissors were a thrift shop find too… a while back and they also never had found a home…

I am thinking of digging around in my antique buttons and thread collection to add to it… what do you think?  Like it as is or would you embellish a bit more???

I have also begun to watch… intermittently as she has lots of MEAT to offer… Jinny Beyer’s 2015 BOM on Craftsy.. it is a FREE class with one on one time with Jinny!  I am loving it… but I already enjoy the Craftsy platform for learning… Just look at the New Classes in Quilting… or search their  site for classes taught by “Jinny Beyer” 🙂

It is like getting a mini of her Color Theory class right in your own space!  LOVING IT!

Don’t think I have forgotten and occasionally grab my hoop though… I am still making progress on the Wish Upon a Vintage Star wall hanging as well…

I have rounded the bottom left corner and am heading up the left side now!  Yippee 🙂  I am loving the texture this design creates too… that is accentuated with the wool batting I used in this project.  Yet to get you a good pic of the texture here as it is black fabric and black thread… makes for a tough combo… but stay tuned.. I will keep trying! lol

Well I am linking this Catch Up post to Sarah’s Whoop it up Friday blog party HERE
I am also linnking this hand quilting heavy post to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching HERE

Until next time…

Inner border COMPLETE!

Yes, in between playing with Gloria (my Singer 301A) I have been getting in some slow stitching too this weekend and completed the inner border of Wish Upon a Vintage Star Wall Hanging 🙂  Yippee!!!

It was a stencil I traced with a wash away blue water marker but the joins at the middle of each side of the border required some finessing to blend in…

Here is a closer pic of the top of the quilted section..

And here is a good picture of the bottom of the quilted section..

Needless to say… I am VERY pleased with this outcome… I used DMC Perle 12 cotton on this border stitching with a Dritz #7 Between as it has a larger eye for threading and avoids the drag some other needles do with larger thread.

Next up is the outer border

And this is where I need YOUR advice please…  I will be marking this with Pounce chalk AND using a 16″ lap hoop on the border… for the first time…

First of all where would you start on this quilt?

If you note the pic at the top of this post I was thinking to start on the left hand side and go clockwise around the border… but is this the BEST way to stitch this background on this wide border?
POPULAR ANSWER FROM MY SOURCES SAYS CENTER BOTTOM

Do I only mark what is going in the hoop at a time?

I am marking with pounce chalk which flakes off easily.. so do I just mark what is about to go in the hoop?  That is what I am thinking seems right here…
FOR ME … YES… ONE BORDERS WIDTH FITS IN MY HOOP FINE.. SEE PIC BELOW

What is the best way for keeping the tension even on a border edge in a hoop?

I am thinking of using a dishtowel and pinning it to the edge.. I have seen this done in pics but have never tried it in reality yet… Is this how you quilt your borders or should I just lose the hoop for this part ???
FOR ME MY 16″ HOOP WORK GREAT…

Linking to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching HERE🙂

And for those who follow me… this package did come in the mail!

Come back Tuesday to see what is up with this project!  I have been keeping Gloria quite busy 🙂

Enjoying January!

I heard recently somewhere that what you spend January 1 doing will set the pace for your year…

Well I spent it slow stitching and LOVING IT!

Have you ever marked with a stencil on your border and had to figure where the pattern meets in the center?  Usually I can make it happen… and I did chose this stencil knowing that could be problematic…

But I think my side join brings out the wave in the pattern… do you see the join spot to the right in the picture above??

And in this picture you can see the way I joined the bottom border and I will do the same when I get to the top border…

See that single “wave” right in the center of the picture above?  I am not looking at the wall hanging as a whole yet… I know I will love it though and I don’t think these joins will be noticeable as I did them 🙂

I also took my dd shopping for new shoes… tennies for walking!  She wound up with some RED Michael Jordan basketball tennies that she loves 🙂  Hope that doesn’t mean lots of shopping in this year as shopping has never been high on my to do list! ha 🙂

I didn’t go into my new sewing room though yesterday… I have been working on my hexi stars that are the beginnings of stars that will come together to make a quilt for the living room…

I have done more hexi flowers than show on the board in this shot… but I have now organized them off the board because today I SHOULD BE getting some new fabrics to make a quilted valance for this room!!!  I am soooo excited about this little project.. it should go fairly fast and look uber cute!

Here is the rough sketch I did this morning in preparation for the fabric coming… I will link a tutorial I found showing the basics.. I am changing mine quite a bit from the table runner they show… but it is a great tutorial… so will share that during the reveal!  Hopefully that will be soon too!

Finally, I want to share something VERY special my daughter did for me as a late Christmas present…

 She made this puzzle for me… well her and several of her friends came at different times to help but the puzzle got finished AND is now glued together… I will have her document all that worked on it but it is sooo amazing in person.

It is 19 x 30 in size and was 1000 pieces… Take a look at the little details she had to put together….

 There are butterflies and hummingbirds in there… So cool!

Well … that is what is going on around here for the new year!

Since I am so excited about the intro of my valance and the imminent arrival of the fabric for that project… I am linking up with Sarah and Whooping it up there 🙂  Come on over and see what everyone else is whooping about too!

Until next time…