Cruising right along, making stuff, finishing stuff and planning stuff. I even used some stuffing too.

First up, I finished the two smalls from Luminous Fiber Arts, Gathering Stitches and Gathering Snowflakes. I stuffed them with fiber fill and a handful of crushed walnut shells. This is the first time I’ve used the shells and I like the weight they add to the pillow. I am trying to decide if I want to add some trim to the edges, I don’t have anything suitable though. I am trying not to buy any more, maybe if I see the perfect one, but I’m not really looking. I am almost finished with the Hocus Pocus halloween small too. It is a quick stitch, I may make it into a pillow, or maybe frame it if I can find a black molding with a little character.

I finished and delivered the Vintage Sampler quilt to my client. She really liked it, and has another vintage one she’d like me to finish for her. It’s a Christmas sampler, in pieces, about 25 years in UFO stage. I consider it a challenge and a rescue operation. It’s rewarding to see how happy a person is when you finish something they didn’t think would ever be done. I find it almost as satisfying as finishing something of my own that has been languishing. Although, my motivation to re-start one of my ufo’s isn’t quite as keen. I did acquire another rescue project. This one is somewhat of a mess. It is a king sized Hawaiian appliqué quilt that was started with hand quilting, in the center (ugh) and part of a border. It is faded, water marked, frayed on the edges and probably not very square. The only saving grace is that it is basted. I am going to have to think on it for a bit, just getting it on the frame will be challenging.

Speaking of UFOs, I finished the two Cambridge bags that I had cut and ready to sew. I used waxed canvas for the outer parts and cotton fabric for the inner. I bought the hardware and pattern as a kit from Hammerstitch, which worked out really well. Lots of rivets and the leather is nice and soft. I may make another bag from them, I have a bit of left over canvas.

I finished up the four baby quilts, that I quilted on one backing piece. All are bound and waiting for their photo shoot. I got adventurous and bound one in some scraps of minky fleece I had. It went on pretty easily, luckily I remembered to cut it on the straight of grain. A trip to the post office finished the last of the Nocturnal quilts. I finished up the Noel quilt top too, and pulled out a bunch of other fabric collections which need to be made into tops. I got the Liberty fabric star quilt on the frame yesterday and I am quilting a dogwood panto on it. The pink thread shows up nicely, it’s a relatively dense pattern but it breaks up the white patches nicely. Then I had the urge to start a Bonnie Hunter designed quilt. It’s called Morning Glories, all paper foundation pieced, and very scrappy. There are over 750 – 2″x 4″ pieces of green needed. I printed out enough papers for eight blocks, I”m trying out some newsprint paper for this. It went through the printer well, and is a bit less expensive than regular paper, and much less that the specialty papers from Carol Doack.

After much self debating, I traded in my 790+ for the 790pro. I am really pleased with it, although it looks almost the same, it sews and computes a step up from the plus. I really like the laser at the needle point, it shows exactly where the needle will pierce the fabric. Very much like the add-on laser I have on my longarm machine. The touch screen is a bit bigger and the processor seems a little faster. It’s got WiFi too, so you can monitor it on your phone, while in another room. I don’t know if I would ever trust a machine to embroider while unattended. I’ve had too many messes to fix when I have “stepped away”, maybe it’ll work for bathroom breaks lol. I have to try out the embroidery unit soon, I just don’t have anything to stitch out.

All in all a productive first week in October. PIQF is coming up next week I may go on Friday, if I go alone, I’l shop the market, but if I drag along a non-quilty friend, I won’t be tempted.

Be Kind.

I have been getting better these past few days. Yesterday I didn’t have to nap, but I only did one strenuous (getting the trash ready for pick up, lol) activity. I spent a few hours watching the long arm do its thing, I only have one and a half more rows to finish that quilt. I would really like to have it packed up and out of here on Monday. I took a look at the commissioned quilt, the vintage appliqué quilt. I need to do some hand work, to fix the wave-y border, and figure out how to make a tuck in the backing look okay. The borders were not too wavy, but I ended up with about an inch or too extra in length on the long sides. Much steaming and manipulating of the fabric was done to alleviate it, but I still need to do a bit of fold and sew at the seam line. The backing was a bit wonky too, the maker had started to hand quilt the center of this top. It was basted to the backing, however the backing wasn’t square, causing a little difficulty in getting it to be on the frame straight/true. I had a few hours of struggle there, but I think I am going to have to leave the tuck.

I got another motif done on the Consider the Lillies piece. I won’t be finished with the page by tomorrow though. Page two is going to bleed into three, no biggie. I worked a bit on the “gathering Snowflakes” small. I am thinking if I finish this one, I’ll start on a halloween one, the “Hocus Pocus” one I kitted up last year. I was remembering that I have a few Halloween things to make, last year I was intent on finishing the All Hallows Fig Tree sampler quilt. I have it hung up and on display already.

I was looking for something to start in the sewing room, and came across a kit I bought a few years ago. It’s a wall hanging, but it is made from two panels and some yardage of the same fabric line. I opened it up and got started. I realized that it wasn’t a full kit for this project. There are a few half yards of fabric, and the two panels, but not the variety that is called for in the pattern. Good thing I have a stash of Christmas prints, I was able to augment the kit and get a similar look to the mix of fabrics in the picture. I got the N done and will finish up on the O today.

I may venture out to the Sewing Machine store. I have to pick up a foot I ordered for my serger, its for making curved seams. I want to talk to them about trading in my 790 plus for the 790 pro. They have a promotion going on, that will give 25% off with a trade in. I am hoping to get to trade in the plus, it’s worth a bit more than that though. Maybe see about 0% financing and such. Although I don’t “need” a new machine, there are quite a few features that would make sewing more enjoyable.

Be Kind.

We returned from our vacation last Sunday. I was ready to start and finish some things I needed to do. I even made a list while sitting on the plane. All the things I wanted to do while I was doing vacationing things. I got home and set about doing laundry, catching up on all the mail/bills, restocking the fridge, getting back to life/reality. Then Monday night, I crashed, figured it was the nine hour time difference catching up. Next morning I was still lagging, I started thinking “what if one of the thousands of people I had been exposed to…” . Yeah, lucky me, I caught the covid virus during the last few days of vacation. I’m pretty sure it was when we were in Naples, we took a street food tour, and were walking through crowds of people. All I was hoping for was a pizza, which I didn’t get 😦

Nine days later, I’m getting started on that list again. I got two rows of quilting done on the last Nocturnal quilt. I chose the stars pattern because it stitches out fairly quickly, no back tracking.

I am working on the little winter birds cross stitch. I took this along on vacation, but didn’t get to stitch much. I worked on it more last week in between naps.

I put a few hours in at the Consider the Lillies piece. I finished the first page, and am starting the second page to the right. I really wanted to stitch the horse, but it is on the page below the first, which I don’t have printed yet.

I finished off the two floral animals quilt tops I started before I left. These are from the Mia Charro line I have a bunch of fabric from. I also started two more tops with the dog and cat versions of this line. The cats are interspaced with Kona solids, the dogs, I found this denim looking print in the stash. I have not decided if I want to use some more color or the complimentary red print.

Once I get this posted, I’ll try to get another two rows quilted and maybe square up the commission quilt I need to finish. That involves a bit of crawling around on the floor, which may or may not be to strenuous for me today. Sorry to admit that.

Be Kind.

In a few short weeks we will be vacationing in Italy. My first time there, and I’m excited to see the lands and eat the foods, maybe meet some of the peoples. I have been trying to get as much done on projects with deadlines as I can. While also getting my house in shape for a live-in caretaker while we are away. Cleaning or crafting, hmm, which do I want to do more?

The last Nocturnal quilt top is complete, and I pieced the backing yesterday, so it is all ready to go on to the frame once I finish the vintage appliqué quilt. That quilt it going along pretty well, so far. I started the computerized designs in the borders yesterday. I got the left long border done and most of the inner sashes are done too. Today I want to work on the blocks, so more free hand and ruler work.

On the cross stitch front, I am making progress on the Consider the Lillies piece. Although, the past two nights I have been trying to finish the small I started in April, Gathering Stitches. It’s a one color piece on Aida 18 ct (I think). I was working on the second bird last night, I think I must have ripped out 25% of the stitches I made and re-did them. In future I will try not to stitch with two threads, especially on smaller count fabrics. I am thinking of starting the Blue Flower design I have kitted up, called Huckleberry Farm. It is sort of a medium sized piece, 14 x 13 inches, in between the giant CtheL and the smalls.

Things I want to start or work on once I’m back:

1. Swordfish Quilt – Judy Neimeyer paper pieced giant quilt
2. Huckleberry Farm
3. Message in a bottle BOM
4. Quilting on Reunion
5. Quilting on a Ribbon runs through
6. Idea for handkerchief quilt

Be Kind.

The dog days have come and gone, officially ended on 8/11. I’m ready to cruise into fall now. I have a few finishes to post this time. First is the Cross stitch piece “Heaven and Nature” designed by Teresa Kogut. I stitched this over a period of 7 months, starting at the end of January 2023. During that time I also stitched on and finished Pilgrims Progress (Longdog Sampler). Both of these are now framed and on the wall. The Pilgrim I had professionally framed, I started to do it myself, but the straight border wasn’t staying straight. I tried pinning and lacing, but there was too much surface area to get it to even out. H&N was a bit easier, I laced it and only had to tweak it a bit. When I placed the design on the linen, I started a little closer to the left side than I should have. It was about and inch off center, so I only had about 3/4 of an inch to pull around to the back on that side. It all worked out though. Oh, and I started on Consider the Lilies. Another huge sampler, I’ll be doing a SAL with Jo Kramer, of Jo’s Country Junction. It’s a pretty loosely scheduled SAL, one page a month for the next 24.

In my last post I was celebrating the last Dwelling themed quilt. I spoke too soon, and there is to be one more made with the scraps. Sigh. I have all the star blocks made for another Skylights pattern. I am going to try to get the square block pieces cut this week.

I other quilting news, I threw this top together last weekend. It started as a fat quarter pack of Liberty fabrics I got on sale some where. The pattern is by Busy Hands Quilts, called Whimsical. I had seen this quilt a few times and liked its simplicity and ease of using scraps and such. All about the placement of the HSTs. I used the Accuquilt 3 ½” triangle die and it got cut up in no time. The borders are a little different, as I ran out of FQ’s I searched and searched for an appropriate or matching Liberty print to no avail. I did find this pretty magenta one, but only 3/4 of a yard was available, so it’ll be the binding. Another impetus for making this pattern is a set of quilting designs that I got from Wasatch quilting last month. In the August Masters collection are two sets made just for this quilt. Its the quilting that makes the quilt right?

August also brought me another commissioned quilt. A beautiful sampler quilt from the late 1980s. The maker started hand quilting this one, but for whatever reasons folded it up and put it away for a while. I am going to machine quilt the rest of the blocks and borders and she will finish hand quilting the center. Getting this on the frame took a bit of engineering. The backing isn’t square, thankfully it is large enough with plenty of extra on the sides. I put it on long-ways so I can quilt the long borders first. Plus one side had the selvage still attached, hooray for straight edges. I may have to turn this one, but the borders are made of Celtic knots, so with some careful measuring and placement I may be able to do the horizontal top and bottom vertically. Once I got the backing attached to the leaders, I had to smooth out the quilt and batting from the center. Lots of rolling back and forth, so there can be no folds in the backing. Although the batting is a thin-ish polyester, it is cooperating and adding enough pouf. Yesterday I stitched in the ditch around the first six blocks and did a bit of cross hatching in the background of the one with the lace cameo. I am planning on doing one inch grids in each block background and some quilting of the blocks motifs. The hand quilted center is done this way. Thankfully this is a well made quilt and the only stitching I had to remove was the basting threads.

The Q24 was kept busy these last few weeks too. I quilted the Sparrow quilt and the Batik Christmas tree quilt. I was looking for something when I came across the binding for the Botanica quilt. I had thought I finished that one. No, I did square it up, just didn’t bind it. I bound the three of them over a couple of days. The Botanica is a queen size, I warmed up with the two smaller ones first.

Two weeks ago, I loaded up my car with a bunch of fabric, books and notions to go to Fab-Mo. They are a non-profit organization that fosters fabric and fiber arts in the community and schools through outreach. They get donations and grants from all kinds of places, and try to keep those supplies from ending up in the landfills. All kinds of fabrics, leather scraps, carpet and wall paper samples, ceramic tiles, upholstery fabric, all kinds of trims and even some yarn. About once a month they have a sale, I have attended this before, to make money to further their outreach. I donated a bunch of stuff, but you know, I could probably do more.

Be Kind.