A very good friend of ours asked me to make a tee shirt quilt for him. I said okay, and he dropped off a large bag of shirts and a tattered flag. The flag had 48 stars, and was damaged from wind and sun and water. It belonged to his father, and had sentimental value. He wanted some of it incorporated in the quilt. My DH, -who is not a quilter, nor artistically inclined, as he will tell you – told him it would look bad, and how could he even think the two things could be mixed. As I was trying to calm him down, I told our friend I would be happy to work it in.

I started cutting the logos and prints out of the shirts and stabilizing them with Pellon sf101. I took a few hours, but I got them done. Then I looked at the flag, its cotton, I think, and the fabric was woven, almost like canvas weight, so I dry ironed it, and cut it into some squares and rectangles. I started to worry about the “legality” or the proper handling of the symbol of our country. In a way I could rationalize that I was preserving it, but still, I thought maybe I should be burning it in a ceremony or something. I am thinking of returning the scraps, and telling our friend to do the right thing with them. Anyway, once I got them cut, the stabilizer really helped the fabric to feel useable.

It was going along smoothly, until I realized that since I wasn’t doing a traditional layout, I would have to lay out the top on the floor. With three doggie helpers, this is a challenge, as soon as I started, they all came in and sat on the blocks. The floor in the sewing room wasn’t large enough, so I moved some furniture and spread it out in another room. The next problem was how to keep the dogs off and go back and forth between the rooms to sew it together. I figured I could get it sewn together when my DD came home from work, she could keep the dogs occupied. In the end I got it set up, but no sewing was done. I took a bunch of photos that I can use for placement, and picked it up before going to bed.

I got the first quarter or so put together and took a break. Sunday I didn’t even turn on my machine, I spent a little time in the sewing room though. I got a new ironing board cover and put it on my board. Its a miracle cover, made from fire proof fiberglass. My old one was fraying at the edges and when I took it off, I realized that the wool batting I use for padding was stiff with starch. Kinda gross, I must remember to wash the new one every few months. I also got a felted wool pressing pad last month that I have been using with good results. I really think it makes a difference with pressing blocks and units. My Grassy creek blocks were definitely flatter and a bit easier to put together.

Yesterday was also a no-sew day. Errands were run, I went to the grocery store near the bank I had to visit. I haven’t been in it in almost a year. It was a strange feeling, but everything was where it was supposed to be. I was out of there in about thirty minutes. Once home, I worked on my cross stitch, “Pet All the Dogs”. The house is coming along, I may get to the next floor today, but this is only the right half, middle floor.

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Knitting has resumed on the wedding shawl, only 3 ½ more months till that needs to be done. I started section “C”, it’s easier, lots of mindless knitting rows and one that requires counting. The puppy stole the ball of yarn the other day and ran through the house with it. I was so angry, and I think his little doggie senses have figured out that messing with my yarn is not a good thing. Lucky for him, the circular needles were long and there were no stitches lost. The yarn didn’t break either, I just had to wind the 10 yards back up.

Another rainy day today, I am going to try to finish the tee shirt top.

Be Kind.

We’ve had rain Friday and Sunday, today is windy and cold and the rest of the week is rainy. Translating to days of sewing and getting things done.

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My first finish was this floral cross stitch. It was a UFO from 1995, and I started it again in July last year, to finish it in the beginning of December. Lots of little X’s, which led to another UFO the Cat head (Bright eyes) from 1995 also. I finished it this past week too. The whiskers were a bit of a pain, but they add a lot to the piece. Also, Mary Hickmont designs are nice in that there are no half stitches and usually no outlining. I still have to give this a soak and press, but the Cat is out of the hoop. I found the wooden round frame on Etsy at ACMS Frame Shop . It arrived unfinished, I dug up some black milk paint and put one coat on. The stitchery looked very flat in the frame, so I grabbed a few batting scraps and cut them into circles. I covered them with a piece of muslin and then lay the cross stitch on top. The frame wasn’t holding the fabrics tight enough to the backing on its own, using some rusty upholstery skills, I stitched across the back to pull the fabric around the backing circle. The circle is 14 inches in diameter, a lot of strong thread was used to make it come out evenly. I’m pleased with the results, although I probably could have gone with a 12 inch circle frame, done is done. I was happy to start the Pet All the Dogs sampler, now that those UFOs were done. As I got everything out to start I realized I didn’t have the two skeins of DMC called for. I had ordered the Weeks floss, but I guess I thought I could grab the DMC at the local Joann’s or Michaels. I searched through the bin of floss I have, but no luck. I ended up ordering them from Amazon prime, with my luck and the shortage of stitching supplies, neither store would have it when I got there to shop. It should get here Wednesday, and I can start my project that I’ve been putting off since last summer.

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On the quilt side of the studio, I put a binding on the Hungry Animal quilt, extra credit for doing a bias binding – the gingham print looks so cute. I got the quilting on the Jungle Postcard quilt done too. I am thinking a brown binding should hold it all together, or maybe purple. I pieced the table runner that I had promised my DS for his new apartment. The pattern was for paper piecing, but I cut the pieces to size and chain pieced the 12 sub-units for each of the four blocks (only two are shown, it’s folded in half). The thought of ripping paper off the blocks wasn’t that appealing after all the string pieced blocks I did for Grassy Creek.

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I started on a Tee shirt quilt for a friend, cutting up the shirts for the logos and such. That will keep me busy this week, but I really want to think up a design for the Mia Charro Forest Friends fabrics I collected earlier this year. They are so cheerful, just what I need to get through a rainy week.

Be Kind

I got it done Monday. My alternate border for the Bonnie Hunter Grassy Creek mystery quilt that is. Nine hundred and sixty pieces, I was thinking about it and I probably ended up making more work for myself than if I had stayed with the string blocks of the pattern. 960 is only about a yard and an half of fabric, so not much of a dent in the scrap pile from this border. Oh well, I like it though.

I have a couple of other finished projects to post about too. The hydrangea quilt is quilted and bound, the circle table top cover is cut and bound, the Hungry Animal quilt is quilted and the Jungle Postcard is on the frame.

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The circular quilt is made with a digital Hoffman print, it starts as a big square. After I quilted it, the person for whom I am making it, asked for me to cut it to fit a 45″ table top. I serged the edges and machine washed/dried it, I thought if I did the cutting and binding first and then washed it, that 8 to 10 % shrinkage would be noticeable once it was on the table. To cut it, I put it on the carpet floor and stuck a sturdy pin through the center. Then I positioned my tape measure at the 22 ½ mark aligned with the pin, using a disappearing marker made a small mark. I did this every 3 or four inches around the circumference of the circle. Then I remeasured across the diameter making sure the marks were 45 inches apart. Took a deep breath and slowly cut from mark to mark curving around the circle. Phew. I am trying to remember if I have made any other circular quilts, a Christmas tree skirt, but that was a pre-printed panel. There was the Weeks-Ringle quilt that had large circular appliqués on it, but that pattern came with templates. Of course the binding had to be cut on the bias, so that was more “fun” than my regular binding. I had enough backing left over to cut long bias strips. I cut my (with the grain) double fold bindings 2 1/4 inches wide, fold/iron them in half widthwise and sew them to the back of the quilt. Then pull the binding to the front, and machine stitch it down with a straight stitch about 1/8 inch from the folded edge. I think the bias binding, with its stretching, turned out a bit narrower, as when I flipped the top to sew it to the front it was too narrow to cover the stitches holding it on to the back. There was no way I was going to hand sew 140 inches around the circumference of it. I had an idea, when I pulled the binding over it created a small corded edge from the batting and fabric in there. I do have a cording foot, so I replaced the 1/4 inch foot, and moved the needle position over to catch the edge of the binding. It worked out nicely, as long as I went fairly slowly, there were no skipped or missed stitches and it is a nice neat edge ( first picture above).

I am almost done with the Cat stitchery. I may finish it today, I really want to be done with it and all those single stitches. I like the resulting shading and definition it gives, but what a pita. Looking forward to starting “Pet All the Dogs” by Teresa Kogut. simple one color sections where the hand dyed floss does all the work.

Be Kind

This week I worked to put Grassy Creek together. It took about four sessions of sewing to get all the blocks and sashings together. There was a little fudging and smudging, to get the sashing string blocks to fit. In hind sight I should have squared those pieces up before using them. Some of them were ½ inch too long, which was easy enough to fix with the addition of an extra wide seam. This quilt has a lot going on. I decided not to do string borders, but 1 ½ inch mixed squares. As I was putting away the left over fabrics from the top, I cut a 2 inch wide strip from each. I probably need more neutrals, but it’s a start. I have a piece of left over backing fabric that is the perfect green for the inner border too. Also I “found” the perfect backing at Joann’s yesterday. They had a sale with a 20% off coupon, 3 yards of 108 ” wide fabric for $28.00. I did curbside pick-up for the win.

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I’m down to the last row of the Hydrangea quilt. I should finish it today, and bind it this weekend. I want to get a few more baby/crib quilts done to post on Etsy. The quilt that has been getting the most hits lately, is a simple blue and white double Irish Chain baby quilt. Etsy has a way that vendors can send coupons to people who have/leave an item in their carts, to spur them into buying it. Sometimes I wonder if people leave it in their carts intentionally to get such a discount. I don’t give any additional discounts, as I feel my prices are low enough, and I offer free shipping. It is a good thing that I don’t have to support myself on the Etsy income. I’m lucky that it pays for itself.

I have the Halloween figs month 8 to do, and I am getting so close to finishing the Cat, the Holiday Snow Village block kit should be here next week too. I need to get the appliqué done on the first block though. The weather has been so nice the past few days, I planted some Pansy plants in my fence planters, no flowers yet though.

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Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict AND Denise at Put Your Foot Down for their Linky parties today.

Be Kind

One, One, One, Twenty, Twenty-One. Its a Monday, my DH says every day has been like a Monday, Ground Hog day (the movie) like. I like Mondays, it is my “free” day. It used to be because the kids would go back to school, DH went to work, and the barn was closed. Nothing to do but sew, maybe some house work, but stuff I wanted to do uninterrupted. Now some of the kids are across the country doing their thing, DH is working from home, and the barn is closed (as usual). Not much has changed, I don’t have to chauffeur to and from schools though, so that gives me a few more hours in the day. I guess a bit of the parenting/care giving has lessened and DH finally figured out that I am not going to make him three meals a day. So yeah, it’s my favorite day of the week.

I’ve been diligently working on the Grassy Creek mystery quilt. It isn’t a mystery anymore, the reveal was last Friday. I kinda like it, but something about the gray predominance bugs me. I think there is not enough balance, there should be more green/red/gold/orange. The little pieces of color get swallowed up by the gray. This is my opinion though, I think the design and setting of the blocks is visually pleasing, I like the geometry of it. I think I may change the outer border, change the strings to 1″ finished squares of all the colors. I’ll finish it though and it’ll look nice on the guest room bed.

I do have a finish this week, I finally got the neck line done on the Neive sweater I have been working (or not) on all this year. I got the yarn, a silk cotton blend, last year at the Stitches West knitting show, along with the pattern. Its a Coco knits pattern, she has some very versatile sweater/wrap patterns that I like. Sweaters that are usually made in one piece, or out of a “different” fiber (not wool). I have made a few for gifts, but this is the first one I made for me. I haven’t tried it on yet, but it looks pretty good on the floor ;). No stitches show this year, I will have to start a project I bought last year. There is a Debra Gerhard sweater pattern I got called “When Twilight Falls”. It is made with a variegated yarn and a solid, I think I bought the same ones pictured in the sample. I’ll have to find it, after I finish the hat, oh, and start working on the wedding shawl again.

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I made a little progress on the scratchy hat, the puppy stole the project and ran around the house with it. The cake of yarn was a jumbled mess as you can imagine. It took me about an hour to un-knot/nest it, luckily for the puppy, the knitting was untouched. He’s at the tween stage of his life, everything is a game of keep away, and he is not to be trusted out of sight. There was counter surfing this weekend too.

I feel like I’m in the home stretch of the Cat Head project. I am on the second page, the neck is a bit easier with longer runs of X’s and small blocks of color. The Face was making me crazy with all the confetti stitches. I am really looking forward to starting the Pet All the Dogs sampler. Letting the variegated floss do all the shading work, will be a welcome change.

I didn’t get much quilting done, I stitched another row of Hydrangeas and was starting the third row, when I turned my back on the machine. The cup foot got stuck under the edge and stitched in place for a bit and then the tension of the working robotics popped the clamp that holds the machine to the cable. I looked over at it and stopped it, ugh, it took about twenty minutes to remove the stitches. I just shut everything down at that point, and left it. There may be a small hole, but it’s on the edge of the border, so fixable. Maybe I’ll look at it later today.

Linking up with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts for design Wall Monday today.

Be Kind