I found my sewing machine!

It has truly been a crazy busy last month. What with my anniversary and then the grandkids visit! We have had some great adventures.

Now an old friend asked if we could house his daughter while she did a contract job as a nurse at a local hospital. So for a week we prepared the house. I realize we had not really settled into our extra bedrooms after my son and his family moved out. That was about 2 years ago. So we decorated and cleaned and cleaned. It feels good to get so much done.

And yesterday, I started a new project. I had found this brand new magazine at the grocery. 

It is the first edition of a new series from Fons and Porter. I needed some inspiration and found this awesome pattern.

                 

I need some shams for the quilt in one bedroom. And to match the quilt, I already had a bag of 5 inch  squares.  Many moons ago, I had made the quilt after seeing Pat Speth the author who was known for "Nickel quilts". And I still had a bag full of squares from my collection of Thimbleberries fabrics which were the same as the quilt on the bed.  

My goal is to make 2 of the square designs and then create a setting to fit the size needed for the sham. 

I trimmed down the squares into smaller squares and rectangles to the right size.  Funny how I was not as precise as I am now. Some adjustments were needed to make the sizes. 

I did not follow the applique method in the pattern. But instead I used a technique similar to Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet. I used an iron on interfacing which had the circle on it.  I then sewed the right side of the fabric to the iron on side of the  interfacing on the traced line of the circle.  Trimming an eighth inch around the sewn edge was next and then inside it out through a slit in the interfacing.

           

I actually ironed it at this stage, but only lightly and it still peeled off. ( old interfacing) 

Then I folded and iron the squares , placed the circles using the ironed markings.

I hand appliqued the circles while watching tv last night. 

     

It feels good to actually sew again.   Some little hands had adjusted some of the settings of my machine. ( It was turned off so they couldn't hurt themselves.)  But it took me a short while to undo what the curious had touched.  Missing my boys  anyway! 

The cross stitch is still progressing as well.