Pillows

 Finishing up projects/ pillows this week. The first set goes with my newly decorated bedroom. These pillows are made from leftover Thimbleberries squares I had. They are completed at 20 inches. 

Here is the pair of pillows on my back porch with leaves falling after our rain storm. 

The quilting is a combination stitch in the ditch and templates for the circles as well as Golden Threads paper for inside the square in a square. 

And here are the backs. I just lined them and overlapped the 2 sides. 

The second set is to match the quilt I had made from Meadow Mist designs a few years ago as a mystery quilt. I used the same design and basic fabrics as the quilt. 

Here is the pair of them at 18 inches; they are 2 different oranges which is her favorite color.

No quilting on these. 

And the back has the required Minky dots for the cat to sit on. She likes them. 

Jensen and his 4K quilt

 My cute grandson is so excited. He finally gets to go to school like his big brother.  Yeah for 4 year old kindergarten! He is so much fun; and is Grandpa's little buddy. We get a kick out of him looking so much like his daddy. 

 

So a week ago, my daughter in law mentioned she hadn't purchased a nap blanket for this guy.  I had made one for the older brother 2 years ago. And all I needed was this comment to immediately volunteer to make one. But he needs it for September 1. 

So to the fabric stash I went.  I found a great construction vehicle print. And then searched Pinterest for boy quilts. I have always wanted to make this one. 

   But I found an easy peasy one that would work better. 

I had a selection of solids and added a couple from my favorite local quilt shop. And worked a plan out. After a day of math mistakes, I made the correction without re-cutting all the blocks. 

I appliqued five of the vehicles to the road and then added the borders. Quilting was just done to outline the roads and the vertical seams with a walking foot. The back is a might crooked.  Oh well!

And last is his name.   Love this guy to bits. This is only his 3rd quilt I have made for him. 

Binding is the same fabric. 

Slow stitching finishes

 Each night I find myself doing some kind of needlework:     And now I have a couple finishes to brag tell you about, 

First of all I have finished the cross stitch I started in June It is an old pattern ( Purchase price 1 dollar) from Homespun collectibles.  It is completed on punch paper.  I am not quite sure how I am going to display it yet.  But I liked the pattern so much , I ordered a few more online. 

Secondly,  I have finished a quilt! YEAH!  

This is a hearty quilt !  Ha Ha!  But it has been created to donate to an organization that works with kids who have parents who are deceased or incarcerated.  They meet once a week for dinner and a program or a fall and spring session of 13 weeks each.  

These are some of the blocks up close. Each one was made of a variegated fabric 

Here is the hearty quilting done by a member of my quilt guild. 

Also here shows the colorful backing.  I do NOT like to piece backs.  So I buy extra wides and this one is from Connecting Threads and comes in white and black.  I love the silky feel of the fabric and used it also as the binding and the cornerstones. 

Full frontal!  Each block is 10 by 12. 

Yeah!  So pretty and colorful and a lap size.   No outside photos; it is raining cats and dogs not hearts. 

Coloring on fabric

Let me start by showing some needlework done in the evenings in front of the TV.The first is an applique I started last year January.  These are traced from Lori Holt templates onto iron on interfacing. ( It was the closest I had to what she uses. ) Then you sew on the lines, make a slit  in the interfacing and inside it out. I then hand sewed all the pieces on. While I like the process.  I did not like the result.  I need to find a better interfacing This was too bulky. I much prefer Kim Diehl's method. This is a 12 inch block. 

Next I finished te 3rd 4th of July stitchery.  This is about 4 and 1/2 inches square

Next I am working with my co president of my quilt guild.  We have a cancellation for Covid for this month's speaker.  And although we are trying zoom, romote was not a possibility.  Knowing that this may be a problem I am making a demonstration in case we have another last minute cancellation.The topic I am working on is coloring with crayons on fabric.  There are many Youtube videos including Meg Hawkey of Crabapple Hill out there. So I thought I would show my process. I chose sunflowers as it is August.Here is my inspiration from Pinterest with a lousey print job on paper. 

Next I traced the design on a basic beige fabric using a mechanical pencil.I colored a basic light yellow for the flower and light brown for the center all over. Meg Hawkey likes to use white . These are Crayola crayons. I also ironed freezer paper to the back to stabilize the fabric. 

I then added more layers of color in varying shades, some golds, yellow oranges, and different shades of brown. After I had it colored the way I wanted, I went to the ironing board put it face down on a paper towel and pressed with a hot iron ( no steam). You can see and smell the wax melting and the color soaks into the fabric. 

The best part is that if you do not like your colors, go back and redo your coloring in spots with a new shade or even white to lighten it. Then iron again. It is SOOO forgiving The last I did was add some white highlights. 

Here is the final with some machine quilting to accent it. I need to purchase some yellows for finishing.

This is a good 6 by 8 inch size for the design. 

My other sample is much smaller at about 5 inches.   This I am doing embroidery work for the outlining.  I little more to go. The french knots took a while. 

Lots of exchange blocks!

I did complete my blocks for shams from the magazine. These are for ME!  This is how one of them turned out.  I really like it. And the circles turned out well. 

Here are both of them ( 2 blocks for 2 shams or pillows).  I have not completely decided how to go from here. The variation of Thimbleberries fabrics turned out great. It didn't put much of a dent in the 5 inch bag, though. 

All of the rest of these are for other friends

First is a batik block.  I had her box for 2 rounds and ended up making 8 blocks total.

I think there are about 28 made thus far. 

The hard part was putting the right colors together to make 4 different combinations from 4 different fabics. 

This was the pattern she selected and she had a kit from Keepsake Quilting. 

Great colors were included, but  I added a few as well. 

• Here are all my blocks together.
• My layout isn't quite right, but you can see the colors. 
• Color value is key in this block. I need to work to improve in this area. 

This next one was another Cake Mix design from Miss Rosie. 

I just saw the mistake.  It will not be hard to fix. 

I am grateful I took the pictures to find the mistake. 

This is another Cake Mix.  Someone worked ahead, so I have 2 to work on this month.

The pattern made 2 from the same 10 inch squares. So pretty. 

Love the blue and whites. 

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. 

End of grandkids visit

 I have worked during the evenings on my cross stitch. But that is all the needlework I have accomplished.  

But I totally enjoyed the time with my grandkids.  

                            

We really had fun taking them places, playing games, building roads, and buildings,  and especially having squirt gun fights and blowing bubbles.  Two weeks is a long time to make memories.

And I already miss them.

 

And now I am getting all the summer projects around the house done. All those yearly cleaning and organizing tasks I have no time for during the year. Let's hope my energy keeps up!

4th of July

I have not done any sewing for the past week.

We drove to the tail of Missouri last week to meet the grandkids and their parents.

We then took the 2 boys and brought them to Wisconsin.

And the rest of my days have been filled with them and we have had lots and lots of hugs and activities.

If I have energy I have been working on this cross stitch. 

It is being completed on punch paper. 

At first I was all gung ho, but progress is being made.

Here I am with them prior to the reverse parade yesterday on the 4th of July

We drove around a block to see various floats, flags, servicemen and patriotic stilt walkers.

Here are some of the assorted activities:

drums, of course, with my husband.

A beach with social distancing.

Assorted other activities:  water gun fights, playgrounds, scooters, bubbles, and balls.

Inside we have done books upon books, blocks, trains, playdough, letters, and patterns, and baking and much more.  What a wonderful time with these to guys! 

And we have them for another week. More fun ahead, and did I say HUGS!