Log Cabin Quilter

TWO SMALL FINISHES

2012-01-28T13:57:00.000-05:00

My version of Lori's "Pink Lemonade" is complete. I hand quilted this one to fit in with the "old look". I can't decide if the cheddar and pinks are too strong together but it was what I had in stash. I enjoyed the sew-along with all of you that have participated.

I also took time to finish a little top I made recently from Cheri Payne's "Sew Good" pattern. Last that I showed it, I had forgotten to add the embroidered words. I did that and then echo quilted by machine to finish the piece.

I think I could use this little quilt for Valentine's Day with the big heart on it.

I am working on another "Millenium Garden" block. I need to change out the leaves to another green fabric. I don't like what I used. Back to stitching.

Karen

TRUMPET FLOWER QUILT

2012-01-24T11:04:00.000-05:00

Finally, I have completed the "Trumpet Flower Quilt". Mary from Quilt Hollow worked her magic on machine quilting it several months ago. I didn't have time for the binding at the time and put the quilt in the sewing room closet. It soon became part of the landscape. You know how when you see something so often that you cease to really see it? I had to move a few items in the closet the other day to look for some small batting pieces stored in there. The quilt was one of the items I picked up to move. I decided right then and there that the fabrics in the quilt had mellowed long enough and time to do the binding.

I struggled to get the quilt pinned to the design wall in the sewing room. I had to bend it around the corner a bit as the area is not large enough. And some items got into the picture that could not be helped. But at least you can see the majority of the quilt.

Here are two close up pictures of the quilt.

The quilt top was completed in June of 2009 so you can see it has been a while coming to the end of the project. You can read about the pattern information in a blog post here. It is a Cherie Ralston design.

At the time I completed the quilt top and showed it on my blog, I received an e-mail asking if the quilt top could be purchased from me. I declined as I love the piece so well. And the answer is still the same today.

You don't find a lot of pinks in my stash. I used up a lot of what I had in the making of this quilt and have not purchased many since then. I need to work on that part of my stash.

I have another completed quilt that I will share with you in a couple days. I am off to the sewing room.

Karen

NATIVITY BIBLE BLOCK DONE

2012-01-22T11:24:00.000-05:00

Another of The Bible blocks done. This one is the nativity.

I feel like it is the holiday season again with posting the picture of the Nativity block.

We are experiencing a very mild winter here in Florida thus far. It is a beautiful day. Shirt sleeve weather as we call it. Enjoy your day as I will mine.

Karen

ANOTHER BIBLE BLOCK

2012-01-16T14:20:00.000-05:00

I have been busy on two projects that I can't show you just yet. But I did finish one of the Bible blocks. I have another one where the applique is done but not the embroidery.

I like the whale on this one. The next block depicts the Nativity. I think I have one more block this size and then a double size in width block to do. So things are drawing to a close slowly but surely.

Have a great day! I am back to watching television and stitching.
Karen

SNOWMEN AND MILLENNIUM PROGRESS

2012-01-10T12:36:00.000-05:00

January is a perfect time to make a snowman wall hanging. I just finished a small one from a free Twigs design. I used a combination of fused fabric and some embroidery to create these two snowmen. The plaid border was made from scraps in the scrap bin. The whole project was made from stash.

I completed another block from the "Millennium Garden" set of patterns.

There is still a lot of stitching left as you can see by the blank spaces in the next picture.

Time to get some stitching going for the day. I am glad you stopped by.

Karen

ON THE 12TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS

2012-01-05T20:21:00.001-05:00

On the 12th Day of Christmas I decided to get busy and make all twelve blocks for the sew-along that Temecula Quilt Co. has been posting.

And I also made the six blocks for Lori's small quilt sew-along that she is hosting. You can visit Lori at Humble Quilts for information about "Pink Lemonade".

A busy sewing day. Now if I could get the "Just Takes 2" blocks done. By the way. This is my second post today. You can take a peek at my Millennium Gardens quilt blocks progress in the previous post.

Karen

MILLENNIUM GARDEN UPDATE

2012-01-05T12:58:00.000-05:00

I have been working on more applique sections for "Millennium Garden". There is a background measurement mistake in at least one piece and on another, the applique parts just don't want to fit the way they look in the picture. I did not re-size the parts but I think I would if doing it a second time. I am hoping to get things to fit together. I have parts on the design wall but not exactly placed as they will be in the end.

I received two gifts from fellow bloggers. First is a pillow cover or wall hanging from Darlene. I like the way she finished the project. It can either hang on the wall or you open the flaps on the back and slide a pillow form in. A very good idea. I like that the sleigh is a basket and has a snowman in it.

And from Mary at Quilt Hollow (I refer to her as Quilt Mary), a new quilt book and a magnetic note pad. The quilt book as two wool projects that caught my eye right away. Both are baskets of flowers.

I am going to do a little embroidery and watch "The Young and the Restless". I have watched the show almost from the very beginning. I guess about thirty years. Some of the characters are getting up in years but there are always new ones getting added to the mix.

I am off to stitch. Come back soon.

PART 3 OF MILLENNIUM GARDEN

2011-12-31T12:01:00.000-05:00

I completed a second block of "Millennium Garden" last evening but it is really part three. Part two was making three of the star blocks. One of which went into making the part three block.

What are you doing for New Year's Eve? I will be sewing. We learned long ago that being out on the roads on New Year's Eve is not the safest time. And restaurants are crowded. If you are out and about this evening, drive safely!

Karen

STITCHING UP A STORM

2011-12-29T13:08:00.001-05:00

We had our Christmas celebration a few days early so, while the rest of you were busy with family and friends, I was working on applique projects. You will notice a change in the header picture. It is a snowman wall hanging flimsy that I finished early last week. I wanted to keep my Nativity quilt up through Christmas, so I am just now sharing the top with you.

The pattern for the snowman quilt is from "The Winter Book" by Jan Patek. The pattern is called "The Winter Garden". I am in a mood for snowman quilts. No way are we going to have snow here in our part of Florida, so this is the only way I can build a snowman. I hope to quilt it soon. All the fabrics are from stash.

Next is the first applique block from a pattern set by Jan Patek and Alma Allen called "MillenNium Garden.

The pattern set has been out quite a while. I was looking for a pattern idea that would use a fat quarter bundle of fabrics I have and decided to use them for this quilt. I was able to find additional yardage online and am pulling some pieces from stash to add in also.

Next is a flimsy I completed that is a holiday design. The pattern is called "Winter Wishes" and is from the book "Seasons Stitchin's" by Paula Stoddard. I used the fusible applique method with machine stitched edges. The patterns in the book are designed to be done that way. A fast project. All the fabrics were from stash.

Next up is a small wall hanging flimsy made from a pattern by Cheri Saffiote-Payne called "Sew Good". I just realized that I did not add the embroidered words so will need to do that.

The pattern has three different quilts which makes it a bargain. I already made one of the basket patterns in 2010. You can see it here. All fabrics used on the heart piece are from stash.

And last up is another flimsy I completed from a book by Jan Patek called "Homespun Hearth". The pattern I used is called "Partridge in a Pear Tree". With a name like that, you would think of it as a Christmas design but it is not. Cherie Ralston played a part in the design.

And now to answer your question. Yes, I do sleep though not well at times. These are smaller quilts and not complicated applique designs. The stitching has gone fast for me. Enjoy the pictures. I hope to get the quilting done soon but I seem to bog down at that point.

Back to the sewing room.

Karen

NATIVITY QUILT AND WORK IN PROGRESS

2011-12-22T14:44:00.000-05:00

I changed the header again to another Nativity quilt I made a couple years ago. The quilt pattern is from a Red Wagon book called "Christmas Or Not". The pattern does not specifically list the designer but Jan Patek, Linda Brannock, and Gerry Kimmel are the designers for the book.

I started to prepare another of Nativity wall hanging from the same pattern. None of the appliques are stitched yet. They will be done by machine with a buttonhole stitch. The quilt will be an after Christmas gift for a friend.

There was a gift I forgot to take a picture of for my previous post. It was not sitting on the counter with the other gifts. My friend Jean gave me a little wool pillow with an angel applique. The stuffing is pine needles from a Christmas tree. She is continuing the tradition an old friend of hers started by making a Christmas remembrance. It smells so good. It would be rather hard for me to do that as we have an artificial tree. But those of you with a live Christmas tree could certainly do that. It is something you could tuck in a basket.

I think any holiday themed applique could be used. A pine tree shape would be a good one to do or a little Nativity scene. Get creative.

Glad you took time to stop by for a visit.
Karen

A BIG SURPRISE

2011-12-20T13:28:00.000-05:00

The Sew 'N Sews came to my home on Saturday for the start of our annual holiday celebration. We were planning on a short visit at my house to exchange small wall hangings or handmade items. Then on to a restaurant for lunch and a visit to the local quilt shop. When it came time for the exchange, I asked how we would decide who got what package. Beverly said she would take care of it. She handed me a package. The second package she picked up, she also handed to me. And the third package. And the fourth. And all of them except the one containing my small quilt for what I thought was to be an exchange. They had decided to surprise me with gifts instead of an exchange. And what a surprise it was! They told me that they had missed me this past year (I could only attend twice because of my surgery and other health problems). So many nice gifts!

This is a long table runner in holiday colors that Kenyan made. Not the easiest design to piece and it is so well done.

Beverly gave me a pillow she made. It says "Friends are the flowers in my garden". The angel has the cutest knobby knees. She said the pattern was in an older issue of an Australian magazine. It is gracing my sofa in the family room right now.

The chicken panels are from Vicky and the wool pieces from Tee. Vicky and I both like chicken quilts and other chicken items. The woo pieces are mostly suiting type. I think they will make good backgrounds for wool applique.

A scented candle from Tee, a huge bar of yummy smelling soap and the container with chickens on it from Vicky. Rosy gave me a Cracker Barrel gift certificate (hard to choose whether it will go for a big dinner or something from the gift shop). And Jean gave me five Pfaltzgraf plates that go with dishes I have been collecting. I forgot to take a picture of the small Fenton hobnail glass vase Rosy gave me.

Pat made this darling little Christmas tree embroidery and then added sparkles to it. Pat gave us all some homemade chocolate candy too.

A big thank you to all of my Sew 'n Sew friends for such a special day. A total surprise and a very enjoyable one.

I changed the header picture again. This time to a small wall hanging from a pattern by Renee Plains. It was a fairly fast little quilt to make as it is fused and machine stitched. I made it in 2010.

I hope you find some time to sew this week. I am making a snowman wall hanging and am ready to put borders on. I am glad you stopped by for a visit. I know it is a busy time for everyone.

Karen

TWO SMALL PROJECTS COMPLETED

2011-12-17T09:06:00.000-05:00

The quilt in my header has been changed again. This time I am using "Santa in the Woods". I showed this quilt earlier in the year when I completed it. Santa is made from wool. The rest of the appliques are cotton. The pattern I used is by Sandy Gervais.

I finished two small projects. One is a cardinal block made into a pillow. My daughter collects cardinal items. This will be a Christmas gift. I should have placed the pillow on something light for the picture instead of dark. Makes it hard to see the pillow edges as I used navy fabric to frame the block. You can definitely see the cardinal though. I did a Google search on "how to draw a cardinal" and selected line drawings. I found a tutorial and printed out the line drawing. Just had to enlarge it for my pattern.

The second finish was a quick project. I made a small wall hanging from a stitchery pattern.by "Primitive Stitches".

If I were to stitch another of these, I would use three strands of floss instead of two or use perle cotton. There are red buttons sewn at the end of each branch. I decided not to use a border fabric. I was not finding anything suitable in my stash. Instead, I used a stripe fabric for the binding that seemed to suit it.

My quilting group is coming this morning for our holiday gathering. We will exchange something handmade, chat a short while, and then head out to a local restaurant for our lunch. Should be fun.

I hope your weekend is a fun one!

Karen

A CHRISTMAS PRESENT AND A NEW SMALL QUILT

2011-12-15T13:06:00.000-05:00

Another header picture change. I finished the small quilt yesterday evening.

The pattern I used is called "Comfort and Joy" and is by Cheri Saffiote-Payne. It went together quickly and I think it will make a nice holiday quilt.

I received a package from Mary of "Quilt Hollow" yesterday. A surprise gift for the holiday season.

I am delighted with the little quilt. It has vintage look fabrics and my style! I think it is something that I can display year round and I plan on doing that. I plan on putting it on an end table by the sofa in the family room. Mary did a really nice quilting design on the quilt. She is the so good at picking an appropriate machine quilting design and executing it on her quilts. I am so thankful to have her as such a good friend even though we have never met in person. Mary enclosed a cute, cute snowman card which I forgot to take a picture of. And two packages I can't open until January.

I hope you have a wonderful day. I plan on doing some sewing. So much to choose from but you can bet it will be something with a holiday theme.

Karen

TWO MORE BIBLE BLOCKS FINISHED

2011-12-13T18:46:00.000-05:00

Another header picture change. This time I am using one of my older Christmas quilts. A Mariner's Compass quilt with an old-fashioned Christmas scene background.

The first quilt class I ever took was from Cindy Blackberg and it was on how to make a Mariner's Compass quilt block. Not a beginner's class but the shop owner said it was. Fortunately, Cindy is a very good teacher. This is not my first Mariner's Compass quilt but my second. I got the idea to use the old-fashioned looking all-over scenic print from Cindy. She used a different color range but had made a quilt like this. I am pleased with how mine turned out.

I finished two more Bible quilt blocks. The applique has been done for several weeks. I still needed to add the embroidered words and finally have taken time to do that.

The last item I have to share with you is the completed Santa ornament I was working on recently.I showed my progress in a previous post. At that time, almost all of the embroidery was done. I still needed to assemble the ornament and do the button hole stitch all around the edge. The kit was from Chickadee Hollow.

Now if someone could tell me what I did with the second Santa ornament kit. I picked it up at least 25 times when I was working on the first ornament. I moved it so I would stop mixing it up with the packet I was currently using. I have moved it so well that I can't find it.

Take time to sew this week! And stop back again soon for another another peek at my projects.

Karen

PITCHER OF BLOOMS

2011-12-10T11:47:00.000-05:00

A new finish!

The pattern I used is called "Pitcher of Blooms" and is designed by Linda Brannock. Found in the book "Miss Jump's Memories". I had a problem with the large yo-yo flowers on the upper right stem. The circles were large and when gathered yo-yo style, it left a large opening. The back side of the fabric could be seen in the opening and did not look very good. I cut circles of the same fabric and stitched them inside of the openings with the right side of the fabric up. Problem solved. The yo-yo flowers on the lower right were made from a woven plaid fabric and looked fine as is. A long wall hanging.

I changed the header picture again. This time I chose a quilt I finished last year called "The Nativity". The pattern is by Cheri of "Wednesday's Quilts".

Take time to sew during this busy holiday season and stop back for another visit soon.

Karen

ANOTHER CHRISTMAS QUILT DONE

2011-12-07T14:08:00.000-05:00

Another Christmas quilt completed. It took me almost two years to get to this point. The applique blocks are fused pieces with machine stitching around them. A Jeanna Kimball pattern set was used for the quilt and the pattern set is out of print. I found a copy of the set on Amazon but the price is high. You can see it here but I doubt anyone wants to pay $165.00 for it. The pattern set does not include instructions on the order of sewing the blocks into sections and getting everything together. A bit of a challenge to figure it out. The completed quilt is on its way to my great grand-daughter. It is about 68 inches long so plenty big enough to cover up with. I think she will enjoy it.

Take time to sew today!
Karen

"12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS" QUILT COMPLETED

2011-12-05T23:04:00.000-05:00

Hurray! I finished the "12 Days of Christmas" quilt and in the same year that I started it.

I added a couple elements to the quilt since I last showed the top. I appliqued my initials in the lower left corner as it needed something there. And in the top left corner, I embroidered the words "My true love gave to me...". I embroidered the bucket handle that the maiden has and added drum sticks for the drummer though you can't see them well in the picture. The pattern I used is by Cheri Saffiote-Payne of Wednesday's Quilts. Lori of Humble Quilts finished her version of this same quilt a few days ago. If you haven't already seen it, pay her a visit here. Lori got a closer picture of her quilt than I did.

I thought my Bernina was sick and took it in for service today. Turns out that it was not and I am relieved. But the BSR (balanced stitch regulator) does have a problem. The part of the housing that attaches the foot to the machine has a crack in it. It lets the housing slip off when it shouldn't. I left it to see if the service technician can do anything with it. More than likely, it will have to go back to the factory and I picture that taking a long time. And some money. But a new one costs $800 and I would be foolish to do that unless mine can't be repaired. The shop owner feels sure that the factory can restore it to new condition. So, I will not have the stitch regulator for machine quilting and will have to do it the old way for the time being. That is, if I do any machine quilting.

Enjoy the season!
Karen

SANTA IN HIS SLEIGH AND THE SWAP QUILT

2011-12-03T12:45:00.001-05:00

I changed my header photo to another of my Christmas quilts. This one is Santa in his sleigh soaring over the rooftops of a town. I showed this on my blog quite some time ago.

It was made at some point prior to 1995. I no longer have the book the pattern came from so I don't have name of the book nor the designer. If I remember correctly, it was a Canadian designer. A copy of the book shows up on E-Bay every now and then. Update: I received info on the book name and designer from Launa ( a blog reader). The book name is "Piece on Earth" and is by Harriet M. Wyant.

I received my swap quilt from Andee of "The Modern Diary" blog. You can pop over to her blog and see how she hung the little quilt I made for her. Andee made me a Lil" Twister quilt using cheery Christmas fabrics. The fabrics remind me of the snowman table runner I made a while back. I am happy to have had her as a swap partner. The quilt she made is one I will be proud to add to my Christmas holiday collection. Thank you, Andee. Mary of "My Needle and Thread By Mary" blog organized the swap. She hopes to start another small quilt swap very soon. If you are interested, stop by her blog and let her know that you would like more information when it is available.

I am machine quilting my "12 Days of Christmas" quilt today. Lori of "Humble Quilts" finished hers a couple days ago. She gave me the push I needed to get busy and finish mine. Stay tuned for a picture.

Happy Sewing!
Karen

SANTA ORNAMENT

2011-11-26T14:58:00.000-05:00

We still have company and are having a good time with them. But I needed to sit and do some stitching too. I have this Santa ornament from Chickadee Hollow Designs that I started outlining with embroidery floss yesterday evening. Still more needs done to it.

There have several vintage look ornaments to select from. The stitcheries are printed onto fabric already colored. You do some simple stitching to outline different parts and fill in lines within the designs. It is taking longer to stitch than I thought it would. You layer Warm 'n Natural batting behind the fabric before doing the embroidery. Then add a backing, cut on the dotted liners, and then do a button hole stitch to finish off the ornament.

I changed my header photo and the blog background today. I will probably change it again soon as I have several holiday quilts to pick from. Or maybe I will do a collage of them.

My only Black Friday shopping yesterday was to go to Hobby Lobby for the batting and a marking pen that I needed. The craft store was not at all busy. I do not like the craziness of the crowds on the day after our Thanksgiving. For those of you reading this that lives elsewhere in the world, it is a tradition for stores to have big sales the day after Thanksgiving to kick off the Christmas shopping season. It is called Black Friday. So the stores, instead of being in the red in sales numbers, they are in the black or to the money making side of the scale.

Happy Holidays!
Karen

SWAP QUILT FINISHED

2011-11-20T17:54:00.000-05:00

I recently showed the completed quilt top and now I have the quilting done and the binding attached. It is ready to be mailed to my swap partner. I hand quilted this and enjoyed doing it. I haven't done much hand quilting in the last couple years.

To refresh your memory, the applique blocks are from a Lori Smith pattern. Her quilt pattern business is named "From My Heart to Your Hands". I would like to combine the applique blocks from this pattern with some other applique patterns I have and make a quilt for myself. Probably with a different layout. I forget how many block patterns there are in the pattern but several that I did not include in this quilt.

Thanks for taking time to pay my blog a visit.

Karen

SEWING ROOM UPDATE

2011-11-16T21:20:00.000-05:00

You asked to see the sewing room after the clean up, so here goes.

This is as good as I could get the plaid fabrics area. I took the larger pieces meant for quilt backs off the shelving unit on the left and moved them to the closet shelf. I put overflows of plaids into plastic crates, turned them on their side and used three shelves of the unit for that. The plaids in the cubicles got refolded and sorted better by color. I still have some fabric meant for certain projects in three crates stacked on the floor. But I can at least walk safely in that area. The bottom shelf of the unit on the left side of the pictures has two scrap baskets. One for plaids and the other assorted pieces.

I moved the jar and a tin of perle cottons balls to two high shelves in the cubicles. The extra cutting board, pressing pad, newsprint and tracing paper for drawing are in the same location as they were previously.

These shelves are now neater looking. I culled out some fabric pieces I don't think I will be using and they will be going to the church thrift store.

The sewing machine cabinet is fairly empty on top. Rulers organized underneath and some I will never use going to the thrift store. You can see that I keep a folding tray with a press pad to the right of the sewing machine. That way, I can swivel on the office chair and press without getting up. I do my cutting on a small table that you can see a quilt laying on right now. I adjusted to using the rotary cutter and ruler sitting down quite some time ago when my back pain started giving me fits.

I wanted you to see that you can see the floor around the sewing machine area. I took fabric out of crates that were sitting there and worked them onto the shelves. I put away projects that were waiting for attention and found a home for them. I hope they see the light of day some time in the future.

The book and pattern area was not a total disaster to start with. I have removed a few books and patterns for donation. I sorted all of Cheri Payne's patterns into a basket that is sitting to the right side of the bookcase. There just was not room on the shelf for them. I keep an office chair in front of the bookcase so that I can sit in comfort and look through books at leisure.

My sewing room will never be one that you will see in a magazine with wonderful vignettes of quilts and prim style items on display. I just have too much in that room for that. I keep thinking I could do that if I used up a bunch of fabric but you know how that goes. It multiplies when we aren't looking.

Karen

SEWING ROOM MESS

2011-11-12T10:06:00.000-05:00

Why is it that cleaning and re-organizing my sewing room creates such a mess?

Hopefully the room will look a lot better when I get done. I know, I know! I have a big stash of fabric. I have known others with more. It is such a rewarding feeling to be working on a quilt project and to be able to find a piece of fabric within my stash that fits works just right. But I have made a decision that I need to make some pieced scrappy quilts this coming year. Since switching to doing more applique than piecing, the stash is not getting used up fast enough. That said, I do have some fabric on the way to go with a fat quarter bundle I purchased a while back. It is from Jan Patek's "Remembrance" line of fabric. My first fabric purchase in a while.

It is the Saturday for the Christmas Sew-Along but I don't know that I will have time to participate. The mess in the sewing room is calling.

"Silly Goose Quilts" is having a row by row free block of the month. It looks like it will be some applique and some piecing. Check it out.

And, if you did not see this link for a free block of the month by Dorothy Baker on Lucien's website already, be sure to check it out. A beautiful applique quilt pattern. Click here.

Red Brolly has a wonderful free Christmas stitchery sampler available here. And a second Christmas sampler stitchery here.

Back to the sewing room clean up.

Karen

QUILTING AND SHARING

2011-11-05T15:03:00.001-04:00

A finish to share with you. I hand quilted this smaller size quilt and am happy with the results. It will be a gift. I am going to let the recipient decide if they want the crinkle look or more flat look. Myself, I would wash the quilt as I like the little pucker crinkles that result. Somone else may not.

I am now hand quilting another of the small quilts which you I showed on a recent post. I have four of the nine blocks quilted.

I did the four blocks yesterday evening so I don't think it will take long to do the remaining five.

I received an elegent little sewing kit from a friend who has a talent for crazy quilting, silk ribbon embroidery, etc. Here is the front of the kit.

The inside is shown in the following picture.

And the back. I like the tiny little medallion she put on the back. A delightful surprise. I took the pictures on the tile floor so those are the grout lines you are seeing.

I finally was able to make the trip to spend a Saturday with The Sew 'n Sews, my sewing friends who live a distance away from me. I took three pictures of some quilts that were shared. I should have taken some more as our hostess showed some that I forgot to take pictures of. Another time and I will do that.

Beverly completed the Bunny Hill free block of the month. She is going to give the quilt to a young friend of hers that collects squirrel items. Beverly does such nice applique and this quilt is no exception.

Not the best picture but I did want to share with you that several of the stitcheries are blocks that I made. The patterns are from "Nice People, Nice Things". I got tired of the project and stopped the embroidery. My friend Jean took over the project and completed the embroidery and set the blocks into a quilt. If I have a project that lingers too long and I lose interest, Jean is willing to take over the parts and create something from it. This is not all the blocks from the pattern set but all that I had traced before giving away the pattern set.

This last quilt is all done in wool applique. I forget the pattern name but it came from McCall's Quilting magazine several years ago. It was published in several parts. A beauty of a quilt. I have to share with you that I started one from the same pattern. It was my first experience with wool. I did the center block and did not like the results at all. It was too puffy, puckering, and too busy looking. I donated the rest of the parts I had ready to a charity thrift store and decided that wool applique was not for me. Well, the story goes that wool applique and me now get along and I have done several projects that I have used wool on. I don't know why my first attempt was not successful. I now enjoy the process very much. I do not have the pattern any longer but if I were to start again, I would leave a bit off the center block to make it less busy looking than mine was. And use different thread than I did then. I was using a wool floss and I think that it caused some of my problems with the look I was getting. Rosy's version shown above turned out beautiful!

The ninth free block from Scrap, Quilt, Stitch is available now. The blog is in French but you can get the gist of things just by looking or by using Google translation. It is available here. And there is a free quilt in the works on a blog written in Spanish here. It is not necessarily one each month but as the parts are available. Take a look and see if it interests you. The blogs are also listed on my side bar if you want to refer back to them later on.

That is all I have to share with you today. Take time to sew this evening!
Karen

12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS UPDATE 2 AND PRIMITIVE PORTRAITS

2011-10-30T21:27:00.051-04:00

I have been busy, busy stitching. I want to share with you a picture of "12 Days of Christmas". It is about ready for quilting. The pattern shows some rail fence blocks appliqued down in the lower left corner. I am thinking about whether I want to add them or leave it blank. For a refresher, in case you have forgotten, the pattern is by Cheri of Wednesday's Quilts.

Next, I have completed two smaller size wall hangings. The patterns I used are by Karen of Sew Primitive. You can visit her blog here. You can see the patterns she has for sale listed on the right hand side of the blog. Karen has a very creative mind and has a lot of artistic talent. Have a look when you have time.

The first one is from her "Berks County 1850" pattern. The floral fabric in the background is from a line of fabric that Jo Morton designed.

I used the "Album Quilt 1870" pattern for the second quilt. The album print is also a Jo Morton fabric. The fabric is the same one Karen used in her sample quilt. I think it is a very creative use for it. The needlework piece the girl is holding is made using one of the squares taken from the print. The square is placed over a cardboard circle which is glued to the background of the quilt. The edges are loose.

Back to the sewing room.
Karen

BIRDS OF A FEATHER SMALL QUILT

2011-10-29T19:00:00.000-04:00

A small quilt top finish. I used a block from the "Birds of a Feather" quilt book by Blackbird Designs. I don't think I will be making the whole quilt but I did enjoy making one of the blocks.

I did hand applique on this piece. And I used a dark brown background. I really like the brownish reds on the dark brown.

I am stitching as fast as my fingers will co-operate and will have more to share very soon.

Karen

TWO SMALL SIZE QUILT TOPS

2011-10-25T22:32:00.000-04:00

I have been working on applique projects of a smaller size. In my last post, I showed you two red, green, and yellow applique blocks from a Lori Smith pattern called "Heritage Sampler". I have completed a total of five applique blocks and four of the nine patch blocks to set in between those. The quilt top is about 22 inches square.

The block in the upper left hand corner was one I almost put in the reject block basket as I did not like the way it was coming together. I did have all green leaves and it just looked too green heavy. I changed the red buds to a different red. Still I did not like the look. I left it on the design wall with the first two completed blocks. In the morning and in fresh perspective, I decided it would work just fine. I made the nine patch blocks this evening. My intentions are not to add a border and bind it in one of the greens after quilting.

I finished the applique this evening on another small project from a Lori Smith pattern called "Birds in the Air". It is from her book called "Fat Quarter Quilting -Twenty-one Terrific 16" x 20" Projects".

This little quilt top has a more folk art look whereas the first one is done with reproduction fabrics. These bright fabrics came from my stash. Once quilted, I think I will bind it with a darker green.

I have prepared another small applique project to work on also. But from a Blackbird Designs pattern this time. More on that later.

Check back with me soon.

Karen

APPLIQUE BLOCKS FROM A LORI SMITH PATTERN

2011-10-19T17:32:00.000-04:00

I have switched to another project as I have a short period of time to make a small quilt for a trade. Here are the first two applique blocks that I have made.

I am using patterns from a Lori Smith pattern called "Heritage Sampler". You can see the whole pattern on Lori's website here. I am selecting five blocks from the pattern set. I plan on using the red, green, and yellow color scheme on all. I hope to stitch a block a day, if all goes well.

Have a good rest of your day and take time to stitch a bit.

Karen

ABE AND MARY LINCOLN

2011-10-15T14:20:00.000-04:00

I did another applique block featuring Abe and Mary Lincoln. I had an idea that I wanted to follow through on which was adding a pieced border around the block to make a small quilt. This is what I came up with.

I thought a Log Cabin block would be appropriate for Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln. I had a different setting in my mind's eye but ended up not using it. My first thought was to start in the center of a side with two light sides facing each other followed by a dark facing a dark. That made some areas of lights facing the outside. I was not going to add an additional border and I did not like the look of some light and some dark on the outside edge. My solution was to have all the blocks facing the same direction on a side and to add a plain block in each corner. The logs finish at one-half inch. That was going to make it difficult to square up the quilt, if needed, after quilting. I decided to add a plain border log cabin style for a final finish. Now I need to think about the quilting design..

Have a fun weekend and take time to sew!

Karen

12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS UPDATE

2011-10-11T14:47:00.001-04:00

I started Friday evening on the applique stitching. This is where I was on Sunday.

This is where I am at today.

The applique part is getting close to being done. Another turtle dove on a big leaf, some berries, and a big heart. The drummer needs his sticks and the bucket needs a handle. There are lots of embroidered words to be added, buttons for bird eyes, and face details for the people. So still lots to do but a great deal closer to finishing that part.

Lori from Humble Quilts is working on the same quilt. Hers is done in wool. She has a picture on her blog today. Take a peek here.

Enjoy your day and take time to sew.

Karen

CHRISTMAS SEW-ALONG

2011-10-08T16:28:00.000-04:00

Today is the next to last Christmas Sew-Along for 2011. I prepped "The Twelve Days of Christmas" applique pieces a few months ago. I decided it was time to get busy on the project and started it yesterday evening. This is where I am at this afternoon. A lot of stitching to do yet plus adding the embroidered wording, etc.

The pattern I am using is by Cheri. You can view a picture of the quilt here. Select Winter patterns and scroll down looking on the left side.

We are having bunches and bunches of rain since last evening. I don't know how many inches have already come down. The lake behind our house has risen a good ways into our yard. It is supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow. I may need a boat!

Karen

VACATION STITCHING

2011-10-06T11:42:00.000-04:00

I did get some stitching done the first week of vacation. The first week was at the beach. The second week in New England and that was a whirlwind of sight-seeing and family time.

First of all, I got the applique done on two Bible quilt blocks. I had no way to mark the embroidery lines for the wording that needs to be added. I will mark them yet this week for future stitching.

The feet on the second block bother me. They seem to stand out too much. But I think I will leave them as is and move on.

Next I did a redwork Santa block. Embroidery like this is a bit hard to photograph well so that the stitching can be seen.

Then I finished the Civil War applique block that I had previously had so much trouble with. It is still not perfect but I am leaving it as is. The horse is my favorite part of the block.

Since coming home from vacation, I have not been sewing. I have been cutting 1 1/2 inch squares for a postage stamp style quilt. Kathie from "Inspired by Antique Quilts" has inspired me to make one. Look at her post of September 28 and you will see how much she has done on her postage stamp quilt. I am cutting squares from reproduction fabrics only just as Kathie is. I have no plan as to how large I want to make the quilt. Kathie says that she needs over 10,000 squares for hers and that it is a long term project.

I have lots more fabric to cut. All those little squares take time. It is interesting to pull out all the fabrics from the shelves and revisit those I have forgotten about.

That's all for today's post. Have a good sewing day!

Karen

ANTIQUE QUILT

2011-09-28T21:30:00.000-04:00

I only saw one antique quilt in the antique mall we were in on vacation that was even a bit worthy of a picture. I do not find very many quilts, tops, or blocks in antique shops any longer. I suppose most are now sold on E-Bay or at quilt shows.

Enjoy. That's all for today.

Karen

LOOK WHAT CAME TO LIVE WITH ME!

2011-09-27T18:50:00.001-04:00

Take a look at what came to live with me.

A white Singer Featherweight and case. My husband found it in an antique mall in Vermont. Somehow I missed seeing it. It was in the first case as we came into the store. Guess I was not very observant. I have wanted one for a good while. I look every so often on E-Bay but they always more than I wanted to pay. This one was $195.00. The case is in good shape but musty smelling. Must have been in someone's basement. I am going to try to get rid of the musty smell as best as I can. The case does not have the metal tray nor any attachments. Not having attachments does not bother me. I already have a black Featherweight with attachments. I would only want a 1/4" foot and I have a spare one of those that will fit the machine. I did a bit of research on dating the machine. It appears to be 1964 and probably made in Canada. I know that it runs but have not been able to try out the stitching yet. Just haven't had time since returning from our trip yesterday evening. Now if I could find a tan one that was not a lot of money.....but I don't really need one. It just would be nice.

I just discovered that the machine was made in Great Britain. I found the info printed on the side of the machine base.

Karen

MADISON COUNTY, VIRGINIA QUILT SHOW PICTURES

2011-09-26T22:14:00.000-04:00

We are back home from a 2 1/2 week vacation. We spent a week in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and a week in New Hampshire. More on that in my next blog post.

On the way home, we got tired of traveling on interstate highways and headed off on a scenic byway in Virginia. We came across a small quilt show put on by the Madison County Quilters in Madison, Virginia. I took pictures of a few quilts and thought I would share them with you.

I like most any star quilt and these two are no exception. Same pattern for both. I am sorry that I did not get names of the quilts or their makers. There was no quilt show booklets given and I had nothing to write on.

Basket quilts are always good too. A nice setting.

This is number one of three quilts made from "Women of Influence" quilt blocks. The guild was doing it as a group type project. Each was making their own quilt. I had to chuckle at the info card on one of them. The maker said she was making May's block at the end of the year. Typical of many of us.

I like these Amish style baskets. Solid colors look so good with a black background.

Jo Morton fabrics were used for this star quilt.

I saw one of these quilts on a blog recently. I think it is from an older pattern. All log cabin blocks.

Redwork embroidery baskets. I think I may have the pattern for them.

And finally, the quilt I voted for as Viewer's Choice. It evidently was not a judged show so I do not know what quilt won.

Hope you enjoyed the view. I will be back soon with more pictures.

Karen

THIS AND THAT TEST BLOCKS, REJECTS, ETC.

2011-09-24T05:53:00.001-04:00

Recently, I went through a metal basket sitting on a fabric shelf looking for pieces, parts, and blocks for a fellow blogger's quilt project she is planning. It is like visiting old friends to go through the basket. And it amazes me how much is still stored in the basket after giving a bunch away. I thought I would share pictures with you while I contemplate what to do with all of them. The pictures were done quickly and just some cropping done. Some could use some straightening but there isn't time for that today.

The above are log cabin blocks minus windows and doors. They are blocks that did not make it into the two quilt tops I made. You can see those here. I didn't care that much for the two lower blocks as I thought the plaid for the roof should have been cut on an angle.

These are blocks that never made it into a quilt. I thought I should have used a variety of backgrounds. Had I made three more, I would have had enough for a small quilt. I am not sure that I have any of the background fabric in my stash any longer. I think the pattern for the stars was in a Judy Hopkins book.

A test block. Well done but never put to use.

Another test block never put to use. I like the design. I should make more of these.

I do like making these stars. I Just never did enough for a quilt. Maybe it should go on the back of a quilt somewhere along the line. Well, I did do enough for a quilt but using a dark red background fabric.

This is a test block. I was trying to remember what the schoolhouse block design was that my little quilt group made for a member that was a school teacher. Each one of use made a schoolhouse with a different block on the side. This is as close as I could remember what the block was like. I no longer had the pattern. I have not made any more of these.

A test block for a quilt that was never made. It is fairly large. It could be a medallion center if the mood ever struck me to work on the project.

I was playing with this block. Just seeing how I liked the background fabric and deciding if I wanted a whole quilt using it. The center needs the circle appliqued down. I have made many of these blocks that have gone into a couple quilts but I never went further using the background fabric.

Ah, the angels. I made these when I was first starting to get into folk art style applique. I thought I did a poor job of getting the angels put together and was going to have to do some serious trimming. I abandoned the project. Now I think I could trim them and put them into one of my folk art sampler block style projects and be happy with them. Jan Patek fans will recognize these as "Lisa's Angels".

I was still early in the applique stage when I did these blocks. One more is pictured below. I had trouble getting smooth curves. Especially on the fruit bowl basket shown below. I can't find the patterns so I suppose I gave them away. Five blocks is not the right number for a quilt though I suppose I could make pieced blocks and fill in. The eagle block (Hey, Lori, another eagle.) would make a nice center for a quilt. I can't remember who the pattern designer is on these. Anyone know?

I like the watermelon center fabric. I am thinking it is either the same fabric shown on the pattern sample or very similar.

That's all the pieces and parts I am going to show today. I do have more for a future post. Hope you enjoyed my little jaunt down memory road.

Karen

OAK LEAVES AND TURKEY FEATHERS PART 2

2011-09-20T01:07:00.000-04:00

Here is where "Oak Leaves and Turkey Feathers" is at now. I got the large triangles added and the leaves stitched down. The pieced border is next. There will be lots of fall colors used for that. A UFO getting a step closer to the finish line.

Take time today for some quilting enjoyment!

Karen

WAR AND PIECES

2011-09-13T00:35:00.001-04:00

Sometimes a problem quilt block can make you want to put away a project and forget about it. That is what happened with "War & Pieces". I did not have a lot of applique experience when I worked on the blocks. I struggled with two of the blocks but finally got them stitched. Two blocks went together fairly well. Then the fifth was not going well. I will show you the completed blocks first.

Look, Lori. An eagle! Lori from "Humble Quilts" likes eagles in quilts. I struggled with the block a bit but worked through that and got the block done.

The second block was easier than the first one.

I had trouble getting the parts of Mrs. Lincoln's dress to get in the right place and be covered by the layers above. The whole block was a struggle but it is one of my favorite blocks from the pattern, so I could not give up.

I thought this block was a lot of work but it was fun to select the fabrics. It went together easier for me than the Lincoln block. I suppose it was because I was getting a little more comfortable with how to get the parts in the right place.

Then I blew it with this block. If you are familiar with the pattern, this block is not in it. One of my good quilting friends who does excellent applique, designed the block. There are two very similar blocks in the quilt. She left one out and designed one with a soldier on a horse, a cannon, and the tent. She felt the quilt blocks leaned toward a more northern view of the Civil War so the soldier is in a Confederate uniform. I liked the idea and she gave me her pattern to use. I stitched the tent onto the block and then started to add the horse and soldier. The one edge of the tent that was to be covered by the horse was not ending up covered. So I took the block apart and made a new tent. This time, I made the pieces for the right side of the tent lots wider so I could move it if necessary. I was using an overlay and trying to get the pieces into the correct location. Then another problem with that darn tent and the horse. I don't remember what the exact problem was but did not want to take out all those stitches a second time. I put the project away and moved on to something else. Over a period of time, I have looked in the container thinking I should give the project away but I just couldn't part with the blocks I had worked so hard on. At some point, I took the tent off again but no more progress on the block. I pulled the container out again recently and decided to bite the bullet and fix the block and move on with the project. I had to fix the flag on the tent pole and that is done now. I will cut off the overhanging tent edge after I get more stitched on the block. I know now that I do not like working with an overlay. I like to just place the pieces and not worry if they are in the exact place as the pattern. I am ready to stitch the horse & soldier down. Wish me luck. I will have four more applique blocks to do after this one.

The pattern set is by Barbara Brackman and Karla Menaugh. I read that it is out of print. You can see a picture of a finished quilt on Barbara's blog here.

I hope you find time to stitch today.

Karen

FOUR FINISHES

2011-09-07T10:47:00.000-04:00

I felt the need to actually finish a project or two. I have way too many UFO's waiting for completion. I chose some smaller projects that did not need much to bring them to the end. The first is the "In God We Trust" schoolhouse sampler. All it needed was a border fabric added and some simple machine quilting and then binding. Done!

Next, I finished the wool on cotton angels with the Nativity embroidered on the dress. One is a gift and one for myself. The mini quilts needed quilting and binding. I decided to hand quilt the one I was going to be sending to a friend. I liked the look so well that I just had to hand quilt mine also. The pieces are small so I quilted without a hoop or frame of any kind. And done in a prim style. The pattern used was "December" by Sandy Gervais.

The last finish is a table runner I started quite some time ago. I had forgotten about doing the embroidered stems and the button flowers. So that needed done and then some machine quilting and stitching down binding. I can't find the pattern information right now. I think it is a Joined at the Hip pattern. All the squares are done by applique. I remember it took a while to do that.

The last two days, I have been prepping more applique blocks for "The Bible" quilt. I am behind schedule on that. I had intended to do at least one block a month and have let that fall behind.

Enjoy your day!

Karen

OAK LEAVES AND TURKEY FEATHERS

2011-08-29T12:58:00.000-04:00

I am still jumping from one project to another and not finishing anything. I am going to try to rein myself in. I am looking through some project bins and bagging up at least two and giving them away. I have lost interest in them as they are not really what I am into right now. The applique quilt in progress shown below is one of the projects stored in a bin that was waiting for attention. I still like it very much and did some work on it over the weekend.

I had the center and turkey feathers stitched down plus the stems for the flowers. I can see in the picture that the one feather is not situated quite as it should be but it is staying. After all, it is prim style. My hold up came with the petals on the flowers. I got part of the petals for one flower stitched and was having trouble getting them to be spaced correctly. I was seriously thinking of changing to a one piece flower. I put the project away to give myself some time to think about what to do. That turned into a long bit of thinking time. This weekend, I finished the petals for one flower and started the second. Again, I was tempted to change the flower style. Yesterday evening, I just started stitching and made myself continue to completion. As I was almost done, I thought of a method I could have used to make my spacing problem go away but it was too late by then. Now the block needs triangles in a dark brown added to put the block on point. Big oak leaves will go on those triangles. A pieced border is next. Then another applique border but I am contemplating leaving that off. The wall hanging would be large enough without that border. And there are four more of those flowers on the border. I could leave them off with no problem. But I don't think I want that large of a quilt.

The pattern I am using is from "Country Paths" by Jan Patek. There are two more quilts in the book that pique my interest. Well, maybe all three that are in the book besides the one I am working on. Smack my hands and get me back on track!

I had a chance to meet Lori of "Humble Quilts" fame this past Saturday. Lori is on a cruise as a helper for Bonnie Hunter. The ship leaves from a port about twenty miles from my house. Too good of a chance to meet her in person to let that pass by. We spent an hour together and it was very enjoyable. I knew I would like her. Our style quilting is so similar. I became a follower of her blog almost from the time she started it and we have had a lot of contact via computer. She is just like I thought she would be. I can imagine her and Bonnie are having a very fun time on the cruise.

I discovered free designs on a blog this morning for applique blocks that use hexagons in interesting ways. The blog is named "Patchwork Aguilera' INES" and is written in Portuguese. I have Google Translation but even if you don't use a translation program, it is worth a look. Go here. Scroll down and look on the right side for the free block of the week section. There are twenty blocks.

Nothing else newsworthy at the moment. Have a good day and come back soon.

Karen

A GIFT AND PROJECTS IN THE WORKS

2011-08-22T12:59:00.000-04:00

I received a surprise gift from Mary at Quilt Hollow. A mini Chinese Coin quilt. I have admired this style mini quilt on some various blogs including Mary's. It was delightful to find one in my mailbox. My kind of colors and a welcome addition to my quilt collection. A big thank you to Mary.

I have had difficulty getting back into the stitching and quilt making mode since returning from vacation. If you read my previous post, you will remember my eye problem that I had to deal with on our trip. Not much fun. After arriving home, about all I did was look at blogs, quilt sites, look at E-Bay antique quilts, playing games on the computer. I finally burned out on that and settled down to stitching. I worked on projects I took on our trip but was not able to stitch on because of my eye.

The first two are identical. These are smaller size pieces meant for pillows but I plan on making them into wall hangings. One for me and one for a gift. The pattern used is by Sandy Gervais of Pieces From My Heart. The pattern "December". I think there is a different pattern for each month of the year. This is wool on cotton style applique with some embroidery. I like the little Nativity on the angel's dress. The angel's head looks a bit like a creature from outer space. Prim style for sure!

Next I completed the stitching on "In God We Trust". The pattern is by Shawn Williams of Threads That Bind. Her website appears to be closed but you can find her patterns on several websites though I can't find this particular one.

The piece is shown in a barn red wood frame on the pattern picture. I am planning on adding a red fabric border and doing minimal quilting. Easier to store when I am done displaying. It can be a year round piece but I think It is good for August/September when the kids head back to school. The fabric part of the design is fused and stitched with embroidery floss in a prim type stitch. The pattern says the piece measures eight by twnety inches.

I finally spent some time in the sewing room yesterday evening and a bit this morning. I am cutting out basket block parts. I will share that with you later. Have a great day and stop back for a visit again soon!

Karen

ANTIQUE SAMPLERS AND VACATION WOES

2011-08-13T19:23:00.003-04:00

We returned late this afternoon from an 18 day vacation. More on the woes of our trip shortly. First I want to share some pictures of two antique samplers owned by our "nearest and dearest" friends that we spent the first week of vacation with.

The first sampler was made by an eleven year old girl by the name of Elizabeth Elvira Wolcott in 1836. She lived in Tallmadge, Ohio which is where I was born so this interests me very much. The girl died in 1845. It is nicely cross stitched. "Eliza" is stitched in a darker blue than the rest of her name, age, and location so only the first part of her name shows well in the pictures. Some age spots appear. I was allowed to borrow the sampler to chart it for future stitching when I find time. There is a note attached by John's mother showing some family geneology of Elizabeth.

The back of the next framed sampler also has a typed note by John's mother with family information. This sampler is much more simple and was done by a nine year old child. The sampler is 201 years old.

Now to vacation woes. The afternoon before we were to leave, I noticed floaters in my right eye. I have never experienced them before and decided that after vacation, I would see an eye doctor. That evening, in dim light, I was seeing flashes which was a weird feeling. The next morning, the car was packed and we were about ready to leave. I had already turned off the computer but turned it back on to read about floaters while waiting for my husband to do one last thing. I read that floaters are mostly age related but if you also are seeing flashes, you should see an eye professional. The article said that even waiting a few days could lead to blindness from a detached retina. I decided that I should make a phone call and see if I could get into an eye doctor. I found out that I needed a retina specialist and the one recommended was on vacation. The appointment person told me that they could get me in to see another doctor but neglected to tell me it was an optometrist and not a specialist. The optometrist checked my eyes thoroughly and said it was not an emergency but that I did need to see a retina doctor. I could not get into one until late the next afternoon. I found a listing for a specialist about 40 miles away from the cabin we had rented in the Smokey Mountains and was able to get an appointment for two days later so we took off. When I went for that appointment, I found out that I had a tear in the retina and needed a laser treatment right away. I also had to have a freezing technique done because of the blood in the retina area. Then I found out that I was allowed to do nothing but watch television and rest. No reading, no needlework, no traveling around sightseeing.....just nothing. I was to avoid bending over, lifting, and no sudden movement of the head. The doctor said that it would take about two weeks for the retina to seal. He would have me come in after one week and see if it was safe to return home to Florida at that time and said that we should not continue on our planned trip. It was hard to just do nothing. I watched a lot of HGTV and visited with our friends that vacation with us when they were not out shopping and sightseeing. They spent a lot of time with me that they would normally be out doing things and I so appreciated that. I did go out to eat locally but was not allowed to read the menus. And I cheated and spent a few minutes in a quilt shop and an antique shop. Then back to the eye doctor. The car was loaded and we planned to return to Florida after the exam. The doctor was pleased with the laser and freezing results and said he knew my vacation could not have been much fun. He decided that we could go on to Ohio to visit family before returning home. Oh what a joy it was to hear that. I still had to be careful but did get to do a few things. Now I have an appointment with a specialist here locally on Monday. I hope I can get back to doing all my normal activities.

I had taken three different projects on the trip intending to do some handwork. When I would get bored with one, I would pull out a different project. Not one stitch was taken. I am still looking through a spider web type floater in my eye. The doctor says it will be a long time before that gets better and that it will not ever completely go away. I hope the web does not impair my stitching abilities.

The cabin where we stay in the mountains is located close to a house decorated with gingerbread man type decor on the outside. The frontal view of the cabin did not turn out but I did get one of the side of the house. I know there are a couple quilting bloggers that love gingerbread man type things.

We also saw this motorcycle with a cute car luggage type thing being pulled behind it.

The doctor's office I visited while on vacation had five antique quilts hanging. I took one picture while waiting to have a recheck of the eye and intended to photograph the rest before leaving the building. I was so elated to get to continue the vacation that I forgot to take pictures of the other four. The only one I really regret not getting a photo of was the applique quilt.

I will be visiting blogs in the next couple days to catch up on what I have missed. I still have some e-mails to reply to from some comments left while we were away from home and will do that soon. I noticed that there are some words in my post in blue and underlined. I don't know how that happened and I have not been able to edit them to look the same as the rest of the post. Oh well. You get the idea.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Karen

MARSHA'S SNOWBOUND QUILT

2011-08-02T00:01:00.002-04:00

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while are familiar with my "Snowbound" quilt. I will refresh your mind with a picture.

I used a section of the quilt as my header picture during the winter and got many requests for information on the pattern. I was able to alert some of the inquiries to a couple used copies of the book on Amazon. Those were snapped up right away. I found a website where you can order the book new and now there are a couple used books on Amazon again. Anyhow, one of the inquiries was made by Marsha. She just recently sent me a picture of her quilt. I forgot to ask permission to use her photograph on my blog so I will just send you for a visit. Her blog name is "Grandma's Quilts" and can be found here. It looks like she has been blogging for about 1 1/2 years. Stop by and say hi and take a peek at her version of the quilt. She made a couple additions to the pattern to make it more her own.

Bye for now.
Karen

WOOL STEAMER BASKET

2011-07-25T19:59:00.000-04:00

I had no idea what a steamer basket is and now I know. This one will never be used on a wok. What a great idea to add such a pretty decorative wool piece to the lid. No, I didn't make it. I am not that good at embellishment. My friend, Karen made this. The lid is dome shaped. She added batting behind the wool circle, glued it all down, then added decorative trim around the edge. She is using it for a sewing supply basket. She is going to add a covered cardboard circle inside the basket as the basket bottom is woven slats. That will keep anything from falling out....like a needle.

I thought you might enjoy seeing something different. Karen was lucky enough to find the steamer basket at a thrift store. She says they usually have three bottoms and only one lid.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.
Karen

BIG BROWN AND MORE

2011-07-19T23:02:00.000-04:00

There was a time when I said I thought saving selvage edges from fabric and incorporating them into a quilt was just going too far. Well, this is the second time I have been playing with selvage edges so I guess I have proven myself wrong. Below is "Big Brown".

I have been saving the edges for a good while now. Last year, I sewed some of them to squares of fabric but have not done anything with them. I was on "The Selvage Blog" a few days ago. There is a quilt on the sidebar that is called "Big Red". There is also a link to "Online Quilt Museum". It was on this site that I saw a version called "Big Brown". The only difference in the two is that one has used red fabric and the other used brown. I pulled a piece of dark brown from stash and began working on the piece. I used a lot of the more interesting words from the selvage edges in the center part of the quilt though many are on the borders too. And I used lots of dotted sections. Have you noticed that the selvage edges on some of the fabrics have become more interesting? For instance, "Fruitcake" had colored bell shapes instead of the dots. Another had colored butterfly shapes. I hope to see more of this in the future. The older edges have just the manufacturer named on it. Later ones included combinations of the fabric line name and/or the designer's name. And some the year. I think the earliest edge year I had was from 1992. I set all the edges from reproduction fabrics to the side for using later on though a few made it into "Big Brown". The quilt was quite easy to make. Now it will be set aside to wait its turn for quilting.

A few days ago, I finished piecing "Monet's Wedding Ring" from Judy Martin's "Scraps" book. The book can be seen in my last post and is available from Amazon here. Your local quilt shop would appreciate you purchasing it through them, so that is another option.

I had intentions of making the queen size version but ended up doing twin size. The quilt just seemed so busy to me. The size is 66 inches by 90 inches, if I remember correctly. So that is still good size. It involved lots of cutting and lots of sewing. Mr. Log Cabin is doing what he can by standing on a chair and holding the quilt top for the photo. I can tell you that the illusion of rings is better able to be seen in this little picture. Just looking at the quilt in person, I have a hard time seeing it. The design would be good made in lots of tiny florals, if you are so inclined.

It is late, so that's all for tonight.

Karen

JULY CHRISTMAS QUILT-ALONG

2011-07-09T12:50:00.000-04:00

It's the second Saturday in July. Time for this month's Christmas Quilt-Along. This time round I am not doing a specific Christmas design quilt. I am working on a queen size quilt that will potentially be a Christmas gift. It is a lighter quilt than I normally do. A somewhat pastel look but more to the darker side of pastel. Here are the fabrics I cut with the exception of the lighter tone on tone polka dot I chose for background.

The quilt pattern I am using is called "Monet Wedding Ring" and is in a book by Judy Martin titled "Scraps". The one I am making is shown on the cover on the upper left side.

I spent parts of three days this past week cutting out parts for the blocks and then finished the last of the background fabric cutting this morning. The design is formed with two different pieced blocks and one plain background block. I made a sample this morning of each of the pieced blocks and am showing you those now.

It doesn't look like much yet but at least I am sure the parts are cut to the correct size. Now I can start zipping them through the sewing machine.

For information on the Christmas Quilt-Along which takes place once each month, click on the Christmas tree on the right side of my blog.

Back later with my progress.

Karen

FAMILY GATHERINGS COMPLETE

2011-07-07T16:31:00.000-04:00

My "Family Gatherings" quilt is completed. Mary from Quilt Hollow did the machine quilting for me. Mary does such good work. If you have not sent her one of your quilts for machine quilting in the past, think about doing that. I don't think you will be disappointed. The quilt has been waiting for me to do the binding for a while. Sometimes it is hard for me to get excited about putting binding on a quilt when there are other quilt projects calling my name.

The pattern is by Jan Patek in case you are wondering. The applique on this quilt is fused and machine stitched. Most of the fabrics used were from Moda "Gatherings". Who doesn't like a quilt with houses and baskets!

Above is a view of the back of the quilt. It was a fun addition to make a larger version of the basket pattern and incorporate it into the backing.

A rainy day here. I am not complaining as we need the rain. But it sure has made me feel lazy. Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek at my finished quilt.

Karen

INDEPENDENCE DAY 2011

2011-07-04T13:21:00.002-04:00

Happy 4th of July to those of you in the USA!

The flag quilt is made from a Red Wagon pattern many years ago.

Karen

BEGINNINGS AND ENDINGS

2011-06-30T18:17:00.000-04:00

Beginnings and endings to share with you. First of all the endings.

"Let It Snow" is complete. All the noses stitched, embroidery done, and snaps added for the mouths and noses of the snowmen faces. And machine quilted. The pattern is by Farmhouse Threads. Below is a picture of the backing. I had several 2 1/2 inch strips left over from the line of fabrics used for the quilt top. I sewed several together and created the backing.

Next are the three doll quilts from the same Kathleen Tracy pattern that I shared pictures of the tops in the last post.

I have completed the eagle wall hanging top as far as I am taking it. The pattern is from a 2008 quilt magazine pattern by Karen Witt. I decided that my piece was big enough as it is now and chose to leave off the next round of the medallion and the final border print. I don't know when it will get quilted.

I finished the "Bible" block of Noah's Ark that I was working on.

And finally is a ship block that I made as a test for a new quilt. The pattern is in an older Red Wagon Designs book called "Collections". I made freezer paper templates for several of the block parts so I could rotary cut around them and save a little bit of time. The block went together fine but I really had to pay attention to what parts went where. Two of the sails utilize the same templates. The other two are different. One of those other two is very similar to the two identical ones.

A rainy day here and good for stitching which I will be doing more of this evening. Stop back soon.

Karen

WORKS IN PROGRESS

2011-06-21T11:52:00.000-04:00

I am having trouble sticking to one project and taking it to completion. I will share with you what I have been working on.

I made this nice house block and now can not remember what quilt pattern it is part of. When I figure that out, I can work on the project again. I must have inadvertantly put the book away that the pattern is in.

The log house is from a Joined at the Hip pattern. I need to make three more and then some other parts.

The eagle is from a magazine pattern though I simplified the eagle into less pieces. The center was not laying flat once I added the pieced triangle round. I set the project aside as I was not in the mood at that time to unsew. It got placed in a container along with fabrics for the project and forgotten. I came across the meallion this past week. and took time to unsew, trim the first border, and resew the triangles back on. I am not sure if I am going to add more piecing, a plain border, or just quilt and bind.

The snowman quilt has progressed to the embroidery being done, noses stitched, and black snaps added for eyes on all and mouths on some. It still needs quilting.

I made three quilt tops yesterday using a pattern from Kathleen Tracy's "American Doll Quilts". The first two use a pastoral print of children given to me by my good friend, Jean M. She made a needle case using one of the pieces and shared two of the sections of fabric for me to make one. The fabric pieces fell behind one of my fabric cubes. I just recently discovered them. Instead of making a needle case, I remembered the doll quilt pattern and chose to make that. Here is the first one and the second one is below.

I used two different fabrics on the second little quilt top but it has much the same look.

The first two quilts went together so fast, I decided to sew another quilt. Most of this top is made from one of the Williamsburg lines of fabric.

I am working on block number five of "The Bible Quilt". One star needs stitched down and then the embroidered words need to be added. The bird is from an older Debbie Mum fabric that was different elements of Noah's Ark. I thought it was fitting to use for the bird in this Noah's Ark block.

I hope you enjoyed the photos of what I hae been working on. Come back soon and hopefully I will have made some progress on projects.

Karen

COLD DAYS

2011-06-14T12:33:00.000-04:00

No, not cold here. It is hot! But my new project is cold. I finished a wool runner yesterday with snowman heads. I used a pattern called "Cold Days" by Lynda Hall. It is in the first issue of "Primitive Quilts and Projects".

It was a quick runner to make and easy to do with wool. It is about six inches by thirty-five inches. It could be used on a mantle or a table. I have another snowman project close to being finished too and will share that later this week. It is the wall hanging I was working on that you can see in my previous post.

I was given a Hinterberg quilting frame.

I have wanted to try a hand quilting frame for years. What better way than on a good one. I am used to quilting with a lap hoop that you can turn and you can't do that with a big floor frame. I will have a learning curve to use this. If this does not work for me, I will donate it to the church thrift store. Right now the rollers are not in the correct position but that is easily fixed.

I checked the Hinterberg website. They used to have different models of frames that you could purchase. Now there is only one complete frame version or a kit you can purchase. And I can't find a video on how to use the frame. They used to have a video. I have no instructions so I will have to try to figure it out on my own. I don't even know anyone who has used a floor frame.

Back to my projects. Have a great day!

Karen

CHRISTMAS SEW-ALONG PART 1

2011-06-11T13:22:00.000-04:00

Here we go again with the Christmas Sew-Along. I am working on a previously started project of snowmen faces. The pattern I am using is "Let It Snow". This is where the project was at the end of January.

Since then, the project has been in a basket. I had forgotten that there was embroidered words to do, the wool noses needed hand stitching, and the eyes and mouths needed buttons and snaps attached.. I had planned on machine quilting the piece this weekend. Instead, I started the embroidery yesterday. The noses are stitched. This is a picture of the progress made.

I have one of the longer sides to stitch the words and then the embroidery will be done. I want to get the buttons and snaps added for the eyes and mouths so that they look more like a snowman's head. The fabric I used is from the Fruitcake line. It has a grunge look to it which I like.

I will be back later today to share progress.

NATIVITY COMPLETE

2011-06-07T12:29:00.000-04:00

The Nativity quilt I worked on during a Saturday Christmas Sew-Along earlier this year is now complete.

I spent the last week hand quilting this piece. You can see it before quilting on this post. I outlined each applique with quilting. Then did a Baptist Fan quilting design in all the other spaces. I could have done straight line stitching and it would probably been just as effective. The fan design shows on the border but in the background stripe and plaid areas, it does not show much at all. But it is quilted and bound and ready to display for the holiday season.

The pattern is called "Nativity" and is by Cheri Saffiote-Payne. I have many of Cheri's patterns. I should count how many I have already made and how many are still waiting. I like her naive style.

I also have been doing a little embroidery this week but am not ready to share the project yet. And I have a big stack of Jo Morton fabrics pulled from stash. I am trying to decide on a scrappy quilt design to use them. I need blacks, purples, and pinks from her lines. I do have a couple pieces of black but long ago used the purples & purples and pinks that I had. A fortune teller might see some online shopping in my future.

Back to my stitching.

Karen

SANTA IN THE WOODS COMPLETE

2011-05-28T12:04:00.002-04:00

Hurray! A completed quilt. Back in February, I made the Santa in the Woods quilt top during a Christmas Sew-Along. I took time Thursday to machine quilt the top and do the binding. All finished months before the Christmas holiday season arrives.

The pattern I used is by Sandy Gervais and was found in a special edition of Quiltmania. All the parts for Santa are done in wool. The rest of the quilt is cotton fabrics.

I also want to share a quilt with you that was made by Wendy of "Snippets of a Quilter" blog. You can visit her here. Wendy and I made a trade. I had admired the nine patch quilt when she posted it on her blog and she had admired a quilt top I showed on my blog about the same time. We agreed to a trade. The only thing I did to the nine patch quilt was to add the binding. The quilt is fresh from the washer & dryer when I took the quick picture. The pins I used kept coming loose and one side or another falling. I gave up trying to get a good picture because the quilt was just not going to stay up there.

Today, I am working on an embroidery block. Maybe some machine quilting later on. Have a nice day.

Karen

GARDEN SAMPLER

2011-05-26T12:49:00.000-04:00

"Garden Sampler" is finished. I prepped the wool on cotton blocks last fall. I came across them in a bin recently and decided it was time to finish the project. I started doing the hand stitching on the wool applique pieces last week. The blocks were sewn together yesterday, minimal quilting done, and binding added. I finished up the hand work this morning.

The pattern for "Garden Sampler" is by A Piece of Work.

I also made two wool pincushions. The bee skep is a repeat of one I made previously. I showed a friend how to do the wool applique so we were each making one. It is a good design for a beginner to start on.

Nice to have you stop by for a visit. Check in again soon.

Karen

WILLING HANDS

2011-05-24T17:59:00.001-04:00

A new finish. "Willing Hands" is a wool applique on cotton fabric project. I like the saying that is embroidered for the quilt. Not exactly true for me as I am not an early to bed, early to rise person but I do have the willing hands to sew.

The pattern I used is by Cheri Saffiote-Payne of "Wednesday's Quilts". I was able to complete it fairly quickly as I started the project one day last week. I was in the mood to make something new and to complete it all the way instead of just to top form. I am also working on some wool on cotton blocks that I prepped last fall and they are moving along pretty quickly also.

Enjoy your evening and take time to do some sewing. I know I will be.

Karen

PINCUSHION ROUND ROBIN COMPLETE

2011-05-20T15:41:00.004-04:00

Finally, my wool crazy round robin piece is complete.

I tried to get a picture without glare and was not successful. I can see part of myself in the bottom of the picture. The piece is framed under glass and I think that is the problem. I thought I had a picture of the piece the way it looked when it came back to me before I did some finishing work but I don't. The piece started out with just the squirrel on the upper left corner. No embroidery at that time. Paulette of Sweet Pea Creations blog added the cat and basket on the lower right corner. Then Lori of Humble Quilts added the pumpkin and sunflower in the lower left corner. Finally, Kaaren of The Painted Quilt added the scarecrow in the upper right hand corner. Each person did some embroidery on their section. Then back to me for completing the piece. Finally, I took time to do it. I added three little leaves to the squirrel area, added some grass, and some embroidered stitches over some wool edges on my section that had not been covered. Lori framed her piece and I liked that idea. You can see her framed wool piece here. The wool base was 8 inches square. I could not find a frame at the craft store that was that size. In fact, frames for something square were not to be found there at all. I finally found the perfect size frame at a thrift store. I just removed the picture that was in it and popped in the wool piece. For $1.50, I think it was a bargain. Now to decide where to hang it.

I found the book "An Enclyclopedia of Crazy Quilt Stitches and Motifs" by Linda Causee to be most helpful in doing decorative stitches. That is because it gives a diagram of the stitches and shows needle placement and numbered steps for doing the stitch. Further back in the book, combinations of stitches are shown.

I have finished doing some wool applique on a wall hanging but it still needs borders. I will be able to show that to you very soon. Back to my sewing.

Karen

SPRING BASKET WOOL PROJECT

2011-05-17T15:02:00.000-04:00

Today I am sharing with you a small wool applique project that I just finished. It is a pattern designed by Lynda Hall of Primitives by Lynda. It was a fairly quick and easy small wall hanging to make. I am going to put some magnetic strips on the back (as soon as I purchase some) and hang this on the refrigerator.

A while back, I won a give-away on "Amanda's Musings" blog. I received the package yesterday and the contents were all a surprise as Amanda did not know what she was going to give away. And a very good surprise it was for me. An "I Love to Sew" stitchery (and I do), fairy scissors, an Ohio Star mat, postcards from exhibition quilts at the V&A Museum, wildflower seeds, and a commemorative tea towel of William and Catherine's wedding. I love those fairy scissors. Thank you, Amanda.

You can see the fairy scissors better here on this web site. Just scroll down toward the bottom of the page.

Back to my stitching.

Karen

SANTA SALUTE (PART 2 OF THE CHRISTMAS SEW-ALONG)

2011-05-15T23:41:00.000-04:00

I completed the "Santa Salute" quilt top. The pattern is by Joined at the Hip. It is approximately 39 inches wide by 50" long. I have had the pattern on the shelf for quite some time. Time to do something with it.

I started cutting the parts late Saturday afternoon. Lots of cutting measurements. I kept track of what each piece was by marking lightly in the seam allowance on the back of each one the corresponding alpha letters assigned in the pattern. It saved me a lot of time by not having to remeasure a piece to make sure I was grabbing the correct one. I sewed the inside of the quilt Saturday evening. Easy sewing. The border was made today. Now to find time to quilt it and I will have yet another holiday quilt either for my own decorating or a gift for someone else.

I am happy to have used only fabric from stash and have been doing that a lot this year. Still my stash does not look like it has gone down any.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Karen

CHRISTMAS SEW-ALONG AND BIBLE BLOCK FOUR

2011-05-14T17:15:00.001-04:00

First of all, I will share with you a photo of block four of the Bible Quilt.

It took me a while to figure out what the black strip going from top to bottom of the block was. I finally decided it is the blocking of Adam and Eve from the Garden. I used Seral paper to transfer the embroidery lines for the words on the block. Seral paper, if you are not familiar with it, is sort of like carbon paper. It is a waxy transfer paper and comes in different colors. It does rub off, so I did the embroidery before the applique. I don't have any more blocks prepped, so will need to do that before I can proceed further. My plans are to do block five and then do the rest one block a month.

Today is the Saturday for the Christmas Sew-Along. I am getting a late start because an old work friend came to visit. We had a good time. She sews but is not a quilter. I prepared the parts for a wool applique pin cushion and showed her how to do that. She went home with the kit including the crushed walnut shells for stuffing the pincushion. We had lunch at Mimi's and made a quick stop at Hobby Lobby.

I am cutting the parts for a Santa quilt from a Joined at the Hip pattern called "Santa Salute". So far, I have parts only that I could show you as I haven't gotten to the sewing part. And that would not be very interesting. I can show you a picture of the quilt pattern though.

The pattern is similar to an Uncle Sam quilt I did a while back. You can see the Uncle Sam quilt here. A long quilt. It should be 37" x 50" if I do the border the same as the pattern shows.

To the participants of the Sew-Along, I hope you are having a fun day. I have visited a few and am going back now to take another look. Then back to the sewing room.

Karen

BIBLE BLOCK 3 AND COLLECTOR BLOCK 7

2011-05-10T17:43:00.000-04:00

I am back with two more completed applique blocks. The first is from the "Bible Quilt" and is completed block number three. I have one more block prepped and then I will need to start selecting fabrics for a few more.

Next is my seventh Collector block. The last of the heart blocks and of that I am glad.

I like houses on quilts so naturally this is one that I like. It did not take a lot of time to applique. Now to decide which block will be the next one.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Karen

COLLECTOR BLOCK #6 AND BIBLE QUILT BLOCK #2

2011-05-07T17:08:00.000-04:00

Collector block number six is done. It is a slight bit different than the pattern for the block. I think only someone making the quilt themselves would notice the difference.

And block number two of the "Bible Quilt". All those legs on the animals took some time to do.

Thanks to all of you who gave input on the photo program you use for straightening a picture. I used Picasa this time to straighten the animal block and it worked well.

Happy Mother's Day! Enjoy.

Karen

ANOTHER Basket OF SUNFLOWERS TOP AND MORE

2011-05-04T17:39:00.000-04:00

Call me crazy. It's okay. I have made up another sunflower basket wall hanging.

Several months ago, I was flipping through "Crossroads" by Ginger Cookie Company. I chose two projects from the book and prepped the applique and did all the stitching. On another run through the book, I realized that there was a sunflower basket pattern that the one pictured used fabric for the border that I have in my stash. Not knowing what I wanted to do with the fabric, I prepped the wall hanging for the applique. The crazy part is that I made such a similar basket of sunflowers last year. Here is a picture of it.

Both are wide wall hangings. The newest one is even wider than the first. The patriotic basket of sunflowers is complete. I don't know what I am going to do with the newest one. I got an idea of adding pieced blocks below and making it sofa size. The width of the current piece is 50" wide and 18" long. I don't know if I have enough border fabric to accomplish that. I will have to check that and then make a decision. I just don't feel that I need both. Maybe a gift.

I made the fifth Collector block. You can read in my previous post about the pattern information and see the first four blocks. This particular block is called "Pot of Flowers".

I did have a problem with making the background on this block. I traced the pattern parts onto freezer paper, ironed that to my selected fabrics, and did the piecing. I did not come out with a nice square block. So, I drew my own complete pattern onto freezer paper, made tick marks for matching one part to another, cut the pattern apart and worked from there. Better success the second time. I have two more heart blocks to make that will have different applique designs.

The last photo is the first block I have made from Lynda Hall's "A Little Porch Time" book. Most of the quilt will consist of applique.

A request. I have three different photo programs on my computer but none of them have the ability to straighten an object in the photo. I know there is one that does. I just don't find one on the internet. A free one would be great. I would appreciate knowing the name of what photo editing program you use if yours has that ability. I seem to often have a slightly tilted picture.

Hope you have some time to sew this evening. Enjoy!

Karen

BIBLE BLOCK #1

2011-05-01T12:28:00.000-04:00

I have admired the blocks being done by at least three others of Jan Patek's "Bible Quilt" and have decided to join in. Here is block number one. The blocks are 16 inches finished.

A follower asked to see all four of the blocks I have finished from the Collector Series quilt by Jan Patek, so I am posting a picture taken on the design wall. It is not the setting they belong in, but just taken close together for the picture.

I hope to prepare at least one more block for the quilt today.

Take some time today for yourself and stitch a little whether by machine or by hand. Enjoy! I know I will.

Karen

GARDEN DELIGHT

2011-04-30T09:00:00.007-04:00

The completed "Garden Delight" wall hanging top.

The pattern I used is by Jan Patek and is in the book "Festival of Life". Maybe I will have this quilted and ready to display by next spring.

Karen

COLLECTOR SERIES BLOCK FOUR

2011-04-29T12:42:00.000-04:00

I just finished the fourth block for the Collector Series quilt. The pattern set was designed by Brannock and Patek.

I have finished the applique on the Festival of Life wall hanging and am adding the borders. I will be back tomorrow to share it with you.

Back to stitching. Glad you stopped by for a visit.

Karen

BACK IN THE GROOVE

2011-04-25T11:54:00.000-04:00

We had a busy week with our "oldest & dearest" friends. We took them to the airport last Friday afternoon for their flight home. We hated to see them leave as we enjoy their company so much. Our visits are a bit less active than they used to be as we are getting older. We still manage to get out somewhere every day even if it is just out to eat. We ate at some of our favorite restaurants and found a couple new ones. We took a pontoon tour boat ride and enjoyed it immensely. Saw lots of dolphin and manatees and rode through the lock at Port Canaveral. Now we have to wait until mid-summer to see them again when we plan to vacation together in the Smokey Mountains.

I am getting back into the sewing mode again. I have started a new project (even though I have many not finished). The picture shows a sun that will be appliqued onto a block along with a moon and stars. The design is by Jan Patek. The sun is not meant to be perfectly round. I still need to applique the center onto the sun.

I have been stitching on the "Spring Sampler" but I don't think you can tell from the picture how much is done. I have been focusing on the top part of the sampler. All the alphabet is done and the cherry baskets. Could be apples but I think cherries come before apples. The bee skeep is stitched down but needs embroidery lines. And the leaves around the bee skeep are finished.

I found a sewing machine at the local thrift shop. It is a Kenmore probably from the 1970's. It is in very good shape. Came in a nice case and has all the attachments and a quarter inch foot. Even the instruction book was included. It is a free arm style and has 12 stitches. I paid $40.00 for it. The thrift store is run by a local church that uses the money for their food pantry. I certainly did not need the machine but the money goes for a good cause. And I will have a decent machine, along with several others, that friends could sew on when they come over. I would have to check to be sure but I think I have seven machines that could be used. I think I need to have a sewing party.

Time for me to get busy with some stitching. Glad you took time to pay me a visit today.
Karen

PROJECT UPDATES

2011-04-16T11:27:00.001-04:00

I thought I would share with you an update of projects I have been working on the past week.

The first is a quilt top that I had already completed when I last posted but I forgot to take a picture of it. The pattern I used is called "Oak Leaves" and is a Fons & Porter pattern. The triangle units were tricky to get sewn in the correct direction. I sewed and unsewed a section at least twice. The quilt was to have another round of triangle units around the outside border. I decided to leave it off. A lot of the fabrics used in the quilt are the brushed flannels. I was having a bit of problem with the half square triangles getting kind of wonky. I had cut to size and did not allow extra for squaring up. That is because this is a UFO that has been in the closet for a good while. And cut out back before I started cutting the units larger and then squaring up before joining unit to unit. I wish I had done hand applique but I was following the pattern directions. The applique is done by fusing and then buttonhole stitching. The appliques are soft because only the edges having the iron on fusible.

Next is a wool on cotton sampler. All the wool parts are fused down and the embroidery lines marked for the flower and berry stems. All need the stitching done. I followed pattern directions and am pleased with the method of getting the embroidery lines marked. The pattern was in reverse and in four parts. The directions say to cut a piece of freezer paper to certain measurement. Mark matching points and then trace the embroidery lines onto the freezer paper. Iron the freezer paper to the back of of the background fabric. The design is no longer in reverse when you go to trace the embroidery lines. I placed the fabric with the freezer paper ironed to the back on a light box table and traced what I needed. I also used the light box and attached freezer paper pattern to lay out my wool pieces. I used wool for the alphabet instead of doing embroidery as the instructions call for. Tedious cutting but I am pleased. The pattern I am using is by "All Through the Night". Lots of wool to stitch down and embroidered stems and branches to do.

I showed this applique wall hanging in my last post. I am in the process of doing the applique of the pot of flowers. I need to applique down a couple more flowers and then do some pieced blocks before finishing the applique. There will also be two rabbits at the bottom. I am using a Jan Patek pattern. The information about it is in my previous post.

We have company here for a week and are having a good time. Right now, my husband is playing golf and our good friends have gone to the beach. I am staying home to do some sewing.

Have a great day. I am off to sit in my sewing chair to work on the pot of flowers.

Karen

DESIGN WALL MONDAY, OLDEST UFO FINISH AND MORE

2011-04-11T12:35:00.000-04:00

I forgot to share a picture of the completed Cherry Basket quilt top and will do so now. A fun project.

And I finished my oldest UFO that was in the closet. It was started in 1997. You can read about it in my previous post. It is now quilted, bound, washed & dried. And I am happy that I did not give the top away a long time ago. The quilt is from a Brannock & Patek pattern.

And last is to show you what is on the design wall. It is a spring quilt called "Garden Delight" and is from a quilt book by Jan Patek called "Festival of Life". Though the larger quilt in the book is wonderful, I am doing the smaller version. A pot of flowers, two more rabbits & some pinwheel blocks to be added yet.

Here is a picture of the book cover which shows the quilt.

Time for me to do some stitching. Hope you get to do the same.

Karen

April's Christmas Sew Along Day

2011-04-09T10:21:00.000-04:00

It is supposed to be almost 90 degrees here today. Not much like Christmas weather. Well, maybe for anyone in the lower hemisphere. I am participating today in the Christmas Sew Along. The second Saturday of each month is to be dedicated to working on a Christmas project or gift. You can see what I worked on in February here and March here.

Today I have selected a UFO to machine quilt. Here is a picture of the quilt top.

The pattern I used is by Jan Patek and Linda Brannock. I made the quilt top in 1997 and it has stayed this way ever since. I can give you two reasons for that. First of all, I hardly ever machine quilted anything at that time. The angels were fused on with a lightweight fusible product and then hand buttonhole stitched. This was before I knew to only use a rim of the fusible around the applique to keep the fabric soft and pliable. It becomes a problem to hand quilt through so much fusible otherwise. To just quilt around the angel made the angel puff out and I don't like that look on a bigger section of applique. I had made an extra angel and I don't remember why the extra but I hand quilted the background only on it.

On one angel, the puffiness was not so noticeable. And I had an angel to display. The priority of finishing the bigger quilt was not so pressing. I have thought many times of just giving away the bigger one as I have let the finishing go for so long. But I like it so well, I just could not part with it. Today I am going to tackle some kind of machine quilting on it and finish the piece. It will not be anything fancy but I hope to meet my goal.

See you all later.

DOLL QUILT TOP DONE

2011-04-08T08:51:00.000-04:00

I finished the doll quilt top that I posted about yesterday. I left off the final plain border that was on the original. It did not seem to do anything for the quilt and my piece was getting bigger than I thought it should be. Mine ended up about 22 inches by 25". I have since learned that the E-Bay seller has added the size of the original and it is about 19 inches long. So mine is bigger. I am satisfied though.

I got so frustrated trying to figure out the last round of on point squares. If I kept the row not as wide, I was ending up with too many squares or diamonds instead of squares. Wider, too few. I finally just went with less squares. It looked like the maker add in spacers to make her row fit. The original piece is so worn that it is hard to tell if it was background fabric or a print. I went with the print. I did figure out that the maker used a scrappy round as you can see a few of the fabrics and they aren't alike.

Karen Mowery from Sew Primitive Quilter is working on the same project. I am anxious to see what she comes up with. She is much better than me at working with Electric Quilt. I am sure she will be posting soon about the project.

I gave a link to the original doll quilt that is listed on E-Bay in my previous post but will repeat it here. It is in bad shape. Will be interesting to see what the final bid is.

Glad you stopped by. I will be back in the sewing room today working on a UFO.

WORKING ON A DOLL QUILT

2011-04-07T17:34:00.000-04:00

I have taken time out from working on a UFO to making a doll quilt. I was inspired by an antique doll quilt that is for sale on E-Bay. The little quilt is in bad shape. I am trying to recreate it in reproduction fabrics. Seemed easy enough at first. Many cutting measurements are coming out in 16th's and therein lies my problem. I bumped the measurement up to the nearest 1/8th because my piecing tends to make a slightly smaller block. Only this has not worked out this time. I have sewn and taken of the spacer row and cornerstone blocks about three times now trying to get things right.

I am losing some points here and there but things now seem to be okay. There are more rows to figure out yet. I hope those go more smoothly than what I have encountered thus far. I have not asked for permission to copy the quilt picture from E-Bay so I will just link you to it. Go here.

Back to figuring!

Karen

DESIGN WALL MONDAY AND A NEW FLIMSY FINISH

2011-04-04T09:58:00.000-04:00

I am participating in Judy's Design Wall Monday. You can visit others doing likewise by going here. My current project on the wall is the Cake Stand Baskets in the strong Lancaster, Pennsylvania reproduction fabrics. I have decided on the alternate blocks and you can see two of them in the photo.

I have added cherry blocks. I found a pattern for the cherries in a Black Mountain quilt book that I have. I enlarged the pattern a bit so that the cherries would better fill the space. I will probably use the same background fabric for the setting triangles. Then I will need to decide about the border.

Also, I finished another UFO project to the flimsy stage.

I was inspired by a quilt I saw on Temecula Quilt Company's blog July 3rd, 2009. Just click here and you can see their quilt. The number of blades is less on their blocks and I don't know what size they are. Mine use 20 blades and the blocks are twelve inches. I used fabrics from the Old Glory line plus a few others from stash. I used a white shirting with a little red design on it. I was going to make a larger quilt and cut out quite a few more blade pieces than I ended up using. The Dresden Plates are hand appliqued to the background. I changed thread color for each blade as necessary. I put the blocks in the UFO closet with three left to applique and all the centers to do. Finally, I got the blocks out and took time to finish the last three. Then came the centers. I debated as to how to do the center circle. I was using an Eleanor Burns pattern for the plates. She uses a lightweight fusible interfacing on the back of the circle. You put the right side of the circle to the fusible side of the interfacing, stitch all around, cut a slit in the fusible, turn the circle to the outside, smooth the edges and then fuse to the block. I tried it but did not like the fusible showing around the edge. I used her method but hand appliqued the centers down and by doing that, was able to pull the fabric so that the interfacing did not show. The leftover blades caught my eye and I began laying them one wide side to the top and then wide side down. Back and forth. I discovered that they would work for the border and that is what I ended up using. The back is pieced, the top put back in the UFO closet to await time for machine quilting.

Enjoy your day and I hope you get some sewing time.

Karen

THROUGH THE YEARS

2011-04-02T10:36:00.000-04:00

I finished the "Through the Years" quilt top. I had to lay it out on a bed for a photo as no one is home to hold it up for me and it is too big for the design wall. It is not meant to fit this bed.

I took a close-up shot of the center so you could see the broderie perse medallion. I used a fusible around the under edge of the eagle section and fused it to the light background. I then stitched it by machine with a buttonhole stitch. I matched cotton thread to the background of the eagle medallion so you have to look close up to see that it was machine stitched. The darker fabrics making up the medallion center are from a border stripe type print from Marcus Brothers.

I found a larger piece of a Smithsonian "Little Sisters" fabric that and usedit for the border. Not what I would call a pretty print but it suited the piece well. I don't know that you can see it in the first picture. I still have some left of that fabric but I think it is the last of any of the Smithsonian prints I have.

I am now working on another UFO and should have a picture to post very soon.

Karen

NEW PROJECT AND A UFO

2011-04-01T13:26:00.000-04:00

I started a new quilt working from stash. I was inspired by a quilt that Dixie of Dixie Doodles is working on. I asked if she would mind if I did something similar and received a very nice e-mail with her permission.

The baskets are displayed on my design wall and none too neatly but you get the idea. I am trying to decide on the blocks for the empty spaces. I am using the Lancaster style reproduction fabrics. Dixie's basket blocks are from a trade with friends so I think she has more variety in the fabric used in her blocks. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, I have gone back to a UFO quilt project. I have shown it in the past. I get bored with sewing on it and have to put the project away for a while. Now I am on a push to complete the top.

I have quite a bit of the last section together and should be able to finish the main body of the quilt today. The pattern I am using is called "Through the Years". It is from a Quilters Newsletter but I don't know what issue. The pattern is by Penelope Tucker. She was inspired by an English chintz quilt made in the 1790's. The fabrics I am using are all from stash. Lots of reproduction fabrics including some from the Smithsonian lines. The center is done using the broderie perse technique.

A good friend gave me a cute chicken recently and a pin cushion made from part of an old quilt. The chicken is weighted in the seat area and sits nicely on a ledge.

I changed my header photo to a small Easter piece I made a couple years ago and have shown on my blog previously. The pattern is by Buttermilk Basin.

Back to stitching.

Karen

DESIGN WALL PROJECT

2011-03-28T14:34:00.000-04:00

In honor of the Red & White quilt exhibit in New York City, I worked on a red & white block this weekend. Here it is. Wish I could have gone to the show.

I drew my own pattern in Electric Quilt because the pattern in the quilt book had thick lines and it was hard to know where to trace. The pattern was called "Sundial". I don't know if this is an original block or traditional design from the past. It is a twenty inch block so quite large. It took a while to make. I don't plan on making any more of the blocks right now as other projects are calling to me.

Back to the sewing room.

Karen

THINGS

2011-03-25T12:50:00.000-04:00

I have not posted for several days. Not that I haven't been doing quilt type things because I have. Just not much of anything to show. I spent a lot of time finishing the prep work for the basket applique project but no stitching. I looked at quilt books trying to come up with an idea for fabric I have but no solid design yet. I found designs I do want to try. One is shown in the picture below. The block is not complete.

My frustration with the block is the pattern. I used a pattern from a Mariner's Compass program I have. I did not realize that there are no patterns for the outer part of the block. The part that makes it square. I prefer to set the circle into a square and not applique it on. I used Electric Quilt to make a pattern for the outer part but evidently my thinking about measurement was not correct because the piece did not fit. So, I remeasured and think I will have the right size this time. The fabric for the center circle is just laying under the Sunflower piece. That will be the last step in making the block.

Another block I want to make is from a prim style pattern book. It is also a circular design. My frustration with the pattern in the book is that the pattern has thick lines. How do I know what part of the line to trace? It is that thick. Do I trace on the very outer edge and hope for the best. I don't want a block that doesn't lay flat because the pieces are the wrong size. So back to Electric Quilt. I am not very advanced in using the program as I don't spend the learning curve time to do so. I have to have the book in front of me and follow the steps on the circle designs. This is what I came up with.

The pattern in the book is called Sundial. I was thinking red & white when I colored the block since this is the weekend the red & white quilts make their debut in New York City. But I was not satisfied with my red fabrics in stash. I am drawn to the colors shown in the book sample which is what I will probably make the trial block from and that is not in red. I think the design would look good, though, in the red & white combo with alternate blocks being white where it is red & red where it is white now.

I want to share my friend Tee's quilt projects with you. They are works in progress.

I love chicken quilts so this one is a hit with me. I am sorry that I did not get pattern info on her projects. The chickens are fused on and the edges stitched by machine.

I do know that this is a Karen Stone pattern. I the color selection that Tee made for this quilt.

The pinwheels were made using a special template.

I am glad that you stopped by for a visit today and hope you enjoyed seeing projects in the works.

Karen

WALKING RABBITS

2011-03-18T10:28:00.000-04:00

Yes, rabbits walk. At least in my two wall hangings. Two finishes to share with you. The pattern is called "Walking Rabbit".

These are wool applique on cotton. These two wall hangings are all from stash. Most of what I have been working on lately as been from stash but yet the shelves still look full. If I remember correctly, the pieces are about 18 inches wide by 23 inches long. I like the plaid jackets and the carrot in the pocket. The pattern is from an older Red Wagon book called "Another Nice Mix". I see that the book is available on Amazon. The book also has another cute pattern for two yellow chicks pulling a wagon with an egg in it. I am not going to make this one as I made a smaller piece very similar from a Buttermilk Basin pattern.

I started another wool applique on cotton project. I have all the stitching to do but you can see the work in progress as it is right now.

The applique design is from a Blackbird Designs book. I will give you more information on that as the project progresses. This block is supposed to be the medallion center for a wall hanging. Just have to see how things come together.

I am off to eat my breakfast and then start stitching. Check back with me in a couple days for a progress report.

Karen

APPLIQUE WORKS IN PROGRESS

2011-03-15T21:25:00.000-04:00

A quick post to share some of what I have been working on.

This is one of the pieced filler blocks that goes into the applique basket quilt I have started. An easy block to make.

This basket block is certainly a different style as far as the basket itself. Not hard to make but takes some time.

And finally, an applique wall hanging that is partially done. It will have a round of vine, leaves, & flowers that goes in the border areas that do not have the triangles. I forgot to make the bias vine strip and need to do that before moving on with the project.

I am stitching on two spring wall hangings and should have something to show you soon. I am always busy with one project or another. Hope you enjoyed the view.

Karen

CHRISTMAS QUILT-ALONG PART 2

2011-03-12T21:43:00.000-05:00

The quilt top is finished. If you haven't read the first post, the pattern I used is "Nativity Quilt" by Cheri Safiote-Payne. I made a couple changes but not much. I just finished sewing the last border on. A good day of sewing.

I finished doing the embroidery of the words on the quilt this morning. Then I went back to the machine to complete the stitching around the appliques. And last, the borders. I like the Folk Art look of this quilt. Not everyone's cup of tea but it is mine. I am happy with the piece. Now to quilt it.

Karen

CHRISTMAS QUILT-ALONG PART 1

2011-03-12T00:01:00.026-05:00

Today is the Christmas Quilt-Along for March. I started stitching on my project on Friday evening because there is a lot of applique shapes to machine stitch around. This is what I am working on.

The pattern I am using is by Cheri and is called "Nativity Quilt". Here is a link to the pattern. You will find the pattern on page two of the pattern section. Take a peek and you can see what a finished quilt looks like. I still have a good bit of stitching to do around the applique shapes. And there are words to be embroidered. I have the words already marked on the background but I don't think you can see them. There is a pieced border that is sort of piano key style that needs to be made also.

I love Folk Art style quilts. I made twin Nativity quilts previously. You can see what one of those looks like here. That particular quilt was made from a Red Wagon pattern called "Manger".

Back later in the day to show you my progress. If you are participating in the Quilt-Along, I will be around to visit your blog and see what you are working on.

Karen

Wool Garden and Blessings From the Hollow

2011-03-10T11:40:00.000-05:00

The wool on cotton blocks have all the stitching done and have been sewn together with the rickrack. The top now goes to Mary of Quilt Hollow to work her magic with machine quilting. This is her quilt and it has been enjoyable doing the stitching for her. I think she plans to do some fancy stitching on it. The wool border is to be attached after the quilting and binding are done.

Next is a quilt top I recently completed. It is made using the pattern "Blessings From the Hollow" which is in Kim Brackett's book "Scrapbasket Sensations". The quilt in the book was made by Mary who has the "Quilt Hollow" blog. She used the Moda line of fabric called Blessings. I was able to find two jelly rolls of the fabric at a good sale price and also yardage for the backing from the same line. I liked Mary's choices of which fabrics she put together for each block and did the same. I like the way the top turned out. Now to have it quilted.

The last thing I want to share with you today is an applique block. It is not laying quite flat on my design wall and I will have to check if there is an adjustment that needs made or if I just didn't hang it very well. The block will look familiar if you look back here. It is the same as one of the blocks I appliqued for Mary last fall. Her quilt top is complete and now I am making one for myself. The project will probably be a while in the making because I have other applique projects I want to work on at the same time.

I have other pieces and parts already stitched for the quilt. Some of the filler blocks. This is the first applique block though.

It is a rainy day here. We need it so I won't complain. A good day to sit and stitch. Nice to have you visit and come back soon.

Karen

MADELINE, UNCLE SAM, & SEASONS STITCHERIES

2011-03-07T12:58:00.000-05:00

Three finishes. I am on a roll!

The first is a stitchery project called "Seasons" by Primitive Stitches. Easy stitching. And you can order a pattern set that was designed with Canadians in mind.

I very recently pieced "Madeline", a Schnibble pattern. I took time to quilt and bind it. It will be rolled and stored on end in an old wood box with some other small quilts.

The third finish is "Uncle Sam". I pieced him last fall. I decided it was time to quilt and bind the piece so I would have it to display this summer. He has long legs. The angle I took the picture makes them look even longer. He reminds me of a 4th of July parade with Uncle Sam on stilts walking the parade route. I used a Country Threads pattern. On their website, it says it is a rotary cut only quilt but it does have those applique stars and the beard. I fused them on and then stitched by machine around the edges.

Back to stitching!

Karen

TWIN QUILTS

2011-03-04T11:00:00.001-05:00

I finished the twin quilts. Not identical twins but close.

I can't figure out why there is a spot showing on the top of one in the photo but there is no spot on the quilt. Maybe from the flash. Anyhow, one is for a friend that I have never given one of my quilts. She likes prim style so I hope it makes her happy. I had to make one for myself also. The pattern was designed by Cheri and is called "Monday's Quilt".

I am doing a set of stitcheries. There is one for each month of the year. The photo is a bit dark and I will show better ones in a later post.

The designs are by Cedarberry Stitches. Eight more to go.

A friend sent me a wonderful package of wool pieces to add to my stash. It is good when a friend looks out for you!

I have several more things in the works and will have more to share with you soon. Come back for another visit.

Karen

CELEBRATION FINISH

2011-02-23T16:03:00.000-05:00

Some stitching going on here but not as much as usual. I did finish the sunflower piece.

I did the applique last fall and have finally taken time to machine quilt and do the binding. The pattern name is "Celebration" and is a Joined at the Hip pattern from the book "Olde Farm House".

I am making two smaller size quilts from the same pattern. I am about to finish the applique on one and have all of it to do on the second. The applique goes fast though. The pattern I am using is by Cheri and is called "Monday's Quilt".

I finished the last two wool basket blocks. Now I need to go back to the directions and do some reading to see how to put things together and then do the final wool applique.

I also made four more blocks for the "Blessings From the Hollow" quilt pattern. I have seven more to make and then the pieced border. I will show the progress in another post.

Has anyone joined the member part of Sentimental Stitches? I am just wondering if the monthly cost is worth what is available and if you can stop at any time that you want to.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I am working on.

Karen

CATCHING UP

2011-02-14T12:59:00.000-05:00

My DH says that I am trying to catch up for six weeks of not being able to sew. I have been enjoying being back in the sewing room playing.

Yesterday, I finished the top "Santa in the Woods". If you followed my posts from Saturday, you will remember that I participated in a Christmas Sew-Along. Still needs quilting but plenty of time for that.

I made a Schnibble last week from the pattern "Madeline" using French General fabrics. Enjoyable sewing.

I made the quilt top from a bundle of fat quarters instead of charm square packs. I used four of the fat quarters to piece together backing.

Yesterday, I made two blocks for the 1880 Sampler Quilt. There is a link on my sidebar to the patterns. My blocks don't look particularly square in the pictures but I think it is the angle I took them at.

Below are pictures of all the wool on cotton basket block that I have finished the stitching on. Two big blocks to go for the main body of the quilt.

Whoops, I see I repeated one of the wool basket pictures.

Next I made a sample block for "Blessings From the Hollow".

I am waiting on another jelly roll to arrive before making more blocks. I am very pleased with the look of the block.

Off to do some stitching. Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Karen

CHRISTMAS QUILT-ALONG PART 3

2011-02-12T22:50:00.000-05:00

This will be my last post for the day. The project is not done but I have accomplished a lot.

The hand applique of the cabin & chimney is done. The stitching of the wool Santa is complete. There are berry branches to embroider yet. Those will be by Santa's arm on the left side of the picture. The trees and heart need machine stitching around the edges. Then a border to be added to the top. I hope to finish the top tomorrow some time.

It has been a fun day. Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Karen

CHRISTMAS SEW-ALONG PART 2

2011-02-12T16:14:00.000-05:00

Here is where I am on the Christmas project for today.

This pattern combines techniques. The trees, heart & Santa are fused and will have the edges stitched by machine. The cabin parts are to be hand appliqued on.

I have the strip set made for the cabin though right now it is covered by the freezer paper template I made. I am going to be working on the hand applique in just a few minutes. I think I will use wool for the Santa.

Back later.
Karen

CHRISTMAS QUILT-ALONG

2011-02-12T11:40:00.000-05:00

I discovered this morning that there is a monthly Christmas Quilt-Along going on. I have decided to participate. Cathi from Shakerwood Quilts is the host today. I haven't had time to add the button for the quilt-along but will try to do that later today. Cathi just posted a very pretty Cherry Chocolate Kiss cookie recipe on her blog that looks yummy.

I have decided to work on a smaller size applique project called "Santa in the Woods". The pattern is by Sandy Gervais and I found it in the special winter 2010 edition of Quiltmania.

The magazine was a gift from my blog friend Paulette. It has 12 projects for a "Country Christmas". Several are by Sandy Gervais. In my opinion, there isn't a bad project in the magazine.

I am off to the sewing room.

Karen

WOOL ON COTTON BASKET BLOCK UPDATE

2011-02-07T11:36:00.000-05:00

It is hard for me to take pictures and download them right now. So not the best pictures today. I just thought I would share two more of the wool basket blocks that are completed.

Three blocks done and I am working on #4. The blocks will be trimmed to size before joining so the edges are still a bit rough.

I am taking a round of prednisone to help with some shoulder/arm pain I have been experiencing and am having trouble sleeping because of it. I have played in the sewing room the last two nights. My first venture in there since my back surgery. I have found that I can only work on what I can reach without bending so am somewhat limited. I cut out the parts for a Schnibble quilt called "Madeline" from a line of French General fabric in reds, pinks, blues and off white prints. I think I can manage to start the sewing together part later today. Will see how it goes. I have fabric laying on the cutting table for a Valentine quilt but I don't think there is any way it will get done by February 14th.

Surgery recovery is going okay although I wish it would go much faster. Thank you for all the well wishes and the e-mails from those of you checking up on me.

Karen

TURNED THE CORNER

2011-01-27T09:48:00.001-05:00

I feel like I turned the corner yesterday. I hope the worst days are over now. I did not take any pain medication in the day time, though I was certainly not pain free. I was able to sleep on my side last night for the first time. When you are not a back sleeper, having to lay on my back so much has been hard to deal with. I still am not allowed to bend or twist and still am in a back brace when out of bed. The brace drives me nuts! There are lots of things I cannot do for myself but that will come with time.

I finished stitching the first wool block a couple days ago and am sharing that with you today.

This was just a quick photo taken on my bed. I am using cotton thread to stitch the wool parts to the cotton background fabric. Lots of blocks left to stitch. I will not be setting the world on fire with fast stitching for a while yet. I am just happy to be able to start getting back into some kind of sewing.

Thank you so much for so many well wishes. It means a lot to me to receive so many nice e-mails. And the packages with magazines, patterns, handmade items, etc. have been such a treat. I hate days when all the mailman brings is advertising or a bill! I did a little online shopping and am waiting on packages to arrive. I can't get out to a quilt shop or show but I can still shop from home!

Have a great day and come back soon.

Karen

THE BIG "S" AGAIN AND WORKS IN PROGRESS

2011-01-02T18:12:00.000-05:00

This will be my last post before the Big "S". I am having a second lower back surgery and will be out of action for a bit. Not something to look forward to but necessary. As soon as I can sit at the computer, I will do a short post but probably will not be able to answer e-mails right away. I can tell you that I am not looking forward to surgery one little bit.

I thought I would leave you with pictures of works in progress. I am putting them away for a short while and will probably do just hand stitching as soon as I can sit comfortably in the chair.

Whoops! This is not a work in progress. I put out the January stitchery this morning. I need to get the duster out and get rid of the cobweb. It is hard for me to lean over as low as this contraption sits and I can't see the cobweb except in the picture. LOL!

I finished part three of the Raggedy Ann & Andy stitchery project. I am behind as part six came out a few days ago. But I have the next three parts traced and ready to do the embroidery on.

I am just beginning to add the wool applique to "Soot & Ashes". This project was on Cheri's blog in the fall. There are two vines with leaves & flowers to add and some other border things. All will need hand stitching. This is a smaller size quilt. I used Civil War reproduction fabrics for the blocks.

I know these are snowmen heads but don't know if you can tell that. I have embroidery to do around the inner border about "Let It Snow" and buttons and snaps to add for the eyes & mouths of the snowmen. The carrot noses are wool and will need hand stitching. I used the "Fruit Cake" line of fabric. I am not big on using Christmas prints but these have a "grunge" look to them. In fact, the somewhat solid looking fabrics in the line are called "grunge". I don't have many winter quilts so this will be a good addition.

Even though Christmas is over, I am still working on Christmas quilts. This is a work in progress from a Nativity pattern by Cheri. Her quilt used wools for the applique but I used cottons instead. The pieces are fused on and will need machine stitching around the edges. I have another Christmas quilt that I will be doing hand applique. I don't have time to hand applique every quilt I want to make, so this being prim style, I used a quicker method. I have the words traced on that will need hand embroidery. The quilt will get a pieced border after the stitching is all done.

I changed my header photo to the Snowbound quilt. I have shown it on my blog more than once but it is my favorite winter quilt. I put it out today for display. I need winter quilts and want to concentrate on adding more to the mix.

Our December was the coldest on record for Florida. Now we are above average in temperature. It was 80 degrees when we were out earlier this afternoon. Hope all of you are staying warm and toasty and those in the Southern Hemisphere not too warm! I'll be back with you as soon as I can.

Karen

CHRISTMAS QUILT UPDATE 2 AND A NEW SEWING MACHINE

2010-12-31T12:34:00.001-05:00

I sewed and sewed yesterday and managed to complete the inside of the Christmas quilt I posted a picture of yesterday. I am at a stall now because I hadn't even thought about border fabric. I didn't know if I was ever going to get the quilt made, so border fabric was far from my mind. The quilt shop is closed today so I will look online to order fabric.

The partial seams were about to get the best of me. There was very little of the quilt that did not involve partial seams at some point. And there were no directions on how to accomplish the putting together part. This set of patterns is from an old block of the month put out by Oxmoor House and is no longer available. I substituted blocks here and there to suit myself. It is a relief to have gotten this far on a long project.

I purchased a vintage sewing machine off of E-Bay. It is a Bell and is very small. But don't be fooled. It is not a child's machine. The attachments are full size and there are a lot of them. I always think of them as tools of torture because there are so many strange looking ones with the older machines.

The machine stores in a briefcase. The machine itself supposedly weights nine pounds. I have not weighed it but it is very light weight. The foot pedal is full size.

The case is not in the best of shape. It is intact but somewhat dried out as far as the felt lining and the vinyl outside. There are more attachments under the white plastic slide out that are not showing in the picture.

Here is how the machine fits in the case.

And to get an idea of its size, a picture sitting in front of my Bernina.

I first saw one of the machines in November at an antique shop. Price was $300. More than I wanted to spend but I thought it was so cute. I did an online search for information on the machine and learned it was not a toy and billed as the world's smallest sewing machine. From the mid 1950's. The article I read led me to believe that $300 was too high of a price. I saw some of the machines on E-Bay and as low as $48 but that one had no foot pedal. In fact, I found three with no foot pedal. Wonder why. One of the no foot pedal ones is still on E-Bay for $189. A really good one passed me by at $125. I should have bid. I kept watching one that had one tiny picture that would not enlarge and very little info about the machine. I contacted the seller and asked for a better picture but he said his camera was broken. He was selling it "As Is" but plugged it in and said "it works" and does have the foot pedal. I finally took a leap of faith with the seller and purchased it for $80. It arrived yesterday. Needed cleaning up and still does a little more. Every thing but the instruction book is there but I can order a copy of one. I am sure that I won't be making a quilt using the machine but I do like smaller size machines and have a small collection of them. From reading online, they do sew but would not handle heavy duty sewing. The machine hesitates a little when I first press the pedal but I read that is the way they work.

It is after noon now and I have not sewed one stitch today. Have to get busy.

Happy New Year to all of you. We will be cooking sauerkraut and pork and making mashed potatoes which is our traditional New Year's meal. And we will stay home. We went out on New Year's Eve years ago and decided staying home and safe was the thing to do.

Karen

CHRISTMAS QUILT BLOCK OF THE MONTH

2010-12-30T10:15:00.000-05:00

I have spent the last three days working and working on the Christmas quilt block of the Month by Jeanna Kimball. The pattern set is from 1995 or so. I started working on the quilt early in 2009 but other quilt projects kept getting my attention. I have just let this project drag on too long. So, I made up my mind I was going to get the top together this week. I had lots of parts made and felt like it would not take a lot of time to complete. Wrong! I have spent a lot of time for three days on the project and still have a few blocks to make.

Here is where I am at on the project. Sewing the blocks together has been a challenge. Almost all of the assembly has been a series of partial seams. I have to study and decide what I can get together with a partial seam to attach something else. Not the most fun. The missing areas need a few blocks made to go with what I have done and waiting. I hope to get close to done today. I have substituted a few blocks for ones I did not care for. The holly wreath is going to get buttons sewn on for the holly berries. I am going to use buttons on the gingerbread man and ladies. I am doing raw edge machine applique instead of hand applique on this project. I don't think I would have done this project otherwise. Two of my friends have been working on the same quilt. I think one is probably done with hers though I have not been to the Sew 'n Sews group for a while to see her progress.

Back to the sewing machine.

Karen

FIREPLACE QUILT

2010-12-28T21:06:00.000-05:00

I changed things around just a bit. Decided to hang a quilt over the fireplace. I wanted the fireplace wall painted a different color. It is a rust right now. But now that the quilt is hanging there, I don't feel the same way about the color.

The wall looks more red in this photo.

I have been busy working on projects but am not ready to take a picture just yet. I will be back soon to share with you.

Karen

CHRISTMAS QUILTS

2010-12-23T13:10:00.001-05:00

I want to share pictures of Christmas quilts I display during the holiday season. I think I have shown almost all of them on my blog in the past but hope you enjoy a second look.

The following wool mat was made by my friend Beverly. The date on the back is 2004. The Sew 'N Sews had a Christmas trade that year and she had my name. I think the pattern was in a quilt magazine but I don't remember any of the information about which one or the designer.

And last is a picture of the Alpine tree with the vintage cookie cutters for decoration. It is hard to get a good picture in the location it sits because of glare from the window.

Enjoy your holiday season!

Karen

NEW WOOL PROJECT

2010-12-21T16:08:00.000-05:00

Just to let you know what I am working on, I am sharing a picture.

No stitching yet on these blocks. I am just in the preparation stage. I have six more to prep for the wall hanging. These will be good for me to stitch on during some down time I will have in January and February.

Enjoy your day!

Karen

TWO UFO'S COMPLETED

2010-12-18T12:35:00.000-05:00

I got busy yesterday evening and did the binding on the Wild Turkey quilt so it is now complete. Not in time for fall or Thanksgiving but done.

My picture is crooked as usual. My program does not do any adjusting to straighten so I am going to check out Photoshop when I have some time.

Hey, Lori! I should have mentioned the doll quilt to you sooner. I wrote Lori an e-mail yesterday telling her that I had made a doll quilt from her last sew-long and had not been able to find the quilt since I put it together. I had looked more than once and the sewing room had been cleaned a couple times so things had been put away. I told her that it either went to the thrift store in a donated bag of fabric or was hidden in the folds of a big piece of fabric. I needed a piece of red fabric yesterday and began pulling some reds off the shelf. I saw that there was a smaller piece of batting in between some red and black check fabric and pulled it out. Here was the doll quilt stuck to the piece of batting waiting for machine quilting. Before I lost it again, I sat right down at the sewing machine and completed the work. I should have e-mailed Lori a good while back about the lost little quilt. Maybe I would have found it a lot sooner.

I had to have done something wrong because I ended up with parts getting cut off that shouldn't have. I think I can see what is wrong now that I look at the picture. Oh, well. The quilt is quilted and bound. It will just be one of those charming quilts that is off kilter.

The mailman brought me two packages yesterday. The first was from Julie and I was bad. The little wrapped package inside said "Don't Peek" and I peeked anyhow. She sent me one of the pincushions she was making back around Thanksgiving time. Made from nine patches and a button center. I especially like that she used a plaid in red and green. A big thank you! I so appreciate a hand made gift. It is going into my pincushion collection that I keep in a Longaberger basket. On display in the family room.

The second package was from Colleen. She has been my blog buddy right from the very beginning of starting my blog. We both like prim style and developed a good friendship. She sent me some plaid squares, a prim style decorative plate and a wonderful little cushion that she made. Take a look.

She did wool applique and some embroidery on the project. My favorite season of the year is fall and this definitely has a fall look. Thank you, Colleen. I appreciate all you have done for me.

I am playing in the sewing room a bit this morning. I pulled out one of my Cheri quilt patterns that has a Christmas theme. I can't complete it before the holiday but it will be fun to work on it.

Come back soon!
Karen

WHOOPEE DANCE

2010-12-17T13:25:00.000-05:00

I am doing the Whoopee Dance (I don't think that will translate very well for those that have to use translation)! Mary from Quilt Hollow sent me an early birthday present. Look at what she sent.

This is the quilt she showed on her blog in a very recent post. Little did I know that it was coming to me. It has those stars with the long points. I find them hard to piece but Mary's are done so well. I did use the Tri-Recs ruler set the last time I made a couple of the stars and had success. And, of course, Mary's machine quilting. The quilt is made with Kansas Troubles fabrics which tend to find their way into my stash quite often. As a quilter, I very much appreciate the time and workmanship that goes into making a quilt. Mary knows how much I appreciate this gift.

I finished stitching the twelve wool flower blocks and set them together.

I don't know why I can't take a straight picture. The blocks were designed by Lisa Bonjean of Primitive Gatherings. She showed the blocks over the summer on her blog. I did a quick look and do not find the patterns on the shop website though they may be there and I did not see them. Lisa used a pieced border of small squares. I decided to use a plainer border as the blocks were busy looking. I tried several fabrics before deciding to settle on plainer fabrics. The dark brown inner border is a wood grain look fabric. The tan is a crackle print. All the fabrics I used including the wool came from stash. I will do minimal quilting on this piece.

Stash brings up a thought. How long does a piece of fabric have to be in your possession before it is considered stash? I think it is when the fabric is already on the shelf and not planned for any particular project. Or a leftover from another project.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Karen

WORKING ON A UFO

2010-12-13T13:22:00.000-05:00

I spent yesterday stitching down the wool on four basket applique blocks. You can see all the blocks I prepped here. I will show you a picture of the ones that I completed the hand stitching on.

I like flowers but am not good at being able to identify more than a few kinds. I don't know if these represent real flowers or not. I have eight blocks left to stitch.

I am sure you remember this quilt from the previous post.

Well, it is on its way to the post office. Being mailed to Mary at Quilt Hollow. It is her quilt. She purchased the block of the month kits, I have done the stitching, and she will complete the quilt. It is part of a trade we agreed to and has worked out well. She gave me freedom to change any of the blocks I wanted to. She also gave me additional fabric from the same line to add to some that I had in my stash. I can make the same quilt for myself or at least part of it but want a little break first. I will work on other projects. As I said, it is a trade of time and talent.

I have mentioned the quilt pattern name on previous posts but not on the last one. Have had several e-mails asking about it. The pattern name is "Piece and Plenty" and was a block of the month by Moda University. It was available through some quilt shops probably in 2008 or 2009. I have not been able to find it anywhere online at this time. The blocks were designed by a variety of people thus the different styles within the quilt.

I had an e-mail from a new blogger. She has posted a picture of her quilt made from the same pattern. Different fabrics. Please stop by and pay Lia a visit. Here is a link to her blog. It is in Dutch. Her e-mail to me was in English so don't hesitate to leave her a comment if you care to.

Back to my stitching.

Karen

BASKET BLOCK QUILT TOGETHER

2010-12-11T18:33:00.001-05:00

No border yet but the main body of the quilt is together. So many have said they were anxious to see the the applique baskets and pieces and parts together. Here is a picture.

My favorite block is the dark brown basket with the little triangle border around it in the top right of the quilt.

Karen