Catching up!

Catching up...do we ever really get caught up?

I have been busy quilting...and other things!

My wheels are quilted on my wagon wheel quilt and I am onto the 'in between' areas and sashing...finally! These sections will go much faster.

 

 

I am just following the curve of the wheel. I tried a few different designs but they all seemed a bit too much for this quilt.

 

To continue in the catching up...

 

I finished the little mini I was working on. It is so cute!

 

 

 

And here I blocked the second shawl.

 

 

 

And I finished knitting the second bag for felting!

 

 

Whew!

 

And I have a few more...but who doesn't?

 

Happy Stitching

 

 

 

 

Me time!!!

It feels like it has been a long time since I had a good block of me time in front of my sewing machine!

 

Yesterday and today I fit in many hours of sewing nourishment!

 

First I had to take care of a few knitting UFO's! I had two shawls I had knit but still needed blocking. It always amazes me how fabulous lace knitting looks after blocking!

 

 

 

The Traveling Woman shawl on the left can be found on Ravelry.

It was an easy knit and blocked nicely too.

 

 

  

 

        

I still have to block the Dinner in the Eiffel Tower Shawl. I'll get to that tomorrow because I will be needing it soon. It is knit from a heavier wool and soon it will be nice enough (but still quite cool) for coffee on the deck in the morning. The shawl will keep me warm!

 

Then I finally finished piecing my large Carpenter's Wheel Quilt. It is from a QAL at The Bloomin' Workshop . The colors are a little washed out in this photo. The grey is closer to black. It is fabulous fabric...tweedy and manly and cozy looking. It is 63" square right now and I am inclined to leave it as it is but I am wondering about borders. It will make the quilt quite large. Now I just have to quilt it after my border debate that is! I have already decided to machine quilt it in a diagonal grid.

 I can't wait to curl under it for a nap.

 

 

I also machine quilted this little mini I have had done for a while. I will try to get binding on it this week.

 

 

And... I am quilting block 17!

 

 

Happy Stitching!

 

 

 

 

 

A little quilting and knitting...

Oh my...I can't believe it has been a month since I last blogged. I suppose that won't change until I am all moved and not going back and forth every weekend! I have been suffering from lack of sewing room time! Just two and a half months to go. In the meantime I have been quilting and knitting a bit.

 

 

 

My wagon Wheel quilt is coming along! I have 13 of the 25 wheels quilted (more than half way). I am quite enjoying the process. As I have been quilting I have been giving some thought as to how I am going to quilt in between the wheels.

 

 

I still don't have a clue!

 

When I have not been quilting I have finished knitting a bag that will be felted. 

 

 

 

I love the cabled handles. This is a free pattern you can find at the Knitting in My Backyard blog.

 

 

I have one more bag to finish before I start the felting process. It's a quick knit and an easy cable pattern. I can't wait to finish it so I can get felting! That is the really fun part!

 

 

Hopefully my next update won't be so far into the future...

 

Happy Stitching!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Special Request

Some time ago my Aunt asked me to fix a quilt my Mom had made for her many years ago. I had been dreading it a bit...partly because it was a quilt my Mom had made in love and the thought of it being me working on it reminds me that my Mom is no longer with me and partly because I was just procrastinating on figuring out the best way to go about taking the block that needed repairs apart!

 

My Mom made quilts for each of her sisters. This I believe was the first 'sister' quilt and it was made just a couple years after she began quilting. It was completed in 1997. The background fabric was a woven tea towel by the looks of it. It certainly had character but didn't stand up to the love this quilt has seen.

 

I carefully removed the quilting stitches from around the appliques and the stitching from the appliques, basting the edges as I went to stabilize them as much as I could. Then I cut the background off carefully right at the seam line.

 

There were sections I couldn't get the stitching out of so I just cut away the background as well as I could.

 

My plan was to applique a new background piece just on the original seam lines and then reapply the appliques.

 

 

Here it is pinned and ready to finish!

 

 

After sewing all the appliques in place I added some quilting stitches and I was done...at least that part.

The quilt also had a house block that had some yo-yo flowers. They had become...interesting!

 

 

I steamed them a bit and flattened them a bit and just tacked them down along the edges.

 

 

 

So the quilt is fixed and on it's way home...safe travels...

 

Happy Stitching!

 

 

I'm motivated!!!!

Now that I am back from holidays, I am motivated to get started on wedding invitations. We are a having a very small wedding so I am just making 14 invitations. Later I will make announcements that we can send out after the wedding and they will have a similar feel but be much simpler.

 

Here is my sample I have been working on....

 

On the weekend I worked on the wording and the layout...

And spent a HUGE amount of time finding the perfect font.

 

This is the first version with a blue band...

 

 

I thought it needed a bit more * ta-da * so here is the next band...I added a little cream under the burlap...

 

 

And here is the inside...

 

 

And the back...
 

 

 

I am very very happy with it! I think we have a wedding invitation!!!!! I just have to find some charms I like for the band.
 In my samples I just used what I had in my stash.

I quite like the key though!

 

And I finished up a little project I had laying around part done...
 

 

I had made these before and had a request from a friend for another one so I thought I would make 5 more. You can never have enough little bags! 

I just used up a couple of old charm packs I had laying around!

Happy Stitching!