Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Stitching We go.................

Wool work.............oh so comforting while you relax; just a few stitches here and there on this mystery project by Rebekah L Smith.  I found the group on Facebook, which is a closed group now.  We bought the year long pattern and each month a different pattern is released.


There is still much stitching to do--May's block is still waiting for more
stitches to be added--I'll get there soon! 
This is May's block--not a great photo though...

Monday, June 19, 2017

One Day Quilt...................

With a little help from my friends, I was able to sew up this fabulous
quilt in one afternoon!  And I was able to sew on my granny's featherweight
machine!  I forgot all about this machine until I needed a machine for the
summer and there it was!  It sews beautifully!

This was one of those summer projects that I brought with
me to the summer house--I found the bag in the bottom
of the stash bin--out of sight!
The best part of this quilt was that our group had shared
5" squares last year.  The squares were to be Texas themed

All the squares were ready to be used--just follow the pattern
and sew--Thought I was good to go when I laid out the major
part of the quilt--Well, NOT!  I didn't pay attention to the
way the background sections went--rip, rip, rip
out two sections and turn the block
and now we're good!

Borders are on and now we can say complete--the blue was
batik Texas bluebonnet fabric--don't have enough for binding, 
which means back to quilt shop or think of something else that
will work!
such a good day!  

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Summer Projects

We have moved to the summer house for awhile--Can't be there
without some projects--I looked into one of storage boxes
and found all these pieces--2" squares and some units

And there are a few finished blocks--my memory faded
till I remembered these were the blocks for "Hopscotch,
Butterscotch" by Bonnie Hunter--I'd made one quilt with
these units and have oh so many left--enough for another quilt.
I don't have the pattern with me, but think I can 'wing' it
with the blocks and borders till I get to the outside borders--
then what??


I also found a box full of these units that are the next step in
leader, ender pieces--I'll be using these as I sew along..
come join me in a sewing summer time!!

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Black and White--FINISHED!

These two blocks following are the last of the black and white--
and I'm happy to see them finished!
It has been a quick journey--25 blocks along the way--some very
large, some standard

some simple, some more complex
and now assembled into one 82" x 82" quilt!

It's hard for me to get a photo of the complete quilt--
I bordered with black although I did think about red
at one time


I'm thinking I'll ask the quilter to do red thread--but then
again, I'm not sure................
A border could be added to make it a larger quilt--
just don't know where I'll use the quilt or if I'll give
it as a charity--
Good-bye Black and White!  Hope I've got that out of my 
system!


Friday, June 16, 2017

Christmas in July!

Oh, yes!  Here come the Christmas in July ideas--good time to begin and this quilt will be finished and ready for hanging by the time December rolls around, if you stay on track...................

It's a Sugar Plum Stocking quilt presented by one of my favorite 
designers, Bunny Hill Designs.  Recently, she held a contest for
12 designs and with such response she has created this
timely quilt using those 12 selected stocking designs.
This will all begin July 7th--if you look at the blog
you can see some of the designers that were chosen.


Thursday, June 15, 2017

And It Begins With 3 Stitches

Begin with three (3) stitches--sounds easy, doesn't it?
I can begin with three stitches and create
this lovely shawl--I'll knit forever!

This free pattern is presented by Wool Feast
on their blog

And it all begins with only three stitches!!

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Our Chinchorro....................

Finally! we have a place to hang our special chinchorro or hamaca!
We were in and out of Venezuela for many years--living there,
working there, enjoying the customs, crafts, arts, food and especially the people.
When we left the country, one of hubby's Venezuelan co-workers
gave us this wonderful gift, which came from (Monagas)
Tierra de Gracia.
I had bought a hammock as well, but this one is special as
it was made with us in mind.

Just look at the detail in this tree fiber yarn, made from Curagua tree (much like tequila plant)-knotted, fringed, such decorative edges

And the stitches that enclose the loose warp threads
all twisted by hand, all stitched with loving care

Myself, as a spinner, know how tedious it is to make rope this
twisted--not an easy thing to do

Each section looped off and tied to the base warp threads

What makes it special is our names stitched into
the top of the hammock

Oh, yes, this is such a special gift!
as we swing under the tree, we remember those
lovely people who carefully crafted this with
us in mind

A Gift that will be loved for years to come...

Repurposing!

 Still cleaning out closets; finding all sorts of interesting things I had forgotten about.  Years ago, I had spun cotton and wove on indigo...