GRAPE CARRIERS FINISHED

This is finally finished, all except for the quilting and I am going to try to machine quilt it.  I have never machine quilted anything before, but there must be a first time, and this is it.  Will publish a picture when completely finished.

GRAPE CARRIERS FINALLY HAVE SOME GRAPES

This has turned out to be a much trickier job than I thought.  I started with the ultra suede and didn't like the look so had to switch back to cotton.  This meant that I had to needle turn 54 circles and keep them in the round allowing spaces in between.  I appliqued the basic shape on to the background with the blue fabric in one piece instead of applying small pieces between the circles.  I chose three colours, blue, purple and bergundy.  The pieces still look like a blob, but when I embroider the circles they should look like grapes.  I hope, I hope.

As is obvious I still have a long way to go. We are finally getting snow, so maybe will not make it out to the guild meeting tonight.

WEDDING STAR QUILT

I can't believe the past three days.  I was hit by the labrador retriever (a slow moving freight train) on Saturday afternoon, felt fine. Saturday evening foot started to swell and tender walking. Sunday morning foot really swollen, really hurt to walk, limped around for the day. Monday swelling diminished, only a little swollen. Tuesday lower back in agony, can't move. Wednesday back is even worse, once I am sitting in one place I don't move. Thursday back is starting to feel a little better, but still stiff and sore, top of leg sore.  One whack from a gentle dog and I am done in for the week.

Since moving has been so difficult I have had lots of time to sit and sew.  All of the pieces have been taken apart, pressed, new pieces cut and all of the melons are sewn and ready to be inserted into the rings. 

I have guild meeting tonight, will play it by ear today and see if I can make it tonight.

WEDDING RING STAR QUILT

This is the second half of this wonderful Saturday.  I am finishing the Wedding Ring Star quilt that I started 4 years ago, bought the pattern and material in Intercourse, Penn. for $4.00 yard, gorgeous material. 

Having no problems with this quilt until I go to put it together and see that each section won't lay flat, no matter how much I press it.  The problem is with the melons that are inside the rings.  I took a short cut and made these melons with 3 pieces instead of the 4 it called for.  When will I learn short cuts never work.

When I got home I spent last night taking apart all of the sections holding these melons. 

I now have to press all these pieces, and re-cut one of the sections into two pieces , instead of one.  Thank goodness I have lots of this background material left.  This is just like making a new quilt.  Will show this as I get along, it really is a beautiful pattern.

The afternoon of this wonderful Saturday was still great as I had solved two problems and was looking forward to getting on with them.

To finish a great day I decided to stop at the dog park, so Maggie could have a run and visit some of her friends.  The park was full of large, rambunctious dogs going a little crazy chasing each other.  A very solid and large labrador retriever crashed into the back of my legs, nearly knocking me flying, and without realizing it I twisted my foot.  This didn't bother me until later that night, and now this morning I have got a very sore foot and am having difficulty putting any weight on it.  Good excuse to stay home and get on with my quilting challenges. 

It was a good Saturday.

A QUILTERS NIGHTMARE

The quilt I just showed, a log cabin was started 2 1/2 years ago.  I decided I was going to finish it, about time, get rid of all those UFO's. 

I am down to the last block and horrors I am out of one of the materials.  I need to make the 4 little blocks for around an applique.  After I calmed down and the panic disappeared I went into town yesterday to a local quilt shop to try and get some of this 2 1/2 year old fabric.  No hope right, YEAH YEAH I found it tucked away in a corner and was able to buy a half metre.   Now after the applique is finished, so will be the quilt top.

 The start of a wonderful Saturday.

 

Quilters are the nicest people

In just about every quilting activity you hear someone saying that quilters are the nicest people.  This is true.  We all have someone that we admire and emulate their work.  The person that I admire and look up to is Suzanne Marshall, quilter extraordinaire.  She has won just about every award there is to win and has her quilts in the museum in Paducah.   I have purchased her books and have made a couple of the quilts she shows patterns for in the books. 
I was playing on the computer the other day and typed in her name. Lo and behold she has patterns for sale listed on her site.  I went thru to order and she replied to my e-mail.  We had a couple of e-mail chats and she even suggested a book I would probably be interested in, sent me a photo of the cover.  I ordered some patterns and am now sitting impatiently waiting for them to arrive.
About 2 years ago our quilt guild had a challenge for a log cabin quilt.  I started it and am now just getting to the finishing stage.

This was to have the log cabin blocks in various forms with a flower applique in between each block.  All the log cabin blocks are finished now. 

I have 4 more applique blocks to make, sew it all together and then quilt it.   I will publish a picture of the finished quilt before I start to quilt.

EASY KNITTED SHRUG

I just finished knitting my second shrug from this pattern.  The first one sold before I had a chance to even take a picture.
It is super easy and the instructions follow.

 

It was made with a chunky weight wool and 8mm needles.

Cast on 120 stitches loosely

K2 P2 for 8 1/2 inches

K2 tog. P2 tog. across (60 stitches)

K1 P1 for 19 inches

Increase 1 stitch in each stitch across (120 stitches)

K2 P2 for 8 1/2 inches

Cast off loosely.

Fold in half and sew the K2 P2 edges together.

The cast off edge is the bottom and the cast on is the top where you create a rolled collar.  This is very popular but truthfully looks better if you are tall and slim, short butterballs, like me, don't look so great.

THE BEAST (a fantastical quilt)

One day when I was looking for something I came across the following picture of a "fragment of a tapestry" ca 1420-1430, German, from the Cloisters Collection at the Metropolitan Museum. 

With the help of an overhead projector and a transparency I made up the pattern and the obsession began.  I started on February 12th and finished on June 24th, every stitch by hand.
I used some trapunto on the claws and teeth.

In order to have the scales on his back, I used the same fabric as his head and got out my box of crayons and coloured pencils.  It worked.

The mane was one of the difficult areas, as I wanted to show movement.  Between the two fabrics and with some embroidery achieved this.

I used a lot of embroidery on this quilt. After every leaf was appliqued I embroidered a centre line on each leaf and made a number of stems.  All of the applique was done by the needle turn method.   I thought I would never end sewing the leaves and flowers on the background.  Embroidery added the detail and made this animal come to life.

The finished wall hanging 5 1/2' X 5' and hand quilted in a 1" slant with each appliqued piece outlined.  The border is quilted in a leaf pattern.
I loved making this and hope you enjoy looking.  If you have any questions, please ask.

Antique Quilt restored

A while ago I purchased an antique quilt in "As Is" condition from Ebay for $45.00.  When the quilt arrived it spoke to me, very loudly.  It was completely appliqued (I am an appliquer by preference) and hand quilted.
There were no bad stains, no pulled threads and the quilting was perfect.  All of the flower pieces were worn out and only the edges of each applique remained.  The flowers were a raspberry red with madder yellow centres (the centres were okay) and green leaves and stems.  Some of the green had turned blue (from sun exposure but this was mainly on the border.  The binding was completely worn out and mainly missing.
I decided to spend the winter cuddled under the quilt with MaggieMae and bring this old beauty back to life and this is exactly what we did

I used the back of a raspberry fabric that I purchased, (the front was too strong a colour) made a template of the flower petal that I would be replacing.  I cut off the old and replaced it with a new one (needle turned).  I decided to only replace the large flower petals and leave the small as it was as a reminder of what the quilt looked like when it arrived.

There are two small holes on the edge of one border, and I could picture some small creature collecting for her own nest , so decided to leave them, in respect for a 19th century mouse.

During the winter this quilt gave us many hours of warmth and the most fantastic dreams of the person who made it.  Was it for herself as a wedding quilt, for her sister, for her daughter or for a good friend.  Applique quilts were considered very special.

Border where the green has turned blue from sun exposure.

The full floral image after repair.

It is difficult to show the quilting, but it is 1/4" apart and 16 stitches to the inch.  This was a master quilter.
The batting is cotton boles, straight from the fields, and you can see and feel pieces of the seeds.

The finished border with a new binding.

A finished and really cherished 19th century queen size quilt.  It was professionally appraised at $4,000.00.  I made a really great buy.

Remembrance Day

I have been thinking about the men in my family and what they gave.  My father was in a terrible accident as a young boy and was refused when he went to volunteer.  Both of my two uncles served.  One uncle was in the navy and served on a destroyer, as a torpeoman, and they were on patrol in the English channel.  He kept a diary of this time and tells of the different adventures they had with German submarines, ships and the one time when they rescued a number of German seaman from the waters just off the French coast.  It did not read as an easy time.
My other uncle was a Sargent-major in the army and was in charge of training a unit of soldiers in Jamaica.  He became very ill the day before this unit was shipped out, was sent to hospital and did not go with his men.  He never forgave himself for not being with his men and for the rest of his life could not spend any time with other veterans.
My husband was a young boy living in Liverpool, England and remembers the bombing, the rationing and most of all going to the bomb shelters in the middle of the night.  The noise, the smells, the missing friends, and the lack of many everyday items.  Food was very scarce.
Only one of these men was in combat, but the war did terrible damage to all of them.

Using watercolour squares

This sounds dumb, but I am complaining because it is another gorgeous day and not the usual grey November day we are all used too.  I am not going out, at least not far, I am going to stay home and get some work done.  I will ignore the sad eyes that Maggie gives me when she realizes we are not going galavanting.
A long time ago I bought a couple of kits to make 2 watercolour wallhangings.  Never did make these and so had all those little 2" floral squares sitting around.  I saw a pattern in a magazine (can't remember which one) and thought it would be a great way to use up some of those squares.  Below is what I came up with:

This is the finished wallhanging  29" X 39".

all those wonderful 2" floral squares, everyone different

I added the applique squares as a break in the business (love to applique), one in yellow, one in blue and one in pink. each of the flowers has small matching beads. Trying to give this small item a bit of pizzaz. Now that I have spent time taking pictures and catching up on the computer, I have to get dressed and then get down to work.  I still have 2 more tutu bags to make and one has to go with me to the quilt guild meeting tomorrow night.

craft show

Just got home from the craft show, went specifically to see the woman who makes handbags.  After looking at hers I feel like a real amateur.  Have to smarten up and improve my product.  The felted with needle felted designs are okay and very original but my fabric bags leave a lot to be desired.  I have to find out where to get the larger purse frames.  The small ones I get are from China, the larger ones probably are too.  I will have to spend some time on the net and research product.  It seems that I am falling down on the inner structure, it felt like all of hers were lined with cardboard for stability.  She was asking 240.00 each, and the thought that they were backed with cardboard doesn't sit that well with me.  Will have to sit down and spend more time on the insides than the outsides.

The felted bags with needle felted designs are fine and have lots of structure.

This bag is made from a thick english wool  cloth and I thought it was great. until............ it does need more inner structure and a proper handbag frame would be a nice touch. 

SNEEZIN MAGGIEMAE

Maggiemae started sneezing big time, and coughing big time, her nose is runny and full of mucous.  My poor baby has a cold.  I didnt know dogs could get colds until I called the vet and he agreed, yes they can get the flu and colds.  We finally have a dull rainy day where I could be accomplishing a lot of sewing, but am spending most of the day with a poor, sad little lady wanting to cuddle on my knee all the time.  She must of caught this cold from all the visiting and socializing she has been doing over the past few days at the dog park.  Oh well, I have caught up with daytime TV and had a good nap in the lazy boy also.  Time for bed and it is still raining, tomorrow we are off to a major craft show.

TUTU BAGS

Well I finally did it, ignored the day outside and got down to work inside.  This is the last of the orders for the Tutu bags from the craft sale in early October.

This is the beginning of a busy day. I cut out the bag, then embroider a design and the persons name in the colour of their choice.  The tutu is then added in the same colour as the embroidery.

This is 3 of the bags that I made today.  The bags also come in blue, green, pink and lavender.  I was very happy that I had finally caught up and could think of other things, when out of the blue I got a phone call last night ordering two more. I am really happy that these bags are quite popular, but I am a one-of-a-kind maker and do get really bored when I have to make more than one of any object.   But the money $30.00 each comes in very handy.
Time to go for the mail and take Maggie for a small walk, really windy and a lot cooler today, so it will be a short trip.