Hand sewing

I'm teaching one of my friends how to hand sew/quilt. The purpose behind this ....... to repair some quilt tops her grandmother made. They were damaged in a fire a couple of years ago. They have all cleaned up quite well (mostly smoke damage and stains) and now the seam repair work is in process.
This is the one we are currently working on. It will eventually be turned into a summer weight quilt since a lot of the fabrics are quite fragile. Once my friend feels comfortable with the hand sewing, (she's doing quite well) we are planning on having an old fashioned sewing bee :)

The fabrics are lovely BUT they vary from very thin to heavyweight which definitely has caused some issues. The seams are all nicely hand sewn BUT a variety of thread was used (including embroidery floss). We may have to replace some of the seams sewn with floss but that can wait till the others are sewn back together.
I'll share photographs of the other quilts and blocks when I get back from my vacation.

Project update - packages

My little stack of packages waiting, on my reading chair, to go to a post office. PIF gifts, Postcard Pizzazz mini-wall hanging, hostess gifts and birthday cards. The little quilt on the back of the chair was made by my friend Cynthia and I won it a few years ago in a "silent auction". She was making a lot of baby quilts at the time and since I am well past that stage I "threatened" everyone with grievous bodily harm if I was outbid :)

I've also been participating in a Postcard Pizzazz mystery make and send card. Those of us who signed up were sent items to make a card and have to return it soon. All I will say about mine is "there's a lot of laundry going on" :) Cannot do the reveal yet because the group has to do a vote. For those of you who like seeing my postcards I apologize for the dearth of new ones this year.

I also decided to participate in a "super fast collect and package" swap with one of the yahoo groups. We had to fill a baggie with items we already had then post a picture to the group. My package is called "beautiful blues".

Thanks to those of you here, and elsewhere, who gave me great suggestions for how to sign my double sided quilt.

Sketches for two new wall hangings I am working on. I have not decided yet if they will be two sides to the same quilt or if they will be separate. I've ordered fabric which I hope will show up some time next week.

I'm going to do a full size dummy run using paper before I cut into the fabric. It's very rare for me to name a quilt before I make it but these ones came to mind as I was doing the drawings.

Enjoy your week-end. We have scouting stuff going on as in Nik has badges to complete, I am sewing badges on his uniform and some of us are assisting with a friends' Eagle scout project.

Project update - mini Irish chain challenge

"Flowers in the Garden." 

The "finished" wall-hanging measures 19"x19" and has been a whoooole lot of fun to put together, except for stabbing myself in the finger and thumb a number of times :) The front is what I would consider a traditional layout and is all hand quilted. The back has a somewhat more "retro" look to it and is machine appliqued. Picture 2 is a "sneak peek" of part of it. I have to finish embroidering the flowers.

Most of my small quilts are double sided and I can usually come up with a way of either adding a label or signing it somewhere. This one I'm stumped so any suggestions would be appreciated.
I have a new quilt design in the works that I am really excited about. It's been twirling around in my brain for a while now and this morning it gelled so I sketched it up quickly and now just have to "formalize" the design. I'm not going to be able to use my fat quarter collection for some of it which means ............ fabric buying....... or begging ...... or swapping !!!!!

Melkesjokolade - Winter Time mini-quilt swap

I got a package from Norway last night - land of my husband's paternal ancestors:) Inside was a lovely star wall hanging made by Anne http://quiltefia.blogspot.com She also included a make-up bag that she made, a lovely postcard and some Melkesjokolade (milk chocolate).

The front looks like a starry night and is hand stitched. Anne said that the binding represents the sun and the back is the promise of spring to come. Thanks Anne, everything is lovely.
I am waiting for some fabric to dry so I can finish the binding for my wall hanging then it will head off to it's recipient.

Magic Carpet Ride at A Whimsical Bohemian and other stuff

I confess I have been blog hopping. My little carpet has been on supersonic. I've visited almost all the sites and now I'm going back to the ones I really like and hang out for a while. There has been a plethora of scrapbooking/paper crafts, jewelry, glass work, paintings, doll makers, etc. Not a whole lot of quilting or stitching, and so far I'm the only one doing a genealogy feature (#536) :)
My photograph is to show you what I have been writing about at my hand stitching blog. http://stitchacrosstheborder.blogspot.com/ It's still a work in progress but I am really pleased with it so far.
We have a snow day today and YES we do have snow happening :) Kris is working on her ceramics project and Nik is watching Scooby Doo and The Food Channel. He spent a good chunk of this past week building a model of the Globe Theatre for a school project.
My fabric postcard basic supplies are now replenished and swaps are in the process of being made. I'm going to try out one of Mrs. Moen's tutorials for some of them.

Fall Quilt Swap

My fall wall hanging is somewhere between here and there, probably needing the use of dog sleds if the snow is still as bad as I heard about :) It's in waterproof packaging just as a precaution.
(Just checked and wouldn't you know it the weather is now lovely in her part of the planet.)
This is my variation of the disappearing nine-patch concept. I took my original piece, studied it, and created one that did not have quite so many seams. I used the fall patterned fabric for the back.
I have a collection of stencils and used some of them for the hand quilting designs.
I'm planning on finishing up the other fall wall hanging in a different way.

Spring Blooms - mini quilt swap

I'm working on the back of the mini quilt. It looks like some butterflies are appearing. The white fabric is sparkly so I'm picking out some of the colors from that :)

Spring Blooms - mini quilt swap

Part of the front.

Juliet is most disappointed that this one is leaving our home. I may have to make another variation of it :)

From my drawer - Checkerboard

This is the current project "from my drawer". I made the top section last year then came to a grinding halt because I could not find a backing fabric that I really liked.

This wall hanging is for Elisabeth. She picked it out from my pile of tops at Christmas and said "remember that I am linear" :)

This week I machine quilted it and decided that it was not what I wanted so ripped it all out and I am now hand quilting it. I'm using a bamboo batting which is sewing together really well.

I've stitched the checkerboard section and have left lengths of floss to do an experiment. Y'all are just going to have to wait and see what that is going to be :)

It took me about a year to find the fabric for the back. Instant love on my part :) It's dragonflies and I think it gives a nice rounded contrast to the linear effect on the front.

I'm going to try a fancy border since I enjoyed doing the prairie points so much.

Collage Mania 2009 - preview

The preview of the pieces for sale in the auction are on-line.

Even if you do not plan on buying anything you should go check out the art work that has been submitted. Lots of fabulous pieces.

The goal this year is to raise $20,000 for The American Cancer Society.

The link is in my side bar.

Textile Corner - Catching up

We've been out of town hence the no posting for the past few days. We went to visit grandma in Ohio.

I have some unexpected projects coming up that have the potential to be time consuming.

1. Committee member for a charity/volunteer day in April. I'm helping to organize the quilting event. (If I ever find out who told them I can sew well I'll "smack 'em" :) )

2. My kids are supposed to be going on a 3 day pioneer trek (if they meet all the requirements) and I found out last night it's to be in "period" costume. How am I going to break that piece of "delightful" news to my teenage son. Mmmmmm.

3. Earth Day postcard exchange. I forgot I'd signed up for it and fortunately so had a number of others :)

Some other things I need to get moving along with.

1. Beginner landscape wall hanging - haven't started it yet.

2. 4 seasons challenge - I'm having angst about doing the thread painting but I just need to "bite the bullet" so to speak and get the first one finished some time within the next couple of weeks.

3. "How Many Times Round the Block?" Scottie wall hanging. I bought the rick-rack last week so just need to attach it.

4. "I Love Snowmen" - I finally got back to that over the past few days and have almost completed another snowman. They are not very big individually, approx. 4-5", but because of all the changes in color they take a long time (for me) to sew up. So far I've put in about 12-15 hours since Thursday on the current one. A few more cross stitches and the back stitching and it will be done. That will leave 31/2 to finish.

5. "Rose Splendor" - I'm at the metallic threads stage and they are giving me grief. Aaaargh !!! I have to keep reminding myself - "this is a gift, this is a gift, keep going with it , it will soon be done."

Textile Corner - My favorite time of year

My favorite time of year is Easter. I get to celebrate the birth, life, atonement, death AND ressurection of our beloved Saviour, Jesus Christ.

I've signed up for a number of Easter/spring swaps and here are two in process. The postcards just have to have the back finished and the 6" quiltie is getting a hanger and an edge finish.

I enjoyed taking the same background fabric and doing different designs on top. What is the background - a batik with resist shapes that reminded me of eggs and colors that reminded my of gorgeous sunrises/sunsets.

There are a number of religious imageries within the pieces but you would have to know my life in detail to know what they are and what they represent :)

Textile Corner - "Happy as a Clam"

Some of us have been participating in a mini quilt exchange at Postcard Pizzazz and look what showed up in my mail box yesterday. A lovely bargello. Aren't I the lucky one :)

It came from Mary Lou and it is her first exchange. She expressed concern about her hand stitching but I think she did well. It's called clamshell. On the back she used fabric with sparkly silver fir cones. (I love sparkly fabric.)

So thanks Mary Lou. We did not do direct swaps so my subdued "Dutchman's Breeches" are winging their way to Tasmania. I realised after I sent it that I forgot to put a label on the back. Aaaargh. I'll just have to send another mailing :)

Book Corner - My favorite Quilting Book

"Grandma's Best Full-Size Quilt Blocks. Pieces of the Past for Today's Quilter" by Better Homes and Garden. A very long title for my favorite quilt book.

It splits some of the history of quilting up into 4 chapters 1830-1860, 1860-1890, 1890-1920 and 1920-1950. Chapter 5 is devoted to borders. Each time period looks at what was relevent for then and gives full size blocks (minus seam allowance) to try. The writing is concise and there are loooooots of pictures :)

I've already done a number of the blocks from the book. The pink butterfly I posted about recently is a modified pattern from it.

Once I have finished some of the wall hangings I am working on I plan to re-visit the patterns in the book and sew my way through them :)

My mother-in-law has the same book and she is currently hand sewing a number of the blocks. They look very nice and have a kind of "oldy worldy" feel to them. I prefer to machine my blocks together then hand quilt the tops.

Finding my book again (it was buried in the back of my bedroom closet) has given me the extra incentive I need to finish off a number of wall-hangings that are sitting in a drawer. I'm going to pull them all out, thread baste them, and get all the hand sewing done.

P.S. I think this book works under the assumption that you already have a working knowledge of how to do many of the quilting techniques mentioned.

Textile Corner - "Pink Butterfly" wall-hanging - a work in progress

I have a number of quilt blocks sitting in a drawer that I am turning into small wall-hangings - approx. 12"x12". This is the one I am currently working on. I have some more hand embroidery to do to the center block and I am contemplating doing some beading along the bottom edge. Mmmmmmm seems to me I now have a number of small projects waiting for me to get the beading done :)