It’s Friday Again! Let’s Move It Forward and Finish It.

Today I will be watching my granddaughter Samantha so some of my progress will depend on how much she sleeps today. When she’s awake she has my full attention!

For today I’ve decided to try and finish something I started just before Christmas. Microwaveable Fabric Bowls.

Small Microwavable Fabric Bowl

I made a few to test the process and see if I liked them and then I started another set to give as a gift. The project got waylaid and so now I’m back working on it. I’m trying to streamline the process and make it a little easier but so far I haven’t really done much. I did decide to do a little more quilting on these. The test ones I made just had stitching from corner to opposite corner. The pattern said that was all that was really needed but after I washed them I felt that more quilting would be better. The finished blue one had quilting in both directions and it has been washed. The rest are just having diagonal quilting as I want to see the difference, trying to decide how much quilting is needed. You could also free motion quilt and I might try that on another set. That would be a good way to practice the technique.

Bowls in process

The other thing I would like to try and work on today is my rag doll. Either her hair or some clothes to wear.

Rag Doll waiting for hair and clothes

Hope to be back later with a photo or two.

Oh yes and I have to pick an area to order, clean, and organize. That just might be my cutting table as I need it to work on my Saturday projects.

Until then,

Happy Moving Forward and Finishing!

Rose

WWW Check In

Just a quick peek at some of what I’ve been working on lately.

Bathing Elephant Original Scribble and Embroidery

First there is the scribble Bathing Elephant embroidery that I’m almost done doing the basic lines. After that I will soak it in water to see how the wash-out printer interfacing works.

Fabrics for Mystery Quilt

Then I’ve also been pulling fabrics to consider for the Bonnie Hunter's 2015 Mystery Quilt. I’ve never done a mystery quilt before so this should be interesting.

Homemade Libby's Pumpkin Cookies

Finally cookies wound up on my plate today. I was hoping to get my thee year old grandson involved with the baking but instead I had to go it alone. These are mainly for a stitching group I belong to. We meet tomorrow and it’s my turn to bring the snacks.

A little bit of straightening up has been happening along with cutting 5 inch fabric squares for a quilt for my grandson.

Happy Stitching (on Wednesday and every other day)!

Rose

Hello there! WWW

Well I haven’t posted a WWW (What I’m Working on Wednesday) post in like forever – well not since May anyway. Does that mean I haven’t been working on anything? No of course not and if you’ve visited my Finish It Friday posts you know I’ve been doing a little bit anyway.

Okay so what have I been working on since May? Here’s a brief (I think) rundown of some of the works:

1. The butterfly vest – all embroidery is finished. I just need to add some sequins, beads, and maybe a few more stitches, and then maybe line it.
2. The monochromatic bird nest – some stitching has been done on the bird nest part but I haven’t worked on it in a while.

   

   Bird Nest Embroidery

3. The summer hexagon wall hanging – the hexagons have been stitched together and now I’m working on adding some border half hexagons etc. Again I put it aside for a while. I’m debating my choice of fabric for the final round. I thought it looked like shiny, sparkly beach sand but now I’m not so sure. I plan to use the same fabric for binding.

   

   Summer Hexagon Wall Hanging

4. The crazy quilt elephant block – a lot more detail has been added but I still have more to go. It gets picked up every now and again. I finally had to print out a copy of it and scratch some notes on it so I could remember what I planned to do to it.  Notice the upper left corner tie fabric. I couldn’t decide what to do on that seam allowance and so I tried to imitate the fabric. This is an idea I’ve been toying with, it isn’t perfect but it’s a great future reference.

   

   Notes

   

   Elephant Crazy Quilt Block

5. The crazy quilt blocks for “She Colored Everything Yellow” have also had a little detail added to them (well to one of them). Bullion loops, French knots, buttonhole stitch and more. I really need to get busy and give them some undivided attention.

   

   She Colored Everything Yellow Crazy Quilt Block

6. Embroidery has really taken over my creative life lately. Can you tell? All of my Finishes have been of small embroidery.
7. I’ve finished embroidering the Love sampler, just need to put it in the framing hoop and I’m done!

   

   Love Sampler Embroidery

8. The scribble “Elephant Bathing” that I did when I was a teenager has taken on a new life as an embroidered piece. Right now I’m just using it to test out a product. I have a feeling I will be doing more than one or two pieces based on that scribble.

   

   Bathing Elephant Scribble

9. In the mix is a scrappy quilt for our guild’s “wounded warrior project”. I agreed to do one that was all cut out from donated fabric. The pattern is Bonnie Hunter’s Pineapple Blossoms.

   

   Wounded Warrior Blocks in Process

10. What there’s more? Yes indeed. I have been busy making little tiny crochet dresses to be used as favors when my granddaughter gets introduced to the world (well to friends and family of the mom). She’s due to arrive in two weeks! Her ‘met the baby’ party won’t be until December though.

    

    Mini Crochet Dresses

11. Also crocheting some tiny doilies to finish off some already made needle “nabbers”. They just need to be added to the pots before they are glued onto a wood circle and little ladybug buttons need to be glued to the flowers. Then they are off to a quilt shop in Hawaii!

    

    Mini Crochet Doilies

12. Okay I need to make this an even dozen. What else is there? Oh yeah that’s right, I worked on trying to make my daughter a sleep mask. Wasn’t too successful in that department. The first one was too small and the second one was too tight.

    

    Sleep Mask

Not to worry though there are more projects waiting in the queue!

Happy Stitching (on Wednesday and every other day)!

Rose

Staying On Top

Finish It Friday is in process!

Some of you know I belong to a quilt guild near where I live. One of the activities for this group is a monthly block exchange.  You only participate if you choose to and I almost didn't choose to this year. Every one in the exchange receives instructions for a block to be produced and hopefully turned in at the next meeting. At the end of the year there is a drawing and you receive a particular set of blocks to use as you see fit. I say hopefully because I am almost always sadly behind. Why? Mainly because I procrastinate and only start it the night before or even the day of the meeting when it is due. And I underestimate the time it will take me to make an acceptable block. (I tend to do a lot of un-stitching and re-stitching.) So this month I caught up.

These blocks were turned in last month:

Spring Block

Brown Road to California

These blocks were turned in this month:

Gold Block

Green Block

Red White and Blue Block

So I have a block due the second Tuesday of next month (well actually I have two blocks due but not because I'm behind). We are doing two blocks for next month in order to have all twelve months complete with our December meeting which is when the names are drawn and blocks assigned. 

I started selecting the material and cutting the pieces for one of the blocks and considered the fabric for the second one. One is for a child's quilt bright, colorful and fun. The second one is the same pattern done in black and white fabric. My Finish It Friday will be the child's one and maybe the black and white one. 

Here's my start:

Frogs and Ladybugs Block

Black and White Fabrics

Stay tuned for my finish!

And yes I know there is a mistake in the red, white, and blue one! I fixed it before I turned it in. It always pays to double check your work - lol. I just forgot to take a photo of the corrected block before I turned it in.

Looking forward to finishing these today!

Rose

Hello there! WWW

Thank you everyone for your prayers and thoughts! My surgery went well. The tumor was a very small one and only Stage 1A cancer so no more treatment is needed, just watching me closely for a while. I’m feeling great just have to be sure I don’t overdo it with lifting etc.

I have been slowly getting back into stitching so this is what I have in progress this Wednesday.

I finished a block for my quilt guild’s monthly block exchange, I’m only two blocks behind now!

Scrappy Blues Block

My first fifteen minute project is now complete. It was surprisingly easy to keep it going. The day of surgery and two days of recovery did not see any stitching but I made it up later in the week by stitching extra fifteen minute periods. Thirty eight days later the monkey is now done but I think he will just go in the box with all the rest of my TAST2012 pieces. I haven’t decided what to do with them yet. (Please don’t ask how many French Knots are in that piece!) I did add ears which were not in the original scribble. Generally I do not add any lines or scribbles to one once the pencil leaves the paper or fabric but he just needed some ears so they were scribbled in.

French knot monkey 15 minutes a day priject

I’ve gotten back to working on my summer hexagon project that I started last year using embroidery designs from Wild Olive. I modified a few of them. This is my first time making hexagons and I struggled with sewing them together. I worked at it during a few of the Friendship Stitchers group I belong to. Then I decided I really want to get it finished (I have the designs for Fall, Winter, and now Spring waiting in the sidelines). So I started doing it as one of my just fifteen minutes a day projects but I got carried away with it and worked more than fifteen minutes. So it is getting done a little faster than expected.

Summer Hexagon Embroidery Pioject

Painted hoops

Next I painted some outer embroidery hoop frames in anticipation of another Finish It Friday project. I’m hoping this Friday to have some results to show.

Happy Stitching! 

Rose

WWW or What I’ve been Working on Wednesday

Here it is Wednesday again (and it's almost over too! Oops it is over. Oh well.)! I’ve finished all of the blocks of the month for 2013 for a group project I was participating in at the Arlington Quilt Guild. Yes I was four behind and had to be finished and turn them in last night. Here are the last five. The fall leaves one had to be redone because my seam allowances were way off and my choice of fabric for one of the blocks didn’t not sing for me. Here’s the first one and it’s replacement.

 

Fall Leaves 

Then these followed:

I “won” (we all received one of the sets by having our names drawn) the blue and white blocks. I kind of wanted the black and white/red and white ones but I’m okay with blue and white. I’ve always loved that combination ever since I was a kid. I actually carried around a page from a magazine of a blue and white bedroom that I dreamed about having. I may even still have the page somewhere. I don’t think I would want that for my bedroom now but I still love blue and white.

The other thing I’ve been working on is FME. That’s free motion embroidery. But not the pretty colorful flowers that your grandma or in my case that I embroidered on pillowcases but a doodle type of FME on loosely woven fabric. My first attempts at this process were dismal not to my liking. They were ok but I found it a little difficult to do. I finally got the courage to try again and discovered that I had been using the wrong type of hoop to hold my fabric. It had a ridge on the top and bottom so that the fabric was not flat on the bed of the sewing machine. Once I switched to a different hoop I was off and running. After listening to Karen Ruane talk about her process several times I realized the other mistake was not running the machine fast enough and not moving my fabric around slow enough. Sort of like trying to pat your head and rub your stomach at the same time. But I finally got the rhythm of it and now I want to do more!

The only thing now was my hoop was round and I kept hitting the edge of the hoop with the FME foot. All of the work was done in the round. I wanted a more rectangular piece to work with but didn’t care for removing the fabric from the hoop and re-positioning it. Then I stopped at JoAnn’s for some yarn I needed and decided to look around. I found this square hoop that looked like it would work. So I’m giving it a whirl!

 

Trying out the new hoop for free motion embroidery

One thing I found out was the "frame" is too high and I had to take off my FME foot and then insert the hoop and put the foot back on. That was a pain. The other thing is the hoop is too wide for the arm of my machine so I had to think about how to maneuver around the hoop. Just takes practice. And I do like it.

And I’m still trying to straighten up my work area. I can find things and get more sewing/quilting/crafting done now but I still have more to do.

Happy Stitching!

Rose 

What I’ve Been Working On Wednesday

I know, I know it’s Thursday. Still trying to get on track with my postings. I’ve been busy doing some design work for the Quilters’ Guild of Arlington. No not a quilt! A postcard for our upcoming May Festival of Quilts Show and a bookmark detailing our meetings, workshops and general information.

I haven’t used Photoshop for any design work for quite a while. It’s been a re-learning process and of course I just jumped right in with no pre-planning. That reminds me of why I should do some paper sketching first I think. I was in a hurry last minute deadline you understand. Now in hindsight it probably would have gone a lot faster and smoother if I had paused to sketch my ideas first.

Front of the Post Card

Here’s my results. 

Thankfully they were well received!

Back of the Post Card

 If you will be in the Dallas area the first part of May (May 2^nd and/or 3^rd) come check our show out!

 

Bookmark Front

Bookmark Back

Other than that I’m just trying to straighten up my work area so I can find things and get more sewing/quilting/crafting done. Still have a little more to do and then of course organizing everything will take a little more time. My husband’s comment was “wow now we can actually see the floor and walk around in here!” I think I’ll take some pictures when I have it done and post them up so I can remind myself of how good it looks de-cluttered and hopefully encourage myself to keep it that way. We shall see!

Happy Designing (and straightening up if you are like me)!

Rose 

Another Week Gone!

TAST2012:

Stem stitch or Outline?

This week for TAST2012 we were assigned the stem stitch. Oh good I thought! Ha! I made my scribble and looked at Sharon’s stitch dictionary and followed her suggestion for left hand stitching. Take the photo of the stitch into a photo editing program and flip it horizontally. Okay that worked but when I started to stitch I think I kept the thread at the top of my needle rather than the bottom. So I think what resulted was the outline stitch. They are very similar and really the only difference is the placement of the thread in relation to the needle. So now I plan to make the scribble on the computer, print it out on fabric three times and then do one with the stem stitch, one with the outline stitch, and one more with the backstitch. I’ll label each one so I know which is which. Normally when I am outlining a pattern I use a combination of the three stitches. Hopefully this will help me when I need to know which stitch I am using.

CQ2012:

February Block with progress

I did make some progress on my February block. I only have a few more seams to embellish and then add some embroidery. Buttons and beads will be added when I assemble the whole quilt. But I do have a cute cupid button (gold) and some heart buttons planned to cover up the raw edges of my trims. Will I ever learn to add some trims when I am sewing the block together? Maybe on the next one but I’m not sure I have any for April, I do have the fabrics selected for the April block. I should get it stitched and ready for the embroidery work this week. (I have to get my taxes finished first!)

Flower Basket Block for Quilt Guild

Other Projects:

I did manage to get a block made for the quilt guild I belong to. Our meeting was Tuesday and yes I waited until Monday night to get it started. What a mess. First the fabric I wanted to use for the floral part of the basket block shrunk when I pressed the seams with my iron. I had already made all of the squares when I discovered this so I had to start over again. This time I shrunk the fabric before cutting. Next my blade in my one cutter needed changing but I didn’t have a new one handy. I managed to cut my pieces but had to constantly go back where the blade had skipped one or two threads. After that I started sewing and my machine started acting up. I rethreaded and checked the bobbin case that improved it somewhat but it still wasn’t working as it should. I almost didn’t turn my block in but they accepted it. (I did offer to take it back and try and make a better one but they said no need.)

Only other thing I managed was to try and learn to feed my grandson solid foods. As you can tell by his bib it was a little messy but we managed to get the hang of it. He sits in a big chair for his feeding and I think it makes him feel important! Can’t believe he’s six months already and eating food and cutting teeth!

"I'm gonna chew on my toes if you don't get some more food in my mouth!"

• Sound of coffee perking. 
• Hum of my sewing machine
• Son's new smile 
• Daughter snuggling with Jaden 

Happy Stitching,

Rose 

Starting Over Again

Okay let’s try this again. I started out claiming 2011 to be a year of new beginnings and truly it has been! So much so that I’ve let my blogging slip way too long so let’s give it a new beginning also.
A dozen things that have transpired so far:

1. I retired from my full time job with the County of  Hawaii. How sweet it is!
2. We (myself, my husband, and my son) spent the month of June packing, running garage sales, shipping a container load of stuff, and dumping more stuff. It was rough but we made it.
3. With the help of my daughter and her husband I started shopping for houses online. They would go look at ones we found, take pictures, and offer their opinions. Finding a house took longer than expected but we finally purchased one and moved in on August 19. Funny thing is we bought the very first house I had looked at back in March or April.
4. We said goodbye to everyone and boarded the flight that would begin our journey from Hawaii to Texas. It was a difficult flight and I may blog more about that one day. (Difficult is putting it mildly). And of course my husband and I were in tears as we left our beloved island.
5. We moved in on our daughter and husband just as they were doing some remodeling on their home and preparing for the arrival of their first child. Probably another post coming on that too!
6. After moving into our home we began fixing things up, trying to get ourselves organized (still working on that!), unpacking, and shopping for major appliances and furniture. We had no car (trying to shop for that too!) so we had to rely on others for all of our traveling needs.
7. Finally bought a car with the help of our good friend Willie (my daughter’s father-in-law) who drove us around to car dealers, lots, and spent even more time looking online. Got my wish car – a PT Cruiser with sunroof. 
8.  
   
   Went to the hospital to welcome the birth of our first grandson! Welcome Jaden Kaleo Howe! Mama Rose loves you! So does Papa K!
9. Signed up for an online embroidery class before retiring thinking I would be all settled in before it started. That didn’t happen so I’m way behind with the assignments but I am determined to do them.
10. Signed up for another online class. This one for encrusted crazy quilting with the same instructor. I love her work! This is only the second week of a six week course and I’m keeping up with it. I’ll definitely be blogging about those two projects.
11. Did not get any of my UFO’s completed as planned even though I did carry handwork with me on this journey. Did start some more works though and actually completed a few of them. 
12. Started getting back into the hang of cooking and baking. Love doing it. Well except for the cleanup maybe!

Well that’s my dozen for now. Some things may have been forgotten. Here are the items I did finish:

Birds to go in my grandson’s nursery using a pattern we found on Spool. Check my daughter’s blog out to see pictures of them and the wonderful decorating job she did.
A ruffled nursing cover-up for my daughter using a pattern from RuffledBegonia on Etsy.

Here’s some pictures to tease you about my current WIP’s (works in progress) which I will be posting about shortly!

Until then,

Happy stitching!

Rosie's Monday Night Tidbits

I have always had pinking shears in my supplies but I never used them much until now.
I started using them recently to pink around some round shapes. Now I discovered they are better then cutting the corners of new fabric before washing. It helps to keep the fabric from fraying so much. I pink the whole cut edge before washing. Now if I could only find my pinking rotary blade! Better yet if we could get fabric stores to use the pinking blade!
And yes I prewash my fabrics because they contain chemicals that could be harmful to your body.
I also have been using my pinking shears to eliminate bulk in my seams. This has been great for a crazy patch quilt I am working on.

Tips I learned this month

I was having trouble with my pinking shears not cutting good and they were very stiff so I did some searching on the internet. Here’s what I found from two different sources:
When not in use oil the cutting edges with regular sewing machine oil do not use cooking oil. After a few cuts on waste material there will be no harm done to the fabric. To prevent rust regularly wipe the blades with an oily cloth, preferably of natural fiber. A spot of oil placed on the screw will help to keep an even tension of the scissor. Irreparable damage at the pivot can occur if not oiled.
Remove the scissor from the original plastic packaging and replace with either a leather cover or one made from natural fiber such as calico. This will prevent any condensation forming from the plastic. Gently wipe off the blades with a soft fabric scrap after each use to prevent lint and tiny particles from building up on the blades and clogging the screw-assembly pivot area. Scissors can be washed with soap and water if they're thoroughly dried and oiled.
A drop of oil makes a big difference. Several times a year place a drop of sewing machine oil at the screw assembly between the blades. This reduces friction so cutting feels smoother. After oiling, wipe off the blades and make a few cuts on scrap fabric to remove any excess oil.
Keep scissors in a safe, cool and dry place. In high humidity areas, regularly wipe the blades with a light coating of oil to prevent rust or corrosion.

Happy Stitching! Rose ♥