Slow Sunday Stitching--Strawberry

 Slow Sunday Stitching-- Joining up with Kathy's Quilts today with the project of the moment. 

Lori Holt Stitch Cards design.  She stitched her sample on a darker material than what I had on hand, this white Aida pre-stretched canvas. I added a few stitches with a single strand of green to make the strawberry flower stand out more.  Once I finished the teal blue border, I decided to add other motifs to the corners, from another card in the pack. 

The tiny strawberries are cute and fast to stitch.  I may also choose to add the flower and stem, from that same card, along the sides of the border.  Soon I'll need another project to stitch. 

We had a visit from our youngest grandson and our son this morning; Daddy was giving his very pregnant wife a break and they rode over on their bikes. 

Dane enjoyed a cinnamon roll, got his favorite toys out of the toybox, and talked up a storm, as usual. 

Birthdays and Shopping, Sewing

Last of August, hard to believe the month has finally come to an end!  It is a very full one for our family, three birthdays, the last two celebrated together.  Our son and his son have birthdays a week apart, so they celebrated them together last weekend. Here's Dane with his sack, hunting for toy dinosaurs hidden around the yard, with his younger cousin watching with his other Grandma and Aunties. 

Mama hid a lot of toy dinos in the flowerbeds, there was even digging needed.  The boys all had a great time on the hunt. Pin the tail on the Dino, there in the background on the house, was popular as well.  

Here's Dane looking pensive before singing and cake being served.  I didn't get any photos of him smiling, but plenty of video.  Just after he got his mini bundt cake, he pretended to let a plastic dino toy take the first bite, so cute. 

And here's the adult birthday celebrator, Nick, hanging out with his nephews and sisters.  It was a fun party and great to be able to get together for pizza and cake, presents and family time. 

Daughter Elaine finally found a spot to squeeze me in for a haircut and color--much needed /overdue.  I went downtown early and did some thrift store shopping. I was sad to see that my favorite Salvation Army thrift store closed or moved, but there were plenty of other shops. Of course I always look for fabric and most of the shops did have some. One nicely packaged trio of cuts was $1.99 and I snapped it up. 

This Egyptian print was just over a yard of fabric, very nice quality and unwashed.

Being that well-aged, it is even 45" wide. I've never heard of this company, though.  The other two conversation prints were over two yards each. 

Asian tigers in a rich  print...

and Asian figures and flowers on the other.  These also appear never to have been washed.  They will make great backings.  

Some sewing did happen recently, more work on the bookshelf quilt. 

I decided to add more detail to the bookends I made a couple of weeks ago, aiming for a "brass" detail at the base.  I also grouped two books in a tilted block setting. 

Directions are from the Fabric at Work Bookshelf Quilt Pattern.  

I was happy with the way these turned out.  Lots more sewing to do and detail decisions to be made!  

Slow Sunday Stitching--Cat/Chat Progress

 Slow Sunday Stitching--see more great needle and thread projects on Kathy's Quilts blog. 

I'm getting stitches into the Cat/Chat DMC kit here and there.  I like to prop up in bed and stitch at night--it is certainly warmer upstairs and I have a Ott light I can see well with. 

One thing I really liked about this kit was the embroidery details stitched on top of the cross-stitch, once completed.  I'm looking forward to that part. 

We got the grandsons together the other day after Grant picked up Hunter from school, and I was watching Dane while our DIL was working.  His mama had bought a huge bin of wooden train tracks and all the trains for $20 at a garage sale.  Hunter had a grand time making a big track.  Dane mostly pulled pieces out of the build, but I watched him and put them back. 

He was riding the foam roller earlier :)

Christmas decorating has begun.  We are getting our tree today after I get my COVID booster at the pharmacy. Lots and lots of boxes were opened and rummaged through yesterday.  

I saved room for the tree :)  

This year's Mischievious Kitten is pretty cute.  Santa gets one less cookie!

Slow Sunday Stitching--last of November

 Slow Sunday Stitching--see more lovely projects on Kathy's Quilts blog. 

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving.  We had a small gathering and clean up went pretty quickly. There were a lot of leftovers that my sister and our son helpfully took portions of home!

I have continued adding to the Cat stitchery and introduced a few more colors. 

A little pink in the flower, some more red, and the dark blue.  There will be a lot of white added later but for now I'm focusing on the colored sections.  

The flower shape to the right of the cat's head is actually the end of its tail.  Plenty more color changes and stitches to add. 

Got to see this little grandson a couple of times this week.  Today he helped sweep up as his Dada was assisting his grandfather move furniture around our living room :)  I'll spend more time with Dane on Tuesday afternoon.  

Slow Sunday Stitching--Cat stitch progress and Birthday

 Slow Sunday Stitching--see more stitchers' projects on Kathy's Quilts blog.  

I've continued working on the kit I bought at my local quilt store--I previously said that it cost $5 for this DMC kit, but I was wrong.  It was $5.99 :)

Lots of stitches were added when we were vacationing recently at my brother and sister-in-law's in Arizona for a few days.  The cover photo isn't quite true to the floss shades, but I don't mind the warmer blue for the kitty. 

Our son and daughter-in-law and third grandson Dane were also spending time with their Uncle and Aunt. DIL and I went to a local park one day with Dane.  There was a huge reclaimed water basin and we were surprised and delighted when a huge geyser went off. It must have been over 100 feet high--can you see the rainbow?

Our timing was lucky as it goes off every 90 minutes or so.  Dane (bottom left of photo) liked the play equipment and the ducks and geese in the water too....but his favorite thing was giving hugs to this little girl.

They had a mutual admiration party going :)  Her brother/cousin/relative was counting the hugs.  "That's five hugs!"

I got a lot of love from family too...

I had a birthday recently and got some lovely handwritten cards from the older two grandsons.  This is Hunter's (age 5).  We are having fun in a garden, I believe. Look at all the hearts and love.

Cove, age 7, did all his own spelling.  I am happy to know he thinks I am OSOM !!!!

Design Wall Monday--Plus Halloween

 Design Wall Monday--see more design walls on Judy's Small Quilts and Doll Quilts blog. 

I got started on a promised bookshelf quilt for my niece, Emma.  A collection of fabrics from the scrap drawer has been awaiting finalization of the construction method.  

There are many tutorials out there, but my favorite was from the Fabric at Work website. Her method included cutting different widths of background fabric and sewing the book pieces to the strip. 

The seams are pressed to the background strip--I'm using Kona Black. 

I cut random lengths up to 10" and widths up to 3.5" per the tutorial and cut them apart with the rotary cutter and a ruler. Here they are on the ironing board. 

And now all cut apart.  Once arranged in the order desired, the background/book lengths are sewn together and trimmed to the desired shelf size,  about 11-14" inches.  I will add different pieces to the shorter pieces you see here, for striped or labeled ends.  There will be some objects and perhaps a plant or extra block in a frame tucked in here and there.  My goal is a couch quilt size and I hope to have it completed by December.  I'll need to pick out a shelf fabric--a mottled or wood grain fabric is suggested for interest. Surprisingly, solid fabrics were not recommended for the books.  That's fine with me!

In other business, Thanks for all the compliments on the Hedwig the Owl costume I made.  Here's a pic of the older grandsons as Harry Potter and Hedwig. 

Cove and Hunter had a great time trick or treating in their neighborhood.  Daughter Elaine also sent a video of Cove (Harry Potter) casting a spell:  "Winguardium Leviosa!", and Hunter flapping his owl wings.  Youngest grandson Dane cried when posed by the carved pumpkins, but was all smiles when he was free to move about. 

A cute little ghostie :)  

Our neighborhood was slammed with trick or treaters.  DH was being very generous with handfuls of candy at first, but then had to slow down with the crowds.  We came very close to running out of candy and I had to try three stores before I came up with ONE bag of chocolate coins!  Fortunately, being a Sunday night, the crowds were gone by 8 pm.  Wonder what I'll make next year?

Weekly Doings

I had every intention of posting during the week, but that obviously did not happen.  We were watching different documentaries regarding the remembrance of the 9/11 tragedy several evenings. I was home that day from work and watched all the horrifying scenes and tragedy.  I posted a remembrance about it here

There has been no piecing this week but I did complete cutting some parts for the Sewtopia Challenge project, from Windham Fabrics (Five + Ten fabrics by Denyse Schmidt).

While the pattern called for the large triangle to be cut from a square and sliced twice diagonally; with only one required for my project, I used Bonnie Hunter's Essential Triangle tool instead, to save fabric since they are only fat quarters. Other pieces for the pillow front and back are yet to be cut. I'd like to start some sewing first. 

I did quilt a baby quilt that has been sandwiched for some time, even the binding was made.  This will be donated to guild. 

Left over blue/gray HSTs from another guild project got some corner triangles from a mini charm pack I won.   The black graphic print yardage was in stash. 

Closeup of the prints.  Ditch quilting and some very random double lines for the quilting. I did not mark anything so they are "organic" straight lines, haha.

There was some slow stitching of binding misses, as usual.  I accomplished some of this while babysitting youngest grandson, Dane, as he napped.

He can be kept busy by putting pieces of Mr. Potatohead back in the toy bin and letting him fish them out, as he is obsessed with that toy:)  We also spent time outdoors while Mama had a Zoom meeting in her home office.  

It was the opening weekend of soccer season for the older grandsons.  Cove put himself under Grant's beach hat and called it "Papa Shade". Little Brother Hunter's first game resulted in a win.  

Green Lightning is the team name.  Hunter is the far right in the team pic above.  The girls playing in the next field wore purple uniforms and were The Purring Kittens, lol.

Cove (#2) scored a goal at his game, which is fortunately played at the same location as his brother's. I believe the game ended in a tie. He was very focused and expended a great deal of energy following the ball and getting any action he could.  

Ten Years Ago: 

Ten years ago this month, daughter Elaine was getting fitted in her beautiful wedding gown, for her October wedding.  Hard to believe it has gone by so fast!  

I made snap bags for her bridesmaids' gifts.  She put a necklace in each one with a personal note.  It's time to make another one for myself, with a wristlet for easier carrying. 

What I'm Working On Wednesday--Busy Days Til Deadline

The looming deadline for the Double the Plus quilt resulted in more cutting and sewing.  I am this close to being short of white fabric for the outer border, but until the top is completed, it isn't a certainty.  What is a certainty is that rushing causes mistakes.  Can anyone identify the one in this pic?

Give yourself a gold star if you spotted the white sashing right side up instead of right side down.  I was able to simply open the short seam of the solid sashing and just enough of the long join to resew and bring the seam to back where it belonged--the benefit of solid fabric!  There was a second fail while stitching what I thought was a completed cross block row, but I was short one cross block.  Luckily scraps were quickly cut and sewed and the last block attached. Batting will need to be purchased before final sandwich assembly and quilting.  I have already made the binding. 

Mini watched from the top of the project boxes and under the other half of the quilt top. 

I spent some time this week with this almost one year old while Mama was working in her home office. Dane is now running and very very busy. 

Son Nick came home from work while we were playing so I got to visit with him too.  We'll see the other grandsons soon and hear all about their recent vacation and fishing. 

A quick trip to the local fabric store for embroidery thread for the Poinsettia and Pomegranate project shown in the last post resulted in another purchase.

These DMC kits were so cute and reasonably priced, I couldn't resist. 

Hoop, fabric, pattern with thread already separated--so helpful to jump in and start stitching with the provided needle...just add scissors :)   

Slow Sunday Stitching July 18

Slow Sunday Stitching--join in with Kathy's Quilts weekly linkup.  Lots of great stitching to enjoy there. 

The Blackbird Designs Loose Feathers Garden of Life project continues to occupy most of my stitching time--the sewing machine has remained untouched this week. But there has been some unsewing...

I noticed AFTER stitching the entire pathway that the bottom of the house was incomplete.  Luckily the area was one color and not very dense. 

Much better with the door full length as it should be.  I also finished off the last row of bricks on the house and added the ecru mortar. 

A bit of grass, the rest of the tree trunks, the zigzag border, and the pink flowers at the top border are all complete.  I got a little start on the bird's head there below the house and tree.  Smyrna crosses will fill the bird's body. I haven't done that stitch before but look forward to working those.  

Since I accidently turned my linen the wrong way when I first started stitching this design, I will have a very tiny top and lower edge to deal with.  I found this mistake after I had completely stitched the house and half of the upper left side of the pattern and alphabet. I'm thinking of adding a fabric border but will decide when all the stitching is done.  

I did also notice that in late night stitching--without great lighting--that the A and B of the alphabet are not the correct color--they are blue, not gray.  But I'm leaving them blue, as a nod to the designers, Alma Allen and Barb Adams--some may be aware that Barb Adams passed away recently and their happy design collaboration has ended after all these years. 

And now for some Baby Spam: 

Youngest grandson Dane feeling Papa's beard during a break in eating his oatmeal.  He is pretty much full time walking at not even 11 months old.  So happy to be able to pop over to visit and help out now that our son's little family lives close by. Mama was getting in a run at the beach while Daddy had to help with inventory at work on Saturday.