Slow Sunday Stitching--Cross-stitch and Halloween costume

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

Not much slow stitching has been happening around here, but I did spend a bit of time on the cat cross stitch project. 

Nearly finished with one side of the cat's chin and cheek. 

Last progress pic for reference.

Most of my crafting/sewing time this week was spent on costume making.  Daughter Elaine tasked me with making a costume for younger grandson, Hunter.   Big Brother Cove is going to be Harry Potter, and Elaine asked me to make a Hedgwig the Owl costume for Hunter (age 5). She bought the materials to copy a homemade costume she saw on a blog, and started by cutting out a tunic base and a bunch of felt feathers.  I took over from there, sewing all the feathers onto the tunic, and cutting out a half-circle cape from the white felt.

While there are lots of "no sew" costumes, I wanted this to last, so I used my walking foot to sew down the rows of overlapping feathers. I cut a lot more feathers in a larger size to cover the majority of the cape. This was not hard, just time consuming.  I did not do it all at once, but broke it into several sessions when I ran out of cut feathers and needed more. 

I used the smaller feathers on the top few rows.  The tunic back has no feathers, since by design I made the cape long enough to cover the whole thing.  I waited for Hunter to try on the costume before adding some elastic to hold the cape on his arms. 

We did have to trim the cape a bit in width, and I re-secured the ends of the feather rows where we trimmed.  Hunter was very excited. 

He'll wear gray leggings and actual shoes for trick or treating tonight. 

 

The elastic bands at his wrist and upper arm worked great.  I took a video of him flapping around the backyard. 

Mama cleverly bought a second pair of Harry Potter glasses to use to make Hedwig's beak and face feathers.  Can't wait to see the boys all dressed up tonight!

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. 

And Masks Keep on Coming

It seems all sewists and quilters are turning out masks as fast as they can.  I haven't sewn much else, though do sneak leader-ender block pieces in now and then.

I did take the time to make my own mask, which I wore when I picked up an order at JoAnn Fabrics yesterday.  There were some unused gift cards collecting dust in the sewing room so I ordered some packaged batting for the baby quilts for guild, and also some off the roll wide batting for larger donation quilts.  It took about three days before I learned the wide batting was not available; they credited me back with an online gift card but gave no reason why it was not available.  I was able to collect the crib sized batting curbside.  

These masks were all delivered yesterday to our daughter Elaine--she wanted a non-pleated style so the green one at the top is hers.  I got this free pattern from the Shannon Fabrics website.  It has three layers (I used batik for the 3rd layer) and is assembled stitch-and-turn for the mask and the ties. I did not do my ties that way, as I loathe trying to wrestle skinny ties right side out.  I cut straight of grain binding and folded in each side to the center and then in half and stitched, similar to how I'm doing the AB Mask pleated type.  I will note that the Shannon Fabrics mask has three sizes available.  The adult size is quite large and best for men.  I gave the first one I made to my nephew and made the Teen size for Elaine.  The four pleated masks at the bottom are for Elaine's inlaws--including her husband's grandparents who live in the Bay Area.  Spreading masks far and wide, haha.

Erica's boyfriend requested a black mask and modeled how he will look wearing it at work, lol.  Elaine's husband Chris also wants a black mask, so that will be on the agenda tomorrow, along with masks for his brother and sister-in-law.  Meanwhile, I am making masks for close friends of Elaine and Chris's and was happy to have a little 5 year old girl to sew for. 

Fat quarter stash finds for the requested pink color.  I thought the stripes were cheerful.  Little brother will get a fun blue print, no pic of that yet.

My husband asked for a mask for one of his customers, who never lets us pay when we go to her restaurant and are always so nice to Grant.  An oriental print long hoarded in stash went to this worthy cause. 

Meanwhile, I am still working from home though it is spotty at best sometimes.  Telemedicine only works with smartphones or computers with camera access and many of our older patients do not have that kind of technology.  When the doc is making phone visits, I can pick up my LizzieKate cross-stitch for a few minutes. 

There was a bit of progress today since this pic, I finished the yellow chick and part of another flower stem. I adore the needleminder I got from the Coni the Spinster Stitcher.

Finally, a fun memory from some years ago:

Tiny Cove on his Mimi-made baby quilt.  He's now six and was enjoying Kindergarten before the quarantine.  Our son texted yesterday that his son is now "half baked" as his expectant wife is halfway to delivery in August.  The boys can't wait to meet their new cousin.  Hoping the curve flattens and disappears by then.  Stay home, stay safe, people!

Stitching While Quarantined

This is a different kind of staying at home than we've ever experienced--surely that is true for most people!  We've been told to stay home during times of fire, earthquake, flood, and windstorms, but nothing compares to the novel coronavirus for disrupting all our lives.  Stitching keeps me busy and sewing masks has taken priority.  I've made 17 masks so far--16 for our Guild drive for local hospitals, and the latest for my husband at his request.  This is the pattern we have been advised to use: https://www.instructables.com/id/AB-Mask-for-a-Nurse-by-a-Nurse/

A guild member has made a few suggestions for this pattern, including trimming the paper pattern down a 1/4 inch all around before cutting the pieces, since trimming is called for later in the pattern and is an extra step.  My sister has been using a double fold binding for hers.  I continue the single fold as per the pattern, but add extra stitching at the corners of the mask where there will be lots of tension when tied.  

I used quilting cottons for the first batch, then got out the batiks box to make the next set--a suggestion I read due to higher thread count in these fabrics.  I also made the inner layer a light color to help distinguish right from wrong side.  Some guild members have also included an arrow to indicate the top (nose) edge.  Lots of fabric mixing and matching here--gotta keep it interesting!  Our guild has now turned in 150 masks that went to our County hospitals. They are aiming for 3000 so we will keep sewing.  I had to call in an order to Superbuzzy for more Aurifil thread--I'm always happy to support local quilt shops.  Our other local shop is also doing door pickup of supplies. 

In between mask pieces I finished the Tea Time charm pack top--trying to work on my March self-challenge to clear out the Hoosier cabinet. I added borders and ordered backing from Superbuzzy which I picked up along with the thread.  This will be a little quilt for our grandson arriving sometime in August.

I had the hardest time with the getting the right border measurements, since I was making it up as I went.  There was not enough of the solid blue to have just the gray cornerstones, but luckily I had the acid green print that coordinated well with the charm squares.  The bottom right corner was pulling and after I took the picture it was fixed.  I'm so pleased with the bright colors and look forward to quilting it soon. 

After picking up my quilting supplies on Friday I drove down to the beach. It was very windy and dark clouds were moving in from the north.  

The Channel Islands were visible with the sea being very choppy with lots of spray.  It began to sprinkle as I drove home through the foothills.  I stopped by daughter Elaine's to pick up some mending, and she reported a friend in Ojai said it was hailing.  Rain is rare here, and rainbows even more rare, and we got both. 

You can't really see it in the photo, but there was a faint double rainbow.  Love that!

A little more non-mask related sewing was dedicated to a companion pillow I'm making for my dad to match his Chunky Churndash qult.  The idea was born of extra HSTs that made up an Oklahoma Twister block, and yet another kind of Churndash I designed.  It measures about 21 inches square here and I may add another narrow plain border to preserve the corner design before choosing the pillow form size.  

Stay well and don't touch your face!  I may make myself a mask to keep from doing just that :)

Labor Day Weekend Doings

Ah, the Labor Day Weekend--always anticipated and enjoyed.  I was free after 12 noon Friday so got an extra half day's start on the holiday, pottered about in the sewing room playing with more log cabin blocks, cutting scraps and did a little embroidery on Sue Goes to the Orient while watching TV.  Saturday morning we went to grandson Cove's soccer game.   

It was hard to get a good shot of the moving objects.  Cove is the yellow Tiger on the left of the group.  The rules for the little players works well, they meet once a week at the same time for a 30 minute practice and then the 30 minute game follows immediately afterward.  The field is a lot smaller and they play at most 4 on a side, switching out players.  

Little brother Hunter got in some plank exercise while the action was on the far end of the field :)  The Tigers scored 4 goals and Mama Elaine had snack duty this game.  

Pretty cool banner, one of the other moms designed it, if I recall correctly.  This age group plays a very short season but they are learning and having fun.  It is pretty entertaining to watch, too!

After the game we took a drive and then it was back to the sewing room.  I was intrigued by a WIP busting idea I saw on a stitcher's blog: She proposed for the month of September working on one project for 3 days, then change to another for 3 days, etc.  While I don't think she decided to do that after all,  it sparked for me.  There were certainly plenty of choices in the sewing room!  I jotted down 10 WIPS but numbered them only for reference and will pick and choose the next as I go.  

#1 chosen is the Tea Time Placemats already started and destined for my nephew and his new bride. I figured the binding strips needed, cut and sewed the binding, then cut batting for the four placemats.  I played with specialty stitches on my sewing machine before spray basting the batting to the placemat backs and fronts.  I like to press the sandwich after spray basting to remove any wrinkles.  The Hera marking tool worked great for the few registration lines I made, mostly I just eyeballed it. 

Each placemat was trimmed after quilting.  They went pretty quickly, I only had to rip out one row of stitching where the first scallop pulled out.  That necessitated removing the walking foot and cleaning off the accumulated sticky fluff from the bottom with an alcohol wipe.  I also changed the needle and wound a new bobbin during that break. 

They were  soon finished and I took this photo before setting them aside for the day.  The binding will go on tomorrow and they will be finished.  The newlyweds have moved and I'll need to contact my nephew to get them sent to the proper address.   I did some figuring for other projects and will use some parts as leader-enders while sewing the next 3 day pick.  While I don't expect to completely finish much, just moving a bunch of projects along will be satisfying. Hope you all are enjoying some late summer sun and fun this weekend.

Christmas 2017

Our son being out of the country, our family Christmas Eve dinner was one smaller than usual.  We were happy to have our girls, son in law, and grandsons for pasta and salad dinner followed by brownies, iced molasses cookies, and of course, presents.

A smaller tree this year but just as festive with lights and ornaments.  

Cozy sweaters for the girls.  There was a slightly panicked few minutes when Cove, who wanted to use the candle snuffer, slid into the gap of the chair back, unnoticed by me as he climbed up to the table, and then got stuck.  Daddy had to rescue him, to tears and cries of "I'm going to be stuck here forever" and "we need a fireman", by forcing one rung free.  Thankfully, it was all over within a couple of minutes and after some respite in Mama's arms, he was ready to play again.  

Here he's pretending to be the knight he just dressed on the magnetic figure Mimi got him, using an imaginary sword.  

The aftermath!  Hunter wanted to try on his new shirts but then was distracted by a sticker that he found and applied to his chest.  So funny.  My darling husband completely surprised me by buying me a new Husqvarna Viking sewing machine.  I've been sewing on my Husqvarna Lily model for 15 years and it was time for an upgrade, but I had yet to start looking. After trying out the Tribute anniversary model he brought home,  I'm going to go one grade higher to the Sapphire 930 model with a 10" harp, so have that on order now.  Can't wait!  

The stockings I made for the boys came out nicely, at last, after further adjustments to several seam allowances, grading, and refitting.  I drew up the initials and used a whip stitch to attach felt letters to the cuff.  Some mini pompom trim and a ribbon added a lot of charm.  Elaine was very happy with them and Erica wanted to know where hers was :)

Christmas Day found us mostly lounging around enjoying breakfast with Erica and watching the Yule Log on TV, then I set to work on the two cheesecakes I needed to make for dinner at my folks' house in the late afternoon.  Numbers climbed quickly and I think 30 was the final tally for dinner, though more came and went!  Luckily the weather was good for those eating outside on the deck. 

(Hi, Honey, waving to the camera) Grant with two of my brothers and a nephew.

Brothers, nieces, nephews, daughter, sister, grandson and my dad.  Sister Kathy made caramel sauce, Grandma's fudge, and a fantastic potato dish, brother Kevin was barbecue master extraordinaire as usual with the prime rib steaks.  Many thanks to my brother Ted and sister in law Laura and family for doing so much of the prep work and set up.  We've had more time to relax and hang out, I've got some sewing done, and delivered a baby quilt today to daughter Elaine's best friend and her husband. 

Here's the beautiful little family with one month old baby Grace as the star.  They loved the quilt and I hope it gets plenty of use.  So fun to hold a new little girl.  (Pattern is Signed, Sealed, Delivered from APQ magazine, April 2017).   I'll be working tomorrow but then get another few days off before the holidays are over.  Love that!

July is Here

Like everyone else, I'm wondering how June passed by so quickly.  We're trying to enjoy the last few days of our staycation.  We had a lovely breakfast out Friday with daughter Elaine and our grandsons and I remembered to take pictures.  

 Elaine and Cove (3).

 Hunter (16 months) cleaned his plate. Good boy!

He burned it off running outside on the "tarmac" play area of this restaurant at the airport. You can see his grin as he was running away from Mimi.  Always so fun to be with these darling grandsons.  I'll have a full day with them this week as their daycare is closed for vacation  and Mama's hours altered by the holiday.

Cross Reference blocks are just about done.  I limited the rust blocks to 8 and that means I'll need 5 more of the blues.  Must decide if I will repeat a couple prints or try to make them all different.  There are about three more choices in the stash and I can live with a couple of repeats :)   Meanwhile a trip to Superbuzzy for the solid fabric for the "B" blocks was successful.  I cut the cream and Kona Prussian Blue pieces today. 

This pretty blue color always draws me in.  I got stitching right away and have the pieced small squares all done in their rows.  Only 11 pieces in these blocks so they will sew up much faster than the 31 pieced ones.

Also in the sewing room today I hemmed some pants for my Dad.  The fabric was a heavier brushed twill so I decided to use my zipper foot to make it easier to get close to the folded edge, which I'd never thought of trying before.  

It was very effective and I will remember that for future machine stitched hems.  My Dad has a small blue companion, Bear, who often has adventures of his own, which I've chronicled from time to time.  I got this picture from Dad the other day:

It was titled "Bear looking for leftovers in the Chick-fil-A bag".  So silly :)  

Our staycation will be over tomorrow but we have had some nice times and got things done around here--not as much as our ambitious list but enough to make continuing tasks tolerable.  Mail sorting, paper purging, filing, and paring down "stuff" will always be on the list!