Slow Sunday Stitching--A Finish and a Start

 Slow Sunday Stitching--see more lovely items being hand worked on Kathy's blog. 

I have a finish and a start--I think I'll start with the cross-stitch first. I'm stitching a scissor weight on linen to accompany the Pomegranate and Poinsettia pincushion stitch. Both of these are on the same piece of linen.  It is SMALL, 32 count; in retrospect, working on this at night wasn't the best choice. :)

The pinkeep will be petite.  However, after completing the whole border after this pic, I found that I had made it too small by two stitches in each direction, and the center design would not fit.  I directly moved over on this big piece of linen and began again. 

This small stitch should quickly be completed and then I'll construct the pinkeep and scissor weight. I started this UFO at least 6 years ago.  Sheesh.

The other slow stitching was a binding finish.  I made a quilt from 6" reproduction print swap blocks (Fun with Barb blog) and used single-fold binding.  It has been waiting weeks to be turned back and finished but at last is done.

The wind made the quilt dance a little; it is not actually that shape! 

Stash fabrics for the binding and borders.  

...as well as the backing.  This has been in stash a long time and I love the colors. 

Isn't the pumpkin print sweet? The binding looks bowed here, for some reason, but is not.  

The quilt is about 22x32.  This patch of weeds is about the only green thing in what used to be a lawn in the backyard!  Currently in SoCal we are in excessive drought and conserving water.  Hoping for some rain and ending the worst of the fire season relatively unscathed in our county!

Doll Quilt Swap and Stitching

Lots of corny Star Wars jokes for May the Fourth!  I couldn't come up with one cornier...BUT I do remember, as a high school teenager, the original movie playing at our local theater for about three months straight, and lines of folks stretching around the building, waiting to get in!  Yes, I'm that old. The rest of this post has absolutely nothing to do with space battles...

Quilty mail arrived from Texas, from my Humble Quilts' Doll Quilt Swap partner, and it was with happy anticipation that I opened the package. Many Thanks to Liz Bushong for this charming and scrappy beauty!

I just loved all the fabrics and prints Liz used in this doll quilt. 

Mini liked the first border fabric a lot.  or maybe she was just eyeing the 1/2" center squares.

Liz generously sent this beautiful tea towel and charm with her cards.  Many thanks, indeed!  Every year I have participated in this swap has brought a wonderful mini to treasure.  If I ever get organized enough, I'll hang them all together in my sewing room.

I've spent a bit more time with my latest cross-stitch, Blackbird Designs' Loose Feathers. Not too much unstitching needed, but it does take concentration to count threads on the linen. 

This fanciful tree has several more branches to add, but I'll work on the leaves for this portion first.  I'm enjoying it very much. It is a welcome distraction from having to return to in-office work!  Luckily my commute is not far and I can come home for lunch and get a few stitches in.  Looking forward to playing with all the other pretty threads.  :)

Friday Fun

I had Friday off due to the doc I usually work for being out of town.  Grant took me out to breakfast at one our local favorite restaurants, where we sat on the patio in our own arbor.  Afterwards I made the 45 minute drive out to Simi Valley to pick up my sewing machine.  I was so pleased they did the cleaning faster than estimated, in only 9 days rather than 2.5 weeks originally allowed for.  They replaced the thread cutter blade--$9.95--which I hadn't been using as it was dull.  I'll have to remember to push that button after stitching once again.  

A quick stop in the Quilty Pleasures quilting shop across the parking lot resulted in some purchases. 

The yummy cheddar is a Ruby Star Society print.  I love that color and it can be hard to find just that shade.  The fat quarters I picked up go pretty well with it too.  

Back home, I stitched on the label to the Humble Quilts doll quilt and got it mailed off to my swap partner. 

I included a fat quarter from stash, and the tin watermelon from stitching early in the pandemic shutdown--the pattern I bought today.  I hope the doll quilt pleases my partner.  The package was mailed today and expected to take about a week to be delivered to Wisconsin.  

Mini supervised from the box lid :)  The newly cleaned sewing machine got reinstalled in the sewing desk and I tested it out with zigzagging the edges of the linen for the latest cross-stitch project, and sewed up a few leader-ender 2" squares into twosies. Speaking of squares...

While cleaning up the cutting table again, the precut square drawers got a lot of pieces added!  These are all 2.5" squares in stacks about the same depth drawer...must.sew.faster....

Slow Sunday Stitching 4/18/21

 Slow Sunday Stitching--see lots of goodies on Kathy's Quilts blog. 

Still working on the Humble Quilts blog doll quilt swap project, which lacked only the binding to finish.  I studied up on narrow bindings for little quilts and cut 1 1/4 inch strips from a dark gray plaid fat quarter. After joining the strips, I marked the wrong side of the binding with a 1/4 stitching line to avoid wavy edges while using the walking foot.  One hint I had seen was turning under 1/4 inch finished edge before pressing the attached binding away from the quilt top.  The impossibly tiny binding was then hand stitched down and behaved itself quite well. I love Clover binding clips for this job. 

I used gray Aurifil thread and am happy with the way it turned out.  This needs a label on the back and then will get mailed off this week to a far away state.  

Lots of other great doll quilts are being shown on the Humble Quilts Facebook group. I'll share the one I receive as soon as it gets here.  Always happy mail!

Old Sewing Machine and Doll Quilt

I'm making progress on the doll quilt for Lori of Humble Quilts' swap, which needs to be mailed off in another 10 days.  My newer Husqvarna Sapphire sewing machine needed a cleaning and after work on Tuesday I took a long drive to drop it off in a shop which sells the same brand machines.  It was good to get out of the house on a nice day, even if I did miss my exit and have a 15 minute rerouting adventure I hadn't planned on!  The place is very busy and I was told to expect a two week stay for my machine, at a minimum.  I'm confident they know the brand so it is worth the wait. 

I had constructed the doll quilt backing with the newer machine, but had to get out my older Husqvarna machine, a Lily, to do the quilting.  Fortunately I had the insert for my sewing table as well as all the accessories and instruction book easily accessible so it was not too much trouble to get set up.

I had bought a walking foot for this model and a different one for the newer machine, and I am glad I did, because the original walking foot was not feeding properly.  

Simple straight line quilting in the ditch around the blocks and border, and Xs marked with the Hera were soon completed.  I sure missed my automatic presser foot lifter! I may add some hand stitching to the block centers. The binding has already been made and I just need to come up with a label before sending this off in the mail. 

I sewed up a bunch more four patches from the neverending 2" squares.  My cutting table is once again a disaster requiring a good hour to clean up.  The problem is my storage is getting maxed out once again and I need to sew up larger pieces faster--especially since I just bought a fat quarter collection of Kim Diehl's Gratitude and Grace, and some extra yardage of favorite prints :)

Thanks for all the feedback on the linen/tea-dyeing dilemma on the last post.  I'm going to cut off a piece of the linen and try dyeing that before committing to the whole piece. 

Doll Quilts Underway

 Lori of Humble Quilts has again invited us to swap doll quilts.  It is a big job to match up signees and get us all connected, and I so appreciate her efforts.  I showed the parts for the doll quilt I'm making in my last post.  It is all sewn up now. 

I haven't decided yet on backing, quilting or binding, but will get this off to my swap partner by the end of the month.  These stars were from Barb's (Fun with Barb) last swap.  My block is in the center there, with the chrome/black and red--some readers may recall that my blocks exploded from the mailer and were saved by a postal worker, but got to Barb after the swap.  She mailed them all back to me, along with HER blocks. I told the sad story here.  

I put together a few of the swapped blocks many months ago, and stalled at one point in a design decision. I didn't put one of my stars in the quilt, as I insisted Barb keep one. 

Quilt Math is the hardest math, isn't it?  I decided would cut sashing for the corners, and that was done quickly.  Then the dreaded corner triangle math needed to be done. I always turn to Bonnie's helpful hints on Quiltville.com for these problems, and cut an oversized piece.  Naturally when I added this it was very late at night and after trimming one section, wisely decided to wait til morning for the remainder.  A border fabric was also chosen and I'm happy with  the results. 

The cornerstones are the same brown print as the four patches. 

I love this border fabric, have zero recollection of where I got it, though!   The stars were all such yummy fabrics, I had to take some closeups. 

There are many more swapped stars in the box with my returned blocks.  I'll look forward to petting and playing with them again. 

Sewing and Remembering

Playing with options for Lori's Doll Quilt Swap on her Humble Quilts blog. 

I've been sewing some while remembering our dear Uncle Fred, who passed away last weekend--just over a month after his severe frontal stroke. Sadly, no one was allowed to visit him on his last night, as a staff member of the nursing home had tested positive for COVID.  I visited three times the last week, and he was the same, nonverbal for the most part, though did make some sounds.  He remained unable to swallow, but could move his right side and turn his head, rub his face and chest, and look out the window.  He offered his hand to hold at times, and looked at us.  

Our brother Kevin has been handling most of the heavy work, setting up for burial and in contact with staff at the nursing home and his senior living home.  My sister and I spent most of one day boxing up all of Fred's belongings from his studio apartment.  Not much was organized--we found odd things together in drawers, cupboards and closets.  Some boxes had never been opened since he moved in.  His grade school and high school report cards were in three different spots.  I found his Navy bonnet in the nightstand...

Fred was in the Navy for 3-4 years after one year of college.  I always thought he was stationed in Alaska, and our Dad reported he sailed to the Kodiak Island station from Pearl Harbor, which I had never known.  In another place I found a Navy manual. 

This must have been their father's, as it was published in 1944.  Grandpa joined the Navy during the last part of World War II and was a Cook on one of the first ships to reach Japan.  

Fred saved this bear plaque he made in grade school.  There were tons of slides and photos from many trips, and a vintage manual typewriter in its original case.  We were very very tired but got everything ready for our brother and nephews to load up and take away.  On our way out, one of the residents greeted us and said how well-thought of Fred was there, and that he will be missed.  We are all glad that he spent his last few years among so many folks who liked and appreciated him. He will be interred in a National Veteran's Cemetery here in California.  We hope to have a celebration of his life when COVID eases.  Our Dad and brothers will always cherish memories of all the card games, backgammon, and chess games they played and lost to Fred!

Humble Quilts 2020 Doll Quilt Swap-Linky Party

Lori of Humble Quilts blog has been having a wonderful doll quilt exchange for a number of years, and I have participated frequently.  I previously showed the quilt I made for my swap partner in Canada--who has yet to email that the little quilt was received, fingers crossed it was! Now we are sharing the quilt we received from our partner.  I have shared on Lori's FB Humble Quilts group page already the lovely work of Dana Wild,  which received a lot of attention, as it should!

 Mini closely inspected the little quilt, and definitely appurroved the sweet tiny prints in the Churn Dash blocks, hand quilting, and the coffee staining.  I'm a lucky swapper!

Linking up with Humble Quilts blog Exchange post--lots of wonderful little quilts to enjoy there.