Embroidery~~

My second love! LOL

I seem to be stuck on redwork lately, but I do like embroidery in all colors. :-)

I got my top for 'I Believe in Snowmen' from Bunny Hill Designs all together~

I just need a nice day to get it quilted. :-)

Today is not the day!

It is raining and very grey outside.

And that is why this photo is so dark~

 Sorry! :-/

I just put the finishing stitches on 'Oh Come Let Us Adore Him' and the pattern is from

A Piece of Work Designs

It is approx 14 x 17 inches, once I trim it up.

I think I am going to border it and use it as a wall hanging.

I don't have much wall space for framed things, so this way I can change it out for the season.

What are you working on?  

I need to pick a new handwork project now. ;-)

(No worries~ I have lots of patterns! LOL)

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!!

Where Have I Been?

LOL, now that is a very good question!

It seems life has just intruded on my blogging time this month. :-)

I hope y'all are still out there! 

I received the next block in my Mystery Sister block swap~

Isn't it a beauty? 

I just love the autumn colors!!

I can't show you the blocks I've sent, its a secret. ;-)

I've also been working on my Bunny Hill, 'I Believe in Snowmen' embroidery and I started another smaller embroidery~

In the April 2014 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting

there was this cute little tote by Pretty By Hand

I think it will be so cute for my DGD for Easter. ;-)

And it is really quick stitching. :-) 

Hope you are having some fun in your sewing room too!

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

Embroidery...

I love doing hand embroidery!

In the evening, with my feet in the air (recliner) LOL,

sipping on a hot choc and watching a little TV~ there is nothing that I like to do more.

I need to keep my hands busy. ;-)

Between smaller projects, I have been working on the panels for Crabapple Hill's

'Over the River and Through the Woods' pattern.

I have the two largest panels completed and now need to trace the words~

Sorry for the dark photo~ it is a gray day here. :-/

I am using Perle 8 for this project and have really been enjoying the part where I don't need to separate threads. ;-)

I have also started on 'I Believe in Snowmen' from Bunny Hill Designs.  I am doing this one

as part of sew-along with my HGTV quilting friends. 

Remember last year we did the 'Merry, Merry Snowman' quilt? I think this year will

be just as much fun as the ladies have all been choosing their colors and planning

their quilts. As for me~ I am sticking to red/white, and embroidering with perle 12. I love it!

I will show you the blocks as I finish them.

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

Getting My Year Started...

I've worked a bit ahead on my BOM but I can't show you that! Too many of the ladies now peek into my blog. LOL  (hi Jill!)

But I've got lots of other things in the works~~
First, my new  DGD needs a quilt.  I was having a hard time coming up with a pattern/idea and a friend came to the rescue!  She gifted me a project she was no longer interested in finishing. The colors were perfect!  And with a little playing around I came up with this~

My friend had all the fabrics for the top and a couple blocks cut out, as well as all the big green flower-like squares. I think I got the fun part! I sewed a few more blocks and played. LOL  Now I need to get it quilted~ as soon as the weather warms up a bit I headed off to do lots of quilting! ;-)

Slim the Snowman is a project from the Primitive Quilts magazine.  It was love at first sight. LOL And since I got some of the new binder clips in my Christmas stocking, I am going to give them a try. After the binding is on, the fun begins~ adding wool embellishments, buttons, etc. :-)

And when I don't have binding to sew down, I like to stitch in the evenings. I purchased this pattern last fall when visiting Branson, MO. It is Crabapple Hills 'Over the River and Through the Woods'. The tracing took a little time, but last night I finally got to get a little stitching in. :-) There are 2 more panels after this one..so this is definitely a long-term stitching project!

I hope you are finding plenty to keep you in stitches too!
Until next time~
Happy Quilting!!

Stuff~

LOL, sorry I just couldn't come up with a snappy title! :-)  I know you are all wondering who the winner of my giveaway is, so I'll tell you first. But I hope you do read on when you find out it wasn't you! :-/ I wish I could give things away to every one of you who took the time to comment and suffer through the word verification!  BTW, did you know that you don't have to capitalize the letters for them to work? At least that is the way it works for me~ as long as I list the right letters, it works. ;-)  Thank you all so much for your visits!

Ok, the random number generator thing picked~~

Clara! from Clover and Violet  :-) Congratulations!!!  I hope you enjoy my little bag and the tape measure. I gotta say, I feel a little funny sending something I made to a pattern designer! :-o  But on the other hand~ do you make things for yourself? I usually make for everyone but me, so hopefully you will find a use for my little bag. :-)

Now for 'stuff'~ :-)

I have been sewing!  I am in a string block swap where everyone chooses what colors they would like their blocks to be. We had a lot of interest in 'ocean colored' batiks, so I have this pile to trim up. I enjoy sewing string blocks, and making string quilts~ they always surprise me because the fabrics available to me are so different to some of the other swappers fabrics. Do you find that different areas of the country seem to have different selections? When I was in Missouri, I didn't see a single fabric that I have locally~ weird, huh?

I love to sit and stitch in the evenings. And with it getting darker so much sooner, the evening seems longer!  I just finished Santa. I need to rinse out the Sticky Solvy and get borders on him. And then I am thinking about aging him a bit~ have you done that? Any tips for me?  ;-)

I guess that is all the 'stuff' for now. :-)  I hope you are keeping warm and safe. I feel so bad for those on the east coast who are suffering so! I sincerely hope the weather changes directions for them and they don't get another storm!

Until next time~
Happy Stitchin'!

A Bit More Stitching~

It isn't as finished as I hoped it would be by today, but i thought you'd like to see it anyway. :-)

This is a Sherri K Falls pattern called Berries and Boughs.  It should be a really quick little quilt. ;-) But I had to be different. LOL I did the twilling stitch around the cardinal. I saw this stitch a lot when I was in Kansas and Missouri and just had to play. :-)  I really like how it turned out.

 This is a little closer look at the stitch~

Hopefully, if you click on the photo's they will enlarge a bit more.

Hope you are finding a little stitchin' time too!
Until next time!
Stitch Happy. :-)

I ♥ Stitching!

I stitch almost every evening~ after watching the Olympic trials, there really isn't much on TV, so I stitch!

These towel designs are free from Bird Brain Designs every month. I found the hand towels at Target in January. Unfortunately~ they don't carry them any more, and I only have 9. Not sure what I will do when I run out.

This is also a Bird Brain Designs pattern called 'Quilts in the Garden'. I finished it up earlier in the week and I'm patiently (ok, maybe I'm not so patient ;-)) waiting for hubby to make a frame for me. He might start this weekend! ;-)

I think if it you click the photo, it will enlarge a bit ;-)

I need to find a new project now. ;-)
Hope y'all have a great weekend!
Until next time~
Happy Quiltin'!!

A Little Fun~

I finished the March and April BOM's from Bird Brain Designs over the past few days. I just have to rinse the Sticky-Fabri Solvy out of them~ you can see it is a very sheer substance. I love using it! Just a quick rinse in cold water and it is gone. No muss, no fuss and best of all~ no tracing! :-)

This is a block I made from an EQ7 pattern for a block lotto. I am going to retreat for the next 4 days. :-) Our theme this year is a Quilting Fiesta. I got sent a 7 inch square of the black fabric that has the orange, yellow, green and turquoise in it and had to make a 12 inch finished block. Nothing like waiting til the last minute. ;-) LOL  We also have classes and a FQ lottery. Oh!~ and a fabric shop sets up right at the retreat for us!! :-) Oh yeah~ it is going to be fun!! :-)

Today I am packing up my machine and projects. Oh! ~ and suitcase! LOL Checking twice to make sure I don't forget anything. ;-)  Hope y'all have a good weekend~ I'll be back Monday!

Until then~
Happy Stitchin'!!

Mystery Solved~

Thanks to my friend Karen at Briarside Lane I now have an answer~

The designer of the wonderful sewing machine graphic is Ursula Michael. It is a counted cross-stitch pattern and you can find it here~ The Stitchery~ Let's Sew.  :-)

Some Fun~

I can't show you what is going on in the quilt room because I am working on the next HGTV BOM~ which gets revealed Thursday. ;-)  And I'm working on my row robin rows. Remember I started out with 2 lap quilts and wall hanging size rows, so I have 3 rows to do each month it gets passed around. I know some of the gals in the Row Robin visit hoping for a peek at their quilts! ;-) LOL We all have to wait until the 'big reveal' in September. :-) I must say, some really creative rows have been coming my way! It is going to be so fun to see all the tops!

In the evenings, I find myself stitching~

I finished the asparagus towel last night and the beets a few nights ago. (sorry my photo is a little blurry :-/ Both of these patterns are the monthly freebies from  Bird Brain Designs.  Scroll down and look for 'freebie'. They are going to do a vegetable freebie each month all year. And they stitch up really fast. ;-)

I used Transfer Eze to transfer the designs to my towels. It is a water soluble product that eliminates the need to trace. It comes in 8 x 11 inch sheets. I must say~ I like it!  It didn't affect my stitches at all. I did one towel in perle cotton and the other in regular floss. You need to remember to set your printer to 'light', so you use the least amount of ink possible. I forgot to do that on one project and discovered that it was much harder to rinse out in small areas. This time it rinsed fine~ I haven't rinsed the green towel yet. I was too excited to show you! :-)

Yesterdays mail brought my next project~ perfect timing!! :-) I was lucky enough to win Quilt n' Queen Pauline's giveaway for a Bird Brain Designs gift certificate last month :-) and I ordered 2 patterns~ one of them  printed on Sticky Fabri-Solvy.  BBDesigns uses this product now because it comes in larger sheets~

I am going to be prepping my background fabric today and stitching soon! Thanks so much Pauline!!  You are keeping me in stitches! ;-)

A reminder before I leave you~ Wednesday is Thimbleberries Sew Day!  I won't be joining you this month, but please let me know what you are working on so I can visit!!

Until next time~
Happy Stitchin'!!

♪♪♫♫♪ I'm Back!! ♪♪♫♫♪

Did you see musical notes in my title, or does it only show for me? That's as close as you will get to hearing me sing! ;-) LOL  I am soooo happy to have my computer back!  The good news was it wasn't a virus and it was fixable. The bad news? I lost everything! All my downloads, photo's, files, programs etc. I was so bummed! We've spent most of the week reinstalling lost stuff and then getting the updates. Sheesh. If I learned anything, it is to make sure you save on an external drive or thumb drive anything important before you shut your computer down! You don't know if it will start up again in the morning. :-/

Ok on to fun stuff~~
On Friday night I stitched~

I finished this little stitchery and plan to make it into a pillow like the pattern. It is from Crab •apple Hill and is called Vintage Candy Cane Snowman pattern #411. I got the pattern as a Christmas gift~ thanks Cyndi!! :-)

Then I started to work on this~

And finished it last night. :-) I still need to rinse out the Transfer-Eze.  I'm going to make it into a wall hanging for my sewing studio. :-) I got the idea from Anna at Woolie Mammoth.  You can read all about it on her post HERE  And you can find the image on her Pinterest. I was lucky, I was able to capture it and resize it in my photo program~ before the computer lost everything! ;-)  If anyone knows who the talented artist is, please let me know~ I'd love to give them credit for their fantastic design! Edit~ the designer is Ursula Michael, and it is sold as a cross-stitch pattern called 'Let's Sew'. ;-) I used perle cotton to stitch it,~  about halfway thru I wished I had used something a little thinner. Next time! ;-)

I also got my kitchen towels all prepared to sew while our power was out.  This is my Christmas Through the Year project for this month.  I just need to string the ribbon through 2 more.  You can find the tutorial at Carol's Crafty Creations~ here. Thanks Carol!!

And finally~ I got some fantastic mail during my computer imposed computer break. :-/

Elaine at Faithful Quilter: Elaine's Journey had a wonderful giveaway a while back for this Jo Morton book and a bundle of Jo's 'Carolina' collection.  And I won!!! Oh my gosh! I love all the patterns in the book! I am going to start small though and do the smallest project first. ;-) I am really new to applique and Jo's book has a good detailed section on back basting and hand applique.  I am determined to conquer applique!  Thank you Elaine!!

Ok, I think you are caught up with my little corner of the world. I have a bunch of projects I need to get cracking on! Since I lost my entire EQ7 files, I need to re-draw up the HGTV BOM I am doing with  my good friend Karen~ I am having a great time with the BOM, but don't relish the idea of having to draw it all again. It is going to take some time, but I'll be back in the swing of things soon!

Until next time~
Happy stitchin'!
(and go back up anything you want from your computer now!!) ;-)

Embroidery Experiments...

I love to embroider. The part I don't like is tracing the design. I usually use a pigma pen and light box and trace. But some patterns are so detailed I get hand cramps~ but I love the patterns!  What to do? what to do? :-)

I've tried Transfer-Ease before and liked it, except sometimes I don't want to have to wash my project.... and the last time I used it, I took such tiny stitches that it had to soak a long time to come all the way out.  I printed the design on the left on the Transfer-Ease and I'll embroider and rinse it out.  But then I got to thinking.... uh-oh!  ;-) (I know, that is scary! LOL )  The design on the right I printed right on the back of the fabric using freezer paper on the fabric, and making a reverse image.  It works! I can see thru the fabric enough to do the embroidery, and I won't have to rinse anything out. :-)

You can kind of see the design thru the fabric here...

I also did a test sample and washed it to make sure the ink didn't run or do anything funny in case I did want to wash my project later. It didn't do a thing.  Now I have another way to transfer embroidery designs without having to trace, or rinse later. :-)

Both of these designs can be found free at Red Brolly. I am going to use star buttons on the one I started working on. The other is going to be done all in red.

That's all for today~

Have a happy weekend!