Quiltathon Weekend~

It's quiltathon weekend and I am sneaking in a bit of sewing every chance I can find! :-) I am working on my Quilt-Along project. :-) Making HST's using Triangulations. The papers make 1 dozen at a time! Since I have 2 projects that both use the same size HST's, I'm making a few more while I'm at it. Tomorrow night will find me removing papers. ;-)

And for those of you who are facing snow and cold temps~ here is a peek at Spring at my house. :-) Click for a larger view~ I didn't want to make them so large that you'd think I was rubbing it in! lol :-)

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Storing Floss~

I have been embroidering all my life~ well, off and on. ;-) My DGM taught me and the first thing I did was sew my piece onto my jeans! Oh how I hated to have all those stitches snipped out!! :-o I think I finished the dishtowel I was working on, but didn't pick up that floss again for years! Then, when I was first married, my friend got me hooked on cross-stitching. I stitched and stitched! I still have a few things from that time~ esp Christmas ornaments--we did those by the dozens. :-) I stored my floss in these little ribbon rolls~ and it worked quite well, so I didn't see a need to change. My friend encouraged me to switch to the bins and wind my floss on the little 'spools', but I stuck with my rolls. It wasn't until one of our moves when a roll went missing that I thought again about the bin, but by then cross-stitching had taken a definite backseat to quilting. ;-) Well the other day when I went to get a few more skeins of floss for the Willowberry BOM, what hopped into my cart but the little plastic box! :-o I've been winding my floss on the 'spools' at night~ it goes pretty fast. When I mentioned to my friend that I was finally converting to a little box, she said 'oh, I have 4 of those~ I really like them!' 4??! :-) Here I thought I was making such progress with one! LOL

My friend gave me this project organizer as a gift when we stitched non-stop. It was great for cross-stitching~ a pocket for my book and hoop, the large clip for the floss to hook onto the rings, the see thru pocket for needles and what-nots and a scissors place. But now I've converted it to my embroidery organizer. The big clip works great for the little spool thingy's. ;-) I love it!

So how do you store floss? Now that I'm finally switching to the boxes, did I miss something? Is there an new & improved way? :-) Not that I'll switch again for a long time~ LOL :-)

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'! :-)

Stitching~

I am caught up with my Willowberry BOM~ yahoo! (see the link in my sidebar) This is January and February. Man, there were a lot of lazy daisy stitches in there! :-o I didn't have all the floss colors, so I just winged it. :-) Then I went shopping over the weekend~ and now I have colors! :-) How do you store your floss? I'll tell you about my system tomorrow~

Now I am off to work on the February Bunny Hill BOM~ it'll take me a while because the pieces aren't even prepped yet. :-o

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!! :-)

A Quilt-Along~

Judy is doing a quilt along that is just the kick in the seat I need! :-) DS has been 'reminding' me that he needs a new quilt. The last one I made him has forest animals on it~ and he has way outgrown that! (according to him) :-) So when I showed him Judy's Bears in the Farmhouse, he said no~ too 'yellow'. LOL His favorite color has always been green, he was swayed by blue for a few years, but eventually green is still #1 for him. I shopped my stash and then found the stripe and light green fabrics while out this weekend. He likes it. He thinks the oranges have 'too many flowers' in them, but I assured him they'd be cut up. LOL He is a funny kid! After I took the photo of my fabrics, I found a light tan for background in my stash too, so now I am all set. :-) Today I'll get the fabrics all washed and ready. :-)

This is his other quilt. It was a Debbie Caffrey mystery a few years ago in Traditional Quiltworks magazine. The animals are in the border and on the back. I still like this quilt. :-) Do you see the theme in his color preferences? :-)

Ok, I'm off to sew~

Happy Stichin' to you too!

Catching Up~

I've been sewing! I'm doing a BOM with my friends on the HGTV message board and after a few 'false starts' :-) I've finally picked the fabrics I want to use and made my first 3 blocks. :-) I am going to have a Christmas quilt for my bed! Whoohoo! :-) Of course, it is an all year BOM, so the quilt construction part won't happen until next year... I sure hope I have enough fabrics! :-) I have put them in their own box, so I won't inadvertently use any for anything else. ;-) LOL Have you ever done that? It seems to be a common occurence around here. :-/

The other photo is a 'play piece'. :-) I know, I should be working on my swaps, but it was an irresistable challenge! :-) I was talking with a friend about the 'tucks' quilts that Caryl Bryer Fallert made. Check her gallery. (She also had an article in Fons & Porter's magazine in the fall of 06 called High Tech Tucks.) Her directions started with a large bright-colored dyed background piece and we were wondering about using an actual scene for the background. As we were talking about how to do it, she finally said, 'well, when you figure it out, let me know'. :-)) A Challenge!! :-)) She was just kidding, but I couldn't get it out of my head. I had the pillow panel in my stashy, so I tried it~ :-) I know DD will want to take it back to school with her... or she'll want me to try it with a dolphin fabric! LOL :-)

Ok, now I'll get back on track and get my swap blocks finished up! ;-)

Have a happy weekend and until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Free BOM's on the Web~

Here it is the middle of February and I'm deciding which BOM's on the web I'd like to do~ well, honestly~ I'd like to do all of them! :-) But since that isn't possible, I chose the Veranda Views from Willowberry Designs and A Tisket A Tasket from Anne at Bunny Hill Designs. I am still learning blogger, so please forgive me if my photo's in the sidebar don't take you where they should! :-/ (if I did it wrong, please tell me and I'll try again!) ;-)

I chose these two because it is about time I learn to hand applique*! There are so many great patterns out there, and I've always avoided them. ;-) Although my first attempt isn't the greatest, I did learn a lot~ so hopefully February's block will be better. And if at the end of the year, I decide I can't live with January's block... well, I can always make another! ;-) And I chose the Verandah Views because I do like to embroider and it will give me a chance to do more than my go-to stitch, the stem stitch. :-)

*Ok, about that hand applique~ I did it once before. A long time ago when I was young and had no clue what I was doing. I made this quilt for my oldest DS when he graduated from the crib to a twin bed. I painstakingly stitched each block. ~I am a lefty and a needle felt very awkward in my hand!~ Then once I had the top together, I thought 'what if they rip out when he is jumping on the bed?' So I went back and sewed with my sewing machine around each applique close to the edge! :-o Wrestling that whole quilt top to do it! :-o I know! I made twice the work for myself! And the fabrics were not 100% cotton, or even very good quality. Well, it didn't rip out! :-)) lol My Mom took pity on me, and she and her friends hand quilted it for my DS. :-)) After that, I thought 'I will never do hand applique again!' Well, you know what they say~ never say never!! :-))

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Last of the Fruit Ladies~

The third and final fruit ladies table topper~ aren't you happy?? lol :-) I had one FQ and there is not even a smidgen left! I designed this one in my EQ program. I doubt very much that there is another like it. lol ;-) I ran out of green and just have a bit of orange left~ I have no idea what I will bind them with. Next week I'll quilt them up and then I guess I'll figure out that part. :-)

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'! :-)