Happy St Patrick's day!

Top of the morning to you! Hope you are enjoying a fabulous day!

Finished this little quilt ... a project from my last wool box with Primitive Gatherings. The pattern is called Irish Chain by Lisa Bongean

The instructions called for hand embroidering the shamrock ... but I went with hand dyed wool. They were tiny pieces ... so tiny that it was best I hand embroidered the stem. 

I love how it turned out. Glad to finally have a piece for St Patrick's day. 

What have you been up to?

Catch you all later.  Cheers!

Happy St Valentine's day!

A day not just for lovers .... It's a day to celebrate love amongst friends, neighbour, co-workers .... a day that serves as a reminder that love is all that matters. Alright, no more mushing stuff! lol

On to quilting!

I decided that I would work on my January wool box from Primitive Gatherings. The project was perfect for today!

So, I got stitchin'!

Which soon turned into this.

And in no time I had a cute little quilt to decorate my home for this holiday!

I just love how it turned out. 

Hoping you have a wonderful day of love! Enjoy celebrating with loved ones!

Catch you all later! Cheers!

A change of scenery .... !

I think I have been pretty good keeping focused on completing quilting UFOs. But, there comes a time when a girl has got to start something new! lol Seriously, variety is the spice of life!

So, I got busy on this little pattern by Bonnie Sullivan of All through the night called Frosty!

I figured working on a snowman would be a great way to keep cool in this hot weather. You know, think about snow and all ... lol

Here is my version .... framed and all!

How cute is that?! I just love snowmen!

So, what have you been working on?

Catch you all later!

Blog land and we have a finish ....!

The other day I was going through some old blogging posts, looking at comments and clicking on the individual's profile, wanting to see what they have been up to! Many were individuals I "used to follow," who inspired me to create. I was shocked to see how many had abandoned blogging. That explains why my feed has so little post for me to read!

I like blogging, it's a great way to catch up with friends on a sleepless night, find some inspiration for that new project. 

I'm sure Instagram has something to do with it. It's a lot quicker to take a photo with your smart phone, write a little blurb and post it on a social media site than to write a lengthy post! Oh well, I like blogging!

By the way, Donna at chookyblue reminded me that I have been blogging for over 11 years. We both started around the same time. Wow! Hard to believe that it's been that long already. So, time for a give away! Read on!

On the quilting front, I finished another UFO that was just sitting there, on the back of a chair with other UFOS, patiently waiting ....

This little hand embroidery quilt comes from the back of that chair! lol 

The pattern is called Cold Nose, Warm Heart by Buttermilk Basin, started in 2010. I stitched one of these for a swap I participated back in 2010. I liked it so much that I wanted one for myself. Unlike most of my hand embroidery UFOs whereby the squares are stitched, this one was layered and ready to be machine quilted!

Onward to the give away. Leave me a comment by March 13, 2018 and you will be eligible to win the following kit!

The kit includes all the fabric and wool to make this cute wall hanging.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy quilting! Cheers!

Still in shock ....

I think my face is stuck in the "shock" position from my recent UFO discovery. lol You can read all about it here!

Yes, I'm still plugging away!

When I take up a quilting UFO, I wonder why I put the project aside. At other times, I know exactly why.

When I picked up this wool UFO, I knew without a doubt why I pushed it aside. I have a personality conflict with the stem stitch! There, now I said it.

Yes, sir! When it comes to doing the stem stitch, I just cannot seem to get the hang of it. Not sure why, it just didn't come easily for me. Hence the personality conflict.

I knew that I couldn't keep the project folded there forever. So, personality conflict aside, I tackled it.

The pattern is called Pumpkin Table Mat by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings.

The pumpkins and stems were the only things stitched. I tackled the leaves and then began dealing with this personality conflict. By the end of the last pumpkin, I think I worked it out!

The original pattern did call for a loopy vine connecting all the pumpkins, but I chose otherwise.

Here is the pattern picture so that you can see the difference.

 I like that my pumpkins are not connected to one another. Besides, I would have to do more stem stitch!!!!! Let's not push this girl to extreme!

Thanks for stopping by! Catch you all later! Cheers!

Doing some hand stitching!

I think things are settling a bit for me .... I managed to pick up a needle and do a bit of hand embroidery. I love to stitch towels ... once the design is stitched, it's a done deal ... no further piecing needed.

I've been working on the pattern Chick Towels by Yesterday's Charm. Such a cute pattern!

Here is the second set of patterns, seven towels in all!

They are stitched on flour sack towels (28" x 28"). I much prefer this size of towel, they are perfect for drying my wine glasses! ;)

I took an inventory of the towels I presently have. Not included are the numerous ones I have given as gifts!

On the right are the flour sack towels (28" x 28") and on the left the smaller towels (18" x 28"). Hum ... I think I have a good supply for now! lol Oh well, Christmas is coming!

I'm hoping to actually quilt this week. I FINALLY found the pattern I was looking for ... perhaps motivation to turn my sewing machine on!

Catch you all later! Cheers!

Another one bites the poussière!

Trying to be humourous here! Poussière is French for dust! Hum ... I wonder how the translator is going to handle that one?!

I'm still going strong on finishing some hand embroidery UFOs. It is such a great feeling when yet another project is crossed off the "LIST"!

This little gem was started January 3, 2016 and the top hand embroidered by January 13, 2016.

There it sat, waiting for me to do something about it! It's a good thing all these projects are patient with me! lol

Voila!

The pattern is called Raven Claw Mercantile by Crabapple Hill Studios, which is available here from Fibre Junction.

I just love how it turned out. Pumpkin picked out the border fabric! Yes, not only is she a huge Harry Potter fan (the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! lol) but she belongs to the Ravenclaw house (founded by Rowena Ravenclaw) ... I just had to stitch it for her!

Thanks for stopping by my little corner in cyberspace! Catch you later! Cheers!

Keep on piecing ...!

Time permitting, I've been plugging away at my UFO hand embroidery list. So many blocks stitched, so little time.

I decided it was high time I tackle the Snowmen & Reindeer blue work quilt by Bird Brain Design, a project I started back in July 2012. The twelve (12) block were completed back in January 2013, there they sat, waiting patiently for me to make something out of them!

This is what the original pattern "should" look like.

You know how it is with us quilters, there's always a need to tweak things up a bit here and there. So I decided to changes things up a bit and work with some of the fabrics I own, you know ... use up that stash! Gasp!

Here is my version of the Snowmen and Reindeer quilt.

It is such a great feeling when you've finished a project on that UFO list!

What have you been up too?

Thanks for stopping by my little corner in cyberspace! Cheers!

When Witches Fly ....!

I absolutely love anything having to do with witches. As most of you probably know, my favourite holidays are Halloween and Christmas. Yep, I'm a big Santa fan!

I have a mountain of hand embroidered blocks stitched that are waiting patiently to be pieced into a quilt top. This one was completed on January 3, 2016!!!!!

Last night I decided that it was high time to tackle one of them!

Ta dah!

I just love how this little quit turned out! It's the cutest quilt top!

The pattern is called When Witches Fly by Crabapple Hill Studios. The pattern is available at Fibre Junction's website here.

Now, I'm all motivated to finish another one of  those stitched blocks! Watch out .... unless .... SQUIRREL!

Catch you later! cheers!

Jungle Fever .... Jungle Fever ..!

Ok, now I have that tune in my head!

I'm a little annoyed at Blogger at the moment. It has occurred to me that although I have programmed my settings to receive an e-mails for all comments left on my blog, blogger takes it upon themselves to be selective by not sending ALL of them. I've recently noticed that some of you have commented and I did receive a notification.

I have since contacted blogger, followed their suggestions and the problem has not been fixed. Sigh!

I apologize for not getting back to you. I'm not ignoring you, I'm just not getting an e-mail that you've left a comment. Sigh .... annoying...!

Onward to the fun stuff!

I finished this little hand embroidered quilt called My Little Garden by Kathy Schmitz. It measures 15 inches by 19 inches!

Have I  mentioned that I just love those little quits? One more to do and the series is complete!

I also pieced this cute quilt that uses 30 different 10" blocks of fabrics. It's called Jungle Fever.

I do like that pattern. Simple and quick to make .... not requiring much precision because you end up trimming your block.

Given that I'm a precision kind of gal, I re-worked the directions to accommodate my OCD! LOL

Thanks for stopping by! Catch you later! Cheers!

Compassion with every stitch ...!

The sun is shining, I am still breathing .... life is good! I have decided to place myself on a media diet and lock myself up in my happy place, quilting/stitching away .... !

I managed to finish this cute little quilt called My Little Year by Kathy Schmitz, started in September 2016.

And ... I completely finished, quilted and bound,  My Little Home. If you recall, it was at a flimsy stage back in September 2016.

I so enjoy working on these small projects! Each hand embroider block takes approximately 2.5 to 3 hours to stitch.

As opposed to tracing each block, I use Transfer-eze. If you haven't read my recent post on this product, do so here.

In order to not only save fabric but also make the cutting of the stitched block easier, I trace a square on a large piece of cotton fabric using an Omnigrid  3 1/2 inch square and Sewline Stayer Permanent Market - brown.

I will then place the water soluble transfer on the fabric and stitch my block.

I only place the transfer when I'm ready to stitch a block and keep all the other photocopied transfer with the pattern. This way, there's less of a chance that I'll lose a block. Yea, it's happened before ...!

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your day! Cheers!

Transfer-eze a recent issue!

Do any or you use Transfer-eze?

I'd like to talk about a recent issue that was brought to my attention from one of Fibre's customers.

A few weeks ago, the customer called me to enquirer as to what she was doing wrong; the product would not dissolve. I explained to her how I processed my work and insured her that it "should" all come off.

A few days later she stops by Fibre Junction and brought her work with her to show me. This is what it looked like with soaking and re-soaking etc. Notice the white area? That's the remnant of Transfer-eze.

Here is the same picture where I added a filter so that you can see the film.

It is almost as if the sticky part never dissolved. This is a close up of the embroidery piece:

She also brought another piece that she had completed (she actually cut the extra Transfer-eze to avoid the same issue as the first piece) and wanted me to dissolve it for her to see if she was doing something wrong.  I could not get the product to totally dissolve! I felt horrible for the customer.  In all the years that I have been using this product, I have never had an issue.

I apologized profusely, refunded her for the defective package of Transfer-eze and sent her home with Sticky Fabri-Solvy from Sulky.

On January 13, 2017, I proceeded to do a little experiment to see what the heck was going on.  I wanted to understand the issue that prevented the product from totally dissolving.

I dissolved a piece of Tranfer-eze from my package (I buy this product in packages of 30 sheets) in one cup and a piece from the customer's package in the other.

The left cup is clear with a bits of sediment on the bottom. Notice how cloudy the right cut is? Now check this out!

I could actually pick up goo with my finger.  Holy smokes!

I kept the cups, as is, sitting on my back counter to see how long it would take for the Transfer-eze to dissolve.  As of today, here is a photo of the same cups.

The product has dissolved, no goo is left. The water on the right is a tad slimy.

I quickly phoned my customer to let her know of my findings.

I have been in contact with the company that markets Transfer-eze and have let them know of my findings. As of yet, I have not received a reply.

SHOULD you ever have the same issue with this product, let your fabric soak for at least a week. I would include a daily change of water.

Let's hope that this is an anomaly, I like using Transfer-eze!

Catch you later! Cheers!

It can happen to anyone .... !

Well, it finally happened to me. After 20 years of quilting, I've had my first semi serious quilting accident ... all because I wanted to push my 60mm rotary blade to its max ...

I pressed so hard on the fabric that the rotary cutter flew off the edge of my ruler and hit my index finger ... OUCH! ... It's a deep cut, but not deep enough for stitches! I lost a pint of blood!!!! Ok, I'm exaggerating but ..... Change that dull rotary blade!!!

Seriously, I was lucky this time .... it could have been worse!

On a happy note, since I was having so much fun stitching My Little Home, I decided to start on the next one .....

It's called My Little Year ..... I have just a few more blocked to stitches and it's onward to the piecing of the quilt!

It's going to be a busy weekend for me. I'm not sure I'll get the change to finish the blocks ... we'll see ... Miracles do happen! ;)

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to change that dull rotary blade!!!!

Catch you later!

We have a partial finish .....!

I had way to much fun stitching out My Little Home quilt.  So much so, that we have a finish! Check this out!

I'd like to share with you how easy the stitched blocks were to make using a new to me ruler.  It's a Creative Grid ruler and is called Quick Trim Ruler . It allows you to cut a 45 degree angle which includes the seam allowance. You would use the Quick Trim Ruler to make any block that requires stitching from one corner to another such as flying geese, binding etc....

You align the 45 degree white lines as such:

The black dashed line is your quarter inch seam allowance. Using the white 45 degree lines (aligned with the top of the block and the side of the square) as well as the dashed black line (making sure that it lines up with the corners of your square), you are now ready to cut the excess.

Take the block to your sewing machine.  You are now using your Patchwork foot (1/4" foot) as a seam guide.

All stitched up from corner to corner.

Iron and voila! How easy is that?

Repeat for the remaining three (3) corners and your have your block.

You are now ready to piece your quilt together. In case you are curious about the green fabric, Kim Diehl - Heritage Hollow.

I just love the Quick Trim Ruler for these types of block. The ruler works with any block requiring a 45 degree sewing line from corner to corner. It's much easier to use your patchwork foot as a guide. Of course there other methods for making these types of block, but this one is my favourite.

Guess what I'll be doing tonight? Machine quilting this little gem! Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!

UFOs, Aliens .... oh my!

I continue to power walk/jog at least 5 days a week. The weather has been so nice! That is quite an accomplishment for me given that I have never been one to get "excited" about any form of exercise.

Last night, on my power/jog walk, I came across my first ever crop circle. Yes sir, a crop circle in small town America!

Not sure what these aliens are trying to say ... quite cryptic if you ask me ... No ... what? ... Is that even in English ... perhaps a word in a language I am not familiar? Nonetheless, there it is! lol

Well, I'm sure you've had enough excitement from a small town in America ... onward to UFOs!

I'm still focusing on those UFO lists ... one problem, I just cannot seem to decide which project to tackle next.

In the mean time, as a reward for completing two UFO projects, I started a new one! lol

I'm presently working on My Little Home, a pattern by Kathy Schmitz.

These little hand embroidery blocks are getting stitched in no time.  It's an adorable little quilt and I cannot wait to show you the finished quilt top. I have just a couple more blocked to stitch!

Thank you so much for stopping by my little corner in cyberspace.  Catch you later! Cheers!

News flash ....!

We have a finish!

I think part of my funk had to do with so many UFOs lying around. All of these hand embroidered blocks ... not pieced .... just waiting ..... and waiting while I start another hand embroider project.

This is just a fraction of what is completed. In that pile you have the squares for a couple of bed size quilts! Some, are small quilts a couple are much larger.

I decided to take Wendy's advice and just complete something. I finished the Black Cat on Moon wall hanging.

Used all scraps to complete this little quilt! It's a nice feeling when you don't have to cut into yardage for such small piece!

Off to complete another project! Catch you later!

I'm in a funk ....!

I've been in a funk as of late and cannot seem to shake it out. All that means is that I am not quilting ... at all! I haven't even turned my sewing machine on for the past 2 months!! It's not that I don't have anything to finish ... I'm just in a funk.

What this means is that I've been doing a lot of hand embroidery. Yep, that's my go to work when my mind needs to empty out. I've started this cute little piece - When Witches Fly

You've probably noticed that I've been in a funk for quite some time. One of the problems with that is .... I have a lot of hand embroidery panels that needs to be finished. I either need someone to piece all of my work or I need to get out of this funk! Sigh!

To alleviate the issue, I decided to work on towels. They are already finished, nothing needs to be done except hand embroider a design. It doesn't become, yet, another UFO. What a relief!

So, I stitched up these towels from the pattern Victory Garden.

And ...

I just love how they turned out!

Do you think it would matter if I have a gazillion hand embroidered hand towels? It is my understanding that one can never have too many dish towels! ;)

Thanks for stopping by! Cheers!

What an emotional week ...!

Life has been busy around here with college visits and what not!  Pumpkin (DD) and I logged more than 900 miles in three (3) days and two (2) nights.  We had three (3) colleges to visit which were somewhat close by.  So far she has narrowed her choices down to two (2).

Monday, on our way back, Pumpkin treated me to the Cheesecake Factory.  The closest one to our house is three (3) hours south.  We are both Big Bang Theory lovers and thought this would be a great experience for us.  Gosh were we shocked!

Yea, this Cheesecake Factory is much nicer than the one in the sitcom! The dessert was amazing and the food too! lol

On the quilting front, I have been doing mainly some hand embroidery.  Yea, I'm still in my quiet mood.  I've been working on these flour sack towels using the Rise and Shine pattern.  First batch of towels:

These flour sack towels measure 28 in x 28 in. I really like the feel of those towels.

Aren't those the cutest designs?  The design size is perfect for those towels!

Progressing right along!  A wee bit more to stitch!

Thank you for stopping by!  Catch you later!  Cheers!