Odds and Ends

 I have been pretty busy with all my projects this summer. Here is a round up of some things that have been going on that I may not have mentioned, or maybe I did. :) So, in no particular order...

We go to the local farmer's market on most Saturdays. I have taken to getting a bouquet of flowers and they have been amazing this summer.

This bouquet came from the grocery store, as we didn't make it to market that week. I chose one with a fall theme.

This is my initial fabric pull for a temperature quilt I am thinking about starting in 2023. I have long wanted to make one. We'll see if this pans out. Anyone else want to make one?

This is 30 of my 36 blocks for the perfect pineapple QAL with Gigi's Thimble. Almost done. Since this picture two more have been done. Only 4 more to go.

Sunday I decided to use my home grown chives to make cheddar chive biscuits. They were amazing with fresh tomatoes on top of them.

I used some leftover fabric from my daughter's Sandhill sling to make her a thread catcher for Halloween.

I am slowly, slowly stitching this pretty piece. There is a photo below of the whole thing from the website.

Some lovely gifts I selected with my birthday gift certificate from my daughter. She got me a gift certificate to Snuggly Monkey who has the best stitching supplies ever. You can finder her on line, although she does do curbside pick up for locals.

Two more thread catchers for my daughter. Can't have enough of these and I have to use some of this fabric up you know.

This is the picture from the Lolli and Grace web site for the stitchery above that I am working on. You have a choice of words for this piece. Mine will say Home Sweet Home when it's done.

And, finally, I had to purchase more batting. It's quite the investment, but so worth it in the end to have what you need on hand. This will last me several years, and I take all the scraps and sew them together for smaller quilts, so nothing goes to waste either.

Well that's all for now. Happy fall y'all.

Summertime and the Living is Hot

I have been wanting to get around to posting for awhile now, and only just realized that it has been a whole month since I last posted. It seems that every time I make a decision to try and post more, something happens and I don't follow through. I must admit, I am a bit lazy about posting because of all the hoops I have to jump through to get it done these days. Logging out of my regular google account that I use for everything else, and into the one I use for blogging, having pictures downloaded...the list goes on. There has been lots going on in July here. 

There has been lots of embroidery work happening. I finished this piece after several weeks of working on it. It is from BeCoProductions, a designer from Canada. She has an Etsy shop.

I got a bee in my bonnet to make a postage stamp quilt from some really soft colors. I made four 10"x11" panels and sashed them with some off white. All of this is scraps, so I don't really have any fabric information.

I got a new drive belt for my grandmother's Singer featherweight and installed it. I am so glad I did, because the old one was cracked in several places and I would have been sad if it broke in the middle of something.

We go to a local farmer's market every Saturday and one thing I always get is a bouquet of local flowers. It has been fun to seen the varieties change as the season progresses. Early on it was peonies and now its Zinnias and sunflowers and Marigolds.

I made another crochet rag rug from balls of strips that I had put together about a year or so ago. I have it in my kitchen and it was so much fun, I am making scrap balls for another one. It's very helpful in culling out scrap fabric strips that would otherwise be tossed.

More embroidery work. This is another pattern from BeCo Productions. I love her stuff.

The littles were here with us for a week of "camp" and one of the activities was to start building this LEGO Hogwarts Castle. Granddaddy bought this with B in mind, as he loves LEGOS and Harry Potter. There are over 6000 pieces, so it will take awhile to finish. We love the "stained glass".

And I am working on making some small felt cacti to fit in these tiny pots for my oldest grandson. He got the pots from a teacher last year and wanted to fill them with something that didn't need tending to. I have 4 done and 3 to go.

There has also been lots of swimming going on. When the littles were here, we went every day. Now we go 3-4 times a week. It's good exercise.  So you can see, I have been very busy. Also, I had a computer issue while typing this post. Another reason I avoid posting. Computers are unpredictable.

I hope you are staying cool. Happy summer.

Hand Work

Thought I would share some of the hand work I have been doing lately. I love having something to work on in the late afternoon and early evening while sitting with my hubby. Here are some of the recent projects.

I finished the embroidery on my chambray shirt. I put this cute little bee on the front pocket. I drew it freehand after looking at a bunch of different images on line.

And all these flowers across the yoke in the back were stitched over some loosely drawn designs, mostly for placement purposes. It's so soft and comfy. I love it!

Next, I have found a new embroidery pattern artist. She has her stuff available on Etsy at BeCo Productions. I bought several patterns that are delivered as PDF files. I printed them and traced them onto fabric to stitch.

 

She has several like this one of the cherries. You put it into a larger hoop to stitch it, and when you frame it, you put it into a smaller 6 inch hoop which causes the design to run off the edges. It looks pretty cool.

I added the yellow knots to the flowers. They just looked naked to me. I also stitched the leaves with a fish bone stitch instead of the straight stitch she indicated. These stitcheries are very accommodating in that way. I have two more I am working on, which I will share when they are done.

The last thing I have to share is another Keriki Press animal. This is one my daughter started and she got tired of the weaving for the jacket.

Here is the beaver sitting next to Fiesta Cat. He turned out adorable, but he was a beast to complete. He is a level 3 kit, and those are the hardest to do. They sure are cut though.

Thanks for dropping by. See you soon.

A Little More Hand Work

I'm sewing quite a bit right now.I have 3 quilts in progress. But hand work has my heart. I found these adorable little creations on Snuggly Monkey and just had to try one.

Thank you Blogger for re-ordering my pictures. Not worth the hassle to fix, but anyway, you get the idea.

These are by Kiriki Press out of Canada. You get everything you need in the kit to make a tiny hand held stuffie. You just need a six inch hoop and scissors.

There are 3 levels of stitchery. 1 being the easiest and 3 the most difficult. This is Fiesta Cat, she is a level 2. I have don tons of embroidery, so I didn't find this too difficult. Just read the directions carefully before you start.

And this is a picture that comes in the kit to show how the finished animal should look. You can Google Kiriki Press to find stockists near you. So. Much. Fun.

My last item for today is this: I bought a chambray shirt on line to embroider.

 

When I was a teenager (way back in the early 70's) we used to embroider flowers and such on our jeans and chambray shirts bought just for that purpose. I thought about it one day and just decided to jump in an do it. My skills have come a long way since then, and I am enjoying this. Can't wait to get it done so I can start wearing it!

Well, that's all for now. Talk to you soon.

Welcome to Wednesday

Trying to get back into the habit of blogging more regularly. I can almost always have something to say, but I have become lazy with sitting at the computer and putting it down here. It is finally spring here and even though it is not as warm as I would like it, the days do seem sunnier and things are blooming.

These beautiful lavender are blooming in the front yard. The bees are all over them on any given day. I love all the purple goodness.

I have been baking. This key lime pie was one of three I baked for Pi day. I also baked a pecan pie and an apple pie. We ate pie every day for almost a week here. Glorious, but now, back to reality.

I had tons of ripe bananas and a bunch also in the freezer, so I baked three loaves of banana bread. Some will go to friends, and one got wrapped and frozen for now. I cannot seem to let any bananas go to waste.

And I stitched this little lovely from Liz at Cozy Blue. She has many lovely stitcheries in her shop. I believe most, if not all, fit into a six inch hoop, where you can leave them if you like. They are fun to hang just like this. I fell in love with the bees and have been eyeballing this one for months. I am so glad I got it. This one was so much fun to do.

I am happy to report that my 100 Days tiny house project was a success, not just in that I finished it, but it really did give me time and space to wait for my sewing mojo to return. Since I finished the tiny houses top, which is now ready for quilting, I have quilted my Penny Sampler quilt. I just finished it yesterday. It needs binding. I have pulled fabrics for a new baby quilt for someone, and I am excited about these and other new projects that are on the horizon. Tiny houses was clearly, just what I needed.

So, I will return here soon with more projects to share with you. Happy Wednesday.

What's Going On Here?

 There are many projects and other things going on here. I go walking every morning for just over 2 miles, but that is the only time I leave the house pretty much. I go weeks without going anywhere at all. So in order to feel "normal" I have a routine. I have my tea, I make my bed, I have breakfast and then I sew for a bit. I bake, occasionally. I paint rocks,  do puzzles, crochet and embroidery. Not all of this every day, but it helps to have a routine.

The two images above are some of the embroidery I am doing for my daughter the gardener. I found a great book of embroideries of vegetables on Amazon.

I made a bunch of knit headbands at my daughter's request and she distributed them to friends and family. I am getting ready to do another batch of them soon.

I made dolly diapers for my granddaughter for all her babies and stuffies that she treats as babies. I used an unused flannel pillowcase and some velcro. The cute cutouts I stitched on them is to help her tell which is the front.

This is a 1500 piece puzzle my sister and I completed. A neighbor gifted it to us for Christmas to thank us for all the rocks we paint and put out in a basket for people to take if they want. We have done hundreds of them since we started last June.

And this is a new pillow cover I made for a throw pillow that lives on my bed. I love the 3-D circles on this one so much. I used some of my favorite pinks. So that brings us up to date on some of the many projects I am working on here. Have a great day.

Here I Am

 I know it has been a whole month since I have been here, but I have really not felt like working on any quilting projects. I still mostly don't. I have been working on my tiny house project.

When I started losing interest in quilting, I wasn't worried. My mojo will return eventually, I know. It has happened before. That was when I started the tiny house project. 100 houses in 100 days. No pressure at all. It takes me 15-20 minutes to make one each day. I am using only scraps and I don't think about what to do ahead of time. I select scraps, press, sew and done.

On inauguration day, I made two houses, because my daughter suggested I make a "white house" and I had already selected patriotic fabric scraps. I have already figured out where to work this in to the final quilt.

Other than this, I have been doing some embroidery and crocheting. I am doing the Meadow Blanket CAL with Lucy of Attic 24.

And I am embroidering some veggies for my daughter who has taken up gardening in a big way in the last year. I do have two quilt tops made and I did finally make the backs so when my mojo returns, I will be ready to quilt them.

Stay safe and I hope to see you here again soon.