Saturday, February 8, 2025

my creative week Project quilting and stay at home round robin

 


7" X 10" 

this is my entry for Project Quilting this week, the prompt was to take three traditional blocks in the common usage and make a finished quilt. I took out my scrap bags of Cherrywood hand dyes to use thinking I'd make a sketchbook cover. My bags have strips from  a half inch wide to 2" wide. 

I made a sawtooth star, put a log cabin around it (taking into consideration two values on each row) and made my improv flying geese for the top and bottom. I loved it and thought of all the things I could make with these fabrics if I had larger pieces so...

 I went looking for cherrywood fabrics to purchase online. As it happens I dropped down a rabbit hole into lovely stitching resources including this cool store... so much to want, so many options for hand stitching including embroidery, beading, machine work... go see! this is the sale page, whee!

https://hobbyhouseneedleworks.com/collections/sale-items-1 

I did a tiny binding and thought it dulled it down so I then added a couched chenille multicolor ribbon on top
I have had this a long time, and it always brightens up a quilt! It's good to have a big stash of stuff. 



I use a couching foot that keeps the yarn or trim in the center while you zigzag over it
I originally thought I'd cover this journal
as you can see, it's too large now. Also I am not sure how to have just a front cover stay on but after I finished I started new components to use in one that will fit.
for now I put them back in the scrap bin but it's easier to start something once you are moving than from a stop, right? I can see hand embroidery on this cover, maybe some vine. For now I am happy with how this came out in less than a week.

I learned the smaller a quilt, the more effort needed to keep it straight and to quilt it. 

Now for the stay at home round robin... the prompt this week is "stars" 
I was conflicted as I like the quilt at the pinwheel stage! How to keep going? a narrow plain border maybe, and put some really little stars in the corners. 

again the smaller the block, the more effort it takes to piece. I remembered taking a miniature piecing class back East with Sally Collins. She said to me, try moving your needle over one thread in the fabric. 
Sally! I couldn't see one thread over! 
But paper piecing tiny blocks is more fun for me so I got out my stash of star papers, and so as to not use them up, I copied them onto thin paper meant for just this. I pieced 4 sawtooth stars that finish at 
2 inches
so they took all afternoon
get prepared I say

here they are in corners, and maybe I'll put 2" white coping strips on, but I better wait til I see next prompt's blocks.... it's not an enormous piece so I want it to be cohesive. I think the white might be a place to stop the action of the center. And, some fancy quilting white on white might be pretty... feathers? 
whew, that took longer than it looks! Of course I used a variety of scraps to make each one but they look alike from a distance. 

I worked on my embroidery project this week


and am finishing the hand knitted socks, not a great photo but they are such pretty colors



one of my Valentine quilts (I've made one a year since we married) is this small one, painted on white fabric, the green leaf is stuffed and 3-D also painted fabric 

linking with: 



Posted by at 19 comments:
Labels: ,

Thursday, February 6, 2025

I Like Thursday # 438 valentines, everyday cooking, French, and a question

 

Time for an I Like list for this week, starting with one of my older Valentine quilts. About 50" square. 

I like this one so much. It is watercolor style meaning all squares were cut 2" and light to dark they create the lines. I did raw edge applique flowers and turned edge vines. I love the inset turquoise border with the tiny multi color trim couched next to it, and the thick binding of the same ombre border fabric. 

Heart quilting lines done repeating every half inch.

It is hanging in our family room for February, on a curtain rod with spirals

Still listening to and reading the same books as last week, just finishing the toe of my second sock. 

I did a bit of cooking ... don't enjoy cooking but do like to eat. 

Fine Dining


 one day we made BLT mac and cheese for lunch and it was so good. This was a new combo and I like diversity even in food choice! 

we use the box mix plus some extra cheese,  served on a bed of lettuce tomato (turkey)bacon

Let's play crime scene kitchen... what do you think I made with these?

carrots, raisins, ginger, apple

My carrot salad

My carrot salad

grate carrots (this time a mix of orange and yellow ones)

mayo

cinnamon, dash of salt

grated fresh ginger and grated orange peel ( I zest all oranges and keep grated peel in freezer bags)

golden raisins half an apple in tiny mince

maple syrup to taste

dash of cider vinegar or lemon juice

 

warm greek potato salad 
Greek potato salad

boiled potatoes, minced red onion and crisp bell peppers, oregano S&P, lemon juice, mayo

Pizza

half left for tomorrow's lunch
this time we allowed the dough to sit overnight in the fridge which highly improved texture and taste
(artichokes, turkey pepperoni,mushrooms, onion slivers mix of italian cheeses

Sweet and Sour orange sauce 

my recipe
I sub for soy sauce and corn starch

aminoo arrowroot, and use fresh ginger and orange zest

I am working on two challenges for the week's quilt making. More on Saturday's post

I am LOVING my little stash of cherrywood hand dyes so much I ordered fat quarter bundles here: 

https://hobbyhouseneedleworks.com/collections/bead-kits

they not only have those fabrics, they have EVERYTHING to hand stitch with I also got a kit of an artist palette in beads, some floss, some beads. 

I'm still getting word a day in Italian but now systematically learning French again, this time through our library and " transparent languages". It's challenging French, but the hardest for me is writing it with all the accent marks. Sheesh. I'll manage as long as native French speakers speak S L O W L Y. 

Prompt

What’s one of the most exciting things you’ve done in life so far?

My answers involve travel.  Growing up in central Florida, where it takes almost a day driving to escape the state, I had a need to go see and do. My parents saw this as a character flaw. 

I met and fell for a Canadian man who asked me to move there to see if we might truly belong together. I put my career on hold, and moved to Edmonton. It involved a cross country road trip with a girlfriend, where we saw and did along the way. She left me there and flew home, and my Canadian adventure started. After a while we decided I should exit the country and apply for a work visa which I did. I became a nanny there for a bit over a year and left when I contracted meningitis and needed a longer recovery period. We never married but it was a grand adventure. 

After I went back to Florida to recover my strength, my friend was living in Germany working as an USA army nurse, and I took a few weeks to visit her there. Traveling alone  with a Eurail pass, with a rudimentary knowledge of German and French, I got on a train every day, got off and found a room and explored many places. I had adventures. I met people also traveling around Europe from distant places. I realized it was nice to set my own itinerary but lonely with noone to chat to at end of day. 

I asked my husband this prompt and he said meeting me and marrying was the most exciting thing to him. He also found learning to do scuba diving and diving in exotic locales exciting. When I met him he was flying with the Hurricane Hunters (NOAH) out of Tampa, and I found that terrifying and exciting myself. 

Watching online 

 so touching such love is a balm to my heart

https://youtube.com/shorts/CAHvj84EbN4?si=BjAJE8R-8dFscgMx

Milo's Memories

my puppy visiting Conn. with us. He loved travel too... 


he loved ripping up old magazines. Here he looks guilty but that sound was so satisfying and fun for him. To the end, he liked ripping paper and the last thing he tore up was the paper towel tube. 

How I loved his spirit

Please visit thses folks to read about their week, and let me know if you wrote a post to add in

Posted by at 18 comments:
Labels:

Saturday, February 1, 2025

Creativity this week.... pinwheel joy, hand knitted socks, paintings and Valentine quilts

 

This week, the prompt for Stay at Home Round Robin is " pinwheels"  

I love color, and also love feedsack reproduction fabrics. Of course I have a collection of them, and have used them in many quilts over the years. I even have a big baggie of little scraps of them I pulled from to make these pinwheel blocks

I had enough scraps to make all my blocks only pulling one half yard out of orange to round out my colors! I had such fun mixing and matching the prints.

Bubbles on red, hexie's on yellow

I inserted a bit of black and white on two sides for definition (all the way around was too predictable

Bunnies on black, posies and beach scene on pinks

scotties on B&W, lillie of valley on lavender, posies on orange

I found these itty bitty YoYo (s) in the scrap bag... they MUST go on the finished quilt don't you agree? 
I didn't feel like the brain drain of drafting the perfect size blocks, and sure enough at the end, I fell short on the sides so I added in a little strip of green. 
shrug
Make do or do without as Granny would have said
I like the effect a lot even though it is totally a lot! But it's all so happy right? 


continuing  the Mary Englebreit theme, my pincushion on the cutting table is by her. 

A little story about my delight in feedsack style fabrics. I was in a large traditional guild when I lived in Annapolis Maryland. I made a predominately yellow but with a lot of the colors quilt and several people angrily said, "those are not like you! You use bright saturated colors!!" 
not being one dimensional, I said, it's SO like me to like the silly little fanciful prints and soft colors! 
My sister shared with me after seeing the lovely finished quilt, how much she hated feedsack retro fabrics. (er, okay) 
that quilt is one of my all time favorites, competed in many national contests and won ribbons. 
It's SO me... maybe I'll find it and share a pic here soon. 

I started the fun embroidery project my husband got for me

it has directions for unusual work I've not done much of, and I've already done many of the stems in green after this pic...

One sock is complete and the cuff is still to come on the other, it's fun to keep the project in my new knitting basket finished last week. 

One small painting done this week, the colors are kind of dull to me, but the gold ink heart saves it

this watercolor plus ink doodles heart is older but I just love it. it lives in a photo holder from a big box store 
one of my 30 Valentine quilts, one from each year of our marriage, this one from the year we moved to Colorado. The tree is hand embroidered in chain stitch, the flowers are paper, the word trust is from the scrapbooking section of Michaels. Around the self binding is a red beaded trim hand-stitched on. 

I've been showing some of them on the I Like posts, Thursdays. I used to do a trunk show of all quilts but haven't been able to run workshops or do speaking engagements. 
that's it for this week except for RSC color of the month blue
some feedsack scraps



Posted by at 20 comments:

Thursday, January 30, 2025

I Like Thursday # 437 books, art, and a Danish

 

welcome ! 
Time for another list of likes for the week, starting with one of my Valentine quilts...The gold and white bit is textured paper, sewn with gold thread, the is a bracelet under it, hand beaded. 

I did a post Saturday with my finished basket for Project Quilting challenge, here it is holding one finished sock, and the second one ready to have the heel turned tonight

I love making stuff... don't you? It's never tedious to me, and it's soothing to my spirit. 
Paiinting
I tried an easy tutorial this week, 


I don't love the colors but after it was done, I got out my gold ink with eyedropper, and scratched on a gold heart. I wrote in a word for one of you in the top right corner ... Shewhoseeks

happy surprise

 I am happy that DH's haircut, came out perfectly this time... I'm okay at the job but not consistent! 

DH says neither is the hairdresser he pays, so.... and his hair grows fast. I learned from watching lots of videos on how to cut men's hair. 

Books of some form

I am enjoying both my audio book, a woman mourns the loss of her husband and holds a woman's weekend with good friends from stages of her life...and it's really good


and my E Book continuing my Fortune in Louisiana series. I LOVE to find a series to tuck into


fine Dining
Cherry Cheese Danish

my pic isn't good but the pastry is REALLY good. We use a puff pastry that is smaller than others but doesn't have chemicals or soy in it. Basically sweetened cream cheese, almond extract, Cherry preserves, bake. 

yum! a cherry danish with puff pastry sheet recipe: 

https://thatlemonadelife.com/easy-cherry-cream-cheese-puff-pastry-braid/

Prompt do you like ice skating, either watching others or yourself? Tell us about learning to skate, if you go now, indoor or outdoor. 

Our family used to go to NC regularly when I was growing up. There was an indoor rink there where I tried to learn as a pre teen. When I lived in Canada I skated outdoors, but it was so bumpy for my skill level. I took a beginner class where we were indoor. The problem was there was a mens hockey practice that went on after our lesson and they looked like wild animals skating around us at high speed if we didn't manage to get to safety before they were released! 

 


As a couple my dh and I went to Lake Placid every year where I spent part of every afternoon watching Olympic hopefuls taking lessons in the Olympic rinks. I loved it, and wrote stories about it while I sat there. Nowadays I watch competitions on TV. 

I don't know why but I've been crying missing my beautiful boy. Was it the allergy pills we gave him? he was just 5, and so many dogs die early here. But the loss is real. 



Posted by at 16 comments:
Labels:

Saturday, January 25, 2025

Creativity this week... two challenges met and knitting socks

 

Project Quilting prompt for this week was "ombre" which is a shift from one color to the another. 

I am knitting socks with an ombre affect at the moment. Purple to turquoise

two of my favorite colors! I like to put my own spin on a prompt so I thought I'd graduate from purple to turquoise with fabric PRINTS instead of solids. I wanted to make something I could use too, so an older pattern for a "keeper" fit the need

Now I have a non Christmas colored keeper to hold sock projects in the family room


I arranged prints from turquoise to purple strips and sewed them together. cut out the pattern in the strip set and in the lining fabric, sew it together and turn right sides out
The biggest pale purple fell on bottom of the bag but it's the final purple in the gradation.
 Top stitch the upper edge and it's done! 
I got the pattern from a workshop so there is not one to link to here, so sorry. 
embroidery stuff, and knitting stuff ready to use while watching tv
I'm aware that the colors shift differently from solids but I'm glad I explored the effect with prints

Next up is the Stay at home round robin prompt to use a King's crown block
I wasn't aware of that one so I googled it. SO many ways to interpret the angles and lines. I considered my quilt center.... I thought the one on the right looked like crowns. I drafted out a little pattern of just the section that looks crown-like
Mary Englebreit has an image that says "Queen of Everything" and 
princess of quite a lot  

Originally I planned to do 4 crowns one for center of each side but this one above isn't good, and I kind of like the quilt with just one on the bottom. Maybe I print out Queen LeeAnna of the house and use just one this round. 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month is PINK

I thought this little embroidery was done with the pinks but this week I made light and dark pink improvisational flying geese and like it here. 

By leaving things on the design wall, I often make changes over time, and this little embroidery is growing now because pinks ended up being a terrific color for the piece. 

Posted by at 18 comments:
Labels: , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)