Another St. Patty's Day Finish :)

Well I finished the wallhanging for my front door...I have been so immersed in my cookbook and thoughts of gardening that I didn't know if I'd get to it!  Yesterday I decided I better buckle down.  I have Etsy projects to be working on too but it's looking so plain out front I really wanted to get this up.

Here's a closeup of the front...it's very "Bonnie Hunter" inspired isn't it?  Well...I don't remember if I posted about it, but she's coming to my quilt guild in June and I'm SO EXCITED!  I signed up for her workshop the last time she visited about two years ago, but was in nursing school at the time and had a test that I couldn't get out of.  BUMMER!!!  So I'm very very excited to be free enough to go this time.  I guess it was sort of on my mind when I started cutting scraps for this...

Here it is on my front door.  We used to have a full glass panel front door and I am missing it for sure now that I see this hung up.  We now have one of those half glass, half screen doors and I HATE it.  Ugh.  Cuts right through my pretty wall hanging.  Looks pretty here in the pictures though...

 I really need to get some more free motion practice in.  I have been quilting with polyesters and I'm really in love with it, but sometimes I just want the look of cotton.  I used 50 wt. cotton from Connecting Threads here, in my favorite shade, Honey.  I am almost out of that color too and am debating on reordering from them.  I had a bad experience last time I ordered from them and haven't decided if I want to go back or not.  I love their products, and for the most part the customer service has been great, but when I had a complaint their attitude was pretty much, get packing and don't let the door hit ya on the way out.  Anyhow here's a little of the back...I love the look of quilting on a pretty cream backing like this, but you can really see how goofy my stitching got!  :)

Quilting Practice and Random Happenings

I haven't sewn in a few days.  I've been reorganizing the house, doing a bit of spring cleaning.  I have another St. Patty's day project waiting for me at the sewing table but I just can't get going on it because on Friday...

 ...the newest issue of Country Gardens arrived in my mailbox!  I have been so busy lately that when this came I realized I hadn't even opened the last issue that came, so I thought I ought to catch up.  Mother nature has been teasing us with the warm and mild winter we've had this year...and I am READY!  Temperatures didn't consistently stay below 32 degrees for long this winter so I didn't get any wintersown plants out.  NOT ONE!  This is the first year since I discovered wintersowing that I haven't done any seeds.  Even last winter, big bellied and pregnant I trudged my way through the weedy garden.  I put out seeds and even dug up a bed just weeks before the baby was born.  I suppose since I would be putting out perennials they would be fine, but not knowing what winter had yet in store I was afraid to risk it.  It's now March and I don't like to start my annuals just yet, so I think I'll get a late start and do some "spring" sowing.  I have lots of plants this year that need dividing and transplanting after a couple seasons of neglect.  My two big goals this year are to tidy up the front gardens and get to gardening the back of the house.

I was able to swipe two of these little violet house plants at a benefit I went to recently...they are so pretty and cheery!  I'm thinking I need to repot them...teapots?  Yes?  I think yes!  :)

Another thing I've been interested in is cooking.  I'm not a huge cook.  Usually around the holidays I get a bug up my patoot and I want to cook nonstop...and eat too.  :)  But the rest of the year I'm usually so busy with my family and my hobbies that I forget about cooking.  Taste of Home is my FAVORITE cooking magazine, ever.  There are always real recipes in there...what I mean by that is recipes that are from food we normally keep around the house.  I just hate when you get a cooking book where all of the recipes are ingredients you will only use for that one thing, and you have to go out and spend a fortune on things you don't normally keep.  I have made lots of recipes from the magazines and really enjoyed them...the family too.  So my Mom gave me this as an early birthday gift because she knows how much I love the magazines.  I am thrilled!  I cannot wait to start making some of the yummies in here...

...it's just a wee bit large...so I have LOTS of cooking to do now!

Oh yes and I promised some quilting practice...this is an adaption from one of the M' Liss quilting designs in EQ6...I had originally practiced it with the intention of using it on my log cabin wallhanging but even though I marked them all over the quilt I still just went in and did feathers!!!

I used a Clover water erasable marking pen that I purchased after going to the Lake Farmpark Quilt Show with my Mom a few weeks ago.  I have another water eraseable marking pen but I really like Clover brand.  They just seem to be very consistent with their products, I have had great luck with everything Clover that I've purchased.  I also have their mini-iron, my Mother gave that to me also as a birthday gift!  I use it for applique and it gets wonderfully HOT!  But much more convenient than using the big clunky iron.  I also have one of those cheapie craft irons but they just don't get hot enough.  Also the clover iron is small, and has a pointy tip for precision.  I love that.

Alrighty well I'm off to do something.  Sewing, gardening, cooking...one of my infinite hobbies!  Maybe I'll paint my nails!  ;)  Cleaning is what I should be doing but, eh, it will all still be there waiting to be done tomorrow. 

St. Patrick's Day Scrappy Table Runner/Wall Hanging

This one's going on Etsy...working on one for ME tonight!  :)

The Big Purple Monster...Returns

Uggggghhh!  THIS QUILT!!!  I do love this quilt, but for the better half of three years it has made me smille, made me CRY, made me pull out my hair...but guess what?  I'm ALMOST done!  It's all basted up and ready to be quilted.  Although, had I known when I dropped nearly $50 on the perfect batik backing that batik backed quilts made with mainly batik fabrics could create a challenge for quilting...I might have gone with a nice mottled/marble instead.  Oh well.  What the hell I'll give it a shot.

I know I've promised this as a pattern to many, and I will get there!  Directions will be minimal but as always leave me a message or drop me an email and I'll help as best I can.  I will let you all know here when I've listed the foundation pattern on Etsy.  ;)

Now I'm off...the Husband may or may not have strep throat or tonsillitis or both.  Lol*  In any case the poor man is miserable so off to the Doctor. 

How I Make Quilt Labels and a Gift for a Friend

I don't know why I've never posted about this before!  In the past I have been really bad about adding labels to the back of my quilts.  The biggest reason is that with three small children at home I find that my sewing time is precious and limited, so by the time  get to the end of a project the last thing on my mind is labeling it.  But the more projects I make and the more people I end up giving quilts to the more I'd like to leave a record of who it was who made that quilt.  So here is how I do it...

You can get really creative with labels but I generally just make up something simple like this using muslin or other scraps from the quilt.

Then I roughly cut a piece of freezer and iron it to the back of the quilt to help stabilize the fabric for writing on.

I like to use these pens...I found mine at a local quilt shop but I have seen these at art supply stores (like Pat Catan's, Michaels, or Jo Ann Fabrics) or even Walmart.

Sometimes I'll go so far as to place a few lines on the freezer paper with a sharpie...

...when you turn the label over and hold it up to a window you can see the lines and keep your writing nice and neat.

You could draw pictures or use colors, but I just like to write my name, the date, and where I live...press the label to set the ink, remove the freezer paper and stitch to the back of your quilt like an applique.  :)  That's just how I do it, for inquiring minds!

I also wanted to share this little Ipad case I made for a friend.  She told me the day before yesterday that she'd won an Ipad and asked me if I'd make her something to keep it in, and a pocket for the charger.  She said she liked pink, so this is what I came up with.  In retrospect I wish I'd made handles for it!  But I gave it to her yesterday so too late now...she seemed to really like it so that makes me happy!  :)

A few close ups of the buttons and front...

...the stitching was done in variegated pink thread.  That is all for today, now I'm off to stitch on that label and make some dinner.  I'm thinking barbecue hamburgers...on my little stovetop grilling pan...makes me excited for summer being around the corner and REAL grilled hamburgers!  Happy quilting!  ;)



DONE! Woohee!

So happy to have finished the quilting on this.  I have some running around to do today but after that I'm hoping to get the binding and hanging sleeve on this.  Yay!

I still need some practice but I'm pretty happy with the heirloom feathers on this quilt...this is my first time doing this style on an actual project!  The spines didn't really turn out how I'd planned but still I'm happy.  Yay!  :)

It Was Worth The Sacrifice

One of my worst sewing fears happened today.  I stitched right through my finger.  Right through the tip...string and all.  Luckily it broke off with enough end for me to pull it out with tweezers.  If it hadn't hurt so badly I would have taken a gruesome picture!!!  LOL*  I found it funny that the thread stayed attached and still through the eye of the needle when it came out the other side!  LOL*

In any case it's time to take a break.  I've been having some tension issues and now that my left middle finger is wrapped in bandaids I'm that much more frustrated.  Need to walk away for a few hours.  Here's the progress so far...