I'm A Little Biased

It is time for another Madame Samm blog hop with Marlene as our cheerleader, and this time I had a little harder time deciding just how I was going to do this one.  It was a real challenge for me because I have never done anything like this before, but I'm so glad I did.

I have giggled over so many of the quilts in this blog hop as people have been so creative with fabric choices and embellishments.  For some reason I have a feeling there will be a day when I have a shirt just like this and bright pink sunglasses.  :)  Please take some time to visit the other sites that are participating today and a huge thank you to Madame Samm and Marlene for this chance to really expand my horizons and to Amy Bradley who designed this great pattern!!  Happy Stitching!!  --Kristen

Tuesday, February 26

Pat Sloan's Blog

To Love Handmade

Feathered Nest Studio

Selina Quilts

Gypsy Dreamer Quilts

Sheila's Quilt World

Meadowbrook

13 Woodhouse Road

Zellerwear

Stitches of Love

Janice at That Other Blog

In The Sewing Basket 

FNSI Sewing...

I had such high hopes for last night.  We had a lot of snow fall the night before (enough to delay school by a few hours), and I was thinking it would be so fun to snuggle in and see some major progress, that is until I started working on this....

I had found some information on using stabilizer and the glue pen to prep these for applique.  If you look at the few pieces that are turned right side up you can see it isn't all that easy.  After tracing out all those pieces and then not having it go well, I decided I should just set it aside as obviously I was not in the mood for that.

I decided I was more in the mood for finishing a binding.  I turned a movie on and got to work.  I should mention I didn't start working on this until almost 10 p.m., but it felt so good to finish it that I thought I'd start on the other one.

I could not put this one down either.  It is now hanging on the wall in my office.    I wish you could see the quilting better...the lighting is awful today as it is overcast.  Another completed project, and I will have something for my stash report this week!!!  Yay!!!  It was so fun to actually hang this one that I might think about going back to work on those Stars and Sprigs applique blocks (I was kindly reminded this morning that a finished bed sized quilt would be nice).  Happy Stitching!!  --Kristen  

Lots and Lots of Quilting

Today I decided was going to be a quilting day.  I have had it in my mind that I need to be practicing my machine quilting and today was the day.  Two of the quilts that I pinned earlier in the week were not my favorite quilts, in fact, it was very hard for me to even take them out and work on them.  I didn't like my fabric choices and one of them was so old it bothered me.  But then I started thinking that they would be the perfect quilts to practice on.

I loved these fabrics and I loved the pattern, but I do not love them together.  Now that it is quilted, I'm liking it a lot better and that is because it is square and lays flat.  I am going to use this as a table topper and a lot of it will be covered up.

I have thought for a long time about how I wanted to quilt my houses quilt.  I decided that I would use a lot of different techniques that I learned in my machine quilting classes.  I did end up taking some quilting out, but overall, I'm happy with it.

I even tried the loops over the squares and I realized if I am relaxed it goes well, if not, well then I do a little unsewing.   I now have two ready for binding...my absolute favorite part of quilting.  Happy Stitching!!  --Kristen

Progress

As you can see I spent a good bit of time working on my embroidered hexagons this weekend.  They were so relaxing, and it is so fun to see them being close to finished.  Of course now that I see progress I'm trying to figure out how I am going to cut the finished ones off and get them attached to the hexagon flowers without affecting the embroidery waiting to be finished.  I am getting so excited to see this quilt to the end.

I changed my floss colors to DMC 3051 (green) and 3726 (pink).  They match the colors perfectly in the hexagon flowers.  I just have the yellow centers to finish and then I can move the hoop.  I've also spent quite a bit of time researching how to applique the blocks for my Stars and Sprigs quilt.  I'm not completely sold on doing machine embroidery, and I've ordered a stabilizer that is supposed to help with the hand applique.  Doing it by hand may take a little longer, but maybe doing a different technique will make it not seem impossible.  Happy Stitching!!  --Kristen

Working On Some UFO's

This morning I woke up and decided that today was going to be the day where some quilts that have been sitting for far too long were going to get pinned...and it actually happened.  I do not know exactly when they will be quilted, but at least at this point they are closer to being finished than they were yesterday.

Of course two of these quilts look to be more fall in color, but that is okay, if they are finished and ready to use this fall, that will be great.  I would love to be able to use the house quilt soon, so that may have to jump to the top of the quilting list.  Happy Stitching!!  --Kristen

The Hexies Are All Traced

I lost count at 70 hexies that needed to be traced, but they are done and ready to be pressed, stitched, and then basted.  I am probably going to have a lot of time to sit in between basketball games this weekend and in the car, so I figured I should have this project ready to go.  I would love to be able to to put all the hexagons together soon.

Now to figure out where I put all those skeins of embroidery floss...Happy Stitching and Happy Valentine's Day!!  --Kristen

Love Is In The Air

It is almost Valentine's Day and I've had hearts on the mind for the last two weeks.  Valentine's has always been a favorite holiday of mine and to be able to participate in the Hugs and Kisses Blog Hop...well, there was just no question about whether or not to join, it was more of what don't I make.

I started with this 14-inch pillow.  I had seen this tutorial, but I decided to use 1-1/2" strips and graph paper to design mine.  I have always wanted to make a pink and yellow quilt and was also able to use some ric rack I had on hand.  I did quilt the squares in the ditch so the top has a little poof to it, and I was really pleased with the way it turned out.

I also stitched this Lizzie Kate "Love Crazy" cross stitch and made it into a pillow.  I added a button to the middle to add a little sparkle.

Now that my holiday cushions are finished I should probably get to work on sending Valentines.  Thank you to Madame Samm and Jane our cheerleader for this blog hop.  You can follow these links to see what everyone else has to share...

Monday February 11th Jane's Fabrics and Quilts Sowing Stitches The Fuzzy Hat Quilter Quilts and Dogs Ninis Patchwork Mrs. Pickles Garden Patchouli Moon Studio Life in the Scrapatch Meadowbrook

The Forty Stars Are Finished

It took me 23 days to make 40 star blocks, my goal was one a day, which means I am 17 days ahead on the Stars and Sprigs project.  I think that is a very good thing because everything left is applique and a lot of applique there is to do.

All of the stars were fun to make, but I am ready to start the applique.  I have a pretty full day ahead of me tomorrow and I am hoping to at least be able to get some of the pieces cut out.  It is looking like it is going to be machine applique which will be a good way for me to practice my skills.  Happy Stitching!!  --Kristen

A Friend Is Home

My sewing machine is home and did I celebrate.  It is all clean and running perfectly which makes sewing all the more fun.  It even has a new needle threader, which I don't think I have ever used but somehow was broken.  To celebrate I pieced some of the many stars I cut out this week.

This last block was the one with the middle fabric I cut in half and was not supposed to.  I am glad I waited for it...and I have extra now.  I think there are four stars left, and I am hoping to get started on the applique blocks this weekend.  I will say that the fabrics used for the stars are making me look at possible fabric purchases differently.  Happy Stitching!!  --Kristen

Snow!

We finally have some snow.  Usually by this time of year we have a base of feet not centimeters and this weekend we received about four inches +/- an inch or two and everything is white and clean looking. For a while our grass was starting to look green.

There is nothing like a clean white snowy background for a few blocks.  I took my sewing machine in to be cleaned and had to figure out how to use my old machine again.  It took me a while, but I finally figured it out.

Once again these are all fabrics that I never would have chosen to put together, but they work.  There are not many stars left to do so the decision is going to have to be made soon on what type of applique I am going to use.  I am steering towards machine applique, but I think that may be a bit slow going until I've done a few blocks as I am not fond of unsewing.

Stash Report

Used this Week: 0 yards
Used year to Date: 2.5 yards
Added this Week: 2.25 yards
Added Year to Date: 10 yards
Net Used for 2013: -7.75 yards

I went to this crazy quilt store super bowl sale yesterday.  They had 25% off all yard cuts of fabric and evidently everyone needed yards and yards of fabric because the store was so packed you could hardly get in.  I bought 2-1/4 yards for backing for two quilts.  As I left my sewing machine there for cleaning, I will not be able to do any quilting until I get it back, but the quilts should be pinned and all ready to quilt before then.  I also received good news from the doctor late Friday night that all the skin cancer was removed and the margins are clear, now to just get everything healed.  Happy Stitching!!  --Kristen

Where Has This Week Gone...And A Winner!

I had no intention of going this long between postings.  It has been one of those weeks that a person can never plan for, and one I hope I do not have to relive again ever.  I ended up having not one but two biopsies on my arm for skin cancer.  The first one did not have clear margins so back I went and I now have 10 stitches and a 2-inch gash (incision) on my left arm.  Please, please, please wear sunscreen...no tan is worth going through this.  My son also had the stomach flu, so needless to say, it has been less than fun around here.  I did make a few stars though...

I have one more star cut out waiting to be sewn together and another one that is waiting for a new piece of fabric as I cut the center square wrong (actually I cut it in half).  Even though I know I could have used a different one, it was such a pretty fabric, I wanted to use the same one.

And now for the winner...thank you for all the lovely comments and great ideas for its use...the winner is...

 Emily C said...Love your patchwork dresden. Very nice. Can't imagine trying to sew those tiny blocks.

 

January 28, 2013 at 2:36 PM

   

I've sent you an email Emily.  Thanks for entering, and there will be another giveaway soon!  Happy Stitching!!  --Kristen