A summer finish and back to the UFO pile....

Well I finished up Ida Mae Crow last Friday. I really like this piece - makes me think of summertime in the midwest - blackbirds, crows, and sunflowers.
She's heading on over to the framing pile now which is getting pretty stacked up. I don't do my own framing...I guess I could but I haven't ventured into that yet. Maybe one of these days when I have more time...ha ha!

Souvenir de France is close to a finish as well , I just have the border to do. I just love stitching with Silk n' Colors! I've decided I'm going to have to stitch this a second time for my dear old college roommate - we went to Europe together many, many years ago. I can tell you it was the trip of a lifetime which I'll never forget - and we both loved France. We still exchange birthday gifts every year and usually try to find each other something to do with France. This will be just perfect for part of her gift this year. I wish I had used this color of red for my French Alphabet Sampler which is languishing in the UFO bin. I think I kind of quit on it because I'm not thrilled with my linen and silks -but I'm not starting over as I'm on page 4 now. I am using Gloriana Cranberry silk and it fuzzes and tends to tangle a bit - just not my favorite silk but it was what everybody seemed to be using at the time I started that piece so I'm going to have to see it through. I concentrated all last year on my WIPs & UFOs - then as of January this year I set them aside for a bit and worked on all new things. Oh it was so nice to work on all new projects! I've decided now to try to get back to one or two of my UFO's and see if I can get at least one of them done this year.

This is "English Sampler" (in 2 pictures) as of the last time it was worked on. I took a class for this in 2005, geez has it been that long already?? I only can remember the year because I had made some notes after the class in a Word document which had a date on it. I worked on the center floral section today and I am almost done with it - there was some satin stitching and work with gold filament that I had put off. I do really love band samplers and this is a beauty - it deserves to be up on a wall even if that lacis work scares me!

Ida Mae is on her way.......

Miss Ida Mae is coming along very well. I actually have more done than the photo shows – I took the photo a few days ago but then got busy this weekend and never updated my blog. I am about halfway done with the flowers on the right side and then only the fence at the bottom to complete. So a finish can’t be far off. I’ve also been working on Captain's Inn here and there – not too much progress but every bit helps.
I couldn’t resist starting on Blackbird Design’s latest freebie - A Souvenir from France. I have been a Francophile for most of my life so I can’t wait to finish this. I have other Eiffel Tower patterns in my stash but this little one should stitch up quickly. I am using a scrap of some 40-ct linen I had with Silk ‘n Colors Auburn Frost. I must make a run to PetsMart this week to get some of the crushed walnut shells for the filling. (I just wish it wasn’t called “reptile bedding”!!!)

Hope all my US readers enjoyed the holiday weekend. A 3-day weekend was much needed in my case as I have a severe case of work burnout lately. Too many emails, too many teleconferences, enough of spreadsheets, documents, and deadlines! It’s not like I want to wish my life away and wake up and be older but I sure am tired of working and retirement seems WAY too many emails off. I just want to stitch and sew and work is cutting into my time!

Now a little drum roll please……..I am so happy to finally present the finished quilt top that has been in progress for a year!

"Like Water For Chocolate"

My quilting buddies and I (12 of us) each designed a section of this quilt to coincide with a chapter in the book “Like Water for Chocolate”. This was a popular Mexican novella that came out several years ago (also made into a movie). It’s a story of romance, star-crossed lovers, heartache, women & babies, and the book is sprinkled with recipes. It's not the greatest of pictures but you should be able to pick out things like a Mexican ranch house, broken hearts, peppers, quail in rose petal sauce, chickens & eggs, fire, a sombrero, a wedding cake, a Mexican flag, and even a little spider. Many of the pieced blocks were chosen because the name of the quilt block went with the story - for example “Love Everlasting”, “Butter and Eggs”, or “Kings Crown”. Here's a couple closeups of some of my favorite blocks - lovers Pedro & Tita dancing, the Mexican ranch house next to "quails in rose petal sauce", and mint tea.

We are making a little fabric book to mount in the bare spot in the bottom right corner – it will contain everyone’s name and the chapter of the quilt they designed. Each of us made the quilt in our own choices of colors and fabrics, just using the same patterns or variations thereof. I started off falling in love with a beautiful floral Moda fabric I intended to use as a border (and which inspired my wild color choices) , but in the end it was too busy for a border so I’ll use on the back instead. Now on to the machine-quilting which I’ll be doing myself. I hope I can do a decent job of it. Machine-quilting is not my favorite thing to do (nor do I excel at it) but I really can’t spend a couple hundred dollars right now getting this custom-quilted.

Thanks for stopping by to visit. I really do appreciate you listening to my ramblings! :)

Summertime progress & blogoversary giveaway!

So how is everyone doing out there? Are you all stitching away? We've been having great weather - our June has been much cooler than usual which has been so-o-o-o nice. Usually we are frying in temperatures from 105 to 115F this time of year, and we've had some very pleasant days. It also helps keep that air conditioning bill down a bit and that's always good!

I've been making some good progress lately - my DH has been out of town for 3 weeks so I've had more time to myself than I usually do. Not to mention no cooking and less laundry to do. :) Ida Mae Crow's dress is taking shape you can see below. This is my first time stitching on Lakeside Linen's "Vintage Buttercream". I think it's one of their newer colors and I love it! It's a really nice shade, sort of what I would call "butterscotch-y".


I also made a new start over the weekend. This is "Captain's Inn" from Little House Needleworks. I've always wanted to do a grouping of nautical-related pieces. You might think I live by the ocean - NOT. I live in the desert southwest but often wish I did live by some water as I'm starting to really crave it. I've kept a list of charts I'd like to do for this theme and it's time I got busy. I'm stitching this on 32-ct Pewter Lugana (I think....'someone' never labeled it when she brought it home).

It's been awhile since I stitched on an evenweave and I forgot how nice it is - no issues with the coverage like I get with some of the linen & silk combinations. (Note to self: stock up on some more evenweaves.....) It has just the right bluish-gray tone for this piece. I'm not real fond of stitching lettering and I'm anxious to get to the 'fun' part which is the tavern sign. That being said, I still do have plans to stitch the Gettsyburg Address one of these days. Erica Michaels has a chart out for that but I like the one that Liz of Primrose Needleworks is designing on her blog (http://howtomakeanamericansampler.blogspot.com/) and hoping she'll offer the pattern for sale when she gets the model done.

Now on to more exciting things. I have a couple of giveaways in honor of my 3rd blogoversary! There are 2 sets of charts below - some of these are extras I had or they've already been stitched - might as well pass them on. I will also be including a mesh project bag with each set (which I'll be making this weekend so not pictured!). Two names will be drawn so sign up by leaving a comment if you want to be in the drawing for the giveaways. Signup deadline is Sunday June 28th - I'll draw the winning names on Monday the 29th.

Also, here is the information a few of you requested about the mesh bags. The pattern is called "Zip It!" by Nancy Ota. You can find it easily on the internet or perhaps at a quilt or craft store. The most economical way to make these is using black vinyl mesh that you can get at home improvement stores. I get mine at Lowe's but Home Depot probably has it also. It is sold as "pet screening" and you can get a roll for $8 or $9 usually - it's in the department where they sell replacement door or window screening. You can make at least 4 large bags out of one roll. Colored mesh is harder to find - most of mine I have bought at quilt stores or shows where they had vendors. I did find several places online where you can buy the colored mesh. Of these listed, I have only ordered from Erica's before and they gave me good service. As far as sewing skills, these are not difficult to make. The instructions are good and once you make one by following the directions you kind of pick it up pretty easily. You do need to own and know how to operate a zipper foot on your sewing machine. The inside seam is covered with single-fold or double-fold bias tape (either one works) - this is optional but I recommend you do it so there are no rough edges inside that could snag your project.

Links for buying colored vinyl mesh:

http://www.lylefabrics.com/Vinyl-Mesh-for-Bags-Vinyl-Mesh/c28_29/index.html

http://www.ericas.com/sewing/patterns/totes_screenplay.htm (also has the pattern)

http://www.elegantstitches.com/Purses.htm#Bag%20Accessories (scroll WAY down the page)

http://www.metroscreenworks.com/shop/petscreenaccessoriespetscreencolors-c-2_74.html?page=1&sort=20a

http://www.fabricdepot.com/index.php?page=CatalogPage&pageid=5515