quilted goodness

I have some more vintage quilted goodies to show you

the first one is from the blue and white Ohio Star quilt I used for the little heart ornaments

it's a tree topper star to replace the Barbie-esque angel from China:

and with a mint green and white pinwheel quilt 

(which is in pretty good shape except for one edge which I had to cut off)

I made these embroidery hoop ornaments:

(the ornaments are in my Etsy shop Christmas section)

I'm off to go make Christmas cookies today

it's a real production

I'll show you some Yummy Goodness tomorrow 

:)

beyond repair

I have some beautiful old quilts that were my grandmother's

but this one is in a very sad state of disrepair

an old *Ohio Star quilt - it was obviously VERY well loved

but a "cutter" now

oh it was hard!

... then I had an idea ...

I'll make heart ornaments for all of my cousins

it will be fun to slip a heart into a Christmas Card and include a note about the old quilt

we'll all have a piece of history that connects us to one another

*the Ohio Star quilt originated in the mid 1800's and experienced a huge revival in the 1930's. It is a favorite pattern for scrap quilting and many thrifty households in the depression era used feed sacks, shirts, sheets, dresses, etc as resources for their scrap quilts

mend and make do

 my favorite light weight sweater had bleach spots on it

have you done that before?

so I patched over the spots with wool felt shapes

 (they were leftover from a christmas project last year)

they make great patches!

the bleach spots were at kitchen counter height

I must have been bleaching the counters and splashed it on myself

sheesh

it turned out pretty cute

maybe even an improvement over my old faded sweater

***

my girls have been watching netflix re-runs of "what not to wear"

I think clinton and stacy would not approve

... ask me if I care ...

***

how did I make the flower shapes?

cookie cutters were used as templates

what were the flowers originally used for last christmas?

I was making hair clips for my girls

just layer the shapes like I did here, 

stitch them with embroidery thread,

 attach them to big bobby pins

cute!

a serious need for chocolate

look at this face!

she's a real princess and it looks as if she's about to say 

"where's mine, missy?"

as in: "where's my hot cocoa?"

because that's what I needed this morning

it's been a stormy day and only 42 degrees - 42 - yup, I said 42 - A R G H !

sitting here with my hot cocoa, the princess, and The Quilt

- of which, I can finally say, "DONE"

I finished the patch for the back that has names, dates, etc.

my embroidery skills are rudimentary - but love is there

(I used an old hankie for the patch)

- when I have a sunny day, I'll hang this quilt out on the line for a full photo -

and I know I will have a sunny day again soon

just trying to believe that we are in the northern hemisphere

and that the calendar actually says  M A Y

stitching with pliers

 ... for real ...

sometimes it's just too much work to get that needle through several thicknesses of fabric

and paper can be especially uncooperative

(it has no weave to part a path for the needle-eye & thread)

... so I use pliers ...

is that what all the fuss was about?

... there's more ...

these sweet things needed pliers too:

it's a serious dose of fun color

just in case spring hasn't burst out in all her full operatic diva glory

(a little something to tide you over)

*

ingredients:

can lids

bottle caps

wire

bamboo skewer

... ta-da ...

how I stitch teabag paper ...

... it's not as fragile as you might think

*

first of all: 

no knots

knots are too bulky and sometimes pull right through

I lock the first stitch in with a single backstitch and leave a bit of a tail

secondly:

use a running stitch 

if you punch in and out, stitch by stitch, you are more like to get tears

a running stitch keeps the paper more stable

third:

lock in your last stitch with a single backstitch

do this, whether you are done and will be cutting the thread,

or as in these hexagons, if you are turning a corner and need added strength 

 finger pressing is all that is needed for these somewhat fragile seams

so this is the back:

and this is the front after quilting:

there isn't much to tell about the quilting

except: a running stitch is best

also: you will find that the more stitching you do (as in sashiko)

the stronger it all becomes

I will show more pictures as I fill this in with sashiko type stitching

Sashiko: a form of decorative and functional stitching from Japan. 

Used in mending and reinforcing worn fabric or areas of fabric destined for wear (and tear).  

Most frequently used is white thread on indigo fabric.

piecing

tea bag quilt top

dictionary page baffle

muslin backing

I've been doing the slow stitch

sometimes it's all I want to do

and look at the forsythia - swoon time

happy friday!

hexagon love

I've been repairing a vintage hexagon quilt top I picked up in the fall

and I'm in love

I was working on it over the weekend

and now that it's Monday, my thoughts returned to my art

... and it occurred to me ....

the hexie love can continue

and continue it does

... a tea bag paper hexagon quilt in it's very earliest beginnings ...

a sunglasses kind of day

... not today, but yesterday,

look how gorgeous it is:

(north everett looking east over the water plant)

so I cleaned up my sunglasses and realized I need a new case for them

I found a very very easy tutorial for this zippered pouch on Design Mom

(link is HERE)

it took five seams and only 2 of them are visible

I used scrap oilcloth fabric from sewing up lunch bags,

batting, lining fabric, and a zipper I never used from another project

15 minutes easy peasy (if you sew)

*

and look at this little beauty:

a crocus in the sunshine - is there anything sweeter?

seedtime

my husband has been going through seed catalogs

making his plans for the coming summer

happily, I inherit the old seeds which went unplanted from years past

some of my seeds go back to 2003

I knew in my heart that I would use them in my art somehow

"we sowed seeds"

I've stitched them between layers of teabag paper and onto antique linens

my inspiration really comes from the photos though

it makes me sad that I don't know who these people are

I have a habit of picking up old photos at the local junk shops

some of the faces and the scenes I just cannot turn away from

it seems like life was harder then

the clothes are worn - the faces are lined

but they chose to pause and pose for the camera

a certain pride in family, friends, work, possessions, places

we are no different and the camera connects us

"in season"

* * *

speaking of posing

the blue sky made an appearance today

as photogenic and beautiful as I remember her

staying in and getting out

back to that ball of luscious raspberry colored yarn:

I've got one sock done and one on the sticks

this is my 4th pair of socks this winter and I'm happy to say that after knitting 6 socks, my 7th is perfect and my 8th is (fingers crossed) coming out perfectly

(thanks to: Judy's Magic Cast On;Wendy's Short Row Heel;Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Cast Off)

meanwhile:

this afternoon is supposed to turn sunny

(after this fog burns off)

and then I'll be headed down to the beach collecting flotsam and jetsam 

(actually, I'll go whether the sun makes an appearance or not)

.... are you able to get outside today?

making color

 it was fun to read how everyone is tackling their winter blues and lack of color:

We are painting the interior of our house, all kinds of wonderful colors.....tomato bisque, apache clay, grey expose, honeysuckle beige (a yellow), canyon earth,dusky hyacinth,and wetlands (a green). Wonderful names and wonderful fun colors. They are all in a color family and when I look from one room to the next, it makes me smile.   -Yvonne

Everything around here is white with snow and so this afternoon l paint a sun!  -Lynda

turning all the lights on in the house or my studio seems to help!!  -Caterina

surrounded by colorful things, from embroidery to Tibetan prayer flag, and no matter what the fickle weather throws, there's color in my mind's eye, color in my memories. I wear red, stay in bed imagining the vistas of this wide, wide world, listen to colorful music, eat apples, beets and carrots, fling colorful words and strokes in pencil, pen, or brush across a ragged page, and so abide, content within my days. -Ms.

yes, I'm big-time color starved--I need to go pull out some colorful fabric and make something/anything with it!

-cat@sea.sky.stone

I am dreaming of green...I bought myself a bunch of tulips, orange with yellow tips, with the groceries this week. What a gift !  And my rainbow of embroidery floss does make me smile.  -Kim

Yes! You diagnosed what I'm suffering from! I hate my phone's camera for that reason-- all of the photos come out "blue" and somber. Today I tried retouching photos for my post on a "new" editing program my daughter loaded on my computer. Things are a little brighter, but could be better.  -Nathalie

***

our fog has lifted today - finally

but here are a couple of parting shots from yesterday

Rime Ice coating the tree branches

(Rime Ice, which I had never heard of before now, is formed in freezing fog conditions)

are you color starved too?

 we've had a lot of fog this last week

it just washes the color out of everything

and I find myself color starved

this ball of yarn is like a great big vitamin pill of color

(warm woolen socks in process)

it reminds me of that Deathcab for Cutie song Lack of Color:

if you feel discouraged that there's a lack of color here

please don't worry - it's really bursting at the seams

absorbing everything - the spectrum's A to Z

and coincidentally enough, those guys (DCFC) are from around here

so they knew what they were talking about when they wrote that song

what are you doing for your daily dose of color?

I know Corinne is elbow deep in paint

Patty's playing with beeswax

Dawn and Tammy are crocheting up a storm

Sharon is rediscovering her beautiful bead collection

Becca has her camera

Kim has her lovely stones and journal

Lynn has illustrated a book

... I am surrounded by encouragement and inspiration ...

x o x o