Slow Stitching

I'm trying to retrain myself to hand quilt.  I hope to discipline myself to put in a row of stitches daily, so I can keep my finger callous.  It sure gets sore with each restart.

However, I find that I no longer "quilt" the way I did when I was younger.  I used to load several stitches on my needle at one time and then pull the needle through.  I find it easier to do one stitch at a time these days, which seems to be easier on my underneath finger.  I do use a metal sticky dot thimble, but do need to feel the needle on my skin when it comes through the fabric.  

This is a vintage Noah's Ark panel that I am working on.  It'll be a baby size quilt.  I love the "Rules for the Ark" listed in one of the blocks.  

New to me, is this Ulmer Quilting Frame.  It fits perfectly in my little open spot by the window and fireplace.  I had seen a couple of these frames owned by other bloggers and just knew it would be the easiest one for me to use and still be pretty enough to leave it set up in the living room.  So far, I absolutely love it.  ( I found it on ebay, not having to pay full purchase price for a new one.)

I'm linking up to Kathy's Quilts for Sunday Slow Stitching, where you can go and see what others are hand stitching.  I really enjoy seeing what others are making.

Machine stitching:

I finished up all the blocks for my daughter's quilt.  We are calling it her Quilt of Many Colors as we love Dolly Parton and her  movie about her little patchwork coat. 

I have trimmed the blocks and hope to arrange 

and sew them together this week.   

Stay tuned...…. I hope everyone is doing well.

Fun Sewing --Senior Angel

I wanted to sew some quilt blocks yesterday, but my back was aching and would not allow me to spend too much time at my sewing machine.

So, instead, I did some hand stitching and made this cute little mat (mug rug) for my new Senior Angel.

Terra, at Terra Garden Blog, posted about being a Senior Angel recently,  It sounded like something I would enjoy doing, so I signed up, and now I am an angel, too.

This program offers a free service for seniors who need or want happy mail.  I think it originated as Chemo Angels,  a service providing encouragement for those undergoing chemotherapy.  As an angel, we send a weekly card and an occasional gift to our person... something just to brighten their day.

If you know of someone who would enjoy these mailbox greetings or if YOU are in need of this service, please click on the link :  Chemo/Senior Angels and sign up.  I signed up a dear homebound friend of mine, who lives alone, has no children, and is dependent on others for most everything.  She has started receiving cards from her Angel and seems to be enjoying the little mailbox treats.  The recipients are not required to return letters/respond to their angel, as many cannot do so.  My friend has crippling arthritis, and cannot hold a pen to write.  However, the  angel service checks in with me monthly, to make sure she is receiving her cards and to see how she is doing.  

https://www.chemoangels.com/

There are plenty of lonesome people out there, and sometimes,  just knowing that someone cares is enough to get through another day. 

Linking up with Kathy and Slow Sunday Stitching.  Hop over to her link and see what others are working on, away from the sewing machine.

Finished !

Yes, I did.... I completed something, once again.

 I struggled with how to fix the large black patch in the upper left corner and ended up adding an applique patch over it.  It does help break up the large area, but I'm not sure I like it. (see below)  I wish I had added another embroidery to that side, but alas, it's done and I'm over it.

It was a fun piece to make, but I'm ready to move on to something else.

I did this new thing!

I've been wanting to learn how to crochet, so decided to plunge in and try to teach myself.

I found this really great video on you tube;  CLICK HERE by Bonnie Barker.

It was very easy to follow and I ended up with two new dishcloths. 

Are they perfect?  NO  Did I have to pull the yarn out and restart several times?  YES  Was it fun?  YES   Are they usable?  YES  Will I make more?  YES 

I'm going to try a different cotton yarn next time, as this one feels pretty stiff.  I've done my research and I want to try one that is 85% cotton, 15% polyester.   Does anyone have a favorite yarn for making dishcloths?

I finished the baby quilt binding on Sunday.  Here are pictures, mainly for my own documentation. 

It has been laundered and survived the dryer.  Does anyone else hold their breath each and every time they wash and dry a quilt for the first time?  :-))

I truly enjoyed every single stitch while making this quilt.

This quilt will be gifted next week when I take Sweet Pea back for her follow up appointment.  Thank you for the kind words about her and I am happy to report she is back to her normal self.  I am praying her liver tests will be normal next week.

Slow Stitching

Our little corner of eastern NC survived Hurricane Florence, but our nearby neighbors did not fare so well.  We were without power for five days, but that was the extent of our discomfort.

I did some slow stitching through the hurricane, which I have thoroughly enjoyed doing for the past few weeks.

It had been awhile since I did any hand quilting with regular quilting thread.  I had to redevelop a callous on my underneath finger, (ouch) but I had forgotten just how relaxing hand quilting can be.

This was the first time I had tried out my Barnett's quilting hoop that I had recently purchased from eBay.  I can't even tell you how much I love this hoop; it is very lightweight and easy to maneuver.  I'm so  glad I bought it.

This quilt panel is also an eBay find that I had purchased sometime back.  I don't know for sure, but I think it may be a poly/cotton blend.  It "needled" so easily and was a pleasure to stitch.

Here it is, almost finished.  I have one corner and one side of  binding left to  hand sew  today.   I used the same  backing fabric for the binding and I just love the pop of blue in this quilt.  Of course, this quilt is going to a little girl baby, but I think the mom will appreciate it not being "too pink".

**I am linking up to Kathy's Quilts to share for slow stitching Sunday.  It is always fun to see what others are working on with their needle and threads.  Click on her link to see lots of pretty projects in progress.

This quilt is being made for my sweet veterinarian, who is also a family friend  My kids grew up playing with Dr. Natalie and her siblings, so it's extra special to now have her as doctor for my fur babies.

Speaking of which:

Sweet Pea (11 years old)

This has been one sick little girl for the past few days.  We don't know why, but she got extremely sick a few days after the hurricane.  The vet said she had seen lots of animals who had ingested bad water after the hurricane, but we don't think that is the case here.  We had a visiting toad frog on the back porch, whom I lwas allowing to live here, because I did not know they were toxic to animals and it had been so long since I had seen one.  We are wondering if she may have eaten it, as she is our little hunter.  Normal liver values (ALP) for dogs are less than 200.  My girl's was over 900.   Dr. Natalie gave her some fluids and medication and sent her home.

It was touch and go for about 24 hours and I really thought we might lose her.  She was breathing rapidly and puffing her cheeks with respirations.  She couldn't stand and would barely open her eyes.

She still isn't well, but this is her this morning.  She has eaten a little boiled chicken and is drinking water again, so we are hoping she has made a turn for the better.  I never knew having fur babies could be so heart breaking!  I do love them, so.

Leaving you with two photo's of my sweet granddaughters.  This is Annabelle.

This is Brinley Kate and her mommy, Ashley.  They have started dressing alike on Sunday's sometimes, which I find quite adorable!

I hope all is well in your world.  What are you working on?

Tumpy's Quilt

I've finished the quilt that I've been working on and am itching to start my next hand quilting project.

I probably should call this quilt something like "My evolution quilt".   

It all started many years ago, (think 25 years or so), when my kids were little ones.  I started hand piecing hexagons for a grandmother's flower garden quilt.  It was all planned out in my mind, with green hexies to separate the flowers, making it into a flower garden quilt.

Life happened; the kids grew up and the hexies ended up in the attic for several years, tucked away in a cardboard box. Fast forward quite a few years and I purchased the paper doll fabric, having no idea what I would do with it.   I believe they had a front and a back and could have been made into dolls. 

One day I pulled the hexies out and decided to applique them onto a solid fabric and would throw the dolls into the mix and make something pretty for a future granddaughter.

The next thing I knew, I had two granddaughters and the quilt wasn't even close to being done.

I had been wanting to try big stitch quilting with colorful threads and remembered this quilt top that I already had, ready to go.  I started on it a few months ago, with my faithful companion, Tumpy, lying beside me for almost every stitch that was put into the quilt.  He was sick, but I didn't realize how sick at the time. 

Tumpy (the black dog in the picture) died in July and I was still working on the quilt.  When I picked it back up to stitch, it just didn't feel right without him by my side.   I would see his little black dog hair on the quilt and wish so much that I could just bring him back.  I began to call it Tumpy's quilt.

I embroidered his name on one of the hearts, as a way to honor his memory.  It was then that I decided that this quilt would be mine.  He loved to snuggle on the couch with me and this quilt reminds me of our last few months together, we both got lots of snuggle time. 

This pic is kind of cheesy, but the quilt is draped across Tumpy's little grave that we made in the back yard.   I think he would have approved of the finish.

Even with its sadness,  it's been a good summer....

I had the pleasure of seeing all the grandkids at the SAME time and it stirred my heart  to see them together again.  I leave you with this completely spontaneous photo taken of them without any prompts... isn't cousin love grand???

Thoughts on hand quilting

So, what makes a quilt top worthy of hand quilting?  :)  The Goodwill quilt top that I am currently working on,  probably never dreamed it would ever be picked up, bought, washed,  repaired, washed over and over several times, cat hairs picked, and then hand quilted, of all things!!

What makes this quilt worthy of hand quilting for me is:

The mystery of it all (who made it? why was  it never finished? why did someone give it to Goodwill? )

All the beautiful fabrics (there are few repeats in this quilt, so many pretty fabrics  and hand quilting gives me the opportunity to enjoy every single triangle.  Did this quilter have a huge stash?  Did she (or he)  exchange charm squares with others?)

As far as my own quilt tops, I have one quilt top waiting to be hand quilted.  It's the Underground Railroad Quilt that I made from Eleanor Burn's book.  I learned a lot while piecing this one and just could not dream of meandering meaningless stitches all over the top using a sewing machine.  Most quilts look better with the quilt stitches outlining the seams and I'm sure the Underground Railroad will look good this way, too.  That's not to say that a professional machine quilter couldn't make it look pretty, but that seems to take 'my' heart out of a quilt for me.

Having said that, I recently purchased a mid arm quilter and I have a quilt in the machine now.  Some quilts just need to be done quickly and simply by machine.   I'm hand quilting tonight and it made me think about how we decide what deserves our time to hand quilt.

I mentioned before that I was trying a new frame for lap quilting.  I bought this one:

It's a Q snap 11x17 size frame.  When I first started with it, everything felt too tight to quilt.  (those little snaps are tight, I promise!!)  I was able to loosen the quilt in the frame and I ended up taking one end of the 'snap' off, so that only three sides were secured into the frame.  It truly helps with making the backing stay tight and neat.

Tried and true:  My UltraThimble fingertip shield.  I've tried different thimbles and used to swear by leather ones.  (they wore out too fast).  For some time now,  I have been using this one that sticks on the tip of my finger and I love it.   I don't wear one on my underneath hand; I depend on my calloused middle finger for that side.  :)

So, what makes you decide which ones to hand quilt and which ones to machine quilt?

Hand Quilting

I love this quote from greenQuilts blog:

"There's just something about hand quilting.  It speaks to slowing down and enjoying the process.  In this world of rush and hurry and get MORE done, it's quite the opposite.  Take your time and enjoy the process.  I certainly am."

The $5 Goodwill Quilt

I needed a break from the sewing machine so I have picked up the $5 Goodwill quilt to work on again. I took it out of the frame this week and have been lap quilting without a hoop.  I have discovered there are many quilters who quilt this way. (Celebrate Hand Quilting Blog)  It has been so relaxing to sit in the recliner, with the quilt in my lap, ( a little dachshund under the quilt), and being able to stitch away, without having to sit at a frame for an extended period of time.  Downside:  my lap quilting isn't as pretty on the back as the quilting that was done on the frame.  :(  I think I'll look for a small hoop this weekend and try using that method.  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed hand quilting.  (funny how the internet makes us think we have to go high tech to be in the quilting 'race')  I'm going back to the basics; quilting is for ME.