A Year In Stitches

Several months ago while shopping in Joann's, I saw the cutest little iron-on transfers for each month of the year.  I'm a sucker for little needlwork projects that I can slide into my handbag as I'm running out the door, so along with a package of flour sack towels, I headed to the checkout lane.  I embroidered the one for May first because it seemed to have the least complicated pattern and I figured, if I'm going to mess up I would rather do it on something small.  It came out very pretty though and I'll have to pull it out of the kitchen drawer later on for it's mugshot. 

Having a bit more confidence, I fixed up the August, October and December towels and into the ziploc baggie they went.  October was kind of bland in my opinion, but then I'm not one who cares for white-on-white for craft projects.  August was fun for all of the bright colors and my new friend Liz suggested using Mint Chocolate Chip for the ice cream.  Very cute idea!  I haven't started December yet, but just a few minutes ago I ordered a few more packages of towels so that I can complete the whole years' worth of stitching.  The great thing about the flour sack towels is that I cut them in half lengthwise and sewed on a new hem for each.  The towels are 33" x 38" out of the package, which is just too big for my needs.  They aren't really expensive at about $7 for two, but if I can conserve/recycle a bit I'm all for it!

Embroidered Needle Case

No matter where I go, you can pretty much bet that I'm going to have some small needle work project packed away in either my handbag or a quilted tote.

I just can't sit still and look at a magazine in a waiting room or people watch, even though there are some pretty interesting characters out and about these days.  I'd rather have busy hands and a creative mind working away than to do anything else.  
A few months ago I emptied out a cinnamon shaker making the boys some toast, so I washed out the shaker thinking it would make a nifty sewing needle case. It worked okay for a while, but I got tired of having to empty out the whole jar just to find the right size needle for the project I was working on. My fingers don't quite work as well as they used to and those little needles can be the devil to get up when you have them scattered all over.

Well, a few nights ago I was reading up on quilting ideas and ran across a cute little sewing needle case someone had made. Very simple to make if you don't have alot of time to invest in it. 

Needing a break from the 300 lb. Minky Monster, (okay, I'm exaggerating...it's only 200!), I spent the late hours of last night and part of this afternoon embroidering a little sugar tree onto a piece of the boys old blue jeans. I hacked a small bit of homespun (shhh! can't talk about the homespun yet...it's a surprise!) off to make the binding and dug through the fabric shelves for some bright pretty yellow, reddish pink and green fabrics to match. The binding gave me a bit of trouble for some reason, maybe because I'm not used to working with homespun, but it did come out okay otherwise.    I drew the tree by hand with a pencil and just embroidered the leaves wherever I thought they would look nice.  The whole thing is just a little lopsided but that's okay, too.  I like it all the same.

Progress on the Minky Monster

So, we've made it to the halfway-pieced, sewing the blocks together part of the quilt making process for the aptly named "Minky Monster". The first vertical row is finished to include borders and the open seams are pinned flat to make life easier when it comes time to make the quilt sandwich. I was able to stitch about half of the second vertical row together today in between, "Hey Mom's!", but that was about it. After tomorrow I should have the rest of the week to really sink my teeth into this one.

I was really hoping to be able to tie this quilt because the Lt. is so anxious and happy to get it that I didn't want to keep him waiting for too long. The more I work with it though, I'm just not convinced that tying is going to be the best method. After I get the sandwich made, this quilt will weigh right at about 25 lbs. Yes, you read that right. 25! No matter what else happens with this quilt, when this one is complete I'm going to have some well toned arms!

Minky Bullseye

A few weeks ago I wrote that one of Eagle1's buddies downrange was drafting his own quilt pattern. He chose a black, red and white color scheme in a bullseye pattern using Minky fabric. Drawing up a scale pattern along with cutting diagram and shopping list took little time at all. Finding a decent price on 17 yards of Minky was a different story.

It's all here though, and in less than a week, too! So, I spent today washing and drying, then trying my hand at the dreaded stretchy, slippery, super soft, oh-so-cuddly mountain on my cutting table. Thankfully, I did a bunch of research before the box of goodies even arrived, and I have to say I'm so very grateful to everyone who posted tips and tricks for working with this stuff. So far, the hardest part is getting all of the nap to flow in the same direction so that it doesn't look sloppy. (We won't talk about the 10 different times I had to vacuum the sewing room because of the "minky snow" left from cutting!) It's coming along though and at a quicker pace than I expected. Even with all of the horror stories I've read, I'll say that I haven't experienced any of them...yet. By far, my favorite thing about Minky, besides the feel of it!, is that with a 1/2" seam allowance you don't have to mess with trying to press seams. They just naturally fall to either side and the only thing you have to worry about is making sure they stay that way when you piece the blocks together so that they stay flat. Quilting without a hot iron. Who'd have thought?

He's DEAD!

Bin Laden is dead! 

A heartfelt salute to all of our military personnel on the ground for a job well done. 

Super Scrappy Quilted Curtains

The old scrap basket, okay I'll be honest, baskets, were overflowing so I got creative. Two hours of sorting later, I had two piles (mountains) separated on the cutting table.

Feeling a hint of spring in the air, I decided to use the lighter colors to make window curtains for the sewing room. I lost some of my motivation after 8 straight hours of piecing these little bits and pieces, so decided to scrap the curtain idea and went with valances instead.

Still tedious, but worth the effort. They really brighten up the sunroom and I'm thinking that some white muslin panels appliqued with matching flowers will complete the sets. Valances first though...  Six more windows to go!

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