Slow Sunday Stitching and a Little Hoop-La!

Happy Sunday, this morning I woke to a loud rumble and louder clap of thunder or maybe it was the rolling thunder that woke me up, either way I greeted Sunday morning to the sound of rain pattering down and warmer weather.

It's been a week of sorting, purging and finding items in my stash of fabric bins.  Years ago I cut out the pieces for a scrappy log cabin quilt and hand stitched the first block.

I had forgotten all about this project and put it in my scraps bin only to find all the strips stacked and waiting to be stitched all these years later.  So I pulled them out of the bin to decide what to do with them.  I had cut all these pieces using scissors and templates for each strip, my preferred way of making a quilt.

I am a long time hand quilter and by the looks of the first block my stitching has the wonkiness I love in hand piecing.  I suppose after I pieced the block I wasn't thrilled with the overall appearance or I  may have not like the colors I don't recall off hand but somewhere in my quilting journal I would have noted the why I put it aside.  I like to think I just became too busy and forgot it.  I am looking at all those strips and trying to decide whether to finish what I started, remove the outer four strips and focus on the blues or cut up all those strips into 2 inch squares (or make them into 1 inch squares for my postage stamp quilt) and sew together one by one.   I'll give it some thought.  I will be posting today over at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching https://kathysquilts.blogspot.ca/2018/01/slow-sunday-stitching-photo-challenge-1.html

Kathy has a project going on to show a photo of our  favorite hoop, I use all types of hoops and have several of the one's in Kathy's photos including the large floor stand hoop which I use when I'm hand quilting.   My all time favorite hand embroidery hoop is the old metal hoops, this one and several others including an oval one I purchased in 1973.

These are some of my wooden hoops in various sizes  and a purple plastic hoops which I don't care for.

These hoops I was introduced to when I took a hand embroidery class in 2015 they are used most of the time for machine embroidery or at least that is what I was told.  I have a love/hate relationship with these. These hoops do keep the fabric taut but those handles are a nuisance and catch the threads every now and then so I am constantly moving the rings around so I don't catch the threads.

This is a metal hoop a friend sent me last year which is painted and has the cork liner in tact.

I bought this heavy wooden hoop at a thrift store while on vacation last year for 50 cents, I haven't

used it yet but I'm sure it would be good for small hand quilting projects or a large embroidery project. Another favorite is the Q-Snap frame

I love the tautness of the fabric in this frame I usually work larger projects in these, I have them in several sizes if the fabric is thin I add strips of scraps to better hold the fabric in place, or as in the photo I fold over the extra fabric. 
Last but not least the piece currently in my hoop is the little sunshine piece I was working on last week, I plan to be stitching this today

Stitching Merrily Along

Another Sunday is upon us so its time for some Slow Sunday Stitching, this week I have a few hand stitched items I was working on, today I will be stitching my embroidery on block four of the Hocuspocusville Quilt I would really like to get this block complete this week.

The hand pieced quilt block I made for the Project 48 Quilt, the 2016 mystery quilt stitch along I have joined this is my first ever mystery quilt and I do love the surprise of what block comes next,

I have to say I like this colorway better than the one I made on the sewing machine. Later today I will put together block 2 which is something called the disappearing nine-patch which is an interesting spin on a nine patch block.

I made more progress on the Celtic Knot embrodiery piece though not as much as I would have liked.

I am linking up here http://www.kathysquilts.blogspot.ca/2016/01/slow-sunday-stitching_17.html
why don't you drop by and check out what other bloggers are hand stitching this week.

Marching toward Spring with a few new stitches and a good book.

Well here we are with a new month ahead of us anxious to brush off the last remnants of winter and head into Spring.

Last Friday's quilt class was good despite me having a very off day from the start, when I arrived at the quilt shop I caught up with Dee Ann who was the instructor for the Hand Embroidery classes I attended last October, she will be offering a few new hand embroidery classes in the coming months

While looking at the pattern for the class she is teaching on the 3rd,  I don't care for the quilt so I didn't sign up for the class. I do like the embroidery centerpiece.

I came across this pattern hanging right next to the one she is doing for class and bought it.

If you know me I love the beach and just the other day I was looking for a seahorse embroidery pattern for a friend so I picked up the pattern which includes these motifs to hand embroider.

If I make this quilt I'm thinking seashell fabric or some light pastels to frame each block, change all the thread colors too. The pattern would not be my only purchase of the day, as I said earlier my day didn't go so well from the start I was feeling sick in the morning, my blood pressure has been wonky and my medications tweaked, which often leaves me feeling out of sorts, Friday was one of those days, I left my cutting mat and large ruler at home, so I purchased new ones so I wouldn't hold up class borrowing from someone, which believe me was offered, thank you ladies. 

Here are a few more blocks pieced from the quilt class, we did my favorite quilt block the log cabin. I used the same fabrics for both blocks but changed the piecing just a bit.

The other block pieces are flying geese which I am not overly thrilled with so I may remake them. All need to be pressed again after spending a few hours packed in my messy bag of fabric.  I was not feeling so good on Friday morning but didn't want to miss this class since I  missed class on the 6th.
The log cabin blocks were supposed to be done on the 6th and I was going to work it at home but I could not grasp the instructions in the book for the piecing method, lucky for me the instructor switched the blocks to be pieced and then changed the piecing method to the one I have used for decades which is sewing one piece at a time. 

I have to complete another log cabin block as well as two set of the flying geese and I need to make 3 friendship stars before next weeks class. We have 2 more classes to go and next week we should be ready to sew the blocks and add the borders. (I better count all my blocks to be sure I have them all).

On the Greenman #2 hand embroidery piece, the first few stitches were added last night 

This piece is approximately on a 16 inch block of white muslin fabric with another block of white adhered to the block to give the stitching more stability and to keep the threads in back from showing through.

On Thursday I attended the Thread Therapy group and made good progress crocheting the little bag, I am making the purple bag in the photo.

I managed to get 40 rows stitched which may not seem like much but using steel hook number 7 its great well at least it is for me. I also picked up a few more balls of crochet thread.

The silver thread in the photo has sequins throughout, I am not sure how well it will work up alone, depending on the results I may use it combined with another thread or yarn.

My new Brother sewing machine didn't give me any problems during class except user error when I reached across the top and somehow reset the stitch width and had to rip out stitches 3 times when it dawned on me what I had happened,  readjusted and I was off and stitching my last two pieces. 

When I not putting together a quilt block or hand stitching I can usually be found reading a book or two. This week I am reading

If ever I was going to reread a book the China Bayles mysteries would be my choice hands down. My love of reading, herbs and gardening keeps me turning the pages long into the night. 

It was while reading these novels that had me planning my first outdoor herb garden here in Florida, I had several herbs on the window sill of my first apartment when I decided I could plant more herbs in the space outside my bedroom window, it was a small space indeed but it thrived for the few years I gardened there, in fact that little 3x5 foot space was the most successful garden I have had since moving here twenty years ago and some day I would like to have my garden thrive like that again, but it won't be this year.

Last Saturday while shopping for the elusive comfy chair I found this very comfortable love seat and bought it, I should be delivered in about 4 weeks. I am still looking for a comfy chain but I think this may fill the need. This is a stock photo of the chair which is dark brown and turquoise, I have a dark brown sofa, this will add a little color to the room. 

Quilt Show

This morning I attended the Country Road Quilters quilt show, an event I look forward to every other year.

I love walking through the aisles looking at all the wonderful quilts on display, wondering what inspired the quilter to make that pattern, or choose this particular color or how long they have been quilting. This particular quilt just caught my eye and didn't let go, the maker explained her daughter is a tattoo artist and the pattern grew to this beauty:

When I first laid eyes on it I immediately thought it looks like a colorful tattoo, I can't imagine the hours and patience it took to applique this stunning quilt.

This one here captured my attention mainly because I have recently stepped into the realm of hand embroidery so when I saw this I gave a close look.

I love red work and I recognized the pattern as a Crab-Apple Hill pattern and as I looked closer I noticed one thing that really made me take notice.

I did not see one tracing mark only beautiful precise stitches and I meant to ask the quilter what she used to trace the pattern onto the fabric.  It is one of those things I've noticed on my embroidery piece, the lines I traced show even though I used the suggested ultra thin marker, I think next time I

am going to use a pencil which is supposed to fade within a few days. Though maybe her stitches are just so well made they hide the trace lines. Then again maybe the lines are there and I just need new glasses.

These pieces are some of the items in the silent auction, I like the small black tree piece under the pineapple.

I love this wonderful piece but did not bid, no place to display it, I bought several raffle tickets for gift baskets made up for quilters, I didn't think to snap a photo, but the baskets are lovely.

Another one of my favorite quilts in this years show, I love the old traditional patterns and the bright colors on this make me smile.

The bright colors and the block shape on this small quilt make me dizzy when I look at it too long but I like it.

The fabrics used for this quilt are quite stunning, sadly my photography is not, it looks as though

there are some Australian Aboriginal fabrics in the mix, though I'm just guessing.  This one here really looks great in person I have never seen log cabin blocks set in such a creative way at first I

thought it was in a bargello style like this one below but when I stepped closer the log cabin blocks stood out.

Here are a few small quilts

and another with hand embroidery which I love because of the witch theme and as you know I collect witches. This one is called Girl's Night Out.

Oh this sweet little crazy quilt, on the display card the quilter explained she was given the fairy pieces and decided to make a crazy quilt

a close up showing some lovely hand embroidery

and some beautiful ribbon embroidery too

and here are a few other quilts from today's show

sunbonnet Sue and overall Bill

Fence Rail

Well that's all for now, its been a long day and I am getting drowsy, after the quilt show I made a stop at the Yards n Yarn shop for the hand painted fabrics trunk show, I'll post more about the shows this week along with photos of the treasures I purchased today.