Embroidery

I've never embroidered before, but have plenty of experience with hand sewing, and when I was young I did cross stitch and plastic canvas crafts. It can't be much different, can it?

Nope, not much different, thanks to Pinterest and the lovely world of the internet, which can teach anyone anything they would like to know.

So I think now this I Spy quilt top may finally be ready for putting together with a batting and backing.

How about a pillow?

It made a lovely pillow for my couch.

Type A personality strikes again. I decided I didn't like the order I put the strips in; the pretty leaf pattern got lost with the bright red right beside it. So, with the pieces that I had already cut out, I put together this pillow and it is now on my couch. A nice pop of brightness next to the olive green.

I also came across a chevron quilt on Pinterest (it uses strips and not half square triangles) that has sparked my fancy. I think these fabrics would work wonderfully. 

And this is the progress on my flower garden project, all hand sewn. I work on it while watching TV or when I'm in the car, if I thought to bring it with me.

Strips... and snips

The final piece of border is on the I Spy.

I am juggling with ideas of how to embellish it... Maybe embroidering more words ("with my little eye")? or maybe buttons? some bling perhaps (beads, sequins)? a combination of all? It will require more thought.

In the meantime, I was rummaging in my closet and came across this tote.

What a find! This is a stash that goes back at least 7 years. It's full of fabric that I bought for specific quilts. In each bag or box is a book or magazine paperclipped to a particular page, and sufficient fabric to make that quilt. All that is, except this one bag:

A ziplock bag full of 2 inch strips, but no pattern... And so many strips! I have no idea what my plan was for this, but it seemed like a challenge to figure it out, so, I got to work!

 

 

Maybe a trip around the world?

Maybe a basket weave style?

Hmmm...

 

Not done

My type A personality won... The I Spy quilt isn't done yet... If I have to debate whether or not it's finished, I should just realize that means there's more to do.

So I made more word blocks and lined the bottom of the quilt, so now the search words are along the left and on the bottom.

Then I added a solid purple to the top, and appliqued these letters. I've only done applique once before, and that was many years ago, but from this distance it looks just fine. Definitely something to practice for future projects.

One more side border to put on, then it will be ready to finish.... finally. I'm thinking I might tie this one...

Done? or not done?

Today I am buckling down and getting to work on finishing up this I spy quilt...

If you've been following along, you'll notice something new along the left side. 

 

I made a bunch of the "search words" into blocks the same size as the blocks in the quilt, and sewed them along the left side. like an index of things to look for.

Now I'm having the debate with myself about whether I am done yet... Does it need a border? Does it need more words? Does it look lopsided to anyone else? Maybe a strip along the top with the words "I SPY with my little eye" ?

I am off to my friend  L's for another opinion. She has 3 little ones who can help me decide if it passes inspection.

Fun Placemats for Outside

Let me begin with "I love Pinterest"!  I enjoy browsing, pinning, and gathering inspiration. Often, I get so inspired that I just have to do that, and by do that, I mean now... So other projects get put on the back burner (or in my case, the back corner of the table, or the box in the closet, or the little space on the floor, or on my daughter's bed, or...) and I dive in. 

This is what I've whipped up, courtesy of pinning inspiration from this website, who just so happened to also have a tutorial.

Placemats! for outside, with pockets to hold your paper plates and utensils so they don't blow away! How genius is this? Why didn't I think of this before??? I love eating outside! I hate chasing the dishes!

I had leftover batting from my mom's purple quilt, and I got 11 placemat size pieces out of it. Then I had to dig through my scrap fabric bin and find some pieces big enough, which, lucky me, I had. But even if I didn't have any pieces big enough, I would have pieced them together, because I had a bee in my bonnet, and I was making these!

This set I'm keeping for myself. All of these fabrics are leftover from a quilt I made for my best friend when she turned 40, and I've never used the scraps in anything else, because i just couldn't bear to break them up. 

These are the next four that are finished. Not really a set, as there is no continuity to them, except they all have the same plain green backing fabric. 

And these are the final three, tops only. I still have to assemble these, but I wanted to share how much fun these have been! These three will be backed in solid navy. 

I didn't have to buy any supplies to make them. Leftover batting, leftover fabric from other projects, and I have lots of thread!  No upfront costs makes me happy!

Purple quilt finished

I finished mom's purple D9P quilt just in time for her 70th birthday. She loved it!

I used flannel on the back, and the batting is 80/20 cotton/poly blend. The main fabric is a hydrangea line from Lakehouse that is probably 8-10 years old. The border is a batik blend. 
 

I quilted it myself (only the third one ever!) and I still don't enjoy that part of making quilts. As soon as budgeting allows, it's back to the longarm quilters for me!  Until then, there may be a couple more I have to do myself... sigh... 

This one is stitched in the ditch, which really made me aware of how important it is to line up EVERY seam. To the untrained (non-quilter) eye, this is a nice quilt, but to those of us who know what to look for... yikes! It looks like it was pieced by an amateur! All I can say is it's a good thing my mother is the recipient, as she likes anything I make and isn't critical about workmanship. She was just happy it was purple, as ordered.