Christmas Ornament Fun

 I have been working on making Christmas ornaments in May and June and just having so much fun with the embroidery and beading.

I purchased a pattern from Mary Corbet's website Needle n Thread for making Christmas Wreath ornaments and Christmas Tree Ornaments.  So far I have only completed one wreath, but I did make three of them.  Learning her method for tying the bow was a challenge, but it does make a beautiful bow.  Her patterns are all so beautiful, I am anxious to make some more of the wreaths and start on the trees.

I also discovered some fun embroidery / beading patterns of Folk Art Scandinavian Ornament pattern by Patricia Welch Designs.  She offers her patterns for sale on her etsy shop as .pdf downloads ($6 each)

Here is what I have made so far:

Once Upon a Christmas Time progress

 Spent time this afternoon prepping the stitchery blocks for Block5 and realized I never posted about Block 4, which I completed around the first of June.

Here are the blocks 1,2,3,and 4 sewn together:

And here is Block 4 all by itself

Delaford -Hand Quilting

 Finally, I am hand quilting my Delaford quilt.  I got it back from the longarm friend who basted it for me.  She does a much better job than I can manage on this large a quilt.  So the quilting began on May 31 and I am enjoying it so much.

Trying something a little different.  Using machine quilting thread or other 25-30wt thread to quilt in color around the applique, with thread that matches the applique.  I find I have to use a silicon treatment on the threads as they fray and knot when pulling through the quilt after 4 or 5 inches of quilting.

I filled out a survey from YLI and they sent me a spool of their new hand quilting thread thankfully in the color I wanted for quilting the background of the quilt.  I have started trying it out, and I do like the thread very much.  There was no fiber content label on the test spool, so not sure if it is 100% cotton or not, but I do very much like the feel, strength and weight of the thread.  So far I have had absolutely no resistence, freying or splitting of the thread.  Below is a picture of the quilting on the back as the thread shows up a little better.  On the front, I have not rinsed out the blue water soluble lines yet so the thread is not so clear.

Once Upon a Christmas Time

 I completed the Block 3 yesterday and was so happy to be caught up  and then got the next block in the email that afternoon.   Sooooooooooooo I am behind again!  Not really behind, just have another to do.

Here is Block 3:

The woeful tale of the tattered puppy

On March 17, 2010 I gave my grandson a quilt with dogs and bone for his 7 year old birthday.  Unfortunately I did not take a picture of him with the quilt but here he is in all his cuteness.  Born on St. Patrick's Day with beautiful red hair.  I had prayed that my first grandchild would have red hair, and the St Patrick's Day was just an added blessing.

He returned with his quilt in 2014, with a poor tattered dog.  The fabric has simply deteriorated fortunately just on one of the dogs.  I had bought this fabric at Walmart and after seeing the problem, have not bought from there again.  I had to rip out the poor tattered puppy and applique a replacement.  The quilting had been done by a long-arm quilter and was still good, so I simply turned the quilt over and quilted that area on my machine from the back side following her quilting pattern.  As you can see he is a little older and is very happy to get his quilt back.  

Now, in 2024, my grandson is 21 yrs old and he shows up again with his tattered quilt.  He tells me he is still sleeping with it every night and hopes I can fix it again.

So I cut off 4inches of the top, and that took care of that problem,   But the binding was also frayed.  I double fold my bindings, and the top layer of fabric was gone, but the back side of the fold was still in place and holding together.  I was fortunate in that I still had some of the fabric I used to originally bind it 14 years ago, cut off the frayed binding and sewed on new binding.

Once again he is happy to have his quilt come home.  I warned him that the backing is flannel and is really getting a little worn, but still holding up with no tears.  I suggested he carefully wash it in the future only if necessary.  

 

Delaford and Once upon a Christmas Time

 Been splitting my time between Delaford and Once Upon a Christmas Time, enjoying doing both.

On the Delaford I have made progress on the Bird and Flower border blocks.  I keep these on my design wall as I just love looking at them.

Completed Block 2 on the Once Upon a Christmas Time.  These are fun and whimsical blocks.  Block 3 should be coming out next week :)

Once Upon a Christmas - Gail Pan BOM

 Well, another new project.  Over Christmas I wished I had Christmas theme quilt I could hang up during the holidays.  I usually just hang up a redwork embroidery that is not really Christmas-y but looks nice with my holiday decorations.  I do have one Christmas quilt, but have several places I like to change out the quilts for season in my house.  And lo and behold, Gail Pan came out with her 2024 block of the month and it is Once Upon a Christmas, and was exactly what I was looking for.  This one is only 6 months and will give time to complete the project for Christmas. Each block contains applique and embroidery and machine piecing - Love it!

Here is my first block:

I have the stitchery completed for the second block, just need to get started on the background blocks.  I am using touches of green and gold along with the red, simply cause I can :)   Gail's quilt is all  in red and very scrappy.   I do like scrappy quilts!!!

Kira Quilt - Sunshine

 I recently took a workshop at SewEndipitous taught by Diane Quirk for the Kira Quilt.  This is a quilt designed by GE Designs

I love the pattern, but I saw sunshines rather than the colorful blocks used in the picture.  So I chose to do my in Yellow and White with a Sunflower border.  This is my EQ version of the quilt. 

I finished the quilt and am now in the process of Big Stitch hand quilting it.   I love the look of the sunflower stencil I am using in the center of each block but have not decided yet how to quilt the space between the sunshines.  I am using Size 8 DMC perle cotton to stab quilt, yellow on the white centers and white on the yellow centers.  I do love to big stitch - and this block just seem perfect for that type of quilting. 

Denali National Park Star - Carol Doak Pattern

 Sometimes I just have to step away from handwork and do some machine sewing.  I recently purchased the Carol Doak book 60 Fabulous Paper-Pieced Star which includes patterns for 10 National Parks.  This is a nice break for me, and I plan to do a star every month.

Below is my picture of the Denali National Park Star.  This national park is located in Alaska and I decided to use the Alaskan flag colors to make the star.   The park covers 6,000,000 acres of wild lands and has North America's highest peak at 20, 310 feet.

I have two grand children interested in working as park rangers, so hoping one of them does end up with that career and I can give them this quilt.

72 pieces

Delaford Progress

 This morning I was able to sew on the border of Octagonal EPP pieces.  This has been so much fun picking out the fabrics and riotous colors, but hopefully they will all blend together in the final quilt.  Next up is a border of flowers and birds.  I actually purchased this quilt pattern because I loved the center applique that I am getting ready to start.  I think this is one of Katrina Hadjimichael's prettiest patterns. 

I also have completed the Owl and Hare Hollow quilt top.....now to decide how to quilt it.  I don't plan to hand quilt this one, and may just to a 1 1/2" cross hatch, but then I have also considered getting a long arm quilter to do a simple edge to edge.  I don't want anything too fussy or fancible since the quilt is already very busy.

Red & White 9-Patch Round-up

 

I actually made this quilt in 2002, but not sure I ever posted a picture of it on my blog.  This was a block exchange I did with some friends in Texas where we swapped Red and White 9 patches.  I did all the embroidery myself just picking a wide variety of patterns.  The nutcracker was done by my dear friend Donna Kassan, who is an avid collector of Nutcrackers.

Dear Jane Quilt - Hand quilting done!

 This morning I took the last hand quilting stitch on my Dear Jane quilt.  Its a bitter sweet  moment when you take that last stitch, as Jane and I have spent a lot of quiet contemplative hours together in the early hours of the day when all is quiet.  An empty hoop.....

Full Circle and back at the corner block I started with....the last stitch.

This quilt was one of the most difficult I have hand quilting, just because there are so many pieces in each pieced block. Some of the small 4 1/2" blocks had 40 - 50 pieces!  This particular corner has 78 pieces Pushing and pulling a needle through all the layers of fabric and batting can even be painful and draw blood. Using a thimble in stab quilting just never worked of me.  My "friend" became the little demitasse spoon that I covered in masking tape and used to push the needle down to the back and then from the underside, push it back to the top.  Nothing fancy, but oh so greatly appreciated.

And now she waits until I get the time to put a binding on her raw edges.  A scalloped edge can be a challenge when the scallops are this small, but then every step of this quilt was a challenge.

Owl and Hare Hollow Part 6

 Tonight I finished the last blocks and now I am ready to start putting the top together.  Here are the three blocks from Part 6 and a picture of the how I have laid out the blocks.  Tess was here to help me get it just right (in our eyes) and I sure did appreciate her input.

Owl and Hare Hollow - Part 5

 Today I completed Part 5 of the Owl and Hare Hollow quilt.   Just one more part - Part 6.  This one has three blocks - two embroidered and one applique.   But is also the part where we add the border and finish the quilt top.  Woohoo....almost there.

And here are all my blocks as of December 26, 2023