Felicia's Block

Tonight I just did something entirely for fun and made this block in honor of my cat, Felicia.  Felicia had cancer and has gone on to kitty heaven, but I remember her and Topsy fondly.  She was always a pretty sassy kitty, so I had to give her some bling to show off her personality!

Daddy's Irises

I have not have much to blog about lately as I have been working on kits for various workshops and handquilting a quilt hopefully to have done in time for my guild's quilt show.  I did finish this one project though - a workshop by Aimee Griffin, of Overall Quilter. This was something new to me as it involved fusible applique and thread painting.  I thoroughly enjoyed the day and the project and have several other of her patterns I want to make in the future.....way into the future. 

I have been writing my Do-si-Do pattern for the twisted pinwheel  block.  I have to get this completed and ready for a work shop in October at the Quilters of South Carolina.  I had the pattern in pieces, a snippet here and there and have worked very diligently the last few days to get it completed, which I did this afternoon.  Now all I need is the cover picture, which is another challenge since it involves a Fall Table Runner, a Christmas Bed Runner and Queen size quilt (which is still under construction.)   I took advantage of the sunshine to see if I could get some nice pictures outside, but my skills with a camera leave much to be desired.  Maybe my photographer daughter will take pity on me???  (Are you reading this Ellen?)

And I close with this picture of a very lonely guinea.  She used to be part of a flock of around 10 or 12 which also included a wild turkey.  They "belonged" to my neighbor but made themselve at home in all our yards.  I loved seeing them and always got a smile at the turkey roaming with them  I think he/she was hiding from hunters.

Anyway, the flock has dwindled down to this one lonely guinea.  She has discovered the patio window at my parents home, and each morning goes down to visit her "friend" which is actually her reflection in the window. She just clucks and structs and carries on a sight.  I think we need to find her a companion!

That's it for now.  Hope you are all staying cool and getting a lot more done that I seem to be able to do these days.

Happy stitchin,
Teresa

Do you hand quilt?

I have been busily trying to finish this project in time for our guild's quilt show in October.  I have quilted all around the appliques, and the two borders and am now working on a grid over all the remaining "unquilted" parts of the quilt.

 For the first time I am trying the masking tape method for marking my lines and I really like this method.  I have 6 needles going across - now if I just had 12 hands I might get this done in time.  I have the lines in one direction about half done, I think - progress is slow, but steady.

I really need to learn to take better pictures!

I have also been working on the cute little thimble pips from Willowberry Designs.  They are fun to make and hopefully I will get a few more done for the guild's boutique at the quilt show.

And then there is always these little distractions to keep a Granny away from her stitching. 

Happy Stitchin!

Teresa

Caddy Pad

So...I get a call wanting to know if would go with a friend to Gastonia - and while there, we could go by Mary Jo's and  Sew Much Fun,  hmmmm...lets see....YES!  We connect with a third friend and off we go for a fun day of shopping, lunch at Olive Garden and just some good girl time.   I found the pattern for this cute bag at Mary Jo's and the fabric at Sew Much Fun.  Can you guess what it is??????

An iron caddy of course!   I just love this, it is a pattern by Sisters' Common Thread and I had so much fun making it.    A word of caution to those of you that are like me and think you can just look at the pictures in a pattern and make it - you gotta read these instructions a couple of times and take it step by step!

The bag opens up flat to make an ironing surface.  Just right for taking the iron with you to workshops.  There is the layer of metallic like ironing board fabric on the reverse of the mat, and a Insul-Bright inside.  The pattern calls for two layers of Insul-Bright, or two layers of cotton batting, or 1 layer of Warm Tater, whatever that is.   I elected to use one layer of cotton batting and one layer of Insul-Bright, which worked out great.

Did you notice that cute covered button on the bag up above?  I thought that would be really cute and also cheaper than buying big buttons.  As soon as I buttoned it, this happened! Yep, the shank came right out of the button.    So I went to my button jars and found a couple of white buttons.  Guess that would be better than the covered button -- but I sure did like that covered button.

All in all, it was a fun project and I hope to make a few for my guild's boutique at the quilt show.  It really is a cute iron tote, and one you can put your iron in even if it is still a little warm.  Not sure I would put it in there if it was really hot, as I would think it would scorch the bag, just like a hot iron can scorch your ironing board cover...a lesson I know all too well.

Happy Stitchin,
Teresa

Grandkids

Happy Father's Day !

Who could resist these smiles.  These are my grandkids - from left to right - Taralyn, Tess, Tobias (Toby), Timothy, Malachi, Levi and Elijah (Eli).  

Twilling Class

I would like you to meet some of the most important people in my life - Darlene, Brenda, Vickie, Darlene, Cheryl, Brenda and Donna. These sweet ladies are all members of my club Stitchin Friends.  We were not all there Saturday and those who could not make it were greatly missed, but we had a fun time learning to twill".

 Cyndi, over at Bee Tree Designs, got me hooked on twilling, and now I have hooked my friends. 

They are all excited about doing one of Cyndi's table runner designs or some other patterns I provided from the internet but to get started I took them back to their childhood and we played with lace-cards.  Remember those?

I made some  punch cards on cardboard from a gift box and we practiced the stitch on that until we had it just right.  Its so much easier to see it when you do the stitch in "giant" thread.  From there we moved on to a little blue bird practice piece that I did not get a picture of for some reason, and by next month I expect they will all have their table runners or blocks well in process.

Cyndi was sweet to send us a pattern as a door prize and here is Donna, who was so excited to receive it.  That is Darlene peeking over her shoulder in the background. 

And talk about sweet people, I was honored to win a give-a-way from Cheryl over a Willowberry Designs .  The package arrived yesterday and what a great coming-home-from-a-long-day-at-work surprise.  Doesn't my thimble look cozy in its new thimble keeper?

Thank you Cheryl, I just love the fabric, scissor fob, buttons and the thimble keeper.

And I close with a picture of my newest flower bed endeavor.  My father would be so pleased at my gardening attempts and that my flowers are actually still alive.  I was never much good  at growing things, other than weeds, but so far so good. (knock, knock, knock on wood)  I think my Daddy must be watching over them for me.

Have a good day everyone, and thanks for stopping by,

Teresa

Home Sweet Home giveaway!

Hurry on over to Hugs n Kisses and register for this wonderful give-away Helen Stubbins is having!  On the other hand..just go and look, but don't sign up cause I want to win!
http://www.hugsnkisses.net/index.php/shop/boms/home-sweet-home-bom