Here is my lonestar quilt, finally hanging on the wall after 3 years as a UFO.  What is really funny is that now I absolutely love it!  It was that little crooked seam in the middle that slowed down and eventually stopped all progress on this quilt.  After taking this photo, I realized that the Mariners Compass on the back of the sofa is also a pattern by the same designer.  That one is hand pieced and machine quilted. 

So now, with the satisfaction of a completed quilt, I am back to two other WIPs.  I have finally returned to Esther's beautiful Forget Me Not wallhanging, and another hand applique called Hearts and Flowers.  My least favorite part of an applique project is the actual preparation of the pieces, so I am willing myself to spend at least one hour per day doing this.  If I am able to get enough pieces prepped, I will have a peaceful winter with my hand applique.  Of course, I am totally incapable of leaving the sewing machines alone, so there will be another project coming soon!  My younger son is an EMT volunteer with the local fire department in our home town and he has been asking me for a couple of quilts to give to children in distress.  That will definitely be my next project, and a great stash buster as well. 

Off to do some household chores, then back to the ironing board to cut those tiny pieces for the lilac block!  I am not a fan of fusible applique, but I am also not crazy enough to try to hand applique those pieces!  So fused it will be!

I hope everyone has a productive week.  I am certainly enjoying reading the blog links on Esther's page.

 

 

UFO almost done!

 

This year I made a New Years resolution to work on a few UFOs.  I've never been good at keeping those resolutions however, but I do continue to make them yearly.  The ones about losing 10 pounds and starting a regular exercise program are the first to fail!  It may have taken me until September, but here is an almost completed UFO!  All it needs is the binding.......however, after 3 years, I can't be sure where that binding is.  I may take the easy way out and bind it in solid black, so it really is complete before I need to make resolutions for 2013.

 

This quilt is hand pieced, the star was mostly pieced while we were traveling cross country.  The original pattern called for hand embroidery in the squares, but I am more of a fan of machine embroidery these days.  The quilting in the star is blanket stitched by machine and the stippling in the squares was done on my Handi Quilter.  The border quilting is a teardrop design, but impossible to photograph black thread on black background.  The backing is black as well. 

 

The embroidered design in the center of the star wasn't a planned part of the project.  After assembling the star, I found a row that was crooked...... that is primarily the reason for it becoming a UFO.  When I decided this week to finish it, I figured I would cover up the offending seam with another design.  It works for me!

 

I am off to cut some new binding for it!  I hope you all have a great week!

Finally have found time to add to my blog.  It has been a hectic couple of weeks here, having some work done on the house, picking out paint colors, doing some redecorating too. 

This is a picture of a Storm at Sea wallhanging that I am making for a wall in John's den.  I chose the navy blue because the drapes in that room are navy.  The light background is actually a pretty beige and matches the fabric on the sofa that it will hang over.  The design was done in EQ7, which I am slowly learning how to use.  I am part of an online group currently doing the lessons that are provided in the software and I am learning a lot about the program.  This piece is almost done and I hope to finish it by week's end.  It is lightly quilted so it goes pretty quickly.  I am quilting it with Sulky Blendable in reds and it is actually quite pretty.  I still need some more practice on my HandiQuilter, the stitches aren't as perfect as I would like.  I have found that I need to start out each quilting day with a practice piece.  That helps me establish the rhythm that I need to keep the stitches even, or as close to even as I can manage. 

I have only completed 3 blocks in Esther's current BOM.  I am so far behind, but I hope to catch up over the winter.  The photos of the blocks on Esther's page are just beautiful.  So many creative people in the group. 

I hope you all have a creative and productive week! 

It has been a busy week here, lots of socializing with friends.  Unfortunately, socializing around here always includes EATING!  So some serious dieting over the next few days!

I have posted a picture of an embroidery that I finished yesterday.  Not the best picture because I couldn't figure out a way to cut the glare from the flash.  Our backyard is a wildlife refuge and we have many of these blue herons, one in particular likes to sit on the roof of our screen enclosure.  We have tried to discourage this!  A couple of years back, I found a scarecrow and John placed it where the heron likes to sit, thinking it would keep him away.  The bird thought we had found him a friend, and flew in to sit beside the scarecrow!  When I found this embroidery design, I thought it would look nice on the wall in John's den  He returns from his extended visit to Tacoma on Friday, so I will let him decide where he wants to hang it.

I haven't done much machine embroidery in the past few months but I plan to do quite a bit of it for the holidays this year.  It is time consuming, this piece has 200,000 stitches and took about 22 hours to stitch out, with 43 stops for color changes.  I am lucky to have two machines sitting side by side so I can continue to sew while one machine stitches.  I found this frame at a great sale so I will head back this morning to pick up a couple of more.  We have lots of wall space to fill.

I have been having intermittent computer problems this week and have so far been unable to download Esther's new BOM.  John is my computer guru, so I am waiting his return to clean up my computer and get it back on track.

Have a great week! 

Tuesday, August 7

I just finished a T-shirt quilt for my son-in-law.  He works in the film industry and these shirts represent some of the projects he has worked on over the years.  It was the first time I worked with T-shirts and it was a bit challenging.  But, at last it is finished and will go into the mail tomorrow.

Houseguests have returned home and I am almost ready to play catch up on some of my projects.  But I am hosting a surprise birthday dinner party for a good friend this week, so cooking will take precedence over sewing for a few days.  I have an embroidery project that I am anxious to start next week.  It is a picture of a blue heron for John's den.  We have herons in our backyard so I think he will enjoy this.

I hope everyone has a good week!  The pictures of Esther's newest BOM are just gorgeous.  I am jealous that I haven't been able to keep up with it. 

I can't believe that it has been over a month since I last posted.  I had a wonderful trip and lots of time with my children and grandchildren.  Now I am back in Florida and working hard on sample quilts for the local quilt shop which is opening a second location next month.  The picture isn't great, but this is a pin-basted quilt that would be perfect for a little boy.  I need to get it machine quilted and then I plan to finish up a t-shirt quilt for my son-in-law.  I will post a picture of it next week.

I have fallen way behind in Esther's BOM quilt.  I hope to be able to catch up over the next few months.  Her blocks are so beautiful and this is the first time since I joined her group that I haven't been able to keep up.

Back to work on the machine quilting.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Here I am in very chilly upstate New York.  It started raining about an hour after I arrived last Friday evening and hasn't stopped since.  Makes me miss the Sunshine State!

Having a great visit with younger son and his family and visiting with old friends.  I am here until June 22nd, when I head north to older son's home and the high school graduation of my granddaughter.  In my packing frenzy last week, I almost forgot to pack the graduation quilt!   But it is here with me safe and sound.

I have several hand sewing projects with me but haven't made a lot of headway with anything.  But I have this afternoon free, so I will get to work on something.  I have an Hawaiian applique project about half done, and I have last month installment of Esther's BOM, also about half done.  And then at the last minute, I cut out the pieces for Esther's Cherry Thieves table runner, which has been on my wish list for quite some time now.

So now I am off to Esther's blog, to catch up on my reading over there.  Hope you all have a great week!