Ideas Needed!

I have my table runner pieced together with my Gobble Gobble charm pack. The pattern took 16 light fabrics and that is exactly what was in the charm pack. It looks a little wonky on the edges but that it because the grass is a bit uneven where it's laying. Does anyone have any ideas on how I should quilt this? Suggestions are needed! Thank you!

I seriously love this fabric! I have no idea why, but I do!

Saturday Stitches

Yesterday, I was invited to lunch and to stitch with the Sampler Guild. There were 5 of us who met at the Olde Green Cupboard and stitched the afternoon away....well at least when we weren't chatting, sharing, or shopping! Everyone is so talented and nice! I, however, somehow managed to not take any pictures of the lovely projects everyone was working on. I worked on my Little House Neighborhood that I just barely started. Melody gave me the pattern and Teresa helped me cut the fabric last weekend. I don't have the silks yet for the border so I started on the house on the top row. There are some wobbly stitches here and there. I'm a beginner and will improve and that's part of the fun! I'm not sure of the color of the chimneys, I might change them later.

I just burst with excitement when Henri gave me the chart for a project that I've just been drooling over. It's out of print and I could not find it anywhere. It's one she has stitched already and hers is just stunning. She gave me a really good tip, which I'll share with you after I get started. I'm going to gather the fabric and thread for it soon. After all, I have to have multiple projects going on at the same same time to be a good stitcher, don't I?

Last week was this months Moda Maniacs gathering at Calico Station. Pam shared some of her market stories and let us know what was coming. Good Stuff. At each Moda Maniacs meeting there are giveaways. This week I won one of them! I won the Moda bag they got at market. This thing is HUGE. It doesn't look like it here in the picture, but a 2 year old could sit in it. Easily. I think this is a sign that I need more fabric!

We're having one of those rare mornings in Florida when you can turn the air conditioner off. It's also very sunny. For me, this is perfect weather! I'm not sure if we'll be able to keep the air conditioner off all day, but for now I'm enjoying every single minute of it. I hope your day is wonderful as well! Happy Stitches!

Another Unfinished Project!

Sunday I took a bag class at Calico Station where I purchased my Bernina. No one finished the bag completely. We had homework but it wasn't put on the supply list. I'm kind of glad it wasn't as Louise showed us a way to quilt our bag with a walking foot that wasn't hard and something I had not tried before. Basically you put on your walking foot and sew whilst rocking the fabric a bit back and forth to make wavy lines. Fun, quick, easy! Here's my fabric for the bag, quilted.

You can get a better idea here of what the quilting looks like. This is the first time I've boxed off corners. Easy! Just sew a straight line at the corners and cut off the excess. I didn't sew before I started quilting so all this is new to me!

Here is my bag partially finished. I love this fabric! One of the reasons I chose it was because my quilting would kind of get lost in the pattern. I didn't want the quilting boo-boos to stand out.

Class ended for me with my finishing up putting in my first set of pockets in the lining of my first real bag. The other bag I made was a market bag.

I hoping to finish this bag - hopefully by Christmas so I can give it as a gift. I think I'll need some help with putting in the grommets. I can handle the lining and other stuff. But grommets? Someone is just going to have to hold my hand through that process!

It may seem like I'm not knitting but I am. I have 2 big projects on the needles and I've been knitting on them both. It's just that today's progress pictures look pretty much the same as the last one's. I hoping to finish on my felted Noni bag soon so I can have one finished project to show you!

Let's just say that it's really obvious to me how easy it is to start a bunch of projects and not finish so many! It's a good thing I'm a person who enjoys the process and does not obsess about getting a finished project, isn't it?!

A New Neighborhood

I'm anxious to start a new stitching project so I think I'll start Little House Neighborhood by LHN. I don't have all the silks yet but I'm sure I can find someplace to get started. My friend Melody hooked me up with the pattern and yesterday my friend Teresa helped me cut the fabric. Both have been tremendously inspiring, helpful and are teaching me a lot about my new addiction! I don't have enough words to thank you both!

I'm otherwise exhausted and plan an early evening! Happy Stitches!

Celebrating!

This past weekend we went to Orlando to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary. My brother and his family flew in and my sister lives in the area. It's not often that all of us are together. We had family pictures taken and I took a few pictures but somehow managed to not get one of my parents together. It was great to spend some time with these two:

It's Alex's birthday at the end of the month so we also celebrated her birthday. I think she's going to be a stitcher when she grows up. When we left, she was still working on this.

I think she is going to be a knitter too! Aunt Jackie is going to pass on her love of stitches!

It was a busy, packed day. As evidenced by all the necessary napping! And this was before the big meal at the Brazilian restaurant. Sissies!

Columbus Day Anyone?

Today is Columbus Day and if you work for a bank (like I do), it's a holiday! It's one of those holidays when it seems like everyone else is working. I spent my day doing odd things around the house, a few loads of laundry, errands, and some minor organization. That gave me a few hours this afternoon to work on my next quilting project. I've got everything cut out (Gobble Gobble is the fabric line) and ready for assembly. I'm not sure I'll get much chance to work on this next weekend or during the week but I'll try and fit a bit in when I can. I wish I had a three day weekend every weekend. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

One of the errands I ran was to pick up some silk thread for one of the two stitching projects I plan on starting soon. Jill from Azalea House is out of town but she left it for me to pick up. This stuff is so soft. It's Belle Soie, a hand dyed thread. Delish!

I'm going to have to make a color change though. The picture above is two skeins of thread. Two different colorways! Don't they look very similar? Sometimes that happens with hand dyed. It's not an exact science and that is one of the things I like about it!

Today ended up being my favorite kind of day - a nice balance of getting stuff done around the house and time to do the fun things I love to do. I'm still piddling around the house and doing a bit of laundry here and there. Don't mind it at all!

Fall Inspired

I'm now a Moda Maniac! Calico Station gives every Moda Maniac one of every charm pack that comes in. On my first night, Martha loaded me up! It was a fun time, everyone shared their projects and we heard about upcoming events. This was my first event at this LQS and I felt very welcomed. This LQS is the Bernina dealer I bought my machine from. I think it's as important for me to work on developing a relationship with them as it is for them to build one with me.

So I have to do something with these charm packs! First up, Gobble Gobble. It just screams fall. And in Florida, this is probably as close as I'm going to get to fall right now. It's still in the 90's here and the A/C is still running it's marathon. I picked up some extra pieces of yardage and will start working on this soon.

I haven't shown you my QuiltFest purchase. A thimble from TJ Lane! I have been sewing my binding bare fingered and needless to say, that had gotten a bit painful. My sewing finger has a bump on the side of it due to gripping my pencil in school. It's never gone away and my finger is a little crooked. Thankfully, there is a thimble made just for me!

Because of the way it's shaped the bump doesn't get in the way and it still stays on. It's silver, came with a polishing cloth and was then custom fit to my finger. Isn't it pretty?

The 4 of us spent a lovely day in Orlando yesterday with my parents celebrating their 50th anniversary. My brother flew in with his family and my sister was there as well. We had family photos taken, celebrated my nieces birthday and then went out to a Brazilian restaurant for dinner. It's rare that all of us are together at the same time so it was wonderful!

Happy Stitches!

So I have two big projects on the needles. So what did I do? I cast on for something new, something quick and easy. A tiny Noni Bag called Just Pockets (Ravelry link here). This will be my first felting project. The orange tape on the needles is so I can tell which set of needles to use as this pattern calls for using two at once. That's new for me too - and I love new things!

This weekend Mary showed me this:

This is the Addi Interchangeable needles and they are fantastic looking! I'm looking forward to her sharing her experiences with them. They might go on my Christmas list!

Here is another quilt from QuiltFest a couple of weekends ago. The only complaint I had about QuiltFest is that I wish they had featured a larger selection of modern quilts. Isn't this just gorgeous? I love the bright colors against the white.

In my last post, I showed the quilt that goes with this picture. I just love the flower quilting! The quilt isn't discolored, it's my lack of photography skills.

Happy Stitches!

Another Finish!

I have another finished project. I finished my Go Green Shopper! It was a fun project. I stippled the panels with a variegated King Tut. When I was sewing the sides and bottom (one long piece) to the front and back, I came up with extra fabric. Silly me - I figured I didn't need to pin with a new sewing machine and I was wrong, wrong, wrong! Things went much better when I matched everything up and pinned it. The pattern directions were very easy to follow - always a big plus in my opinion. I'm going to do this one again!

Lesson I Had To Learn Again: I need to take the time to pin, pin, pin!

Though my posts have not shown much knitting, I'm actually knitting regularly. It's just that I have two big projects on the needles and they don't look much different from day to day. Here is where I'm at on my Per Terras (a lace shawl). This is exactly 25,702 stitches. There are probably 100,000 more to go! I'm still enjoying this very much but it's not a project I want to work on with the craziness at work for the past couple of weeks. I've just been too wore out and these stitches are little. Not the mindless knitting I need on the crazy days.

Here are two more miniature quilts from QuiltFest last weekend. I told you I loved the miniature quilts! As you can see, the last one is hardly bigger than the tag that is on it! I just loved the top one and was surprised it didn't have a ribbon on it.

Don't you just love them both?

Today, I have a little fabric shopping and knitting planned. G has football to watch. Next weekend my brother and his family will be at my parents in Orlando so we'll be spending some time with them. I'm really looking forward to that! It will be great to see the girls again.

I hope you're having a great weekend! Happy Stitches!