I Love The UPS Man

I love the UPS man because he brings me wonderful things like this--

Fabric!  Beautiful fabric.  Fabric Mart was having a sale on knits-- 50% off and these little babies jumped into my shopping cart despite being on a buying fast.  ( I just don't have any nice winter weight knits to sew with.  Or so I told myself.)    The white is a nice weight scuba knit that is slated to become a jacket just as soon as I finish the quilt.  The stripe is a jersey knit and the red and harvest gold are ponte knits that will probably become dresses. 

In quilty news I got the last of the piecing done on Green Romance.  Here it is with Miss Fritzi inspecting it. 

 

Now onto the borders and backing.

 

Happy Stitching!

 

Flower Box Cats and Green Romance

I have two projects currently underway.  I have made some progress with the Flower Box Cats. 

I'm working it on 18 count aida so it takes a lot of stitches to show any progress.  I've got half of the double window and most of the two kittens done.  They lack their eyes and outlining stitching.  The pink is the beginning of the flower box. 

I'm also working on a quilt.  It's going to be a smallish one-- a lap quilt size, 40 x 58 before the border.   This is only the 2nd quilt I've ever made.  The first is still a UFO since I can't decide on what kind of border to put on it.  Usually I do small wallhangings with the urge strikes since I'm such a novice at this. 

This one is from an old magazine ( Quilts and More, Summer 2006) and was called Red Romance as it was done in reds featuring a red toile.  I had a length of green toile and lots of green in the stash so Green Romance it was.

The picture is a little out of focus and doesn't do it justice but you get the general idea.  I still have three more rows and sashings to go. I've got the border piced out but am trying to think what kind of design to quilt it in. Plenty of time for that though.  Hopefully I'll get some time to work on it next weekend as this week looks awfully busy and I use the evenings for hand stitching. 

Happy stitching!

 

Flower Box Cats

I started a new project in counted cross stitch.  It's a pattern called Flower Box Cats from Vermillion Stitchery back when they did printed charts.

 I see from their website, that everything is digital now and that this pattern is only available as machine embroidery.  I came across the pattern years ago as a Hobby Lobby closeout and never got around to stitching it up.  Well, I guess it's time has come.  I started with the kitties in the green window in the center.  Progress report soon.

Happy stitching!

Embroidering Again

After a long hiatus- several years- I decided to pick up surface embroidery again.  I've done several cross stitch pieces recently but no embroidery for at least 3 or 4 years and then only basic stitches to embellish a top.  I decided it was time to teach myself to stitch once again.  So, I got out an old tutorial of my mom's called "A Comprehensive corse in Crewel Embroidery" by Marion Nichols from 1971. This is actually the primer to a class that presumes you have the accompanying printed pattern which I didn't. So I just did a free form sampler of each of the stitches on some muslin as they were introduced in the book.  Once I felt comfortable with one stitch, I moved on to the next.  Soon I felt ready for a "real" piece to work on. 

I found a likely picture on the internet, site now unknown, and copied.  I touhgt it would work as a sampler of sorts for different stitches.

I've learned so many new stitches on this piece. It's not perfect but it was fun. I can't wait to finish it as a pillow for my youngest daughter who loves owls. 

Happy stitching.

McCall's 6796 Two Ways

I am loving McCall's 6796.  Maybe a little too much.  I rarely repeat a pattern but this time I had to.  The pattern has such style and is such a quick easy sew, who can resist?

 For this first version I followed the advice of several reviewers on Pattern Review and did a few little things differently.  I stabilized the shoulder seams as the directions do skip this. I also ran the cowl up on the serger in one pass then understitched.  The sleeves were put in flat then the sides sewn up.  Since it's a slick ITY knit (from Fabric.com years ago) , I used Sandra Betzina's tip of Steam a Seam on the hems to keep them from tunneling,  I found that it ran long so I belt it like a tunic.

For the second top, I used a great sweater knit I found at a local shop, Lets Sew.

I didn't want another tunic, so I shortened the length for this one.  I also lengthened the sleeves to a full long sleeve.  The pattern shows them as bracelet length and it just ended up full length on the tunic.  I also didn't need to use the Steam a Seam on this sweater, it just sewed up like a charm.

 

So if you're looking for a quick easy sew, with nice impact this is your ticket.  Happy sewing all.