Christmas Stitching

The Little Mermaid is still in time out, so I've been working on a picture for my mother.  It's the 3rd of 3 that I'm doing.  She got the 1st one when I was still in college- about 7 years ago.  I found 2 more that kind of round out the set, and she got one of those last year for Christmas.  (Which all came about when she asked if there were more to go with the first one.)

The girl with the blue bonnets came first, then the goat herder, and now I'm working on the flower girl.  Had I realized it 8 year ago, I would have just bought the book, but the book colors didn't match her decor the way the kit did.  They actually stitch really fast, even though it is counted cross stitch.
I'll add my own photos when I get the 3rd finished and a group photo of them.
I am also working on Brave Knight, which is my first stamped cross stitch pattern.  I'm really kind of enjoying it.  I wasn't sure how I would like the stamped part, but so far it seems to be okay.  I will probably put a fresh backing on it and re-bind it when I complete it, but we'll see what day it is when I actually complete it.

 I have almost completed on star and the k on knight.  I started working on it Saturday, so I feel my progress isn't too bad.  I also caught a cold on Friday, which has limited my productivity.  Good thing there are basketball games to listen to during the evenings.

I have also started a new baby quilt, but I am still in the thinking/designing stage, so I don't know when I will have pictures of that.  The original idea was to embroider some of the larger fabric motifs on a batik in 4 patch blocks, but I'm not sure I want to do that now, since I am also cross-stitching Brave Knight for the little guy.  I also don't know that I want to hand embroider 56 four inch blocks.

I'm going to a quilt shop with a friend that is about 45 minutes away tomorrow, so I think I'll look for a  piece of fabric for the back of the Brave Knight, even though I just started it.  I'm also hoping that I can convince my mother to bind it for me.  I want to put satin binding on it because I know babies like it, but it is one of the worst things I have ever attempted to sew.

Bye for now.
G

Progress!

I finished the rag quilt for my coworker.  He loved it.  He made the comment that they had gone to a baby shower for a friend who received a quilt and his wife was sad they hadn't gotten one, so he was pretty excited about it and thought she would be, as well.  SCORE!  I love it when people appreciate my quilts.

The little mermaid is in time out, and I'm not sure when I'll pick her back up.  I have 2 more phrases to embroider on a book for my niece before I assemble it, but those should go rather quickly.  There's always football to watch tomorrow to suck up time while I hand stitch.

It's a very short post for now.  When I complete the book I'll have pictures of it and the finished quilt.  I did buy the fabric for my Liberty Baltimore Album quilt.  I have another baby quilt to get started on for a friend, and then I will be prepping the Liberty.  I'm contemplating purchasing the Christmas one while I'm at it, but I haven't decided.  I think I'm going to take Katie's (of Katie's Quilting Corner) idea of wrapping fabric around comic book cardboards.  I have before pictures of my space, but since it's not complete, I don't have any afters.  It's clean (sort of), but it has a long way to go before I am happy with it.  Right now I use it as storage for supplies and work in the "living room."  One perk of living alone is you don't have to worry about what others want to use the room for.

See you soon.
G

Yesterday I finished cutting out all the squares for my coworker's baby's quilt.  Today I started sewing them together.  Tomorrow I am going with a friend to a quilt shop about an hour away.  Friday is a federal holiday, so I don't have to work.  For some reason my boss at my part time job also gave me the day off, so I am planning to complete the rag quilt for my coworker.

I have made progress on my dad's Christmas present, which is a cross-stitched picture of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen.  I would say I have it about 1/2 done.  The hard part with the similar grays is about complete, so then it's onto the mermaid herself, some water, (which is rippling lines and not a complete fill in) and the sun.  Pictures will come later.

I have several embroider projects perculating, but I need to finish the baby quilt and at least my dad's cross-stitch picture before I begin another one.  I am also contemplating between a cross-stitch picture for my mom, which is about a 1/4 done or a Christmas tree wall hanging that I put some of my grandmother's costume jewelry on.

We also have several pins that either my grandfather or great-grandfather won in track.  I am trying to formulate a plan in my head to display these as well.  They are getting closer, but I have several other things which need to be completed before I can start sketching those out.

I made pages of a book for my niece about 8 months ago- the handwork was done by her birthday in April, but I have to sew the pages together yet, so that will be a Christmas gift for her.  I will have to figure out how to attach rickrack, which will represent waves, but I am trying to determine the best way to assemble the book- do I use grommets and rings, or do I sew it together as a regular book is?  I'm not sure.  I have another book in the works for her, which will be an ABC book of Disney characters.  I have all the pieces I think I will need to applique them, but that book is still in the design stages.  I think on this one, I will put an index in the back so my brother and sister-in-law will know which movies the characters came from.  (My brother is not as up on his Disney as I am.)

I think that is all for now, and I will try to post pictures this weekend.  My dad is going to give me a portable storage device, so I'm hoping that will free up enough room on my computer to download all my pictures.


Gretchen

I'm Baaack

Sorry it's been a while.  I've been in Germany for the past few weeks.  Then it was trying to get caught back up.  Anyway... I started a new dresser scarf while on my journeys, along with a new baby quilt.  I have one baby quilt to get completed in the next week or so, but it will just be squares ragged together.  Then I have another quilt I'm making for a friend, which I hope to have complete and to her by the beginning of December.  I also have some napkins to embroider for my sister-in-law and a vest to make for myself, and possibly a skirt for my niece.  (She wears 18 months.  I don't think it will take that long to make.)  I also have a cross-stitch picture to make for my mother for Christmas.  I don't know if it will get done or not.  I hope it does.  I hope to be starting the quilt for my friend Wednesday, it will be significantly smaller than the one I made earlier.  I heard from the couple I made the baby quilt for, and they loved it.  I love making things for people who appreciate them.  It's a short post, but that's all I have for now... I'll post pictures as I complete projects.

It's Done!!!!

I finished the 1st baby quilt on Thursday of last week.  I had help from my dad taking pictures of it Saturday evening.  I really like how it turned out, but it is huge!  I obviously need help determining sizes of quilts.  I'm going to make another rag quilt for a coworker, but I'm hoping I can start it Saturday and finish it Wednesday, so I can wash it and give it to them before we leave next Friday.  I have determined my vacation project, I think.  I'm hoping to work on some Precious Moments Children of the World cross stitch.  I have been working on it since I was a senior in high school.  I think I have about 5 blocks done with about 8 to go.  Some are in various stages of completion.  I will try to post some pictures before I go, but no guarantees.  I have been doing the PM blocks on muslin with waste canvas.  I hope I have enough waste canvas.  I know it is still available, but I don't recall which count I was using.  I have also started "collecting" civil war reproduction prints for either a Dear Jane quilt or to use with the Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt.  I haven't decided which I will be using.  I kind of just like the idea of doing a bunch of little quilt squares. 

I know it's a small picture.  Maybe when I return from my trip I will work on resizing it. The blocks are approximately 8.5" x 8.5".  The final quilt ended up being around 42.5" x 52".  I really like how it turned out.  One thing I learned from this though, is that pins are my friend and I can make my sewing machine go slower when quilting large X's on squares of fabric.

It's almost finished...

I am now sewing my blocks together.  I finished the eyes on Saturday along with making my quilt block sandwiches.  I have completed the first row tonight.  I should finish the rest of the sewing tonight or tomorrow, depending on how long I stay up to work on it.  Then I have to snip it and wash it a couple of times.  Since the baby is not due for 2 more weeks, I am hopeful I can finish it before s/he comes.  I am also contemplating my next project as the baby quilt is no longer portable.  I have some embroidered ornament block of the month from last year that I am about 1/2 done with.  I was able to keep up with them until baseball season ended last year, and then I got behind.  I have also learned that another of my friends is having a baby, but they're not due until spring, so I may have time to complete another embroidered baby quilt.  I'm not sure.  We'll see what happens.  I have been toying with an idea from a couple of children's books I have.  I will post more pictures when I have it completed.

Baby Shower

So... I didn't get the quilt complete before the shower.  Life sometimes gets in the way.  I have completely finished the embroidery on one block.  I didn't like the last 3 blocks- 2 were repeat animals and the 3rd looked like the animal was going to fall over, so I got my baby feet finished in it.  I have started on the eyes.  They should go fairly quickly.  I have decided to satin stitch them because one of my managers has convinced me that I will ruin my blocks if I try to paint on them.  Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't, I'm not gonna risk it.  With my mom's help, I have completely cut out another quilt and got the pieces pinned together.  When you rag a quilt, it goes much faster.  Right now I'm all about speed.  I should have 2 quilts completely finished by Monday afternoon since it is a federal holiday in the U.S.  That means I don't have to work Monday morning.  I do have to work Monday afternoon, but since it's time and a half, it's alright.  If I finish my both my quilts Monday, I will post more pictures.  I cannot decide if I want to embroidery the last quilt or if I just want to sew flannel squares together.  We shall see.  I also don't know what I will do at work on Tuesday if I get all of my quilts finished.  I do have a couple of other embroidery projects already started, one of which is a BOM ornament set.  I have them about 1/2 complete.  I will talk to you soon.

How it's going...

I have completed one block, with another 3/4 of the way complete.  I have purchased the marker/paint I am going to use for the eyes.  I was looking at the last block and decided I did not like the way it looked, so I am turning it into my quilt label.... kind of...  I am going to put Baby Last Name, September 2011 with baby footprints.  On the back I will probably put my name and my place of residency.  I'm hoping this last block goes really fast so I can quilt it and put it together Saturday night.  Hm... at least there are several baseball games all evening so I will have something to watch while I do this.  I'm figuring I will have 8 hours to cut and sew and cut.  Then I will paint the eyes on Sunday evening.  I will take it with me to the baby shower hosts and wash it (several times) as I help prepare our baby shower food.  We'll see how well I do.  It IS Thursday, after all, but I still have 5 breaks and 2 lunches to complete this project.  Next up is the baby animals again, only this time in all boy colors.  The other couples either know what they are having or have already had the baby.  I'm not sure I ever want to do 15 embroidered blocks in one month again.  Although, it does keep me busy during breaks and lunches.  Not to mention meetings, ball games, and other places where I have 5-10 minutes of down time.  I will post more about the pattern I used after I have all the animals sewn together in one piece.

Pictures!

Even though it's been a week, I am still a little behind.  However, I was refiguring my math and realized that if I made all of the embroidered blocks I was going to make, this baby quilt was going to be huge!  So, I did some recalculating and realized I only needed a total of 30 blocks, 5 across and 6 down.  That means I only need 15 embroidered blocks, so I have to complete 3 more.  I haven't done the eyes yet, I'm not sure how I'm going to do them.  I'm contemplating coloring the eyes and then outlining them with the stem stitch I've used on the rest of the animals.  I hate satin stitch, so I really don't want to use it.  I can not get my tension even.  So, here we go with some pics:

This one is my favorite.

I am planning on quilting around the animals with 12 weight sulky cotton thread.  The other 15 blocks are flannel with X's through them.  The finished quilt should be about 42.5 by 51.  (That's the hope, anyway.)
That's all for now.

Week from Eschatological Unmentionable

It's been a little while.  I finished 3 blocks, so this week was a fail.  However, I work a full time job and a retail part time job.  It was inventory week, so I logged a total of 64.5 hours at a place of employment.  If I throw in the drive time, I lost 5.5 hours there, so even though I only finished 3, it was not a complete loss.  Anyway....

I was going to take pictures of my "completed" blocks, but when I went to turn on the camera, the battery was dead.  I have an Olympus camera with a special battery.  I am also not the best housekeeper in the world, and had lost my charger.  After looking for it for 4 days, I have finally found it.  So, said camera battery is now charging.  I'm hoping to take pics tomorrow evening and post around Monday night.  I did score a new foot for my sewing machine, which is a Baby Lock Crafter's Choice.  I got the machine freehand quilting foot.  I also got some quilting thread.  We'll see how this goes.

For 2 of the baby quilts I am embroidering 1/2 of the blocks on a white flannel.  That's 24 blocks per quilt.  For the 3rd I am embroidering 5 blocks and my mother is machine appliqueing 5 blocks with 10 blocks left in the cute print we found at a chain store.  (They're baby quilts.  Babies eat, sleep, poop, and throw up.  That's why I don't feel bad using chain store fabric.  For more on this topic, I suggest you listen to Sandy at Quilting for the Rest of Us.)  Back onto topic...  I am ragging these quilts because I like to use a medium loft polyester batting to support my embroidery and haven't figured out how to do it on individual blocks before assembly the entire quilt.  I am going to free motion around the embroidery because I don't think I will like a square around my embroidered blocks when I am creating my quilt sandwiches.

So, I guess it wasn't a complete fail, and next week I have 2 evenings opening up, I should be able to make up for the loss this week.  We'll see what happens.

1/4 Done!

I have finished embroidering 6 of the blocks for baby quilt #1.  That means I have 18 left.  The whole project has to be finished by August 29 because that is when the baby shower, which I'm helping host, is.  I have a timeline/deadline to follow.  It will be done.  I have decreed it.  I will let you know how it really goes.  I will probably work on pictures tomorrow.

So many quilts, so little time

In October I am going to Germany for almost 3 weeks.  As of Monday, I had 2 quilts to finish before I left.  Now, I have 3.  The good news is that I have to have one finished by the 29th of August, while the other 2 just have to be finished before I leave the 30th of September.  The good news is that there are several baseball games to be attended before the babies come, so I should have plenty of hand stitching time to complete.  Two of the quilts are embroidered rag quilts.  I'm not sure what the 3rd will be, but probably a rag without the embroidery.  Time will tell.  Once I get the pictures taken, I will show the works in progress.  Right now there are 5 complete embroidered blocks with the rest of the fabric to be cut out.

A New Blog

I have decided to take the leap and start podcasting, but in order to podcast, I need a place for notes.  So, blogging, here I come.  This is really a test run, I don't expect to have an actual podcast for several weeks, but here's a trial run for the blog.