Design Wall Monday

Sunday sewing saw me working on a variety of things.  I made 2 bindings, pieced a backing, started a new Kim Diehl project, and quilted half of a table runner.  These cute little X blocks are for County Line, one of the new Simple Whatnots projects by Kim Diehl. The blocks are 5.5" square and I have 2 of the 15 blocks made so far.  I have to work this morning but hope to get back into my sewing room this afternoon again. 

 

One of the things I do with most projects is cut what I need to make 1 test block, and if that works out then I do the rest of the cutting.  I stack the pieces on my ironing board, often on a portable design board so I can move it easily if needed without disturbing the layout.  And I stack them in the layout I need to keep them organized for sewing. This method has really cut down on the mistakes that I often made, such as in placement of a piece or turning something the wrong way. In this case my first step is sewing those 1.5" neutral squares onto opposite 2 corners of the 4 matching dark squares. They make the arms of the X. 

 

 

Design Wall Monday is going on at: http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/  Check out what others are working on this week.

Saturday sewing

I passed on golf this morning even though it's a perfect day for it, but my seasonal allergies are getting wound up. So I chose to stay inside with the air conditioning and fewer allergens - and my sewing machine of course.

I finished the trick or treat bag for grandson Jack and I finished the flimsy of the cycling wall hanging for daughter #1.  The black that I added to the top and bottom of the colored row had lots of "movement" to it, with flecks and changes of tone.  It looks a bit like asphalt.  

A lost art

Hand embroidery is quickly becoming a lost art. And I've done nothing to preserve that art - yet.  I learned to embroider at the knees of my maternal grandmother. She had me practice on dishtowels and pillowcases. I have wonderful memories of spending time with her doing things like knitting, crocheting, embroidery, and tatting.  OK - I must admit the tatting was a total failure because I never figured it out.

So why didn't I teach my girls how to do any of these things? I don't know but I'm guessing their lack of interest, busy activity-filled lives, and my lack of patience probably had a lot to do with that. Thankfully one of my cousins (who also spent lots of time with Grandma Johnson) taught my daughter Laura how to knit the summer after college when my daughter lived with them for a couple of months during an internship.

I'm doing a simple block with embroidery and as I gathered things this morning a few memories of Grandma began to flit through my brain. So I've been thinking that I need to spend a little time with my granddaughters as they grow to teach them to sew and to embroider. Auntie Laura can teach them to knit.

Design Wall Monday

 

This is the Row By Row project that I posted about yesterday.  It's 36" wide, with 3 pinwheels on the left and just 1 on the right.  My plan today is to go buy a solid black to match the bicycle applique, and add a wide strip to both the top and the bottom. Right now it's only about 10" in depth and I want this to be a wall hanging. So I think the black will help make it look less "long and skinny".  Wish I had more of the colors to add a little something, but I don't.

 

This row is from the cute shop in Adel, Iowa which is just on the west side of Des Moines.

 

Check out the other Design Walls at: http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com/

Sunday Sewing

I love it when points match up!  This morning I worked on the Row By Row from Adel, Iowa, which has a cool bicycle applique.  The row is done but I plan to put a wide solid black strip across the top and bottom to make this closer to square. It will make a good wall hanging for someone I know who is into long distance cycling.  

Reindeer 60 degree runner

 

I'm on a roll and another UFO is done.  This 60 degree runner top has been waiting to be quilted since November 2015. That's the good - or bad - thing about blogging. It's my journal and I can always go back and see when I worked on something.

 

I sandwiched this runner and began to hand quilt it, but then I got distracted and it's just been folded up and waiting, with the needle still in place. Yesterday I sat down and pulled the hand stitching out while visiting with my sister-in-law who had stopped in.  After supper I went into my sewing room and machine quilted this in a very simple manner, and then dug into the stash for a dark red for binding.  I woke up really early this morning so I sewed on that binding and now even the binding is hand stitched down.  This was #9 on my 2017 UFO Challenge list and now I can check it off as done.

Candy Dish is complete

 

Candy Dish is completely done and another UFO can be checked off the list.  I used a black thread and a decorative stitch on my machine to do some simple outline quilting around all of the solid black pieces.  Nothing fancy, but I like the impact. 

 

This isn't exactly a summer themed table topper, so it will probably go into the drawer until winter. Or it may go into my "gifting" stash after I've enjoyed it awhile. But for right now it looks pretty good on my little kitchen table.