Gift from Mother Nature

The Katsura tree in our front yard has lost all its leaves.  I was very surprised to see this.

 

I think that it is a paper wasp nest.  When the snow comes, I will cut the branch it is attached to and put it in the woods.  I don't want to take a chance now that there might still be active inhabitants.  We have had them start their nests on the house, under the roof edge.  Those we have knocked down with a spray of water from the garden hose.  This is at least 12 inches long.  Never knew it was there and I have worked in the garden under this all summer.  I guess I should look up more often :).

I am almost half way done with the rows on my Grandmother's Flower Garden.   One more row of white and colored flowers and then I begin the second side.  When that is done, I will then sew the two sides together.  I am enjoying the slow stitching with this.  I machine sew a hexie block between the flowers and then hand sew, with a running stitch, the rows together.  If you look at the bottom right, you can see where I still have two flowers to attach to the row.

 

 Have a wonderful day with your threads, however they are being used.

Thimbles

This weekend was the Massachusetts Quilt Shop Hop.  Seven shops participated; three in Berkshire County, one in Hampshire County and three in Hampden County.  Kathy and I visited all seven shops.  One day traveling in Berkshire County and one day traveling to the other four shops.  When you visited each shop, if you had a Shop Hop Passport, you received a gift bag.  

From one of my favorite shops I received the green thimble that you see.  I wasn't sure if it would be any fun to use as it is made out of silicone, I think.  I used it last night while piecing my garden quilt and I really do like it.  The finger that wears my thimble while sewing wears a size small and this fits nicely.  The end of the needle doesn't come through the thimble as I expected it to.  Getting this new thimble encouraged me to find my others.

These are the thimbles that I use the most.  Very easy to find as they are in my sewing kit by my chair.  The metal one on the left is my piecing, quilting thimble.  I have used it for years.  Being metal, even though it is a small, it will come off my finger at times but always easy to put back on.  The pink one I bought about two months ago.  It is a medium and at times a bit loose.  The peach one I bought on the shop hop.  It is a small and stays on my finger.  It and the green one are my two new favorite thimbles.

 

These are my old thimbles that I first used for quilting.  One was my Mom's and one is mine.  The black thimble I would wear on the finger under the quilt to protect it from the needle. 

 

Long ago, late 1970s, Mom and I went to the Elsa Williams School of Needlework.  These are all from that class.  We received the white plastic one with our project kit.  When we finished the classes we received the silver ones.  I guess I need to clean them up.  It has been a long time since I have used these.  They are more a medium size, great for my Mom.  The class was Black work, Count work and Stump work embroidery.

These are some of the oldest.  An inexpensive plastic one from my Mom, a ceramic one that I thought was pretty and is nice to use, another ceramic one from a trip to California.

The thimbles were easy to find as I put them all in the same spot when we redid the Mom Cave floor.  I just had to look for what I put them in as I still cannot remember where everything is, but, still clean and organized ;) 

Little Flowers

Our youngest read my blog to see Ziva in her debut photo (as seen in last entry).  I was then informed that Gibbs was VERY upset that his picture was not posted.  Here, as they sleep on their 'bunk bed',  you can see our two new Fur Children.  Ziva on the top of the picture and Gibbs on the bottom of the picture.  They are very close cats. 

I am still working on my Flower Garden and almost 1/4 of the way done.  I have still not made the grapes to applique on A Bountiful Life.  I am happy with working with my hexies.  I did make a small project this week.  Smaller hexies which I then turned into coasters/mug rugs.  This back side photo shows the one inch hexies made into a flower compared to the hexie flowers in my garden quilt.
 

 

Here are the two sides of the coasters.  You can see that the one on the right is not yet finished.  The open area is where I turned it inside out.  I love that wooden floor material.  It is left over from my S'mittens runner.

On our second trip to Boston last week I didn't work on the quilt.  Instead I knitted two dish cloths.  One on the way down and one on the way back. 

Thank you for stopping by. 

1/6 of the way

Good afternoon.  A very busy week we have had, driven to Boston twice and Bennington, VT once.  I don't have much hand work done and I am later than I wanted to be in posting. 

There has been no applique work done at all.  I have to get my grapes prepared and then sew them onto my Bountiful block. 

I have been working on Grandmother's Flower Garden.  I was able to do some hand work while we were on the MA Pike and while waiting in offices.  It was easier in the office, the Pike is not always that smooth and it would make my hand jump and then I would displace the needle.  Here are the first four rows, two of the flowers and two of the background.  Ten flowers per row and 12 rows of flowers.   I am 1/6 of the way done with putting the rows together.

Here they are folded in half as each row has a repeat after five flowers.

Closer in all their wrinkled glory.  

 

I have not been tatting much this year.  Nothing has caught my eye.  This doiley was done in 2018 and has been on the back of my chair.  I am using it as an Antimacassar (I love that word).  

Our Ted walked over the Rainbow Bridge in January of this year.  In February my husband found Gibbs and Ziva at the Berkshire Humane Society.  They moved in and we are glad that they are here.  Ziva makes good very use of tatted doileys, Antimacassars.  She says that they complement her "Kitty Look".  She will be above my head while I am in the chair piecing the rows of the quilt.  Every once in awhile she will touch me with her paw.  Not sure if it is because I am sewing well or I should fix something ;).

Have a great week.