Beginning & Squirrel

This is my new beginning!

In 2020 I made the 3030 Quilt BOW with Gae Bomers of Sentimental Stitches.  I began piecing it when it started in June and finished the blocks December 29, 2020.  It was put together in January 2021 and has been waiting since. I wanted to hand quilt it.  Untrimmed it is 80 X 80 inches.  

I now have my hand quilting frame from Miller's Quilting.  This is the second piece that I have placed on it and my first quilt to be done on the frame (I did a table runner to see how it worked).  I have only hand quilted twice before and not on a frame.  They were not even done in a hoop, that I can remember. That is how long ago it was that I hand quilted.  One was my first quilt when I took a class in the 1980s.  The other was a baby quilt that I made for our youngest.  She is now 31.

My first row of stitches!  Begun June 24, 2022.  

This is what I saw this morning when I walked into my cave at 0600.  The sun was coming in.  It lights up my rows very nicely, but I am going to have to cover it with a sheet to keep the sun off when I am not working on it.  Don't want it to fade it this early in its life.

When I am sitting here, I listen to audio stories.  Youngest has introduced me to a Podcast: Phoebe Reads a Mystery.  Phoebe reads books from long ago.  Right now, I am listening to Moby Dick: The Whale.  It was written by Herman Melville in 1851 at his farm, Arrowhead, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.  He lived there from 1850 to 1863.  His home is now a museum.  

Our kids all read the book in 6th grade and went to Arrowhead as a school trip.  I was born and grew up in Pittsfield.  Still live in the Berkshires and am ashamed to say that I never read this book.  (If I did, I don't remember it.)  I am enjoying having it read to me.

Hand quilting and listening to a book.  Thread meditation at its finest.

  

Now here is my squirrel.  My count work friend let me know about this.  This is a kit from Shepard's Bush, and you count stitch the pattern with #5 Perl Cotton on a project bag made of nylon.  I began this on Friday at 0400 (I couldn't sleep) and finished it Saturday afternoon.  A very quick stitch.  7 stitches to the inch.

The kit also comes with material for a pincushion and scissor fob.  They are done on 32 count linen with one thread.  My work on the pincushion last evening.  

The scissor fob will be made, and I will use it.  When stitching the bag, I dropped two pair of scissors and didn't want to stop, get up and look for them.  It is a good thing that I had several pairs close.  This fob will be helpful.

Enjoy your day.  Ours is starting out sunny and warm, 57.  It is to go up to the high 70s today.  I know many of you have had super warm, hot weather but that has not been us.  This week is the first that it has been above the 50-60s since May.  My tomatoes are starting to grow.  Like everything around here, they were in a holding pattern and waiting.  My day will begin with work in the garden.

Linking to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.

Half Way

I spent last Thursday to Monday FMQing my 2016 Quilt.  It was finished at 6am on Monday morning.  Most of it was done using rulers but there is some non-ruler work in there.  After finishing this, I am so much more comfortable with working with Red (my Machine).  The quilt is 84 inches by 92 inches.

The halfway is the binding.  After 6 hours of stitching, I am halfway around the quilt.  You can see in the above picture the binding not yet done.

Wool batting was used.  I love that batting for its light weight, warmth, and texture.  (Kid quilts and runners get cotton batting.)

Binding is what I will be working on this afternoon and evening.  Hope to have it finished soon and then the toss in the wash.  

My morning will be spent in the gardens.  I don't know that I will ever be caught up there.  It is 49 outside this morning.  My tomatoes are not happy.  They want the warmer weather.  I am enjoying the cooler nights and days in the 70s.  (But I would like to eat tomatoes from my garden this summer.)

Linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Enjoy your day.

 

Supervisors

There has been some progress on my handwork.  They have only been worked on in the evenings as I have been working in my gardens.  (I should have been out there in April to start the garden clean-up, but it was so cold.  I let the weeds get ahead of me.)  Today I was working on my raspberry beds.  The deer found them last year for the first time after gardening here in 28 years.  When I found out, the deer fencing went up.  They also did in my vegetable beds last year.  New fence for those beds won't be here until Monday.  So far, so good with what is in the ground now.

Now to the handwork. 

I placed these on the floor by the deck door and the sun was truly shinning.  The strawberries are a little over half done.  I have a few more big leaves and then the strawberry caps to put on.  One strawberry was missed but will be added when the caps are placed.

This is almost done.  There are five sunflowers to put on and across the top border to be finished. This has been an enjoyable piece.

Now, what I have been spending a bit of time on is a UFO.  This is the 2016 Craftsy BOM by Lynette Jensen.  The flimsy was made on schedule.  It was even sandwiched, and the center machine quilted.  I put it aside as I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do next (and there must have been a squirrel in there also).  Self, I said, it has to get out of my way and onto a bed.  So, self agreed.  The quilt was draped over furniture for a week for the wrinkles to relax (and they did).  

The house has been mine alone since Wednesday.  What a better time to get this thing going.  Red (my sit down) was moved into the dining room so the quilt could spread out over the table.  Good progress has been made.

I was just in there working, knotting off some thread ends.  I looked up and noticed that I had a supervisor, Ziva.  She is laying on a corner of the quilt.  I was able to work on the next block without moving her part of the quilt and the noise didn't chase her away.

The next block was finished and when I looked up, I had two supervisors.  Gibbs had moved in. The machine noise was not bothering them.  If I continued on to the next section, I would have had to move the quilt.  They must have known that it was time for me to stop, time for my supper.  My machine work is done until tomorrow.

When the kitchen is picked up, I will begin this evening's handwork.  Tomorrow I will link up with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  May your upcoming week be filled with threads, or garden dirt.  Enjoy.