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.

 

Maine

We have just returned from a trip to Maine to visit my sister and two of our daughters.  I did bring three things to work on while we were there.

This is count work from Blessings Abound by Waxing Moon Designs.  This is Count Thy Blessings, and I am not sure if it will be an embroidery framed and, on the wall, or incorporated into something else.  It was not stitched on in Maine. 

This also came to Maine.  Block 9; Lucky Strawberries from A Bountiful Life (The Civil War Bride quilt).  It is all wrinkled as I just took it out of its bag.  It was not stitched on in Maine.

Here is what I worked on during the car ride.  Two dishcloths were completed, and this is the third a little over half done.

What did I work, on other than visiting and a trip to Beans?  Our youngest's gardens.  

First, around the big rock where herbs and such are planted.  

Second, I brought her some peonies from our garden, which came from my parents' garden, which came from Grams' garden (my Dads' Mom) and Grannies' garden on the farm (my Moms' Mom).  Family lore has it that one of the three colors; white, pink or red (I think the red) came from Ireland.  These were planted by her stone wall.  (I only had one tick visit me!!)  This is their third summer in their home.  The house was built in the late 1790s and they have done ALOT of work on the yard.  The electric company came by last year and took down very old and not safe trees that were under the electric line.  It has opened the yard to sunshine, wonderful.  The peonies were planted on the road side of the rock wall and lilacs will be planted on the yard side of the wall.  The wall is about 10 feet from the road.  Slowly it will expand up and down the wall.  More peonies will be brought up next year or late this year.

This morning, at my home, it is 52 degrees outside and the mist is burning off.  I need to get to my gardens.  Later today I will do slow stitching.  I am so looking forward to that.

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

 

Advice Requested

My pumpkin table runner is now off the hand quilting frame.  I put it on May first, and it came off on May 12th with about 13 hours of hand quilting time.  I am super pleased and totally enjoyed my experience. 

But I have many questions.  I don't know anyone who hand quilts or works with a 3-roller frame.  I have watched Esther Miller's videos on setting up the frame and her hand quilting directions.  All wonderful information but everything has to come to an end.  That is where my questions come in.

When I arrived at the end, instead of rolling the quilt forward, I just switched and moved to the back of the frame.  When you look at the photos below, the back of the frame is at the bottom of the photo.

The first photo shows how I have basted through the beginning of the runner, then the batting to the leader on the back roller.  So, if I stitched straight through, I would be sewing into the leader fabric.  

Here is my solution.  Did I do it proper or is there a better way?

I took out the basting stitches and put the back roller leader out of the way.  Then the beginning of the runner was pinned to the batting and backing.  You can see that the backing is rolled up on its own leader and roller.  (Two rollers in the back leading to one roller in the front.)  Then I finished quilting the last of the border and took it off the frame.

Is that the way to finish?  

Finished it is.

Here you see the runner: machine pieced, hand appliqued for the vines, machine appliqued for the stem, hand quilted. border put on by machine and then hand stitched.  

I sure used several techniques to make this.  Wonderful.

I have another pumpkin runner as a flimsy.  That one will be sandwiched soon and machine quilt.  

My 3030 quilt is getting ready to go up on the frame.  It should happen this week.  Ideas on how to quilt it are dancing in my head.

I will be linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Enjoy your weekend.

Squirrel Update

The strawberry pincushion is done.  It is about 3.5 inches across.  It was first lined with a Pellon Fusible Interfacing. 

Then a long-legged cross stitch was used to join the sides.  It was a bit fiddly and a times I lost where I was.  But I am glad that I did it. When a 1/2-inch opening was left, the lizard litter (crushed almond shells, oops, it is crushed walnut shells) was poured in via a funnel.  It was then closed up and I am pleased.

The window was made and now the boots and leaves need to be attached.  There are also parts to make forsythia that will need to be put on.  But, part by part I will work.  Can't get too much in front of my eyes.

After about ten hours of stitching, I am at the end of the runner.  I am actually a bit faster than when I began, at least in two directions.  This has been an enjoyable learning experience.  When this comes off, which may be tomorrow, I will be putting on my first quilt.  

On the runner are three of the tools I use.  From left to right: a ceramic needleslide that is used under the quilt, my thimble when stitching toward me and a thumbthimble when I stitch away from me.  That is a great invention.

I will be linking to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  May you all have a wonderful week.

Squirrel

Three of them.  

First Squirrel:  I was going to show you this last week but, I didn't.  A friend of mine was given count work patterns that someone else was not using anymore.  I saw this and couldn't resist, a pin cushion.  You are seeing the front and the back.  The red square on point is the front.   This will be lined.  Then I will take the corners and sew the corners together in the back.  Then, before the final closing, I will fill it with lizard litter (otherwise known as ground walnut shells).  This will be my work for Sunday.

Second Squirrel:  The same friend as above found the Wooly Window Mystery Stitch-A-Long.  This is a wool applique series of 12 patterns, which come out weekly.  You can also send for a kit of each window.  She decided that we needed to do the month of April.  Neither of us have done wool applique.  Here is the beginning of our April window.  We had an applique gathering for a few hours on Friday.  We are both finding this enjoyable.

I have wanted to have a hand quilting frame for a long time.  I was looking at American made frames (Grace, Hinterberg) but by the time I decided to buy, they weren't being made anymore.  Procrastination, not good.  

I came across you tube videos of Esther Miller, her quilting and her frames.  She is Amish, raised in America, living in Germany.  (I am sad to say that she passed late 2021.  I would have liked to take a hand quilting class from her.)  I watched, I hemmed and hawed.  I finally placed my order, and the three boxes arrived this week.  Celebration!!  

Third Squirrel:  I now have a "Love" hand quilting frame from Miller's Quilting in Germany.  What you see is it at 40 inches and it can be lengthen to 120 inches.  

                                                                              

The first thing that I am stitching on is a table runner.  I have two of these as flimsies.  I will only hand stitch one.  I figure that a runner will be a good set of practice hours.  I have two quilts waiting that I want to hand quilt.

I am so excited.  Another way to meditate with the use of thread, slow stitching.  My favorite activity.  Here are my first stitches. 

I will be linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Enjoy your day.