Wednesday, August 8, 2012

A Number of Little Things

A Bit of Wool Work:






Picture
Pattern:  It's a WonderfulWorld Book I by All Through the Night Patterns
Fabric:  Felted wool on cotton Lecien Durham Collection
Thread:  Wool floss
Size:  8" x 12"



Picture
Pattern:  Gathering Gifts from Circle of Friends by Ginger Cookie Company
Fabric:  Same as above - what happened to the color?!
Thread:  Gold DMC embroidery floss
Size:  10" x 12"




Pillow
Pattern: It's a WonderfulWorld Book I by All Through the Night Patterns
Fabric: Felted wool on cotton Lecien Durham Collection
Thread:  Wool floss
Size: 8" x 12"

A Bit of Counted Cross Stitch:



Picture
Pattern:  Free-bee Alphabet w/Hare by La-D-Da
Fabric:  Cream Aida 32 count over 2 threads
Thread:  Cosmo Seasons 8021
Size:  6" x 6 1/2"




Picture
Pattern:  Union Forever by Maggie Bonahomi for Blackbird Designs
Fabric:  Antique Cotton 32 count linen by R&R Reproductions
Thread:  Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Arts Floss
Size:  12" x 7"

A Bit of Quilting:



Wall Hanging
Pattern:  original; hexies and yoyos
Fabric:  stash
Quilting:  by hand
Size:  30" x 30"


Close up of quilted holly leaves and berries. 
I'm not a fan of the washout markers. 
It worked fine on 3 test samples but not on the final product. 
Much washing and ironing to have it look wrinkled rather than quilted.

Close up of hexies (3/4") and yoyos (5/8")



Wall Hanging
Pattern: original; 2 1/4" yoyos
Fabric: stash
Quilting: by hand
Size:  17" x 23"

Some Miscellaneous Sewing:



Wall Hanging and Banner
Patterns:  Flag - Kit from eons ago. 
                This is the pattern referred to in Sheila's post.
                Banner - Original


Fabric:  Cotton; hand quilted
Thread:  DMC  black
Size:  37" x 21"



Fabric:  Old jeans, cotton yoyos, hand stamped muslin,
              old blue striped and plaid shirts
Misc:  Buttons, pins




Outdoor Chair Cushions
Fabric:  Heavy duty linen type from Joanns

Friday, June 29, 2012

America the Beautiful

This is my version of Julie's flag quilt. It is 26" x 44". Lyrics to America the Beautiful are embroidered on the white stripes. The stars are machine blanket-stitched to the blue field. Just in time for the Fourth of July!  It is bound and hung up.


Saturday, June 23, 2012

Books and clock embroidery



I just finished (and I mean that literally) embroidering the "books" block from the Calendula Patterdrip's Cottage quilt by Crabapple Hill. It is stitched in Cosmo "Seasons" embroidery floss - 4 skeins. 

Next step: get it framed.

I just checked my watch, and this is Very Weird --  The time is the same as on the clock in the embroidery!! 

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Because I'm focusing on "getting things done" and not on "how long did it take to finish that, you've got to be kidding, you couldn't spend the hour to finish over the last month?" . . . . Here is another completed project. At the Roblealto Child Care Association in Costa Rica, our church sends work teams yearly to help with maintenance and reconstruction at their foster care facility. This year I helped the house moms  (each taking care of her own family PLUS 10 seriously hurting foster children) make happy birthday banners. There were a couple empty houses waiting on new house parents, so I took those banners home to finish, and here they are, ready to mail back


The cakes were made based on an idea from Julie's book: Quilted Memories, Celebrations of Life by Mary Lou Weidman -- the banners aren't appliqued and quilted, just pretty fabric ironed on with fusible interfacing. The candle flames are made by drawing on the fabric with permanent markers, then releasing the dye with alcohol : http://iamsusie.blogspot.com/2009/11/sharpie-tie-dye.html



Here is a finished, blocked project: a soft warm Qiviut/wool blend scarf. I ended up with less than 9 inches of yarn, including the tail for casting on -- the pattern creator really knew what she was doing! 
My third lace project - I'm getting there, but still had to unknit a lot of rows in the process.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Crocheted Tablecloth

I stopped work on this about six years ago. Crocheting was making my arms hurt and I quit
However, this tablecloth was in progress. Last month, I stumbled upon it and realized I only needed to attach a few motifs and crochet a single crochet border

So here it is!  It has been so long since I started this project, I don't remember the pattern source. It was vintage.
Dimensions : 68" x 28" and just fits the top of my table.

The Green Lace Shawl: Phase II

Phase I: The central portion of the shawl. 40 motifs long, 12 rows to the motif.  85 stitches wide. This is the Myrtle leaf shawl with willow border, from Victorian Lace Today, by Jane Sowerby.  

Now that Phase I is complete, I have started on
Phase II, the border. I think there will be about 300 repeats of an eight-stitch motif, which is thankfully only twelve stitches wide. Whew!  I feel like I'm on the home stretch, and I cannot resist posting a photo.