Category Archives: Quilting

My first hermity weekend report

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Terri | 5 comments

I thought I was going to be kicked out of the hermit club my first try when I woke up Friday without a single itch to stitch! I will blame it on the weather. We had record setting heat all weekend and being lazy, and the pool, was calling my name!

I ended up putzing around in my room organizing more (which always gets me wanting to stitch) and doing some of my quilting homework. I also made the mistake of playing on Facebook some and got myself sucked into two stitchalongs for the rest of the year.

First, part of my quilting homework:

I am not in love with the brown stripe. I tried 3 times to get it to work and gave up.

I love the churn dash block. It’s always been a favorite of mine and I’ve wanted to do a quilt with them for a long time.

Sunday was Sampler Sunday at Attic Needlework. While there are some repeat offenders 😉 the crowd for Sampler Sunday is always different than the normal Thursday evening crowd. We’re almost guaranteed to have a designer or two show and it’s fun to see what they’re working on for future release. I shared my Le Marquoir de Justine which I haven’t touched in forever, and my Petite Mexican Sampler (PMS) that I’ve made really good progress on:

Thank you to those who helped me decide what sampler to start next. I will be starting Hannah Gilpin 1800 as soon as I finish the above piece. Here is my floss toss for her:

The fabric is Colorscapes “Earthen” and the fibers are Dinky Dyes.

I’m looking forward to the two stitchalongs. Both pieces were in my stash. I did have to purchase fabric since I didn’t have the white needed for one, and the fabric I pulled for the other one wasn’t large enough. Mary is a wide-bottom gal! 🙂

The first one is Rose Quaker Sampler by Wiehenburg. I am using the recommended DMC since they are beautiful shades of pinks and browns and have decided to use 34ct Legacy White for my fabric. Legacy has such a beautiful hand. This will be my Wednesday piece since the stitchalong is called Wiehenburg Wednesday.

The second one is Mary Wigham by Needleprint. I am using Gentle Art Sampler Thread and 36ct Lakeside Vintage Navy Bean. This is an open stitchalong, meaning whenever I want, so I’ve decided to work on this one on Thursdays. I will also be taking this one with me to my stitchins.

I’m going to be spending the rest of this evening getting my Rose Quaker floss ready, serging fabric and working away on PMS 😉 unless we get back in the pool.

Oh, and it looks like my blog is back to normal. I adjusted the size of my market report photos and that seems to have done the trick.

Be cool!

edited to add that I noticed in the top block the bottom row was sewn on upside down and that has been remedied. That block is really on my blacklist now 😉

5 Comments

Posted in Hannah Gilpin, IHSW, Justine, Mary Wigham, Petite Mexican Sampler, Quilting, Stitching

Blog woes and needlework stuff

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Terri | 1 comment

I broke my blog 🙁 I don’t know what I’ve done but my right side bar is now showing up under my posts. I futzed with it all evening and I’ve done everything I can think to fix it, but one. We’ll see if that works, if not, I don’t know what I’m going to do.

I have not gotten all of my fibers put away. I still have a few odd ones and HDFs and DMCs, but they’re now separated into “designer” and now I just need to put them away. I haven’t figured out what to do with my HDF silks. I have many from when she first started her FOTM so the dye-lots are old. I am going to be installing peg board on the wall between my two cabinets to hang my fibers on. For now the already sorted ones are living on quilt ruler rings.

The only stitchy thing I accomplished yesterday was to empty my stitching bag from Thursday night. Today I need to work on my quilt squares for next Wednesday, but I’m hoping that won’t take all day. I’m working with triangles, though, so you never know with me. I had so much trouble with them on the other quilt. I have the charts I shared with you to put up, then I’m dragging out my sewing machine and getting to it.

Thank you for those of you who have voted on my sampler choice.

1 Comment

Posted in Quilting, Stash, Stitching

Starting over. Sort of.

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Terri | 3 comments

Ack. I’m so far behind in catching up I’m not even going to bother. Suffice it to say, I have been consistenting doing needlework of some sort since my last check in. When it has not involved the sewing maching, I have faithfully been working on my WIPocalypse stitching.

Domesticity:

I packed everything in my stitching room, back up and moved the boxes to the guest room. We gutted the closet, spackled it, painted it, and moved the shelf units back in. I’m in the process of loading it back up, but am determined to organize while I do so, so I don’t put it off any longer. It looks like this:

The designs are in their proper box and they’ll be cataloged later. As you can see, none of my fabric has been unpacked because right now, as I type this post, my work table looks like this:

The fibers in the front in ziplocks are Anchor. I’m leaving them ’til last because I haven’t decided how I’m going to store them. The white box in the middle is not quite full of various fibers that I’ve been sorting (which is the mess you see, minus the
Weeks), and I’ve already sorted one of them. That table needs to get cleared quickly so I can drag my sewing machine back out.

Quilting:

1 sampler quilt needs a bit more quilting, then the binding (which is ready to be attached).
1 quilted tote needs (still) 6 or so stitches in one of the handles to be completed.
1 quilt has been started (intermediate class started last week and I’m piecing the blocks for it).

Stitching:

Since I’ve been going back and forth to quilting classes, and have quilting homework, I haven’t wanted to try to keep up with my rotation so I’ve been focusing on one easy piece. As of last night (4/15/12) Miss Hannah Beeby is now finished!

I’ve pulled Petite Mexican Sampler out and am going to focus on it for a bit. My quilting classes will be over in June (I think) and until then I guess I’m going to be a one-at-a-time stitcher. Fairy Moon is screaming my name from the guest room right now, but she’ll need lots of beading so I’m putting her off. I’m still determined not to start anything new until I finish 2 projects, no matter how tempted I’ve been lately 🙂

In addition to all of the above we have been doing other bits and pieces of decorating in the house. We I have a list of must-haves for the house that includes more painting, furniture, decorative items, and my stitching. I will be taking Hannah with me Thursday night to get her framed. I’ll take another piece in when we gets finished depending on how long she takes. I would like to do one piece a month.

We’ve also been doing some stuff in the yard. Right now M is digging up the oleanders, one at a time, in the front. 7 down, 3 to go. The yard looks so much bigger now and we’ll be filling in some of the space with more pleasant to use desert plants. In the back we have 2 varieties of tomatoes popping out all over the place, flat leaf parsley trying to take over the pump house wall, oregano, cilantro (in 2 different places), rosemary, pickle cukes, crook neck squash growing in, and have been enjoying salads with home grown lettuces. The lemon tree and mandarin tree both have fruit and we’re waiting to see if our little lime tree is going to have fruit this year (it had a hard time this winter and is only knee high). I also planted a peony tuber that is doing well.

3 Comments

Posted in Hannah Beeby, Petite Mexican Sampler, Quilting, WIPocalypse

Just a quickie

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Terri | 1 comment

I’m still here.

I’m unbelievably busy in a good way.

I have posts planned regarding that ticker over there on the right 🙂 , the quilting class I’m taking, a trip to Vegas (to cross stitch 😉 ), the quilting “expo” I attended yesterday, my Ort jar, and the amount of stitching I’ve been doing and the progress I’m making in rotating.

Life is good. It will be better next Wednesday when my Marine gets back home.

1 Comment

Posted in Quilting, Retirement, Stitching, Travel

A quilty post

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Terri | 2 comments

While catching up on my bloggy friends this morning I saw a post on Amy’s blog about a contest being held on the Quokka Quilts blog. I immediately knew that I would want to win the Blueberry Crumb Cake collection by Blackbird Designs. You’re supposed to choose 12 prints and 3 solids and this collection contains all of those. I would love to have this collection so I could use them in a quilt and with my cross stitch. See!

Of course the bad part of looking at Fat Quarters Shop is that I found other things I could easily buy 🙂

Cobblestone Cottage Quilt Kit Featuring Panier de Fleurs by French General

I’m so looking forward to my quilting class! Less than 2 weeks away 😀

2 Comments

Posted in Quilting

2012 Needlework Plans

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Terri | 3 comments

Now that I’m not working I’m really hoping that I can get back into my needlework rotation. I will be adding needlepoint, quilting, and perhaps beeding, into my rotation in 2012.

When I saw Annette’s post about the WIPocalypse SAL being organized at Measie’s Musings I knew it was just what I needed. Mel has a sign-up for a reminder to be sent to you a few days before your WIPocalypse progress post is due 😀

That last bit is especially important because I totally failed in the TUSAL department in 2011. I kept up with my orts, I just didn’t keep up with posting them on my blog! Not to be discouraged tho, I’m attempting the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long again in 2012. I’ll have to figure out a reminder for myself so I’m a better poster.

I’ve already started on my list of WIPs that I want to include. I would like to finish 12 projects in 2012. On the items that will be framed, it includes the stitching only. On items that will be turned into ornaments, needlework accessory, or any other type of small, it will include them being completely finished out.

So for now, in order of oldest to newest, I’ve chosen the following WIPs to work on:

Peacock Tapestry – Teresa Wentzler – started September 1999
Harmony – Serendipity Designs – has about 10 stitches in it – may be older than PT!
Haiku – Dimples Designs – started January 2004
Fairy Moon – Mirabilia – started October 27, 2004
QS Letting Go – HAED – November 19, 2005
Red Desert Scissor Pocket – The Cat’s Whiskers – started October 11, 2006 – needs finishing out
Quaker Needlework Treasures – With My Needle – originally started October 2006; picked back up January 11, 2010
Le Marquoir de Justine – started January 4, 2007
Houses of Hawk Run Hollow – Carriage House Samplings – started Janury 18, 2010; picked back up __________
Ornament
Needlepoint piece
Quilt

I am going to attempt to finish 2 WIPs before making a new start, unless it’s something I need for any classes I might take in 2012. I already know that I will be taking a quilt class for 5 weeks in 2012 (hopefully starting in January). I’m also going to look into take a beeding class, and I really want to get to know my sewing machine better 😆

Now I guess I just need to decide how long I’m going to spend on a piece before I rotate over to a new one. I’ll probably start with the standard 10 hours. For now I think I’m going to leave the cross stitch items in the above order and slide the needlepoint piece in somewhere in the middle. It’s very close to being finished 🙂

I haven’t decided yet what my new starts will be in 2012 other than I know I want to do some more ornaments. During my unpacking I came across a ziplock that contained several ornaments that I received during an ornament round robin I participated in while I was living in Okinawa (I left there September 2010). I thought they were left behind, but I found them inside a JCS magazine. I want to ornamentify them this year. I’m also thinking that I want to start Dimples’ Designs “Fuji” to go along with Haiku and get them framed together. The nice thing about this hobby….nothing is set in stone and I can change whatever I want to change when I want to change it.

So, I guess my next step is to start a page with my list and get the stuff unpacked and get some pictures made.

Then I need to get myself to the Library and see what type of audiobooks they have so I can “read” while I stitch 😉

3 Comments

Posted in Quilting, Stitching, TUSAL, WIPocalypse

Quilt pattern advice

Posted on February 22, 2010 by Terri | Comments Off

I know there are a couple of quilters out there who read my blog and I’m using this post to throw myself on their mercy. It’s for the puppies, so please be generous! 😆

This past weekend was blanket washing day. I have them all through the house so the puppies can snuggle where ever they want.

The blankets we have were specifically purchased for Bandit and Harley. Jasper didn’t come with a blanket, so I set out to purchase one for him. I know this might seem silly to non-doggie people considering I just told you I have blankets all over my house, but every puppy deserves his/her own blanket! Anyway, this was unbelievably difficult because they were either too large, or way too expensive.

Here’s where your help is needed. I have made 2 small quilts. One’s a wall hanging size, and one’s a lap blanket size (which I have given over to the puppies). Neither has a difficult pattern (the wall hanging is ‘around the world?’). I can sew a straight line. I can stitch in a ditch. I can tie a quilt. I have tons of fat quarters.

Keeping in mind I’m sewing for the puppies, can any of you suggest “reeeeeeally easy to follow directions” quilt patterns to me? I don’t care if they’re free or if I need to order them from somewhere.

Thankyouverymuch!