Slow Stitching Sunday - Loving Hands

I have been noticing my hands this week, because in this cold climate at this time of year, my skin is so dry and my nails have mostly broken off from snow shoveling and ice scraping...they are a mess! The snow continues to fall and it is bitterly cold. This is how deep the snow was yesterday...  we just shoveled a little path through. It was up to my daughter's knees! 
Even though I torture my hands, they keep on sewing for me and I know I should take better care of them. Hand stitchers know that we can't do anything without our hands. They are instruments of our creativity, to work with our tools, fabric, threads, and beads, and turn them into something we love.
This past fall I participated with some of my friends in a course by Brene Brown called "The Gifts of Imperfection".

It was a terrific course and I really enjoyed the learning and creativity. One of the exercises was to write on your hand "I am enough" or another meaningful positive statement. I love this picture of the hands of my friends, and the memories it brings to mind. 
As you are using your hands this week, remember to appreciate them and all that they do for you! And take good care of your hands, so you can keep on stitching!

Today I am finishing up the binding on a pair of oven mitts that I started as a Christmas gift a year or two ago. They were really a pain to make and I was struggling to finish them, and just gave up. I found them again in my clean up efforts this week, and today I plan to finally finish them.
What are your hands making today? Link up your hand stitching blog post below and if you want to, share how you take care of your hands so they are in tip top shape for stitching. 

Scrappy Saturday Blues

Snow and wind caused the cancellation of my winter retreat with my friend last night. It was perfect quilting weather, but when the highways are closed, you are stuck at home. So I had to quilt by myself. Boo :(
I will console myself with all the progress I made with my scrap challenge block production. 

Here are the newest Omigosh blocks made from 1" strips and squares - the smallest bits from the scrap bin. I don't know why I made an orange block! But I did, so there it is in the middle of all the blue blocks. Maybe I just needed to see some sunshine in amongst all that blueness?

I cut any scraps that are 1.5" or a bit bigger into 3" spool block components. Here are my latest spool blocks. I am sewing them into groupings of 4 which makes a 6.5" block.








All the batik scraps go into a different container, and the smallest ones get cut into pieces for my 2.25" Alamo Star blocks. Here are the 6 blue stars I made this month, sewing them as my leader/ender project.

I have had some fun with the block patterns that Angela has been posting. This week I added 2 versions of the block called "54 40 or flight". It is the same pattern as one of the blocks in the Celtic Mystery, so of course I was challenged to try it in half the size. 
Hop over to SoScrappy and enjoy all the scrap postings!

T.G.I.F.

I am making some progress on my Celtic Solstice mystery quilt from Quiltville. These are the 25 Block B's. Yum!

I am getting this project all organized to put the top together when my friend Louise comes to visit this weekend. Louise is a dear friend that I met in 1990 and she was the very first quilter I ever met! She convinced me that I too could be a quilter, she encouraged me to buy a sewing machine, and my life has not been the same ever since. I blame her!

For almost 25 years we have tried to get together at least once or twice a year and this weekend is our annual winter visit. We are going to sew and talk and eat and sew some more for as long as she can stay... can't wait!




Tonight is the first official FNSI for 2014... did you sign up? It's not too late - click here. I will likely be sewing border blocks for Celtic Solstice.

Sewing in the Sun

The sun made a brief appearance today, so I just had to sit in it's rays and sew for a bit. I didn't seem to accomplish much sewing but it sure felt good to soak up a little vitamin D. 











I enjoyed stitching time with my featherweight.
It was around minus 18 degrees outside this afternoon, so it's best to stay indoors and sew!

Mid-Week Clean Up

I have been cleaning in the quilt studio. Don't be alarmed! It seems that there is an optimum range for having fabric out where I can see it... too much is overwhelming, but too little seems to hamper the creativity! 
Mostly I am trying to clear surfaces of fabrics from projects that I worked on last year. Every piece needs to be either with the project it belongs to, or it needs to be in the closet, or in a scrap bin... but not on the cutting table! 

It has been very helpful to get a grip on organizing ongoing projects. I am clearing away all the fabrics I don't need to have out right now.  As I am clearing, I have been cutting as many scraps as I encounter into useable pieces. Some of these pieces are blue scraps to make into blocks that Angela has posted.

And some are for more spool blocks, which are my favorites! Here I have a pile of civil war scraps, a pile of random colours, and a pile of blues that I hope to finish up before the end of January.
It feels good to be getting the quilt studio more organized, but the desire to start a new project is getting stronger. I am staying focused so I can finish up a couple of quilts. And I want to have a project ready to machine quilt as soon as I get my sewing machine back from the shop.

Design Wall Monday - Civil War

My finished Civil War quilt top is on the design wall today!
I started this quilt in January 2011 (a project on Barbara Brackman's blog) and the quilt top is sewn together in January 2014... only 3 years in the production stage!
 
I managed to get the striped border going the way I had envisioned and that involved a lot of figuring and stripe matching. But I love how it turned out and I think it looks very Civil War'ish, so the struggle was worth it!  I love the border stripe (purchased at Quilter's Nine Patch) which is a print from Barbara Brackman's fabric line called "Homefront". You can read her post about Civil War striped fabric here.


I also have the backing sewn together from reproduction fabrics that I have collected in my quilt shop travels over the last 3 years. It's a mish mash of interesting things related to the Civil War, plus 4 leftover blocks that didn't make the cut for the front of the quilt. 
Soooo exciting to get this project to this stage. Next step is machine quilting, and you will never guess who has agreed to quilt this for me?!? Stay tuned to this blog station for the big reveal when the quilt is finished!
Finishing this quilt top was my January project for A Lovely Year of Finishes, and I'm so happy to finally accomplish this.

Slow Sunday Stitching - Hand Stitching Patterns

Don't you love free stitching patterns? 
Many people I know (who shall remain nameless!) are more of a stitching enthusiast and pattern collector, than a stitcher. They admire the projects and talk about making it someday, buy or print off the patterns, and maybe even gather the supplies....but then don't progress any further. 

If that makes you happy, then carry on, and enjoy the process of collecting ideas and patterns. 

However, if you really want to see those beautiful stitcheries in your house, on the walls, and in your quilts, and if you want to enjoy the health benefits of slow stitching, why not make a goal to spend a little time with your needle and thread each day (or even to do some hand stitching each Sunday) and link up your post to Slow Sunday Stitching. You will be surprised at how the accountability is helpful in improving your motivation.
Whether you are "collecting" or stitching along with us today, here are some project ideas I have come across:

* click here for a fun beehive pattern from Red Brolly, with great instructions on making a bullion knot. 

* here is another great little project from Nana Company that I really want to stitch.
* feeling the love? Want to make a heart quilt? Check out Quilt Inspiration for a ton of free patterns.
* here is another great resource for hand embroidery patterns and project tutorials.

Today I will be adding some hand quilting stitches to my Journey quilt. There is a bouquet of flowers in each corner of this quilt, and this is my last bouquet block to quilt. I am very close to finishing the quilting on the 8th block and can then move on to the last block!
Link up your hand stitching project below and share with us what you are working on today!

Blue Scrappy Saturday

If you missed my post this week about the amazing rainbow quilt I received, hop over here and see a great idea for our rainbow challenge!
I made a big mess of the blue scraps in my sewing room this week, and have sorted out a few blocks and projects to finish up.
First up is a blue Palm Branch paper pieced block.  I demoed paper piecing at my guild meeting this week and used this block as the sample. The original block is called "Red Herring" and the pattern is from Kristy at Quiet Play (lots of free patterns on her blog including a great new free paper pieced design called Sew Kitschy).

Here are all my Palm Branch blocks together. I have no idea how I'll set these together or how big this project will get, but it's still fun, so I will keep on making more blocks! 
To see more paper piecing projects, hop over to the Quiet Play linkup.

I also pieced a little mat from some old QST blocks that were kicking around here. I don't remember where these blocks originally came from, but they were perfect to play with. I formed pinwheel blocks with the different prints and it was like doing a jigsaw puzzle.

The backing is also made from blue scraps which were leftover blocks from a quilt I made for my Grandma in 1995 (click here to see her quilt). Can you believe these old blocks were still laying around?!?  Finally they are part of a little quilt! 

I learned that my "Blue White" sewing machine does not love machine quilting. The foot pedal gets quite hot, and it doesn't have the proper feet for quilting. 
There are several skipped stitches and big "toe catchers" but we managed to work together to get it finished. 
Finished is better than perfect! 

Now I have a great little mat to put under my "Blue White" machine so it doesn't scratch any tables it might be sitting on.
To see more blue scrappy projects being sewn, hop over to SoScrappy.

Dealing with quilty temptation

I have been feeling overwhelmed lately by online quilting things. I can hardly believe I'm saying that, but I have found over the last year that the number of blogs has increased exponentially, as have the quilt-alongs, and link ups, the amazing tutorials, and other fun online events.  Did you ever hear someone complain about having too much fun?!?

From Juxtapost

Maybe I need to take some time to refocus and reflect on what makes me happiest, and what reflects my authentic self. Spreading myself too thin for sure does not make me happy at all. And the more time spent on the computer, the less sewing time there is. There are many things I would love to do if time was infinite. But it isn't. Time is a finite resource and I want to make the best decisions possible to maximize my use of time.

I am definitely going to do Barbara Brackman's new block of the month called Threads of Memory which starts later this month, but I am really going to try not to do any more quilt-alongs for a while. Famous last words?? They are great fun and I always make a wonderful quilt, but then I don't get the projects done that I really want finished.


Do you have any advice on how to handle this online temptation? Amy made me laugh with her attempts to resist with this post. How do you decide which quilt-alongs to do, which blogs to read, and how much time to spend on the computer? 

Mid Month UFO Report

Since my main sewing machine is in the repair shop, I have been giving my back up vintage machines a work out. I have been working away on my Civil War quilt and have re-stitched the mistakes I made at Friday Night Sew In. 
My "Blue White" machine is enjoying the chance to shine and is very happy to be living with a quilter who gives her fun things to sew (yes, she told me that!)
The blocks are now all sewn together with the neutral scrappy sashing and blue or brown cornerstones. 

I am very happy with how it is turning out! My layout used 6 blocks across and 7 blocks down with 42 blocks total. I have a couple of "reject" blocks left over that I will be sewing into the quilt's backing. My next step is to attach the borders.

Barbara Brackman has published a book called Civil War Sampler about this project if you would like to sew one yourself. She also has a new free Block of the Month starting January 25th on her blog. The new quilt is called Threads of Memory and will be based on the theme of the Underground Railway. I will be ready!! Are you joining in?

A Wonderful Quilted Surprise

You know when you're trudging along in life and everything seems hard? When you have to bundle up, putting on your boots, coat, gloves, scarf, hat just to be able to walk outside in minus 30 degree weather and scrape the snow and ice off your car, and risk your life driving on icy roads to get to your on call job in the middle of the night? And you're tired, and sick of winter, and the flu and cold viruses that everyone has, and life in general seems like such a struggle? ME TOO!

Last week on the very sad day that my dog Molly died, I came home to find a big package on my doorstep. In the box was this beautiful quilt!
It had come to me from Laurie in Ottawa, someone I don't even know! Laurie told me the quilt was a gift from "Quiltville Hearts" who are also members of Quiltville Chat.  She said they heard I was going through a rough spell last year with the death of my brother, and nominated me to be a recipient of one of their "hug quilts". 


OMG! 
I was "snottin and bawlin" (translation... weeping) about that! How can people I have never even met, do something so kind and generous for me?!?
Some of the hearts are signed and some are not. Some of the names I recognize from Quiltville and blogland visiting.

Of course I had to go outside and take some photos of this amazing colourful quilt in the snow. 

Don't you love everything about this quilt? The rainbow colour progression of the hearts, the awesome striped border fabric, the scrappy binding, and the pretty machine quilted flowers in the borders are some of my favorite things about this quilt.





And just look at this fancy label! 
So beautiful!
In her email, Laurie said "May it provide some of the comfort you need, knowing other quilty-sisters are thinking of you".
Well Laurie, it sure does! This is an incredible quilted hug and I do snuggle up in it, and remind myself of all the wonderful quilters who are out there in this big world, doing such loving and generous things for other people that they have never even met. You have no idea the depth of comfort this brings to me. I send my heartfelt thanks to everyone who had a part in creating this gift of love for me! 

Design Wall Monday - Celtic Solstice A blocks

Here are the Celtic Solstice blocks that are finished so far. These are 20 of the needed 24 A blocks...

I think they make a striking pattern on their own. 
I see that at least one block has issues with incorrect creative layout! Is there more than 1 block to be repaired? I tried so hard to sew them correctly but there's one in every crowd!
I have 4 more blocks to sew and then I can get going on the B blocks.
To see more design wall blog postings, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Slow Sunday Stitching - Binding Update

Are you curious about how many inches of binding you sew each year? In 2013 I kept track of my completed binding totals just for fun. July's report indicated that I sewed 2,261" of binding in the first half of the year. 
Then I slacked off a bit :)

The second half of the year binding finishes are: 
*July UFO - 280"
*Hexie Hop - 39"
*October Pumpkin Seeds - 74" 
*My Peace - 104"
*November UFO 3 Sisters Grace - 228"
*The Accidental Quilt - 159"

Total for the second half of the year is 884".
So for 2013 my binding grand total is: 3,145"!


It's a good feeling to think about that accomplishment, so I think I will keep track of my binding totals again this year.
Plans for today include more hand quilting on my Journey of a Quilter... slow and enjoyable, just the way we like to stitch here at Slow Sunday Stitching!

What are you stitching by hand today? Link up your blog post below and share your progress, and your enjoyment with us!

Scrappy Saturday - Blue

Today is Scrappy Rainbow Challenge Saturday link up over at SoScrappy. We are working on our blue scraps this month and turning them into useable quilt blocks.
I finished up a few blue spool blocks as leader/enders while working on my Celtic Solstice Mystery this week. I like the variety of blues and background scraps in this collection of spools.

While my regular sewing machine is at the repair shop, I have been sewing some blocks on my Blue White and had to watch the video again to remember how to thread it properly. It is working well, and it is fun to sew blue blocks on a blue machine!

Just when I was making great progress, the bobbin ran out.
So then I had to watch the video again to see how to wind the bobbin.
I hope to sew more blue blocks this week now that everything is working well on this machine.
To see more blue scrap projects being sewn, hop over to SoScrappy.

Broken Essentials

Do you ever have a day when everything goes wrong?
Car tires having problems.
Refrigerator leaking water on the floor.
Sewing machine broken.
Say what?!?!
You can live without a car or a fridge, but not without a sewing machine!
The little hole where the foot pedal plugs into the machine was wiggly and wouldn't make the electrical connection anymore. Mechanic says it's a broken part which was worn out and cracked (me too!) and he has ordered a replacement part, but who knows when it will come in.  Yikes! A person could go into withdrawal without their sewing machine.

Luckily for me, I now have a few "back up" machines, so I can still sew. I set up an impromptu sewing center on the dining room table and have been sewing up my Celtic Solstice mystery blocks with my Sweet Baby Jayne Featherweight. Thankfully she is working perfectly and I am enjoying finishing up these blocks.
Tomorrow I will look into those other non-essential broken things!

Christmas Wrap - Up

Life has been so busy, I have not written much about my Christmas. I wanted to document my favorite gifts before I forget :)
I received this wonderful little zip up bag made from measuring tapes!  I put the spools on to give you a sense of the size of the bag.  Haven't decided what I will use if for yet, but for now, I'm just admiring it! So cute!





I love this photo of the David's Tea Advent Calendar that my daughter bought for me. It was so much fun! Every day in December you open a little window and inside is a tiny tin of David's tea - a different kind each day. Few things are better than a cup of hot tea on a cold winter day, and it has been 
...C O L D!!
On the left is the fruit salad I made on Christmas day, and on the right is the orange cranberry bread my niece made.



Another favorite gift is this wonderful glass top table with a treadle iron base (with the Grinch tree on the top!)
My daughter and her boyfriend restored the previously rusty irons, painted them and made it into a table for me!






After the restoration process, the irons still work just fine so if I ever found a cabinet and machine to go on top, it could be a functional treadle. For now, it is a lovely table that makes me smile when I walk by :)
I just love this age old logo on the side of the machine. The work they did on it looks amazing.
 


Look how they hand painted SINGER in gold letters and made it look so professional!
Such wonderful gifts!



We also had a fun visit to Michigan and saw the sparkly buildings in Rochester. The lights were very pretty, but it was too cold for the dogs! (and me!)

Miss Molly

We had to say goodbye to our dog Molly today. 



She had been struggling since the summer and her health declined rapidly over the Christmas holidays. We finally made the decision, and summoned up the courage to let her go.




Molly was a wonderful playmate and confidante for the kids when they were growing up. She heard all the secrets of growing children, and gave them lots of attention and affection. She was part of every family milestone, heartbreak, celebration, and vacation for more than 14 years. 
We often called her "Miss Molly" because she could be quite a princess. She hated getting dirty, or getting wet, and despised camping. She sure gave us lots of funny memories over the years.




But mostly Molly was a loving and faithful companion for me. Whatever I was doing and wherever I was in the house, Molly was within 3 feet of me at all times.

Molly really was a quilty dog, and a great quilt model. She loved quilts almost as much as I do, and could often be found snuggled up in a quilt somewhere in the house.
We were so blessed to have her as part of our family.

She leaves a hole in our lives that cannot be mended.