Showing posts with label wool applique. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wool applique. Show all posts

Saturday, January 7, 2023

Slow Sunday Stitching 2023

 I have been missing in action the last couple of Sundays for my weekly blogpost.  Our Christmas took some unexpected turns this year ---as the saying goes, life happens when you are making other plans.  Our daughter's dog, Finn, had surgery on Dec 19th to remove a broken tooth. After the surgery, he went into kidney failure and was in the animal hospital for 10 days in intensive care to receive treatments to improve his kidney function.  Thankfully, his kidneys are now working normally again and he is home and feeling much better.  The vets at the hospital called his recovery a miracle as his prognosis was initially very poor.  We are all very happy that he is now home with our daughter and is mostly his usually perky self. We spent the holidays at our daughter's place and are thankful that we could be together to support each other through the stress of Finn's illness.  Finn is our daughter's faithful sidekick and COVID lockdown buddy and we all love him.  This picture was taken a couple of days after he got out of the animal hospital. 


Now, it is time to show off my secret sewing projects!  I made several counted cross stitch ornaments on wooden spools.  This one was for a friend who is a minister.  The pattern was in a book published in 1991 that I have in my collection.  



The next one was given to a friend who likes snowmen.  I didn't realize when I started this one that this Aida cloth is not 14 count--it turned out to be very small and a challenge to stitch.  It is on a very small spool. 




These next few were made using spools from my husband's grandmothers' sewing boxes.  The price on the spools was 29 cents!  We certainly pay more for thread now!  I gave these ornaments to my daughter, my nieces and my sister-in-law. There was also a snowflake ornament which I do not have a picture of. 







I finished my Mother-in-Law's wool appliqué sheep.  She has always been very fond of sheep!



I cut out the pieces for a blue and white block for the Elgin Piecemakers January comfort quilt the other day and will get them sewn together this week. My sewing room needs a major clean up before I can back to doing some sewing. 


I made my husband and my daughter small pouches for their headphones or their charging cables.  I made a lot of these as gifts this year for other family members and friends. Here is a link to the pattern


I brought some knitting with me to my daughter's and worked on a dishcloth.  It is not quite done yet. I hope I have enough yarn to finish it!


I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers in the morning.  

Saturday, December 17, 2022

Slow Stitching

 I have been furiously sewing this week to finish off some Christmas gifts in time for the big day.  Just a little bit more to do! My cousin and her husband came for lunch on Friday.  We do not get to see each other very often but often talk on the phone about our mutual genealogy project--shaking the family tree on our mothers' side of the family to see what we can find out.  The majority of our family members are Scottish with some Irish as well.  I made my cousin a wide open zippered pouch with some fabric I bought in Scotland at a small quilt store in Inverness in 2019.  I picked up a few Scottish themed fat quarters in that shop. 



I am making my MIL a wool sheep ornament.  I bought this kit at a quilt show in October and finally got around to cutting it out this week.  I fused the pieces to a black base and got to work on the stitching. 



You can't tell, but I have most of the head and ears stitched down. I have to add eyes (French knots) and a mouth as well as blanket stitching the snow at the top of the wreath.  There are a few small buttons to add as well.  This will be my slow stitching project for tomorrow.  If you know my MIL, please keep her gift a secret!  I worked on some other gifts too, but this is all I can share for now.  I have a bit more stitching to do on the other gifts as well. 


Finn and my daughter got a lot of snow over the last few days.  Of course, he loves to stick his face into the snow!

My grandmother died in 1985.  I remember her always having a knitting or other project on the go.  She made us mittens when I was growing up.  I still have a few pairs that she made!  One year, she made herself and her four daughters (including my mother) each a NOEL decoration.  When my mother died, I received her NOEL which I hang up every year in memory of my grandmother. Each letter is stitched on plastic canvas. 


I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers in the morning.  Next week, I should be able to share the other gifts I have been making.  Have a great week. 

Thursday, November 3, 2022

Secret Sewing Season and a Retreat

 I have been working on some secret Christmas sewing all week.  It is a hand stitching project and I just love how it is turning out!  Unfortunately, I can't show any pictures until after December 25th. 

This weekend, Christine and I are going on a retreat with the Oxford Quilter's Guild.  I spent a couple of hours Wednesday evening gathering projects to take with me.  I like to bring a variety of things with me so I have a choice. Of course, I have a couple of projects to work on by hand, including this cute sheep ornament.  I bought this little kit at a quilt show a couple of weeks ago. (my only purchase!)


In the picture below, you can see my projects.  Upper left--a comfort quilt--someone gave me the top and the backing.  I am supplying the batting and quilting and binding the quilt.  The purple pile is a wedding gift that is not done yet.  They were married in June.  I hope to get the top and the back finished this weekend so I can quilt it next week.  My rug hooked sheep just needs the edging done...I'm hoping that there is a rug hooker on the retreat that can remind me how to finish the edge.  The bag of fabric on the lower right is full of the supplies I need to make some Christmas gifts.  I also have a box of Christmas fabrics and a couple of table toppers to quilt for the church bazaar.   Believe it or not, last year, I ran out of projects to work on!  I don't think there is any danger of that this year!


A friend and I go for a walk every morning.  Thursday morning, it was a bit foggy and the water was very calm...a great combination for some pictures. 







Finn likes to nap in a sunbeam and watch our daughter work. 


I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers on Sunday morning. 

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

The First Finish of 2019

Technically, this finish should have been done in 2018...but it took a little longer than I thought it would to complete this project.  I also did not have a pattern, just an idea in my head that I wanted to try, which lengthened the amount to time I spent working on it.


My friend, Cathy, and her husband are avid campers so I decided to make a camper themed sewing machine cover for her for Christmas.  I finished off the last of the hand stitching today and wrapped it up for delivery this evening...at least she received it before the holidays were over!

I had seen a sewing machine cover that someone made on a blog--then entire sewing machine cover was a camper which gave me the idea for Cathy's gift.  I started by piecing a rectangular camper and then free hand cut it to the shape of a vintage camper. The camper was appliquéd by machine with a satin stitch in light green. (I used a stabilizer underneath to keep the stitching from bunching up the fabrics) The wheel is a black circle of wool with a grey wool circle blanket stitched on top of it.  The wheel was added at the very end as it partly overlaps the binding at the bottom of the cover.


The above picture shows the back --I added a licence plate from one of the shops on the July Shop Hop from a couple of years ago and signed it as my label when I was done.   The binding on the edges has not been added yet in this picture.


I quilted the cover with straight lines before assembling it into a 3D object using my walking foot and a light green thread. The backing fabric is some sewing fabric that was in my stash.  I took this picture today when I was hand sewing the binding along the bottom edge.


I also used binding to cover the seams so that there are no raw edges visible on the cover.


If I decide to make another sewing machine cover, I don't think it would take quite as long as this one did.  There was a bit of trial and error in the assembly and some unsewing during the process.  In the end, I'm pleased with how it turned out and Cathy likes it!  I spent over an hour tonight cleaning up my sewing room and putting projects into bags and bins to keep things organized.  I have a few projects with deadlines coming up so those will be my first priority as soon as I can find my sewing table again...  It always looks worse before it looks better.


Sunday, October 7, 2018

Time to get it Done...

Sometimes, when you are tidying up, you find things, unfinished things...  This wool appliqué project has been in hiding for at least a couple of years, but it has seen the light of day now and will not be going away again! It needs to be finished and out on display THIS Fall. The wool appliqué is done.  I have hand quilted around everything.  I just need to quilt the background and have decided just to do a crosshatch design there.  It should not take too long and I hope to get at it this weekend sometime.  


My daughter and Finn arrived last night for a few days.  I worked on FLW while I was waiting for them... It is hard to show you progress on this project as I am just working on the silver outlining.  I love the way the outlining makes the details pop out of a cross stitch picture.


Finn has gotten a lot bigger over the last few weeks since we last saw him.  He has all of his adult teeth now and is heavier when we pick him up. 


I am hosting the family Thanksgiving dinner today.  I cooked the turkey and stuffing yesterday and made a cauliflower/broccoli casserole.  Today, we will make salad, roasted brussel  sprouts and Panko encrusted delicata squash rings (that's a new recipe---hopefully everyone will like it!).  My SIL is bringing potatoes, apple pie and cider.  Finn will be very excited to see his extended family members!  

I did some decorating this week--added a few pumpkins here and there inside and out.  Last night, as we left the house, I noticed a grasshopper resting on one of the outside pumpkins...


He/she had his eyes on me!

I will be linking up with Kathy and the other Slow Stitchers today.  If you want to see my completed Foothills Quilt top, you can see it here. Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian readers!  I am thankful for my family, friends and hobbies which I enjoy.

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Lots of Snowmen in the Gazebo


Pat came over this afternoon for a couple of hours of slow stitching in the gazebo.  We sipped iced tea and chatted as we stitched.  I worked on my cross stitch snowman...he now sports eyes, a carrot nose, a second arm and a completed hat as well as more white fill in stitches. The face adds a little more personality!

Last week, he looked like this...


He seemed to like chilling in the gazebo this afternoon...


This picture is coming along nicely.  I managed to sit and work on it three times this week.  I was ready for work early a couple of mornings and spent 30 minutes each day stitching before I left.


Pat is working on a Christmas gift for her sister.  She is blanket stitching around each shape.  All she has left to do is to add the button eyes.  She is thinking of hand quilting this little wall hanging. It should be done in plenty of time for Christmas.


My peonies were in bloom this week. They came from my husband's grandmother's garden and have a small tinge of pink.


In the front yard, the alliums are in their glory....




I would love to plant some of these in the back yard too...

I will be linking up to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching linky tomorrow morning.

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Sheep wall hanging done!

Tonight was our guild meeting so I worked hard earlier this week to finish the sheep wall hanging so I would have it done for show and tell.  The kit came with six tiny buttons for the eyes.  I managed to keep them in a safe spot and remember where that spot was while I was sewing...



I had to use a very fine needle to sew them on!


I machine quilted this project as I am running out of time to get my Christmas projects done.  


I think my MIL will love it!  It has a label already and I will add a couple of plastic loops at the top corners on the back to hang it up.  

Now, on to the next gift...




Saturday, November 26, 2016

Wooly Sheep

I took an all day train trip this past week to visit my daughter.  I spent some time earlier in the week prepping my sheep wall hanging, hand basting all the pieces to the background so they would not get lost on the train.  The heads and ears will be added after I get the stitching done on the bodies. 


I chose embroidery thread colours to use for the blanket stitch around each shape.


I put everything I needed for this project into a zippered pouch that I won years ago on another bloggers give-away.


The glasses are very important!

The black thread is for some minor repairs on a pair of my daughter's pants (the hem is coming down.) and to sew some buttons back onto her good coat.  In our family, the sewing gene seems to skip a generation.  My grandmother was a tailor and my step grandmother was a quilter.  I pushed my mother to take sewing classes so she would buy a sewing machine that I could use.  My daughter is not at all interested in sewing but she does like the quilts I make for her.  :-)



All ready to sew on the train. 


There will be more sewing on the way home.  The ticket person on the train told me that they always have a few sewers and knitters on the train.  Too bad we did not get to all sit together!  

I am linking up with Kathy.