Embroidery, Binding and What's on my Design Wall

For my slow stitching this week, I spent some time working on my embroidered quilt label for my Lupine quilt.  I removed the blue pen marks from the parts that I have done already.  I had to do some unstitching when I used only two strands of floss instead of three when I started stitching the black letters this week.  Oops!  I must say it is harder to unstitch embroidery than machine stitching!

I added the binding to another comfort quilt this week and started hand stitching it on the back.  This is a biggish square quilt so I anticipate another day or two of stitching to get it done.  The top was made by my friend Maureen and it will be donated to the Women's Shelter. I will show a picture of the top when I have the binding done. The spool holder was made by my friend Carol's Dad.  A tree branch fell down in his yard and he made lots of these which Carol gave to all her quilting friends. There is a magnet under my metal needle minder. The backing was donated by another Elgin Piecemakers Guild member who was purging it from her stash.  Julie from the Elgin Piecemakers did the quilting. 

Today was our Guild Sewing Day for the Oxford Guild.  The Vice President's challenge was the project...I used my Shweshwe fat quarters and newly acquired background fabric for my quilt top. I made lots of HST's this week to prepare for today.  Here are samples of my HST's. 

We were to make some irregular rail fence blocks as well to incorporate into our quilts.  I made a dozen and put everything on my design wall today.   I am going to tweak where things are over the next few days until I am happy with it. I am not sure I want the rail fence blocks in there.  I will consider some other  ideas before I sew the blocks together.  If you want to weigh in with your opinions, please feel free to do so in the comments!

I will continue to sew my binding and work on my embroidery tomorrow for my Slow Sunday Stitching tomorrow.  I will link with Kathy's blog in the morning. 

I made some raspberry scones this week.  Here is a link to the recipe.  I froze some raspberries and blueberries last summer--my husband is not a big blueberry fan so I substituted raspberries for blueberries.  Just make sure the berries are thawed before you add them to your mixing bowl.  I have made these with blueberries as well---I think they are delicious both ways!

Finn continues to keep us all entertained.  Note that he has a treat on each foot in this picture and has to wait until I say ok (on FaceTime) to eat them. 

Have a good week!

Quilt top and backing, Quilt blocks and Slow Stitching

 I finished off the zigzag quilt top and pieced the backing from leftover fabric from the front of the quilt. Nice to use up some fabrics from the stash that have been there a while.  I still have some HST's left and may make a few more placemats for Meals on Wheels with them. 

I hope to get this one quilted this week--my sewing machine is back from repair and this will be a good test for it! The quilt top is 56" square. 

Two more blocks were put together for my Rainbow Scrap quilt... dark green and orange. I just need one more block to finish the quilt. I decided I couldn't wait any longer to get the rest of the blocks made.  I will have to start a new RSC quilt next month. 

Here are my 12 blocks on the design wall.  I am going to make a gray block next and then put it together. 

You will have to wait to see the layout. 

I knitted a couple more rows on my white cable knitting project.  I hope to have more done to show a picture of it next week.  I have to find my cable needle to do the next row--it's here somewhere!

My daughter's Dubrovnik cityscape is progressing.  

The Black Eyed Susans are in bloom in our garden!

We had Blueberry Kuchen for dessert tonight.  I love blueberries!

Finn likes to hang out on this chair while my daughter works at her desk.  He can keep a close eye on her from here!

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