Hand Stitching in the Car

Last week, my husband and I went on a car trip through Great Smokey Mountains National Park, along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and then through Shenandoah National Park.  I took along some hand stitching to do on the trip there and back.  I bought a kit to make a Sashiko block at our last London Friendship Quilters' Guild meeting and decided this would be a good project to bring in the car--not a lot of supplies and easy to tuck into my bag. I started by outlining the block, as suggested by the pictures in the instructions (which were in Japanese, but at least I could follow the diagrams!).

I managed to get the outlining done in the car on the way down.  At Shenandoah National park, we stayed at the Skyland Resort and had a room with a fireplace.  The room description promised a lovely view of the Shenandoah Valley. Instead, we had a wonderful view of the vast whiteness of thick fog almost the entire time that we were there! 

Instead of looking out the windows, my husband and I enjoyed a fire in the fireplace--he read a book and I did some stitching.

On the way home, I did some more stitching and the pattern started to show itself.  It was a bit hard to stitch on some roads--some of the stitches are a bit uneven as a result!  This picture was taken in the sun so the colour looks a bit washed out.

This will likely be made into a small wall hanging when it is done.  I bought some fabric to use as a border after I finish the hand stitching.  I hope to steal a few moments this week to make some more progress on this project.

How I Met Bonnie Hunter

My husband and I went on vacation last week and drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway, end to end. My husband is the vacation planner in the family. He figures out the itinerary, places to stay and interesting things to do along the way, taking into account the requests and interests of the family members embarking on the trip. On this trip, I managed to add in a surprise detour of my own, without consulting him first!

 

We had plans to visit Old Salem, the historic district of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  Since I follow the Quiltville Blog, I knew that Bonnie Hunter lives in the area and that she was home the day we were going to Old Salem. The night before our visit to Old Salem, I sent off an email to Bonnie to see if I could possibly meet up with her to purchase some copies of her latest book, More Adventures with Leaders and Enders.  I told my husband what I was up to after clicking on the send button.  He thought I was nuts!  She will never answer you, he said.

 

15 minutes later, my phone vibrated as an email from Bonnie Hunter arrived in my inbox.  She offered to meet me somewhere so that I could purchase the books and have a short visit.  After a few emails back and forth, it was decided that we would meet at 11am in the parking lot at this restaurant:

 

As we waited for Bonnie to arrive, I received a text message from Cathy, a friend at home, who had noticed on Bonnie's blog that she was meeting a Canadian quilter that morning to deliver some books, asking if I was that Canadian quilter.  YUP!  It was me!

Bonnie had a busy day planned as she had lots to do to get ready for her trip to Italy later that week but she found a few minutes in her day to come and see me!  How fun!  Bonnie arrived, right on time, books in hand with a sharpie ready for signing!

We talked about our trip--driving the road through Great Smokey Mountains  National Park, along the Blue Ridge Parkway and then through Shenandoah National Park.  My husband took pictures with my phone and her phone so that we could both document our rendezvous.

When Bonnie heard that we were spending the afternoon at Old Salem, she recommended a stop at the Winkler Bakery to buy some thin cookies. If you are reading this post, Bonnie, I want you to know we bought the Old Salem Snack Pack with samples of 4 different types of thin cookies (sugar, chocolate, walnut and ginger snaps) as well as two types of cheese stars (plain and spicy). 

 

 

So far, we have tried the cheese stars and the walnut cookies--delicious!

 

 

I asked if Bonnie could recommend a quilt store in the area that we could visit after seeing Old Salem.  She told us about "Sew Original".  We added this stop to our itinerary for the later in the day.

I had to get a picture of Bonnie with her van and her vanity plate "Qultvlle" and the sticker on her window "got quilting?" before she had to race off to an appointment.  We had a wonderful visit!  Thanks for making time to see us when we were in Winston-Salem, Bonnie!

By the way, the quilt store was well stocked and I did a good bit of stash enhancing there which I will show in a future post.  The resident "guard dog" Shelby, greeted us at the door.

 

 

(Shelby is very famous--she has been on the Quiltville blog before when her owner and Bonnie got together for a sewing day!)

Bonnie posted a picture of the two of us on Facebook and her blog. Here is the link to Bonnie's blogpost.

Polka Dot Charity Block

The Elgin Piecemakers block for one month later this year is supposed to be made from polka dots.  Here is my sunflower block. I can't wait to see what the other members of the guild are going to do with their dotty blocks.  I like making these blocks for the charity quilts each month.  It is a fun way to try something new and play with my fabric. I also like to get them done ahead of time.  I only have one more to do for 2015--navy and lime green.

I am hoping for some hand quilting time tonight but there is lots to do around here before that can happen. Happy Stitching to you!

Curly Hand Quilting

Earlier this week, I made this sheep block, found some backing and batting and basted it in preparation for hand quilting it.

I outlined the face and then started quilting some swirls or curls in the body. I am not drawing any lines on --I am just doing them freehand.

Some are looser and some are tighter...  just like a real sheep.

I am about half done the curls and already have an idea for the background of this little wall hanging.  It will be a birthday gift for my MIL.  Her birthday is in May so I should have lots of time to get it done on time.

I did some garden clean up earlier today for about an hour.  My daffodils are in bloom!

 

A couple of close ups...

 

 

 

My tiny daffodils are out too.

 

 

 

Here is an overdue stash report:

 

Fabric used since my last stash report: 5.5 yards
Total fabric used this year: 18.3 yards
Fabric added to the stash since my last report: NONE!
Total fabric added this year: 16.25 yards
Net fabric used this year:  2.05 yards


 



And Another Hand-quilting Project...

I hand stitched this wool applique project about a month ago and it has been "aging" appropriately for the last month until I had time to add borders and prep it for hand quilting.  Yesterday was the day for this task.  I have a 13 by 20 pillow form that this will go on after it is quilted and the back is added.  The pillow will likely live on our bed. My husband loves squirrels!

Another springtime picture taken in my yard:

I am so glad Spring is finally here!

A New Hand-quilting Project

Christine bought a new book online. When we went out for lunch on Saturday, we spent much of our time drooling over the patterns, dreaming of the quilts we will make.  The book is "Farm Girl Vintage" and is filled with patterns inspired by life on a farm.  I picked one block to try first...

Here is the fabric I chose:

 All from my stash--it is all about stash reduction!

My husband thought this was a chicken...

Sorry--I could not get this picture to turn--just tilt your head to the right....   I embroidered eyes...

and legs...

and added some borders and cornerstones...

I think it is a fine looking sheep, perfect for some Spring hand quilting.

It is all pin basted and ready to go. I may try to get in some stitching time tonight.

This will be a birthday gift for my MIL.  She does not read my blog. If you know her, please do not spill the beans.  My MIL loves sheep! (and my quilts!)

I took this picture in my backyard yesterday.  My daughter brought this tree home from a field trip to a tree farm in grade one or two.  It was a bare-root seedling, about a foot tall when she got it.  It is now over 20 feet tall and growing happily in our backyard.

The Cat in the Hat

When I was little, my parents signed me up with a book club that sent me a Dr. Seuss book every month. One of my favourites was "The Cat in the Hat".  My parents and then my brother and I read those books over and over and over again. When I had my own baby, my parents gave me all of my old Dr. Seuss books to read to her. Some of them are looking a little worse for wear after being read so often! I still have these books at my house and will pass them on to the next generation, when that time comes. 

A few years ago, I was in a quilt store that had some Cat in the Hat fabric which I could not resist.  It came home and has been "aging" in my stash until suitable inspiration hit.  Last Saturday afternoon, I took out my fabrics and some solids and started to cut and sew. I did not use a pattern--I just made it up myself.

I was in the zone and did not take any pictures until the top was finished and I started to do the pin basting in preparation for quilting!

I'm glad that I don't have any fish in my teacups!

I decided to do an organic cross hatch design for the quilting using red thread.

I found some bright yellow fabric for the binding.

And sock monkeys for the backing. 

 

 

I did not buy one bit of fabric to make this quilt!

 

 

 

I did the hand sewing on the binding tonight.

 

 

 

One baby quilt, all ready to gift.  I don't have a baby in mind for this one.  It is a baby quilt in waiting. I have always wanted to have a couple of baby quilts ready just in case.  Hmmm...I think I might have a bit more fabric around here...maybe I could make another baby quilt in waiting...