Sea of Red, White and Blue Quilt

Finally found a block of time to finish up the Oakhaven Designs "Sea of Red, White, and Blue" sampler into a mini-quilt for AAQI. I picked up the blue and white fabric in a clearance bin of fat quarters at the fabric store. I almost left empty-handed before I noticed it and thought it was exactly what I wanted.





Also finished up Carol's iStitch SAL. The last part had personalization and I didn't want to add any monogram or date since I'm not sure how I will use this piece. So I found a little squirrel design to substitute in the lower right. It's a slight modification of the one in A Mon Ami Pierre's Six Mains sampler. And there was supposed to be a date in the block below the scissors, but I changed that motif a little to fill in the empty space. This was a fun SAL and a ton of work for Carol. I hope she knows we all appreciated her efforts and generosity.

Brush with celebrity

Just a quick post today. Part of my Saturday morning ritual is to do the 'Second Glance' puzzle in the Washington Post magazine. If you don't know that puzzle, it consists of a photo and an altered copy of the same photo. You have to spot all the differences between the two. They get the photos to use from reader submissions.
My friends who collect refrigerator magnets submitted a photo that appears in this week's puzzle. If that wasn't surprising enough for me, one of my x-stitch refrigerator magnets is in the photo!

Click for Puzzle Photo

My magnet is the 'READ' one in the upper right corner. I made that years ago when their son (who took the picture) was just learning to read. He's a Jr. in high school now.

Cool, huh?

Crochet Pincushion plus....

I love to make thread crochet motifs, but I really find it hard to find a way to use them. I only like to make one of any design...not into crocheted doilies, tablecloths and such. I was browsing for something else entirely when I found these gorgeous pincushions at this Etsy seller, Namolio. Not sure of the details on how she attaches the motifs, but I decided to make something on that order. I cut two felt circles, used blanket stitch to sew them together and stuffed them. Then I sewed my motif on top, just tacking at each of the eight vertices of this octagonal design. I did it in a hurry so the sewing was pretty sloppy, but as a proof of concept, I'm pleased.




I've been keeping up with the Great Escape SAL in the Stitch Specialits Yahoo group. You can see the model on the home page. Each installment uses a different embroidery stitch and some are quite tricky to do well. My stitches are not really very even and someone said my owl probably has ruffled feathers. I'll go along with that. We've had 4 installments so far and the owl is starting to look like an owl. The fabric I'm using is a light blue violet, not this harsh blue that my camera chose!





Another browsing around session brought me to a cute sampler I fell in love with. It's called 'A Sea of Red, White and Blue' by Tonia Pappan of Oakhaven designs. I've finished the stitching and hope to make it into an art quilt for AAQI. Just waiting for Tonia to grant permission. Don't you just love the little guy with the spyglass. Little does he know that giant bird is right behind him!

Halloween Altoid Tins

I started stitching little Halloween designs without knowing what I was going to do with them. When the first one turned out to be Altoid tin size, I made sure the rest were the right size too. I felt like an assembly line in a factory doing four of these at one time, but they are all done now and ready to give as little Halloween favors to members of my team at work.

The design that started it all is Boo House by Blue Ribbon Designs. This is in the 2011 JCS Halloween Ornament issue.





Next we have "Black Crow Lane" by Oak Haven Designs. You can find the chart here. I changed the wording since this will be for a colleague who works with maps and distance calculations. "As the crow flies" is a phrase we use all the time.



I thought this little "Acorn House" piece by Jeannette Douglas from the JCS Halloween Issue was cute and would be a real quickie. Didn't notice the over-one owl, cat and fence til I was part way through. Quite a task for me on 36 ct linen, but it came out quite nice, I think.



And finally, I stitched "Boo Tyme" by Homespun Elegance. This freebie is still available here. I added a little bit of color and I like the look.





For the inside, I used scrapbook paper and little felt cutouts. I'm going to put a little Halloween candy in each one.

Seasonal Pantries & SAL Updates

AAQI has provided me with a new way to use all the designs I've saved up for the 'right occasion'. I never stitch anything twice, so when I really like something, I don't like to waste the stitching when I don't know how I'll use it. Am I the only one who does this? But the AAQI mini-quilts are perfect for those designs, especially since it doesn't seem like the 'right occasions' are ever going to come! Reminds me of how reluctant I am to wear new clothes until a special occasion comes along. Sometimes, those clothes hang in the closet un-worn until they completely go out of style!

So I decided to stitch up the seasonal pantry designs that Brooke Nolan offered to members of her Yahoo group some time ago and use them for a mini-quilt. Brooke graciously gave me permission to use the designs in this way. They are so beautiful, I just didn't have the heart to stitch them without a purpose. I used four different pieces of hand-dyed 18 count Aida. The amount of shrinkage was different on each so they aren't precisely the same size. But I don't ever stitch things up precisely anyway so not a problem. I used all cotton batting in this one. It's nice.. retains its loft when I press it and also stays in place without a lot of slip-sliding while I'm sewing it.











I added two months to the San-Man Birthday Village. We now have an LNS in town. Notice how it is the tallest building in the village, just as it should be! And you can buy a tasty apple snack on your way.




I'm up to date on the Carol's SAL too. The piece is small and the photo is even smaller. Carol wants to prevent people stitching from finished images and this is the best way I guess.

Pumpkin Heads Altoid Tin

Donna from By the Bay Needleart offered the zaniest Halloween freebie ever in her latest newsletter. Who would expect this from a woman who usually designs such elegant waterfront landscapes? I was so taken with it that I had to stitch it right away. I had a perfect piece of hand-dyed aida from the good ole' days of Enchanted Fabric. Much more purple than the photos show. And as I was stitching it, I realized it would exactly fit on an Altoid tin top.

This Pumpkin Head Family is just so funny. Can't you just see the Mom thinking "Do these horizontal stripes make me look fat?". And the Dad is wondering how long they have to stay dressed up like this. The kid is saying, "Oh Dad, get with the program!".



The tin makes a perfect gift box to hold the Harry Potter beaded fob I won from Melanie. Melanie makes the cutest glass beads ever and I was so lucky to win this.




And the winner of the Blackbird Designs "Something Sweet" chart is Ms. Trillium! As soon as I get a snail mail address, I'll send it right out!

Something Sweet

Tropical storms make for rainy Saturdays indoors so I got a couple of stitchy things done yesterday.

I decided to test my new binding skills to create a little art quilt that I hope can be used by AAQI to raise money for Alzheimer's research. My friend Jane gave me the chart for "Something Sweet" by Blackbird Designs and I thought it was just the right subject. My Mom had Alzheimer's and flowers were one thing she could still appreciate right to the end. As usual, my finish is a little lop-sided, but it actually looks less so in person. I used the fast-finish triangles on the back to make an easy way to hang it.. just insert wood slats, a nail file, a straw.. whatever and hang from a nail on the wall.

I'd like to pass this chart on to someone who would like to stitch it. Just mention it in a comment if you are interested. I'll do a drawing if there are a number of stitchers interested and post the results in a week or so.


Part 2 of the iStitch SAL is now done as well. Since Carol added some letters, I thought I'd add another color to the mix. The intrigue is increasing!

Coaster with Mitered Binding

I know I wasn't made to be a quilter. Quilters have to measure precisely, cut precisely and seam precisely. I'm more of an eye-ball type of sewer. But, still, I wanted to see how difficult it would be to do a mitered binding so I could use that technique for finishing a cross-stitch wall hanging in a kind of art quilt fashion. I decided to do a practice run on a coaster. I had seen the logo for the UK Tea Guild and the graphic was easily adaptable to a quick stitchery design that was perfect for a coaster. After reading a ton of tutorials, I more or less followed this one. It didn't turn out perfect of course, but I thinks it's not too bad for a first attempt. Coasters work great for practicing.





On an impulse, I signed up to join Sew-Carol's Mystery SAL. It's an 8-parter, but very small size parts, so it will be easy to manage. I'm using 32 count bone lugana, with DMC color variations 4240, one-over-one. The first part is so small and dainty, it looks like it belongs in a doll house! I'm guessing it will turn out to be Miss Scarlett in the library with a lead pipe.

Ornament for Chelsea and Birthday Village Update

Some of you may know the story of Chelsea, a stitcher who passed away recently after a battle with a rare pulmonary disease and heart-lung transplant. Her parents own a dive shop in a suburb of New Orleans. You can read her story on the Harry's Dive Shop web site. Some of the stitchers on Vikki Clayton's message board have volunteered to make some ornaments for the family. I chose to do a door-hanger with a nautical theme as several others have. The design is from the now-defunct blog of Carmela. Carmela's blog was in French, so I left the wording in French. Seemed fitting since they are from Louisiana. The family referred to Chelsea as their little mermaid so I appliqued the crocheted mermaid and the little crocheted fish I made some time ago to the back. I used a very pale blue-green piece of 35 ct linen from a grab bag of Vikki linen. The ornament is stuffed with thread clippings.




The July installment of the SMO Birthday SAL, brought a much-needed bakery to the town. I believe there were some zoning problems, since the town regulations limit the height of gingerbread men on signage to be somewhat shorter than the average person in the town. But rumor has it that some pastry pay-offs convinced the town council to approve. It's a rumor.. you just never know.

Maison Fleurie

This little freebie, "Maison Fleurie" by Chantal Jordan, caught my eye and just cried out to be stitched. I had a lovely piece of pale pink hand-dyed Vikki Clayton linen that was perfect for it. Of course, my camera had other ideas about the color. The first image is closer to the pink color, but not nearly as pretty. I don't know where that little flaw in the center came from. It's not on the real thing.

I used to make these coasters all the time. I guess this kind of finish has gone out of fashion, but it's so easy to finish a design this way. The stitching is protected, and this particular type of coaster is large enough to hold a mug comfortably. I have a lot of these all over my condo.