Hand Work

There's nothing more relaxing for me in the evenings, while watching TV, than hand work. It's centering: the rhythm of the needle passing in and out and the feeling of getting something accomplished that won't be undone immediately is satisfying. I finished the binding on this latest tumbler quilt (this has got to be at least the fifth or sixth one that I've made) all cut from charm squares. I use a four inch tumbler, sixteen horizontal rows with nineteen tumblers in each row, for a total of 304 tumblers in each lap quilt. That should give you an idea of how many charm squares I've had stashed! 😲 This year I am keeping these aside, however many I end up making by late fall, for donation to adopted families living in poverty, several churches (ours included) go together to send relief at Christmastime. 

These bright and cheery lap quilts measure 52" X 64".

Well, there's only so many quilts to bind. SEW-- I've turned my attention to hand embroidery for the  current evening pastime. These embroidery designs were subscription-based from years ago: "Nice People, Nice Things"; I collected the entire set. How will I set these blocks for finishing? I have no idea. But, for now, one by one: they're getting stitched and that's a whole lot better than sitting in a bag on a shelf in the stash closet! 

These are all being stitched on Essex Linen with "Cloudy Day" variegated thread by Cottage Garden. 

Adapting to an upside-down🙃 world: our oldest granddaughter and I have been video-chatting with filters; naturally, it's not as much fun as in-person hugs and story-time or baking cookies together but we enjoy visiting this way and many giggles are shared. Stay safe, stay healthy, wash your hands!🧼

"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love ~"
1 Corinthians 13:13

Life is Good!

Up next: Planting Color

By Wisdom...

Check out this Clover hoop; my new favorite!
With the clamp covered there are no more tangles.

This past summer I finished all the hand embroidery on twelve quilt blocks that I have been working on for a VERY long time. Well, I haven't actually been working on them, which accounts for the number of years that it has taken to get this project moving forward! I believe that I began on these around 2001 and picked them up sporadically. The patterns are by Indygo Junction: "By Wisdom A House Is Built". 

I strayed from the pattern, making mine less primitive. Instead of fraying the edges and using applique I set my blocks into sashed borders. I changed the text font too. After all these many years, and thousands upon thousands of miles in the car (which is where I do my most productive handwork), I had the top set together last month. Each pattern can be finished and bound separately. I liked that look and decided to mimic it with one pieced quilt; inserting 3/4" strips of black (finishing to 1/4") between the blocks. Binding it with black will finish it off nicely and add continuity.

By Wisdom A House Is Built ~ 60" X 64"

It has hung on the design wall ever since; challenging me! How to quilt this? Machine embroidered elements aside, however would I quilt over all that hand embroidery? The patterns suggest very minimal quilting, by hand, in a primitive big-stitch manner. Okay, that wasn't going to happen. Each and every day I studied the quilt and considered options. I considered a panto; maybe I would load it onto Snowbird and thread it up with a monofilament and just go to town. Nah. Then I thought about cross-hatching the entire piece. Nah. A friend suggested channel-quilting it, long parallel lines of quilting over the entire piece. I considered that but rejected that too. I was stumped-- and yet, my mind kept working.

The other night I grabbed a marker and auditioned some quilting lines in the background. I liked what I saw with the whimsical, free flowing shapes. I decided that this might look good with cross-hatched borders. After that, things began to happen! I loaded up the quilt and got to work. Yes, this time I really did begin working in earnest, these blocks have languished long enough! 

Here we go! "By wisdom a house is built", 

by a little determination and some dedicated time-- a quilt is finished!

Life is Good!

 

Successful Binding

I have a few quilts with the binding attached and hand basted into position, they patiently wait for their turn at the finishing hand work. I have already explained my preferred method for attaching binding, but this post is focused on how to precut those binding strips for a smooth and successful application. Before I cut the binding strips I measure all four raw edges, add those numbers together and add another ten inches to the total for good measure. That ten inches allows plenty of room for joining the two binding ends together at the end. Using that final sum I divide that number by 42", the normal width of the selected fabric chosen and set aside for binding. That figure is the number of WOF strips needed to bind the quilt. I cut my binding strips 2.25". Multiplying the number of strips needed by your preferrred cut binding width will reveal how much total fabric you will need for binding. After I cut the proper number of binding strips I do the pre-trimming necessary to make perfect 45 degree joins without dog ears or second guessing where to sew the joining seam.

 I use the Creative Grid Quick Trim and Circle Ruler for perfect results every. single. time!

By aligning the 45 degree angle line of the ruler along the top of the strip and precisely placing the right edge of the strip along the corner line the exposed strip fabric can be trimmed away.

The binding strips can now be joined, RST, in the usual fashion, but without those pesky dog ears they line up neatly and sewing from corner to corner is exactly at the 1/4" seam line.

 I press all of the joins open revealing a perfect seam every time.

Once all of my binding is made and pressed I wrap it around a piece of cardboard to keep it neat and place it together with the quilt top until I am ready to attach it. Sometimes I even make the binding ahead of time and it's ready to go when I am. I hope you'll consider using this ruler the next time you are ready to make binding strips. Binding strips isn't the reason that I bought this ruler, however! I bought it because I saw a flawless mitered napkin edge hem demonstrated using this tool. Have I made the napkins yet? Of course not! But I can when I'm ready, I have the ruler!! 

Life is Good!

Round After Relaxing Round

 Completed circles for November 2016 ~ (Nov. 10 - Nov. 30)

This is a catch-up post, literally and figuratively. I posted here last month about joining in the Quilty 365 challenge and my progress, or lack of it, in November. I began the challenge on November 10, 2016 and plan to continue through that date this year. Well, I decided to put myself back on track by doubling and tripling up on my appliqué circles to bring myself current. I am now preparing all the circles for the past month of December by going through my stash of collected (over the decades) Christmas fabrics and basting them into postion so that I can do the hand work in the evenings. It is truly relaxing.

Speaking of relaxing: these are some of the Christmas gifts that my daughter and I made together last month. We combined forces; she made up a few large batches of homemade bath salts and I made loads of faced washcloths. We bundled them up and traded with each other to make these cute gifts of relaxation for our friends: cute washcloths and bath salts given as sets for tranquil time-out.  Ahhhhh.

Life is Good!

52%

These are the latest blocks completed from Rosemary Youngs' Quilt Block Bible. Quiltkeemosabe and I are more than halfway through writing directions and making each and every block in the book. At my last calculation I was 52% done; now I am moving onto applique- curves, that makes me smile... I love me some hand work! So, what does 52% look like and how am I keeping track of our work, piecing/cutting directions and the blocks themselves?

52% equals two loose leaf binders, full. Each completed block is filed in order, by number, and slipped into a page protector together with all of of its pertinent data. We're using every method we know: specialty rulers, templates, paper piecing... whatever it takes.

I'm including a few close-ups here of the fussy cutting I did. I had a length of fabric with quotes and these positively charming illustrations by Susan Branch; perfect for these little block centers. This one says: "Millions long for immortality but don't know what to do on a rainy afternoon" - Susan Ertz

 "All the way to Heaven is Heaven" - St. Catherine of Sienna

No quote, but a perfect resting place for this toile fussy cut. 

And, finally... this makes me want to brew a cup of tea right now... and read Little Women... again!

Life is Good!

All The Better To SEE With!

Back last summer, when I began my first smocking class, I realized that I was going to need some "visual help" for the exacting precision required to place the stitches evenly and correctly. Quiltkeemosabe suggested that I borrow her Visual Mate. It worked great, it hangs around the neck, is fairly lightweight, and... the best part: it has it's own light! I'll admit, it took some getting used to, but I am truly happy that I persevered until I became comfortable with it. I returned hers when my husband gave me my own for a birthday gift. Not only was it incredibly valuable for the smocking stitches but there is no way that I would have been able to whip and roll those hem edges on Lucy Ann's christening dress (and have them look half decent) without it! I now slip it over my head every time I sit down to do handwork: appliqué, embroidery, and most recently to do some block de-construction! I carried it with me today to use while Gregory napped and I gave more Chubby Chicks their legs and eyes. I'm certain that I didn't fully appreciate how wonderfully I could see the tiniest detail when my eyes were younger. But, I'm old enough, and wise enough now to shun vanity and use whatever it takes for hand sewing stitches that can hold a candle to those of my younger friends. The stitches are looking good, small and even... and I can see that, up close and clearly!

Life is Good!

For You, With Love!

I am a gift, I was lovingly handcrafted to be exactly that. My maker exactly didn't expect the shape or the contours that I developed along the way of my construction, I am unique and one of a kind. I am a celebration of my own individuality. I am not large, I measure only nine and a half inches in length and am but two inches deep, but can hold any treasures that are trusted to be placed within me; I already contain love and birthday wishes beyond measure. I am a gift.

Life is Good!

What's Inside?

I thought I'd give you a peek inside Mrs. Goodneedle's totebag. My essentials are all packed in my suitcase and make up bag. The true necessities for travel are here, in the tote! I'm off today to the Capital City and leave tomorrow for our ELCA Statewide Synod Assembly where I'll stay until Saturday afternoon. I want to make sure I have everything I need:
1. Two quilts to finish hand stitching the binding. Check.
2. Hand sewing kit to accomplish #1, above. Check.
3. Two quilt magazines. Check.
4. Iron. Check. (Never leave home without one.)
5. Two bottles of wine, a red and a white. Check.
6. Folding travel corkscrew, see #5. Check.

Looks like I'm ready for anything!
Life is Good!

Inventory Control, Or Lack Thereof...

I was cruising around the blogs I like to read the other day when I happened by Wendy's, she had posted a photo of the loveliest pin cushion that she had hand embroidered; it depicted a basket of strawberries and I was smitten with the design! I commented on her blog that I'd love to know the name of the designer and where I could find the pattern, she promptly E-mailed me a response and even suggested a likely place to check to find the book. I was on a mission to find this now, my head was swimming with ideas of where and how I could use such a pattern. I did an online search and found the book, "The Red Book" by Diane Arthurs. Hmmm... it looked suspiciously familiar. Did I already HAVE the book, was it possible? Yep, you guessed it! It was in a bin with my embroidery supplies and patterns, a long-ago gift from none other than Quiltkeemosabe! Is she just the bestest friend or what? She knows what I need even before I do! The pattern was quickly located within the book, it's so sweet, there are lots of others I can use, too; even more strawberries! This whole episode got me to thinking... what else do I have in inventory that I might not even remember? Well, let's not even go there, I'm happy with what I did find and I'm trying not to over-analyze my lack of control over inventory! I'm thankful to have enough projects to keep me busy for a lifetime and friends to point me in the right direction... what more could I possibly need?

Floss, that's it, I need embroidery floss...
...no, wait, I might already have some!
Life is Good!☺

Patchwork Days

I feel as though my days are a patchwork; different little pieces here and there all held together within a framework of time. The "getting up and making coffee" patch, the "walking the dog" patch, the "vacuuming the floors" patch, the "sitting down and sewing" patch... and so on. At day's end, perhaps an entire block was completed and maybe not; but tomorrow's another day... and so it goes.

Grandmommy's London Roads (and friend) 86" X 66"

This quilt top was given to my daughter and son-in-law the Christmas before last, by his grandmother; she and her sister pieced it. The joyful recipients happily handed it off to me with the request that it be hand quilted! Groan. They are too savvy to be duped, especially my daughter; unfortunately she knows, understands and appreciates hand quilting! I will honor this request... because they asked and because I love them, because his grandmother is in her latter eighties and deserves to see the finished project, and because I can easily conclude my pieced-together days with a "hand quilting" patch. It's been a long time since I've hand quilted anything and I am eager to get going on this one, I do enjoy the calming peace and sense of satisfaction associated with hand work.

Life is Good!

You can vote all week in the "Name That Quilt" contest located in the sidebar,
polls will close Sunday at midnight (local time).