Hello, September!

I'm afraid that this post is yet, another, catch-up post which will be strangely reminiscent of that old beginning-of-school assignment we all remember: "How I Spent My Summer Vacation"! I do have lots of show and tell, bear with me. 

As the weather allowed, and it wasn't too hot, I spent many an afternoon stitching out on the porch where the light is perfect!

These are a sampling of the seasonal pin-keeps that I managed to get finished over the past months. I've been trying out a variety of edge finishes on these. I ordered a few different trims from Lady Dot. 

I did get Amarillo Skies quilted and bound; it has joined the growing stack of "to be finished up by hand". 

An outer border was added to last year's Lemoyne BOM, it was loaded onto Snowbird...

... and quilting commenced using the "Easy Peasy Baptist Fan panto and Glide thread.

Voila! I still need to name this one. I'm attaching the binding today. 

With space opening up on the design wall it was high time for the Be Attitudes blocks to reappear. 

Working from this book by Nancy Halvorsen, this one must've been pushed off the back burner years ago. In fact, I found this post, dated May of 2008, when I bought the book and the fabrics. 

Instant vintage!! 

No time like the present, right? 

Stay tuned... I'm on a roll. 

Life is Good!

Hand Pieced~ But By Whom?

I had the privilege of quilting a hand-pieced beauty this past week. Oh, how I'd love to know the history of this one. How old is it? From where did it come?

 

If you study closely, you can see the hand stitches that were lovingly placed, joining together this lively array of feedsacks and vintage fabrics. The top was purchased by a friend of a friend. She machine washed it (!!) before I received it for quilting. The stitches were strong and the top sturdy enough for a trip through the washer. I carefully pressed it with Magic sizing and squared it up the best that I could. 

Once loaded onto the rails I gently quilted an open, modified clamshell design. The result speaks for itself, I thought that the overall effect was just perfect. The quilt's owner plans to use it for display.

🤍

Oh, if this quilt could only talk!

Lots of Things are Simmering...

There's lots going on these days at Chez Goodneedle, you might have wondered since I have been so quiet. This movie clip stars a piece of vintage (1940's) Pyrex Flameware doing what it's designed to do. The clean out of my dear MIL's home continues. I used to watch her use these small stove-top dishes (this is one of a set of three) all the time and I always loved them. I have brought them home with me and will keep them in frequent use. Years ago there was a handle that clipped on for moving these off the burner, I have no idea what ever happened to that, but it is long gone now.

This is us doing the happy dance. After only three and a half weeks her home is now under contract. The afore-mentioned clean out has now ratcheted up into a faster, more accelerated pace, it's all good.

If you remember an earlier post about the Big Hex Flimsy I am determined to make a play mat/quilt with a pom pom edge as I found pictured. I ordered this trim, but it only came in natural. Since this quilt is to offer visual stimulation for a little one there simply has to be color added. I looked up many websites for 'how to's' on dyeing pom pom trim.  To be honest, they weren't encouraging. And still, undaunted, this idea of mine was still simmering on the back burner of my brain. Suspecting that my trim was all cotton, I cut off one of the pom poms and dropped it into my cup of tea. It grabbed the color! YES!! (A word of caution: as long as the trim is cotton (or natural fibers) the dyeing will work just fine; acrylics, polyesters and blends won't pick up the dye or yield satisfactory results.)

A quick stop at Joann's with this purchase and I was on my way home. 

I followed the directions on the dye packet to. the. letter. Simmer, simmer... stir, stir. Wash. Rinse.

And dry! Perfection!!

The quilting was fast and easy, few starts and stops, one arc led to the next and then the next; continuous line quilting makes for a happy quilter. No simmering here... this was done at the speed of a rapid boil!

Life is Good!

Up next: "On The Edge"

Vintage Find

Saturday is Egg Day at our house. Both Mr. Goodneedle and I try to limit our cholesterol intake and decided a few years ago that we would celebrate breakfast with an egg only once a week (bacon only makes an appearance a few times a year); it's cereal the other six days. After the recent pantry clean-out and reorganization success I was spurred on to tackle more cabinets in the kitchen. You know how that happens... one thing leads to another, and another, and another. It's the If You Give A Mouse A Cookie syndrome; read it if you're unfamiliar, you'll understand. Anyway, during the height of this clean, purge and reorganizing frenzy I ran across this vintage egg cooker. I believe that we've owned it all of our married life (closing in on 40 years), leading me to think it was a wedding gift. I haven't used it in decades and decided to put it to use for poached eggs a few Saturdays ago, for old times' sake. I filled the receptacle with water, broke the eggs into the egg cups and pressed in the button. Uh-oh! I couldn't release my finger from the button without the appliance shutting off. I had already committed the eggs so I called quickly to Mr. Goodneedle to start the English muffins in the toaster while I kept the button depressed manually. The eggs cooked up perfectly, just like I had remembered; but I figured that the faulty on/off button had rendered the appliance defunct. Nope, not at all. After breakfast he took the egg cooker down to his "fix-it" shop and repaired the switch; it was a simple fix, he reported. We were back in business. This vintage find has been pressed back into service, at least on Saturday mornings. It will also hard boil eggs, with dyeing day coming up it'll see double duty this Easter weekend.

What treasures are hiding behind closed doors at your house?

Life is Good!