Another TBT: Spring English Paper Piecing and Hand Embroidery Project

I think this might be the year of dusting unfinished projects and doing my best to complete them.

Here is another project that I've blogged about awhile back. I really like the process of English Paper Piecing, and love how it looks mixed with hand embroidery! This particular one is to become a lap quilt for one of my daughters. Designed by Mollie Johanson, but I modified it a bit by adding some other embroidery designs from other patterns by Mollie. The original pattern has 12 or 13 mini embroidery designs (can't recall exactly at the moment) and I needed more to complete 24 EPP hexagon flowers. May still add a few more mini embroideries from other sources to make the lap quilt larger.

It has been worked while traveling with my family through the East Coast. It has been worked while in various rooms/areas of our previous home. Since we moved it has been put away, waiting for me to pay attention to it once more.

Things are finally calming down in my household, my other half had his surgery couple of weeks ago and he's recuperating slowly but steadily... thankfully! While things are a bit less hectic, perhaps I should let this project see the light again ;-).

Slow Stitching is a thing. It provides calmness, meditation, peace, joy, patience. Maybe it should come out along with the Daisychain sampler from the previous blog post. 

Plus the colors are gentle and happy, very springy indeed! Yes, I've convinced myself! Once I post this will go find them and leave them out on my stitchy area in plain sight so I remember to pick them up every now and then through out the rest of the week. Whenever I can sneak a bit of stitching.

Until next time! Be well!

PS: EPP design is by Mollie Johanson, in her Wildolive Etsy 
store here.

Throwback Tuesday: Stitching Clubs (Picture Heavy)

In no particular order, this post contains a few pictures of the progress I made (awhile back) on three of the four Seasonal Stitching Clubs designed by Mollie Johanson. The only one I haven't stitch yet is the Autumn one. Hopefully I printed it, because my old desktop PC died and my old email is gone too.  These past few days I've been thinking of the Winter Stitching Club, I'm getting a bit antsy to stitch again a few of the motives on that club... so I may have to get it again because I can't find it in my printed stash of patterns :-(. 
Anyhow, perhaps you may like to know that Mollie is hosting a new Stitching Club on her blog. It is a marmalade/jam one called Jam of the Month Club... the first design is out and the project lay out for the EPP mini quilt and pattern pieces. You may want to go check it out! Mollie's blog: Wildolive.

Above Winter. Below Summer, lots of cute ones on summer!

Above and below, Summer

Above and below, Spring.

Above and below, Winter. Pictures aren't that great but hopefully you can still see how cute these designs are. I was actually working on these, in bed, while recovering from surgery few years ago. (That cardinal wearing a scarf.... how cute is that!).

Above and below, Winter. Too much cuteness! (Also below, the Laundry Hen from an Aunt Martha's pattern.)

Above Winter, below Spring. So many cute ones on the Spring club as well!

Above and below, Spring. (Also above, a design from an Aunt Martha's transfer.)

Finally, the daffodil and bird from the Spring Stitching Club. The butterfly is not from the Spring Stitching Club but from a different design by Mollie as well. 

Need to continue working on these projects! All hand sewn, portable and not complicated. 
If you decide to stitch-along with Mollie, let me know so I can go and take a peek at your progress ;-)! Till next time!

Non-affiliated links:
Mollie's shop Wildolive on Etsy... and her blog. 
Aunt Martha's transfers webstore: Colonial Patterns. 
Notes:
Fabrics are from Jo-ann fabric and craft store.

Three More English Paper Pieced Flowers

Finally! Some progress on this project... about time!

Worked on them while watching "Pioneer Quest" on Amazon in the middle of the night, while sipping chai latte on the living room floor. Ahhh, amazing what one can get done while kids are asleep and insomnia is your companion. Back to "Pioneer Quest", truly enjoyed it! 

Photo of it below, on the next day, while my youngest (whom I purposely blurred on the picture) was letting me know her favorite fabric prints... little does she know that these someday, hopefully soon, will become part of a lap quilt for her.

Currently taking a break from Instagram, but decided to stop by and update my good old blog since insomnia decided to show up uninvited. Until next time!

Project(s) Update

My family and I were traveling for a couple of weeks, and of course I took with me some projects.

Was able to complete the Calendula from the Flower of the Month, Aunt Martha's transfer pattern. Although reading in a moving car makes me sick, embroidering doesn't ... thankfully!

From the two hexagon flowers I took to hand-piece, was able to complete only one... better than nothing, right? This one was done in the hotel room while listening to upbuilding songs. For some reason hand-piecing in the car doesn't appeal to me... lots of tiny even stitches, while trying to match hexagon sides, a bit of a challenge on uneven highways.

Well, that's it for now... have to run! 
Enjoy the week, until next time!

Spring Stitching / English Paper Piecing Project

I've slowly started to make more progress on the english paper piecing project. The last three flowers (of the first group of twelve) need to be whip-stitch.

It is always fun to see how, little by little, an entire garden of english paper pieced flowers grows!

I'm halfway there! Below you see the preparations for the other group of twelve hexagon flowers. The flora supply case that one of my dear friends made for me will house the embroidery part of the project... it is perfect for keeping all the floss, hoop, embroidery designs, blank squares of fabric, and the rest of the supplies needed to make the embroidered centers.

Another dear friend sent me a lovely gift, which in part included that super cute and practical see thru pouch in the background. Can't wait to put it to good use!
Haven't been feeling well today, but hopefully I'll get to do a little bit of stitching... hopefully. May this weekend do you well!
Until next time!

What I've Been Up To

As I mentioned on my previous post, here are a few peeks of current wip's.

First is Jenny's free BOM "The Vintage Kitchen". The original 

BOM is in redwork, but I'm doing mine in blue... it goes better with my kitchen ;-).

I'm also doing another hush-hush stitching... only a little peek of it for now. I'm embroidering with Cosmo Multi-Work it comes in a spool in 2 strands, however I'm using 3 strands for this wip.

I'm still working on my Spring Stitching Club (pattern by Mollie Johanson aka: Wild Olive). This and the two other wip's above came with me on a family vacation trip. Hopefully by the time we are back home, these four hexies will be pieced into hexagon flowers. 

Before I go, for those of you interested on Jenny's BOM "The Vintage Kitchen",... here is how the finished project will look like once completed. Small and manageable, I most likely be doing all the stitcheries although not sure I will complete the entire mini quilt as shown. Perhaps you may want to visit Jenny's blog to check it out for yourself. Here is a link to her blog post.

I guess this is all for now... 'til next time!

Handpiecing ... Etc.

Lately, I've been dedicating most of my free time to the CQBC, and my hand piecing is on hold for the moment. Few weeks ago I took a few pictures of the tools/supplies I'm using for hand piecing.

Cookie Jar Pup was a bit overwhelmed by all these items, but really there's nothing much to it; a Clover magnetic pin holder with Clover fine patchwork pins, Sewline glue pen and fabric pencil, Clover needle threader, Omnigrid quarter inch rulers, leather thimble pads from the Colonial Needle, a Clover finger pressing tool, size 11 Foxglove Cottage straw needles, Mettler silk finished cotton thread, and Fons & Porter's seam ripper.  The Clover ring thread cutter and the black leather thimble are used occasionally. 

The fabrics are a mix. I think most of them are by Sandy Gervais, Fig Tree, or 3 Sisters, but I'm not really sure... it's been awhile since they became part of my stash. If you recognized them please give me some insight! ;-)

I already posted about the scissors previously (here), so won't go into details on this post. Trying to keep all tidy and at hand can be challenging. I really wanted a Bionic Gear Bag and I even got the pattern, but the dynamics between my sewing machine and I are practically non-existent at the moment. While waiting for a reply regarding having one custom made, a trip to Target took place and I found this handy dandy cosmetic/toiletry bag (traincase) that looked like a good candidate,... and I was right! 

I was able to fit everything I need for hand piecing as you can see above, plus a few other things. On a separate plastic zippered pouch are my scraps of fabric, template material, and quilt block paper pattern. 

It fits nicely inside the cosmetic bag, on top of everything else, as you can see below. This little toiletry bag has proven to be just what I needed without having to dig deep in my pocket! 

I'll still love to have a Bionic Gear Bag, perhaps when I master up boldness to sew one for myself. Having one custom made can be a bit costly, and rightly so, since there are so many steps to it. Perhaps one of you will like to trade with me, you could sew a BGB for me and I could hand embroider a few kitchen towels or quilt blocks for you ;-). I think a BGB bag will be perfect for keeping english paper piecing projects!

This toiletry will remain my designated hand piecing bag ;-). I have grown fond of it! It fits a lot, zips up nicely, and keeps its shape. I love having everything tidy and in place!

I must keep focus on the Crazy Quilting class, especially since I am so close to completing it, but having said that.... can't wait to keep working on a few more hand pieced blocks and my other hand embroidery projects!
Until next time!

Block No. Two

This block with its many pieces took me a bit longer than the previous ones, especially since I didn't work on it in just one sitting. It is not perfect but I am happy with it.

I am learning a lot! It was a good idea to skip this one until I felt ready for it.

Another block with a hiccup,... ended up piecing the center right side section to the center square upside down :-( , my seam ripper and I are best friends. It was such a silly mistake that, that in my disappointment, I forgot to take a picture of it. I am glad that it wasn't the longer top/bottom sections. You can be sure that the silly mistake was not repeated. Lesson learned!

I am taking a little break from all needlework until I take care of an assignment. Until next time! Enjoy your weekend!
Notes: Pattern/tutorials provided by Wynn at Zakka Art. Inspiration from Japanese patchwork book (info on previous hand piecing post).

Block No.4 Heart

This block was easy to stitch, the cute factor was motivational! It was completed a week ago.

The above picture shows my work area just 2 pieces away for the Heart block to be completed. (Really liking the Kai Scissors, especially the patchwork and sewing ones!!! More on them later.)

Now there was a little hiccup after hand piecing that middle triangle piece. The right corner was off, so out came my handy seam ripper. 

New piece was cut, pinned and hand pieced in place (by the way these Clover Extra-Fine Patchwork pins are much better than regular pins, in my opinion).

Et voilá, magnifique! Like nothing ever happened ;-). 

Completed the hand piecing, and finger pressed. Lesson learned, won't be cutting my triangles' corners until done with hand piecing the entire block.

Not bad (if I may say so myself)... for a beginner like me!

A truly enjoyable hand piecing journey with Block No.4 Heart.
My needlework is serving as much needed therapy! Moderate costochondritis... not fun, just hopping it doesn't progress to severe as it has in the past.

PS: Just today I was able to completed another block.... can you guess which?

Notes: Non-affiliated links, just for sharing. Pattern draft and tutorial are kindly provided by Wynn at Zakka Art as part of her Hand Sew Along #handsewpatchwork. Inspiration and guidance from Japanese Patchwork book ISBN: 9784863224421.