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.

A Housewarming Gift (Part 1/ Picture Heavy)

In my quest to have a year round supply of hand embroidered towels to display and to use on my new kitchen, the second towel is already hooped. However the ones I'm stitching will get use, so the search for decorative kitchen towels took place.

These towels are made by recycling and upcycling vintage hand embroidered linens.... they are so lovely! Showed my husband, and he gave me green light! Ordered 4 first to be able to see them up close, fell in love, 2nd order was place (arriving today). Since they are currently on sale (were 50% now 30% off), and the fact that the shop owner mentioned in one of our convos that this kind of towel might not be offered in the future, what is a girl to do than stock up on towels. 

Today I will post the four I received on the first order. Posting, not to show off a purchase, but to share the beautiful hand embroidery work of needleworkers of past generations! Also, if some of you were looking for a deal on towels then perhaps this source might prove helpful. Did you noticed the birdies beaks? She/He that stitched these birds payed attention to detail by outlining the beaks in dark thread and filling in with yellow, gorgeous effect!

These close ups let the details pop. Love me some hand embroidered eye candy! I find joy in studying the work of needleworkers of previous generations. Do you? In this Love towel, the lazy daisy stitches are gorgeous and so uniformed. The word Love was beautifully outlined in stem stitch and then lightly filled in with straight stitches in a complimenting shade. The french knots are tiny and well done. This needleworker was experienced, plus that simple crocheted lacy trim.... gorgeous! I will love to learn how to do delicate trims.

The Love towel also has a very small area worked on a different color thread,... she/he must have run out of green thread and "made do" with what she had on hand. Thrifty and resourceful indeed!

This orchid is lovely stitched as well! Love all the different shades used in the bloom, the neatly done stitches, and that dainty trim!

This towel is another example of lovely hand embroidery work! Do you see the centers of the brighter flowers... they are clustered with tiny french knots, so pretty! Plus the petals are all lazy daisy stitches, so many of them in varied lengths for a beautiful effect. I'm learning a lot from studying these vintage embroidered pieces.

Personally prefer to display towels with lovely hand work in my kitchen! It warms my heart, and makes the space cozier and homey... in my opinion.

They came beautiful packaged... so that is a plus, great for gifting.

Well, that's it for now. Later I'll show you the ones that are arriving today, and the ones I'll be stitching for use.

Hope you have a great week! Ours will be very busy.

Till later!

PS: Non-affiliated Link:

Two Girls Laughing... decorative towel shop on Etsy.

Flower of the Month Project

A brief hello and update ;-).
Flower of the Month lap quilt project progress. So far these are the blocks that are done, the one I'm currently working on, and the main fabric. I was helped with two of these embroidered blocks, and will be helped with two others. There will be twelve embroidered blocks in total, but I may add two more... not sure yet.

Scissors Review

Wow, October was a busy month! Just now getting back to normal.

Do you have a favorite pair of scissors? I guess it would be kind of hard to just have one pair, especially when there are scissors for different tasks. My current fabric and paper scissors where not doing a good job. The paper ones were old and had been used for other things beside paper, the fabric ones are bulky and require a bit of hand/wrist work. So, I did a bit of research a while back and decided to try these below.

These above are the scissors I'm currently using for my hand piecing tasks :-). Three of them are Kai Scissors. I'm using the one with black handles for cutting out templates from a specific kind of cardboard (however they are not for that, their job is to cut rubber for rubber stamping projects), can't tell any difference from using this pair from any other utility scissor pair. It is still hard on my hand to cut with this pair. Maybe is the kind of cardboard I'm using for the templates that makes it hard...don't know, so I will still be looking for an alternative.

The hot pink Kai Sewing Scissors, are very sharp, they perform smoothly and effortlessly... like cutting through butter, love them. The lavender Kai Serrated Patchwork Scissors have a serrated blade that grips the fabric preventing slippage, for very precise cutting of patchwork pieces, and in my opinion, still cuts smoothly... this pair is my favorite, really love it!  

The yellow one is a Cutter Bee by EK Success, excellent for cutting the paper pieces needed to make templates. They are very nice for cutting paper... very happy with this pair as well!

Here are close ups of the front and back of the serrated pair... are you able to see the serrated blade? They are a bit linty because I've been truly giving them a work out with my hand piecing blocks ;-).

Here a close up of the Cutter Bee, do you see that sharp tip... it does a very detailed cutting into the paper pattern pieces.

Having the right scissor for the right job makes a big difference. Especially if you were to have health conditions, like myself,  that will hindered your ability to cut for a long period of time and such.   

So these are my to go scissors for the various tasks of my current hand piecing wip. Very happy with the two Kay's, the lavander and hot pink ones, and with the Bee Cutter. The pairs I'm using the most are the serrated one and the paper one.

Do you have any favorite pair(s) for hand piecing? Please do share!

Please Note: I do not have any affiliation with the brands/links I mentioned on this post. I'm just a very happy customer sharing my thoughts on how these work for me.

Back? Not Quite Yet

Actually, I'm not fully back... still need at least one more week ;-).

This break was not as refreshing as I thought it was going to be so I'll be extending it a bit.

In the meantime I leave you with my completed Doll Sampler (pattern by Charlotte Lyons). I need to start stitching another one. They will both be turned into throw pillows for my princesses' rooms. This one is the one that belongs to my oldest. My youngest's will most likely have lighter colors.

I've also been re-arranging my Summer Stitching Club 

(by Mollie Johansen/Wild Olive).

At first I finished the top of the table mat following the instructions of the pattern, however I didn't have the need for a table mat and since I've been meaning to make both of my girls lap quilts I thought this was the perfect opportunity.

For now, probably, my oldest will be getting a quilt made by a combination of the Summer Stitching Club with the Winter Stitching Club and my youngest will be getting a quilt made with a

combination of the Autumn Stitching Club with the upcoming Spring Stitching Club.

This is still tentative, I may just end up using Winter for oldest dd and Spring for my youngest... and make myself one with Autumn and Summer... LOL. I'll see! 

English Paper Piecing (aka: EPP) is so addicting... I truly enjoy it, especially when it is mixed with embroidery! I'm currently running an EPP fever :-). I'm kind of behind with the stitching of Autumn and Winter, hoping to catch up soon.

I've also made progress on my Barney Park Sampler,... more than what this picture shows.

Currently I have stitched all the way to where the 3 flowers below the window are.

 

I started with Mrs. Maggie Rabbit (pattern by Alicia Paulson).

Again, more progress than with this picture shows. Here you see me about to start cutting the pattern pieces for one of the three bunnies. Currently I'm already almost done with sewing together one of the three. The first one I'm making will be for me,... it's my test-run one ;-).

Finally, got some premium muslin for a simple lap quilt I will like to make for my mother. It will consist on 8" or 9" blocks stitched with a variety of mix-n-match designs from my Aunt Martha's Transfer Pattern collection that I recently blogged about. 

This one I will like to start by February.

This particular quilt will be on the top of my list once February arrives. Everything else, I'm afraid will fall on the back burner, at least for a while. There are two other projects that I will like to make progress on. I'm referring to my Epic Alphabet (pattern by Sublime Stitching) and my Daisychain ABC Sampler (pattern by Alicia Paulson) but we'll see. So much to stitch so little time.

My spirituality, family, friends, health and enriching goals come first so all these projects will be worked on as time and life permits.

Until next time!

Dusting Un-Finished Projects

This project was started on October 2010.
It was the project of a two part class I took at a quilt shop that is no longer open for business.

I remember all the excitement and fun while selecting
the fabrics and the threads.

 On my old blog I did a post about this project and requested opinions
on which of these threads to use.

Then the stitching started, that is always my favorite part!

However like most of the times, I did get distracted here and there in this case

it was with the book pictured below.

My stitcheries were finally done and I needed to cut the excess fabric off. Six stitcheries

that will function as apron pockets.

Lovely autumnal light on that afternoon!

I was almost done with one of the two basket's aprons. 

This is my favorite stitchery! Want a closer look?

Ok, here you go ;-).

Then I decided not to machine stitch the pockets but to sew them by hand.
So I got a few more supplies for the task.

I started to blanket stitch the first pocket...

and that was as far as I got.

Just recently took it out of the ziplock bag I'm keeping this project in and was actually

able to finish sewing in place that 1st pocket.

I even started sewing the 2nd but then I had to stop and give attention

to the more important things in my life.

The picture below was one I took on my way to the class on that October of 2010. 

It was a lovely drive. Specially the scenery while driving over the lake.

It will be nice if I get a chance to finish it before next year.

Then I'll be able to say that it took me 3 years to finish instead of 4... (shame on me)!

Untile next time!

Little Girl Purse

Here is the other project I wanted to share with you.

A little girl's purse. 

I cut a long piece of natural canvas fabric for the outside, a cute

japanese fabric for the lining and a decorative strip from the same

lining fabric for the front of the purse.

I didn't take a picture of me sewing the decorative strip of fabric

to the front of the purse so please picture it in your mind ;-).

After sewing the strip of fabric in place, then I folded the bag 

right sides together and sew both sides of the bag.

Notice that I didn't boxed up the corners of the purse for 

this particular bag.

Getting the lining ready was next. I sewed a felt pocket to one side of 

the lining.

 Sewed both sides of the lining right sides together and...

 since the lining fabric was a lighter weight than the canvas I used

for the purse itself I decided to "box" the corners of the lining,

it just made me feel that it made it a bit stronger this way.

 Then it was time to add the lining to the bag. 

Folded over that raw seam and ...

sew around once more to give it a finished look.

Then from the same canvas fabric I cut a strip, with right sides facing

 folded longer sides together, sewed along the longer side and then

sewed to purse.... another step I know you are picturing in your mind

right now ;-) since I don't have an actual photo of it.

Dd loved it and used it until she got tall enough for a bigger purse.

(I made this little purse in 2008. However the very 1st purse I made

her was in 2007... simpler and with crooked seams...lol.)