Love, Love, Love This!

Do you know what this is?

Look closely.  I bought two Missouri tomatoes in this little plastic package this week.  Don't judge me; there were no Arkansas tomatoes in that whole store!  They were quite nice tomatoes though there's no comparison to Arkansas tomatoes of course.  Just sayin'.  I looked and looked at that little plastic package and just like magic I had this amazing idea.

I buy red Presencia perle cotton thread, size 12, in extra large balls.  They are hard to find but when I do I buy a couple because I love red work.  love. red. work.  I have too much red work.  I've run out of places to put red work.  But I can't quit...it's addictive.  And that's where the amazing, incredible idea came into play.

I present to you my Missouri Tomato Thread Holder!  I probably should have taken that label off before I took this picture but I'm out of Goo Gone and can't remember the formula for taking off labels from homemade stuff.  Come to think of it I don't think I've ever had any Goo Gone.

 Don't you love it?  Sometimes I amaze myself. It takes so little to make me happy.   :)

Twelve, Maybe Fourteen or Nine

I told you I'm emptying my sewing room right?  Well, it's a great time to clean and get organized so that when I move back in I can just put everything on the shelves and not waste any time getting back to stitching.  Guess how many quilt tops I found that need quilting?  Yep, you guessed it....twelve, maybe fourteen or nine.

Here's how it plays out if you count all fourteen:  two were given to me some time ago (long enough ago that I don't remember when it was) to pass on to the long arm quilters who do the quilting for charity quilts, so really those two aren't mine;  three more are tops that I bought at junk stores, so technically I don't think I should have to count those either.  That leaves nine that I made that aren't quilted yet.  But since two of those are baby/children's quilts they will be super fast to do so honestly, do I have to count those?  I don't think so.  That means really there are only 7 and two of those are sandwiched already.  I'm down to five which I think is totally reasonable.  Don't you?  :)

These are a few of the ones I found.

Oh Dear, Oh Dear, Oh Dear

I've decided to change the flooring in my sewing room.  It currently has old carpet.  Very old carpet.  Nasty old carpet.  I'm putting in, or rather some very nice floor men, are putting in vinyl plank flooring.  I had it put in my sunroom a couple of years ago and I love it.  It's the perfect thing for that room since that's where we go in and out to the lake, dripping water and mud and grass.  It's easy to clean and looks nice as well.  You can see it here in this picture of my little evening stitching nook.  The floor I mean since some other things have changed in these, like a new television to replace that one that was 272 years old.  Well, maybe not that ancient, but close.   Hmmm, I think I like that table there, wonder why I moved it somewhere else.  I digress.

Did you notice the most important part of this post.  I'm putting new flooring in my sewing room.  That means I have to empty my sewing room.  Empty.  Yikes!  Double Yikes!  

I have until a week from Tuesday to do it.  My husband says, "just throw it in some boxes".  Is he kidding?  You don't do that...not to a sewing room.  You carefully go through everything.  You make piles.  You throw some away (a very small pile).  You pass some on to friends (another small pile).  You reminisce over some.  You drool over some.  And then you pack it in boxes.  And when you put it all back in you rearrange everything from your nice, neat, cleaned out and sorted boxes.

I'm also replacing my bedroom floor.  It'll take me about 10 minutes to pack that room.  :)

Sunflower Days

It's hot here.  Really hot.  Normal for Arkansas but after the couple of weeks we had earlier in the month when it was cool enough to open the windows it's kind of like a slap in the face.  One good thing about heat is that it drives you inside and invites long slow days of stitching.  I've finished the embroidery on three of my Kathy Schmitz BOM patterns but only one has all the final finishing touches.  I added two pictures, one looking each direction off my deck, so you can see what this heat has done to my yard!  Everything had dried up and the dirt patch under this huge oak tree just seems to be getting bigger and bigger.  :(  Thankfully my azaleas and other plants are holding their own with my husband's watering.  And farther out, close to the lake, the grass remains green in direct proportion to our water bill.

All of this particular set of patterns comes with a bit of iron on applique....in this one it's this sweet sunflower face.  I love that component.  

I used both stem stitch and back stitch in this pattern, as well as a running stitch, some satin stitch, and a few french knots.

This isn't the border shown on Kathy's pattern.  That one was darling flying geese, which I automatically assumed I would do.  However, one of my geese decided to fly north, another west, the third east and so on.  Honestly I do not know what happened but my mother would have called the strips "wonky jawed".  I tossed them in the scrap heap and went for something a bit simpler.  Which translates to something that wouldn't have me pulling out my hair.  I hope this afternoon to work on the other finished ones but their borders are debatable....we'll see if simple becomes better.  :)

Burlap

Makes a huge mess when cut and fringed. Just thought you'd want to know. :)




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Has Anyone?

Used the Quiltography app for IPad? Wondering if its worth the $14.99 price tag...can't tell much from the description.






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A Bunny Finish

Last year...was it just last year or was it the year before?....Michelle at The Raspberry Rabbits gave away a wonderful BOM called Harrington and Hannah.  It combined embroidery with wool applique, which is my absolute favorite thing in the world to do.   I knew from the beginning that this was one I would make for one of my grandchildren.  Not that I plan to give it to any of them now because I want to enjoy it myself for a while.  :)  With work sneaking up on me last year it took me forever to finish but finally it's done!

I would have a hard time choosing a favorite block but it would be one of these four - who doesn't love snowmen...but I'm a retired educator so obviously the apple ABC would be in my list, the welcome friends reflects the primitive/country decor I love and then who doesn't love to get mail?  Michelle has such creative ideas that I love everything she does but this time I think she outdid even herself!

Another Sewing Room Redo

A couple of weeks ago I went to my sister's to clean out Mother's sewing room.  Our parents died 9 years ago but since the apartment they lived in is part of my sister's home we only took out the most personal things at that time.  Since then she's used it for guest quarters for her family and friends who came for a visit.  Now our aunt is moving into the apartment so I've made a couple of trips there to help move everything out - all the furniture, dishes, linens, etc. have gone away....some we shared, some we sent to charity, some will be part of a yard sale.  The only room left was the sewing room - maybe the hardest for us to do.  Mother was a pack rat and never got rid of anything; we needed to make this room a dual purpose area with a place for my sister to sew and a place for my aunt to set up her computers and desk.  My aunt is blind and her computers are a special kind which talk to her so they need a bit  more space than you would think.

I forgot to take the normal before pictures but here are a couple after we started dumping things in the middle of the floor and on any available area we could find as we sorted!

Mom and Dad loved to go to auctions and if there was a box for $1 they would buy it no matter what was in it - consequently we threw away lots of rusty scissors.  Lots.  Did I tell you there were a lot of them?  :)

It took us two days but we ended up with a pretty and usable space I think.

Is this cabinet not to die for?  Sigh.  My sister bought it at auction from an old hardware store where it was used to hold seeds and tools.  It was dirty.  It was really dirty.  Covered with spider webs and eggs.  We cleaned it and scrubbed it and wiped it all down with a nice wood soap.  Well mostly my sister did that part but I supervised.  That's my job as the older sister and I'm pretty good at supervision if I do say so myself.  :)  But together we wrestled it into that corner and I'm quite sure it weighs at least 4 or 5 thousand pounds.  Minimum.  I would not exaggerate about that.  We labeled every drawer and now she's all organized...needles, pins, rulers, tape measures, snaps, velcro, embroidery patterns, lace, ribbon, pens, pencils.  I want that cabinet.  Well maybe not that exact cabinet but one just exactly like it.  Except already clean.  :)

I think Mama would have liked it.  Well, she wouldn't have liked all that we threw away but other than that.....

It's A Ho Ho Ho Week!

We've got a full week of Christmas projects to drool over - I'm posting the week's schedule below.  Be sure you visit them all or you might miss something too cute or too sweet or too awesome!  

August 5

Cherry’s Prairie Primitives

Scraps of Life

Words & Stitches

Blue Heron Quilts

More Stars in Comanche

Handmade by Mama

Julie from Quilted Works (on my blog)

In Stitches and Seams

Scrapbook ChickADoodle

Jane’s Quilting

Beaquilter

Life@RuffHaven

 

August 6

Why-Knot-Kwilt

Debby Kratovil

Apple Avenue Quilts

Domestic Deficit Disorder

Jane’s Fabrics and Quilts

Marjorie’s Busy Corner

Cate’s Linens

Brenda’s Blog

Charlottes Creations

Selina Quilts

Made By Me In Red

 

August 7

Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio

From This to That

I Like To Quilt Blog

Leah @ L3designs

Sew Mollie Sue, Quilt Much?

Just Quilt It

Meadowbrook

Peanut’s Patchwork

Around the Homestead

Feathered Nest Studio

In The Boon Docks

MO Broker, My Creative Side

 

August 8

Quiltscapes

Marla’s Crafts

A Stitch In Time

Mehitabel’s Musings

Buzzing and Bumbling

Transitions For Meee

A Little Bit of Lorene

I Piece 2-Mary

Under the Presser Foot

A Reformed Heath’n

 

August 9

Moose Stash Quilting

Cathy’s Chatter

Darlington Delights

Life in the Scrapatch

Quilt n Queen

Forget-Me-Not Stitches

Quilted Delights

AnnieOak Designs

Sew Peace to Peace

Wips & Tuts

Just Keep Swimming

Sew We Quilt

Christmas in August?

Who doesn't love Christmas?  I don't think I've ever met anyone who didn't....and some people must love it a lot because every once in a while I see Christmas lights still up on a house here and there, even in August!   Now one part of me tends to think maybe they just "forgot" to take them down, but that's the Grinch part of me.  The Christmas Spirit part of me prefers to just think they like lights as much as me.  :)  Wouldn't you know it though, when I wanted to take some Christmas pictures of my Ho Ho Ho projects, I couldn't find even one of those houses!

Back when I signed up for this blog hop I thought Christmas was forever away...but here we are at the first week of August and it's right around the corner.  I'm going to be ready ahead of time with a couple of gifts, or at least I'm going to try!  A couple of months ago I feel in love with a Kathy Schmitz BOM and just couldn't wait to stitch this one.  It's entirely possible, even probable, that this will be a gift for me.  :)

I tried to get a little closer so you could see the quilting....some of it is straight line but I put stars in the brim of his cap and swirls in his beard.

Isn't this the cutest face you ever saw?  Each of these 12 patterns has a small printed piece to applique on, each one is embroidered with one color (in my case I used black Finca #12), and each has a pieced border.  It was total head-over-heels love for me!  I'm working on a second one now that's a sunflower....too cute.

My second project is a wallhanging that I saw at a friend's house a couple of years ago - a pattern by Art to Heart.  My friend loaned me her pattern and I bet she'll be glad to get it back.  Actually, since it's been a couple of years she might not even remember she loaned it to me!  In fairness to me, she told me to keep it as long as I wanted because she wasn't going to make it again.  I doubt she thought it would be two years!  Another cute face, don't you think?

This one is also a mixture of embroidery and applique.  I used a bit of fake fur for the pom pom on his hat and buttons for the holly berries.  I quilted a few swirls on his beard and mustache and echo stitching on the background.

And my third and last project, at least for today, is another cute Santa face.  Hmmm, wonder if this could be called an obsession?

This pattern is from Bee Tree Designs - another favorite designer of mine.  I love redwork embroidery and it's usually my go-to project when I want to stitch and watch television since it doesn't require a lot of thread changes.


There are so many cute things to see on this hop...don't forget to visit the other bloggers who are posting today; their links are below:

Quilt Doodle Doodles

life, quilts and a cat too

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Ridge Top Quilts

Editha

Stitchin By the Lake

Quilts, Fabric and Thread Tales

Sew Many Yarns

Kwilty Pleasures

Kris Loves Fabric

52 Quilts in 52 Weeks

Robin’s Fabric Nest

Thanks so much to Carol, who is an incredible, organized and gracious cheerleader for our hop and Madame Samm who stirs our creative juices and gets us to thinking and stitching!


Blessings, Marlene

Ho Ho Ho (Day Two)

It's time for the second round....check out these bloggers who have the Christmas Spirit!

August 1

Vroomans Quilts

Abyquilt

MacDonald’s Patch

Life and Everthing Around It

Hill Valley Quilter

Traveling Quilter

Quilting Lines

The Reluctant Quilter

Pig Tales and Quilts

Teatime Creations

Ravelly1