Don't let the difficulties of the present moments overshadow the reality of God's promises. God's promises still stand. And God's promises are stronger than our failures.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

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.  :)

16 comments:

Michelle said...

Oh my,that is SEW pretty! Love the quilting on it too!

Terry said...

It looks great! It's such a pretty stitchery! :0)

Jeanie said...

Love this! The applique focus just adds such a great touch. My Mom used to say "whopper jawed"... didn't make sense, but I understood what she meant. :)

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I agree, just enough applique for a bit of cute - lovely stitchery.

krisgray said...

Oh so pretty! We're having the same cool weather withdrawal up here in St. Louis. I am no longer torn between doing yard work and sewing!

Jane's Fabrics and Quilts said...

Oh that is so pretty.

Sparky said...

Ohhhh hello my sweet lady, this is awesome...now that I have grown sunflowers, I am in love with them...mine are over 7 feet tall...funny thing too..the leaves are soooo large like your stitching piece....soooo your pattern is sooo to scale...love the face....your stitching and face is perfection ...

Brenda said...

Oh I love this! How cool is the applique in the middle of all the stitching in the same color! Thanks for sharing this! Did not get sunflowers planted this past spring because we had so much rain we were hustling just to get a vege garden planted in the first weeks of June...so late I do not think a sunflower would have gotten very tall.

DebbieM said...

Very Beautiful!!

Janarama said...

This is absolutely stunning and your stitching is impeccable! Love it.

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

What a happy fun quilt! You did an most excellent job.

Tammy said...

Gorgeous. I need to work on mine. I don't have them all just a couple I won. Love your stand you display yours on.

Julie Fukuda said...

It's lovely and that border is perfect. Patterns are made to be tweaked.

Carrie P. said...

I did the flying geese on mine and they were a little tricky. I like your border just as well and your machine quilting too.

Belinda said...

That is really beautiful work!! I can't think that any other border would have been any better.
And YES it's HOT here in Arkansas. Wooo Weee!!

Sharon Dawn said...

That is really cute! I love the background you used to take the picture too!