Around the World Blog Hop

Around The World Blog Hop!

It’s my turn at the Around the World Blog Hop. What a great way to meet bloggers from far and near for inspiration. Daryl from Patchouli Moon Studio tagged me in her last week's post. She’s a real fabric artist and her perfection in sewing both by machine and hand is amazing. She’s not limited to the needle—you must see her Zentangle on fabric she hand dyed. I’m glad to have found her in blogland a few years back.

Ok to start with I’m to answer some questions, but first a bit about me (not required—totally optional reading). I’m retired, a mom of three, grandmother of four and wife of one. My blog began in January of 2013 after lurking for just too long. The best part of blogging is meeting people with the same interests as you. They become blogger friends sharing their art, motivation and technique.

 1.     What am I working on?

The Sochi Meets Bali quilt from Hoffman (pattern free HERE). The bold diamond-shaped colors that flashed across the TV during the Winter Olympics inspired this pattern. The colors stood out against ice, snow plus hung everywhere and on the athletes as well.  

The top is completed and I found the greatest backing. First I must coming up with a quilting pattern that won’t steal the show of the beautiful batiks.

I'm trying to finish up the binding on the Spider Web QAL at Life in the Scrapatch. Check out her easy-to-understand tutorial.

 

Also in my sewing basket are two different embroidered Christmas projects. Here are three of the embroidered and colored (crayons) blocks – from Crabapple Hill Studios. It won’t be a finish for this year for sure. (Just checked their website and can only find the machine embroidered version.)

 

 

2.     How does my work differ from others of its genre?

 It probably doesn’t. I just follow instructions but may change the suggested colors. Don’t we all?

3.     Why do I write/create what I do?

I sew because the end result is well worth the challenge. Dealing with fabric is all about playing with color. I’ve been “needling around” all my life. First was hand sewing, knitting, weaving, and—remember this—working the spool with four nails with yarn..

My first sewing machine was a Singer treadle made electric that I paid $15 for—a huge expense at that time. It started with making maternity tops in the day of thrift.

Here are my blogger friends that I tagged. They will be posting next week, Monday, September 1^st so you need to take note.

  

1.     Pat at Life in the Scrapatches. You can tell from her blog that she is a very giving person shown by her numerous tutorials and patterns (not to mention her wonderful kind words). She plays with color and has wealth of talent to share. From her emails I can “hear” a gentle yet humorous tone. Her quilts are stunning and playful. 

2.     A Canadian blogger, France at  FranceNadeau (and I have no idea how that translates), you will see an abundance of creative machine projects with lovely art handwork. Her stitching is simplistic and eye-catching. Besides her love of needles, she is a card maker extrordinare where she incorporates her precision embroidery.

3.     Bev at 44th Street Fabric blog also manages a shop on Etsy.  Bev writes on her blog with a fun sense of humor common to folks from Oklahoma. She likes bright colors (yes!) and has many tutorials on her site. Her quilting style is more traditional but she’s got some delightful appliqué touches. If you like embroidery, check hers out. Lovely, lovely pieces—oh my.

 (Sorry the buzzards got into my post and messed up the formatting.)

Marcy

Small Quilts for Kids

My sewing group is making quilts for a nearby Ronald McDonald House.  I think the quilts will be delivered in September. I've completed two--both using the pillowcase method. There's still a bit more straight line quilting to do on one of them. My pictures may not be so great since I ran outside to snap some shots and realized it was nearing 100 degrees. What was I thinking?

We have a small supply of donated fabric. It was just enough for this small baby quilt.

This one is made from 6 ½ inch squares I had accumulated over the years in charm squares swaps at the local guild. I took all the bright ones and stitched them together in 7 blocks by 9 blocks. It's a good sized kid's quilt and from the prints it is either boy or girl.

In digging through my closet for the charm squares I cam across an embroidered flour sack towel. There was probably more to the pattern--somewhere. So sew rather than hoping to eventually find the pattern, I just stitched on some fabric binding by machine and will put it to good use. For some reason, I've always enjoyed embroidered flow sack towels even while they are drying out hanging on the stove--stains and all. That's the beauty of them.

I'm also working on the spider web QAL over at Life In the Scrapatch. Pat made this spider web quilt for a hop last fall and I've been going to make it. The QAL has pushed me into the web. She has perfect instructions on her blog. You'll not see a great Halloween quilt like this anywhere. It's her creation and she is sharing it and the fun with everyone.

 

 

Marcy



Small Flag Quilt

Here's what I accomplished this week. What a fun project and just my size (22" square). There sometimes can be just as much work and time put into a small quilt as a larger one. They also don't take up as much space.

I particularly like patriotic quilts. They are just plain keepers in my book. The four flag blocks came with the pattern in a kit from a vendor at a quilt show. I used my stash to make it. Oops! forgot to crop him out.

Here it is by the one bloom from the double delight rose bush. It's a wonder anything is blooming--it's August and dry.

Next I snapped a shot by one of the pink naked ladies. It's delightful at this time of the year to have something new pop out of the ground. Usually in the spring it develops long green stalks. Those die off and you cut them back to the ground. Then just like magic in August, up pops a single stalk that blooms.

Quilting was simply straight lines. My walking foot has an attachment allowing me to follow another line. It has never worked for me. Never. Best for me is foot down and pedal to the metal. Sometimes the faster I stitch, the straighter the line. Don't you just love the dimension those small squares of quilting display?

But all in all, I'm real pleased with it.

Marcy

Scrappy Trip Around the World

My 1930's reproduction fabrics have runneth over and it is time to use up the scraps. What a perfect quilt to do it with: Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trip Around the World. What a fun project his was to make but it hardly put a dent in the fabric containers. The directions are free on her blog (CLICK HERE) and she does a nice tutorial. It's a strip piece method and her directions are always great. There are some finished quilts there to look at for inspiration.


Perhaps it can be used as a table cover for that charm effect.







This old mop doll was created about 20 years ago and then somehow was hidden in the back of a closet. She looks great with the quilt, don't you think? Maybe I'll put the quilt and the doll in the guest room with my other 1930s quilts. They always look good in a group.








I had just enough of the solid green to make single-fold binding. Since it's a small quilt, it'll probably not get so much abuse.

Minimum straight line quilting was all it really needed. Sometimes over quilting a quilt with small and busy fabrics steals the look of the fabric.

I only made 16 blocks and decided to put it together. Good golly Miss Molly--I don't need another big quilt.



FYI, those are not my big feet.

Marcy