Lazy Week

I wasn't feeling very well this past week, so I worked on some things for The Patchwork Peach quilt shop.

I started off making a few bolts of fabric and fat quarter bundles on stream.

Off camera, I cut more fat quarters. Lots more. Apparently I hadn't cut all the fat quarters from the last time I made bolts. There are still more to cut. *sigh*

The rest of the week on stream was dedicated to working on fat quarter bundles.

On Friday I took a tally of bolts. There are 634 in the bin in this picture!

I also cut more bolts and fat quarters from the new fabrics I bought on my last shopping trip.

With the addition of these mini bolts, there are now 664 miniature bolts of fabric for my quilt shop.

There are still more fat quarters to cut and LOTS more bundles to make. Depending on how I'm feeling this coming week, I may keep working on them. I could also make more fat quarter bundle earrings.

In other news, the weird pain in my right foot that I've been dealing with for weeks is apparently a stress fracture. I'm in a walking air cast thing for the next 4 weeks and then get to go back to the orthopedic doctor. I swear if it's not one thing, it's another. At least the air cast is easier to deal with than a real cast.

I need to clear all the fabric fun off the table now. We're having friends over this evening. See you all next week!

Many Irons

In a complete contrast to last week's frustrations, many things have been going right. So much in fact that I had to make the decision to leave out pictures of the gardens' progress. Otherwise this post would take up lots of time and be saturated with photos. There are enough project pictures to choke bandwidth for anyone still using dial-up as it is...

Let's start off with miniatures! I have a few more quilt bolts for the shop. In this top picture, the dark brown bolt is a leftover from a project. The others were purchased to fill in the yellow, orange, and brown selections.

 In this photo, the bolt in the middle was bought specifically for the quilt shop. But it's from a line of fabrics that I purchased yardage of in other fabrics to make a quilt... so I don't feel very guilty about it. ;-) The other two are project leftovers.

Also the mini group project this week was hydrangeas. I made one of each color offered. The pink one still needs leaves though.

We "cheated" and used a punch for the flowers and the punch was 6-petaled and not 4-petaled. So we all have mutant hydrangeas. Made our lives easier for the two hour long meeting though!

Next up is me trying out my new prairie point guide with some extraneous fabric from my stash. I wanted to figure out the folds and cuts on fabric that wasn't purchased for the quilt I'm practicing the technique for. The results are pretty spiffy!

I did get the scrappy border on the other flag wall quilt this week. I'm very pleased with the results.

My healing shoulder got a bigger workout and I finally got this baby quilt quilted and halfway bound!

It's only been waiting since last fall... the baby in question is at the proto-crawling stage and loves to get hugs and kisses. He's a very happy boy. I can't wait to see his reaction to the different colors.

Now I'm working on a pair of quilts for twin boys born almost two weeks ago. The nursery is decorated in navy blue and white with chevrons.  I chose a larger quilt design and cut the squares half the size required. I'm getting two quilts for the same yardage this way. The blocks stored in the bag are actually in the order for the layout. The other stack is for the second quilt.

 And here's the layout for the first quilt. Not the best picture as it was taken last night when the light was bad. The second quilt's layout will be the same except I'm turning the blocks 180 degrees so the bottom becomes the top. I want the tops to be slightly different but these colors were difficult to get balanced. 

And that's it! Today I'll be piecing the chevron quilt tops and hopefully piecing the backs as well. I'm hoping I'll get to the quilting on at least one of them into the coming week. I also have that quilt to piece which require six width-of-fabric rows of prairie points! There are a few other UFO quilts waiting on their quilting too. Let's see how far I can get this week!

Quilting Great and Small.. and A Bunny

FH and I finally have a weekend at home where we don't have to do lots of yard work. It's a welcome change of pace. This past week I've kept myself pretty busy, so a nice break to spend time together is just what we needed.

On the quilting front, I finished another top. This time it's the one for FH.

As you can see, Artie has remained helpful and attentive to this project.

In the realm of smaller things, I now have 604 miniature bolts of fabric for The Patchwork Peach quilt shop.

 And the bunny! We took Victor outside to see if he'd like to nibble some fresh mint. He was too overwhelmed to want to nibble, though. Maybe next time.

And a bonus picture of my new foxgloves beginning to bloom!

That's all for this week. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Folding and Molding

I got into the mood to work on some bolts for the Patchwork Peach during the week. If I recall correctly, these bring the total up to 442 bolts of fabric. I've got fabric for another 20 or so and then I'm going to stop making bolts until I get my shelving sorted.

I also unearthed some mini fat quarter bundles that I made a few months ago. I'll be making more of each colorway at some point.

Yesterday I thought I'd get started on making a cane of candy decorations for a St. Patrick's Day themed cake. I got as far as mixing a brick of White with a brick of Translucent before my hands decided they'd had enough. It took the length of a movie on Netflix to mix. Hopefully the greens won't be as bad... I don't need as much of them.

The project is a sample for the mini group's March project. I thought I'd give myself plenty of time to make the sample and handout for them. They're getting the instruction for the cane in the handout, but I'm supplying the finished cane that evening. It will save on time and frustration all around.

Artie has taken to sleeping in the ancient cat condo in the dining room while I work. I managed to sneak a couple of pictures without disturbing him too much. This one is my favorite, despite the bit of fuzz on the lens when I took it. Gotta love the kitten toes!

Anyways, I'm going to go mix up some green clays and hopefully get going on the cane today. Otherwise I'll be another day behind. See you next week!

Of Sewing and Strep

The past week has been interesting to say the least. Mr. P moved back to his bachelor pad, which means he was finally strong and healthy enough to live on his own again. Then I came down with strep throat. The timing was irritating, but I caught it fast (Thursday) and am already starting to feel normal again.

I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped in terms of cleaning, decorating, and projects but given the circumstances, I'll take what I've got.

I finished the cleanup work on these eight autumn napkins. I love the contrast of these too fabrics. The picture doesn't do them justice.

 The placemats are "pillowcased," trimmed, trimmed, turned, and pressed. They still need the side opening slip stitched closed and quilted. However I'm tabling them until after I get my holiday gift sewing done. I'm thinking about quilting them with autumn designs and that will take longer than I have time for currently.

 And whilst I was cleaning I unearthed these 6 1930's reproduction prints that I'd purchased to make quilt shop bolts from, so I got them cut last night. Like the other 59 from last weekend, I haven't cut the individual fat quarters yet. None of these particularly appeal to me for more use in miniature, so the remaining fabric will get put in my life-size quilting stash.

I finally found where I'd stuck this picture. I took it back in June. It's the quilt shop bolts I'd made to date, organized by color or collection. I need to get an accurate count at some point. There was one, but apparently the note was "put in a safe place." Plus I think I finished a few more bolts since then, not to mention the 65 bolts ready to be completed.

The hard part will be resisting the urge to buy more fabrics until I can get my custom shelves cut and assembled. That's actually going to be an issue for a few months. My friend who built a laser cutter sold it. He wants to build a larger one and needed the capitol to start the project. It will be a while before a new one is finished. I was also going to have him cut the other windows I need for the 1930's Nursery roombox. So that project is on hold for a while.

Now that I have access to the actual Patchwork Peach building again, I will likely start in on painting, flooring, and interior accents after the holidays. Perhaps by then I'll have found someone else with a laser cutter in the area who would like to help me out.

59 More Bolts Prepped

What you see below is 59 more pieces of fabric cut and pressed in preparation to make into miniature quilt bolts for the Patchwork Peach Quilt Shop. I've had lots of remnants and fat quarters for the project laying around the dining room since I hurt my shoulder in July and since I want to decorate for the holidays, I needed to put them away.

So instead of shoving the fabric into a box and putting it "in a safe place" for a bit, I went ahead and cut my strips from everything and pressed them. I haven't cut my mini fat quarters from all these yet. I'm holding off on those. I am putting the readied bolt sections in the same box as the soon-to-be fat quarters though. But at least I'll hopefully have a better idea of what I'm doing when I get the box out again.

I'm still waiting on access to a laser cutter to make the shelving for the Peach. Hopefully in the coming year I will be able to get my hands on one. I'm also waiting on Mr. P to be sound enough to be able to return home so I can actually work on the interior of the Peach... the building is located in our guest room.

That's all for this week. I'm hoping I will have the dining room tidied up and decorations up by next week. We'll see how that goes.

Minor Progress

Not much to report for this week.  It was fairly hectic with meetings and social events, so I wasn't home much.  No real time for either minis or stitching.  But I did get the black cap on the goldfinch done and finished up another skein of the background color.  I've also started in on finishing the cattail leaf.  

I decided I am going to remove the woven stitch on the cattail and redo it so the white doesn't show through.  However this means I can't redo it until I get another skein of the correct color and size of pearl cotton.  I'll either have to order it on line or drive to the next closest city to get it.  Paying twice the cost of the single skein for shipping is still cheaper than the gas to drive, but it doesn't sit well with me.  Besides, this way I can browse my favorite needlework shops.

I did figure out a color for the interior walls of the Peach and have one coat in place.  I have overnight company coming this week, so I need to get the second coat in place, paint the trim, and move the shop back to the dresser.  If I have time after cleaning the house, I'll get the windows and door worked on.

That's all for now.  I hope everyone has fun this coming week!

Projects and Classes

This past week really few by!  I spent Monday to Wednesday in classes taught by Susan of Foxview Needlepoint.

Monday saw myself and ten friends learning new needlepoint stitches for this American goldfinch.  Each canvas was hand-drawn by Susan.  It might take a while, but the stitches are not overly complex and the subject is something I enjoy.  This is how much I managed to complete during the class period:

Tuesday morning, ten of us (a different mix of ladies) learned the technique of rug hooking.  Most of the students chose a sheep design, two others worked pumpkins.  I brought my own kit that I found at one of the local quilt shops, a Christmas stocking ornament.  I managed to finish the hooking Tuesday afternoon at the guild meeting.

Wednesday there was a lecture on choosing colors for our needlework designs.  Nothing to really photograph for this class.  But I did get more of the Goldfinch done.  I also thought to get a picture of my canvas with the sample picture.

Somehow through all this I managed to get a second coat of paint on the Peach's exterior.  I also got the trim sections and bay window primed with gesso, and got one coat of paint on the bay window's top.

Currently Goldfinch looks like this.

I decided to change the eye section, so the two white stitches that were there are now gone.  I also decided I don't care for the more open weave on the cattail, so that's all coming out and I'll stitch it again with a tighter weave once I get a replacement skein of the correct pearl cotton.  But I did finish up 1 out of 7 total skeins for the background color!

Bolts and Quarters

Happy Sunday, folks!  I'm still not feeling as great as I felt prior to Joe's untimely death.  Truthfully it's been a rough couple of weeks.  But I'm hanging as tough as I can.

I wanted mindless projects this week.  Things I could do whilst listening to the television.  So I made 24 more bolts for the quilt shop.  By the by, I've decided to call the shop "The Patchwork Peach."  Anyways, some of these fabrics came from another "scrap bin" that I'd totally forgotten about... to the tune of I discovered it in the workroom closet.  The other fabrics were given to me by two ladies in Guild.

 

I've started figuring out what types of fabric I'm still looking for.  It's mainly tiny holiday prints, specifically Easter, St. Patrick's Day, and Thanksgiving.  I've got a few for Valentine's Day and several for Halloween, Independence Day, and Christmas.  It would really be cool to find some for Hanukkah!  I'm also looking for prints that would be found in the "kids" section.  A few more micro ginghams and small homespun prints would also be nice.  Half the fun of making these bolts is the hunt for the fabrics!

I thought it would be fun to show all 262 miniature bolts in one photo.  Making bolts is only partially mindless, since I like to name my fabrics.

The really mindless project was folding  and gluing min fat quarters.  I doubled the amount in this bin.  I've still got a few thousand to go before I can really get started making my bundles.  But I did make it through the last part of "Waking the Dead," series 5, and all three series of "Wallander" while I worked.

I have to go back to concentrating tomorrow.  I'm taking a needlework class from 9-4pm Monday.  Then rug hooking workshop on Tuesday and attending a seminar on using colors in needlework on Wednesday!  By Thursday I'll be ready for mindlessness again.  

See you next week!

Working on the Quilt Shop

Happy Sunday, everyone!

I've gotten most of the interior primed and ready for painting.  Not sure what color I'll choose, but it will probably be something neutral.

I also spent a bit of time cleaning in the workroom.  No, I don't have photos.  It's just too cluttered yo see any improvement.  However I did find some minis that I plan on using in the quilt shop.  These are all gifts from friends and family over the years.

Here's a closer view of the bunny doll and turkey decoration.  I might figure out how to make more of these.  Might.  It depends on my mood.

Also I took a picture of some furniture Aunt Pat me for the shop.

I think the table on the left will look nice with some sort of table covering and some samples and/or fat quarter bundles on it.  The cabinet needs some work, but may end up with a runner draped over one of the doors.  They are both going to stay in the attic room.  The two smaller tables will be put where ever they'll fit on the lower floors.

That's pretty much all for this week.  I've been reading some neat books on needlework I found at the library, which is taking up lots of time.

See you all next weekend!

All of the Things!

I started out moving structures around the house in the attempt at making room for a new printer when we finally get one.  The building for the quilt shop was moved upstairs, which is nice since it's currently sitting where I want it to live.

  Artie "helped."

Then I finalized my sketches for the shelving I need to construct to hold the fabric bolts.  

 I also worked on bolts for my quilt shop and cut fat quarters... lots of fat quarters.  Here are the bolts: 

Then I started making birthday gifts for my mini friends in St. Louis:

- One friend has a HUGE dollhouse that has a wonderful sewing room.  I thought some mini fat quarter bundles would be a nice addition.

- Another friend has been painting miniature watercolor landscapes for a couple of years.  I thought she might like to start her own mini artist's studio.  The portfolio is made of card and covered with a piece of real-life wallpaper that had a neat texture.  The darker "leather" is a football texture scrapbook paper.  I modified the handle from the original by wrapping waxed linen with the scrap-booking paper.  The directions are in Dolls' House Details by Kath Dalmeny.  Same for the watercolor paper with proper deckle edges.

- A third friend had missed two years' worth of birthdays and Christmases, as she was on a mission trip.  She'd been working on a mini quilt shop, so I thought some more fabric and some fat quarter bundles would be a nice addition.  She got three bolts and three bundles, plus one each for each of her last three birthdays and two Christmases.

- I designed a special piece of stitching for Aunt Pat's birthday, but I'll talk more about it further down.  It didn't get finished until Saturday.

Tuesday I woke up late to the news that a friend of ours, Joe, had passed away suddenly on Saturday and his funeral was to be Wednesday night.  That sort of derailed my train of thought for a bit.  FH came home early Tuesday and we cried for a bit.  Joe was 31 years old and it's still unclear as to why he died.  The coroner hasn't released a final report.

After going out for comfort food Tuesday I wandered over to my favorite quilt shop and spied a brilliant blue fat eighth that reminded me of Joe.  he favorite color was blue and this fabric was in the specific shade of his favorite shirt.  It begged to become a bolt of fabric in my quilt shop, so I bought it... and 15 other fat eighths that were neat.  After we got home, I made these:

As I tried to sleep that night I decided we should wear some blue to the funeral, so on Wednesday I made these pins.  They are forget-me-not flower yo-yos, made from the same blue fabric as the miniature bolt.  FH  wore the singleton on his suit jacket and I wore the group of three as a brooch on my shrug.

Then I didn't do much for the rest of Wednesday into Thursday.  Friday we drove south to see friends and I slept for most of the day.

Saturday I finished the last of the stitching on this birthday gift for Aunt Pat.  Originally I was going to turn them into cushions (1.25" square), but there isn't much room in the scene for cushions.

However she needs wall art, so whilst she's in Tuscon, AZ for the N.A.M.E. convention, she's in the market for gilded frames of the correct size.  Aunt Pat gets to visit The Mini Time Machine Museum while she's there.  I'm jealous!  I told her to watch out for witches named Tessie whilst she was there.  I'm afraid if they met there would be more work for me to do for Pat and for Casey to do for Tessie!

Anyways, the design is modified from a piece of embroidery I found in 18th Century Embroidery Techniques by Gail Marsh.  During the 18th century it was popular to work designs completely in chain stitch, usually on muslin garments.  In 1759 (according to Ms. Marsh) the tambour method of embroidery was introduced in Europe.  The differences are mostly visible on the back of the work, but tambour allows for turning curves and corners better.

Aunt Pat's current roombox is set in 1755, so I used plain old chain stitch for the piece.  I chose the colors to coordinate with the doll, who is dressed in pale peach silk.  The foundation fabric is fine cotton lawn, basted onto muslin.  I will probably be the one to frame them once she gets her frames bought.  That will be on another trip south.

We got home late Sunday night.  Then I had to deal with all the unpacking, laundry sorting, oil changing, grocery buying, etc that gets done after a trip.  Happily our neighbor had invited us for dinner tonight, so there wasn't a need to do any cooking.

That's all for now.  I'm working on the quilt shop this week.  We'll see how far I get with any of that.