Edwin's Pillow

I had a chat with my DD and she explained to me that her three year old would like a pillow and pillowcase combo like his big brother's.

We got out the new down pillow we had.  I don't remember the down being so....downy, but after much fluffy transferring....

and lots of vacuuming, I had a nicely stuffed little boy pillow.

Then the pillow case.  Just a few embroidery stitches...

And there you are....

I hope he likes the bug print.

Merry Christmas 2014

And suddenly there was with the angels a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the Highest and Peace and Goodwill to all men.

Plate Pockets

I am lucky enough to have two sets of dishes.  One for summer and one for winter.  The ones in storage are always in danger -- yes real danger of being chipped,  dropped or just messed up with the usual dust issues.  I started thinking I would look for a pattern for some sort of cover up for them....

Then I just decided to design it myself.  Leftovers from other projects and bits of batting....

I also wanted to experiment with invisible zippers as I had just seen a sewing show on TV about putting them in with your regular sewing foot.

TaDaaa...

I am really happy with the plate ones.  I wonder if I can manage to make some for soup bowls and saucers.

More Gone Fishin'

Progress is being made.  These shapes are pretty cute and I am having good success at getting each fish to finish up at 2 1/2" by 6 1/2".

Quite a pile of trimmings though.

Now for the borders...

Taking a break to make a Fishy project...

Stop the presses, or rather I am voluntarily stopping my current projects to make this one for someone special.  Content warning...there are fish....

Here's the cutting piles,

These are the carcasses of the fish.  Stitch and flip to make the fishy shapes.  The pattern by Four

And I am pressing seams open because that is what I do.  They are wonderfully flat and non-bulky.

Inspirational Siting

A new riff on Mollie's Spring Embroidery Hexies

I have been away but busy.  I continue to work on the spring hexie embroidery designs I downloaded for free from Wild Olive's wonderful, generous blog.

I made the flower rings as Mollie suggested but then I thought I would applique the flower rings on to a larger hexagon

I used the tried and true newspaper and made my own templates  for the hexagons.

Soon I had a dozen done...

So pretty.  I am not sure where this is going....stay tuned.

Inspirational Sighting

The roof shingles on the Stavekierke, in Rapid City, SD

Green and Leafy Embroidery

Wow, I am really liking how this is going.  Take a look.

The dark green shaded leaves are done in backstitch (I think it is called) but the variegated blue/green (DMC 4030) is done in stem stitch.  I wanted it to have a weight to it so it wouldn't disappear behind the darker green.

Inspirational Sightings

A sighting at the Heritage Park Festival of Quilts

sorry I don't know who made it.

Delightful Stars QAL

Still sailing along on the Delightful wave of Stars.  I have been following along for quite a while and I have a lovely pile of stars waiting...  This pattern comes from the Quilting Gallery and it's all about precision.  I am very pleased with my efforts.

Another day another block...

If you visit the site you will see that the blocks are shown on dark even black backgrounds.  I had to change that of course.  I am pleased with my results.

Green and Leafy Design in the works

I feel like lately, I am kind of fixated on embroidery.  And then I was inspired to make my own design.  It is a leafy design as I was in leafy Manitoba when I got inspired.  I started out thinking I would do some Hawaiian applique but it had a mind of it's own, so here we go...

The first layer of stitching surrounds some shaded leaf shapes.  I liked it but then I thought I would add another layer

More lines later and the shadows will be in the variegated thread I think...Stay tuned.

Inspirational Sighting

A card I received recently.

Inspirational Sightings

My cousin came to visit and had some fun in my sewing room...

The Lord's Prayer continues

I am a bit behind as the new section came out from Elefantz Craftsy shop but I am working on.

Hallowed is such an important word.  I think it is the essence of our interaction with the Lord.  'regarded as holy; venerated; sacred'

That's all there is to say.

New iPad Covers

I had company last week and it was my darling sister.  She has one of those ipad minis. I had made a cover for it back when she got it a year or so ago.  It was in sad shape as she uses it all the time.  Course her ipad is in lovely shape because she uses it all the time....

Here's her new cover.  Just like the old one down to the pocket which I enlarged a bit by request.  I hope she likes this one.

Then my son came along with a request for a cover for his larger ipad.

I made it in a similar style - no pocket tho - and then I got creative with the stitches on my Bernina and finished the very edge with a square decorative stitch.  As it went over the edge and the interfacing is white and thick there is a neat pattern of black stitched holding it all together.

Still Knitting

I am still working on this little tank top.  It is a bit slow.  I guess I take too many breaks.  Or is it all the people I follow on Instagram...

However it is the project is progressing from here to here...

 Pretty. huh?

Sparrow Wall Hanging

As you might know, I am a fan of Jenny over at Elefantz.  She makes lovely embroidery patterns.  They are simple yet profound and I admire them a lot.

Now look what I made:

Jenny offered this Sparrow quote embroidery for free on her Craftsy page.  (These are the lyrics of a hymn from my childhood.)

So I followed her tutorial on how to add fabric to your embroideries. ( You can find it under tutorials on her home page at Elefantz.)

Every time I look at it I have to hum the song....I can hardly wait to see how it will look on my mother's wall.... She may even sing out loud...I hope so.

New Delightful Stars Blocks

Here are the new blocks from the QAL over at Mishkas Playground.

I know, great, huh?

The Lord's Prayer embroidery

Of course I can't stop starting something new and I love embroidery projects.  They are so portable, and with summer coming we will be on the road a bit more I think.

So I jumped in to the free Lord's Prayer embroidery project presented by Jenny over at Elephantz.  How wonderful does that look?

So I have been busy picking out my fabric...

I have the title embroidery ready to go...Oh, wait, this post has been sitting in the draft bin and now I have more...

I feel like the fabric is too dark or intense.  Maybe I will say the commitment has been made and I will go with this colour scheme.  What do you think?

Delightful Star Quilt Along progress

I am a bit behind on this one but I am really enjoying the block making.  I feel that I am really getting a bit better at accuracy....

This one is the latest and maybe my favourite so far....

And here is my design wall with them randomly laid out...

The pattern is available at the Quilting Gallery here.

Flying Geese Help

I love the look of flying geese but I almost always have trouble keeping them square.  So while I was trying for accuracy in the Delightful Star Quilt Along I discovered an easy system for getting some good results.

First I cut the triangles out as the chart suggested.
Then I sewed the first side triangle to the centre goose.

Then I got out a right triangle ruler and lined it up so the angled seam ran down a series of crossroads ...

Next I trimmed the narrow strip that was exposed so now the goose is square again. Then I sewed on the other side triangle...

Voila, perfect...

It seems pretty simple but the result was amazing...

I love it when it all comes together. This block is for the Delightful Star Quilt a long

Walking among the flowers

In the last couple of weeks, we traveled to Ontario to visit my sister.  What a great time we had.  The smoked fish was wonderful.  And we were entertained by Wendy's wonderful musical renditions.  She is very talented.

We walked in the nearby provincial park where Stephen Leacock is buried.  He is our most famous humour writer.

It was so peaceful even though it was a Saturday and you can't see it but Lake Simcoe is just past those trees in the background, lapping against the rocks.

Through this lovely gate and on to the trilliums blanketing the forest floor.  The trillium is the provincial flower of Ontario.