Sunday, November 20, 2011
Check it out……
She does everything – and does it well. Spins, weaves, (at one time grew silk worms), quilts, sews, makes bobbin lace, knits, does punch needle and counted cross-stitch. She is a wife and mother and grandmother.
On top of all that, she is cute and nice and funny and delightful to be around. My life is richer just knowing her. And now you too can get to know her. Please visit her blog – psminis.blogspot.com. Tell her I sent you.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Update–stitching & tumbler
The Red Chair worked out in my cozy bedroom. I stitched for a while last night, finishing up the pineapple leaves and getting a good start on the pineapple for block #6 of Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow.
It was nice being in a comfortable chair, my legs warm under a small quilt, good light for stitching, and some mildly interesting TV for company while I worked on my stitching.
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My niece, who quilts and stitches also, has started a blog and I am trying to encourage her to show off her excellent workmanship. Please visit her blog - Mustard Seed (Mustardseed-Becky.blogspot.com)
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Today I sewed the rows of the Christmas Tumbler together.
I went through my limited stash of Christmas fabrics to find a good border. I picked out a red stripe for a small inner border and a flowery Christmas fabric for the outer border. There isn’t much of the Christmas fabric, so that border will be just 3-1/2 inches – if there is even that much!
If there is not enough for the borders, I’m not going to worry myself about it as I got an email from the LQS today announcing that all Christmas fabric is 30% off. Sounds like a good deal to me!
Bonnie
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The Red Chair
This is my Red Chair
It was originally purchased to use in my kitchen. I wanted a comfortable chair to sit in while I had my coffee and read the newspaper. It was lovely at first, but it did crowd the table and sometimes made it difficult to fully access the refrigerator.
I moved it to my office, but it was crowded in the office too and there was no good lighting near the chair.
Company was coming, so I moved it to the living room and could then accommodate six people on comfortable seating – three upholstered chairs and a three-seater sofa. I had a small TV in the living room, so the red chair faced the TV.
Then I took the TV out of the living room and decided to move the red chair so that it faced out into the room and towards the front door.
There is a point to this story, so stick with me…….
Winter arrived here today. It was cold and windy. When winter arrives, I don’t like to be in my basement quilt studio in the evenings. I’m OK during the day with a good heater and daylight, but it isn’t as cozy as I would like it in the evening when the winter/cold weather seeps through the floor and walls.
I don’t want to get a TV for the living room, but I would like to stitch in a comfortable chair and watch TV in the evenings. The rocking chair that resides in the bedroom works OK if I’m only sitting for an hour, but after an hour it becomes very uncomfortable.
So…….I decided to move the red chair into the bedroom and the rocking chair to the living room. Now I can sit in the red chair, watch my bedroom TV, stitch, and be very cozy and comfortable.
There was one big problem – getting it through the doorway and past the dresser. I am persistent and strong. Putting it on it’s side I was able to squeeze it through the doorway and then with all my muscles put to use, I lifted the chair over the bed and around the dresser, into the corner where it barely fits. Yes, it is crowded and will be difficult to get to the left side of my closet, but this will be temporary.
I’d love to find a small inexpensive upholstered chair, but for now the red chair will do just fine.
Of course I didn’t sit in it yet and by the looks of the picture, there may not be much room for my legs.
The walls in my bedroom are a deep red and it makes the chair look almost tan/brown. (I hope you didn’t notice that the bed is not made – just pulled the quilt over to make it look like it was made.)
I’m going to go make dinner now and then spend a few hours in the Red Chair doing some counted cross-stitching. I’ll let you know how it works out.
Bonnie
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Christmas Tumbler
The very dark green tumblers make the whole quilt look rather dreary so I think I will add a bright border to spice it up a bit.
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Have you ever purchased a whole bolt of fabric? I was worried that I might not have enough of the main fabric for my cousins quilts, so I bought a whole bolt. The bolt is not that big – only 11 yards – but it insures that I will have enough for the sashing and borders. Any leftover can be used for pillow cases or part of the backing.
I wanted to cut into the fabric and make some sample blocks, but I restrained myself to make some progress on the Christmas Tumbler. There are so many good choices of things to work on right now – and temptations to start other new projects.
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My friend Penny is commencing on a new counted cross-stitch project – Quaker Christmas II Songs of the Season by ByGone Stitches. It is huge and beautiful. I will encourage her to not only “commence”, but to “continue” and finally to “finish”.
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Today I’m grateful for plenty of time to sew and read.
Bonnie
Monday, November 14, 2011
Old UFO Finished
Today I put the last stitch on the binding for this UFO from several years ago. I’ve lost all the information about the fabric and the pattern, but I seem to remember that the fabric line was titled “Oak Leaves and Reel”.
My friend Moe quilted it for me and I love that she used red thread.
The back is pieced with stash scraps.
So nice to have this finished and ready for using on my lap.
It will live on the rocker in my bedroom where I sometimes read, stitch, or knit.
It is November and I am happy to discover that I have finished up 12 UFO’s in 2011 so far, threw out one that was a mess, and three are at the long-arm quilter right now. (We won’t mention the 15 other UFO’s on the list, nor the promised two quilts for my cousin. There will be plenty to do in 2012!)
Today I am very grateful for quilting blog friends who never fail to inspire me – Judy L., Bonnie H., Jeanne A. just to name a few.
Bonnie
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Old UFO
Before I start working on the quilts for my cousin, I am determined to finish up some old projects. This quilt which I started two years ago, is intended for Quilts of Valor. It wasn’t big enough so I had to add more squares and two borders, which I finished up this afternoon. Now I need to piece a backing, send it off to be quilted, bind it, wash it, and it will at last be finished.
A very simple quilt and yet it took such a long time to get it this far. The backing fabric is already picked out and will require just one big seam (I think), and hopefully I can get that done tonight and off to the long-arm quilter tomorrow. YES !!!
Bonnie
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Shopping
My cousin asked me to make two quilts for her guest room. I went to the LQS this afternoon where my friend Gail works on Tuesdays. She helped me pick out some fabrics to get me started. The bottom red and gold fabrics will be the sashing and corner stones.
I love these colors and will thoroughly enjoy making the quilts. More fabrics will be added, but this is a good start.
Here is my EQ7 image of the quilts to be made.
It was a rainy gloomy day here and shopping for these sunny fabrics gave me a happy smile.
Bonnie
