Oh, Gosh! I Should Clean the Guest Room More Often.

Oh, gosh! Look what I found upstairs in the guest bedroom on top of the wardrobe with some finished quilts.  Who hid it up there?  Hmmmm...   I guess it's a good thing I had company and freshened up the guest room.  (Who knows what treasures I have hidden from myself all over the house. Treasure hunt, anyone?)

I started making this in 2011. I finished the top in 2012. And I started hand quilting it in Jan. 2013 but I didn't get very far and then I evidently hid it from myself. Hmmmm...   (I was calling this bird brains since it features birds in most the snowballs but we can see who the real bird brain is here).  It is also one of the few quilts I've made with a border and I even tried prairie points to boot. But, where did that lime green come from? I really despise lime green.  That explains all of those lime green scraps now! 

This was the first quilt I started quilting with regular thread (not perle).  Back then I used no thimble or hoop.  I got as far as stitching diagonally through all of the nine patches with an X.  (I'm talking about the dark squares.  I just added those Xs in the light patches last night).   I remember it was very difficult to hand quilt because I used some batik on the back and it sure doesn't needle like butter. 

The snowballs have a flower motif I traced with a stencil. 

This really wasn't up next in my hand quilting queue since I finished hand quilting Petunias but it's started, been pinned and my body doesn't feel like it should get down on the floor to pin baste any other quilt so away we go hand quilting this one. 

That batik back and you can see how much I already previously quilted. 

So, I guess I'll do some Slow Sunday (and Monday and Tuesday and...) for awhile on this thing.  I think it is Queen-sized. 

Joining Slow Sunday Stitchers at Kathy's Quilts. 

It's For the Birds Blog Hop

I'd like to thank Mary, of I Piece 2 - Mary and Madame Samm of Sew We Quilt for all their work organizing this "It's For the Birds" blog hop.  I've managed to make a few Christmas gifts with a bird theme that I'd like to show off today. 

OWLS

My first project is an owl themed lap quilt made up of some novelty owl fabrics and fall fabrics from my stash. Blocks measure 12 inches. Finished quilt is 48.5 x 60.5 and the pattern I used is called "Feed Sacks" from "Scrap Basket Surprises" by Kim Brackett.  It was quick and easy to assemble. 

I had to piece the backing because I didn't have as much of the bird themed fabric I thought I had! 

I free motion quilted some leaves on my DSM. (Yes, they are supposed to be leaves!)  I'm not quite sure WHO will get this as their Christmas gift....WHO? WHO? 

CHICKENS

I have a large collection of both old and new embroidery transfers. I don't remember where I picked up "Barnyard Happenings" but I love to embroider dish towels for Christmas gifts. Sometimes I pick up a package of the cheaper flour sack dishtowels from Walmart and other times I use the heavier, bigger and a little nicer ones from JoAnn's if I have a coupon.  Either way...I prewash the towels before I stamp and embroider. 

Thursday is market day in the barnyard.  For gift giving I also make hot pads/potholders to go with the dishtowelss. I used some polka dots and chicken/rooster fabrics I had in my stash. It has a pocket so you can use with your hand inside if you wish. I used Insulbrite and an old towel for batting. Combine with a chicken kitchen magnet found on clearance and a crocheted dish cloth and I can cross someone off my Christmas list and it's only May! 

Monday is wash day in the barnyard. This time I'm showing the reverse side of a second potholder/hot pad made of the same fabrics and same way as the one above, another chicken refrig magnet and another crocheted dish cloth.  And, I can cross off another name from my Christmas list. 

I'd like to say thanks again to Mary, of I Piece 2 - Mary and Madame Samm of Sew We Quilt for their work in organizing such a fun blog hop and a goal to accomplish. This is only my second blog hop. 

Please visit the other blogs on today's It's For the Birds Blog Hop schedule for some bird themed inspiration.  I'm hoping to pick up a few more Christmas gift ideas! 

Wednesday, May 8 




http://sunshinequilting.blogspot.com


http://feltfree-p.blogspot.no


http://busyascanbe.blogspot.com


http://quiltdoodledesigns.blogspot.com


http://buzzingandbumbling.blogspot.com


http://patchouli-moon-studio.blogspot.com


http://ecoughlindesigns.blogspot.com


http://mywhittleadventures.blogspot.com


http://SewMuch2Luv.blogspot.com


www.natilittlethings.blogspot.com

http://justletmequilt.blogspot.com


http://ncweekendquilter.blogspot.com


http://Selinaquilts.blogspot.com


http://saneandcrazy.blogspot.com (you are here)


http://abis-scrapsoflife.blogspot.com


http://roseprairiequilts.blogspot.com


http://marlarockscrafts.blogspot.com

What Was I Thinking??? (Or Was I)???

What was I thinking when I decided to hand quilt my queen-sized snowball and 9 patch quilt? This is my first quilt to hand quilt with regular thread. I've quilted a couple of lap quilts with perle cotton working up to this but I must have been nuts to tackle this quilt. But there it is....I'm still trying to get used to wearing a thimble over the callous I have from not wearing a thimble. I have an entire baggie of different types of thimbles and can't decide which one I like well enough to use. 

At any rate...I have all the 9 patches quilted through with an X and now it's time to work on the snowballs with some sort of design. I have a template only now I need to find a pen that will make marks I can actually see. 

I'm glad my house is cold. If it was summer I don't think I could bear to have this giant quilt on my lap. 

I tried to show some pictures with contrast. Stitching is done in purple thread. I might finally be getting the hang of this. My stitches are smaller now than when I first began. 

Can't decide on a name for it yet. All the snowballs contain fabric with birds on them.  I might just call it "The Birds" or "A Bird in the Hand and a Few in the Bush" or "Bird Brains" (oh, wait, that's me).   I guess I will have to wait until I put the label on to know for sure. 

While hopping around on blogs which I don't do very often I cam across Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts so thought I would link up with other Slow Sunday Stitchers there and see what else everyone is working on sloooowly. 

That's Just Fine and Dandy

I didn't have enough fabric for the backing for a large quilt I've had as a WIP since last June so I started making blocks to fill in with the batik backing. I used one of my fav blocks...Dandy...which finishes at 12 inches. Unfortunately I like them too much to use on the back of a quilt so I will probably have to make more Dandy blocks now...enough for a Queen sized quilt.

So, I don't know when I'll ever get this quilt finished. This was the look last June and it has since had a border of prairie points added. 

I think I have enough purple Kona to add a strip to the batik I have to make a backing...hopefully this weekend.

Linking up at Quilting by the River and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story. (Buttons on side bar).

The Answer is Blowin' in the Wind

No matter how hard I tried the quilt top would not stop blowing in the wind. It now measures 83.5 x 99 inches and I added a dark purple (plum?) 2 inch border. I'm now trying to decide what next for a border...prairie point leaves or appliqued leaves on a border. Oh, and doesn't the top with the sunlight reflecting through it look like stained glass?

At any rate...I can't decide what to do for the next border so I'll set it aside for a while. This is the quilt I am making the cq bedrunner to match. I need to work some more on those blocks too.

Doctor finally found a possible diagnosis for peripheral neuropathy...Guillaine Barre Syndrome (GBS). It's evidently rare...who would have thought? I think I'm getting better though. I've been forcing myself to use those fine motor skills even tho' it's been somewhat difficult. "Use it or lose it".

9 Patch WIPs

I participated in a scrappy 3 inch 9 patch swap. I'm going to particpate in a couple more...

...and turn them all into 5 inch Sister's Choice blocks with blue points.

I'll also be participating in a 3 inch 9 patch swap of blocks made of 30s reproduction fabrics and kona snow. I will just throw them all in a box and pick them out and sew together. There will be no further manipulating of these.

I won the last block lottery on another list and so I got to pick the next block up for lottery. I chose an easy 6 inch 9 patch block since summer is here and it's easy to make. These are the blocks I'll be sending the next lucky winner. I chose country type fabrics and made a set of blocks that alternate placement of lights and darks.  And the reason I chose the fabrics I did...

...is because I needed some more Country 9 patch blocks to add to my collection Add a medium shade 5 1/8 inch block cut on diagonal to all sides and you get a 8 inch block from your original 6 inch.

And now I have a pile of country blocks that may be enough to make a full size quilt. Some of these blocks were originally swapped on yet another yahoo quilt group last year.

Another way I am using 6 inch 9 patch blocks is by alternating them with 6 inch snowball blocks. I need to add 4 more rows and I will have a top for a queen sized quilt. Then I have to decide on borders...I think I will have a prairie point border that looks like leaves since this is a "Bird Quilt". Colors are mostly pink and lime green (both colors I originally hated) as well as deep purple and blues. I think a little border of plum then a little wider one of pink then the green prairie points is the way I am going to go. This is the quilt that will also have a matching crazy quilt bedrunner to go over the top of it (or I suppose it could be an extra long and thin wall hanging.)

You know, I was watching an old VCR tape I had of me in the garden when I was a little younger. I was struck by all the colors when I watched it. I don't think I had ever noticed so much color before when walking through the garden. I mostly notice the weeds since my flower garden gets weeded only after the veggies and with working full time + at my paying job the huge flower garden is never all weed free. But, I stray...anyway...color...when I watched that movie I was struck by the color and I couldn't help but feel uplifted and joyous. I hope when I look at this darned quilt I get the same feeling because this thing is pretty wild if I say so myself.

Finding My Voice (Literally, In Creative Writing and in Creative Stitching)

With my latest bout with a chest cold my voice has come and gone. That got me to thinking more about voice.

I have been taking a creative writing workshop a couple of times a year for the last few years. I'm going to start adding those stories to my creative writing blog "To My Children's Children". I have lots of stories...I just haven't posted them yet. I've been putting them in a journal for my descendants to discover someday.

I've struggled during those workshops to find my "voice". At the last workshop I think I finally figured out what was meant by "voice". All the workshop participants (5 of us) had a different voice and a different style. I think an author's particular voice emerges with practice.

And then I started wondering if creative stitchers have a "voice" just as authors do. I'm not sure I have one yet. I participate in crazy quilting round robins that have different themes and different people from all over the globe. I try new things. Yet, I don't think I have yet found my creative stitching voice. I'll have to think more about that. Will it come with practice as it has with my writing?

What follows are my latest endeavors in re creative quilting.

For the Birds for Connie. I added a wavy blanket stitch with some variegated thread grapes and another bunch of silk ribbon grapes at top. I crocheted some leaves and made some leaves from some textured ribbon and stitched some raised leaves. There's a circular fantasy vine on the side and some kiko flower stitch flowers and the circular patch. Somewhere on here I used DMC "Antique Effects" metallic thread for the first time and found it easy to work with and when I combined it on anothr block with regular DMC it gave a very prettey antique effect indeed.

This is another of Connie's blocks that all participants in the RR stitched on. The upper right corner was black velvet so I thought it called for some silk ribbon to raise above the pile. I added light blue stem and flowers. My other addition was the silk thread flowers under the bird near the button cluster. I just love the color of blue on that bird.

This is my work on Nicki's Lucious Lace block. It's really not a very good picture but there are lots of different laces on this block. I have a hard time figuring out how to embellish over lace.

This is Laurie's English Garden block that she wanted stitched as a child's garden. The fabrics are all flannel. I let this sit for a while before I took up stitching on it in order to figure out what to do on it. I was  first going to cover it all with lots of fabric leaves one could pick up and look under to find bugs or other jewels. For some reason I didn't go with that idea. I started by embellishing all seams with perle number 5 in feather stitch. I normally use perle 8 but felt flannel called for a little thicker thread. Anyway...after I added all the feather stitches I tried to add to all of them in a different way. Then, my grandkids just love butterflies in the garden so I added a big one at top and a tatted one at bottom. Then I added some other bugs, bees, insects and a spider. Joy.

On Tone on Tone and Following Crazy Tips

This is my work on Ritva's Tone on Tone block. Her instructions stated we could use a little old pink, green and/or black if we wished but to keep it mostly white, cream and light brown. I crocheted 3 pansies - one of 6 strands of embroidery thread, one of size 10 crochet thread and one of size 15. Then added a few silk ribbon pansies and cast-on stitch pansies. Also added various types of roses, some kiko flower stitches, beads, lace and some butterflies done in outline stitch and DMC precious metal thread (can't remember color) which I found easy to handle as far as metallic threads go.

This block I already posted last week as my finished work on Janet's bird block. And then, I was contacted by Gerry K with some bits of advice on how to make the block just a little bit better. That was advice I readily accepted. It was to move the blue organdy flower from the middle of the block to the bunch of flowers at top right. And then to fill in that empty spot with some more raised leaf stitches. Well, the organdy flower got a little crumpled in the move since a few of my gathering stitches were cut in the move; however, I pieced it back together as best I could so it now looks more like the flowers in my garden - not all perfect (and I should have added a few weeds up there with the flowers, but that's another story for another day). And, below is the newly revised block.

Going a Bit Crazy

Between trying to get out into the garden to get my flowers and veggies in and working my real job that pays the bills (6 years to retirement) I've managed to stitch on a few crazy quilt blocks as follows:

Above is Janet's "For the Birds" block.

We were also supposed to contribute some stitching toward a joint block so I added some fluffy thistle, a crocheted sunflower with prairie point leaf, some "kiko flower stitch" and added a few flowers to the stem stitch that was already on the block. Below is the total block after my addtions.

Above is my addition to Nina's "Pink Color Study" block. The button cluster was already there but I added a few beads and drizzle stitches to the largest button. Also added a tatted butterfly, some bullion and silk ribbon roses, some ribbon, a couple seam treatments and a crocheted heart. I really didn't think I liked pink before I started on this block. Now that I've picked up some pink supples I will probably make a few things for a granddaughter who has loved pink since she was old enough to say the word.

This is Nina's pink block after me and ready to pass on to the next stitcher.

This is my stitching on Carol's "Anything Goes" block. She has a wonderful valentine theme going with her blocks that I just love. She is going to make a wallhanging with all the blocks separated with black sashing hence the black additions. I've been working on valentine blocks for my own valentine bedrunner so had a bunch of supplies on hand to add to Carol's block. Even tho' I never get much for Valentine's Day and even though I am not much of a decorating or holiday celebrating person I must say for some reason I love Valentines.

The Birds (A Sane and Crazy Plan)

A sane quilt and crazy bedrunner in the works.

The above is a layout for the sane part of the plan.

I'm about a third of the way finished with making blocks for this quilt. Two different 6 inch blocks are involved - snowballs and 9 patches. This is not my normal color scheme - in fact it is rather wild for me but I found some fabrics I liked that dictated my choice of colors - lime green, bright pink and purple.  This quilt will be full sized when finished and hopefully I will have a crazy quilt bed runner to go with it at the end of the bed. A few of the bird blocks are out in an RR now.  This is not necessarily the layout of the blocks for the completed quilt. I just wanted to see how things were looking.

Stitching the Bird

I saw this motif in one of my embroidery books and thought it would be right for this block. I just thought she was cute hanging on to the daisy upside down. But now that I look at it I wonder if maybe the bird should have been right side up and the daisy upside down. Hmmm, well, it's there to stay now. This is Nicki's block for the "For the Birds" RR.

Here's a more detailed pic of the bird whic I did mostly in stem stitch using two strands of DMC sometimes in different colors and other times just one color. 4 different colors of blue were used all together.

Since someone dropped out of the RR we decided we would all work on a joint block for each person from here on in. I chose this one which is more of a fantasy bird block. Nicki had the lace motif already on the block. I'm not good at dressing up motifs so left that for someone else to do. Instead I added a few fantasy flowers and birds.

The Sane Birds

Previously I showed different bird themed crazy quilt blocks I made - six of them to be used in a crazy quilt RR- in this post and in this post. I will embellish the remaining blocks, make more and embellish them and make them into a bed runner to go over a sane bird quilt.  I started on that quilt this weekend. I decided to use the snowball/nine patch combo for blocks and have made 27 out of the approximate 144 blocks I need. (Actually, I think I need more than that but I wil use 144 as a goal to work toward). Some peacock fabric actually sparked my idea and off I went from there.

I don't know what it is but I actually hate lime green and I'm not fond of purple, but there it is - the most used fabrics in the blocks I made. I'm breaking out of my safe mode (in bird talk have I "flown the coop"?) of blues, browns and neutrals. Above are some of the nine patch blocks and below are some of the snowball blocks.

And, here's how they will look together. And, now imagine the cq bedrunner at the bottom of the bed over all this. Stay tuned...

Sick and Tired and Crazy

As I mentioned yesterday I have been drinking Pepto Bismol cocktails, doing the bathroom dash and taking catnaps the last few days. I hope an end to the misery is here soon. The stomach cramps are horrible. I haven't been sick in years. I'm thinking it comes from having two granddaughters who started school this year. Otherwise I don't know where the cooties came from. In between I have managed to go a little crazy and get some stitching done.

"For the Birds" DYB (Do Your Block) for Cathy K. This block made me laugh when I first saw it. I think the birds were searching for a statue down below; however, all I could manage was a cat who is oblivious to the birds since he is chasing a butterfly.

And this is my work on Lorrie's "Spring has Sprung" DYB. Fans and butterflies and roses seem pretty Spring like to me. I can't wait for my garden to show signs of the same.

And, finally, my work on Margreet's Summer DYB. I guess I keep dreaming of butterflies and roses.

Margreet included a button with each block and requested us to use it on the block we stitched. I think it is fun to see how everyone uses the button.

Here is what Beryl did with it.

And below is how Ritva used the button. Sorry, the flash makes it look yellowish but it's not.

And below is what I did with the button. I added a crocheted flower under it and drizzle stitch through the button holes.