Kaleidoscope of Butterflies

X Stitch Butterflies on X stitch morning glories on stamped embroidery pillowcases. 

(Found long ago w/o embroidery at the thrift store for $2.50 so decided I might as well finish them and either use them, add to the grandkids' hope chests or give as gift). 

I'm pretty sure this is a Comma on that blade of grass. 

(Found on an evening walk through my gardens. )

Tiger Swallowtail on Joe Pye Weed

(Found on an evening walk through my gardens). 

Skipper on Lantana

(Found on my deck - one of many Skippers that were fascinated with the potted Lantana one afternoon while I was sipping on a margarita and munching on mango salsa and chips). 

An InLinkz Link-up

Two Sets of Finished Pillowcases

These pillowcases were stamped for embroidery and hemstitched ready for a crochet edging.  My daughter found them in her mother-in-law's things when she passed away and asked me if I wanted them.  Sure!  (I received several unfinished sets and did finish one set a while ago for my daughter and son-in-law).   Can you tell I like variegated threads? 

This set I purchased at a thrift store ages ago.  Since I'm working on finishing up a few rose themed quilts I figured I might as well finish up some rose themed pillowcases to match. 

I probably should have used a smaller crochet hook to go with my #30 thread (11 instead of 8) but I can hardly see to crochet with an 11 hook. I think the edgings turned out just fine. 

I picked up the #30 thread I used for the crochet and the crochet edging books at the thrift store long ago too.  I'm finally getting around (now that I'm retired) to doing something with all those thrift store finds.   I have several more sets to embroider that will probably go into the grandkids' hope chests. 

And on a final note...one of my garden roses. Ahhhh...the scent!

Looking through rose colored glasses today and

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Embroidering Roses

I'm embroidering on a set of old pre-stamped pillowcases.  After I've finished the embroidery on two pillowcases I'll crochet an edging on both.  I might also make a set of pillowcases from that rose fabric in the background.   After all...I do have several rose themed quilts in the works so might as well make some rose themed pillowcases for the bed too. 

Normally I stamp or trace my own embroidery patterns but my daughter brought me these pillowcases she found in her mother-in-law's things after she passed away several years ago. (My daughter fishes, forages and gardens but doesn't go near any type of needle despite my best efforts to lure her near one). 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

For My Flamingo Loving Sister

My sister  💕💕💕💕💕 flamingos.  She even takes a couple  of those plastic ones with her on vacations to stick out at her campsite.  On her birthday last year she received a pink bicycle that her friends had rigged up with a flamingo head at the handle bars and flamingo body on each side of the curve down from the handle bars. (I'm not describing it very well but it's hilarious especially with her on it with a flamingo hat on her head. )   So, I made her a couple of flamingo pillowcases for Christmas.   I'm not so sure my brother-in-law will enjoy laying his head on a flock of flamingos but he usually goes along with my sister's whims without complaint. 

And  these pillowcases were goal  #20 

for

Q4 Finish-A-Long 2016

I also embroidered a couple of flamingos on a flour sack dishtowel and crocheted a scrubbie and dishcloth to go with it. 

Now I can cross flamingo-lovin' Deb off my Christmas to-do list. 

Ten Pillowcases

10 Pillowcases

I  give some family members pillowcases for Christmas. 

You may think spiders and webs would not be very conducive to a good night's sleep. My daughter wanted me to make her a different set of pillowcases for each month of the year. Last year I gave her snowmen for January and some lovey-dovey valentines for Feb.   I skipped forward to October for this year's gift and spiders/webs is what she gets. 

Now I can throw in the washer and dryer and wrap or use them for gift wrap. 

This was my goal #14 for Q4 Finish Along with     

Adrianne of On the Windy Side. 

Every Once in a While I Need a Quickie

Four reversible fabric bags I've made to use as gift wrap. 

I've made several chicken themed ones and mailed them off already. The bag can be used as a fabric grocery bag.  The contents of the chicken themed bags include at the least a chicken hot pad, chicken embroidered dish towel and crochet dish rag. 

The Super Heroes and Monster High bags will have gifts in them for the Grand Kids. 

Guess what the gifts are! 

I've made a few more pillowcases using the hot dog method.  One of the pizza themed ones will go to my youngest son who is 30.  I think his diet consists mostly of pizza so he probably really has pizza stains on the pillowcase he uses now.  There are just some things a mother doesn't really want to know. 

I've made everyone else's pillowcases throughout the year so the extra pizza and cookie cases will go into my gift stash box. You never know when you will need a quick gift. 

Whooping it up at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finishing it up with Crazy Mom Quilts. 

Big Stitching Baskets

I'm big stitching my basket quilt in navy perle #8 with a #4 (I think) embroidery needle. 

I finished the pillowcases I was working on to go with the Double Wedding Ring quilt for my granddaughter's hope chest. 

First of all, I didn't notice when I cut the band for embroidery that is was a lighter yellow Kona than what I had bought for the body of the pillowcase. Oh, well, I went ahead with my plan and finished assembly in two tones. 

Second of all, the transfers I used had a vine beneath HIS and nothing beneath HERS. HERS is in bigger lettering and vine didn't fit in same space.   I fixed that.  I added a crocheted edging to HERS.  I just happened to have some purple crochet thread on hand.  Might as well use it up. 

Slow Stitching? 

Join us each Sunday at Kathy's Quilts Slow Stitching Sunday. 

What to Do...What to Do

I've finished the embroidery on 3 napkins.

I don't think I'll be able to finish the fourth one today (and I'm so close) because I'm about out of thread and don't want to drive into town after a skein of floss.  Gas is just too expensive. I'll just pick some up on my way home from work tomorrow.  

I picked up a package of these napkins stamped and ready for embroidery at the thrift store for $1.95. The original sticker price was $9.50.  They were stamped for embroidery and have serged edges. According to the directions - after embroidery they are ready for use. 

I tried to keep my embroidery on the back neat. Well, that's REALLY neat for me.  But, I don't think I like the napkins with all that embroidery showing on the back and I really don't like the serged edges either.  So I was thinking about adding a solid white backing.  I think the napkins will look more elegant that way - no serged edges; no embroidery back showing.    These will be a Christmas gift for my daughter. 

What do you think? 

And since I don't have enough embroidery thread to finish my napkins I stamped some pillowcase cuffs with HIS and HERS.  When finished I will store them in the hope chest for my granddaughter along with the Double Wedding Ring quilt I made her. 

Strange thing...notice how there is a vine under the HIS that goes along the edge of the pillowcase?  It's not there for HERS. I looked at the package again and see it's not in the example on the envelope either.  I tried to fit the vine in the same space as HERS but it didn't fit so the letters must be a little bigger on HERS. Very strange.  Wish I had noticed before I had HIS all stamped.   Well,  it will give my granddaughter something to wonder about  in the future when she receives the gifts. 

Are you slow stitching on something today? 

Join the virtual Slow Sunday Stitching bee at Kathy's Quilts. 

Zombies and Comics and Lots of Love, Oh My!

Zombie pillowcases for my granddaughters.  

For the July A Lovely Year of Finishes my name was drawn for a $10 gift certificate at Stitches N' Giggles.  I saw these zombie and contrasting zombie eyes fabrics and figured my granddaughters would like some zombie pillowcases for Christmas.  They seem to love those hideous Monster High dolls so I'm sure they will love these. Not sure how sweet their dreams will be though. 

For Christmas my grandson will get comic book character pillowcases.  One piece was a remnant.  The other fabric I purchased with a 40% off coupon.  My grandson is only five but since he turned about 3 years old we've had these big discussions on which comic book character would save the day in theoretical situations.  I think I know more than I ever wanted to know about characters and their super powers. 

And finally, a couple of pillowcases for my daughter and son-in-law for Christmas made from more sale fabric - 50% off. 

 A few years ago I made sets of holiday pillowcases and gave them to my son and his fiance for Christmas and now my daughter has requested the same.  So, for a start I've got Valentine's Day covered. 

Linking up to:

Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict 

Sugar and Spice for Girls that are so Nice

The final 2 UFO finishes for 2013! 

2 quilts for 2 granddaughters. 

Each is 64x80

Both are made of 8 inch Happy Blocks

Each has a flowery back. And, yes, the backing seam goes about right down the middle like "they" say you are not supposed to do. But, that was the best use of the fabric I had. 

I used all sorts of girly prints just right for 9 year old girls wanting to be all grown up but still playing with dolls and dreaming big dreams. 

Some of them were bordered last year by others in a sort of online monthly Happy Block swap where everyone sends their centers to other members of their group and gets them returned with borders. Bad part is that quite a few times people disappeared from the groups and never returned the bordered blocks. I don't understand people like that. 

I quilted them both with some free motion 5 petaled flowers on my plain Jane Janome.  You can kind of see the flowers on the solid colored borders.   I didn't think I'd ever get them finished. At one point my sewing machine just kept on sewing even when my foot wasn't on the pedal (really!)  After I gave my machine a good cleaning and oiling, and the foot pedal a good shaking all was going well until somehow the needle struck the hard plastic darning foot. Needle broke and left a chip in my foot which kept snagging on my quilt.  My husband took a Dremel tool to it and smoothed it out so I could continue on.

And I made each of the girls a pillowcase too.  I guess it looks kind of like a pink zebra stripe. They seem to like those animal prints so popular these days. 

Linky partying at :

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts. 

And this was my December goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  And I've finished not one but two!

It's Sunday Again and Time to Show Off Some Slow Stitching

I just finished up the Southern Belle pillowcases for my daughter for Christmas. I did one in pink and one in blue as kind of a His and Hers theme.  (I just love how stray threads always seem to get into my pictures). 

I found these stamped pillowcases at the thrift store. They already had holes in the bottom for an edging so I first single crocheted in each hole then crocheted some shells around with #10 white crochet cotton.  I think my daughter will love them since she collects things with Southern Belles and Crinoline Ladies on them. 

I also just finished my December 12 inch block for Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2013.    This is block #17 out of the 20 I want for the lap quilt I'm making called "Crazy Cravings". 

This month's motif is "Homemade Cookies" and I stitched it all in perle cottons #8. I wrapped the lines going down the side of the motif with variegated metallic thread. 

On one seam I just did a simple blanket stitch - again in brown perle #8. 

On another seam I added small pink rick rack stitched on with chain stitch.

On another seam I added some twill trim and attached it on each side with 2 strands of variegated pink DMC floss. 

Another seam has jumbo rick rack attached with chain stitches, pistil stitches, cross stitches and french knots. 

Another seam has detached chain stitches. Actually, I think there's another name for those stitches but I can't think of it now.  And, hey, I thought I attached the cupcake button up where the two seams meet! I must be getting old. 

And sometime today I'm going to finish stitching down the binding on a quilt for one of the granddaughters. 

If you are doing some slow stitching today or are just looking around for some inspiration for a new slow stitching project visit Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.   It's really quite interesting to follow the progress on everyone's projects each week. 

Slow Sunday Stitching and Stitching and Stitching

Today, as soon as I finish machine sewing the binding on this pile of 11 potholders I will hand sew it down in back.  Need to get these done so I can mail away my kitchen sets (potholder, embroidered dishtowel, crochet dishcloth) to some relatives for Christmas.  Some of the potholders are UFOs on which I practiced some free motion quilting stitching so might as well finish them up too. 

And after that is finished I will probably work on the embroidery on these hand stamped pillowcases. I think I found them quite a while ago at the thrift store and forgot I had them. My daughter collects "crinoline ladies" or "Southern Belles" so I thought I'd finish these up for her for Christmas. I stitched the lady's dress in blue on one and will stitch in pink on the other - kind of like a his and hers version. The best thing about the pillowcases is that they already have holes punched on the edge ready for some crocheted edging.  I just happen to have some white #10 crochet thread in my stash and a book on edgings I also picked up at a thrift store. 

And when all the Christmas sewing is done I'll get back to work on my Grandma's Butterflies. 

I worked on these 10 butterflies on my trip to and from Tennessee (20 hours)  last week for a mini family reunion to welcome back my nephew from overseas.  Applique and blanket stitch is finished. I just need to add the antennae and wing stitching and I think I will then be half way finished with butterfly blocks. If I remember correctly the quilt my grandma made had 48 butterflies. 

If you are doing any Slow Sunday Stitching why not celebrate at Kathy's Quilts Slow Sunday Stitching linky party.  There's some inspirational projects and eye candy for your viewing pleasure!

One of My Favorite Flowers...

...is the pansy.   I've made more blocks for my one day queen-sized quilt.   Hmmmm...I think I need more dark purple and a place for the eyes to rest.   Busy, busy, busy. 

I won a sharp crochet hook some time ago from a giveaway on Amy's Sew Incredibly Crazy blog and along with some variegated purple/green crochet cotton, a vintage pillowcase stamp I inherited and a book on edgings from the thrift store...

...I decided to make some pillowcases to go with the someday pansy quilt.  The sharp crochet hook easily went through the pillowcase dots I marked every 1/4 inch to make the foundation stitches and then I changed to a size 6 crochet hook to finish the edging.  I wish I had taken a better photo of the edging. It must have flipped up during the photo shoot. Embroidery is stitched with 3 strands of DMC embroidery thread. 

Linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts.   She has some links to hand quilting inspiration this week that I'm going to review when I get the chance. Heaven knows I need help with my hand quilting and I don't know anyone personally that can teach me. 

Everyone Needs a Little Whimsy

I've started on some of my Christmas presents. I usually try to make everyone some fun pillowcases every year.

I've got Fancy Nancy for each of the 7yo granddaughters. We've checked many Fancy Nancy books out of the library and I've given them some Fancy Nancy First Readers for Christmas. 

My 3yo grandson loves Sponge Bob Square Pants. Who could ever think of such a name for a cartoon character and think it would be so popular? I, of course, thought it was stupid. But then I got to thinking about the cartoons of my day with cats beating up mice (Tom and Jerry), Porky Pig always trying to hunt down Bugs Bunny (or was he always after Daffy Duck?). Now that I think about it cartoons were pretty violent back then compared to Sponge Bob Square Pants. 

These are kind of a His and Hers for my oldest son and his girlfriend. Sean loved Kermit when he was little. He had a stuffed Kermit he carried everywhere. Kermit's eyes fell off and he got all beat up and must have one day made it to the garbage can but, even as beat up as it was, I wish I would have saved it for him. Don't ask me why. I guess I'm waxing nostalgic. Anyway...he gets the Kermit pillowcase and I was looking for Miss Piggy fabric for his girlfriend but then...would she take offense at having a Piggy pillowcase? I couldn't find the fabric anyway. So, her pillowcase is the ying to his yang.

These aren't as whimsical but my daughter and her husband love the great outdoors- fishing, mushroom hunting, etc..  So, they get some great outdoors fabrics for their pillowcases.

Hope the pillowcases bring a smile to their faces at Christmas. Everyone needs a little whimsy in their life now and then. There won't be many gifts this year since we all have met with hard times. But I'm sure we'll still have fun playing games...and we all collect freebies all year long to exchange with each other each year at Christmas. It's a competition now to see who can find the coolest free thing.