Who turned on the heat?

It's been in the 90's the last couple of days. It seems that we were enjoying a nice spring and suddenly it's weather like August. I'm just wilting. Although I haven't posted, I do visit my blog everyday. I use the sidebar to visit other blogs. Now I think that I will post first and visit other blogs after. I also belong to too many yahoo groups and I need to leave some. I just cannot keep up with the emails.  Not a lot of quilting and cross stitching happening- but I have moved my sewing room into a different room. I am almost done with it and I will post pictures when I am finished. On Sunday I will start listing my goals for the next week.


Shirley

A New Beginning

Well, here it is April 4,2010 and I haven't blog in forever. Since this is Easter and a time for rebirth and new beginnings I decided it was time to start blogging again. I would love to say that all those projects I showed are done, but alas they are not. I will post pictures later of the progress on the projects. What I have decided to do is post my goals for the coming week. Just small ones. I've seen a few bloggers who do it month by month, but I hope by doing it in small increments I'll be more motivated. I've started a few new projects- which I'll show over the coming months.
Goals for this week:
Mostly I'll concentrate on a new project. It is from Crabapple Hill and is called "256 Pieces of the Past". I am doing this with a group from Plain and Simple Quilt Shop. We have met a couple of times and I have yet to start it. I have the fabrics and other supplies. I just need to start.
So for this week I want to cut out the blocks and trace one of the plates, color it and start the embroidery. Also I want to start the crazy quilt blocks. I bought machine embroidery designs that I plan on using in the middle of the blocks.
On the cross stitch front I hope to do a couple of hours on "The Quiltmaker".

Happy Easter,
Shirley

No new quilting blocks done this week, so I thought I'd show my cross stitch projects:

First is "The Quiltmaker" by L&L. Not much to show.




Next is "Halloween Fairy" By Nora Corbett. The design is better know as "Trick or Treat Fairy" or TOTF. A lot more done on her. I am currently doing the metallic threads. Then a little back stitching then the beads.
The design is in Cross-Stitch and Needlework September 2008 issue.




This is the first design I've done by Nora Corbett. I have another design by her which I am starting to kit. Victorian Christmas Eve, which is in a different issue of Cross-Stitch and Needlework. I have a feeling I'll be getting more of her designs.

The last project in my rotation is "Queen of the Needle" by Just Nan. I've started and stopped this design so many times. I love the design, but not so much the fabric. I wanted to do it in purple/lavender. I first decided to dye my own fabric a light purple, but that wasn't right so I bought a linen- Provence Lavender. I tried using the DMC Perle white cotton size eight-for the lacy looking part at the top- it was too thick so I tried the twelve- too thin. ( I'm beginning to sound like Goldilocks). I tried Soie Perlee that she recommended but it didn't seem right either. I bought a different lavender fabric. Still not happy. I saw that someone used a light pink fabric and instead of using white in the corners-she used pink. I liked the way it looked. I think that I will look at doing something similar.
Mostly this week I am working on other things-(fixing the coffee table, mowing the yard, trimming trees, hemming pants, figuring out the digital TV change). Hopefully next week those projects will be done and I can get back to stitching.
Shirley

I think that I learned a lot with the first post: how to start a blog, how to post and how to post a picture. Hopefully I'll remember how to post a picture.

I did another block of "Meet me at the Manor". When I made the manor block I discovered a cutting error, so I decided to make one of each type of block first to make sure all the cutting directions are fine. Then I can cut out all the blocks at once.

Last week I was looking at some old tapes of Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson. Her guest was Sally Collins. Sally talked about how to cut fabrics. By doing it her way you use a regular 1/4 inch instead of a scant quarter inch when you sew. This sounded good to me so I tried it on the next block. Careful cutting, ironing and sewing and here's the block:

This is the berry basket block- and I have to make 4 of them. Looks pretty good. Only one problem- it is 1/4 inch too short in one direction and 1/8 inch too short in the other. Oh well back to my scant quarter tool and post it notes. I think I will get some similar fabric and practice the blocks before using the fabric from the kit.

A couple of weekends ago I went to the North Carolina Quilt Symposium in Raleigh at Peace College. I took some pictures and I am now in the process of labeling them. As soon as I do, I will post them. They ask that you identify the quilts. I just went to the show, unfortunately I was unable to take any classes. Maybe the next time it comes to this area.

Shirley

First Post

For awhile I have been reading other blogs and following their progress on their projects. I decided to start my own blog to follow my progress on my projects. I promised myself that I would finish some of my UFO's before this years Stash Dash. I mostly quilt and cross stitch. In order to achieve this I choose three each of quilting and cross stitch UFO's to concentrate on.

They are:

Cross Stitch:

1.) Halloween Fairy (aka Trick or Treat Fairy (TOTF)) by Nora Corbett

2.) The Quiltmaker (L&L #27) by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum

3.) Queen of the Needle by Just Nan

Quilting:

1.) Star of the Orient Table Topper

2.) BOM from LQS

3.) "Meet Me at the Manor" by Connie from Whistle Stop Quilt Shop. This was their quilt from the Stash Dash in 2008.

I worked on the first block today:

It's almost done- I still have to applique the door on.

Now all I have to do is 8 more manor blocks plus 180 other blocks and I'll be done (LOL). This may take some time.

Shirley