Hope That Groundhog's Right!

 "Cause this days wasn't fun.  Dateline - Last Friday - We keep getting these Alberta Clippers; note to Alberta - you can keep your clippers, thanks very much!  This one came through, dumped about a half inch of snow (just enough to make the roads really dangerous and then the wind came in behind it.  Blew and blew and blew and blew!  Made it look like it was still snowing.  I took my quilts over to the quilters and passed a car up-ended in a ditch.  At first, all I saw was the State Trooper's cruiser and he was sitting on his backseat sideways, with his feet out on the ground.  At first, I thought there was something wrong with him, but as I came by, I saw the car.  Good grief!  Our back roads were really tricky and if you weren't driving smart, stuff like that could happen.  I am so ready for this to be last winter, it's not even funny.  And yet, there are still idiots out there wishing for a blizzard like we had three years ago.  Ugh, excuse me, do you remember that we couldn't get out of our houses for like three days????? 

 A friend of mine, my oldest friend, in fact, has a birthday coming up this year.  I found this chart and made it into this at right.  I used a 32 count Belfast linen, I think it is Amsterdam Blue, but didn't have a label on it, so that's just a guess.  I thought I'd use up some of the leftover Raven from Gentle Art that I have.  Well, I did, but I still have lots of leftover Raven.   It's going to be put in a regular photo frame.

 Oh, that reminds me - forgot to tell you, the Civil War quilt is at the quilters, as is the small tessellated quilt.  They'll be the first to be done and then I'll rotate in the one for my granddaughter's birthday.

 Customer has given me the tea towel, upper left.  It's Order of the Eastern Star.  She wants me to make something out of it.  So, The photo above is a print out from a blog - I THINK it's Gazette 94, I really, really think that it is, but if someone knows different, kindly let me know and I'll make the correction.

Anyway, I'm going to make it into the receptacle - maybe for mail?  I'm going to stitch the little bird on 32 count white Belfast using all five colors.  Then it will go between the two 30's prints to form the lower section.

 I was inspired by this project in the Sew Beautiful magazine.  But, I didn't like the style of the raincoat.  Good thing, because when I went to the sewing shop to look for a raincoat, it was only in the McCall's line that I could find a child's raincoat pattern.  Very frustrating.  Anyway, the SBM raincoat featured zipper teeth as trim on the raincoat.  There weren't many places to do that on the pattern I got, but I did do it in the raglan shoulder seams.  Don't know if you can really see that in the picture, but I used a yellow separating zipper - they have bigger teeth.  My husband thought that this was really cool.  Last summer I'd bought the fabric - the big polka dot and the floral to do a purse project.  But, the more I looked a the purse pattern, the more I didn't want to do the project.  So, had the fabric, and decided I wanted to use it for the raincoat (for my granddaughter, btw).  Neither fabric was vinyl.  So, I bought iron-on vinyl.  Sounds an oxi-moron, doesn't it?  Actually, it was really easy and initially I was super impressed.  I had to cut each piece from the fabric using the pattern pieces, then to iron vinyl to each piece and trim.  So, a lot of work.  But, few pieces, so it wasn't too big a deal.  The problem came when it was time to sew.  Being woman-handled so much during the sewing process, made the vinyl separate from the fabric AND it got really wrinkly.  I am going to try and iron it again, but don't hold out much hope.  There is a resource online for oil cloth in bright prints, so if I ever do this again (which I probably will as my granddaughter is only 6), I would get that to make another raincoat instead.  The iron-on vinyl would be really great for things you don't have to manipulate too much during the sewing process or something that is already made that you want to make more waterproof.  In the second picture, you can see the hood.  I went out and got a smaller polka-dot flannel that I made the lining out of.  If you don't line them, vinyl raincoats can almost feel clammy - at least, I think so.  You can see a bit of the yellow zipper teeth in that second picture.

A new project, is really an old one.  I love, love, love quilts by Piece O'Cake Designs.  So, back in the 90's I was very ambitious and thought I had enough time to do all these.  Fortunately I had enough sense to just put them away for another time - instead of getting rid of them.  I bought six of these Tulips in the Park kits - they come with all the fabric included!  Not enough for the whole quilt, but enough to make a lovely wall hanging.  These are applique.  So, I've gotten started with one (progress below).  This will probably be a slow go.

 







I don't like needleturn applique, nor do I like the way the fusibles make the fabric feel.  So, I baste under my seam allowances and then applique them down.  Makes for a lot of extra work, but it gets the job done for me. 



I also have the pattern for the Stars in the Garden quilt.  I have done one of the blocks and made a pillow.  I will enjoy making the whole quilt in the pretty bright colors shown.

 I like to use scraps of vinyl from photo albums and the like to make placement layovers.  This one is a mess from being folded up in a box for about 15 years, but it will still work.  I also have one last POC design, Flowering Vines.  I think that this will be my next applique project as it combines piecing with applique.

Here is my progress on Susan Singleton (whom I'm calling Gentle Susan) for Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year.  

Last year I worked on this needlepoint project.  I'm doing a really good job of clearing out all my unfinished objects.  This has become the scissor case it was meant to be, lined with red satin, it has coral ribbon ties and fits my Sajou scissors perfectly.   Front, back and inside.

Finally, this is my blogaversary month.  I think it's four years now.  I have a bunch of things to make into giveaways so keep your eyes peeled.  Hope you enjoyed!