MARCHing Along

I just realized that I have only posted once this month.  What a surprise that was.  I have missed you all and will try and do some catching up this weekend.  We got the peas in the garden on St. Patrick's day.  I was always told that was when you were supposed to plant your peas.  Although, I guess, if you live in - say - Maine - that probably is not when you plant peas.  Here in the Virginias, it seems to work pretty well.  The remainder of the garden still waits for spring.  And, speaking of SPRING (I feel if I shout it, it might hear me and come to me!) that stupid groundhog!  I hear that there is a prosecutor in Ohio who wants to try the groundhog.  Wants the death penalty.  Well, I think a life behind bars, eating nothing but wheat germ, would be a fitting end to that stupid rodent.  I am never listening to him again.  We're going to be freaking three weeks late  for spring, now; according to our local weather prognosticators.  AND, we have "Shovelable" snow coming tomorrow night into Monday. 

But I digress; there is needlework to talk about.

First, Peg C.  If you don't contact me before the end of the month, I'm going to draw another name from the folks who entered the giveaway and find someone else to send the Prairie Schooler chart to.

Now, the things I've done lately  . . . .

This chart came out of an old Cross Stitch and Country Crafts magazine.  I think it's charming.  See how they are marching?

A while back I showed you progress I was making on this crewel farm.  Well, she's all finished.  Zoomed in pics of the cornfield and the tomato garden; I think they're my favorites.

 I've been doing a little applique.  Above is the second block I've finished of the six I have.   When I was working on this the other night, I actually sewed one of the leaves to my finger.  That was a surprise! At the left is the next one I'm going to do in this Tulips in the Park series - yes, I know the picture is upside down, but you can still see the block, right?  It will not look like the finished piece as I have only half the patterns; but close.

This is Gentle Susan, the sampler I'm working on for Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year (logo in sidebar).  I cannot remember if I've actually posted this on the NSLY2 blog yet.  I have gotten a start on the next tableau down, but gave it up to stitch other things for awhile.

Yesterday I went and picked up a few things.  First, my granddaughter's quilt came home from the quilter.  Top is a peek at the quilt top and bottom is a good look at the backing fabric.  Siobhan (who is doing a LOT of applique lateley) told me that the fabrics are designed by Pam Kitty.  I absolutely LOVE the backing fabric.  Apparently a lot of other people do too, because when I went to the shop to buy it, I needed 5.5 yards, but could only get 5.25.  With a little fineagaling I was able to get it to be big enough through inventive pieceing.  This print reminds me of percale sheets.  I love it so much that I am sure I have a quilt like this in my bedroom's future.  I chose to have the quilting done in a petal pink.  Emma vascillates between pink and purple being her favorite colors.  My son, Mitch, says she'll be fine with the emphasis on pink.

I also picked up the label for the Civil War quilt.  That will be attached to the quilt sometime around beginning of April:

Also awhile back, I showed the in progress photos for this bag I'm making for a friend.  He is a former White House gardener and specializes in trees.  I think he's gonna love it.

          WOODLAWN


I have now been twice to the Needlework Exhibition at Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria, Virginia.  It is held each March.   There's still time if you can make it.

What was on display this year?  Well, it seemed to be less of a variety, but very, very, very, very good.  Once again, it was a map that took my breath away.  It was an original design, US map.  I think that the linen was painted.  Then, in the Appalachian and Rockies section, the maker had done something like trapunto, to give it a 3-D effect.  Then, in two corners, there were heavily embroidered sections of landscapes.  It was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!

Unfortunately, they had hung it high on the wall - well over six feet up.  The piece was relatively small.  I'd say it was about 9 inches high by about 15 inches wide.  Which, hung over six feet in the air, is not so big.  It was very difficult to make out the details because it was hung so high.  And it won one of the very prestigious awards.  I was sad for the maker whose work was under-appreciated.

Another piece that ended up being my favorite was a sampler called Susan Rambo 1839.  It has, as my friend put it, demonic looking squirrels on it.  But, I liked them.  My favorite part of it is the outer border.  It's very pretty.

Another that I saw was a personalized Christmas Garden sampler that was designed by Blackbird Designs.  The stitcher had stitched an on-point square in the center and put (I guess, her) one initial in it that happened to be a "K". 

 It's a shame that they don't allow even non-flash photography, because just the little tweaks that these stitchers put on their pieces make them look outstanding.

Let's see, they had a room where purses were on display that had been stitched.  One there was all beaded.  I felt quite put in my place in that room.  The thought went through my head that I'm just not that good, when there are stitchers - and finishers - that can do that work.

The only thing that they didn't have was quilts.  Of any kind.  Yet they have one on their booklet.  And isn't quilting considered needlework?  I don't know, maybe they host a separate quilt show sometime in the year.  Overall it was very nice.  I got to see lots of different stuff and be inspired by many wonderful stitchers.

Then it was on to In Stitches, (link to the blog) the shop that Glenna writes so well about.  The nice thing about going to In Stitches (link to the shop website) in late March is that they are fresh back from market with lots of new stuff!

I discovered two new-to-me designers, picked up a couple of things I've been looking for, and found some lovelies to add to my collection.  I will, throughout the coarse of the year, show you the new charts.  Here are the lovelies:

Little red storklette scissors and another red pair I could not resist!  My friends and I celebrated the birthday of one of us (not me!) with lots of wonderful prezzies and late lunch at TGI Friday on the way home.  It was a l-o-n-g day.  I'd left my house at 8:30 and didn't get home until after 6.  Just as I was getting to my highway exit, there was an awful accident - I was pretty sure it had just happened because there were still people milling about on the highway and emergency equipment was arriving as I was crossing the bridge.  A semi lost control in the lanes I was in, went across the median, across the southbound lanes, through a fence, across a road that parallels the highway, into a ditch and up into the back yard of a house.  It gave me chills, because I thought, oh, what if there were kids playing there?  Fortunately, it was supper time and all the kids were indoors, because they do, indeed, play there!

Had an appointment in Winchester yesterday and killed the afternoon running errands.  But, made it a point to get by one of my favorite thrift stores.  I found the above, Prairie Schooler, number 9, Johnny Appleseed.  It's in really rough shape, but I think if I iron it and then press it between some books, I should be able to get it back to good condition.   I don't have it in my collection and they wanted too much for it on Ebay, so it was nice to  just find it - for a DOLLAR!
I think it will look nice if I stitch it  up, changing the colors, like I did on Adam Names the Creatures (you can see that one in my header picture).

OH!  Almost forgot to tell you - I was able to find a copy of the Prairie Schooler Garden Samplers chart and sent it off to Maggee to give her a great day!  YAY!  So, we can call off the search.  

I will leave you with this.  It's sunrise and the black splotches in the field are the deer.  I call it "Deer Rising".  I love it when the sky looks like this.  I call it fire-sky.  The only time I see sunrises like this is in February or March.  In cold weather.  I think that it has to do with virga which is rain that doesn't reach the ground.  Except at this time of the year, virga would be ice crystals because it's so cold; right?  And I think that these sunrises are made because the sun is reflecting off thousands of tiny ice crystals.  I'm no meterologist, but I think that's what's going on.  All I really know is that if we HAVE to have crappy, cold, snowy weather; then at least we have sunrises like this one.

Hope you enjoyed!

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!

There Be Dragons Here

Been keeping my eyes out for frogs and containers to fit frogs as I go out and about.  Found a really big clear glass frog early on in a foray at the Past & Present antiques shop in Winchester.  As I went through the rest of the cavernous building, I tested each pretty glass, pottery or wooden container I came across to see if the frog would fit in the top of it.

I turned and looked at this shelf that had some very posh glassware on it.  The turquoise container was sitting right there before my eyes.  It has a top - makes it a really nice candy dish - and the finial on the top is a seashell.  Very Miami Beach looking and not really my cup of tea.  But then I got a look at its legs.  Dragons!  So I put it on a nearby table and took the lid off and popped in the glass frog.  It was if it had been made to go with.  

I have put the lid safely away in the china cabinet.  My younger son loves dragons; so at some point in the future he will probably get rid of the frog and reunite lid and dish to use for something else that pleases him.  For now, my scissors are being contained very upscale.  And, like I noticed last winter, turquoise seems to go with everything.

Keeping with the dragon theme - last summer my friend gave me a bunch of her mother's old sewing things that I said I'd share over time.  Here is another one.  She kept wooden bobbins (not the same manufacturer) of waxed cotton thread in this box.

Note that they are manufactured in Fall River, Mass. and Willimantic, Conn.  Kinda cool, huh?


Now I have a quilting question - related to fabric.  Has anyone ever ordered fabric from the Connecting Threads catalog?  I have been receiving this catalog a couple of years now, but have never used it.  I think that the company is actually some offshoot of Joann's (don't ask me why, it's just a hunch).  I didn't request the catalog, nor have I used them on line.  But, they do have some interesting fabrics.  So, I was wondering if anyone knows if it's good quality quilting fabric?  I have ordered online from Hoffman's of Paducah and a few other places like Fat Quarter Shop - and been very pleased, but hesitate to use this one.

Thanks bunches!

Scissors and Case

This is the scissors case that I've been stitching on for the last two months or so.  The canvas was small, so it was difficult to get the needle and thread through.  It was also the first time I'd tried stitching needlepoint on my scroll bars.  The fella at the shop told me that if you put your needlepoint on scroll bars or stretcher bars, the canvas won't get all stretched out of shape while you stitch.  This is particularly important if you want to save thread by using the Continental Stitch rather than the Basketweave Stitch.   Since I was stitching with Silk & Ivory (part silk, part wool) I wanted to save on thread.  However, I was also trying to teach myself the Basketweave Stitch.  So, I did most of the stitching in Basketweave and still didn't run out of thread!  Yay!

Now I need to finish it.  Unfortunately, it's going into the pile of unfinished stuff that I have to do for myself, because I'm loaded up with other work to do.  Maybe I'll be done with it by Christmas-time and put it in my stocking.  Yeah, right!

I found a really nice looking pair of scissors on the web today - they're black and made in Italy.  And available through this online needlepoint store.

The scissors I really, really want are OUT of THIS WORLD expensive (only $144 plus shipping!), so I will continue to dream - and hope that someone somewhere eventually puts them in a yard sale for 5 bucks!  The Tartan Sewing Set is from Sajou and if you haven't visited their site, you're in for a treat.

Memorial Day Road Trip

My husband and son have been suffering from severe cases of bronchitis over the last few weeks.  However, last weekend OBB (Oh Best Beloved) and I went on a mini-road trip.  I had been down to Rocky's a week before, leaving my wedding band for replating, or electrolosis, or whatever they call it; and it was time to pick it up.  I told OBB that I'd drive and treat him to lunch if he'd go with me.  Free lunch always does it.

I guess I need to explain about the wedding band thing.  Back when we were married it was hard to find white gold, so I settled for yellow gold.  But, I've never cared for it - the color I mean, not the ring; I love the ring; it's completely me.  I'll wear silver jewelry and walk past gold.  It's always bothered me that my ring was gold colored.  So, talking to this jeweler down there, she told me that I could have it rhodium plated and for only 40 bucks.  SOLD!  I was finally going to get the color I wanted.  While there, my friends found a very nice ring with much bigger diamonds and sapphires than I have and it was suggested that would be the perfect gift for our 20th anniversary next year.  OBB did think it was a very attractive ring.  I won't hold my breath.

Anyway, Rocky's is quite a place.  Part pawn shop, antique shop, jewelry store and Alladin's Cave.  OBB decided he wanted to wander around and of course, while he was wandering, I was getting into trouble.  Actually, he got into more trouble than I did.  I was getting information.  Inspired by Deb over at the Thread Gatherer, I have been picking up scissors and putting them in my simple, clear glass, flower frog (it's what I had).  I just love her idea of using a flower frog that way.  But, Deb must live where flower frogs go to spawn or something, because while she seems to find many with no trouble, they are few and far between in these here parts.  Well, I asked them if they had any sewing or embroidery scissors.  They didn't, but two men down in the antiques department recalled a booth at an antique mall just down the road that might have something.  When OBB was done wandering, I asked if we could put off lunch just a little longer to run down there and check it out.

Long story short, we got there, the very helpful ladies at the information counter pointed me in the right direction; I found the stall and thought I'd died and gone to stichers heaven.  First of all, I picked out the two pair of scissors that were in the booth.  Then, of course I had to look at everything else.  In the bottom of a case, I found a tin that is like two others I have.  Except someone used it for their sewing basket about 70 years ago.  I had to have it and when I got home, I found that inside was a bonus pair of scissors!  So, here are the scissors.

The large pair in the center are very unusual and marked "Toledo".  If anyone knows anything about these, let me know.  To me they have an Art Deco vibe putting them between 1925 and 1940.  The small, plain steel ones on the right were the bonus pair.  I really like the details on the Lion's Tail pair on the left too.

So, here's what my collection looks like now.  My favorite pair are the Sajou tortoise shell I gifted myself with for Christmas a few years ago.  In the background is a tin tray I recently bought for a dollar at a yard sale.  I love it!

Like I said, Deb's frogs and collection are much more impressive; this is just my little slice of scissors delight.

Here's the tin.

Deb's got one of these on her blog too.  I've got three now.  The first was my mother's.  When we had class parties in elementary school, she'd send me with the tin full of cookies.  She used it for cookies from PTA to Eastern Star meetings and everything in between.  The other one was picked up by a friend at a church bazaar and given to me.  It too was full of someone's sewing stash and fun to go through.

I dropped my camera about two weeks ago.  A Nikon D-70, so not some little $50 job.  I'm really depressed about it.  I had a pile of page protectors on the table and put the camera on top of the pile.  It slid off and crashed to the floor because the page protectors were slippery.  Note to others, don't do same!  I feel SO stupid.  The flash doesn't work now and the lens is really messed up.  We are going to look in the pawn shops for a replacement lens,  but I think it's going to have to go to camera hospital to have the flash repaired.  Cha Ching! 

Anyway, the lens works at 70mm; but I'm not that tall (more short and squat).  So, had to stand on a ladder and take pictures down.  It's been a real dark day here because of thunderstorms and rain so the light's not so good either.  And, with no flash, I had to be resourceful.  So, here are some pics with the big flashlight as a lightsource!  Needless to say, I looked quite remarkable up there dangling off the ladder, flashlight in one hand, camera in the other; hanging off the ladder!  It's a wonder I didn't drop myself!

The tin came with quite a haul of old needle packs.  The one with acorns on it though is a silk stocking repair kit, not a needle pack.  It is really cool!  Oh, yeah, got several hoops too.  I think I'll use those as simple frames.  In the back right you can see the bobbins of thread.  That's a rayon floss called "Syltex Rope".  There was a real nest of pieces of it in the tin, these are the longer sections I was able to recover.  There was also a nice selection of varigated cotton floss.

Here's one of the nicer hoops - a padded oval.  And, the stash of cotton floss that was inside.  All kinds - American Thread Co., J&P Coats,  Clarks O.N.T. and even some really old DMC labels.  Will make nice things to use as photo backgrounds in the future.

I did take OBB to a sandwich shop that has one of the BEST pulled pork BBQ sandwiches I've ever had, for lunch.  It was awesome.  Then, we visited the Green Valley Book Fair to pick up something for a friend and then headed home.  It was a great day!  He's feeling much better now that he's on his second antibiotic and prescription cough medicine.  The doctor's say that there is a viral form of bronchitis.  It's apparently going around.  It tried to get me, but I'm too old, tough and stubborn for it to get me.  Besides, if I got sick, who was going to take care of them and the dogs?  Anyway, theirs went from viral to bacterial, but they are both sleeping better and are on the mend now.

Finally, my father served in the Navy during WWII.  Here are some of his patches.  When he was mustered out, he was a Machinist's Mate First Class.  The patch on the left is second class.  I don't know what the "A" is for.  He served in the Pacific Theater and it changed him forever.  But, since this is D-Day, I thought I'd finish with that picture.  Thanks to all our vets!