A Blast from my Past

My Mom has been doing some Simplifying of her own and recently returned a few things to me. Since I'm still clearing out closets, drawers and bins I thought today would be a good time to share them.

This is my very 1st quilting UFO. I had a red, white & black bedroom as a teen and somehow got the idea that I wanted to make a quilt. At that time my Mom had taught me to sew clothing but quilting was all new.

Let's just say that cutting the logs from tissue paper was extremely tedious... and when they didn't always go together perfectly my enthusiasm left the building! My Mom at some point picked up the blocks and remaining fabrics and put the quilt together. It was on one of the bunk beds our kids slept in at their house for a time.

She was a pioneer as I now see looking at the extra block and the back of the quilt because she used QAYG to get it done. My Mom used to do alterations as a part time job so is a whiz with a sewing machine. And, she is very organized with the left over fabrics all bagged up so I can do a little patching. How fun is that?

I used to do a TON of embroidery when I was young - mostly pre-printed dishtowels and pillowcases. I had totally forgotten about these until I unfolded them.

I can totally see sashing these with 30's prints to make a sweet baby quilt!

And it makes me smile to see that even back then I was kind of anal about planning my projects... note that there are 3 babies with blonde hair, 3 with brown and 3 with black.  I guess I didn't know any redheads back then!

Thanks again Mom for making my day!

Elsa is having a blast exploring every new space and container that gets sorted through. Yesterday she even got Tucker involved after she flung one of her favorite stuffed mice in the midst of the mess. She carries them around the house in her mouth like a dog carries toys. So funny.

Stitch Me Up Embroidery Blog Hop

Today is the day I get to share my stitches on this wonderful Blog Hop! I'd like to thank Madame Samm for creating all of these fun adventures in BlogLand and Jane from Jane's Fabric & Quilts for being such a great cheerleader along the way. And, a big thank you as well to the talented pattern designers who gave us so many fantastic patterns to choose from - Debbie Martinez from Busy As Can Be, Cyndi from Bee Tree Designs and Madame Samm.

I'm a rookie Blog Hopper and have been so inspired by all of the beautiful stitching I've seen over the last two weeks! Embroidery was one of my early craft loves when I used to make stamped tea towels as a child. I had a revival of my interest in embroidery about 7 or 8 years ago when I discovered crazy quilting, but I hadn't done any stitching for the last 5 years until this Hop was announced so I was excited to jump in.

As soon as I saw this stylish & sassy girl by Madame Samm I knew I had to stitch her! She reminds me of my daughter who is our family fashionista and I finished the pillow to match her decor. I had never done redwork before and it seemed like a perfect way to test out the beautiful Presencia thread we received. I watched a few videos on Youtube and started stitching away... it didn't take long before I was loving every stitch.

I did an envelope backing with binding which is my favorite way to finish a pillow.

Yes, we really do have this much snow in Northern Minnesota at the end of March! Our front yard is fenced in by this wall of white.

Here is an indoor closeup shot of the quilting I did on the border fabrics.

I also stitched this lovely pattern from Debbie Martinez which gave me a chance to try some variegated Presencia threads I added to my stash. It was so much fun to stitch along and watch the colors change like magic! I haven't decided what I'm going to do with this exactly but I've pulled some fabrics and will wait for inspiration to strike. Rest assured that it will NOT become a part of my UFO Collection!

Please go take a peek at the gorgeous stitching on display today at these blogs:

Judy @That Other Blog

lauraluvsloons and Quilting too

Sew Sharyn

Sewingly Along

Anita's quilts en handwerken

Quilt Doodle Doodles

Val's Simple Passions

Luv2Sew

Busy As Can Be

Paws for Stitching

 Quilting & Other Craft Therapy (that's me!)

pieceful life

Live Love Labs

Felt pa Asly

Scrapbook-ChickADoodle

My pillow is also my NewFO project for March for Barbara's challenge at Cat Patches.

Stitching Basket and a Finish

Joann.com had these on 50% clearance a few weeks ago and this one caught my eye. I've never owned a sewing basket before but I thought it would be a great way to store my new stitching supplies & projects for easy portability. Not to mention that it's just plain cute too!

When I unlatch the top it looks like this with a handy pincushion and pocket for my embroidery hoop.

I so LOVE the removable plastic partitioned tray. It's deep enough to hold the thread that I'm currently using and I'm sure I'll fill up the sections quickly. I'm using one for a thread catcher (I'm terrible at leaving bits of thread on the sofa!). Underneath there is room to store my project and the pattern. No peeking at that until the Embroidery Blog Hop!

And, at the very bottom is my collection of Presencia thread... with plenty of expansion space.

I finally have a DONE! on my March Goals and just in time for Easter decorating too. This Easter Egg Table Topper is made from swapped Happy Blocks with cute Egg centers.

I grid quilted it with variegated pastel Sulky thread. My favorite block is surrounded by adorable Easter bunnies. I wouldn't have chosen a few of the darker fabrics myself but that is how you roll with swaps.

This backing fabric will give the topper an extended life after Easter.  I have so many pretty big floral fabrics in my stash and I'll be hard pressed to feature them all on quilt tops.

This is the table it will top, after it's washed it will lay much nicer but I'm not that patient today!

I'm linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching@Kathy's Quilts.

Dusting off Embroidery Skills

I finished my "warm-up" stitching before I start my Stitch Me Up Embroidery Blog Hop project this week. I used some of the Presencia Finca thread we were sent and really liked working with it.

I had found some helpful embroidery videos online from Sublime Stitching and a visit to their blog & website brought this to my mailbox. Fun mail indeed!

Back in January I won a give-away from Cindy at Tops to Treasures, a gift certificate to one of her favorite quilt shops in Texas called Happiness Is... Quilting. I had looked several times through their quilting goodies and was having having a hard time deciding what to buy.

While using Google to search for Prescencia Finca floss I was surprised when their store appeared in my results. Even better, they carry a wide selection including the variegated threads I was wanting for my Blog Hop project. Thanks again Cindy~!

Now I've got to trace the pattern and get started. I have no idea how long it will take so I'm aiming for an hour a day this week and will see how far I get. If you have any embroidery tips to share please do!  It's been a LONG time since I stitched stamped tea towels.

I'm linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching@Kathy's Quilts.

Snowbound Sunday

We are predicted to get up to a foot of snow by tomorrow at noon so it's not hard to predict which room I'll be hanging out in today! I've got Pandora playing my favorite 80's tunes, some chocolate kisses and a fresh pot of coffee - what more do I need?

No, I'm not protesting the snow! This is my light box to trace these cute designs for some embroidery practice. I decided to join the upcoming Stitch Me Up Embroidery Blog Hop which I'm really excited about. Embroidery was one of the first crafts I learned to love, I did many of the stamped tea towels and a few pillowcases too when I was young.

I bought this cute pattern last month and I think these will be a perfect warm up to my "big" project which I haven't decided upon yet. I kind of want to try something in redwork... but the patterns we have been given are calling for lots of color. I'll figure it out while I stitch these up. My new FriXion pen worked great drawing on the cold window.

The blocks for my "Four Patch and Friends" quilt are going to be trimmed today and I'm thinking a few might need to be frogged and resewn. Another of my 1st quilting projects (2002) that might have been partially sewn on my old Elna. I remember sewing most of them during March Madness because I pushed my sewing table out into the family room to "listen" along.  I don't watch much college basketball during the season but I ADORE March Madness!

This is going to be a such a pretty quilt... it might be my closest thing to an "heirloom" quilt when it is finished. Here is a picture from a previous blog post showing the lay out. I really want the corners on the white x's to match up and I think that's why it's been stalled for me. I know it's going to test my patience.

I might have to use my button to see me through!

I'm linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching@Kathy's Quilts and UFO Sunday@The Free Motion Quilting Project.