Wednesday, March 24, 2010

I love my wall color.....

and my furniture - but the room is bare. The next time I buy
living room furniture it will be a small sectional and it
will sit in the area where the little sofa
is at. I will be changing the drapes to white.
DO YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS??
by Hopblogger








Getting tired of red....

it is time to REPAINT my kitchen and dining area. I was thinking
about painting my cabinets black and the walls the same color of tan/brown
color that is on my living room walls. The first 2 pics are the view from my foyer into
my breakfast area. I dont really care for curtains in either one of these
rooms - I dont know why perhaps I just havent found anything that
suits me yet. No matter how many times I have placed curtains up - eventually
they come back down. It would help if I knew what kind of style I wanted!
I plan on changing the counter tops and the flooring. The last photo is the view
from the half bath and the garage door.
SHOULD I GO COTTAGE OR WHAT???
WHAT DO YOU THINK???
by Hopblogger

Sunday, March 21, 2010

One day I happened

upon the blog and met a sweet lady named Lynn. She has some of the prettiest
things that she has made. I looked thru her blog
and noticed - no Biscornu! So I asked Lynn if I could use her little pillow
design from her boxed set to make one. She agreed.
Her design is on the right and I designed the back which is on the left. No, I didnt
run out of the pink. I didnt want to make a patchwork design and I didnt want my design to conflict with Lynn's pretty design so I opted to give the stitches a modern patchworky feel. The stitches are deliberate and the colors are in a rosey pink and aqua. I added Swarvoski pearls at each corner. I can never get a good picture on a pretty background,
so minus the background I think that the Biscornu turned out lovely! It turned
out so pretty that my sis took it home with her. To
go to Lynn's blog to find her pattern just click on my profile then click on
'Happiness is cross stitching'. It will take you straight to her blog.
by Hopblogger




Friday, March 12, 2010

For those of you that

are making the detergent. My husband has found an easy way to mix.
Its so quick. Just buy a squirrell mixer & attach it to your drill.
Painters use the squirrell mixer for mixing paint inside of their large buckets. But in
our case it mixes the detergent just fine while making it & whenver we open
the buckets up to stir before putting in our containers. Be sure not to use a high speed on the drill as some of your detergent will get flung out.
by Hopblogger


30 minutes TOPS....

Imagine buying a piece of cross stitch from the thrift store. Thats
exactly where this cute rectangle came from. It was only 50 cents &
clean as a whistle when I bought it - never used. Of course it
was a fresh new piece - I added red felt to the back, trimmed off
the excess aida cloth, turned & stuffed it. Then top-stitched it in white
floss with big stitches. On the back I stitched a small triangle piece to hold the
scissors to hide the point. I like the plastic round ring that
holds the scissors but it can hold anything.
If you will click photo to make larger you will see that it is a curtain ring in which
it is slitted at the bottom. These types of rings are
used in fabric shades that attach to other rings to billow or gather
up the shade. Use to attach floss - there isnt any need to take the bands off of the floss
to attach it to the ring - it would slip on at the bottom & then snap shut.
If it ever breaks which I am sure in time it would - just sew on another one -
alot of these rings comes in a small package. Pins & needles can still be stuck
on the front side or the back side of the pincushion. The handy needlebook
is just 2 pieces of felt sewn together by the white floss. No need to turn under
the felt because it doesnt fray. Tie the rest of the floss into a bow. A makeshift
house pattern (with an uneven roof line) gives a coordinated touch. Then sew
a line down the middle of the book to indicate the line of closure. The pins
are stuck on a piece of red felt with a piece of the excess aida cloth behind it. I didnt
even sew this piece down - no need - the pins hold it in place. The other side
could be used for most anything that you choose to place there. Most likely the
next time that you see it open - I will have another piece of matching felt
& aida cloth to hold needles. If you have noticed - the aida cloth behind
the red felt is not cut even nor hemmed the reason is because I
wanted it to look like the front - quick & easy - no need for perfection on this
little needlebook. This pincushion & needlebook took only
a few minutes to make. Now if only I could find my snaps!
by Hopblogger



Sunday, March 7, 2010

Cream Quilt accented with rose...

CREAM ACCENTED WITH ROSE.....

A large bow in the middle of the quilt surrounded by flowers stitched
in rose thread. Then stitched rows radiate out like a sunburst to bows with
all flowers in all 4 corners. All bows and flowers stitched in rose thread.
This quilt took me 9 months to stitch and is made from 2 cotton cream sheets.
I can assure you that it just the light from the window which casts a brown color
onto the center of the quilt. There is no discoloration or damage
on this quilt.
I cannot figure out why the sunlight is doing that.
In the early 80's I made 5 baby quilts using this same design
in which I gave away. They turned out lovely in cream thread.
This quilt is reversible and is the same on both sides.








I hope you have enjoyed looking at this quilt.
More to come.
Thank you for visiting me!
Hopblogger

The back of the Wedding Ring

THE BACK OF MY WEDDING RING QUILT...
is a medium color of a bubble gum pink. The
stitching alone makes it punch. I have just noticed that
all of the sunlight flooding into the room has changed the
colors of my walls! Look at the soft pink glow on my walls. What
a treat this is! My walls in this room are a sage green.



I hope you have enjoyed my quilt. Thank you for
visiting me!
by
Hopblogger

My Wedding Ring Quilt

Everyone should have a wedding ring quilt....
All of those tiny little scraps that are saved
and patched together. A great way to use up all of those
little pieces. My wedding ring quilt is accented with
pink and green with an abundance of white.
In secret, make one for your daughter from all of her
clothes that she has outgrown as a child and present it to her on her
wedding day. What a surprize it would be and - I bet that she would just love it!





I hope you have enjoyed my quilt. Thank you for
visiting me!
Hopblogger

By now you know that I

By now you know that I.....
love scrap quilts and I love Log Cabins. You cant go wrong
with
these types of quilts. Anything goes and
somehow it all works
out in the end. This log cabin does not have
the traditional red center block but I happen to like
blue with brown. As you can see
it didnt take many scraps at all. 
And the quilt is lovely!
All of the white and
cream rectangles that make up the
large blocks is just a 100% cotton sheet that I cut up.
However this was the softest
sheet ever! Dont remember where I got that sheet
back then but I wish
that I had a couple more of them.
This quilt was not made in the traditional way.
 After
all of the blocks were created they were handsewn together.
I can date
this quilt back to 1991 when "A Quilt in a Day"
publication came out.
I still have that book. I cut each backing square big.
I laid
the batting on top and I then began sewing
the strips on top
by flipping over each strip just as the book suggested to do.
However I cant show
you the back because it is not all that pretty.
Best to keep that side hid!
This was the only
quilt that I ever made like that.
At that time, I didnt like it,
but I just might make another one and this time
make sure
that I sew the seams down in a much nicer way.
I will keep my patience
and take my time to sew it down properly.





I hope you have enjoyed my quilt. Thank you for
visiting me!
Hopblogger

My Multi-Colored Appligued Hearts Quilt

A field of Hearts....Or a Sweetheart quilt
for a little girl....
that didnt take long to stitch or to quilt.
All of the hearts are machine zig-zagged
to a white square. The green, blue and yellow
hearts are all solid colors. The other colors are
prints.
As always the backings for my quilts are 100% cotton white sheets.
For this quilt I am glad that I did not use any cotton
batting. As you can see, the back looks like
it needs more quilting, but I was more
concerned about the front than the back.
This quilt should of had more quilting around each heart
and around the squares. But I kind of like the puffiness
that this quilt gives, so I left it like this.
I hand quilted 4 hearts in every other block.
There are 2 large borders on this quilt. A pinky
print and a solid chintz. I like the double row
of hearts that I hand quilted but I think that I might
go back and hand quilt more hearts
around close to the border edges.
And perhaps add more hearts to the solid
pink chintz. Definitely more hand quilting here
is needed. It is on the back near the edges that
you can see needs more hand stitching.
I must have gotten tired at the time of
making this quilt, cause this is the only
one of my quilts that looks like this!
This quilt can be reversed on the bed
to the white if  I do not want a more 'girly' type
quilt to show.  And white is always
a safe choice to match in any room.








I hope you have enjoyed my quilt. Thank you for
visiting me!
Hopblogger

My Blue Heart Quilt

Remember the 70s Calico's!..
By far I think the prettiest color of them
was the blue that they made!
This quilt is made up of just 2
colors plus white.
The white blocks are big so only 12
were needed to fit this full-size
bed. The hearts are also a big
size. Each heart was first machine
stitched down and then a machine stitch
that I do not recognize that I used.
I did not want any of this to ravel.
There was only enough
of this blue calico to make this
quilt. Not a scrap piece
was left to use on any other quilt.
It is simply quilted and was a snap
to make.
My young grandaughter took a liking to this
one.
I might have to give her this one!






I hope you have enjoyed my quilt. Thank you for
visiting me!
Hopblogger