Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A new Log Pincushion and Cross-Hatch finished!

Hello Everyone!
Sorry I did not post,
but I have been very busy.  I meant
to post the photo's. Am
trying to get my home de-cluttered
as well as sewing.  I have some other
photos to show you of the progression
of my new sewing room. It is coming along.
 
It took me 3 days to sew the second half
of the cross - hatching. So all together it
has taken me 6 days to hand quilt the top
with the exception of the border. But I do
need to tell you that sometimes I quilt for
hours before I take a break. It will take you
longer to quilt, if you stop and start a lot.
When I hand quilt, I always listen
to music or watch a movie that I
have previously watched before. This
way I do not become engrossed in
a new movie where it steals my attention
away from my stitching.
 
My main goal was to see how long it
would take me to hand quilt a
quilt without a frame, if I needed
a quilt really fast! I am hoping to
spend only a total of 2 weeks on this
quilt. So I am pleased with my progress
at this point.
This quilt is a twin so I am sure it would
have taken me longer if the quilt was
much bigger.
 
However the more I plied the needle, the
straighter my lines got. You can see this
in some of the pixs.
 
After I finished hand quilting - I had to make
me a better needle holder. The tomato pincushion
did not work anymore. I tried a square pincushion,
but that did not work either. I needed a pincushion
that was long so I made a LOG PINCUSHION.
This log when not in use will be stored with
my quilting supplies. Now, I can
thread 20 or more needles and stick them in the
Log ready to be used. When you keep your needles
threaded - you can fly with that stitching!
At least I felt like I was! Perhaps my sewing machine
witch cover had something to do with it. She keeps
looking at me!! Hehehe
 
Anyway, the log is made from a quilted pillow sham.
I swear - I will cut up most anything. Nothing is
sacred around me!
The log pincushion is 3inches X 11 inches long. It
is stuffed very hard. I definitely did not want my
fingers to get pricked on the bottom side if I choose
to pick this log up. The log is almost 2 inches thick.
I am enjoying this blue log!

 
I believe that the more you stitch the straighter your
lines are. However do not take a break too long from your
stitching or you would have to start over again.
If you find yourself having to start over again after a
couple of days, then your stitches might not be as straight
as they were before.
 
I forgot to take photo's of the back, but it is
straight and even which pleases me.
It is getting time take the safety pins out so I can
stitch the borders. I guess I will cross hatch them
also. Hopefully that goes quickly.
 
At my home - we eat black eyed peas and ham hocks
all day on the 1st. Tradition is the more of them you
eat the more money you make! Of course we are
still looking for that money! Haven't seen it yet!
Perhaps we did not eat enough. Heheheh
 
Happy New Year!!
 
Thanks for visiting me!
Hopblogger
 


Thursday, December 26, 2013

Half of the Cross-Hatch quilting finished!

Hello Ya'll
 
Hope your Christmas was a
Merry one!
 
Well, it took me 3 days to finish half of the
cross-hatch quilting design. I did not quilt
any on Christmas Day. As you can tell from
the photo's, I did not mark any of the quilt.
Some of my lines are a little wavy but it
is not a big deal. Vintage quilts show some
wavy lines also from their makers. The
quilting is half of the vintage quilts charm
appeal.
I think that I can safely say that some
quilts can take a while to hand quilt while
others do not.
 
I forgot to mention on the last post the
size of this quilt. The sheet says twin size.
72 inches X 104 inches. The vintage sheet
is Cannon's Monticello sheet. It is beautiful!
 
As I worked I stuck a safety pin on every
age spot that I saw. There are 5 squares
that have age spots on them.
 
I need to also mention that all of my blocks
are cotton. The large greenish squares are
half cotton and half poly.
The Vintage sheet is half cotton and half
poly.
After 20 years of storage there are
not any age spots on any of the fabric that is
half poly. I have found a new respect for
fabric being half poly.
I am hoping that once I wash this quilt that
the age spots will come out of the cotton.
 
I have not yet quilted the green borders or the
muslin borders.
 
I am estimating that it will probably take me
at least another 3 days to finish the second half of
this cross hatch design and perhaps another 2
or 3 days to finish the borders
before I can bind it.
 
 
One of the blocks with a safety pin showing an
age spot on the cotton. Where the safety pin is, can
you tell the blue square that has a joined seam. Many
of the blocks in this quilt has squares that have
seams. Not in this quilt but most of the time, when
I cut out a square from a shirt, I include darts or back
seams. It adds to the charm.
 
A beautiful vintage sheet - white and bright with no
 stains or age spots.
 
Well, I gotta go so I can quilt some more. Gotta
get busy!
 
Thank you for visiting me!
Take care and may
God keep you safe and out of harm's way!
 
Hopblogger
 

Monday, December 23, 2013

Started Back Quilting!

Hello Everyone! Christmas is soon
upon us - I hope you are ready!
 
While straightening up my garage a couple
of months ago - I came across 3 quilts tops
all ready to hand stitch. So I will be stitching them up!
I did not take the other 2 quilt tops out of
the bin so I do not know what condition
they are in. The first quilt I looked at
was this 9-Patch.
Believe me when I tell
you they had been in my garage for at least 13
years!  And stored an additional 7 years
before that!!! These quilts (not included
the quilts in my attic, were all
cut and sewed together back in
the early 90's when we were living in
Oklahoma.  I hope to get around to
hand stitching them as they have waited
long enough.
However, time sure does fly by fast! I sure did not realize
that it had been that long.
 
Anyway this 20 year old quilt top that you are about to
see is finally getting hand stitched. You will
see safety pins all in my quilt tops. I have never
basted a quilt to its backing. Not only have I been
lazy at that but I never wanted to waste thread.
 
With my quilts I never waste anything. When I get tired
of seeing the same ole piece of scrap around, then I
donate them to someone else. But I have not quilted in
a long time so I have not had anything to
donate. Last year I got tired of having so much
clutter so I donated to the Library 180 quilt books.
It took me many years to collect them. I only kept about
a shelf full for myself.
 
In my quilts I use anything that I can get my
hands on. The dust ruffles that you use on the beds
is one of my favorites to buy. I particularly look for
them at thrift stores. If the inside part that goes under the
mattresses is a little holy - it is okay with me!! Cause I use that
part for the foundations on all of my string quilts. On most of
these string quilts, I do not even put batting in between.
I just tie them.
Also I have always used sheets for my quilt backings.
 
Back then I was able to find sheets for 50 cents each.
It did not matter to me if it was fitted or flat. But I
did like to get as many flat sheets as possible. I always
used the fitted sheets for sashing's between blocks.
So in my attic I know there are at least a couple of big
bins full of white cotton sheets to be used as backings. 
I am what I call a 'thrifty quilter'. I have been
shopping at thrift stores since I was first married.
And I love it. I wash all the clothes very good
and the best part of this is - I do not have to
worry about anything shrinking!! Cause it has
already been shrunk by other good people.
 
I am a Traditional quilter, I think. I love the old patterns
and I never stray from white or cream colored quilting
thread. My tomato pincushion holds at least 8
threaded needles at one given time, ready for use. Time
to get the pincushion ready.
 
Anyway, as you can see my quilt top is full of safety pins. I
used to have quilting frames in the early years but the last time
that I owned a quilting frame was 1980. I got
tired of them breaking every time we moved.  So then I
decided that I should just stitch them the way women
back then stitched them. And I have hand quilted this
way ever since then. 
 
But what is new with me on this quilt that I will be
hand stitching is, this will be the first time that I have
not marked the quilt top. It has been 20 years since
I have quilted so I will be rusty!!
So I am not going to mark the top - just hand stitch!
I will be doing the cross-hatch.
 
When I checked this quilt top - I was amazed to see
that it was in surprisingly great shape!! The sheet
backing has not yellowed. The cream squares
look great! My pins did not rust or
leave any marks in my fabrics, however, there is an age
mark on one of the green squares. I will put a
safety pin here to help mark the spot to treat in
the washer once I finish quilting.  I am surprised
that there is not anything else wrong with it!!
 
I have been thinking a lot lately about women of long
ago that quilted. I am not an expert but I do
not believe that every woman owned a quilting frame.
Nor do I believe that every woman participated
in a quilting bee. I think that some women
sat in a rocker or at the kitchen table and quilted.
One of my grandmothers had 5 daughters. Her
daughters cleaned, washed clothes along with
other chores. My grandmother
cooked 3 meals a day. She also sewed clothes and
made quilts. She never had a quilting frame and with
10 children she never had time for a quilting bee.
 
I have spread this quilt out on a table. There are piles of sheets
and clothes at the back to help hold it up. I will be quilting
this way because I get hot very easy now and this way
it helps to keep the quilt off of me. For many
years I quilted while watching television on the
couch or a chair. This was when I was cold natured,
which that is not the case now.
 
I want to see how long it takes for me to hand stitch
this quilt top if I work on it every day without it being
marked. I want to see about how many weeks it
will take to stitch the entire top with the
exception of the binding.
 
 I am sure that my stitches will not all be
straight or even but this does not bother me. This will
be the first quilt that I have hand quilted that
will have cross hatch quilting on it. If cross hatch
quilting turns out to be fast then I will be stitching
many quilts with this pattern.
 
I will start my quilting tonight and take pictures
of my progress. Here is the 9-patch quilt that I
will be hand quilting.
 
A close up of one of the blocks.
 
The rose backing is already pinned to the top along the muslin
border. It was always easier for me to quilt like this.
I can tell that the batting is thin. It is still a crisp white!
How did I manage this?? It has been safety pinned
like this for 20 years.
 
I always loved this sheet that is why I pared these
two together.
 
 I know that I have another quilt top that has this
same sheet as a backing already pinned together
also. I do remember these sheets costing me 50 cents
each. Today if you can find this sheet, it will
probably cost you. But I think that I might look on the
net. Look how white it still is. The sheet has held
up better than the fabric when you think about it.
 
Thanks for visiting me!! Come again!
 
Hopblogger


Sunday, December 15, 2013

What to do with Batterberg lace table runners!

Are you ready for Christmas!
I am still working on it. Also still
working on moving furniture.
Yes - we are slow, but the furniture
is heavy!
 
Anyway I feel like it is Christmas
already!!
 
I have been opening up boxes and going
through them. Time to purge some things.
When you sew and do a number of
different crafts, it gets hard to get
rid of anything cause you might need
it for something. Things such as
little hats or glasses that belongs
to dolls. Or crochet thread even
though I do not crochet - I do use
this thread to tie my quilts with.
The crochet thread also comes
in handy for making large
basting stitches on just
about anything. Well I have talked myself
into keeping the crochet thread.
Woe is me!
 
I did stop some to make these
sidelight curtains. I figured that
it is about time to make a pair.
 
I used 2 Battenberg lace table runners that
were just setting around in a box.
Truthfully I have had them for eons.
I also used a small amount of
white linen.
I hemmed the sides and the bottom
of both pieces of linen. I hemmed only
enough at the top to slip some wire
through.  Then I merely sewed the
Battenberg lace onto the linen.
The wire rests on 2 small
nails located at the top of the windows.
 
This was super fast and easy! And when
I no longer want to use these table
runners as curtains, then I can just
take the stitching out.

I guess they make some small curtain
rods for these sidelight windows, but
they would be bulky. I like the look
where you know something is holding
the curtains up - but you ask, how did
you do that!
 
Now, I really do like my window sidelights!

 
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
 
Thank you for visiting me.
Hopblogger
 


Sunday, December 8, 2013

TINY DiNiNG SPACE

Hello Everyone! I sure do hope
that you all had a wonderful
Thanksgiving!!
 
Thanksgiving  threw me behind on trying
to get our home back in order.
My house was
in shambles. It still is! The view is from my
front hall.
Here is my dining room table and chairs in my
breakfast area. I am surprised that it looks this
good. It is really big, perhaps too big for the
space. But I do love the look of using a
tablecloth in here. If the cramping
here gets to where I cannot stand it any longer,
then I will just have to swap with
my daughter Jan for a smaller table. The
only good thing about using a smaller table
in this space is there is not a cramped feeling.
The upsize of using a larger table is you
can seat more guest. Now 6 people can
dine with me. You know, I got tired of having
a room just sitting there empty all year only to be
used twice a year. Time to get
rid of the purple vase of flowers that
stayed on this table when it was in
the green room.
When my rooms get finished moving
around then I hope to take the
table cloth off and display the glass
table top like I have always done
with this set.
 
When I grew up we never
had any formal rooms. All of the rooms were
used and they had their functions. My
Mother had a large table in the dining space
right there in the kitchen. Of course
we had a lazy Susan on that table.
Back then, we did not  have any of the amenities
that we have today. There were not any
computers or un-necessary toys to add clutter.
Nothing was laying around. Her bedrooms
held the bed, night stand and only one dresser
that was shared by 2 children in each room.
My parents raised 7 children in her small
home. My Mother cleaned so much that
she cleaned the color right off of the tile.
Hehehe
My Mother did not sew or craft, so her home
was easy to clean and to keep clean. She was
an island girl and we lived by the beach.
Ahhhh memories!
 
Anyway someday I hope to be able to reduce the
clutter in my home. However majority of it is
in my sewing/craft room. In a few weeks I will
show you that room.
 
Okay back to the breakfast room.
Next year I hope
to re-paint the walls along with my cabinets
to a creamy white.  We need to lay down new
flooring, to a neutral color. Only cosmetics
need to be done in here. Nothing major.

By moving furniture around or getting rid of outdated
things - it kind of feels like you are getting something new!
I hope you like my tiny space!
 
Come back and visit me again
Hopblogger