Random 5 Feline Friday on Saturday

 

(1) My Stamp Size Quilt

 

 

(2) Butterfly helped in my sewing room

 

 

(3) Katniss snoozed in Butterfly's favorite window basket

 

 

(4)  I am finishing The Swan Thieves
by Elizabeth Kostova
Click here for the look inside.
I have been savoring this book for some time.
I can pick it up and fall back into it right away even after a long period where I have been reading other books.  I love the way this author writes.
If you like in-depth characterization, setting descriptions that give you an almost photo image, historical fiction, good narration,
you may enjoy this author and this book.

This is the book I took with me to read ...

(5) ... one day last week when I spent the day in the town of
White River Junction, Vermont
Picture credit to their website. I forgot my camera.
I had to wait for my husband at one point, so I  had a coffee at the Tuckerbox, a local coffee shop with big old wooden tables and comfy chairs and interesting people.
Then I wandered into the White River Yarns shop.
One of the most extensive collection of beautiful yarns that I have ever seen. Also, a very friendly shop.  I bought some yarn and a crochet hook but I needed a pattern.  I found one in their lending library and spent the an hour or two sitting on one of the benches in front of their flowerboxes outside their door. The young woman in the shop told me I could take the pattern with me and would not accept payment for it, even though she knew I was just visiting and might not be back anytime soon to return it to their shelves.  As it was raining off and on, I also enjoyed the shelter of their awning, the green one visible on the left in the above photo.

A very welcoming small New England town.

I am linking up today with the interesting bloggers at



@ A Rural Journal

and

all the cute kitties at

@ Feline Friday

May you enjoy a lovely weekend.

Thanks for visiting me today.
~ <3 ~
 

Putting a Stamp On It!

My Freedom Forever Series Stamp
  

 Today is My Day!

Welcome to my Life in the Scrapatch

My stamp measures 1.25 x 1.75"

The heart is cut from a pieced square.

fabrics and plan

3/4" strips

cut

pieced

cut again

assembled

pieced and pressed

to size

 background fabric added

quilt layers

sandwich sewn

turned right side out and kitty approved

back of stamp,

open edge hand sewn closed

"Freedom Forever"

The postage on my stamp says "Forever" because the

USA post office sells a series of stamps for which you pay the current

first class rate and the stamps are still honored

after future postal cost increases.

I have been making "postage stamp size quilts" for some time.

I like to turn them into keychains and refrigerator magnets

and needle books, etc.

For a basic tutorial on how to make these tiny quilts please click Here
or go My Tutorials at the top of my page and click on my ...

Tiny Logs Patchwork Key Chain Tutorial

Quilty Key Chain Giveaway!

This Giveaway is now closed. 

For a chance to win one of my key chain quilts 

just leave one kind comment on this blog hop post.

You do not need to be a follower to win.

I will send my little keychain anywhere in the world.

Winner will be chosen at random.

Please be sure that I have a way to contact you by email to tell you that you have won and to get your mailing address.

If you are a no reply blogger, I will pick another random winner.

This giveaway will close at Midnight EDT on July 3rd.

A winner will be announced and emailed on the 4th of July.

Best of luck!

To enjoy all the stamping and stopping 

please visit all my stitchin' sister blogs today...

June 26

Marjorie'sBusyCorner

Life in the Scrapatch (you are here)

Pig Tales and Quilts

littlemushroomcap

sosewgreen

The Thimblemouse

Just Let Me Quilt

Words & Stitches

In Stitches And Seams

Thanks to

Madame Samm @ Sew We Quilt

and to

Thearica @ Pig Tales and Quilts

for all their work to make this wonderful blog hop happen!

Thank you to all who have visited my scrapatch!

~ <3 ~

Calling All Quilty Philatelists!

 

Starts tomorrow!

 

Philatelist :

Noun

1.

philatelist - a collector and student of postage stamps stamp collector aggregator, collector - a person who collects things

 

[Source: TheFreeDictionary.com]

 

 

I am posting on the first day!

 

 

Full Schedule Here

 

@

 

Pig Tales and Quilts

 

This blog hop is brought to you by

 

Sew We Quilt

 

Hope to see you stamping along with us tomorrow!

 

:-)

 

A Lovely Finish For June

Helix Table Runner

My June project for A Lovely year of Finishes is done!

 

I am linking up with this month's finishing party at
AYOLF June @ Fiber of All Sorts

 

Earlier this month I posted this picture of the small 

 

Helix Table Mat

 

in my  Mid-Month Progress report.

 

 

For the runner I decided to do emphasize the helix design 

by stitching long continuous curves with my walking foot. 

I used a paper template and started with the centers.

 

The I moved outward and followed the first line of stitching to the sides, including the narrow black border strips.

I used a variegated cotton thread in shades of blue/yellow/green.

 

Close up of quilting.

I added two small ellipses inside the centers of the first lines.

 

 

 

I did a self binding by folding the backing over to the front and using a  decorative stitch to secure it to the top.

 

 

My son was very happy with his birthday gift!

 

I am very happy to have my June goal done!

 

For all the lovely finishes this  month

check out the linky parties at

 

Sew Bittersweet Designs

 

and

 

Fiber of All Sorts

 

Time to think about my July Goal.

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

:)

 

Random 5 Friday - "to ponder"

(1) Pondering on a Japanese Red Maple

 

This tree looked so lovely against the blue summer sky that I had to take a picture.  It grows outside the door at the one-woman tailor shop I visited with my daughter to have her wedding gown fitted.  The tailor is a family friend whose son went to high school with my daughter.  I admired her tree and she asked me if I wanted one.  Apparently, she has them spring up like weeds in her yard and is always looking for someone to take one away.  I am negotiating with my hubby, who is not sure we need another tree in our yard.  I am reading up on the care of these trees here and here.

I am pondering.

Please share any thoughts you may have on these trees for me to further my ponderings.

 

 

(2) Word Ponder

 

When I was pondering on a word to pull these random rambles together, this word came to mind so I rambled around the search engines and found this interesting site for word lovers ...  

 

 

[ source:  ThinkMap Visual Thesaurus ]

 

Ponder:



Part of Speech:	verb
Definition:	think about seriously
Synonyms:	appraise, brood, build castles in air, cerebrate, cogitate, consider, contemplate, daydream, debate, deliberate, dwell, evaluate, examine, excogitate, figure, give thought to, meditate, mind, moon*, mull, mull over, muse, noodle around, perpend, pipe dream, put on thinking cap, puzzle over, reason, reflect, revolve, roll, ruminate, speculate, study, think out, think over, turn over, weigh, woolgather

[ source: Thesaurus.com ]

 

 

"Build castles in the air" is my favorite synonym here  :)

 

Pondering this word brought to mind, "Words," the old Bee Gee song added to my player.  This song is a old favorite.  I was happy to find that Playlist.com had this in the music stream

 



(2) fabric pondering

 

I am a quilty ponderer. 

I build quilty castles in the air. 

My "wool gathering" is more "cotton gathering."

I usually have an image of a quilt I want to make somewhere in my mind.

 I am also constantly meditating and rethinking my quilts in progress. 

This week the project On My Design Wall that has me pondering are the circle fabrics in this quilt.  The top is sewn and I am adding the applique circles, but I have two fabrics that did not make the cut in the original plan that I want to add to the top.  One of them is the lovely green on the left.  In the process of deciding if I wanted to add a circle, I decided to add another row of blocks on the outside edges that will make the quilt the wide queen size I like for a personal bed quilt.

(3) Pondering a Stamp Sized Quilt

 

I am pondering and working on a blog hop project that calls for making

a "stamp" quilt.

 

 

(4)  Pondering Teeny Tiny Strips of Fabric

 

This teeny tiny quilt called for cutting teeny tiny 3/4" strips.

The traditional quilter's seam is 1/4" wide.

Doing the math here ...

1/4" strip - two 1/4" seams = a finished 1/4 inch piece in the quilt.

Pictures of the teeny tiny quilt will appear on my blog on next Wednesday.

 

 

 

(5) Butterfly  Napping Pondering

 

My Friday post would not feel complete without at least one feline.

My Butterfly has been a constant helper and companion in my sewing room this week.  She has spent much of her time curled up in the sunny window. Both she and I are feeling better.

Thanks to all who sent well wishes last week.

 

Linking up again this week with the interesting bloggers at

 

 

Random 5 Friday @ A Rural Journal

Thanks to all who stop by and read my random ramblings.

 

May you days be filled with beauty and love.

 

~ <3 ~

 

On My Design Wall

Shades of Summer

 

This is a close up of the WIP on my design wall.  I have been testing a new design from my talented friend, Jess Smith @ The Quilt & Needle, where the complete pattern will be released soon. I really like the way this is working up.  This quilt is all about the fabric.  I have the top sewn and am deciding of the applique circle fabrics and placements.

 circle cutter

 

There are full size templates in the pattern, but I am making use of my favorite circle cutter for the smaller circles.  I will be leaving this pretty summery top up on my design wall while I catch up on my other quilty commitments.

The new mystery pattern ...

 



Summer Mystery Quilt Weekend 

is coming to

 The Quilt & Needle

 

The pattern clues say this will be fast and easy and 5 yards of fun!

 

Due to my personal schedule, I am not sure if I will be able to sew along this time, but I love watching all the quilts in progress.

 

Time to buy my pattern!

I am linking up today with

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

and

WIP Wednesday @ freshly pieced
 

 where there are many pretty quilty WIPs to enjoy!
 

:-)

 



Applique My Way

Pieced heart applique block

As my regular readers know, the word "applique" makes me nervous.  It is the one quilty technique that cause all kinds of consternation for me.  So many of you do this so effortlessly, that I always feel all thumbs when I look at any pattern that requires even the most basic applique.

Here is a method I have started using that I actually enjoy!

 

For this I use a light fusible interfacing, but I do not fuse it to the back.

 

I cut a piece of fusible the same size and shape that I want my applique to be.

 

For this heart shaped applique, I cut the shape after I stitched, but for circles and other shapes I often cut them both the beforehand.

 

 

For this heart I used a pieced square

 

paper template on interfacing

 

cut

 

pinned

 

stitched

 

trimmed to shape

 

 

I cut a hole in the middle of the interfacing.

 

opening cut in interfacing

 

Turn right side out and smooth into shape

 

front

 

cut background fabric square

 

 

Fold background block to center applique.

 

 

 Press front to background

 

 

Press back

 

 

Applique success!

 

 

Ready to finish!

 

I will stitch around this applique with a bling hand stitch or maybe use  a machine decorative stitch.

 

If you are as timid about applique as I am, I hope you will find this method easy and give it a try,

 

I am using this method for my current quilt test project, which has applique circles and plan to use it again soon for another project.

 

More applique posts coming soon to my scrapatch!

Today I am linking up with ...

Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River
 

and

Sew Cute Tuesday @ Better Off Thread
 

Thanks for visiting today!

 

:)