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Saturday, February 29, 2020

Not Happening Tonight


Nutmeg, says, "It is okay, Mommy."

Maestro says, "Time for sleep."

My kitty helpers and I gave it out best effort today to try to finish our


But it is just not happening this month.


We  logged over seven hours of stitching today and got this close ... 

... then rut-roh ... 


...  we had to take out stitches.

The red and aqua should have aligned.
I should have caught the error sooner.
The red bridge is one count too high.

Because this is the corner and my aida is pulled a bit askew by the frame
I thought at first the aqua arrow on the right was misplaced,
but no ... it is the red.

I took out the offending stitches and am calling it a night
and a month.

Tomorrow I will take the cloth off the frame and square it 
before I start again.

Even though I did not complete my February OMG Goal,
I feel it has been a successful month of sewing and stitching.
It is all good.

Good Night and Sweet Dreams


Friday, February 28, 2020

One Day and Counting


I am stitching ...and stitching ... and stitching.

I am making progress.


This is my stitching log for this project.
At this point I have been logged 33 and a half hours.
Also,  I forgot to record a few times when I just 
snatched a few minutes of stitching here and there. 

I  am  a  s-l-o-w  s-t-i-t-c-h-e-r.


If you look close in the shadows at the top of this photo,
you will see Nutmeg is sleeping on the job 
on one of her favorite warm spots,
a small quilt folded on top of the steam radiator in the living room.

OMG ... I may not get this done.

February Count Down ends tomorrow 

Better go put in a few more "x"s 
before I get my needed "z"s

Sweet Stitching Dreams 

Thursday, February 27, 2020

I Like Thursday #46 ~ Scrappy & Happy


My mini tea rose is blooming on my sunny south facing kitchen windowsill.
I shared the story of this gift in my 

This is my first bloom of the year for 2020. 

It has been such a mild February that the buds are starting 
to get fat on my forsythia in my back yard.  
The ground is cracking where some of my bulbs are planted.
Spring is coming soon!


I have been taking this advice from a quilt to heart
and have been tending these thoughts.

I had three projects in the red and not finished.

I am happy to say I have checked two of them off the my list this week.






Both of these were made from extra fabrics from other projects,
were made entirely from stuff in my stash,
and up-cycled old pillows.

My third project of the week is still in the red ...



I have not yet got it done.

As you can see, this is very much a "all paws on" effort


Nutmeg says,  "We still have time, Mommy.  I will help!"

I do have hopes of getting this done tomorrow or Friday ... or ...


Saturday Leap Day may be my lucky day!

Just in time to start another cross stitch ...

You may download this




I am finding common threads today with the


who always share what makes them feel happy.

May you have a Happy Thursday!


Wednesday, February 26, 2020

My Sweet Tea & Sashiko Stitches Pillow is Finished!




My Jolly Bar Bakewell Pillow Cover is finished!



For the quilting, I did hand stitched Sashiko stitching.


I made this pillow with extra blocks from my 


I could not have done this stitching without this ...




You place it overt your thimble finger with the plate on your palm and 
push the long needle through the fabric
and then pull the needle and smooth the stitches.


More info on my method and tools may be found Here.
I stitched straight lines for the borders in these matching thread colors.


For the center, I let my quilty muse decide and I did some free form improv stitching.
I did not mark these motifs or the straight lines. 


I wanted to make this as a cover for the winter season pillow on the upper left
which has red and green snowmen on the front.
The pillow measured 20" so my Bakewell blocks  needed a narrow outer border
to make it large enough for the pillow up-cycle.


I machine sewed the background border strips around the center
to make a nice clean and crisp frame.


For the back of the pillow cover, I made and envelope back with snap closures
from extra Sweet Tea fabrics.


I bound this pillow with a navy heart print from Bonnie & Camille
that was in my stash.


I am very happy with this project!

I plan to do more Sashiko quilting on future projects.


Do your do large stitch quilting?
I would love to hear what thread and method you use.
I love to learn new quilty things ... :) 

Happy Stitching!

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Honey Buns & Free Pattern Fun



This Mini Moda Honey Bun has been in my stash for a long time.

I have no idea how it came to be in my stash.
This is not a precut size that I recall ever buying.

Honey Buns are collections of 1 1/2" x 42" strips of fabric produced by Moda Fabrics. 
Honey Buns typically include 40 strips of fabric but can vary,
like my mini roll which has 20 strips.

This little honey bun came out of my stash for a photo today
because I saw this cute 



Free Quilt Pattern that is made using a Honey Bun Roll.



For fun, I did some window shopping for fresh Honey Buns

@


and found quite a few tasty fabrics that I would like to see in this pattern.
including the
shown in the free pattern.

I think I would use a different line, though. 

Of course, I could also just sew my stash
and use the mini bun
or cut 1.5" strips from my stash.

The pattern looks like a good  choice for a "Stash Buster" quilt.

I am not buying fabric today but it is fun to look.

Which one would you choose?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edit 2/26/2020





Just saying ... ;) 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, February 24, 2020

My Sweet Lily


My Sweet Lily Cushion is Done!



For this project I found some red and white fabrics from my stash.

The very detailed and well written pattern for this project may be found 
@

As this is a new release, it is on sale now for a short time.


This is the block in my 


Even the 20' pillow is an old one that was in a closet waiting for a new cover.


 I quilted it and made the back Here


I have wanted to make a while lily block for a long time
and I really like the look of this modern take on the traditional block.
The white fabric is a Zen Silky and it has a lovely feel and sheen.
The red prints are leftovers from a red and white quilt.


Here is the back of the pillow with my favorite snap back closure.
This was also made with extra fabric from another project
and pieces form my stash.
The border is fat quarter of a Bonnie and Camille diagonal stripe.
The red solid is Bella Country Red.

The pattern gave good instructions for making an envelope back.
I added my touch with this snap closure.


My quilty kitties and I are really happy with this nice cushy project.  

I really like this pattern and hope to make a four block quilt
in floral and pastel fabrics this spring, which may be soon. 

It has been so warm here that had my south facing windows open the last two days.

Spring is coming! 

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Slow Sunday Sashiko Stitching



Today for my Slow Sunday Stitching 
I completed the sashiko quilting on my 





For the center I did some free form improv stitiching.

I did not marking.  I just let the blcok deisgn and the threads and my quilty muse decide

I used these beautiful 
I use fusible fleece on the back to hide my threads.
I do not mark lines.

 I can make nice straight lines and take multiple stitches at a time
with the Tulip Long Sashiko Needles from Fat Quater Shop


This long stitch quilting has the "paw of approval"
and I am very happy with the results.

Linking up today with the lovely slow stitchers
@


Slow Sunday Stitching @ Kathy's Quilts

Tomorrow I hope to sew my pillow cover. 

Saturday, February 22, 2020

My Jolly Bar Bakewell Quilt


Welcome to my Sweet Tea Jolly Bar Bakewell Post!
The snow is melting here and soon it will be time to sit and dine outdoors, 
so I made this fun Sweet Tea Table Quilt.



This quilt is featured here on The Jolly Jabber

I made this sample quilt for the  







There is Jolly Bar Bakewell Kit 


Backing Set Here 

for the quilt in the image above.

Free FQS Video Tutorial Here


I did my own layout to make a smaller quilt for a table.


To make this quilt I used 

and


 Print Shop Cream Camera Ready
yardage for the background fabric
and  blue and red Sweet Tea prints form my stash
for the binding and backing.

For my center block I chose this



Sweetwater Ink Sweet Tea Panel
purchased directly from
 Sweetwater Fabrics



Here is the block layout for my 30.5" Table Quilt.
The blocks are 8.5" except, 8" finished,  for the center block.
I did not turn the blocks are shown in kit quilt.
The center block is the Sweet Tea Recipe Print.
The cream sashing and outer border strips are cut to 2",
1.5" finished.
The blue frame for this block is cut at 2.5",
2" finished.


The blue and red two color binding is from
My Two Fabric Flanged Binding Tutorial

I really enjoyed making is quilt and hope to make a lap size quilt
with the rest of my Sweet Tea fabrics.


I am also making a matching pillow with
four Jolly Bar Bakewell blocks,
also not rotated.

Like many of my late January and February projects,
I am a bit behind due to the sinus infection.


For this one project, I am long stitch quilting with sashiko threads.

Click Here to see my finished Sashiko Quilting


I hope you enjoy making your own quilt from 
this fun and easy pattern.

Happy Sewing!