Life in the Scrapatch: Hand Quilting

Showing posts with label Hand Quilting. Show all posts

Monday, February 10, 2020

If Wishes Were Stitches

My quilty kitties and I have been stitching.

Maestro is very "paws on"

Katniss has been inspecting her work very closely.

Together, my kitties are making progress with their hand quilting.

Nutmeg is taking a nap somewhere.

Maybe I will just leave the stitching kitties to their work

and go join Nutmeg,

Maybe the stitching will be all done for me when I wake up.

:-)

Friday, March 20, 2015

When I saw this "meet and greet" sponsored by the lovely
Madame Samm @ Sew We Quilt
I did not sign up because I do not really think of myself as a hand stitcher
and felt my efforts would seem too small.

When I looked through my blog tonight, I was surprised to find that I have done bits and pieces of hand quilting accents on my projects that really enhanced their beauty.

So I have decided to add this link to the get together.

Many of these projects were for Sew We Quilt blog hops.

No surprise there, Mdm Samm has a way of inspiring me to challenge myself.

So here are my humble hand projects ...

Sewing Chatelaine with Hand Stitched Accents

QAYG Fall Hexie Table Topper

Hand Stitching Leaves

Hand Stitched and Quilted Hexie Pillow Top

Vintage Heart

All the beautiful hand work that I have seen lately online has been making my fingers itch to pick up some beautiful embroidery threads again and try my hand.

I know the links here in the Meet and Greet will amaze and astound and inspire me.

Many, many years ago I did both hand embroidery and cross-stitching,
but my vision issues keep me from doing much close work these days.

Since I have had recent eye surgery, even my sewing machine work has been a challenge lately,
but I am hoping that soon with my new implant lens
supplimented by the external prescription my eye doctor will soon be able to give me,
that maybe I can stitch again.

Sew I am planning a simple project to get me started so I may stitch along with you.

Thank you for visiting.

<3 Pat

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Hugs and Kisses XO ~ Pieces of My Heart

Hugs and Kisses XO to You!

When Madame Samm announced

this years' Hugs and Kisses theme

and I saw the pretty paper pieced patterns that she and Soma from

Whims and Fancies

had created for us

the image of ...

... an old fashioned fancy heart box

popped into my head.

I knew that I had to make one of these!

So I gathered materials.

The heart box is actually a tin given to me by one year by one of my sons
as a Valentine Day gift that I have been saving to use again.

Lady Katniss was very interested in this project.

Very, very interested!

Teeny tiny pieces!
I down sized the pattern by 50% to fit the top of the heart tin.

Here are my arrow pieces before I cut the paper apart and sewed them together.
I used the traditional method of paper piecing that I was taught, sewing
through the paper pattern and removing the paper afterward.

I am really happy with how my heart came out.
My tin is only 9 inches across so I had to resize the pattern I chose for the top.

My finished heart is only 5 inches across!

I cut it to size for the top of the tin box and cut some batting to pad the top.

Then I looked for some bits and pieces to embellish the top.
These are all little buttons and things I won in giveaways that have been tucked away in my sewing room waiting for the right project.

I cut a heart shaped piece of batting to pad the back of the top
and I echoed stitched around the heart with perle cotton.
I stored the thread and buttons in the tin while I sewed.
Of course, Lady Katniss helped.

I found some pretty fabrics from my stash ...

... and used a sew and flip method to frame the heart.

Some of them I pieced before I sewed them to the heart.

Here is my top before embellishing.

Here is the padded back.
There are three layers of batting at this point ...

... and I added one more when I added the ruffle.

There had to be a ruffle!
This pink gingham fabric is very old thin fabric that was left from a project that I made for My Girl when she was a baby.

I sewed on some lace and ribbon trim that I also found from a long ago and forgotten time and I added the buttons.

I hand sewed pink fabric to cover the back of the heart
before I fixed it to the tin box top.

When I attached the heart to the box, I decided that I wanted it to be removeable
so I used a velcro strip that I had in my stash of supplies.
I glued the scratchy part to the tin with heavy duty double sided sticky tape.
The sticky tape is from a roll that was given to me by the local manufacturer when I was a cub scout leader over twenty years ago and I was looking for donations of supplies. They gave me a big boxful. I am down to the last roll.
Then I hand sewed the soft part to the back of the heart.

Lady Butterfly helped.

This project has been quilty kitty approved.

Pieces of my Heart

Now my tin is filled with treasured pieces of my past
including these small photos of my children when they were young.
My sons are nine and seven years old and my daughter is five in these photos.

Of course, there were two more patterns to make ...

... sew I sewed!

These are the 10.5" of the original patterns.

What to make with these?

Sometimes simplicity is best.

So I framed these blocks with the white swiss dot

that I used as the background fabric for the blocks.

Plans are to use the varigated pink fabric in the "O" Block

that has shades from dark to medium pink for the binding.

What to make for the other side of the quilt?

Girl + Quilt!

Click here to read my post about the pattern details.

The pink and yellow floral fabric in the center plus is my favorite fabric in this quilt.
It reminds me of the roses in the curtains that my mother placed in my room
when I was a little girl.

I am quilting ... quilting ... quilting ...

I quilted organic free style hearts around the XO.
Now I am adding a fill design inside the heart
and I have other quilting plans for the space outside.

I have come down with a sore throat and a winter cold and I am achy and moving slow
so I will not have the quilting done and the binding on for a day or two.

I did enjoy venturing out in the sun and snow to breath the clean frosty air
while taking these photos for you.

Finished Quilt Here!

{{{{{{{hugs}}}}} and XOXOXO

be sure to visit all the Ladies of the Day!

Feb 12th

Lady Carol

http://justletmequilt.com

Lady Sandy

Upstairshobbyroom.blogspot.ca

Lady Cynthia

Http://dreamquiltcreate.blogspot.com

Lady Pat

http://scrapatches.blogspot.com/

Lady Jolie

www.joliemaxtin.com

Lady Susan

desertskyquilts

Thank you, Madame Samm and Soma!

... for these these pretty paper piecing patterns ...

Here at Etsy!

Here at Craftsy!

... and for donating the proceeds to charity <3

... just keep quilting ...

Thanks for visiting my scrapatch!
Have a Happy Heart Day!
XOXOXO from me to you!
<3

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Stitching Up Baby!

A "Stitch Me Up" Baby Bib ! for the

Stitch Me Up Blog Hop

When I signed up for this hop and the Stitch Me Up Packet arrived in my email, I was overwhelmed by the possibilities. The many free patterns are all so beautiful! I am sure you will be seeing much more intricate projects for this hop. There are flowers and gardens and houses and adorable wee tots. I chose one of the simpler patterns. The geometric shapes in this pattern by Bee Tree Designs appealed to me.

When it came time to chose a project, I decided that the simple pattern was very "primary" and that it would be wonderful for a baby or toddler.

What to make???

A Baby Bib!

I drew up a pattern ...

I wanted to keep the same lines as the Elements design so I used these to decide on my shape for the bib. I drew this directly onto the paper side of piece of freezer paper, so I would be able to iron the pattern right to the fabric. I used my ruler for the straight lines and drew around the bottom of an empty thread spool for the curves. At one point I realized my initial pattern had to neck opening too small, so I recut the opening larger. These photos were taken before I realized this design flaw and recut.

pattern details

cut

front
This is when I realized the neck opening was cut too small.

batting

It is snowing here again!

back
with enlarged neck opening

pin and machine stitch

This is an experiment and my own method.

I pinned the copy of the pattern design right to my top
with the batting only underneath.

Katniss helps thread and set up and check my machine

Katniss checks my machine settings

These are my standard settings.

After experimenting, I reset the stitch smaller to 2.0

to make it easier to remove the paper.

Katniss helps me matching the thread colors.
I started with my thin white piecing thread then I switched to red top thread as I knew I was planning to embroider with red perle cotton.

remove paper ... use tweezers if needed to get tiny bits

easy stem stitch right over the machine stitches

This hand stitching over machine stitching was an experiment and I will definitely do it again. I used larger stitches on my machine like basting at first. Then I set it to a smaller stitch. The smaller stitch covers easier and also makes it easiest to remove the paper. I also tried both white and red thread since my top color was red. The red was easier to cover, but one color would not work for embroidery with multiple colors. Next time I will match my machine color thread to the background fabric and set it to a small stitch length.

front and back

sandwich with right sides together

detail of the back of my hand stitching shows on the batting

machine stitch through all layers around the edge

Note: Remember to leave a 2-3 inch opening on one side to turn your bib right side out

crimp edges 1/4" away from seam

turn right sides out

I use a bone tool with rounded edges to smooth out the seams.

hand stitch opening closed

press bib and top-stitch 1/4 inch around the edge

machine stitch the velcro closure

Here is the finished Baby Bib!

This Baby Bib is destined to be included in a package that

I will be donating to the next ...

More Info Here

I first learned of this drive from a blog hopper, KaHolly,

and I feel this is a very worthy cause.

Just thinking about the young mothers of our service families who may be far away from home and getting ready to have a baby, sends me to my sewing machine.

I hope you will consider contributing in some way to this effort.

Giveaway Time!

Make Your Own Baby Bib Kit Giveaway!

[This Giveaway is now Closed ]

Cat not included ... again ... ;)

Pattern, back, batting, front ... when my model gets off of the red fabric, I will cut this piece, too. I will also enclose the velcro closure and a twist of red perle cotton to complete your own baby bib.

For a chance to win, please leave my quilty kitties and I one comment. We love comments!

You do not need to be a follower to win.

I will send this Baby Bib Kit 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.

For a 2nd chance to win be a follower and leave me a second comment telling me you are.

This giveaway will close at Midnight EDT on March 29th.

A winner will be announced and emailed on March 30th.

Best of luck!

Please visit all the other lovely bloggers posting today ...

WEDNESDAY March 20th

Karen@That Other Blog

Susan @That Other Blog

Sowing Stitches

Life in the Scrapatch (you are here!)

Cherry Blossom Quilting Studio