Sweet Heart Sunday

We are back from vacation and I did a lot of stitching while we were away, but of course not nearly enough!  I always seem to bring about a month's worth of projects for a 5-6 day trip!  But I did get caught up on my Sweet Hearts... and then some!

I made a total of 22 hearts, along with working on the strawberry block and I also was able to get two quilts basted together.  I basted the monkey baby quilt and also the bachelor buttons quilt I finished piecing.... uhhh... let's just say awhile ago.  I don't have any pictures, unfortunately.  But the basting went much faster without any kitty-helpers!

So, do you baste with a needle and thread, do you pin, or do you use basting spray, etc.?  I would be interested to hear how you baste your quilts together.  Like most quilters, it is my least favorite part of quilting.  In fact I dread it! :-)  Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated!

Here are the blocks I made to remember our beach vacation.  Love the summer themes.

Enjoy what is left of the last weekend of summer, Fall is just around the corner!

I'll be thinking of my toes in the sand when it is freezing outside and there is snow on the ground! :-)

Happy Stitching!

Deb

I Won Something! Tula Pink Aurifil Thread to be Exact!

I was so excited to find out that I had won something in the drawing of participants in the 2013 Pets on Quilts show this year!  You can check out adorable Abby as my entry for this year's contest.  But today in the mail (I had to wait outside for the mailperson because a tree across the street took out our mailbox while we were away) I was thrilled to receive my prize!!!!

Thank you!, Thank you!, Thank you! to Lily Pad Quilting for sponsoring this great event each year and for drawing my name in their give-away!  It was a lot of fun and I loved seeing all the pets on quilts and pet related quilts.  

Now I can't wait to try my new thread!  Isn't it wonderful!!?

Happy Stitching!

Deb

Beach Escape

We are at the beach this week.  Which happens to be one of my favorite places to stitch!  After all the summer rental guests are gone, and most of the tourists have returned home, we take our week while the weather is still beautiful and the island is peaceful.

This way to the beach!

This is where I enjoy spending a lot of my time.  On our deck with a view of the ocean....ahhhhh.

And of course doing a lot of this.....  I brought two friends with me since the kitties aren't with us. :-)

One of our favorite things to do when we are not at home relaxing is to take a trip to Cape May.  A beautiful historic town with lots of Victorian architecture.  This is Beach Avenue along the ocean.

Lots of beautiful restored homes and inns.

And of course shopping on the Washington Street Mall.  There is a great cross-stitch shop here, Stitch by Stitch, along with other gift shops and clothing stores.  We had the best gelato here!

We also stopped to check out the carriage horses.  Beautifully adorned with flowers!

But check out those hooves - now that is a pedicure!!!  LOL

A trip to Cape May is never complete without a stop at one of my favorite shops - The Whale's Tale.  Lots of beachy stuff in here!

Back home and back to my stitching.  Looks like I need another cup of coffee!

Maybe today we'll get to the beach (fingers crossed!)

Happy Stitching!

Deb

Strawberries, Out of Season? I Think Not!

June is strawberry month here in New Jersey.  I have wonderful memories of sitting in a sunny field with my girlfriend spending hours just talking and picking this luscious fruit.  The sweet smell of just picked strawberries is amazing.  I look forward to strawberry season every year.. So I was really looking forward to working on this block in the Bountiful Life quilt.  Which is why I chose to make it next.

I have been working on this block the past week and a half.  Taking my time.

I started by selecting some of my favorite small scale red prints.  Red is one of my favorite colors. 

Aren't they luscious.. Like real strawberries?

Then I started with the leaves, which have an interesting shape.

Next, I started to add the fruit.  Can you tell I really like strawberries?  Note the strawberry wool pin cushion on my work table. It is one of my favorites! 

I  hope to have this block done this week.. after I make all those strawberry caps!

Happy Stitching!

Deb

Gone Fishin' .....

You may remember the post back in June (can it be that long ago??) that I started a new fish design that will become my next pattern.  Well, since I hadn't worked on it for awhile, I thought I would spend some design time in my studio this weekend.

WARNING: There are quite a few pictures here! :-)

 So once my fish design is glued together.. and I'll get to that in a minute, it can be picked up off the table and moved around to audition it on different backgrounds.  Looks like a good catch, right?

At this point however, the fish is sitting on a piece of muslin as a background which works as a design surface for laying out the different shapes.  Now it's time to start gluing the design together.

I use Roxanne's Basting Glue.  The long thin needle- like applicator is perfect for applying glue just under the edge of all the pieces.  

Just a small bead of glue is enough to hold the pieces together.  I go around the edge of every piece.  Gluing is done to the entire design, except along the outer edge. 

Once the design is totally glued together, it can either be gently lifted from the muslin or cut away just under the edge.  This design was held together enough that I was able to just pull it off the muslin, as seen in the first photo at the top of this post.  As you can see here, I have started the design process of selecting a background.

This can be a really fun part... or a really frustrating part - Depending on how it goes! 

So we start on a solid dark background.. not bad.

Moving to the design wall, we try a light and dark background.  Maybe something pieced would be best.. but what colors?

Next I try different blue batiks.. with that piece of pink still in there.  Not sure I like that either.....

What about a light pieced background?  Does that work?  I like the bright colors against the light background, but not enough contrast I'm afraid.  

I continue to audition dark fabrics for the background, surrounded by some pieces for the border. Hmmmm.

This isn't too bad.  I think I am starting to make some progress....

This is better.  I think all those colors around the border were too distracting.  But I don't like the white inner border.  What was I thinking?  Sand? LOL  That will have to be changed.

Once the background is pieced, it is time to glue the fish down to the background.  I pin it in several spots just to keep it from shifting.

Again with the basting glue, I go around the entire outside edge this time gluing it to the background.

Here is the final design.... well about 95% done.  And what about all those raw edges, you ask?  They will be stitched down during the machine quilting process..  another day.

 Whether you are relaxing today or playing with toys.... I wish you a very happy Labor Day - Enjoy!

Happy Stitching,

Deb