Settled Again

A week ago we had hardwood floors installed in the guest room and my sewing room.  There was stuff strung all over the house.  Like this

and this

And the sewing room was emptied out and Mr. Quilts painted it too.  Thank you dear!

So once again things are back in place.  I am very pleased with it.  It is nothing spectacular like some you see, but it is all mine.

Here are a few shots now

I am very happy about my new design wall.

A place to sit and sew or look at a book and dream about the quilts I want to make.  Behind the chair I will have a gallery of small quilts and samplers that I have stitched.  I love the looks of the Cherry floors.  They are so  slick I could have a chair race on them. LOL

This is the cutting area and more storage.

 

 

 

 

 

I am still sorting through books and such that I want to recycle in some way.

And most of all I want to start to sew again.  The little quilt on the design wall needs a correction and to be quilted along with several other small quilts that are patiently waiting their turn to be quilted.  I guess I better get to work. 

Until next time.

Pat

Something Old Something New

I will start with the Something New.  I made this little log cabin quilt for my sister.  I think it turned out real cute it is from the book "Twenty Little Log Cabins" by Gwen Marston.  If you like small quilts like I do it is a good book to have in your collection.  Amazon has copies for sale.

Since it is so beastly hot here in Texas I have spent a lot of time in the house.  I finished up one quilt top and have it ready to go to the longarm quilter.  I also made this small quilt - it is machine pieced and machine quilted.  It was fun to make.  I think it will look great this fall with a pitcher of fall leaves or flowers sitting on it.  It was designed by Jo Morton.

Now for the Something Old.  Dawn always shares her wonderful collections of old sewing items.  So today I thought I would also show you some of the things that my deal friend Janet (no blog) gave to me.

First are a couple of looms for weaving - do any of you remember have anything like this when you were small?   Perhaps you wove a blanket for your doll.

The price for the littlest loom when it was new was .50 cents. 

 

 

Here is an assortment of  items.  I am not sure how  the bone needles were used - I am thinking perhaps for weaving, maybe even darning.  Do any of you know.  Also the needles in the lower right corner look more like stakes LOL they have a flat very sharp point on them.  One has a small knob on the end and I am thinking it is a tapestry needle which have blunt ends on them.  The blue glass darning egg is one I favor.  The little shoe hook is about 2 inches long so I am thinking it might have been used for a childs shoe.

I also have this collection of mother of pearl belt buckles and buttons which I would like to display some way .  The emery stawberries are silk and well worn.  The item below the emery is a ivory book mark.  And below the bookmark is a little Brown Jug - anyone remember hearing that song? Sorry it tipped over.  In the center is a little silk purse the size of a quarter.  I have to wonder what was carried in it.  Maybe a sixpence for good luck on someone's wedding day??  The small bar of Ivory Soap at one time had a eyelet on the top and was used as a shoe fob.  It was a giveaway from Proctor and Gamble with so many Ivory Soap Wrappers sometime in the late 1800's.

I hope you have enjoyed this little trip down memory lane.  Thanks for stopping buy.

Until next time.

Pat

Weekend

Hi everyone, this weekend I participated in a Virtual Retreat on one of the Yahoo Groups that I am on.  I worked on a top that has been sitting around for way too long.  It is Nebraska Waves by Jo Morton.  I have reduced the size by one row.  I will use a black fabric for the setting blocks and border.

I am going to leave that on the design wall for a couple of days in case I want to tweak the placement of the blocks.  So in the meantime I am working on this hand piecing project. 

I ordinarily machine piece but chose not to for this project with the small pieces.  it will be 30 x 30 when it is complete.

I saw this on Ann Hermes' blog and just had to copy the idea.  Thanks Ann!

The yardstick is an antique - I have no idea where it come from.  Most like from my Dad's business when Mr. Quilts closed it up after his passing.  But I found another one at Home Depot in the paint department.  It is very sturdy and after it was stained and waxed it looks old.

It is just another way I can display my quilts in my home.

Until next time...

Pat

This Week

As you may have guessed by now I like making doll size quilts designed by Jo Morton, Kathleen Tracy, and Pam Buda.  So I decided that a needed a doll bed to display them on.  I have been after my husband for quiet some time to make me one.  He has come through for me once again.  The quilt is designed by Kathleen Tracy and I think it looks great on the bed.

I have also been working on my Mary Wigham Sampler and I do not have too much more to completion.  Mary was seven years old when she stitched it and the reproduction has Mary's mistakes included.  This is the second spot sampler I have stitched and I think I have added a few mistakes of my own.  I think I will go back to band samplers as they are easier to count.

I have also pulled this piece out to work on.  It is a needlepoint sampler that I started way back in the early to mid eighties.  It was designed by Chottie Alderson, who has since passed away.  She had access to the workrooms of the Victorian and Albert Museum in London and studied the needlework.  The different motif's represent different styles of stitching.  She also includes in her class the history of each style.  The one I like best is the Louis XIII (1601-1643), son and heir of Henry IV and Marie de Medici.  It is the one I am working on and if you look closely you can see the oak leaves.  In 1631 Louis built a hunting retreat and the gardens were designed to look like the beautiful embroideries of the period.

 

 

 

 

 

I guess that's all I have to tell.

Until next time.

Pat