Chickens...Chickens...Chickens...

Talk about waiting till the last minute... I started this project at 10am this morning...and as I took this picture it was still warm from the iron...

My entry for Minis and More. The pattern is from Sherri at A Quilting Life ... you can purchase the pattern here. The pattern is designed for the Moda Candy Packs, the little 2.5" squares but I made my from my stash of chicken fabrics. If you've read my blog before you know how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE novelty prints. I made a minor adjustment by using one large square of polka dot chicken for the center versus sewing 4 squares together.

From my stash I found that background fabric in red and yellow with little feathers, along with fried eggs, cracked multi colored eggs, uncracked eggs, chicken tracks, confused chickens and bug eyed crazy chickens...

yeah that covers all my bases...LOL! I'm not sure how I'm going to finish this yet... maybe a mini for the wall, maybe a pillow.

And along with all the chickens in this mini I wanted to show my refreshed ironing board which features fried eggs and more chickens... the same chicken fabric I used for the center of the mini.

This is my homemade big board...a sheet of plywood covered with batting and finished off with fabric I stapled to it. I had a cover on it that looked like tape measures but it had gotten really nasty looking. This is so much better.

That little iron is a McCoy planter that I bought off of ebay. I have a little collection of McCoy pottery and I couldn't resist this. Usually I purchase the more pastel colors...blue, pink, green and of course lots of yellow but this one is perfect in black.

And I was gifted with this cute thread catcher from my dear friend Vicki.

She made this not knowing I used the same chicken fabric on my ironing board.

Great minds think alike!

So check out the parade of Minis on Michelle's blog... Island Life Quilts and Sherri's blog A Quilting Life. I'm sure there will be some wonderful little quilts to see!

happy stitching-
carol fun

Cue the banjoes...

I've got dueling projects on my design wall this week. First up I've made several more blocks for my Novelty Charming Stars quilt.

I got the inspirattion for this quilt from one done over at Sophie Junction which you can see here. Along with the gray one and the yellow one I had already sewn I added a bright blue one...

...with the Beatles and bees and flying pigs (Cincinnati is known for its Flying Pigs) and Barcelona and a little green man and 2 monkeys riding a bike (you don't see that every day) and dragons and sewing stuff.

And I made a light blue/aqua block...

...with Thomas the Tank Engine (a favorite of my boys) and scissors and a pig ballerina (after chickens my favorite animal is a pig) and bananas and sunglasses and  a pickle wearing a sombrero  standing next to a slice of pizza (who thinks up this stuff)  and kids on a school bus and a mermaid.

And I did a pink block...

...with a very large very happy bee and candy and peanuts and high heels and purses and hearts and a prince and peace signs and cupcakes... this block got real girlie on me as I didn't have a lot of novelties on pink backgrounds and you aren't going to find a lot of dump trucks on a pink background...just saying.

And I did an orange block...

...with googly eyes and spotty dog and hula girls and frogs wearing witches hats and more strange eyeballs and green peppers and sweet little girls and gators wearing glasses (that one is a recent acquisition that I couldn't pass up...LOL!)

So I'm happy with these blocks and plan to make several more. I think this may get up to be a 12 block quilt. I know I can make a block in purple, green and red and I have a ton of novelties with black background so there may be several of those... stay tuned!

And on the other side of the design wall I'm still working on my Bar Code quilt (you can find the instructions for it here.)

I'm very happy with how these blocks are going together with a mix of low volume prints and brights and black and white prints.

I got balls of yarns and chickens in the yellows and chicken tracks and chicken wire and chickens and mustaches and little pink bikes in the low volume strips. I'm not sure that other quilters'  low volume prints are as noisy as mine...LOL!

And I got black cats and bats and birds and green peppers in this block... a nice variety, dontcha think?

So the dueling quilt tops are humming along nicely. My plan for the Bar Code quilt is to make 35 blocks and the Novelty Charming Stars...well, I'm not sure about it yet. I'm seriously considering just making blocks at the moment and saving this for my yet to be conceived grandchildren...now I'm not pushing the newlyweds in any way... they're in charge of that project...I just like being prepared.

I'll be linking up with Freshly Pieced and with Patchwork Times.

happy stitching-
carol fun

For the birds...

It was a very rainy week here in Ohio so I spent a lot of time with my butt in my stitching chair. I finished my Free & Brave by Drawn Thread. Ta- dah!

It measures about 5" square and I'm not sure if I'll frame it or do some other finishing. I did end up making some changes to the piece. First off I stitched mine using 2 ply of floss over 2 threads. I like that denser coverage. However when it came time to do the decorative stitches I found that using 2 ply of floss was too clunky and using the called for 1 ply of floss made them too delicate. Sooooooo.... I ended up altering the shapes slightly and stitched everything in cross stitch using 2 ply.

I particularly like the birds in this piece...but it didn't hit me till last night that they are bald eagles...dun???

And since I finished one piece I was more than ready to dive into something new (let us put out of our minds at the moment the numerous UFO cross stitch pieces I could have returned to... like Scarlett, I'll think about that tomorrow, after all tomorrow is another day). This is Welcome, dear August from the Blackbird Design booklet In Friendship's Way which you can see here.

Isn't he a handsome fellow? I admired the Snooty Parrots sampler that several of my stitching friends did this year and you can see Lisa's here. I'm not up for another big project but this one is just the right size - about 75 stitches square - finished at about 4.75".

Now the August this piece refers to is a grandson named August, not the month... and since I have no grandchildren... yet... I'm not sure what to stitch in the spot where his name appears...I'm thinking it should be a word... Hope, Faith, Strength, Love? Any suggestions? You can see the piece on cover below...

also notice how much more vivid my piece is than the one pictured? I wonder if they softened the photo or if their flosses were that much more muted than mine... the dilemma of hand-dyed floss.

I'll be linking up two places - today to Kathy's Quilts Slow Stitching Sunday which you can see here... and tomorrow to Super Mom - No Cape's Vintage Embroidery Monday & Stitchery Link party which you can see here...lots of stuff to see!

happy stitching-
carol fun

Wandering off in another direction...

So I finished making what I think is enough of the low volume blocks I need for my Bar Code quilt (you can see the instructions for the block here on Kviltstina's blog) and turned my attention to making the scrappy one color blocks I need to complete the quilt. The next color I played with was yellow and here is where the top stands.

Now this isn't the final arrangement of the blocks, I will mix up the colors when I get all 35 blocks completed. Here is a close up of one of the yellow blocks... a nice variety of tone on tones and dotty fabrics and smattering of novelty prints.

But then another quilt on Pinterest caught my eye and I wandered off in another direction and ended up making these two blocks...a pattern called Charming Stars from Moda Bake Shop but made with novelty fabrics... have I ever mentioned how much I love novelty fabrics well... I LOVE NOVELTY FABRICS!!! LOL!!

I cut my squares 6" so the block is finishing at 16 1/2". I'm not sure how many blocks I'm going to make yet but I figure at least 9...or maybe 12...or maybe 16...I'll just have to wait and see where it goes...and in the meantime I am having a blast with my novelties stash.

+

A very pink Santa is diving into the pool
at the Rudolph hotel...

                                     An adorable Viking is lifts a cup of ale...

Mmmmmm...bacon!

                                              Paddington Bear also sauntered by...








This yellow block contains lots and lots of my favorite things...

Happy little blue birds...

                                 Vintage salt and pepper shakers like
                                   my Italian Grandma collected....

And speaking of Italians...
this vintage looking Italian chef...

                                                          Of course there would be a
                                                           polka dot chicken...

Lots and lots of polka dot chickens...

I can't wait to play with another color block of these novelties. I think I can work on both of these quilts in tandem...which will make each take longer to finish but it will be a FUN time!

Hope your week has some FUN sewing too! Hoping to link up with Freshly Pieced...always lots of things to see there.

happy stitching-
carol fun

Flag Day 2015...

Do you know what he colors of the flag represent? The white is for purity, the red is for valor and the blue is for justice. President George Washington described the design like this: "We take the stars from heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty."

I am proudly flying my flag on my front porch and I made great progress on my Brenda Gervais Free & Brave cross stitch piece.

It took longer to do the house than I expected... and I changed the color of the house too. It isn't really noticeable, but I know it is there. The white on the house is Crescent Colors Baby Chick...not so bright as the white in the flag which is DMC. A couple more sessions and this will be done and I should be able to display it for July.

And the mailman brought me a wonderful surprise this week... the latest offering from Dyeing to Stitch's Ladies Prim Society. It is from Blackbird Designs... my favorite designers... and I actually squealed when I saw it.

Isn't it fabulous??? Lady Liberty is on the top of the pin drum and the band that goes all the way around has that wonderful flag and a bunting  and an alphabet!!! Sorry I can't show you the back of the pin drum but there aren't any photos of it and I'm afraid if I take a picture of the chart it might infringe on the copyright. I can't wait to start this ... and I just might ...even though Brave & Free isn't done. OH... I can resist anything but temptation...LOL

I'm linking up with Kathy's Quilts Slow Stitching Sunday...you can pop over here and check out what others are doing this lovely Sunday.

Happy Flag Day... and happy stitching-
carol fun

yep yep yep...got messier...

As I predicted last week this project was going to be messy messy messy...and it sure is...

Now I do have a little more to show for this mess...I've made 12 blocks using the pattern I found on Stina's blog Kwiltstina which you can find here.

I will mix up the colors when I sew them together. My plan is to have 9 different colorways. My younger son saw it and said it looked like a barcode...and he has a point... here it is in black and white.

Interesting... and for closer inspection I have included a bit of fabric showing the Sagrada Familia basicila by Gaudi in Barcelona...and some sewing paraphernalia, oh and some Wimpy Kid fabric in black and white.

And look...the Beatles are making an appearance too! Boy I wish I had more of that fabric. I think I got it at Walmart years ago.

Soooooo... I should have kept closer tabs on how many blocks I was making. I've done some figuring and I figure I need 7 more of the low volume blocks. Here's one on my cutting table before being trimmed to 12 1/2" square.

Do you see the 3rd strip down from the top? I made it by sewing together leftover squares from my Go 4 It quilt. It is kinda like peanut butter and crackers...pieces aren't running out at the same rate so I'm trying to find a new home for them. Anyway it certainly adds to the scrappiness of the low volume blocks.

And while I had plenty of low volume for this quilt I did end up making a trip to Fabric Shack and adding a few more to my stash. I got some cute novelty/low volumes...

I got colorful arrows, and the cutest little lobster, and hangers I'd like in my closet, and a pink bike with a Christmas tree in the basket and fun clothespins.  When I was getting these fabrics cut it was noted that even my choice in low volume picks are bright!  I can't help it... I just LOVE color!

Well I hope to sew some this week, but so far I've been dealing with other projects. I got 80 marigolds planted in my yard but I could use a few more... so off the the garden center again. Also I want to look for some more perennials as several of mine that I planted last year did not come back...boo hoo!  It is going to be hot hot hot here the next week or so. Since I'm NOT an early morning person, I do my gardening later in the day... after dinner...so it is always race with the setting sun... it is my attempt at cardio...LOL!

And if Freshly Pieced does a WIP Wednesday link up today go see what else is new...

happy stitching-
carol fun

Not finished... not finished... finished... yeah!

Again I have no idea where the week went... but I was busy busy busy. It was one of those weeks where lots of events ended up all in the same week... quilt guild meeting Monday night, play at the Aronoff (I Love Lucy)... it was fun... and then a Cincinnati Pops Sing a long concert last night at Riverbend. I was quite the social butterfly... LOL! Next week there isn't a thing on my calender...yet...except for calling a plumber (I'm finally biting the bullet to get the work done on the downstairs bathroom) and need to drop off some paperwork to the title office for the house and a friend is coming over to sew and I'm doing lunch with another friend...hmmmm...maybe not as unbusy as I thought...oh well.

In looking over my cross stitch projects I have more not finished than finished. I did make progress on my BBD Early Morning Read. I stitched 5 more flowers and 3 more letters...that leaves 6 flowers and 6 letters to go.

Now I cast BBD Early Morning aside so I could start this one... Free & Brave by The Drawn Thread. You can see it here.

I realized that it is only a month till 4th of July and if I want more patriotic pieces I need to stitch more patriotic pieces Amazing how that works, isn't it? I'm a genius... not! This is only 76 X 76 stitches so I hope it will be a quick project. The pattern calls for one strand over 2 threads but I prefer a move covered look so I'm using 2 strands. This sampler includes some interesting woven Spratt stitches and satin stitches which I will leave for the end since I wad my stitching up in my hand (as if you couldn't tell that from the wrinkles in my pictures...LOL)  and I don't think those stitches benefit from that kind of treatment.

But I do have something finished and back from the framer...ta dah! BBD Bittersweet Lane.

This is a piece from the Prim Stitcher's Club at Dyeing to Stitch. Bev at Joanns in Deerfield Township did another wonderful job with the framing... I added that gold beaded fillet which I think is a nice extra touch.

So pop over to Kathy's Quilting and see what everyone else is working on for Slow Sunday Stitching. My son and DIL and I think her mom too are coming for dinner tonight but I've got my stuff ready to go. My beloved Cincinnati Reds still stink but I'm still watching them play baseball this afternoon. Hope you have a lovely Sunday and a great week ahead!

happy stitching-
carol fun

Oh this is going to get messy...

really really messy!!! Here is what my sewing room looks like right now...on the cutting table...

on the floor...

And what do I have to show for this? Well...I made these two blocks!

Are you suitably impressed? or just puzzled?? Okay, so I saw this quilt on Pinterest...

and tracked it down to the blog by  Kviltstina which you can see here. This quilt was made by her bee block buddies in the Scandibee group. Do go and read all about it. Stina has included all the directions you need to make this quilt.

This quilt includes ALL the stuff I love in a scrap quilt...bright colors... novelty prints... low volume prints...black and white prints... and cutting a million bajillion pieces! I'm not sure exactly how big this is going to get. I need to sit down and map out some sort of color plan before I go too much further and remind myself that it doesn't have to be double bed sized... but it just might be...if you know what I mean, and I think you do! Messy messy messy... oh I LOVE IT!!!

Now as has happened many many many times before, I should be working on other projects. I was told by two friends that I should sew together that Phillip Jacobs Stack N Whack that was on my design wall... and I should get the borders on my Go 4 it quilt...but as you can clearly see I'm not doing either one. I thought I needed to sew the Stack N Whack together to be sure I have enough fabric for the border, but when I looked at the border piece more closely I realized I have plenty of border, so the urgency to work on that quilt has dissipated. And I did sew together the random scrappy borders for the Go 4 it quilt, but I found out last evening that my long arm gal is out of town till the end of this week so the urgency to get this one done also vanished. I considered these revelations a sign from the quilting gods that I should start this quilt instead, and who am I to argue with a higher power??

And other things I can't argue with are the cuteness of some of the novelty fabrics I've used... like this sweet little bluebird of happiness...

and this sassy high kicking frog dressed as a ballerina... you don't see that every day, now do you?

So I'm starting off June with a new quilt project and isn't that the best way to start off any month?

happy stitching-
carol fun