A sampler for Sunday

Today's offering is a little sampler that I just got back from the framers this week. This is "Wash Day" by Carriage House Samplings.



Next to houses, birds are my favorite motif on samplers and this one has a a whole flock of them! I stitched this using GA Sampler Threads with floss from my stash.



I'm really happy with this frame in more ways than one. First I like how the black coordinates with the birds. Second I like the red highlights in the frame pick up the rosy tones. And third I LOVE the price I paid for this framing --only $7.14! Yep, you read that correctly seven dollars and fourteen cents. I had this framed at Joann's and I used the 50% off plus $20 coupon - this is the best coupon for a small piece. Now I really lucked out because this was a very inexpensive frame so the total before discounts was only $54 - less 50% off (minus $27) minus another $20. The clerk who wrote up my order couldn't get over what a deal I was getting. Of course it helps that I don't get any matting or glass. I originally went down this road because I like to be able to see the texture of the stitching (so no glass) and I didn't want a bunch of different colored mats. Sticking with wood frames allows me to mix and match and regroup my samplers and they all play well together.

Hope you have a great week with lots of stitching time!
carol fun

Where I Sew

Well there has been a cosmic convergence of events -first, I cleaned up my sewing area and second Pink Chalk Studio is hosting s "Where I Sew" online tour. Now my sewing area isn't perfect but at least my photos won't land me on an episode of "Hoarders: Buried Alive". Although that could be a future possibility, I'll think about that tomorrow. (thanks Scarlett)

My sewing area is in the basement of my home and it as a lovely space. When we bought this house 18 years ago the space (or as the realtor referred to it "the finished lower level" )was completely done. The walls were were dry walled, there was Berber carpet on the floor and can lights were in place all around the perimeter of the space. I know I am blessed to have such a large space. This is my view when I come into my space.



That table that my sewing machines are set up on is a conference room table that is about 90" long and 45"wide. My Juki sits on one long side and my Janome sits on the shorter side. My husband purchased this table with the idea that it could be used for meetings - huh?? Through the years is has been used as the base for a giant Thomas the Tank Engine layout, a buffet table and mostly the receptacle for lots of stuff I bring in and can't decide where to put it. I haven't seen this much open space on this table for months! This is my view from my sewing chair across the room. The entire basement area is 30' X 30' - very spacious.



Now if I'm sitting in my chair at my Juki and look to my left I have my laptop and a view to the wall where I always display a large quilt. The bookcases on the side hold some of my fabric stash and books and assorted other stuff. Big Dude is sitting on my cutting table - oops! I just woke him up.



To the right of my sewing chair is the bulk of my stash. These bookcases are about 6 1/2 ft tall, 30 inches wide and 16 inches deep. I blame these bookcases for the size of my stash, honestly if they were smaller I wouldn't have been able to assemble this much fabric, right? (Shake your head up and down, up and down. - LOL) At the top you see part of my collection of tins. I love pretty tins and lots of knickknacks.



You know those photos that show rooms where everything is clean and sleek and there are minimal accents? -- yeah, my space is the antithesis of that. I love stuff! My philosophy is that you can have more stuff if you find a way to organize it or display it. It is justification enough for me!





This group of grid shelves my son helped me reconfigure last week. It includes my Moda precuts, some patterns and a current yarn projects. The clear bins have the quilt projects I'm working on now- my Farmer's Wife fabrics and the Hugs & Kisses Jaybird quilt and the Sugar Dish quilt. This way I can switch back and forth between projects and I hope this system will keep things a bit neater. (Hope springs eternal, doesn't it?)



This is my new clean design wall. My younger son helped me re-do this and it looks so good! It was the motivation I needed to kick start the rest of the cleaning up. (Check back on Monday to see where that block in the middle is going.)



And here is my cutting table. This is right behind my sewing chair, so I can swing around and cut and then sew. There is a lot of stuff toward the back of the table since I really can't reach across it (I have little short arms, dontcha know) and then the space is made even smaller when Big Dude surveys his kingdom from this perch. Oh well, he is good company.



I know I'm lucky to have all this space but I'm already entertaining thoughts as to what I'll do when I downsize. I think there will be a massive garage sale - LOL! So this is where I sew, my favorite spot in my home!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Pretty things I didn't make...

I have been the happy recipient of several pretty things that I want to share with you. First is this pretty wallet made by Myra of Gr8dame's Place. I love the fabric and that button stack -- thank you Myra!



I won this in a "guess what Part 3 of the ">Mystery Sampler will include". Actually my "guess" was more of a wish for a house, and there is a house along with 2 sheep. Very pretty - now I just have to figure out to add a chicken in there somewhere. Oh check out Myra's modification of the sampler. She turned the bluebirds into cardinals. I think I'll be borrowing this idea too.

And then my friend Vicki made this adorable notebook for me. Isn't that polka dot chicken fabric just perfect?



Inside is a place for a pencil and a little pocket to slide notes in. Vicki is so clever. She's always coming up with great purses, quilts and gift items. Thank you Vicki!

And then there is this wonderful quilt top that I did not make. My friend Laurey(no blog) did this one.



Aren't these wonky baskets and her choice of fabrics great?



I love how she made one with bits and pieces of the other fabrics.



Today isn't turning to be as productive as yesterday. I ended up spending waaaay too much time trying to untangle a skein of yarn. It is a good thing it was pretty yarn or I'd have had to throw it across the room. Now I'm off to knit a bit.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

A design wall for Monday or what I found when I was cleaning!

Last week I spent some time cleaning up, sorting out and organizing my yarn and fabric and to my surprise I found stuff I'd forgotten I had.Obviously this means that having a poor memory is a good thing because this quilt top was new all over again!



This is a Thimble Blossoms pattern called "A Piece of Cake" by Camille Roskelley and the fabric is by the same designer. It is an older collection called Simple Abundance.



All of the blocks were already sewn to each other. All I needed to do was add the borders and the fabric was for them was in the same ziploc bag. Why hadn't I finished this quilt top? I got no clue, but today I did finish it and I even sewed together fabric for the back.



See that pretty paisley? I had plenty of it to make the back. Now it is all ready to be sent off to my long arm quilter at next Monday's guild meeting. Oh I feel so happy that I'm ready ahead of time. That almost never happens. My normal situation is to be sewing on the borders and slapping the back together just 20 minutes before I have to leave for the meeting.

Well it has been a very productive Monday. I hope this trend continues since I have several projects calling my name. I do wish they'd be better behaved and not yell at me -LOL!

Happy stitching-
carol fun

A sampler for a steamy Sunday

It is like 90 bajillion degrees outside and it just rained and it is so hot you can see the steam rising off of the streets and the roofs of the houses. So I am hunkered down in the basement family room with the AC and a fan running. I did go out on the screen porch long enough to take some pics of a sampler for today. I haven't the faintest clue what the name or the designer of this one it. And the date I stitched in is 1989 - a loooooonnnnggg time ago.



As I'm typing this a name popped into my little pea brain - Lynn Waters Busa - she was a quite prolific designer back in the 80's and 90's and this may be a design of hers. Whoa- it is scary what is tucked away in the dusty corners of my brain. Anyway I loved this sampler because of all the decorative stitches it used.



The alphabet is done is 4 sided stitch and eyelet stitches and that little tulip-y flower was done in queen's stitch. Between each section the dividers are also done in decorative stitches - long-arm cross stitch.



I love this sentiment and those flowers made with blocks of satin stitch and then overstitched. And it included my requisite house at the bottom. All in all a very pretty band sampler to my eye. And now that I think a bit more I'm not sure this was Lynn Waters Busa -- oh well, it will remain a mystery.

I've had some quality stitching time this week and I finished up 2 small pieces. One I took to Joann's to be framed and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the other one - maybe a pin keeep cushion. So because I finshed 2 pieces I rewarded myself by starting somtething new (let's not bring up the other pieces I already have started -ok?) This is how far I've gotten.




This is called Quaker Sampler and it is a BBD piece. It is in the book

Mid- week stuff

Yeah I know it's not a scintillating title but I'm tired. I spent the day making gigantic messes and then trying to clean them up. I was semi-successful in corralling and organizing my yarn, but my fabric area looks like my studio's has been ransacked. I was building some shelves with wire grids and connectors (shelving stuff left over from my son's college days) and I am short a number of the connectors. I think that several were lost during my son's many moves, and I am going to have scavenge some from his room. I'll do it tomorrow after he goes to work, he'll never notice that I've rearranged his piles.

It was a good day to stay inside with the AC cranked up. It was 95 with a heat index of 105 - hot hot hot! So I will share with you my latest knitting project, my Cladonia shawl.




I love how it turned out. I used Fiber Optics Kashmir yarn and it is soooo soft.It isn't as big as the pattern suggested since I used smaller needles but that's okay since I wanted a shawlette size.




This lace was very easy to knit. You can put a marker at the beginning and end of each repeat so staying on track was a cinch. Now that picot edging took hours but it was worth it.

Okay off to sit and veg a while and then back to the cleaning tomorrow. After I get my shelves put together I want to take down my dusty dirty design wall and put up some nice clean and fresh batting.

Happy stitching-
carol fun

Design Wall Monday and some progress

I got some time to sew and these blocks for my Sugar Dish quilt went together quickly. (Excuse my incredibly dusty design wall. I plan to change it this week. And looking at my layout some of those blocks are definitely going to be moved.)



I'm making a quilt big enough for a double size bed so I figure I need it to be 10 blocks wide and 9 rows long. Since the blocks are rectangles this will result in a nice square quilt, just the way I like it. I need 80 blocks and I have made about 75 blocks so I only need to cut out a couple more and work on the dresden plate blocks. Hopefully I'll have time for that tomorrow.

Last week I had a brush with celebrity over this quilt. Allison of Cluck, Cluck, Sew left a comment on my blocks! How cool is that? I love her patterns and will be definitely be stitching up a couple more. Right now I have my eye on her Kaleidoscope and Shortcake. So many pretty quilts to make, so little time!

Happy stitching-
carol fun