Summer Arbor Finis and more!

Summer Arbor - The Drawn Thread

32 Count Antique Tan Wichelt Linen

using recommended NPI and Gloriana silk thread and beads

It was quite the finishing weekend! I finished stitching up Summer Arbor on Friday night. This completes the series of all four seasons. I love them all and I'm now on the search for the matching mats. On Saturday I participated on the Focus on Finishing Pin Keep class. I used my finish from last week, Joy of My Heart as the basis. It was a great class and even though I've done a pin keep in the past, I learned a few new things and this is definitely the best I've done so far. I'm still working on how/where I put my bow but the photo shows it on the side with some beads that came with the kit.

On Sunday, and I mean all day Sunday, I finished my dog bed! :-) Of course there wasn't much else to do as we got over four inches of rain on Saturday and Sunday!

Who knew that when I start this two years ago that I would take so long and I would spend so much money. But the results are worth it I think. And the pugs are very happy and that is all that counts. It's big but I wanted it to be large enough for three pugs to use it a once. I'm hoping there is a new pug puppy in my future. :-) It's two pieces, the zippered cover which is the quilted section and a down/feather insert. I quilted the sides and back also in a simple grid pattern and I made the zipper placket wide so I can flip the bed over so the pugs can use that side also without rubbing on the zipper. Now I just need to get my matching quilt quilted! :-)

Dog Bed - based on a quilt pattern from Miss Rosie's

Fabric - Chocolat from 3 Sisters by Moda

Machine Quilted using 100% wool batting

Stuffed with a feather/down pillow

After all that I did find time to start a new stitching project - the Wool Whimsy Barnard Quartet from Heart in Hand. The four in the series were sold as kits and packaged separately. I purchased them all at half price and I'm stitching them all on the same piece of linen. I started off with the sheep and I'll be finished with the first of four by the time I get home from work tonight. This will also be my train project for the week. I'm not sure if I will stitch all four right away, I might just do one or two and do something else and then pick it up again in a couple of weeks. This is from my "waiting in the wings" list. I'm really moving along with that. I'm moving along with it so well, soon I'll be able to start planning what I want to buy next.

My Harry Potter Weekend

Like many many other people, my weekend was all about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. My local library called me at 9:00am Saturday morning to tell me that my reserved copy of the audio CDs had arrived and was waiting for me. Of course I was already a couple of chapters into the book because I had picked it up at 7:00am that morning but I dropped everything and ran out. I was listening by 9:30am. :-) And quilting. First on my list for my HP weekend was machine quilting my dog bed. Below are the results. I think it turned out ok. I had planned on finishing up the dog bed this weekend but to my dismay, I did not have enough wool batting in my stash to work on the bottom piece so I had to put this project aside to wait for more batting to arrive from my online source. This has been the never ending project. I actually started this over two years ago! And in the process have pieced two separate tops (for the first top, I hated the fabric I picked out after I pieced it - too baby quilt looking, all light yellows and peach), quilted a bottom (which matched the first top and was too small for the second top) and have spent a small fortune. I had to order two more king size down/feather pillows for the insert on Friday (but I knew I would have to and I was relived to find out on Friday that four would work and not the six that I had first feared). I think I'm way over $250 for this odd project. :-) I could have purchased both dogs their own top of the line Bowers Bed in what I've spend on this. Oh well, live and learn. And of course I'm still not finished. I have to quilt the bottom in a simple grid pattern and quilt the side panels AND put the whole thing together. At least two more weekends I'm thinking.

When the dog bed top made it into the washer and drier, I moved onto the next project on my list. Finishing the piecing of my matching lap quilt (it's 80" x 80") using the Chocolat fabrics from 3 Sisters/Moda and a pattern from Miss Rosie's. I'm happier with the colors now that it's pieced. I do plan on sending this one out to be quilted. I have too much to get caught up on to quilt this one myself and in any case I'm not that good yet at the style of machine quilting that I want for this quilt.


By the time this was finished it was close to 7:00pm and I was ready to get comfy and stitch. So I picked up my Village and worked on block 3. Above are the results of Saturday and Sunday evening's stitching. I'm almost finished! Just one color thread to go. :-) I listened to HP and stitched to close to 11:00pm. I really wanted to get half way into the book before I stopped for the day so I would be able to get to bed Sunday evening at a decent hour. It's worth mentioning that while I could have completed reading the entire book on Saturday, listening to it took over 21 hours. But I love Jim Dale's interpretation of the HP books and I never really considered experiencing Deathly Hollows for the first time in any other way.

On tap for Sunday was piecing a quilt wall hanging that I have had in my stash for over two years. I went through a period a couple of years ago where I thought I needed to expand my quilting horizons and I purchased a couple of bright batik quilts kits. I have since decided that there is nothing wrong with just working on what appeals to me and this kit just sat on a shelf. These colors are just not me. But they will be perfect for a friend I have who lives in Alaska. She can put this in a dark corner in the winter and brighten everything up. I had planned on machine quilting this also but as I wrote before, I didn't have enough quilt batting. That's too bad as I would like to send it to her sooner than later and I won't work on it again until the dog bed quilt is complete. And who knows when that will be. :-)

Here is my progress on Celtic Heart from M Designs. It looks much better ILR I think.

Now onto my review of Deathly Hallows. Stop reading if you don't want to hear what I have to say. I have mixed feelings about the book. I'm happy with the epilogue - I loved the way JKR tied everything up. But I'm really sad about a couple of deaths that she put in. They just seemed so senseless and didn't advance the story one bit. And with one of the deaths, she didn't even say how it happened! Harry just saw the bodies laying there. That actually made me angry because it just happened to be one of my favorite characters. :-( I just didn't get why she did it. And I was not happy with the Severus Black resolution. I always felt he was on the good side but didn't like how she got there. I'm kinda sad it's all over. And what really struck me as odd was this is the first book that I don't plan on re-reading right away. So I guess it really is all over for me. But my hats off to JKR - she really created something wonderful. I don't think I have laughed and cried and felt so involved with a story as much as these seven books. I look forward to reading what she creates next. If she does...

Productive weekend and a sad flower

I found this tiny flower starting to bloom around my pond yesterday. We've been having a warmer than average January and this poor Snowdrop is confused - and now cold! It's under 30 degrees currently. Back to normal.

On Friday evening I did work on Blackwork Fantasy Garden but I didn't get the first green knot completed. I did however start on some of the blackwork. It's really going to be pretty when everything is filled in. I'm putting this down until I finish my new train project this week. A break will be good.

Here is the quilt top I made for my pug's dog bed. The fabric is from the Buttercream and Figs line from Fig Tree Quilts. The two blocks I used are a simple nine patch and a nine patch variation. I'm a little disappointed in the fabric line I picked out. It's much more yellow than I wanted and actually I'm wondering what in the world I was thinking when I purchased it. I actually thought I had picked out a Blackbird Designs fabric line but when I pulled out the package this is what was in there. I'm still waiting for my wool batting to arrive - next weekend I will draft the quilting patterns on the top and bottom. I don't think I will get to any quilting though.

On Saturday and Sunday evening, I worked on Marquior ABC. I'm going to add a little more red to part 4 and that means to match it with part 1 I have to go back and frog a little. I figure around 200 stitched need to come out of part one. But it will be worth it I think to have a bit more red thru out my piece. I've seen some with extra color and I like it.

And lastly, my train project for the week, Moonlit Garden Loose Feathers #22 from Blackbird Designs. I'm not going to do the words at the bottom but add a bottom border of more stars. I can't stand that saying.... To each his own! The change was good - I didn't get the least bit sleepy this morning stitching.

My first ornie of the year and a quilt top too!

After many many months of no quilting, I managed to put together a top over Saturday and Sunday. It's called Evening Harvest by Kelly Corbridge and it's make up from fabric from Cherrywood Fabrics. It's a line of just beautiful hand-dyed suedes cottons. The feel of them is incredible. I picked this kit up last April at the Spring Quilt Show in Rosement Illinois. I'm planning on machine quilting it myself after I practice a bit.

I also completed my first ornament for the ornament SAL I'm participating in. It's called Topiary Ornament III from Hillside Samplings using the recommended linen and fibers. I also have Topiary IV and I'm looking for I and II if anyone knows where I can find them.

Sunset and Sunrise Quilt Finishes

As I predicted, I finished binding my Sunset Quilt yesterday. Here are the details. Sunset Quilt from the 2005 Thimblesberries Quilt Club. Finished quilt 60 x 60 inches.

Also I thought I would post a photo of the other quilt of the series, Sunrise Quilt. I finished this one up last spring. Its 62 x 76 inches.

And I could not resist taking a photo of Clancy and the Sunset Quilt. It was fresh from the dryer and still warm. He curled right up into it and took a little nap.

I did not join the 2006 Thimbleberries Quilt club because I didn't like the quilt that year. The 2007 is really nice but since I'm not quilting much I just could not justify the monthly cost. Maybe I should reconsider. I love how the Thimbleberries turn out even if they are not much of a challenge for me and the prints they use are perfect for me.

A super weekend!

I had a great weekend - the pug picnic was so much fun and the weather was perfect. Here is a picture of some of the pugs watching us eat. They looked so funny all lined up on the fence.

I mostly worked on Linen and Lace over the weekend, actually I only stitched on Sunday - I didn't have time Saturday. I'm very close to being complete. That lacey edge does take forever. It took almost eight hours to do the three sides. Yikes!

I started back on Moon Flower on the way to work. I'm not really liking this piece in person. My colors are looking so washed out and don't have the nice color change that I prefer. I'm so disappointed. I guess this is what happens when you can't pick out your skeins of thread yourself. I order all my stuff online and I get what I get.

In addition to being a cross stitcher and needlepointer, I'm also a quilter.

Each year, my family takes a turn a making everybody a gift for Christmas. Last year was my year. So I made each person in the giving circle a wall hanging. I thought I would show them off. I did send them off to be quilted - but I have since taken a class from Harriet Hargrave and will no longer have to send out my quilts to be quilted. They are all 40" square - to fit in the oak quilt rack my brother made for his gift the previous year.

Wheel of Mystery

Prism Feathered Star

Mariner's Compass

Stairway to Heaven Snail's Trail