Sunday, December 17, 2017

Slow Sunday Stitching

I was gone a week to visit our daughter and son-in-law in warm, sunny, beautiful Phoenix while northern Indiana was getting its first real blast of winter.

I embroidered during my time in Phoenix. Several months ago I was working on small designs for needle book covers and pincushions but didn't finish all of the squares. I'm still not finished with them, but I'm making progress.


The designs came from these books, patchwork loves embroidery and Christmas Patchwork Loves Embroidery, both by Gail Pan.



Here are some of the blocks I've completed.



I use a Frixion pen when I marked the designs. Gail tells you to use a permanent pen but I'm not talented enough to cover all the markings. I will press with a hot iron when all the embroidery is completed and the markings will disappear, unless, of course, you stick the blocks in a freezer which I won't do.

I've used regular DMC embroidery thread to embroider these blocks. 


I rolled the border of the quilt I'm hand quilting just before I left for Arizona and forgot to take a picture. I'm working on the next borders now and I have 4 needles going. Three needles are stitching in the ditch along the white edges and the 4th is to quilt the design in the border.

The thread is a variegated blue King Tut thread. It will be interesting to see how much the blue thread shows after the blue markings are washed out.

I am right handed but I quilt from left to right. I didn't used to quilt that way but several years ago I started having shooting pain in my right wrist. Since I've started quilting towards myself this way, I have my wrist bent in and no longer have the pain. Whatever works!

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Em's ScrapbagLove Laugh Quilt, Design Wall Monday-Small Quilts, BOM's Away, Quilter's Monday, Esther's Wednesday WOW!

13 comments:

Suzanne said...

Beautiful stitching...especially the little trees!

Jill said...

Very nice Christmas blocks. We have never been to Phoenix. February may be a time to visit. The cable pattern is one of my favorites. Cool on how you figured out how to quilt without pain.

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

I love your embroidery blocks, especially the Christmas trees! This is a great time of year to visit Phoenix. My mom lives there, too, and we loved being there in December last year. Lots of fun Christmas decorations!

Quilter Kathy said...

Would love to see a photo of your hand when it's quilting to see how you do the left to right when you're right handed.
Love those embroidery blocks... I must get some of Gail Pan's patterns...so beautiful!

The Cozy Quilter said...

Very cute embroidery projects! I love the trees and the little bird!

Gretchen Weaver said...

The last 3 years I've visited Phoenix in February but I decided to do a different season this winter. The week I was there was lovely. This week the temps are cooler but still a lot warmer then here at home. Enjoy your visit to Phoenix whenever you get there.

Gretchen Weaver said...

One of the activities we did was Festivus (spelling?) at the Phoenix public market. I enjoyed seeing all the different crafts the vendors had for sale.

Gretchen Weaver said...

I'll try to remember to have my DIL take pictures when they're here on Saturday. I enjoy Gail's books, just simple designs but so beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Very nice blocks your embroidery is looking good! Will you incorpate them into a little quilt, or small projects? I have the books - maybe in 2018. I just keep stacking those project up! On the quilting, I would also like to see how you quilt from left to right! That will be neat!

Arizona is great during the winter in Sierra Vista - in the mountains. Nice days, cold nights! We used to see people in shorts with sweaters on - easier to change the top during the day - LOL

Chopin - A Passionate Quilter said...

Google is messed up today - It is Nanette - Love the internet but it really can mess up! Have a great day and will be looking forward to the quilting tutorial!

Lynette said...

Those will be really cute stitchery items. I love embroidery and patchwork together. That's really interesting about the wrist angle resolution for you. Clearly it's working, since your stitches are so pretty and the pain doesn't bother you. I'm picturing something like how left-handers hold their wrist so they can see while they're writing?

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

Your stitching is lovely. Your hand quilting is so small....wow.

audrey said...

Beautiful embroidery work!