Darlene Zimmerman Embroidery Blocks

Last June a friend and I were out and about. One of the stops we made was the fabric shop in the Essenhaus complex.

They were selling kits for a small quilt they had on display, it was so cute, embroidery with baskets. I told the clerk I didn't want a kit but I would be interested in the pattern. The name of the pattern is Pretty in Pink and is a free pattern from the Robert Kauffman website!

I looked up the pattern and downloaded it, then read it. The large floral blocks are from a panel! I didn't want to buy the panel. Then I remembered I have a Darlene Embroidery panel I started working on several years ago.  Maybe this panel could replace the other one?

I pulled out the old panel and started working to finish the last 4  floral blocks. 

The last block is finished! I'm not sure what this flower is supposed to be, it reminds me of dogwood blossoms. This dogwood has pink blossoms.

Here are pictures of all 8 of the blocks.

Twelve weight Sulky thread for thread. Unfortunately I haven't been able to figure out how to make these straight set blocks become on point blocks and be he correct size for the small quilt. For now they're in timeout until I come up with an alternate idea.

Linking to Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap,  Handmade Monday, Design Wall Monday, Craftastic Monday, Monday Musings

Darlene Zimmerman Embroidery Blocks

I didn't want to start a new sewing machine project Sunday morning at the retreat so I pulled the Darlene Zimmerman embroidery panel I brought along and started another block. Looking back in my blog, I see I started embroidering this panel in 2017!

Since I don't have a quilt in the frame for hand quilting and I'm not appliqueing Hearts & Wreaths, I had plenty of time to finish this block. Of course I changed the colors of the flowers to my liking. The light green balls on the darker green stems are french knots wrapped around the needle 8 times. I thought they added some texture to the block.

I'm trying to finish projects the rest of this year. This panel has been languishing for sometime in the embroidery project drawer but now I have a purpose for these blocks, time to get them finished!

The embroidery has started on the last block, hopefully that will be completed by next Sunday.

Linking to Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Handmade Monday, Design Wall Monday, Craftastic Monday, Monday Musings

Darlene Zimmerman Embroidery

I had several hand projects I could have worked on while visiting Deanna in Utah but I decided to pull an older project that hasn't seen the light of day for several years, the Darlene Zimmerman embroidered blocks.

I completed one block while I was there . . .

and started a second block. 

Now it's in storage until I feel like embroidering again.

I'm glad that hydrangea block is finished, I didn't like that block as well as the others.

Here is a link to more information about these blocks.

Last week my posts were about the changes in our lives, selling the milking herd and moving off the farm. Someone mentioned they didn't remember seeing a picture of the farmhouse so here is the farmhouse to show you.

The farm buildings are on the top of a hill including the house. This was a good home to raise children, especially boys!

This picture was take while standing in the curve of the driveway. The maple trees are starting to put on their autumn color.

This picture is looking away from the house but these trees are so beautiful, I couldn't resist taking their picture.

The tree stump was a maple that was damaged in a storm several years ago. 

Linking to Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Monday Making, Handmade Monday, Design Wall Monday, Craftastic Monday

Hand Quilting in 2021

 My hand quilting project to start 2021 is blue Stars Around the Garden.

I always baste the edge of my quilts, I think it makes binding much easier with the edge laying flat. While I was basting the edge, I also stitched in the ditch along the edge of the narrow yellow border. 

I rolled and started quilting the cable. The narrow blue border is 3" and I'm using white YLI brand quilting thread. The thread can be purchased at Yoder Department Store or Lolly's Fabrics, both located in Shipshewana, Indiana. It is also available online.

This cable design is one of my favorite quilting designs. I have stencils in three different sizes for this design. While I quilt the cable, I also have a separate needle stitching in the ditch along the edge of the blue border. 

I used a Sewline white chalk pencil to mark the stencil on the darker blue fabric.

After I had finished appliqueing the border for blue stars, did you wonder what I was working on in the evening when I wasn't hand quilting? I pulled out this older Darlene Zimmerman panel and embroidered another block. 

I purchased the panel several years ago at Yoder Department Store in Shipshewana, they no longer have it in stock. I don't know if it is available online anywhere or not. You'll have to look for it yourself if you are interested.

There are 8 blocks on the panel, I've now completed 5 of them. A picture of the other completed 4 is here.

The pattern for Stars Around the Garden is available here.

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen, Daisy, Connie, Monica and Sherrie

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching,  Oh Scrap, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away

Embroidered Poppies

Another block on the Darlene Zimmerman panel is embroidered. These poppies look so pretty, bright and springy. 

It took me longer to embroider this block because I spent a lot of my evening hand sewing time at the sewing machine piecing scrappy quilts.

Here's a picture of the four completed blocks, there are four more blocks to be embroidered. 

Prepping is still continuing on the EPP project. Hopefully I'll have something to show you next Sunday.

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Love Laugh Quilt, Small Quilts, Em's Scrapbag, Esther's Wednesday WOW!

Slow Embroidery

I'm still working on the Darlene Zimmerman embroidery panel. The last several weeks I have been spending the evenings sewing with my machine more than normal which means less embroidering progress.

I always save all the french knots until the end of the project. I don't know why I do this, somehow I got started this way and have kept on.

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching,  Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Love Laugh Quilt, BOM's Away, Em's Scrapbag

Slow Stitching Embroidery

Since Esther's Garden is finished I need a different hand work project. I pulled out the Darlene Zimmerman embroidery panel and started the next block.

The poppies in my flowerbed never last long enough in the spring, so I'm enjoying embroidering these poppies now.

I am also slowly prepping an EPP project but slowly is the key here.

Actually all I've done is press the fabrics, I'll get around to the fussy cutting sometime.

And I still haven't marked the Pastor's Attic quilt for the hand quilting. Plenty of slow work to keep me busy during these dog days of summer. 

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Love Laugh Quilt, Small Quilts, BOM's Away, Em's Scrapbag, Esther's Wednesday WOW! 

Quilting Nearly Insane, Week 3

This post has been written ahead of time on Tuesday evening. Tomorrow morning I'm headed to the Jane Stickle Retreat held at the Farmstead Inn located in Shipshewana, Indiana.

I really pushed the hand quilting on Nearly Insane this week and finished this row of 5 squares and 2 triangles. I'm trying to get as much quilting done now while it is still winter. Sometime spring is actually going to show up. I'll have flowerbeds to work in and grass to mow. 

Someone commented last week and asked me how large the square blocks are. They're 6" finished and the sashing is 1".

As in last week's row, the blocks are all stitched in the ditch or as much as I can in the ditch.

Left side borders and half triangle block. 

In remember piecing this block. The wonky zig-zags were very challenging to piece. They had strange angles.

And no, the tiny little HST's are not individually quilted.

Right side triangle and borders.

I'm using YLI thread for my hand quilting. This thread stitches so nicely without all the tangles I got from the that nasty spool of King Tut thread that was used on Spring Fever.

This is the bottom of the spool. The spools come in two sizes, 400 yards or 1000 yards.

I'm home from the retreat. I wanted to finish the embroidery on this block before I start the applique on Star Dance so I took it along to the retreat. 

My friend Elaine showed me how to make bias using a bias maker. It worked wonderful and the bias vine is made for Star Dance. I'll start the applique this week.

I'll show the rest of my retreat work later this week.

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, BOM's Away, Esther's Wednesday WOW!

Nearly Insane, The Quilting Begins

I've started hand quilting Nearly Insane. The first outside border is quilted but you can't see it. I'm glad I decided to quilt a cable and not feathers.

Here is a close up of the quilting. This cable stitches very fast.

And a picture of the cable from the backside of the quilt. I laid on the floor to get this photo. That floor is really hard! The next photo of the backside will be when this quilt is finished and off the frame.

The zigzag border is also completed.

A close up of a corner.

The prepping progress on Star Dance hasn't gotten very far along. I have been doing some preliminary sewing for the quilt I want to piece at the Jane Stickle retreat in ten days.

Since I don't have applique to work on in the evenings, I got out the Darlene Zimmerman embroidery blocks. Sorry about the dark picture. I had started this block earlier this winter (it sure isn't spring here anyway!)and finished it last week. The roses were originally supposed to be red but I didn't want red roses so I changed the colors to suit me.

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Quilting is More Fun than Housework, Show & Tell Monday With Bambi, Em's Scrapbag, Love Laugh Quilt, BOM's Away, Fiber Tuesday, Esther's Wednesday WOW!, Let's Bee Social, UFO Challenge

A New Embroidery Project

Last spring, summer, sometime this year anyway, I mentioned that I had been embroidering with Perl cotton thread and how I liked the way it glided through the fabric.

My friend Elaine mentioned that she wanted me to try some cotton thread she likes to use. At the Jane Stickle retreat, she pulled out a box with spools of 12 weight thread. This is the equivalent of 2 strands of regular embroidery thread.

She asked me if I had brought an embroidery project along, uh no, I hadn't.

Saturday morning I took a break and went over to Yoder's to show my friend Nancy some of the projects I had been working on. While there I browsed in the embroidery section and found a preprint panel of flowers designed by Darlene Zimmerman. I thought it was very pretty. I haven't done any preprint embroidery in years so I bought the panel.

There are 8 blocks so I will have some interesting embroidery ahead of me. I used Elaine's thread and embroidered 2 of the tulips. I liked the thread and had my DIL order a box for me after I returned home.

The thread has arrived and here it is!

The box isn't completely full but this will give me a good start on colors.

I know preprinted embroidered blocks are not a popular project anymore but I still enjoy working with them. And it simplifies my life too by not having to decide which colors to use. I'm still in control of which shade of color.

Linking to Slow Sunday Stitching, Esther's Wednesday WOW!.