Other Hand Work

Besides hand quilting and hand applique, I work on other hand projects sometimes. I have a dishcloth going at all times using cotton yarn. Knitting is a nice change from hand quilting or applique.

This is the latest dishcloth finish. I used up yarn ends for this one. I've posted my pattern before but here is the info again.

I don't know where I found the pattern I am using now, I do know it was a free pattern from where ever I found it. Seed Stitch Dish Cloth - With a size #6 circular needle cast on 40 stitches. Row 1 & 2 – knit. Row 3 & 4 – Knit 2 *K1 P1 repeat from * across to last 2 stitches k2. Repeat rows 1 – 4 for pattern until measures 9” (same as bottom edge), ending with Rows 1 & 2. Bind off.  

I've started using a size 4 needle so the knitting is more tight. This does make a smaller dishcloth but it's still large enough to get the dishes clean.

Back in 2015 I hand quilted an embroidered wall hanging called Red Radiance. The embroidery had started in the fall of 2014, I think. I had sewed the little HST's at home then sewed everything all together at the guild retreat that winter. You can read about my Red Radiance journey here.

It has taken me 6 years to finally sew a sleeve on the back so I can hang it in the living room. This isn't really autumn looking but so it is. I'm just ahead for the Christmas season, Valentine's Day too.

The pattern was from the December 2000 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. I no longer have the issue, I started wondering what this wall hanging would look like in blue. I gave the magazine away, I didn't want to start another one!

These weren't major projects but just some variety from my normal hand work.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Handmade Monday, Design Wall 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

Happy Little Things

In the summer of 2019, Jacquelynne Steve's had a block of the month called Happy Little Things. I decided to participate since it included embroidery.

I enjoyed the embroidery but decided to finish the blocks in my own way instead of Jacquelynne's design.

This quilt has been quilted in my machine quilting marathon and she measures 42-1/2" by 45". 

My friend Deanna embroidered this Grandma's heart block several years ago for me. I decided it was perfect in this quilt.

For the machine quilting, I stitched horizontally and vertically around the 9 patches, then diagonally in both directions. The embroidered blocks only have diagonal quilting.

This is the last of this blue oval fabric, I thought it went perfectly with the blues in the front. Unfortunately I didn't have quite enough so I had to add the narrow strip to the side.

And a quilt roll.

Here are other posts about Happy Little Things.

Linking to Peacock Party, Put Your Foot  Down, Whoop Whoop Party, TGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Free Motion Mavericks, Brag About Your Beauties, Let's Make Baby Quilts, UFO Busting

Needlebooks

Last summer, the summer of 2019, I worked on small projects most of the summer and finished up some long time waiting projects.

I hand quilted a wallhanging made from a panel called Weeds N Tweeds. I embroidered, pieced and hand quilted a small wall hanging called Miss Jane's Best. I pieced and machine quilted a small Flying Geese quilt which I had been wanting to make for years. I finished 2 small table runners called Give Thanks which also had been on the to be quilted waiting list. I pieced and machine quilted a crib quilt called Summer Sun/Spring Splash and I machine quilted my Patchwork of the Crosses which turned out to be a 6 block small quilt.

Another small project I had planned to finish were Needlebooks. If you go to the highlighted post, you'll see that it's dated October 2018. I also said in that post there were 6 more books to be made but I had run out of steam making them.

The embroidery and other pieces for these books have been laying on a tray in my sewing room ever since. Every time I see that tray I feel guilty. 

I finally finished those 6 needlebooks this week. These were made slightly differently than the first group made. I didn't use binding this time, I just sewed right sides together then turned them. 

One evening of watching TV and I had the openings stitched shut. The next day I top stitched and sewed the felted wool to the center. Now I have an empty tray and no more guilt!!

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Clever Chameleon, Needle & Thread Thursday

A Redwork Christmas Quilt & Quilting

I enjoyed the Holiday Blog-Hop Lori from Humble Quilts organized. After seeing all the lovely Christmas decorating, I was actually inspired to start a Christmas quilt!

I have several of Gail Pan's Christmas books and I've decided to trace off  the patterns, embroider them using variegated red thread and put them all into a quilt. 

The background fabric is white with tiny silver dots. Some of the blocks will easily be embroidered in one evening, some are going to take several weeks.

I decided to start with the blocks that take more time. I have a feeling I'm going to be very tired of this project by the time the last block is embroidered.

I'm using 3 strands of embroidery thread. You go through a skein fast when you use 3 strands.

I've marked the designs by using a blue Frixion pen. I would have used the red pen but it was out of ink. Any marking not covered by thread disappears with a hot iron.

I don't do a lot of Christmas decorating. This year I just put the nativity out. Our 3 year old grandson did the arranging. 

Notice a Duplo guy in the group along with the stuffed tiger. The 3 wise men also brought along a couple of marbles for baby Jesus.

I don't know if this project will be finished for Christmas 2020 but I'm hoping the embroidery will be finished by then.

For last weeks hand quilting I made it past the center triangle in the row.  

The block I'm working on now.

I keep getting asked what kind of batting I use. I'm using Hobbs Tuscany 100% Wool. I buy my batting from Connecting Threads when batting is on sale. It's on sale now! The sale lasts through February 11, 2020.

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

Happy Little Things Flimsy

I finished the Happy Little Things flimsy this week, now she'll go into the 'to be quilted' closet until I'm in the mood for machine quilting.

The original pattern was nice but not what I wanted. I was just in the mood for something different and I got it.

The flimsy measures 43-1/2" by 45-1/2". The little 9 patches measure 3" finished and the layout is 14 blocks across by 15 blocks down. Don't ask me why the length isn't 3" longer, it just isn't. That's just the way quilts go sometimes.

I took some close up photos for you to see.

I've even sewed the binding so that's ready. I had planned to use the dark blue fabric that sashes some of the embroidered blocks but there wasn't enough fabric. Don't worry, I had plenty of other blue fabrics to use.

Linking to Let's Make Baby Quilts, To Do Tuesday, Clever Chameleon, Midweek Makers, Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday

Happy Little Things

Since Grandma's Embroidered blocks are in a flimsy, I pulled another unfinished project.

Last summer I participated in Jacquelynne Steve's Happy Little Things sew-along but I decided I didn't want to finish my embroideries the way Jacquelynne did.

At the Jane Stickle retreat, I sewed fabric strips for my alternate blocks. Since I've been home, I subcut the strips and sewed 9-patches. 

This is what I've sewn so far.

This quilt will be 14 9-patches across by 15 down.

I have enough blocks for rows 10 and 11.

And yes, the blocks are placed rather randomly.

Do you see the rectangular block in the center?

Several years ago, one of my friends had me choose a design to embroider then sew into a pillow. I selected this saying.

She got mixed up and used a different one, then felt bad and hand embroidered this block for me anyway.

I've had it hanging on the design wall for years. When I put the Happy Little Things blocks on the wall, they were next to this block. Blue and white, it would look perfect in this quilt, so I added it. So glad to get it into a project and off the wall.

I need to cut more strips and make more 9-patches. This is going to be a nice crib quilt.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Put Your Foot Down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Peacock Party, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Brag About Your Beauties, Finished Or Not Friday, UFO Busting

Hand Quilting the Week of Christmas

Even though it was the week of Christmas, it was quiet and calm, not much action around here. So not only did I finish the machine quilting on the feathered star quilt, I finished another row of hand quilting on Floral Triangles!

Close up pictures of the individual triangles and borders.

I still need to quilt the seam line between the two rows. That was just a little too far for me to quilt nicely so I had to wait until I rolled. 

Row 3 is completely finished and the quilting on row 4 will start today. Row 4 is the middle row of the quilt, progress is happening!

I also had a small embroidery project this week. I forgot to make a label for the feathered star quilt. It's now sewn on and that project is a complete finish.

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching,  Oh Scrap, Bambi's Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, To Do Tuesday

Retreat Project #4, Happy Little Things

I had finished the embroidery for the Happy Little Things embroidery sew along. I trimmed my blocks then sewed sashing to them. I used 2 fabrics, a dark blue and a light blue.

My quilt is going to be finished differently than the original.

I hadn't taken enough of the light blue along to retreat but I've found more in my stash since I've been home. Now I just need to finish that block. 

I did strip piece parts of the alternate blocks, just need to get them cut apart and sewn into the finished blocks.

I have plenty of projects to start off 2020.

Linking to Peacock Party, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Brag About Your Beauties, Finished Or Not Friday , UFO Busting

A Week of Stitching

I did a lot of hand work this week. First I quilted. I didn't get to quite the center of the quilt but I'm ok with that.

One of the reasons I didn't accomplish more hand quilting was because I was busy appliqueing the rest of the leaves onto the center medallion of Stars Around the Garden!

I had thought I might applique circles onto the corners but I'm going to hold off on that idea awhile.

Also, not only did I finish the applique for Stars Around the Garden, I traced off the November blocks for Happy Little Things . . . and . . . I embroidered them, October blocks too!

I had planned to use blue and yellow fabrics from my stash but I found this lovely fat quarter bundle at Caroline's. There is a lovely variety of the yellows and I don't have any of those blue fabrics.

Jacquelynne has designed lovely finishes to these blocks but I'm going to do something different. I'll bag the embroidered blocks and fabrics and take them along to retreat later this month. Happy Little Things is project #3 so I may not get to it there, just depends on how projects #1 and #2 go.

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

Happy Little Things

I actually started a BOM in August called Happy Little Things with Jacquelynne Steves. I had planned to use leftover fabrics from Metro Rings, but then I saw the red & white block Leeanne made and changed my mind. My block though is going to be in blue, yellow and white.

 Here is the block I made for August . . .

And September's block.

For variety, I turned this flower a different direction.

I've embroidered 2 more blocks of alternate designs which are available on the website.

They're slightly blurry, sorry!

I'm always using white backgrounds for embroidery. I decided to be brave and bold and use a white with a gray print.


You can choose how you want to make your block, applique or embroidery. Instead of a quilt, Brenda made the blocks into pincushions which are really cute!

I had originally planned to make 6 blocks for my quilt but I've since changed my mind. There will be more blocks and I'm not going to finish my blocks the way Jacquelynne has designed. 

In case you're wondering how Sweet Surrender is coming along, I haven't quilted a single stitch all week! I did check to see if the quilting fairy stopped by during the night to put in a few stitches, sadly, no. Hopefully this week won't be as busy as last week.

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap, Bambi's Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Moving It Forward, WIPs On Wednesday

Miss Jane's Best Finish!

I'm enjoying working on small projects this summer. It's so rewarding, especially compared to piecing a queen or king sized quilt!

Miss Jane is finished. She didn't take long to quilt at all.

I quilted the center as Lori suggested, 1/4" from the seam lines in the embroidered squares and also the QST squares.

She had suggested drawing a free hand curved line in the outside border. I'm not good with free hand drawing so I used this little design. It's perfect for small borders. I also used it on one of the borders of Weeds N Tweeds.

I didn't wash Jane, just liberally sprayed her with water to remove the blue markings. She shrunk up a little though. She measures 14" by 17". 

And the backside. I used squares folded in half diagonally to make holders for the dowel rod. I was lazy and didn't make a separate label, just wrote the information on the back. I always add my maiden name to labels.

If you can't see it good enough, it says: Miss Jane's Best by Lori Smith. Embroidered, pieced & quilted by Gretchen Garber Weaver July 2019. 

There was a slight bit of bleeding onto the backing. There are 4 pieces of this fabric used in this project. I'm surprised there is only 1 bleed. I'll just leave it the way it is, not a big deal to me.

This wall quilt was a kit designed by Lori Smith titled Miss Jane's Best. I purchased the kit several years ago at Lori's booth at the AQS show in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

I did make one change from the pattern. Lori says to use doublefold binding. I thought that was too bulky for this little quilt and used singlefold binding. I'm glad I did.

I also finished the 6 larger hexden flowers for the guild quilt.

I measured one flower separately to show you the flowers finish at 4 1/2" wide. These flowers were made with 1" hexdens and are much larger than the ones I showed you last week made with the 1/2" papers.

These flowers didn't need to be finished until the end of August but I made them now so I wouldn't have to think about them for the rest of summer.

If you enjoy hand embroidery, Jenny of Elefantz is having a free embroidery along this summer. Check it out!

Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, HQAL, Oh Scrap, Bambi's Show & Tell Monday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, BOM's Away, Moving It Forward, Esther's Wednesday WOW!

I took more pictures of flowers this week. 

The butterfly weed is blooming now. I haven't seen any monarch butterflies yet but that doesn't mean they haven't stopped in.

The clematis is still full of blooms too.

I haven't seen the hummingbird back either but again, that doesn't mean it's not around.

These impatience are looking perky but for some reason the hostas along this wall aren't growing like they should. The hostas in the other beds are huge, it certainly can't be for a lack of water!

Two little roses are blooming. These are a hybrid type, lovely to look at but be careful, they have a lot of thorns.

Have a great week!