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!

Weeds N Tweeds Finished

Weeds N Tweeds is finished.

Weeds measures 33" by 51" and was a practice project in using #12 threads. I like the way he looks. This was a fun summer project. The binding was completely stitched by machine. I did add a sleeve to the back for hanging, now I just need to get it hung!

This is the way the quilting looks on the back before I added the sleeve. You don't see the colors from very far away.

A close up of the back.

I can scratch this project off the UFQ list.



What's next for hand quilting? Miss Jane of course.

But she won't be going in the large quilting frame. For this small project I use a hoop on a stand I purchased years ago at the Topeka quilt show. 

I've lifted the edge of Jane up so you could see the stand underneath. 

I like this frame so much better than a plain hoop. I'm so used to not having to hold the hoop. This way I can balance the frame in my lap and use both hands for quilting. I can sit straight in my chair and not lean over.

I also EPP'd the last 3 small flowers for the guild's relief sale quilt. I pressed them well, lightly sprayed with Niagara spray starch, pressed again and let them dry. 

After they were completely dry, I removed the basting stitches. Now they're ready to be appliqued.

I took a picture of all 12 flowers and added the ruler so you could see their size. An individual flower measures under 3". Glad they're finished, now I'm going to start working on the larger flowers.

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

I'm still enjoying the green grass and now I have a variety of flowers blooming.

I showed you these flowers several weeks ago but the lilies weren't blooming then.

A year ago I purchased a variety box of lily bulbs at Lowe's.  Now they're starting to bloom. I didn't have any tall lilies before. This week I saw a hummingbird flitting around them. 

The pink clementius ( I don't know if this is the correct spelling but spell check says it is) has been blooming for awhile. Just to the left of the clementius is a butterfly weed plant. It's just starting to turn color. The small irises in the front I grow for the foliage but they do have pretty light lavender flowers. They don't spread fast unlike their solid green relatives.

Here is another lily from the box.

Not as vibrant as the others but still a welcome sight.

The tall phlox in the west part of the flowerbed are taking over. 

Here are 2 lilies peeking out of the phlox, I really need to thin out the phlox!

The daisies are also blooming along with this small phlox. This phlox has mutated into a very pale lavender color. As long as this one behaves, I'll leave it here.

This is clementius really old, probably close to 40 years. 

End of flower tour. 

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Miss Jane's Best

Miss Jane's Best is ready for the quilting frame! This was fun little quilt to make. Right now she measures 14-1/2" by 18". It has been nice to make something small for a change.

I took pictures during the process but I don't have pictures for every step.

After I had trimmed the embroidered squares, I cut QST's and arranged them around each block.

Several years ago, my friend Deanna made me a portable display board. It measures 18" by 18". It was very nice to carry the small blocks on.

After the QST's were attached to the embroidered blocks.

Then I trimmed and squared the blocks up. 

Sorry, forgot to take pictures after they were trimmed.

I web sewed the blocks together and again forgot to take a picture.

Here is a close up of just the embroidered blocks.

Miss Jane's Best was designed by Lori Smith. The instructions were clearly written. She even tells you how to press the blocks for sewing ease. Got to love that!

This was a kit I had purchased. The kit included all the fabrics you see including fabric for the binding. It also included the embroidery thread. I didn't use the yellow from the kit, it was a light pastel yellow. I never use pale yellow in my embroidery projects. I used my go to yellow, DMC #742. It's more gold shaded and just added more zing.

I had decided for the summer I'm going to work on small projects. Miss Jane has been the perfect small project.

Linking to Let's Bee Social, WIP's On Wednesday, Needle & Thread Thursday, Peacock Party, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, TGIFF!, Brag About Your Beauties, Finished Or Not Friday

More Weeds & Jane

The sky has been quilted on Weeds N Tweeds. The thread used for sky was variegated shades of gray. Perfect! And so was the small clamshell stencil used for the quilting!

I've rolled since the photos were taken and now I'm working on the outside borders. 

This heart was the last block to be embroidered for Miss Jane. Sorry it's blurry.

I think I had said several weeks ago that the little squares finish at 3", that is incorrect. I've trimmed them to 3", they'll finish at 2-1/2". 

This is going to be a small quilt. It's a nice change for the larger quilts I normally make.

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

Weeds & Miss Jane

Weeds N Tweeds is coming along faster than I had anticipated. The bottom part of the windows had a lot of detail to be quilted. The quilting completed last week had less detail and I completed quilting in all 3 windows.

I started quilting this week with the left "window". I decided to highlight the variations in the background hills.  After I had quilted some, I sat back and decided the hills were too pointy. I didn't remove the thread but just I finished these hills with more curved points.

These quilted hills in the center window are much less pointed and I think look better. I also did straight line quilting in the fields. 

I wasn't sure how to quilt the pasture but decided to just stitch around the sheep. Good enough.

The right window had both the background stitching and a field. 

The left window and this window both had stalks of feathered wheat. I really like how they turned out.

There is just one more block to embroider for Miss Jane's Best.

I've been in rather a slump with my sewing machine. After the embroidery is finished, that will be the next sewing project which will then turn into the next quilting project.

I'm still enjoying spring, the color green and all the flowers. This year I bought some hanging baskets for my porch.

The baskets look very nice hanging from the porch and the begonias perk up the hosta bed.

The hanging baskets are going to do double duty this summer. Our daughter and her husband have listed their house for sale. To give it more presentation, she's going to use the hanging baskets and planters.

The porch faces the east. Several weeks ago I showed you a bleeding heart that wasn't very big. She's in full bloom now.

While the bleeding heart on the west side of the house is starting to slow down blooming.

The peonies were just starting to bloom nicely last Sunday. 

We've had several heavy rains since then so they are looking rather bedraggled.

I didn't think the poppies were going to bloom this year but they finally sent up buds and started opening a couple days ago.

I wish the blooms lasted longer but they don't so it's enjoy them now, they'll be gone in 2 weeks.

I don't know what the name of this succulent ground cover is but it is going crazy and is 8" tall! It loves all the rain and is starting to bloom. By the end of this week it will look more  yellow than green.

I'll be showing you an updated picture of this spot in a week or two. The lilies are so tall and full of buds, I never remember what colors they are. I do know some of them will be white from previous planted Easter lilies.


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

Weeds & Jane

Making quilting progress on Weeds N Tweeds. This section of the center window is finished.

The bottom part of the left window is completed.

Here is the quilting designs on the outside borders.

Progress is being made with Miss Jane's Best. 

I showed you the top row last week, the bottom row is what was completed this week.

We're still waiting to get in the fields. This is extremely late to be planting our crops! But I do have to say, it's been wonderful for transplanting plants in the flowerbeds.

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, Peacock Party

Miss Jane's Best & Weeds

I've started a small embroidery project called Miss Jane's Best designed by Lori Smith. I bought the kit years ago at a AQS show in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Summer is a good time for small projects.

So far I've completed 3 of the blocks. They finish at 3". 

I traced all of the blocks onto one piece of yardage. 

After they're traced, I sew a light weight fabric onto the back. This gives more stability to the fabric and prevents from seeing any tails showing through to the front.

I used a Frixxon pen for tracing, the ink will disappear when pressed with a hot iron after completion.

I'm making slow progress hand quilting Weeds & Tweeds. I've completed the right 'window'.

I'm quilting the center 'window' now.

Muslin has been used for the backing on this wall hanging. It will be very interesting to see what the quilting looks like on the back.

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

Also 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, Lori, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Connie, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin