A Little Sewing - A Little Finishing

The girls came to visit.  And we did a little sewing.

Scarlett finished her bag.

Pay no attention to that messy house!

Scarlett was very pleased with the work she did.  I had her do all the cutting (her hand over mine),  all the ironing (I taught her to hold the iron by herself - press and set it back down) and all the sewing (her on my lap - guiding the fabric -me controlling the foot pedal).

This was a great first project.  Quick enough that she didn't lose interest.  

She's been using it for her books. 

And Violet finished up her purse too.

I did the same with Violet - she did all the work just like Scarlett (with my assistance).

Violet has more patience for sewing and her purse took more time - which work out so nicely for her.  She was begging me to let her sew Scarlett's purse up too. 

I really can't wait for the next project.

Happy Stitching,

Linda

Okay - Tell Me the Truth

I had a wonderful time sewing this up, but.....I just don't know....

Before I sew up more spools, please tell me what you honestly think. Do you like it?  Should I change out the tan color to something brighter? Cheerier?   When I finish all the blocks, would putting a colorful border help?

As I was looking at this I remembered that I don't like brown.  (How can someone forget they don't like a color?)  Well, I did.  So that is part of my problem.

So is it ugly?  Or is it just me?  

(Don't worry about hurting my feeling - they are just color choices.)

Nicey Linda

Another bit of Good News: Another Win.

Have ya'll been over to Sandra Kaye's Blog?  Well, if you haven't been it's the place to go to for a color fix. Sandie loves color and I love color so that's where I go to brighten my day.  She has the most interesting projects.  Fun things, some I would love to make. Really she always has the best things to ooh and aah over. 

A little while ago she had a give-away. Yep, you guessed it.  I won!  

I'm so excited about this pattern - it's paper piecing and this book is so thick. (Thick = lot's of work = lots of fun!)  I really want to make a tree skirt for my daughter.  Then I noticed it's 60" x 60".  What a shame just too big for her little apt. But just right for ME!  And we really need a new one because ours is too small.  I never think to make a new one for us because ours is so nice. Do you see a solution here?  I make me this one and give my daughter the one that's too small.  I think this is a Win-Win!  

I know a quilt designed by Judy Niemeyer is going to be complex. I've seen her other quilts. I'm not scared.  I plan to do my paper piecing Petite Jardin flower quilt to get more paper piecing experience. In the meanwhile I can be on the look out for the perfect Christmas Fabrics.  

Thank Sandie for the great opportunity to make this fun quilt. 

Happy Stitching,

Nicey Winning Linda

FNSI Update

It doesn't look like much, however, I'm very happy with my FNSI progress.

First I had to stop by the fabric shop and buy some nice spool color fabric - that's thedark tan fabric.  And then I cut out my pieces.  Not much in a way - but I'm happy.

I have a few errands to do this Saturday morning - a little school shopping, a little eyebrow trimming, and then I'll be home sewing up some spools.

What ever you are doing this Saturday have fun.

Nicey Linda

Butterfly, Finished Flying Geese and FNSI

I was swimming in the pool (on my back as usual) and I saw something weird about our palm tree. All the leaves were vertical except for one little spot that was going horizontal. I thought that was so strange. On closer inspection I saw this butterfly.

She was just waking up for the day, fluttering her wings.  She's so pretty. 

Later that night I was in the pool again - I saw a butterfly come and land on my husband's head.  Talk about funny. There he was in the pool with just his head above water with a butterfly sitting on top of him.   And then the next night one landed on his face!  Just weird.

So on to my other news.  I finished up (WhooHoo!) Mark's flying geese quilt.  Oh he is so happy with it.  Me too!

First let me toot my own horn and say my feathers turned out great.  I do hope to improve on them. Learn to make them more fancy.

I made the binding scrappy, and then sewed it onto the back, flipped it over and sewed it to the front using a decorative stitch.  I just love the way it looks. And this way is so fast. 

You may not know this but Bobbie Pins work great for holding down the corners. I got that tip from someone's blog - but for the life of me I can't remember who suggested it.  So if you are that person - let me know so that I can give you the credit. 

One last thing, don't forget tonight is FNSI.  

You all know it's more fun to sew with others. So, if you have time join us. Sign ups are at Crafty Vegas Mom's Blog.  I've been thinking about what to work on. I could start the Spools

 or the paper piecing flowers

 or work on my Stay at Home Round Robin 

or a Pat Sloan UFO.

 Decisions, Decisions!  I'll just have to see what strikes my fancy after dinner tonight. 

Happy Stitching 

Nicey Linda

Who's a Lucky Girl? Me!

I feel so lucky to have won this book by Jane Sassaman.  Pat Sloan had a give -away and as soon as I saw this book I fell in love with the quilt on the front.   I just love the colors and design. I promised myself that if I won I would choose a quit from the book and make it. Which of course means I'll have to go shopping for some Sassaman fabric.  That will be so much fun.  

I feel like a kid with a huge candy bar, a delicious treat to savor and enjoy as I read this book.    I've only read a few pages (maybe 10 - I've already love the first quilt and want to make it. I think I will feel that way about each quilt in there.) and I've already  learned some neat stuff.   I even stole the highlighter from my high schooler (don't worry, she wouldn't miss it until school starts up. hehehe!)  I've been marking the book as I read - Sassaman makes some really informative points as she talks about the quilts. It's so nice to learn new stuff about quilting and design. I really am enjoying this book!

So Big Thank You to Pat Sloan - she had a great blog that is fun to read and she always has several fun things going on over there.  She has a quilting forum and those gals are so nice. 

And also a Big Thank You to Jane Sassaman for writing such a wonderful, fun book! I can't wait to get back to reading it. 

Nicey Linda

Here's what I've working on

I've been so good I didn't start a new project  I still want to through!

Here's what I worked on. 

I removed all the old beading and replaced it with sequins & beads.  It looks so much better now.  Next step on this is to quilt it. 

And I don't know what made me go get this project out of the closet, but I did, and finished it up. 

Now I have something fun to wear around the pool. Do you think they are too much?

You can hardly see my toes. They sure feel lovely, so soft with all that fabric.

And, (time to do the happy dance!) I've been quilting the feathers! 

I started with the bottom border - gee it sure is hard to see black thread on a black border. 

Even harder to photograph it.  The above picture shows only one half of the feathers. 

Last night I finished the bottom border and then did the one long border side of the quilt while I was watching women's volleyball.  It was so exciting I would quilt on commercials and then run over to the couch and watch while the game was on.  It's great to have 4 minutes of commercials, I can get stuff done.  

Here's where I turned my first corner - I didn't practice I just winged it. And here you can see my second corner -and my white chalk guideline. 

I don't know which was more fun watching the game and seeing Misty May and Kerri Walsh (USA) win Gold or quilting!

I hope to do some more quilting tonight. 

Happy Stitching and Watching the Olympics 

Nicey Linda

Saturday - Fun Day

The pool is not the only thing that keeps me away from my sewing machine.  Sometimes it is this Motorcycle Helmet.  I just have to strap it on, climb on the back of the motorcycle and take off with Mark. Which is what happened last Saturday. 

First Stop: the Harley Davidson store for coffee and a looksee at what is new.  Disclaimer:  All the following pictures were taken from the back of moving bike. I never remember to take them when I'm flat footed! 

Next Stop: A local shop that caters to bikers. Believe it or not, there's a lot bling behind that chain link!

Cute pockets, and see those hats above the pants. Serious Bling!

Our 3rd stop that morning:

 We just went for another looksee.  I liked this chair - but it doesn't go in my house.

Then on to our next stop: The Post Office. Just in case you are wondering - only junk mail.

Our last stop that morning:

I love being on the bike and enjoying the sights - the weather was wonderful and the sky so pretty.

And check out this vehicle that we saw that morning. 

Is this so cute or what?  I was a little embarrassed to snap a picture while on the back of the bike - but they must be used to it and just waved. 

Can you imagine we did all that and were home by 11:00 in the morning?  Then it was a dip in the pool and no sewing on that day. LOL!  Sunday I did sew and I'll share that later.

Happy Stitching,

Nicey Linda

New Month - New Thoughts: Spools & Feathers

Yesterday, I was outside swimming - on my back - in the pool.  This is where I do my thinking.  I was thinking I just don't get anything done lately.  Could be because I spend too much time in the pool?  Naw...No way.

So I thought for the month of August I'm just going to pull it together and finish something!  And like most quilters, I would rather start something new than finish up a UFO.  Am I right?

See in my mind I think I'll finish up that new thing - never mind the 10 or 20 or so UFOs that I thought I would finish up when I started them.  This time will be different.  LOL  And lookie what I found!

Wouldn't this be just the cutest little wall hanging for the sewing room? (Edited 8/8/12 - I didn't think to give credit to the maker of the quilt when I originally wrote this post - so sorry! It's Lyn Brown and here is her website. The pattern is free.  http://www.lynbrown.com/spools-doll-quilttable-runnerwall-hanging/ ) And check this out I found this charm pack. I've used some of the charms for a different project.  Oh and may I say - I did finish that project? So I guess I'm not totally bad.

Here's some of them spread out.

What do you think? Would they make cute spools?

I have been working on the feathers for Mark's quilt. Here's one of my drawings.

And here's some practicing I did on real cloth.

Okay - I'm not even going to pretend this is good. All I see are all those glaring mistakes. Thank goodness Mark is not half as picky as I am.

Happy Stitching,

Nicey Linda