Some More Lovely Progress

I've been meaning to post this for a couple of days now, but the weather has been so nice here, I've been having too much fun outside and not sitting at the computer. But I do try and sit down and do a few stitches a day on our Summer Stash challenge, which will also qualify for one of Peg's Five By the End of July. But look at all the lovely stuff going on around blogland. Some of these are even finished! This certainly does inspire me! If I missed anyone, I'll be sure and add you to the next update.

• Cheryl at Polka Dots & Rick Rack
• Julie at FireflyLane
• Jackie at Canton Village Quilt Works
• Anne Marie Anne Marie's Quilts
• Suzie Little Busy Bee
• Des at Quilt Taffy
• T at Purple & Paisley
• Betsy at Quilting Fiesta

And here is just a little bit of my stitching. The large denim squares are fun. I'm just doing whatever I fancy at the moment. Wish I would have taken pictures of the first row before I rolled it, but i was in such a hurry..
This one with the buttons is very handy. I've been tucking my tools in the slot to keep them from rolling off, since my quilting frame is slightly tilted and they do slide once in a while. The buttons are sewn shut on the one edge.
Hope you are all enjoying your weekend. It is almost July already!

Totally Wonderful Surprise

Now THIS I was not expecting. A couple months ago I started reading Melanie's blog. She was showing one of her projects, a quilt with black crows applique'd on it, very pretty. I love any kind of applique'. So then I started looking around and found some other really nice handiwork on her blog.. felted things, knitted things, stitcheries. VERY cute Christmas ornaments. THEN she started showing flowers. Things that do not grow here in Ohio so abundantly. Melanie lives in the UK.. with gorgeous roses and vines and romatic things that would keep me humming
the whole day long. And the most stunning Lavendar hedge! I am very good at killing Lavendar, but I love it.. and was jealous of Melanie's.
Anyways, of course I always leave Melaine a nice comment, because I adore her blog, and she is such a nice person. I had no idea that last week was her First Year Blogaversary, and that she was giving a prize to the first three comments. But I got one! The package came in the mail just now.. and I have to show you the goodies.
There was a lovely novelty dish towel with places from Southport pictured on it, a yankee tea candle, and more...

The cutest little knitted.. I think they are chicks.. I know my grandma used to crochet these for us and we would put them on hard boiled eggs at Easter. But these maybe have another purpose.. someone will have to tell me.

And my favorite of all.. the most beautiful lavendar sachets made with gorgeous vintage silk.. Melanie knows I love Lavendar, and also vintage fabric. These are just so perfect.

Finally a box of Toffee and Fudge. I don't ever remember telling her I am a nut over chocolate. I don't know how I'm ever going to be able to open this box of candy and taste.. but I don't know how I'm NOT going to. I am just so thankful for such thoughtful blogging friends.

So now this is something I was expecting.. part of it anyways. I ordered a totebag pattern from Amy Butler and it came today too. So many goodies in the mail. I think I am going to rip this open right after lunch and start making it. I ordered it from Fabric Buffet, and it was a real steal at only $10. They also sent me some little sample swatches from In The Beginnings' new fabric line "Wintergraphix". SO pretty. I am tempted.

Look What We're All Doing

Here is just a little update on the Stash Challenge. First of all, it is really exciting to see so many wanting to join in with us. There are a couple of names that I never got a link for; Barbie and Karen's Karebare Kwiltz. So please email me and let me know where we can find you to follow along with your project. And if you don't have a blog yet, we would still LOVE to see your progress pictures. You can email them to me, eileen at eileensattic dot com, and I will make sure to post about them.

So check out all the fun stuff everyone is doing so far! Terrific!
And if I missed anyone's progress post, please email me your link. I do try, but I always seem to miss somebody.

• Amy at All My Stuff
• Anne Marie at Anne Marie's Quilt
• Des at Taffy Talk
• Erica E at Polka Dot Quilts
• Karen at Messy Karen
• Kathleen at Creative Urges
• LaRue at Busty LaRue's Glitz and Glam
• Liz at Lizzy's Place
• Maija at kotkarenkki
• Melanie at Jellybeanangel
• Nanette at Freda's Hive
• Sarah at Anyone Can Quilt
• Suzie at Little Busy Bee
• T at Purple and Paisley
• Ulla at kotkarenkki
• Whitney & Nanette at Freda's Hive

How Do You Like To Go Up In A Swing?

Yesterday my daughter came home with a little surprise for me. She is SO sweet, and knows just the kinds of things I find delightful. An old vintage toy is always a sure safe bet. She happened to stop at a huge yard sale, which I actually drove by myself on Friday but didn't stop because of the swarms of people, and I had ice cream in the car. But she did, and found the CUTEST little tin wind-up toy, complete with the key. We could not get it to go however. Boo-hoo. It seemed to have been wound up too tightly or something. But as we fiddled with it, we could get it to unwind and make the key go around if we made the girl swing with our hand.. back and forth. So I thought maybe a little shot of WD40 would help. And it did! You should see her go!

I keep playing with this.. it is SO cute. Oh.. I picked those wildflowers the other day. Love Daisies and Purple Clover.

Hope you are all enjoying the first weekend of summer. It is gorgeous here in Ohio.

French Knotted Quilt & egg-on-my-face

First of all I have to apologize to Jackie at CV Quilt Works for totally posting the wrong thing about her terrific give-away she is holding this week. If you were here earlier this morning, you may have noticed a picture of Jackie's adorable bag that she made over on the sidebar, with the link to her blog. Now I KNEW that the prize was her wonderful offer to do a quilt on her long arm for the lucky winner, so I don't know why I put the bag there as the prize, except that maybe it was a Freudian slip and I really WANT that bag. :) and that I probably needed my second cup of coffee. I am totally embarrassed. So anyways. Head on over to Jackie's and enter her contest!

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Now on to the next thing. The Summer Stash quilt is in the frame, and I started quilting on it. I knew I had to do something that would go fast, because the summer is going to get away from me before I know it.. and there are SO MANY things to do. So instead of the teeny tiny stitches, I went with some big cotton crochet thread in dark brown, and made large gangley stitches along the edges of the sashing patches and inside the denim squares. It was coming along really cute.. but then I thought.."This is going to take me forever to go around the insides of the printed blocks too." So I remembered a new trick that my cousin shared with me at our last family get-together. She said she has been making hidden French Knots on her comforters, and it goes fast and neat. So I tried it, and so far it is working out great! In case you might not be able to envision this.. I took some pictures this morning of how I'm going about it. You may need to click them bigger to see. Captions explaining each step is under the picture.

If you look in the center of the block with the fruit, you might be able to see the first knot made. What I am doing now is going to the next orange block below it. The needle is going up through the backing and running in between the layers, coming up in the center of the next block down. (It is easier to quilt going towards yourself, so I do this by habit.) This is a v-e-r-y long needle.. like you use for doll-making. The knots are 3" apart, and I am using a double strand of cotton crochet thread.. to make a nice fat knot.

Now, start making the French knot by wrapping the thread around the point of the needle, keeping the needle close to the fabric. (In the next step, my camera decided to go fuzzy on me, so it's already on to the next green block.. but the I had to take the sequence of pictures over again.. you'll see what I mean. I hate my pictures to be fuzzy!)

There.. you can see the knot in the orange block is done, and now I'm on the green one.. just picking up where we left off. Wrap the thread around the needle four times.

Then holding the thread tight, stick the point of the needle down through the spiral wrap that you made around the end of it, and into the fabric.
Pull the needle all the way down through and make your knot snug.

Then to go to the next square. On the underneath stick your needle in close to where it came out, and slide it through the layers. This will hide your string going from knot to knot, and you don't have those annoying knot ends to worry about. We are now back to the first step.

I hope I was able to explain this ok. Knots are fast, and they add a little bit of interest to the quilt if they are placed right.

Now I need to go grocery shopping. My quilt is going to have to wait until I get that job done.

Hope you are all off to a great weekend!

Where Are You?

Just a quick note about the Summer Stash Challenge. When you leave your comment here to sign up, make sure you include a way for me either reply to you or find your blog/website. Otherwise we have no way of linking to your name, and we all want to be able to enjoy your blog and progress! Plus at the end of the challenge we will post all the participants and say something nice, and we would really like to be able to do that for everybody who is joining in! So if you have a blog, but your name over there on the sidebar is not showing up with a link, then please let me know what it is.
Thanks!

A Little Bit of Red

Just some random shots of things around here today. Seemed like the red popped right out.




That's all really! Hope you're having a good week.

Layers Not Layered Yet.

I'm not sure what I've gotten myself in for. Someone talked me into joining this challenge over at Peg's. I am quite sure there is no possible way I can get five flimsies quilted and finished in six weeks. Number one being that I don't even have five flimsies made yet. I like that new word that I just learned this morning.. Flimsies. I always called them quilt tops, but this is a much more fun word to say and even to think.

So I told Peg I was the slowest quilter in the world, but she assured me that whatever I attempted to finish would count in the challenge. I do have two flimsies done, so I can at least get that many. Here are the layers of my Summer Stash Challenge so far. I can count it towards Peg's Challenge too.. isn't that a good thing to know?? I just finished the sashing this morning. The filling is going to be an old flannel sheet.. you can see that there with the pink edge. None of the pink will show of course. Then the backing is the same bed sheet as I used for the sashing. And I had these long pieces of funky stripe cut out for another project that I never used, is it is going to be the binding. All this is going into the quilting frame this afternoon.

Do you all like birds singing? Lately the most beautiful cardinal has been entertaining me with his crystal clear his song. And this morning I noticed a lot of little tiny chitterings.. which I recognized as baby chic-a-dees. They are EVERYwhere in the hemlock tree. I think they must be eating the seeds in the little cones. So cute to see them, there must be at least 8. Wish I could have gotten some pictures to show you. I will have to work on that.

have a good day!

What I Do One Saturday Each Month

Usually on the first Saturday of the month, I set my quilts and yardwork and everything else aside, get in the car and drive across the border of Pennsylvania to have a lovely day with my "Hitty Friends". If you are not familiar with Rachel Field's story of the real little wooden doll named Hitty, you can check it out here on Amazon. One of the things that Hitty collectors like to do is recreate the scenes from the book with their own dolls.

This Saturday we would be making a dress for Hitty. It was fun salvaging the fabric scraps out of the waste basket that everyone else thought were too small to use for anything. There are always mini-quilts though, right?? However I did manage to make a dress for one of my Hittys, because I thought this repro 30's fabric was darling.
And since getting together for fun usually involves food of some sort, we all take turns bringing goodies to eat. My contribution this time was the snack to have with our morning coffee. So I made butter cookies....
and banana bread.
Here is a little glimpse of our work table.
I was a little hesitant to blog about this, because I realize most of my readers are quilters and this might all seem a bit too weird. But playing with and sewing for dolls is a huge part of my life too. So now I guess you all know this about me!

Anyways. I have designated today as my Summer Stash Quilt Day. And I'm off to go work on it! There are some REALLY lovey and creative things coming about from this Challenge.. which I need to add btw was Ulla's idea to start with, I am just the logo-maker. We are thrilled to see so many joining in! Check out the blogs on the sidebar to see the progress.

Have a great Monday.

Batik

Is this not one gorgeous piece of fabric? It came in the mail yesterday from a very sweet blogger friend in Malaysia. M Kate was one of the first people to sign my blog, and I'm still not sure how she found me but I'm glad she did. Her site always has the most interesting places to visit.. things I would never see. This beautiful sarong was a present from her to me, and I'm not quite sure why except that she is just a very sweet and giving person. THANK-you M Kate! She told me to use it for quilts or something if I did not want to wear it as a sarong. But I can hardly imagine bringing myself to cut this into little pieces. It is VERY lovely batik, and actually the first thing that popped into my head was, wouldn't this make a stunning bag? maybe something in the fashion of Amy Butler? I am going to see if I can order a pattern or two. There are so many cute totes and slings out there anymore. And the sarong is two yards long. Plenty enough for two bags. :) I have some really good linen that would make a nice contrast fabric.
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Nothing new to show on the Summer Stash Challenge.. but it is VERY thrilling to see so many signing up for it. Ulla and I are just tickled about this. One participant has already finished one.
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And a stroll around the backyard.. lookie at the blueberries! I was not sure about these when we planted them.

And this is wild honeysuckle. We dug up a sprig in the woods once and planted it under a big old Norwegian spruce in the back. It smells heavenly. My husband thinks I should get some perfume like that. But number one, I am not a perfume kind of gal, and number two.. who can duplicate this scent in a bottle without making it smell like a ..... well I'll leave that word up to your imagination.

Quilt Progress & New Little Friend

Yesterday a package came in the mail from my friend Helen that I was totally not expecting. It wasn't my birthday, and I'm not a father.. so I guess this was just a "you're my friend" package. FUN things like elastic and trims and a pattern for my Ellowyne dolls, a piece of lovely vintage dimity. But wrapped up in the cutest piece of polka-dotted tissue paper was this little guy. His name is Little Bear. And what is so amazing about him is not only his itty bitty size and his cuteness.. but he is made by a craft that I have never mastered. He is totally needle-felted out of wool. I'm not even going to try and explain how this is done, and I don't think I'm ever going to attempt doing it. I'll just enjoy the treasures that I am the recipient of.
The above picture is taken in the back yard beside the Coral Bells. But I thought I still needed to show you just how small his little details really are. So here he is on my sewing table standing next to a spool of thread and a ball of tatting thread. Had to use flash in here. But you can really see those little rosy cheeks and naughty grin. I love him. Thank you Helen!I did work on dolly underwear today and am almost finished with them.. YAY!.. but I took a little time sew a couple pieces of sashing on my quilt blocks, just to see how it would look. I think I like it.

I am so looking forward to seeing how everyone progresses on their quilts this summer. Check out the list on the sidebar and see who is playing. There is still time to join.. the list does not have a closing date, and we still have the whole summer ahead of us.

To answer some questions that have been raised, there are really no strict rules except that you don't buy any new fabric.. use things you have at home. Size of the quilt is up to you. Scrappy is GOOD. If you want to make a dolly quilt, that is fine. If you have one that has already been started and you are worried about having a head start.. don't worry! Here is your reason to get it out and finish.

Seems like there was something else I was going to say.. but now I can't remember. Oh well.. that is the nice thing about blogging.. there is always tomorrow.

Summer Stash Challenge - Sign-Up!

So if you would like to join us in using up things from your stash for a Summer Quilt, here is a logo you can put in your sidebar. Ulla and I thought this would be a fun and useful thing to do, and would love it if others would play along if you have time. We already have several who want to join, and I have started a blog role on my sidebar.

Here are our Very Loose Set Of Rules:

• Leave a comment on this post to join, (so we can add you to the role)
• Make sure we have the link to your blog AND email address
• Put the logo somewhere in your sidebar with a link back to this post for the rules.
• No buying any new fabrics to make the top. If you need get a sheet for backing, or something for filling, that is ok.
• Any size quilt - can be knotted, tied or quilted in any manner.
• Deadline is August.. the beginning or the end, whichever you want. This is the end of summer for us in the northern hemisphere, but we also want to include all our blogging friends who live Down Under, so you could make this your "Winter Stash Challenge" just as well.
• Blog about your ideas, what you will be using, pictures of your progress etc. We are all looking forward to following along!
• Don't Fret About It.

There are no prizes or judging to see whose is the best.. this is just for blog friends to do something fun together, to help us learn to be creative with what we have, and end up with something nice and useful in the end. So lets get started!

Scrappy Happy Summer

Isn't it funny how we can find time, even on very busy and hot weekends, to work on the fun new projects that are in our heads. I have hardly had a moment to myself the past couple of days, but there was maybe one or two, and I was able to squeeze in a little bit of piecing on my Summer Stash Quilt Challenge that I talked about in my last post. Ulla and I are working on a logo to put in our sidebars, so whoever wants to join us can use the logo too. I'll post about that as soon as we get one figured out. :)

I did not sew one stitch on the dolly underthings..(I promise I will work on those today)..

But look how cute this cut-up denim shirt is looking in the middles! The completed block is 12", and the sashing is going to be what you see around the edges. It is a percale sheet that does not have a matching fitted bottom or pillow cases, so it will also be used as the backing.
These are 3" squares cut from scraps in my stash. Some are Every Iota from the quilt I made for my daughter ..
..and other pieces of this and that. The one in the upper left corner below is a really sweet Japanese lawn.. and the square next to the corner one on the bottom row is from Candace Reiter's Beach Cats and Dogs Collection by "In The Beginning".. the blue, red, white and yellow flowers. I love that one. It must be older, because I can't find a link to the collection anymore.
It is starting to get steamy outdoors, so I got the flower pots watered early, and cut some fresh roses and peonies to bring in the house.. to breath in with delight as I walk by. Or just turn around while I'm sewing and enjoy, with the nice cool little window a/c blowing, which I thank God for every single day it is above 90F degrees. Life is truly very good.

New Challenge - New Hope

This morning a tremendous crack of thunder made me sit straight up in bed. We enjoyed an hour of a good soaking along with Mother Nature's fireworks display. I can't remember the last time there was such brilliant lightening! The morning was cloudy and dim, but I decided to try and get a few pictures to blog about anyways.

Last evening I clipped off 6 nice full roses and put them in a bowl of water to bring in the house. They smell so wonderful. Tiny things but very potent. This morning I decided the bouquet needed one more blossom to make it a full circle, so I ran out and snipped another one. Can you find it? Hint.. it is covered with raindrops.

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So now let me tell you about a fun new project. My friend Ulla from kotkarankki and I have been chatting lately about quilts and flowers and things we love in common.. and she thought we might have fun with a summer challenge. Now Ulla is the Queen of Recycling, and we can all learn a lot from her. She does magical things with used clothing and scraps of things you might never think of as useful. I was so excited when I saw how cleverly she used some old shirts to make the cutest shopping bags. See them here. I kind of stole her idea of the shirts to use in a new quilt I want to try and make. Our actual "challenge" is to make a quilt from our stash or things we have on hand.. not buy anything new.. and have it done by August. Here is the start of mine..

Not exactly sure where it's going yet, but once I get working on it we'll see. I'm quite certain I won't have to buy a thing.. there is enough stuff here to make many quilts. But my real challenge is going to be this..
Finishing these little white dolly underpinnings and aprons. I need to get them done and in the mail BEFORE I do one more minute of anything else. These are for someone else, not for me.. and I am simply taking forever. :(

The fabric really is lovely.. very fine batiste and vintage windowpane organdy.. and I love making tatted lace. But for some reason I'm having such a hard time keeping at working on them. So maybe if I have these pretty fabrics sitting here in front of me and don't let myself touch them beforehand.. I can get my work done.

And on a final note... HOPE for my DAISIES! You can see where I chopped all the flowers off, and this plant seriously looked very dead. But here this morning... a new bud. I am so happy.

And the sun is now shining. So I'm going to turn on a fan, put some music on and get to work. Hope you all have a lovely day.

Tusen takk

Pretty words, huh? They mean "Thank you" in Norwegian, and I have been saying them to my friend Anne Marie for the delightful package of goodies she sent me in the mail this past week.

The deal was, we thought it would be fun to trade a couple pieces of fabric from our stash with each other. I would send her 3 from the US, and she would send me three from Norway. Well she totally outdid me, as I did only send her three pieces of fabric. From now on I will know to throw in a few extras!
Is this not the cutest little flower and leaf button set? To my delighted surprise, it was one of the things inside my package along with three pieces of pretty black and red Danish quilting fabric. Not only that, but also a very cute pattern for appliqued mice, AND this wonderful quilting magazine "Quiltemagasinet". Eye candy galore! How did she know I LOVE all this kind of stuff?

I think all the red and black together in this package are so pretty, and I do plan on making a quilt with this color scheme. Maybe even this summer yet.

Anne Marie wrote a very sweet note to me in perfect English on this beautifully handpainted card. I am so happy with all the things! Tusen takk once again!

And since it is the first of June, here is my Diane Phalen calander picture of the month. I can almost feel the humidity in this picture.. can't you?