Erica's Stitches

The binding went on faster than I imaged and the quilt is done. The clothesline wasn't high enough to get the quilt off the ground. And on the bed it reaches almost to the ground. There are 90 blocks set 9 x 10 and the center squares were made from 45 charm squares.

The empty spools are piling up.  That can only mean one thing.  The quilt is almost done! I've lost track of the number of bobbins I've wound. I'll need over 400 inches of binding.  It's prepared and ready to sew on and, if I measured correctly, the quilt will be done! I've been working on it for almost 1 year and 3 months.  I have my next few quilting projects mapped out and they will be much smaller.  It may be years before I tackle another big quilt.

Time to finish off the ornaments I've been working on.  I was in a rick rack mood so I dug out my collection.  Most of it came from grab bags from Goodwill.  I love some of the older packaging.  It is so much classier than what you find today.  Isn't the Silhouette lady grand? Unfortunately I don't have any red or green rick rack and had to use more boring colors. For the reindeer I sewed the rick rack between the front and back to leave a scalloped edge. Some mini brown rick rack, lace and seed beads finished off a silky Santa. I think I've finished my quota of ornaments for this year ... maybe.

A stitched spider web for Lyn.

I'm working on a mystery band sampler for the 35th Anniversary of my EGA Chapter. It started last January and I'm only slightly behind instead of really behind.   That's because I'm stitching 2 inch squares instead of rows.   When the band of the month is a repeating pattern, I can simply stitch one of the repeats, but for bigger designs like Pikes Peak or the EGA Logo I need to crop the pattern to make it fit in the square. I've been using scraps of leftover linen and basting the 2 inch squares.  Recently I basted 6 more squares so when I have a spare moment I can fill in the squares. I'm probably going to end up with more than 12 squares.  Some bands will become multiple squares.  I've also come across some patterns I'd like to include just for fun. Originally I was going to sew the squares together into cubes but now I think I'll add small fabric borders to each square and make a wall hanging. I'm hoping that this idea works o...

Last time I was being watched , it was random items appearing as faces. Now, I'm being watched by my stitching. This is the Candy Cane Reindeer by Serendipity Designs from the 2010 JCS Christmas Ornament Issue. Usually when I stitch a face I like to do the outline first and add the features last. But, I also start stitching in the middle of a design and that's where the eyes are in this design.  So, I started at the eyes and then the nose and then the outlined.  As I work, I'm being continually watched.  The eyes always add soul to a design.  In this case, it's big buggy eyes and it's hard to think serious thoughts while looking at these eyes.  I'm enjoying some not so serious stitching. It's been fun watching the design grow around the two eyes.  With each stitch the face becomes more complete and real.  It's getting to the point were it's talking to me.  It wants to be finished.  Soon.

This is a halloween ornament from September/October 2010 Just Cross Stitch.  The ornament in the magazine is done in black and orange and consists of four squares in different  color configurations.  I changed the colors to red and green and turned it into a Christmas ornament.  I only stitched one of the four squares for my ornament.  After the first one I simplified it further by leaving off the border. I'm continually tring different finishing techniques.  For this ornament I sewed the ornament onto felt.  The backing is simply fabric fused to heavyweight interfacing.  I whipstitched the two layers together.  By using a coordinating floss, I didn't have to worry about making the stitches perfect. To stitch the ornament, I used DMC Variagated Floss.  The color changes slower than it does in Sampler Threads.  So, after the first ornament I used only the light parts for one ornament and the dark parts for another....

I'm getting into the holiday spirit with strings of origami bats.  They will look great hanging in my cubicle at work. They are from the book 10-Fold Origami by Peter Engel. They are quick and easy to fold.  Before I knew it I was out of black paper.

I'm much better at signing my samplers than I am my quilts, still they are not all signed. The easiest way is to add initials and/or the date into the sampler. I prefer to use all 3 initials, but sometimes, for design reasons or to fill the available space I'll only use 2 initials.  No matter how I stitch it, M always takes up space. Sometimes I even have to go over one or backstitch. I have finished many samplers by adding a quilted border.  Then they will have the details magic markered on the back.  These won't be washed so I don't need to worry about the marks disappearing. 

I'm bad.  Adding quilt labels isn't always my highest priority.  I've discovered that it's easier to quilt my initials and the year into the quilt.  But, I don't always remember.  So, for this quilt, I made sure to put my initials into the first corner I quilted. I wasn't always like that.  For my first big quilt I made a nice label with all the relevant information written with a fabric marker and appliqued it on to the back . After a few washings you can barely read my name and the date (1999-2000).  A few more washings and the details will be gone. I suppose the ink jet labels I see might be a bit more durable but so far I haven't gone to the trouble. I went through many of my quilts this morning.  I enjoyed seeing them again and seeing how they have been wearing.   Most don't have any information but about 1/3 of them have quilted initials and the date. It turns out that I like seeing the date more than my initials.  So...