Erica's Stitches

I started this quilt about 2 years ago after reading Block Party: The Modern Quilting Bee .  The wonky nine-patches looked like fun - and they were.  I used some animal print obese 8th's that I have had for a while. In my excitement to start, I forgot everything else I was working on.  After the excitement of getting the blocks cut I went back to my other projects and the cut fabric sat there for an embarrassingly long time. When I picked them up again over Christmas break 2011 I was faced with a puzzle of putting the pile of mismatched squares into order.  That took an embarrassingly long time.  But, I got the nine-patches assembled and I got started on the sashing. Then they sat until 2013.  In a marathon session, I got the rest of the sashing applied and the blocks sewn together.  Then it was time for the annual sewing machine cleaning while I basted the quilt.  With a freshly cleaned machine I stipple quilted. ...

I'm warming up for quilting project and finishing up some quilt blocks that have been unfinished for far too long.  Killing 2 birds with one, stone so to speak. The first bird is this blue jay.  He's from the book Go Wild with Quilts by Margaret Rolfe.  The book isn't quite 20 years old and this was done early in my quilting career - the most complicated quilting I had ever tried at the time.  No, it wasn't paper pieced.  I cut templates for every piece.  I imagined making most of the quilts in the book.  So far, this is the only one of tried.  But, I leafed through the book again recently and still want to make the quilts in it.  Maybe someday. This hexagon block is only about 5 years old - the result of an English paper piecing class.  I didn't enjoy the work so at a certain point I gave up with what I had completed.  One small flower hexagon became a potholder and the rest became this lump of hexagons.  ...

Last year, in April, I was at a quilt show.  One of the best parts was admiring the quilted jackets that everyone else was wearing.  I wished I had one. Fast forward to a few months later, at a craft show.  I spied a quilted sweatshirt jacket.  The color wasn't quite right but I tried it on.  The sleeves were to short and the color looked even worse on me. Fast forward a few more months, while shopping in Target.  I saw a stack of sweatshirts and decided to make my own sweatshirt jacket.  I bought one and dropped it off in my quilt room.  There it sat for a few months while I avoided it. Finally I picked out scraps and started sewing them to the sweatshirt.  Gradually they all were sewn on and all that was left was the binding.  Since the quilt show is coming around again soon I couldn't ignore it any longer.  I couldn't decided on the binding and finally compromised on a darker gray.  I sewed it on. ...

Here is what I made for the Stitchmap Sashiko Challenge.  I think the deadline was back sometime in February so I'm a little late. The challenge was to try Sashiko and make a needle case.  I already have more needle cases that I can use.  But, I have a new set of unchangeable circular knitting needles in an ugly plastic case.  So, I set out to replace it. I had some green fabric and vintage linen threads to use.  Traditionally it is done on a blue background, but I don't have a good blue fabric.  Besides, green is my favorite color and I've wanted to use it for a while. The linen thread was maybe a little to thick for the fabric.  However, it has a different texture from any other threads I've used and it was nice to try something different.  While I like the look of Sashiko, my eyes really didn't enjoy making it.  I found the diagonals especially difficult.  I kept getting to an intersection and being a hole or two ...

At the start of this year I set out to make Hardanger bookmarks.  So far, I've done one. The problem?  I picked the wrong fabric to start with.  Although I love the colors of the threads on black, black was the wrong color and I avoided the project and it dragged on and on. Now, my zeal for bookmarks has faded and I'm on to other projects.  Hopefully, I'll get back to bookmarks at some point. This is a variation of this free pattern .  I was afraid that the pattern wouldn't fit on my scrap of fabric so I shortened it by changing the main motif from 4 to 3 and adding two smaller ones on the ends.  It totally changes the shape of the whole bookmark.  I also went overboard with eyelets (but, I tend to do that).

I picked out the threads for this canvas back in December and have been slowly stitching away. It contains cotton, silk and wool threads and many french knots.  I found myself digging out old canvas pieces that I could steal stitches from.  The canvas thread count was low so I had to use diagonal stitches which covered the canvas better.  And for the flowers, lots of french knots. To finish it, I trimmed to 4 threads beyond the stitching and 2 layers of quilt batting and a larger piece of backing fabric behind.  I simply folded the edges around to make a binding. For a hanger, I added a plastic ring and a ribbon to the back and its now hanging on the wall. I have many works in progress and they are all getting done at about the same time.  So, more finishes soon.