Erica's Stitches

I managed to finish 3 projects by working in the evenings over the last week.  I got to each finish in a slightly different way. First, I framed my Pine Tree and Acorns sampler.  Every day of my holiday break I stared at the unfinished sampler and wished it was finished.  However, I had no inspirations on how to finish it.  Wall-hanging, no.   Pillow, not really.  Nothing else.  Finally, I thought that if I had a frame I could be done.  I've never had any luck finding square frames.  I ended up going to Nordic Needle and ordering one.  The problem was color.  Black didn't look right.  Neither did green.  Neither did barn red.  I figured I'd have to paint over whichever frame I got (I've done that before) so I picked red because I figured it would cover the easiest.  The frame arrived a few days ago and guess what?  It's more brown then red and the perfect color!  So last night I laced ag...

I've got lots of pine trees ... and the squirrels took all the acorns from the scrub oak.  But ... I finished stitching the Pine Tree and Acorns mini-sampler. This seemed like it took a long time to start but it's only been since before Thanksgiving.  I had trouble finding time to work on it and I think I spent more time ripping then stitching. I still need to decide how to finish it.  If I could find a 6 inch frame easily I would be done.  Instead I'm trying to decide between a pillow or a wall hanging.

The following are done: The 1975 Azalea .  The frame is made of plastic but doesn't quite look it.  I thought it perfect for completing the 1970's look. The Magic Needlecase Challenge - outside and in. The Aida cloth made for extremely ugly bulky corners that I hid with the twisted cord.  It turned out nice, but the needlecase doesn't lie flat.  Oh well. And finally ... with some Alpaca samples I received 2 weeks ago a sampler: The teal one isn't Alpaca - I had to practice first.  The Alpaca is so soft and I enjoyed trying the different textures of each sample.  Now I have room for more new projects!

My 35th anniversary sampler is now competed and hanging on the wall. I quilted it by hand using pearl cotton #12.  Each stitched square is quilted with a running stitch. And each seam is quilted with a different stitch, crazy quilt style.  And there is stitching along the border. I like this corner the best.  The ochre and blue fabrics were both used in a quilt I made years ago.  I enjoyed putting them together again. Disclaimer:  No supplies were purchased for this sampler.  Everything was found in my closet. So, the pearl cotton colors are not ideal. I would have liked something that stood out a little more.  From a distance you can't see the stitching.  But, the good news is you can't see any mistakes either.

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.

One of my goals for this year is to get things finished. This mini sampler has been hanging out in a drawer for years.  I don't know how many and I don't know who designed it.  I couldn't find the chart. I do admire the design - it's very simple, yet there's alot going on. At one point it was going to be a pincushion.  Then it was going to be framed.  Neither happened. Yesterday, I saw it and decided to be done with it.  The homespun plaid was from a fat quarter pack and for some reason I had never used that piece of it.  It's scary how close in color it is to the sampler.  I made it into a pillow because that's the easiest thing I could think of.  Normally, I get a pillow form (because my pillows always end up lumpy).  In this case I decided that since the design was rustic a lumpy pillow would be OK. Now it's sitting finished on my shelf and I'm happy.  Even with the lumps.

I've gotten another piece framed.  I'm afraid that this stitched piece has been sitting in a drawer for over 10 years so it's about time. The frame came from gift box of frames and is a simple 5 x 7 frame.  Several of these where in the box - 2 of them unfinished wood.  This one was painted unevenly - like the phone rang and interrupted the painting and it was never finished.  On the bottom and left sides there is a lot of gold and almost none on the top and right sides.  If I were painting it myself I would be more even.  But, I didn't paint it and I decided I'm happy with the way it looks.  Finished IS better than perfect.  I think there is a lesson there. I don't have the pattern anymore and I had to do some searching to find the designer of the pattern.  It is by Curtis Boehringer from the Wildflowers of America series and was published in the late 90's.  His website is his name and I discovered that I still like his pa...