Crocheting & Sewing

Two of my favorite hobbies!

"Hexie" is coming along nicely.  

Remember I wasn't happy with my joining of the hexagons.  

Well, last night I frogged the single crochet join and started over.  

I more loosely joined the hexagons with a single crochet in the hexes corner spaces with a three chain single crochet three chain join on the sides.

Update:  I named my hexie "Sparkle".  Click here to find more information and link to pattern.

I liked it!

I don't have another skein of the turquoise so this will be the last hexagon round for that color.

I think another round of white, followed by red and a last round of white should do it.

Then I will be able to tell if it is the right size for a lap throw or not.  

On to sewing....my next love.

    

I'm learning how to add lettering - added name of table topper, my name and year. 

I think my eyes crossed from embroidering the satin stitch around all the pumpkins and leaves on my "Party with Patrick" November project, "Pumpkin Patch". 

Everything was double since I appliquéd both sides.

I forced myself to continue with the satin stitch even though with my head so close to the work I could see every little boo-boo.   

This isn't a programmed design where satin stitches turn out beautifully without me doing a thing.  

This is little old me trying to guide the fabric around all those tiny corners.

It ain't so easy.

I know...

Practice makes perfect!!! 

Sorry this one is fuzzy...light is low in our basement.  

I love my background fabrics so much for this project that I couldn't decide which one to use as the top for the appliqués.

Then a light bulb went off in my brain...why couldn't I appliqué both sides?  

So that's what I did. 

The next step is to quilt the top.  

I'm planning on trying "free motion quilting".  

I drafted a vine with leaf pattern to copy for the center of the table topper.

I will practice this before stitching it on the topper.

I may not get to this step until we are back from our upcoming trip to Walt Disney World.  

Our days are busy until we leave next week.   

I can't take my sewing machine with me but my crocheting travels wonderfully!

This is a cute Mickey and Minnie throw from Walt Disney World.

We're going to put this throw up on the front window while we are camped at Ft. Wilderness.  

Hubby asked me to try it out at home before we drag it all the way to Florida.

It works!!!

Laugh of the day:

Sewing Up a Storm!

I'm busy as a Bee!  

A sewing bee that is... 

My "Halloween Hoot Owl" wall hanging is finished...finally after I stared at it for several days before I decided to add more quilting lines to the top. 

I guess it is time to get the Fall and Halloween decorations out. 

Yesterday I sewed up a removable exterior no see um fabric screen for our travel van's side door window.

It wasn't difficult...just time consuming to sew all the "pockets" to hold the super magnets in place in the hems. 

Those super magnets are strong!  

Now my Hubby will have air flow upfront in the van on those nice days when AC isn't needed.   It's easy to remove, fold up and store when not in use. 

We can leave this screening up when we are set up at a campground site.   

I'm back to practicing my FMQ (free motion quilting) on my "Merry Christmas Santa" wall hanging.  

It's VERY free motion...my outline stitching is all over the place but I like the looks of it so far.  

Here's our  "Party with Patrick" project for next month.  

A cute birthday wall hanging for a child or for the very young at heart.  

I love adding my own signature touches to Patrick's patterns.   

This is a small wall hanging.  

I'm thinking of adding a border to make it a little larger.   

What do you think of my fabrics? 

I'm off this afternoon for another sewing class.  

This one is all about "Sound Foundations".   

Learning all about the right stabilizers to use with one's sewing projects.  

  P.S.  This is all I crocheted on our trip.  

It will be a multi-colored hexagon throw.  

I may single crochet the hexes together with black yarn.   

Still haven't decided what direction to take.   

Have a lovely day!  

It is beautiful here today.

Presenting "Winter Redwork"

Fabric binding machine sewn on top of runner.

You know when you crochet you have yarn ends everywhere?  

Well...it's even worst with sewing!  

You have threads ends everywhere. 

 On the floor, on your clothes, all over your surfaces.   

Clinging, clinging....

Practicing decorative font writing for my label.

So I'm glad we have outlets in our basement for our central vacuum system.   

I sucked up all those threads.  

But it's sort of like dog fur.  

No matter how much you vacuum there's always more.  

I was smart and practiced some stitches for my binding.

Today I finished my first ever quilted piece, a table runner, which I have named...

 "Winter Redwork" 

Remember my inspiration?

Inspiration and my handwritten design plan.

I chose Redwork designs that could be viewed from any angle.  

So out the door went my first redwork choices... Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and my Reindeer. 

Five and 1/2 inch squares - ten of redwork and twenty fabric squares...a total of thirty squares.

I prewashed all of the fabrics and bought some cotton batting.

The back with binding finished.

The fabrics came from Joann's...100% cotton fat quarters for the 5 1/2 inch squares and extra fabric yarnage for the back and binding.  

Quilt runner label.

I tried out several new sewing attachments...including the AccuFeed feet (dual feed) and the 'Stitch in the Ditch' foot.  

I love Janome's AccuFeed system - all layers fed beautifully and there were no puckers on the top or the back!

Yippee!

I also bought a neat new foot ~ the Border Guide Foot ~ for sewing decorative stitches in parallel rows.

I used this foot for lining up the rows on my quilt runner label.

I love it.  

  

Winter Redwork Table Runner

All in all I'm very pleased with the results. 

It's my first quilted project.  

And only the second time I have sewn on a binding.  

I know many serious quilters wouldn't think of machine sewing on a binding but I dislike hand sewing.  

Plus I wanted the binding to be solid so this runner can go through the wash. 

I used iron on tape to set the binding in place and then 'stitched in the ditch' on top of the binding. 

It was "sew" easy with the special 'Stitch in the Ditch' foot!!!

Final size is 19 and 1/4 inches by 53 inches. 

Click (here) to see all previous posts related to my "Winter Redwork Table Runner".  

All done!

Now on to my September 'Party with Patrick' sewing project. 

Yep...it's going to be a Halloween Wall Hanging!

HALLOWEEN HOOT OWL

I had fun picking out the fabrics for it.

(To see my finished October's "Party with Patrick" project ~ a Christmas Stocking ~ click here)

Last night I picked up my hook {{{{FINALLY}}}} and started crocheting hexagons in solid colors using yarn from my stash.

My inspiration... "Crochet in Color" Hexagon Pattern (here).  

Maybe it will be a little laptop quilt.

You'll have to wait and see.

It will be going with me on our road trip out WEST in September. 

Have a lovely day and thanks for stopping by!