Happy Easter

Made a few bunnies for the grandchildren and great-niece!!!

Pretty basic.  But, there is a tutorial here if you need one.

Have a blessed Easter!

Halloween Mantle Scarf

 

My daughter saw a Halloween mantle scarf in a catalog and asked if I could make it.

Well, as you can see something was off in my measurements and it could've been a little longer.

But when I'm at her house next time, I'll take a couple of my extra pennants and stick them in!!!

So, I thought I would take some pictures and do a little tutorial for you....  

If you can make pennants, you can do this...  

Just measure the length of your mantle and the depth and cut two pieces for that base.

Add about an inch on each end and on the long sides for your seam allowances and because you'll be sewing those pennants in. 

Then measure how long you want your pennants to be.  I think the ones I did were about 16 inches long.  If your mantle is 80" long (my daughter's), then you'll need ten 8" wide pennants, with others that fit in the gaps between the front ones. (See first photo).

Make yourself a template.  Then cut out with right sides together so you can just pick it up and pin it and stitch.




Clip the end points on the pennants ... and I didn't sew to a point, I sewed the end of the pennant squared off.  You are going to be hand sewing a bell on the end anyway.  Clip the end and then turn the pennant and use something like a small watercolor brush handle to poke the end out.

Play with how you want to lay them out.
There is/are lots of cute Halloween fabrics out there in the stores!!!!

 Lay your pennants out the way you want them and sew them to the right side of the base. From the way this is pinned, I think I sewed on top of the base fabric... or else I moved my pins later.  But you REALLY need to sew with the pennants on top so you can be sure you are getting them all sewed in straight.  But whatever works for you!!!




Then you will sandwich the pennants between both right sides of the base and stitch the base together all around, leaving a good size space for turning.  (also I put smaller pennants on each end)



This is a picture of clipping ends of base before I turned it. I did insert some stabilizer just to give it a little more weight.... but up to you.

Let me know if you make one.

Obviously you could do this in Christmas colors.

You could also make it reversible (especially for Fall and Halloween)!

The bells sewn on the point is such a great touch!!!!

Scraps

I was looking through some fabric scraps the other day...... searching for some to use for fringe on a scarf I want to make that I saw on Pinterest.  Came across this little stack of blocks!

I really used to make quilts!

Seems like another lifetime!

What did you make in "another life"?

                        

What We Were Stitching on the Trip!

I wanted to take something to stitch while traveling in Europe last month.  I wanted it to be simple.

So I went to Pinterest to get some inspiration.  It never fails me!!!  I found this wonderful woman!

You may know about her already.  I do not know how I've missed her for so long.
 I couldn't tell

exactly what her base was, etc........
so I emailed her and she wrote me a very nice email explaining!

You MUST go see her work.
 Her name is Penny Berens and her blog is Tanglewood Threads.
You can scroll down her blog and see some of what she calls her "daily scratching".
This post in 2012 really shows a great deal.

....

Sooooooooo, I cut some linen and I basted some cotton fabric to the back of it.
I gathered some floss and needles and a small cutter and took them with me.

I started stitching on the flight to Rome.
Below are pictures of Margaret stitching on it for me!!!
We were on a train in the Zurich area somewhere!!!

 

I love that she stitched on it.....  

She did a row of simple flowers.... 

just the straight stitches with French Knots.

 I guess I should've ironed this before I took a picture! ha!!!

But, it's a work in progress and it's very primitive.....

I'm continuing to stitch on it...
I just stitch whatever I want...
mostly just shapes, rows of certain stitches...

Then yesterday Margaret sent me a link that made me want to turn 

it into a lampshade cover!!!

Have you seen Marna Lunt's work?

Oh my goodness!!!

Paper Lanterns

 So here is what I did with one of my sewn sheets....

 

Mary Ann Moss shows you how to make a paper lantern in her SEWN class
and even tho my colors aren't that exciting,

I made one!

 

It's pretty cool!

 

I also made a felt owl on Tuesday when we had some icy precip!!!

It's for a certain little girl!

 

 

Have a great Super Bowl weekend!

Wool Hopes!

 

Inside this box labeled HOPE,

is my wool!!!

 

The other day I got it out and placed it where I would have to see it

most of the day!

 

I bought some great yardage a couple of years ago to make a table runner.

I think I'm on the verge of actually starting it....

 

 

I've spent a lot of time on Pinterest being inspired.

I've sketched a few ideas.

I even laid the yardage out on the table to see what I was dealing with!

 

Just think.... in a few weeks I may actually begin!

 

Have you done much wool applique?

Owl Be Seeing You!

 

 

 

He's a little frayed in his wings...

But I whipped him up one night a couple of weeks ago

out of the banner fabric for a banner I made for my

 soon to be born grandson's room.

 

I really have to start sewing more this year!

I almost forgot how!

 

I did some embroidery stitches on top of his wings,

but didn't photograph that.

 

I never pick a word for the year!

Never!

But....

if I was going to pick a word.......

 

it might be....

 

SEW!

 

ha!

 

I don't think that's a good choice.

 

But I hope I sew more this year...

I looked at my blog last year and the only thing

I really did art wise was that

Index Card a Day

and

then I did on my own a Tag a Day for awhile.

 

I didn't even make anything for Christmas!!!

 

Oh.... I did do a few canvases in that one class

(Junelle and Christy)....

 

I'm going to do better....

My blog is boring!!!

 

Happy New Year anyway!

Come back and see if I'm sewing!!!!

 

Late to the Party!

I finally signed up for Mary Ann Moss' latest class Sewn!

It's $38 right now.... until Nov 1 at least!

I do love, love, love her classes!

Are you doing it?
 

Prayer Flags

I joined the Prayer Flag swap on
ChristianPaper Artists Yahoo Group...

had to make 9 flags.....
didn't think I could get that done...

I started out stitching.

The bird above is a piece I made years ago and never did anything with.

So I cut it and made it a prayer flag.

Then Patty did a post about gel printing...

Well.... that opened up a whole new world of joy!

And I finished my flags using fabric I had "gel printed"!

Thank you, Patty.... you inspired a bunch of us!

(I did my gel printing on fabric that had a light script on it.)

And for my "grace" I either stitched it or used muslin I ran through my printer.

You should really try this...

it's so fun!

Here is another flag that is simple...

I do like making these....

I'm in another swap making them for the end of the year as well.

They can be any size really....

I made mine by putting the top piece

(that had an unattractive back due to paint or stitching)

onto a base muslin piece!

Stitches

 Had lunch with BFF Virginia this week.... I told her that I needed something for my blog.

Moving to the new house has taken it's toll on my creative time.

She had a picture on her phone of the piece she put together this year...

it's filled with pieces that she and I made and swapped a few years ago..

(if you search for stitching and embroidery on this blog you'll see them)...

and also stitching from some other swaps we did....

Click on the picture to see it large.

(finally got cable and internet today...

so I am BACK!)

The QB5 Sampler Revealed!

They arrived!

I was in a stitching round robin with the "so-called" Queen Bee Five (QB5)...

The rotation on mine was...

I mailed to Margaret and she worked on it.

Then it went to Carole.

Then it went to Patty

and then to Nathalie to finish it up.

On Wednesday we had a timetable set for opening!

We all opened at the very same time!!

For Patty that was 2 p.m.

For Nathalie and I it was 1 p.m.

For Margaret it was 8 p.m.

And for dear Carole it was THURSDAY at 7 a.m.

Here are some close-ups....

above was done by Carole!

Don't you love the the little music notes!!! Just stitched!

The bird is fabric cut in the shape and applied...

And she dyed the doilies green to be the leaves in the tree she added!

Below you can see the initials in the tree trunk!

(me and my sweetie)

The bee was added by Patty on the rose...

The words were done by Nathalie.... she does great stitched words...

and a little crown!!

Margaret did the banner! I think she knows I really have a "thing" for banners!

Surely she knew that?

I love it!

I don't know who added the flower?

Who did that?

Below is some net and greenery from a lady's vintage hat!!!

Done by Patty..... of course!

And she did the row of felted hearts!

Love it!

Here is a close-up of part of my fence that I started my piece with... it's pretty primitive.

I stitched on an old napkin that belonged to my mother-in-law....

I sent another one of those napkins out on a different stitching round robin with 10 women....

I'll show you that one soon.... I need to add a tiny bit to it now that this companion piece is home.

Don't you love this new world we live in where we have friends around the world that share our common interests! I was a penpal growing up, but that took weeks or months to hear from people.

I love this time we are living in!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Look what Virginia made me!

I told her I could see a series of these!

Anyone else?

I am trying to do a post every day this week...

just noticed that yesterday's got backdated and shows up

with Monday's..so two on Monday.

Don't you hate when Blogger doesn't do what you think it should?

...oh... go look at Carole's post for today on Madness and Mess! JUST indulge me, okay?

...and check out her upcoming video class!

Birthday Week

Anna made the little stitched piece above!

Isn't it the cutest cupcake!!!!???

And below is a card she altered for me....

a vintage card with a darling button!

I love it!

And below is Nathalie's altered vintage card....

Aren't these girls amazing!

Have you ever altered a vintage card and re-used it?

I haven't.... but I will!

There's lots more to show you..... but I gotta spread it out....

May Embroidery!

Virginia came over yesterday to visit the post-op one!

We exchanged our stitched pieces for May for our embroidered fragments swap...

Above is the one I gave her. You might recognize it from a pattern of little girls walking along.

I just took two of the girls out and did them and added the word "friend".

Below is what Virginia did for me...

And below is what I've made for a QB5 embroidery swap that is moving along quite slowly! ha! I embroidered in the corner of an old linen napkin

and will mail it to Margaret for her to add something

to it.

Zeta Quilt

So finallllllllly ....

I can reveal one thing I've made in the last couple of months!

My daughter

has been asking me to make a quilt from her college sorority t-shirts

for quite a few years.

I did it!

Saturday some friends of mine gave her a bridal shower.

It was my gift to my daughter.

When she saw what it was,

she said "It took me getting married, to get this!"

I made the top and paid to have it machine quilted.

My sister sewed the binding strips to it

and

then last week I slipstitched

the binding to the back!

It was a huge surprise!

Below are some blurry photos....

but thought you'd enjoy anyway.

I was sitting across the room as the host home

has lots of steps and remember I'm sidelined

with my foot so it's easiest to just plant me somewhere

right now.

Below is a blurry shot that I thought my followers might enjoy...

BFFV wrapped her gift in recycled paper and made an ice cream cone

for the front of the package that contained an ice cream maker...

Next is a photo of me in the wheelchair, with daughter behind me and the shower hostesses.

Now what can I make?