Embroidered Shirt

This is a shirt I embroidered for my son, Adam.  It is a skull with a cowl over it and the whole thing is made of words.  It is a larger design than my embroidery machine can do so I asked Pam if I could come down to Viking and use one of the larger machines.  She said OK so I went right down there.  I don't embroider very often, in fact, I forget between times how to hoop my fabric and everything.  I really need to embroider more often.  

My Blue Heaven Finished To Flimsy

This is the quilt I have worked on most of the winter.  It is called My Blue Heaven and it is a free pattern from Bonnie K. Hunter's Quiltville.com.  It is now a flimsy, that is, a quilt top that has not been sandwiched with batting and backing and quilted.  I am piecing the backing from 10 1/2" squares of blue fabric from my stash.  This entire quilt is from my stash.  I will have to buy the batting and pay for the quilting but other than that it hasn't cost me anything.  During the winter it was so cold out in my sewing room that I sat up a table in the living room in front of the picture window with my Opal sewing machine on it.  I did most all of the sewing of the blocks right there in front of that window, watching the snow come down.  I thought making this quilt would use a lot of my blue fabric stash but I really don't miss much at all.  I have three bins of blues just like I did when I started.  As soon as I get the backing pieced I will give the whole thing to Vonda Cochran, my favorite long arm quilter.

Finally - Another Finish!

This is my Grand Illusion Quilt.  It is from a design by Bonnie K. Hunter, who does a mystery quilt every fall.  This one was begun the day after Thanksgiving last year, and I worked on it thru the end of January.  It took me a while to choose the backing fabric and get it quilted.  The backing is a hot pink fabric with tiny white dots.  This fabric is in the front of the quilt.  I used the same yellow as the inner border for the binding.  By the way, it was quilted by Vonda Cochran of Liberty, WV.  She did a beautiful all-over design.  There are so many small pieces that the quilting is nearly invisible.  I did my quilt in the colors that Bonnie Hunter chose.  She picked colors from the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island where she spent some time teaching classes.

I have finished several things but not quilts lately.  I have made myself five pairs of shorts to wear this spring, and a camp shirt for my husband featuring cars from the 50's.  He chose the fabric at Mary Jo's Cloth Shop in Gastonia, NC on the way home from our cruise vacation in November.  I also put the binding on two quilts for my friend Debbie.  I am going to teach her how to bind her quilts as soon as we get a chance.

 

I quit my job at the Viking Sewing Gallery in Dunbar, WV last month.  I have been spending more time sewing, riding around in my new car, and just hanging out with my husband.  I have great plans for spring-cleaning my house (if I get around to it!) and making some new purses and probably some more clothing.  I have three more pieces of fabric Richard picked out for camp shirts so I had better get busy!