Artful Homemade Quilts Have A Way

[BDBoop]

Not much going on, except I've worked for a couple of days on neutrals, which I'd put off indefinitely before. I didn't have all the colors, but I got enough to start collecting patterns for horses and stuff.

I also found a collection of somebody's roses in an unfinished set that are so different, I'm not sure what to think, except this group may have been handed down.. The pinks are pretty similar, though, but some things about the work is inconsistent--maybe done at different times, but never finished. There were under 20 squares, but only 10 are finished, 2 are in process of being almost finished, and the rest are grossly faded shades of red and blue into the muslin, which isn't all that great a quality, but beggars can't be choosers, and I got it for the price of a couple of yards of muslin, which is less probably the same amount of ruined squares. I'm not sure I want to put all that much work into the leftovers, because the color of the pencils ran, so the worker may have used an office pencil red instead of an embroidery washout pencil, which likely wasn't to be had at the time this quilt top was started. I will say this, though; someone put a lot of work in what is here, so hopefully I can get a couple of charity quilts from their effort, for some little girl who likes pink. ​

One of the finished Ebay rose quilt block "finds" is below. It doesn't show the white areas in the 10- or 11-inch block (didn't measure) but here it is:​

My mom made me a pillowcase with those roses and it was wavy at the end and had different shades of green embroidery at the end. I got it for my 8th birthday. My sister thought I was stupid because I thought it was the best present ever.

Oh, my BDBoop. I have about 6 other sets I found on ebay at low bids. People must not be buying like usual lately to not be paying a hundred dollars per set. I'm getting some of them for the starting bid price, which I only bid on because of working for charity. Someone may have spent the better part of 10 years working an hour here, a half hour there, ten minutes at another time getting them all ready to put in a quilt, then somehow it got away from them by giving it a friend who lacked the enthusiasm to finish. If I can get my brother-in-law to take pictures of the roses when one of the tops is complete, I'll try to bring it here so you can see it. Our mothers bought the same patterns in national magazines, but these were worked in two colors only, which was popular with a lot of cross stitchers in years past, and still is. Some of us are a little nutty, and will actually bring a rose home from the flower shop, and actually turn all the lights off, turn a single lamp on to see what one-source light shading would require, or do two or even more light sources to get a more dispersive or do-able color agreement with what shades of pink we have or shades of rose-leaf green if we see something we like under lights with different sources of number, kind, and intensity. That's a lot of work, but we do it to get things right if we feel challenged to do it. At this point, the one pink and the one green idea, and heck, throw in another pink if ya run out of thread.

Wow.

My mom - I'm surprised she could get any crafting done, but she sewed a LOT. Four daughters, no waiting. She loved to sew. She screamed one time, in the basement in Anoka. I ran downstairs and she was laughing too hard to talk. She'd been sewing merrily away, and a SQUIRREL ran across her sewing table!!!

She had no idea where it came from or where it went.

 

[freedombecki]

Today, I drew a loblolly pine branch on the bottom of the birdy square in the leftover space and did a yellow butterfly and started its field of flowers in the sky to sip sweet nectar from as it flits about in the beautiful garb of reproduction in warmer months.

This is not very fast, but I found a way to do daisies with a ring center instead of French knots. I haven't decided which I like the best, but I'm going to let them speak to others who are deciding whether to do French knots when they don't have a teacher as good as koshergrl.

Gettin' sleepy. Sweet dreams, everybody. Enjoyed your story, BDB!

And prayers up for Sunshine as she fights and slays her anathema.

Here's progress, wow, no wonder they make them so simple. Its hard to cover 17" square with lots of flowers and leaves, etc. But it's fun, and I'm reading stitch books like crazy at night just before vespers. Also including a couple of loblolly and longleaf pine examples that were helpful to my drawings, sort of. I should have just gone outside and looked up. We have some beautiful tall pines in the outskirts of the northwest pasture on our place.

Love,

becki

 

[BDBoop]

Today, I drew a loblolly pine branch on the bottom of the birdy square in the leftover space and did a yellow butterfly and started its field of flowers in the sky to sip sweet nectar from as it flits about in the beautiful garb of reproduction in warmer months.

This is not very fast, but I found a way to do daisies with a ring center instead of French knots. I haven't decided which I like the best, but I'm going to let them speak to others who are deciding whether to do French knots when they don't have a teacher as good as koshergrl.

Gettin' sleepy. Sweet dreams, everybody. Enjoyed your story, BDB!

And prayers up for Sunshine as she fights and slays her anathema.

Here's progress, wow, no wonder they make them so simple. Its hard to cover 17" square with lots of flowers and leaves, etc. But it's fun, and I'm reading stitch books like crazy at night just before vespers. Also including a couple of loblolly and longleaf pine examples that were helpful to my drawings, sort of. I should have just gone outside and looked up. We have some beautiful tall pines in the outskirts of the northwest pasture on our place.

Love,

becki

Thanks! I should just 'go outside' more often as well.

I talked to my cousin in Alaska, I used to love taking pictures. I should go walk, and take pictures. Two birds and all that.

 

[freedombecki]

Here's a closeup:

Nite everybody.​

​

Wonder if there's a way I could highlight [MENTION=21954]Sunshine[/MENTION]'s yellow butterfly a little to make it more showy. Nah, they show up in God's world against green well. Too many stitches done by an inexperienced embroiderer could wind up in a work that is wrinkled. I have to get some religion about keeping my work drum tight. Maybe it would be smart to wrap the inner hoop with some old-fashioned cotton braiding or just a bias strip of muslin, folded and wrapped to conform to the inner hoop. It's a machine embroidery trick to keep the work taught when needed, at least back when the art of backing was not as good as it is now. I just have to make something on the machine to see if I still can. Oh, the yellow butterfly has "filling stitches"--running stitches on the lower wings, and a pyramid-of-sorts free stitch on the upper wings. I saw running stitches on parallels, but conformed them to the shape with the foci at the junction of the upper and lower wings. That is all. Really nite, now.​

 

[BDBoop]

Nite!

 

[koshergrl]

Not much going on, except I've worked for a couple of days on neutrals, which I'd put off indefinitely before. I didn't have all the colors, but I got enough to start collecting patterns for horses and stuff.

I also found a collection of somebody's roses in an unfinished set that are so different, I'm not sure what to think, except this group may have been handed down.. The pinks are pretty similar, though, but some things about the work is inconsistent--maybe done at different times, but never finished. There were under 20 squares, but only 10 are finished, 2 are in process of being almost finished, and the rest are grossly faded shades of red and blue into the muslin, which isn't all that great a quality, but beggars can't be choosers, and I got it for the price of a couple of yards of muslin, which is less probably the same amount of ruined squares. I'm not sure I want to put all that much work into the leftovers, because the color of the pencils ran, so the worker may have used an office pencil red instead of an embroidery washout pencil, which likely wasn't to be had at the time this quilt top was started. I will say this, though; someone put a lot of work in what is here, so hopefully I can get a couple of charity quilts from their effort, for some little girl who likes pink. ​

One of the finished Ebay rose quilt block "finds" is below. It doesn't show the white areas in the 10- or 11-inch block (didn't measure) but here it is:​

I actually have that horse transfer packet...I think I'm going to make a pillow and maybe a comforter for my granddaughter with it......

I've picked up the swan pillow cases again..after making 3 hats and 2 scarves in the days around Christmas. I haven't been good about taking pics because I don't have internet right now, and I'm not as good about taking pictures of everything if I can't post the pics right away...I let the purple hat and scarf get away without taking a picture of the finished product (I gave it as a gift to my son's sister in law, who joined us for Christmas. It was supposed to be for my sister, but she wasn't there and I needed a gift, lol). I made a little pink hat for my granddaughter on Sunday when they were here...and then I made another hat and scarf for my daughter. I'll take a pic of those before too long.

A friend's daughter wants a purple hat, too...I can make certain hats in about a day, they're awfully gratifying.

My grandson is due Feb. 5 though..I have to get out the little fisherman quilt blocks or they won't be ready!

 

[koshergrl]

Regarding keeping the drum tight, I don't worry so much about it any more...you can get it too tight, and end up with puckers as well, I think...and you can also stretch the cloth out of shape or so I have heard... (though I have never had that happen)

I still have some beautiful green linen I ordered in order to make my daughter hankies....she's 11 now, I think I may have them done by the time she walks down the aisle (after college!)

I plan to hand hem them, embroider them, and put on crocheted edging as well. They will be fancy schmancy. Some day.

 

[freedombecki]

Not much going on, except I've worked for a couple of days on neutrals, which I'd put off indefinitely before. I didn't have all the colors, but I got enough to start collecting patterns for horses and stuff.

I also found a collection of somebody's roses in an unfinished set that are so different, I'm not sure what to think, except this group may have been handed down.. The pinks are pretty similar, though, but some things about the work is inconsistent--maybe done at different times, but never finished. There were under 20 squares, but only 10 are finished, 2 are in process of being almost finished, and the rest are grossly faded shades of red and blue into the muslin, which isn't all that great a quality, but beggars can't be choosers, and I got it for the price of a couple of yards of muslin, which is less probably the same amount of ruined squares. I'm not sure I want to put all that much work into the leftovers, because the color of the pencils ran, so the worker may have used an office pencil red instead of an embroidery washout pencil, which likely wasn't to be had at the time this quilt top was started. I will say this, though; someone put a lot of work in what is here, so hopefully I can get a couple of charity quilts from their effort, for some little girl who likes pink. ​

One of the finished Ebay rose quilt block "finds" is below. It doesn't show the white areas in the 10- or 11-inch block (didn't measure) but here it is:​

I actually have that horse transfer packet...I think I'm going to make a pillow and maybe a comforter for my granddaughter with it......

I've picked up the swan pillow cases again..after making 3 hats and 2 scarves in the days around Christmas. I haven't been good about taking pics because I don't have internet right now, and I'm not as good about taking pictures of everything if I can't post the pics right away...I let the purple hat and scarf get away without taking a picture of the finished product (I gave it as a gift to my son's sister in law, who joined us for Christmas. It was supposed to be for my sister, but she wasn't there and I needed a gift, lol). I made a little pink hat for my granddaughter on Sunday when they were here...and then I made another hat and scarf for my daughter. I'll take a pic of those before too long.

A friend's daughter wants a purple hat, too...I can make certain hats in about a day, they're awfully gratifying.

My grandson is due Feb. 5 though..I have to get out the little fisherman quilt blocks or they won't be ready!

By the time I get around to the horses, maybe we can both work on them at the same time!

I had to try my hand at a really nice brown for the pine branches. We have tall pines that embellish the sky of the north center area between west pasture and east pond and pasture, not far from the house, but far enough so that if they fell, they would not reach the roof. We lost two of them in the three years of drought, and now the deluge has returned.

So, here's the start on the pine branches. They take F...O...R...E...V...E...R....!!! I used 6 strands on all but one. I mindlessly was just stitching away when I separated the 6 strands into 3 as usual, and sewed one up, realizing it was not as lush looking as the others.

 

[freedombecki]

It was disappointing that my super-bright yellow did not show well on the super-bright white background, so I went ahead and put a dark green running stitch with a short under stitch to emphasize that (1) there is a butterfly there, and (2) It is a creature of natures green time.

I can't wait to get back to the pine tree part, but am running out of hours in the day. *sigh*

I have to tell you that @Ernie S. saw a bald eagle when he was out walking today. I hope our nation's mascot sighting by one of USMB fellow posters is a good omen, that God will continue to guide and bless the posterity of both Pilgrims and natives alike in this beautiful land we call America, that we prove to be good neighbors to both the country of Mexico and to Canada, not to mention each other's states. According to Ernie, the Eagle appeared after a couple of hawks were messing with his territory, but the Eagle prevailed.

May our nation, too, prevail in freedom, justice, and brotherly love for our fellow man.

Love to all ~

becki

Oh, more flowers were added, too.

 

[koshergrl]

You might experiment with some gold thread...I have gone back over what was supposed to be finished work with different colors...you know, you really can't go wrong.....and maybe satin stitch the body of the butterfly to give it a little more presence?

I'm eternally satin stitching things lolol...then when I get a bit done I look at the rest of the piece and think it looks really bare...and think that maybe I should just satin stitch everything. That's what happened with the swans. I satin stitched the greenery...with no intention of doing the rest of it in satin stitch...then I had to do the water lilies...then of course I HAD to do the swans...and now I am eyeing the water underneath...in the end, the whole damn thing will be satin stitched.

 

[koshergrl]

Then I'll have to un-stitch the pillow cases and make it into a family banner or something.

 

[freedombecki]

You might experiment with some gold thread...I have gone back over what was supposed to be finished work with different colors...you know, you really can't go wrong.....and maybe satin stitch the body of the butterfly to give it a little more presence?

I'm eternally satin stitching things lolol...then when I get a bit done I look at the rest of the piece and think it looks really bare...and think that maybe I should just satin stitch everything. That's what happened with the swans. I satin stitched the greenery...with no intention of doing the rest of it in satin stitch...then I had to do the water lilies...then of course I HAD to do the swans...and now I am eyeing the water underneath...in the end, the whole damn thing will be satin stitched.

I prefer the challenges afforded by color blending and creating on a two-dimensional surface contrasts with available cotton fabrics and threads. If it has a polyethelyne base, I avoid it due to the toxic chemicals released in a house fire. Many of the usable gold threads are blended with nylon, polyethelene-based, or other synthetic fibers.

Some people love gold. It lost its enchantment to me when my mother-in-law's gold jewelry was all taken from her jewelry box by house thieves.

After that, I thought how horrible many thieves are, who will kill someone who is wearing a gold necklace for the paltry sum they will obtain from stolen merchandise removed from a still-warm corpse. I'm glad the thieves did their dirty deed while no one was at home, and she was so sad, because her parents had given her a couple of pieces. Not only that, there are too many news stories of men or women killed for the gold or jewels they were wearing by gangs or armed thieves. I know investors like gold, but it has no enchantment for me. The envy and dissociation it inflicts on people's minds makes it worthless to me. It's the principle. I look great wearing polished rocks and plastic beads, because my smile shows I don't care greatly if my dime store baubles get lost.

 

[koshergrl]

I learned that things are not so important when I had to pawn a $1500 saddle for $20 in order to buy diapers for the babies...their dad had gone through my savings and left us completely bereft and penniless.

It about killed me to do it, but once it was done, I realized that things are just things, and nothing is as important as the people in our lives. I had a hard time leaving him, because not only were my children involved, but he also had two young boys who thought of me as their mama...and it was very, very hard to leave them behind. I kept going back to help with them...until finally I left everything behind. I took my kids and essentially what I could carry and started over completely.

And I don't put much value on things anymore..haven't for more than 10 years. In fact, I'm just getting to the point where I think it might be nice to have matched glasses and maybe a set of china again, lolol...

 

[freedombecki]

Then I'll have to un-stitch the pillow cases and make it into a family banner or something.

If gold threads are on the edges of the pillowcase, people's faces usually don't come into contact with it anyway. I wouldn't worry!

And I actually used gold in one of the first blocks on my Children of the World quilt--the Egyptian one. Unfortunately, somebody stole a dozen of my blocks from my shop, and the Egyptians were one of them. I never remade the block. They stole the best blocks. I lost my enthusiasm for the project, and never made the second quilt. Each quilt only took about 25 squares, and 50 countries had patterns when I got done with All God's Children. Kleptomania is a sickness, and I had several items stolen from shows, my shop, and display window. Unless I embroider them, I probably won't make another quilt from the patterns I self-published for students.

 

[koshergrl]

It's not so much that as just the fact they're too nice for pillow cases.

In theory, lol.

The work outclasses the media...

Internet returneth tomorrow, can't wait.

I have been trying to get pics of sea birds at the marina when we're there, but haven't had any luck getting anything worth posting....looking forward to being able to put pics on my puter and mess around at home again.

 

[freedombecki]

Finally! The finishing touch on the pine branch is done. It took 9 yards of 6-strand floss and then some. I had no idea it would take so many hours. I spent another 4.5 hours on it today to get everything complete I've been working on all week. I have 1 more flower to add to the sparse corner, and if it looks right, I'll be done with birdy and can get back to other quilts again. What a ride this one square has been!

 

[freedombecki]

It's not so much that as just the fact they're too nice for pillow cases.

In theory, lol.

The work outclasses the media...

Internet returneth tomorrow, can't wait.

I have been trying to get pics of sea birds at the marina when we're there, but haven't had any luck getting anything worth posting....looking forward to being able to put pics on my puter and mess around at home again.

There will be different sea birds as migrations begin sometime in the spring, and you never know what's going to be in the mix. I always loved spring in Wyoming, because loons would nest along the North Platte at a park near us, and it was total joy to see a pair of them winging their way parallel to the surface of the river, and they soared so close to the water, as if they were far, far above. Also, they flew in perfect synchronization as well as any army that ever marched. What a sight to see. That's the fun of visiting the water's edge. All the birds eventually show up there for healing and camaraderie with other equally graceful beings.

 

[koshergrl]

There are also seals that hang at the marina....

 

[koshergrl]

My internet hath been restored.

It's a Netflix nite tonight for sure! Netflix, take me away!!!!!

Oh and I'm going to start crocheting some little animals for my soon-to-be-born grandson!

 

[freedombecki]

So happy to see that your internet is back, koshergrl!