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Friday, October 31, 2014

Crazy Quilting Basics / Class Progress

As mentioned on my previous post, here is a peek at where I am at on my Crazy Quilting Basics Class hosted by Kathy Shaw.
After selecting my block fabrics and gathering my supplies, (which, thankfully practically all of them were already in my stash) the piecing of the block was do. I did the block, of course, mine is hand pieced. The picture collage below shows progress and completed Tasks 1 through 4.
Hand piecing the block wasn't hard but since I needed to follow a pattern (to my advantage) my focus couldn't shift from the block. Each and every piece needed to be on the right place. After the hand piecing was done I basted the block onto a large piece of fabric and mounted it in the Q-snap hoop neatly stretched, ready to be work on. Now my homework consists of learning how to plan the embroidery on a CQ block. I took a break for few days from the CQ class and did other less focus stitching in order to relax ;-) and finish a little something for a special someone.
I'll show you later what I made on my short relaxing break, but for now my focus is back and this homework needs to get done!
Will update later how I did on Task 5!
Until next time!

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Stitchings

We've been having a few days of nice weather. Lovely cool bright sunny days! Especially, the early afternoons have been perfect. Volunteer work was great this morning and the brief stop at the market for produce and a few other grocery items went well.
Just recently I started a new hand embroidery project of a vintage pattern. There is a peek of it above, can't show much at this time. It's another hush hush project... ;-). Sipping and stitching is a good relaxing way to pass time!  What is your current favorite hot drink? Mine is Masala Chai Latte, made at home not from scratch. Can't drink coffee, in fact I stop drinking coffee since February of this year. Coffee makes me really sick from my stomach, but thankfully I'm able to tolerate tea at the moment. So tea it is and I'm loving it!
Above are the latest additions to my Aunt Martha's Transfers collection, aren't these above cute? Love those cute potholders... or panholders as they are called in the envelope. Couldn't resist, believe me, I try for weeks. The price was very very reasonable. No shame, the rest is history, and Bob's your uncle (I've always wanted to use this phrase, LOL, hoping I used it right).
Here in this blog is were I keep track of the things I've stitched, current wip's, and future projects.... so this cute little teapot needed to make an appearance. This was the previous hush hush project I posted not long ago. It was embroidered as a thank you for a very kind lady. She was so nice to me and I wanted her to know I truly appreciated her generosity! 

On other needlework news.... I've been taking an online, free, Basic Crazy Quilting class with Kathy Shaw. All is going well, so far. I'm learning a lot! Perhaps I'll share a bit of my class work on my next post. 
Until next time! Enjoy your weekend!




Friday, October 24, 2014

Scissors Review

Wow, October was a busy month! Just now getting back to normal.

Do you have a favorite pair of scissors? I guess it would be kind of hard to just have one pair, especially when there are scissors for different tasks. My current fabric and paper scissors where not doing a good job. The paper ones were old and had been used for other things beside paper, the fabric ones are bulky and require a bit of hand/wrist work. So, I did a bit of research a while back and decided to try these below.
These above are the scissors I'm currently using for my hand piecing tasks :-). Three of them are Kai Scissors. I'm using the one with black handles for cutting out templates from a specific kind of cardboard (however they are not for that, their job is to cut rubber for rubber stamping projects), can't tell any difference from using this pair from any other utility scissor pair. It is still hard on my hand to cut with this pair. Maybe is the kind of cardboard I'm using for the templates that makes it hard...don't know, so I will still be looking for an alternative.
The hot pink Kai Sewing Scissors, are very sharp, they perform smoothly and effortlessly... like cutting through butter, love them. The lavender Kai Serrated Patchwork Scissors have a serrated blade that grips the fabric preventing slippage, for very precise cutting of patchwork pieces, and in my opinion, still cuts smoothly... this pair is my favorite, really love it!  
The yellow one is a Cutter Bee by EK Success, excellent for cutting the paper pieces needed to make templates. They are very nice for cutting paper... very happy with this pair as well!
Here are close ups of the front and back of the serrated pair... are you able to see the serrated blade? They are a bit linty because I've been truly giving them a work out with my hand piecing blocks ;-).
Here a close up of the Cutter Bee, do you see that sharp tip... it does a very detailed cutting into the paper pattern pieces.
Having the right scissor for the right job makes a big difference. Especially if you were to have health conditions, like myself,  that will hindered your ability to cut for a long period of time and such.   
So these are my to go scissors for the various tasks of my current hand piecing wip. Very happy with the two Kay's, the lavander and hot pink ones, and with the Bee Cutter. The pairs I'm using the most are the serrated one and the paper one.
Do you have any favorite pair(s) for hand piecing? Please do share!

Please Note: I do not have any affiliation with the brands/links I mentioned on this post. I'm just a very happy customer sharing my thoughts on how these work for me.






Sunday, October 19, 2014

Tea Party Tablecloth

Things have been hectic around here.
A bit of everything going on. Few days ago, while busy with chores, my toddler grabbed my WIP floursack towel as a tablecloth for her tea party, LOL... too cute! Of course, I needed to capture the moment, and at some point post here about it :-). 
Until next time!

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Friday, October 10, 2014

Basic Crazy Quilting Free Online Class

Briefly stopping by to spread the voice... in case you have interest and will like to learn the basics of Crazy Quilting! ;-) Below is a screenshot of the blog post and here is a link to Kathy's blog.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Block No. Two


This block with its many pieces took me a bit longer than the previous ones, especially since I didn't work on it in just one sitting. It is not perfect but I am happy with it.

I am learning a lot! It was a good idea to skip this one until I felt ready for it.

Another block with a hiccup,... ended up piecing the center right side section to the center square upside down :-( , my seam ripper and I are best friends. It was such a silly mistake that, that in my disappointment, I forgot to take a picture of it. I am glad that it wasn't the longer top/bottom sections. You can be sure that the silly mistake was not repeated. Lesson learned!

I am taking a little break from all needlework until I take care of an assignment. Until next time! Enjoy your weekend!
Notes: Pattern/tutorials provided by Wynn at Zakka Art. Inspiration from Japanese patchwork book (info on previous hand piecing post).