Scherenschnitte of Me Knitting

 Looking for an empty sketchbook yesterday, I found this loose snip floating. I must have cut it during my knitting phase. (Knitting turned out to not be in my skill set and this is probably my only reminder of it.)

I am anxious to do some papercutting, but there are so many other projects on my “to do” list.

Spoon Carving Season

Summer is normally the time of year that I carve wooden spoons. I sit on the screened in side porch for hours, whittling away.  That is, if the temperature is not unbearable AND I have fresh, “green” wood to carve.

This year the woods have not yielded many fallen, living trees or limbs, so I haven’t had much to work with. Months ago a friend gave me some cherry wood which is my favorite. By now, much of it dried out and now it is too hard to carve. Luckily though, I stuck a couple of pieces in the fridge. (That keeps it moist enough for me to cut.)

I pulled out one piece today and carved a small spoon for myself. The limb had lots of knots in it; too many to work around. Since carvable wood has been hard to come by, I use whatever I can. It’s an imperfect spoon but since it’s going to be mine, it is just fine.

Appliquéd Embroidery on the Quilt

 After doing a little vintage style embroidery on the quilt, it occurred to me to look for some actual vintage embroidery to use.  My thought was to look for some vintage linens at the antique store that were cheap and I would not feel guilty cutting up. Well, I couldn't find anything that was cheap. (They used to  go for absurdly low prices.)

I couldn't find what I had in mind at the thrift store either, but I did find this sweet little pinafore with some machine embroidery. It was stuck in the wrong spot in the store, like it was just waiting there for me.

The machine embroidered pieces had little windmills and a dancing Dutch couple.  Since some of my heritage is Dutch, that seemed perfect.

Here is the before and after of where I placed one of the pieces.

 

That light blue gingham was dingy and stained. Since the insert had blue gingham, I thought this was an appropriate replacement.

Quilt Embroidery Inspired by 1940’s and 50’s

The design in this little block of the crazy quilt was inspired by stitching I found on an old pillowcase. I believe that Grandma’s quilt was done in the 1940’s or maybe the 50’s, so I thought I’d give homage to craft stitching from that same time period. 

Here’s where this block started.

That original fabric was just too thin and dry rotten to stitch on top, so I replaced it with something a little heavier than muslin.

Crazy Quilty Update

I’ve enjoyed rehabbing Grandma’s quilt. Mark is always astonished at how much time I spend working on it and I tell him that I could continue on for years. It is really enjoyable embroidering and fixing this.

Here’s one square that shows a lot of improvement. There was so much fabric missing that I replaced the bad pieces with others, reminiscent of the original to repair it. 

 

There are stains on some pieces that are not dry rotten or torn, so I covered those with embroidery.

 I am just too afraid to wash the quilt. I just expect that all that red fabric will bleed over the whole thing.

Crazy Quilty Gifty

 My pal and I adore going to quilt and stitchery shows. The other day we went to the annual Woodlawn Needlework Show in Alexandria. 

As we were leaving and checking out the gift shop, she bought this little crazy quilt needle case without me knowing.

Yesterday, after doing her a favor, she presented me with it. I absolutely adore it!!! I had seen it at the show and had contemplated buying it, but didn't. It makes me so happy and hopefully I can keep track of my needles now!!!

Wednesday Stitching

 

Crazy Quilty and Embroidery

 I've been a quilting fool the last few weeks! I haven't shown photos because they just look so awful. And I mean the quality of the photos. 

The quality of the stitching isn't up to par, but I am okay with it. I'm not entering these into a competition and I don't think my stitching is worse than Grandma's.

I said it before, I am not a perfectionist. The joy of the activity is what I am here for.

There has been a lot of embroidery going on. Some un-embroidery. Lots of patching worn spots. Some replacing of overly stained cloth.

Here are some pictures of where I am at today.

Ken Burns Collects Quilts????

Who knew that Ken Burns collects quilts???????????

Vulnerability Working Overtime on This Crazy Quilt

This exercise, sharing the handwork I am doing on my grandma's quilt, makes me feel vulnerable. This quilt was destined for the dump 30 or so years ago and is more ratty than not. It was likely created as a more utilitarian object than an artistic one, though creative thought was used. Grandma had a color scheme in mind: red, white, and blue. I can see that she considered balance, though probably it was intuitive rather than purposeful.

When I see the photos of my own work on the quilt, I see a hot mess. And the photos themselves? Whew!!!! I should take a class!!! (Will I? Highly unlikely.)

Am I enjoying working on this project? Absolutely YES. 

Do I think all the messy stitching will matter as I get more done? Not to me.

So, I'll keep going.