The Love of a Daughter and Unfinished Craft Projects

Just yesterday I received a special email which touched my heart.
I hope the writer won't mind if I share its contents with you.

The email was from Laura who was on a mission of sorts. Sadly her mother had passed away and Laura had inherited her mother's half finished sewing and craft projects. Laura described her mother as being both a "proficient and prolific craft person" and I immediately thought about my own stash of half finished projects I too would probably leave behind when my turn came around.

Laura has decided to take on the task of finishing some of these projects so that she can give them to family members and was writing seeking some technical advice.

Laura's mission reminded me of two other kindred spirits who came to seek similar advice a few years back. One daughter had inherited a collection of cream heirloom quilt blocks, some of which were complete while others remained to be worked. Luckily she also had the pattern and just needed some assistance to learn the embroidery stitches required to complete the quilt. Over the next few months I fondly watched as her mother's stitches blended with her own. I am very pleased to report the quilt was eventually completed and now sits pride of place on her bed.

The other daughter came with a request of a slightly different nature. Her mother had passed away a few years ago and she had kept the outfit her mother had very happily worn on her daughter's wedding day. The daughter had been unable to part with it because it held such happy memories for her, although she felt that tucking the outfit away in a cupboard somewhere was a bit pointless. Instead her ambitious plan was to incorporate some of the fabric from the outfit into a quilt for her bedroom. Thankfully the two piece outfit was made of cotton and we were able to cut enough squares from the gathered skirt and blouse to feature in the quilt. Needless to say she was thrilled with the result and can now look at the quilt each day with fond memories.

These wonderful acts of love in motion all touched my heart and have given me hope.
Hope that I may also find the time to finish two half completed projects I have inherited from my own much missed Grandmother, and hope that there is also a chance for my collection of unfinished projects to be finished one day in my memory.
What a lovely idea.

Warmly Lenna

PS I have received many stories after writing this blog and have included one of them here with the permission of the writer.

Hi Lenna,
After reading on the blog about "unfinished projects" I thought I would share mine with you and your readers if you would care to post.

The quilt in the picture was pieced with scraps of colorful fabric and flour sacks by my grandmother in 1930. Called a grandmother's flower garden quilt, each "flower" is pieced together from individual hexagon pieces. When I was in my early 40's (about 15 years ago) my grandmother gave me the quilt top. I have always loved the idea of quilting, but lacked the knowledge to know what to do next. Fortunately for me, I made friends with an Amish family that offered to help get the batting and backing in place. They fixed the rotted pieces of the the quilt and after a 7 hour drive to Illinois, they showed me how to back the quilt and stretch it up for the actual quilting...we had a little quilting bee for a couple hours before I had to pack up and head for home - it was a wonderful experience while it lasted. So, now every year, I hoop quilt a section of it in the dead of winter - that seems to make the dreary days seem a little brighter...and I am about halfway finished as of this year! I can't imagine the time it took to cut the exact pieces and then hand sew them perfectly together. But then again, my grandmother was an amazing woman! She did the most beautiful handwork...tatting, crocheting, knitting, embroidery...I am so fortunate to have some of her work in my collection of linens, etc. Hopefully in a few years it will be finished and I can put it on display.

Best regards!
Sandy K.

Merry Christmas from Little Green Cottage

Scrapbook made with Smilebox

2011 Quilters Diary

Yesterday when I ventured out my front door there was a surprise parcel sitting on my door step. I was even more excited when I discovered it was from Universal Magazines, the publishing house of Homespun magazine and Quilters Companion. Had I ordered something which I had forgotten about (I often do this!).

I ripped open the packaging like an excited child and there before me was a lovely 2011 quilters diary. The cover was not familiar and I was fairly sure that I had not ordered this item, although I was thrilled to have it in my hands.
On closer inspection of its beautiful pages I was even more excited to find one of my own designs featured amongst the pages of June.

There on the glossy page before me was my "Wrens Amongst the Blossoms" bag. I was thrilled and could hardly wait to show off my discovery when the kids rolled through the door that afternoon. Here is a close up of the bag.

If you missed this embroidered bag pattern design it is available on the Stitching Cow website as a paper pattern or downloadable e-pattern.

Also keep your eyes open for this Quilters Dairy, Homespun magazine are currently running a special subscription offer and giving away this lovely diary as a bonus. I am hoping it will keep me more organized next year!!??

Until next time.
Have a great day.
Warmly Lenna

New Christmas Designs

This week I have been immersed in all things Christmas and I have some sneak peek photos of my progress to share with you.

For some time now I have been planning to make Christmas stockings for the kids. A few years ago I designed them but unfortunately they remained in my sketch book unable to see the light of day. Sadly I just never seemed to find the time to make them up. There were always too many things on the "to do list" and not enough hours in the day. That is until now.

I formalized the original sketches that I had drawn quickly in my sketch book. Here they are with coffee mug in the distance!

The I took up needle and tread and started to embroider. Once the stitcheries were complete I then set to work on the sewing machine and made three patchwork pieces each in a different colourway. I think the red is my favourite.

Before long they were beginning to look like Christmas stockings, much to the delight of the kids who were secretly watching my progress from afar.

To finish them off I crocheted a length from 8 ply cotton to make a bow and then fixed some brass bells to the ends. That way they will tinkle as little hands explore their contents on Christmas morning.

With three Christmas stockings now complete I set to work on a Christmas table runner design that had been buzzing around in my head for a few weeks.

Once it was sketched I started on the embroidery, which is always the part I enjoy most. Next I sewed the scalloped border and hand pieced the mini stars, they are so cute!
Here is the table runner taking shape;

Both of these new Christmas designs will be up on the Stitching Cow website next week, so look out for them. With 2 months before Christmas you will have plenty of time to stitch them up yourself.
Until next time happy stitching!
Warmly Lenna

Homespun Magazine Secret New Quilt Project for 2011

I am just coming back out into the light after completing a new secret quilt project for Homespun Magazine.

As usual I started at a leisurely pace only to find myself racing towards the publishing deadline at a fast and furious sprint. The lovely Catherine from Homespun magazine commissioned me for the project which was to include 18 small embroideries and a centre panel.

When I discovered a new pretty floral range from Moda which included happy Polk Dots I couldn't wait to begin.Before long the fat quarter bundle arrived at my door. It was so wonderful to look at that I just sat it on my old kitchen dresser to admire for a week. I proudly shared it with some of my sewing friends who called in for a cuppa during the week. They too "gooed and garred" over it which made me feel far more normal.

In hindsight to leave it sitting for a whole week just looking at it was probably not the most sensible idea, although I like to think that each time I passed it my vision for the quilt became clearer in my mind. Here is the patchwork fabric stack arranged in all its glory.

Next it was time to choose embroidery threads, another part of the design process I enjoy.

Soon embroidery blocks started to appear as did sketches of the overall layout. Although I confess I totally underestimated the brain power that was needed to design the quilt based on fat quarters. And I have to admit that the layout was redrawn a number of times before the maths stacked up (thank goodness for calculators)

I even employed Miss 10 to unpick a few seams sewn in error. Yes I make lots of mistakes too!

Despite my mishaps eventually the quilt started to take shape and I was able to catch a glimpse of the finishing line.

With less than one week to go and visitors from interstate begging to explore Tasmania, I made the brave decision to hand quilt. This meant a daily routine of sight seeing during the day, gourmet cooking of an evening and hand quilting late into the night.

With cotton threads sprinkled around my home, piles of fabric offcuts surrounding my workspace and coffee mugs lined up beside my sewing machine I wondered if other designers worked in such chaos. I even had chocolate wrappers jammed in my sewing bin, a timely and much appreciated birthday present from master 14.

As I wrapped the quilt and addressed it to the lovely Catherine of Homespun Magazine I glanced at the clock. I had made it and with 3 hours to spare...what was I so worried about???!!!

Free Hand Quilting

My new Redwork Quilt (which is another version of my appliqued Nursery Rhyme quilt) is now ready to enjoy.

I decided to free hand quilt each block and thought I would share with you some pictures of my progress. Free hand quilting is a pure joy. It is very relaxing and there is more freedom involved.

It is an interesting and effective way to add a sense of movement to your quilt. Usually free hand quilting is worked on a background area where you do not have to compete with seams. Quilting lines are typically flowing and I draw mine onto the quilt top as I work using a quick vanishing marker pen which is shown below.

You can also see the small quilting needle I use which is much smaller than an ordinary crewel needle (shown along side it)

Shown below are more tools of the trade including the hand quilting thread I love to use. Putting a rubber band around the spool stops the hand quilting thread from unwinding. I also use a rubber thimble to help grip the needle.

Here you can see the lines of hand quilting.

When free hand quilting I tend not to use a quilting hoop. Instead I roll the quilt to the area I am working, quilting towards myself and unrolling the quilt as needed. This means I can quilt much faster than normal.

And here is the completed Redwork Quilt.

This quilt pattern is now available on the Stitching Cow website and I have a limited number of fabric kits on offer. Jump on over to the information page where you will discover more photos of this Redwork Quilt and details about the monthly pattern program.

Hope you like it and that I have tempted you to have a try at free hand quilting. You'll love it!

Nursery Rhyme Fun

Not long to go now before my Redwork Nursery Rhyme Quilt is finished and ready for launch.
I am in the process of hand quilting the star blocks in the corners and then attaching the binding.

In keeping with the Nursery Rhyme theme I cam across a blog post by Salley Mavor of Wee Folk Studio. Salley is one of my favourite craft designers and I just had to share it with you.

















Salley has just completed a project starring the Black Hen from Hickety Pickety. Her creativity and work is simply amazing.

Go there now and check it.
Pocketful of Borders - My Black Hen

Back to my quilting!
Warmly Lenna