Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Pedal to the metal!

 Hi to all of my blogging friends.  It's been a productive month for me, so I thought I would share my finishes.  Margaret and I are taking a little break from the Toy Chest, so I have been furiously working on my pesky WIP's.  This is my Valentine mystery quilt that I did with My Girlfriend's Quilt shoppe.  I changed the borders from purple to red.  The banner will be added after the quilting is done. 
This is Little House Needlework's Hillside Travelers.  Stitched on 36 count with recommended colors, except I changed the red house to Gentle Art's, Mulberry, because it was suppose to be pink, and well...I'm a red girl. I also added my initials and date above the red house.  
This was a fun little stitch from Heartstring Samplery called Joy to the World.   It looks much different from the original.  The creative ladies at Shepherd's Bush changed the fabric color, floss colors, and added the "Joy" on the chart.  Give them a call if you like the changes and would like to get this from them.  I added my initials and my husbands initials over one, along with the date. 

I made some quilting design boards from Lori Holt's website.  This is actually the 4th set I've made.  The others were for gifts.  You use these to keep quilt blocks from getting mixed up while you are in the process of  sewing them.  Six blocks can sit by your sewing table and not be disturbed...unless someone knocks them off!  Easy project to do, you just need a lot of glue sticks. 


As much as I've tried not to start something new right now, I just had to cut out this sweet project.  It's from Need'l Love Strawberry Threads.  I saw this done up in California last year, and fell in love.  However, the book was quite pricey and I was spending a wad already, so I passed on it.  Recently a friend of mine was getting rid of some patterns, and lo and behold this book was in her giveaway bag.  I bought it for a few dollars.  I already had the frame, so it was practically free.  Love those kinds of projects, don't you?  It will look much better when it's stitched and the seed beads are on the strawberries.  I like projects like this for traveling. 

Speaking of traveling, we have been.  We went to Florida in March to visit my brother and his family, and went to DisneyWorld one day.  Here I am with my daughter and her favorite character Jessie. 

We also went to Arizona again over Easter break.  I went to the Attic Needlework store again, but didn't get to spend too much time because the whole clan was outside in the car melting.  I bought a few cuts of linen and silks.  OHHHH, I'm dying to start stitching on them!  But I've got my blinders on, and I'm staying  focused on my stitching goals for this year.  I don't like too many unfinished projects.  
My next victim, is Random Thoughts, by The Drawn Thread.  I really enjoy working on this, and it shouldn't take too long.  I've decided that I will leave the center as it is.  I accidentally stitched the verse in the wrong color.  I would prefer it to be in the dark green, but it's not worth unpicking. 
That's all for me today.  Hope everyone is healthy and happy.  Thanks for your wonderful comments.  They make my day.  Happy Sewing!

16 comments:

Chocolates4Breakfast (Terri Malinovich) said...

Oh, Loraine! You and your DD are just adorable. Love the picture of the two of you!

All of your projects are fantastic! I really love your LHN Travlers piece. I don't recall seeing that one before and it's fabulous - love your house color change and addition of your name/date.
Joy is a lovely piece and the letters you used for you and your DH look really pretty.
Some more random thoughts... oh wait! That's the name of your other stitched piece which is lovely and I agree, no way I'd frog that verse. What'd I forget -Oh! Your Mystery Quilt and the Strawberry piece - both fantastic!
What a lovely post and so great to see such a darling picture of Little Ole You!

Margaret said...

Wow! You really have been busy! Everything looks so great too! It's funny that Jessie is your DD's favorite character. My DS used to loooooove Toy Story. I'm not sure, but I think he preferred Buzz to Woody. I may be wrong though. :D Nice stash too! I so want to go to the Attic!

Cathy Lloyd said...

Oh wow Loraine! You have been so darn busy! I LOVE that darling, darling quilt! I'm a red person as well! So glad you changed the house color to red! I would have done the same thing. You've been having so much fun! I know about the "clan is out in the car" thing at the Attic. DH drove me to one of the Merry Cox weekends there and he sat in the car for about 2 hours while I shopped the store. I think he did some polishing of the wheels on the car while he waited, so no worries. I told him I would be a while! Have a great week!

JOLENE said...

Wow! You still amaze me at how much you can get done with such a busy life and your schedule. Fun to see you taking a couple of breaks to fly away for some vacation time. Love all your cute projects. I signed up for the July Mystery Quilt at MGQS, hope it's a good one! I love the banner on the Valentine Quilt, such a fun idea. Everything is just Beautiful!

Carol said...

Everything looks great, Loraine--especially like your Hillside Travelers finish! I love the photo of you and your daughter with the Toy Story gang--glad you had a fun visit :)

Heather said...

Sheesh! You have been busy! I love your projects they look great :-)

Deb said...

Good grief woman - do you ever sleep! All your pieces are fantastic, the quilt, the stitching, the wool! Good heavens woman!! I'm a red person as well, and think that the red border looks fantastic on the quilt

Love seeing the picture of you and your daughter!! Wish I could see you in person again, but we'll work on that, okay??

I'll email you tomorrow or Friday!!

Chris said...

What a wonderful post Loraine! I don't know where to start. I love the LHN finish and all the other stitching. Your new stash is lovely.The felt strawberry basket is out of this world, such fabulous colors!
Does your little red mini have a name?

Cari said...

Oh my gosh....You've proven you're an over-achiever and I love it. Each piece you've worked on or completed is simply over-the-top perfection!! I love the Betsy Morgan Toy Chest pieces that you and Margaret are working on together. It's always so much fun to do projects with a friend isn't it? Hugs dear friend.

Jennifer said...

Love your Hillside travellers and quilting Loraine. Love what you did to the house too!!Beautiful pic of you and your sweetie at Disney . We were in St. Petes Flda in March . Would have loved to meet you. One never knows when paths will cross....You are a busy lady . Have fun!!

Katrina said...

What a sweet picture of you and your DD!!!!

Love all your projects and fabulous stash from the Attic. I never gotten out of there in under a couple hours, LOL. You are so sweet to think of your family, I'd have told them to come back later ;-).

Catherine said...

Great post ~ lovely stitches, great goodies and love the pic of you and your daughter. Too cute!

Sherry :o) said...

I long to visit the Attic, but it's far away from Michigan...your projects are beautiful. Looking forward to watching your toy chest when you gals pick it back up!

Brigitte said...

Wow, such a bunch of projects. and I love them all, the stitched ones and the quilted ones.
Great new stash. It's such a beautiful sampler you bought at the Attic needlework store.
Random Thoughts is also one of my older WIPs which I haven't touched for ages. It's about half done, like yours, and I think I should pull it out again.

Jane said...

Hi
Just found your blog as I was researching Ah! 'Tis Spring (a forthcoming project) and Google through me a link to you.
Absolutely love your blog and all your gorgeous creations, a real pleasure to read and look through.
I'm now an official stalker!
Jane x
(Buttons & Stitches x x x)

Jane said...

Hi
Just found your blog as I was researching Ah! 'Tis Spring (a forthcoming project) and Google through me a link to you.
Absolutely love your blog and all your gorgeous creations, a real pleasure to read and look through.
I'm now an official stalker!
Jane x
(Buttons & Stitches x x x)