4/16/14

Wet Wednesday

Our spring rains returned last night. It's not bad this time of the year. We generally get some nice sunny days interspersed with a few days of drizzle. The sun is supposed to return by Friday. Sue and I are walking that day, and I should have plenty of time to plant the annuals over the weekend before the rain returns again next week.

Yesterday I picked up the annuals:


As of June 1st, we will have been in this house for 12 years. In that time, I've pretty much learned what will grow, what won't, and what will get eaten by squirrels or deer. It makes choosing annuals much easier since I'm kind of sticking with the same things year after year. 

Also, I picked up a cherry tomato and a few herbs. Last year, I planted the cherry tomato in a pot outside the greenhouse. Then I decided it was too far from the kitchen, and so this year, I'm planting it in one of the whiskey barrels on the upper patio. Since we dug up our overgrown sage, I picked up a new little one to replace that. Also, I got some Italian parsley that I'll plant where one of the sage plants was. Parsley is an annual...at least in our part of the world it is. And I got some more dill and some basil since the ones I planted from seeds did not thrive.

The words on my latest embroidery project are all finished now. As I said before, this is a gift, and so I'm not giving you anything other than peaks. Do you hate embroidering words as much as I do? It's kind of weird really...if you're going to hand stitch, what difference does it make what it is? Somehow, I find it absolutely tedious and boring to stitch words. I usually do those first on any design.


These were especially tedious since the font was small and I was using just one strand of floss.

And I sewed together all of the blocks for the We are the World quilt. I'm loving how this is looking.


I've had that floral fabric in my stash for a long time, and I chose it for no particular reason. It seems to be working. Next, I'll make a narrow border with the polka dot, and then make a wider border with the floral. And then the top will be finished.

Already, I think I know how I'm going to quilt it. I really like this pantograph from Urban Elementz:


At first I was thinking I'd just do my own version of it, but then I got the bright idea to purchase the pantograph. I watched this video yesterday that showed me how to do a pantograph at my own sewing machine.


If you can't see the video, click right here. It doesn't seem that difficult. I was thinking of tracing the pantograph out on pattern paper and then quilting through the paper. I wonder if anyone has ever done that. If so, please tell me how it worked for you.

So today I'm doing a little housework, and then I'm going to Zumba. I'm sort of liking Zumba...I guess. I'm still not very comfortable with the footwork, and I'm not even trying to do anything with my hands and arms yet. I think I will enjoy it more when I'm a little more familiar with the steps. For now, I'm doing a lot of clock-watching, which makes for a slow hour. I'm not giving up yet, however. I'm committed to continuing through the next couple of months at least, and then I'll re-evaluate. After that, I need to do some grocery shopping. Before I go to Zumba, I think I'll have some time to work on the borders for my quilt.

What's on your agenda for today?

18 comments:

Cinder Gal said...

I did feathers the way you're thinking of doing your pantograph. The only think you need to remember is to use a small stitch length. And be ready for the tedious job of picking small bits of paper out. I really liked doing it that way. Good luck.

Andee said...

Looking forard to seeing how your pantagraph comes out! Also enjoying seeing the gardening...I am planting my herb garden soon and I love seeing what everyone is planting!

Cath said...

I haven't done any quilting that way but I have bought some golden threads paper just for such an occasion . I am sure I pinned something like that on Pinterest.

Vicki W said...

I love your quilt! It's really cute.

Brown Family said...

I have quilted through paper before. I agree with Cinder that you need to shorten your stitch length and be prepared to pick put paper scraps.

Teresa in Music City said...

I haven't done an entire quilt with a pantograph on my domestic machine yet, although I do have plans to do that. What I have done is borders and sections within a quilt using the Golden Threads paper with the designs on them - works perfectly!!! It's also usually easier to stitch through a lot of them with a large needle than to trace it off, depending on the size of what you want to quilt.

Teresa in Music City said...

Also one tip - the tiny pieces of paper come right off with a damp - not wet! - cloth :)

Junebug613 said...

How cute! What a great pantograph for your quilt!

Janarama said...

So weird how you brought up quilting with paper today. Earlier today I received an email from Connecting Threads and they have a special paper just for quilting. Here's the link to it. Plus it's 40% off. I never heard of quilting with paper until today. Looks like something to try.

http://www.connectingthreads.com/tools/Golden_Threads_Quilting_Paper_____D81310.html

KatieQ said...

Your little ladies really look cute. The pantograph is a perfect choice for the quilting.

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

I agree w the above commenters--the panto is perfect !~! You have found the one that complements the best of any panto I have seen yet. How do you do that so well ?~! Hope Friday is good weather for your walking. We've been looking after a dog so I have gotten in several walks over the last days, our weather has been perfect.

Dana Gaffney said...

I've heard of sewing through the paper then using that as a stencil for chalk marking but haven't tried it yet, I worry about the paper in my machine that people mentioned.

Barb H said...

Love the choice of fabric for the sashings on your quilt. I've used Golden Threads quite a bit--stitching through it and then picking it out--but individual blocks, not for an entire quilt. And it does get tedious! Haven't tried pouncing through it yet--I think I like that better than picking. Also, I usually free motion when I'm doing an overall design on a quilt and that works out very well.

Diane Wild said...

I have quilted through paper. One tip, however. Put your quilt design on the paper using an unthreaded needle then quilt using the paper. If you use the paper with the drawn design, the marker will transfer to your fabric. It happened to me when I used a pencil to draw the design. I had graphite transfer on the light fabrics. HAPPY SPRING. We had a sprinkling of snow last night but 60 miles north got 19".

Anonymous said...

I haven't used paper for quilting patterns....always do my own thing. I know that there's special/light weight paper that's available for such work. It should be fine, afterall, we stitch through paper for paper piecing designs. I'll be interested in following this thread!! Love the panto!!! I wish we were ready for plantings.....at least we didn't get the 18" of snow that north of Mpls. got!!!!!! Ugh!!! Hugs.............

quiltzyx said...

Your new plants are nice & full of colors! So beautiful.

I think you found the perfect quilting design for your rainbow scrap gals. If you decide to quilt through the paper, if you spritz it with water, sometimes it's easier to remove. That works for paper piecing too. And also if you get any 'bearding' when you quilt (batting coming in bits to the outside), you can spritz them & they'll suck back inside when they dry!

Michele said...

I'm getting jealous seeing all your great plants. It will be weeks yet before it is safe to buy any annuals here.

Kate said...

Love the pantograph you've picked. We are the World is really coming together.