5/22/14

Handy

Today was a day focused on hand-sewing projects. There was quite a bit to do.

First, I finished up the Retro Camper stitchery. This was the short embroidery project I took on during my birthday month instead of working on my "meat and potatoes" projects.


And with that done, I was ready to mount it in a wooden embroidery hoop for hanging. 


I've never actually done anything like this before, and so I used a combination of two methods for this. First, being a messy embroidery person, I decided to line the back with the same "map fabric" I used in the Happy Campers quilt. Sharon V. this one is for you:


I just spray basted it to the back of the stitchery...and you'll notice that I didn't show you the back of the stitchery. As I said, I'm a messy embroidery person, and that's all I'm going to say about it. 

Using another fabric on the back is the brainchild of Wendi over at Shiny Happy World. Only, I didn't have quite enough fabric to finish it off the way Wendi did (although that would have been preferred). And so I did it using glue the way it was done by Purl Soho over at The Purl Bee.


I don't like the way the excess fabric looks a little "chewed off", but the glue is still wet. When it dries, I'm going to try to clean it up a little with an X-Acto knife. I'm a little worried about cutting where I don't want to, and so I'll opt for "chewed off" if necessary in order to avoid settling for "cut to pieces". There's only so far I'll go for neatness. This is going to hang in our camper, after all. 

So here's how it looks from the front.


Cute, huh? The embroidery floss colors are a little washed out in this image. It looks brighter than that in person.

So then, I was feeling a little under the gun to get my piece ready to go for the hand-applique class on Saturday. This is the block I'll making:


The pattern picture is so pretty...I hope I can make it look at least close to that good. Eventually, I'd like to turn it into a table topper. Anyway...while I was out running around yesterday, I picked up the background fabric I'll be using so that I could trace the pattern onto the wrong side. We were to cut a block 18 inches (eventually trimmed to 16 1/2 inches) and then trace the pattern using a #2 pencil, thus:


That's the wrong side of a mottled cream-colored batik I'm using there. These are the rest of the fabrics that I've pulled from my stash to make the flowers and leaves:


And then I gathered up the rest of the items included on the supply list, so I'm all ready to go for Saturday. Tomorrow I'm going to make a BLT Bow Tie Pasta Salad to take as a dish to share for the potluck lunch. I think I can make all the component parts and then assemble them when it's time to eat. I made this about a month ago, and it was so good. I'm using cherry tomatoes and adding some red onion to mine.

Then, since I was fresh out of any hand work for my morning routine, it was time to get back to the "meat and potatoes" projects. I made up the next Quilting Snowlady block. The next block is called "Quilting Is a Snow Sport". Here's the picture from the pattern:


And here's the stitchery I traced out today:


Do you see where I added the cat? 

It took me a few minutes to sort of "get" what's going on in this block. See how she's hanging a finished quilt on the line...the "finish line"? Cute. I imagine she's going to take a picture of it and then write a blog post about it. That's what I would do.

So that brings me up to this moment in time. The sewing room was a total mess from working on so many projects, and I still didn't do any more work on the naughty stepchild quilt, A World Apart. I'm letting it get its mind right before I continue on with it.

And I've pretty much given up on finishing my biggest goals for the month of May, but somehow I imagine I'll live to sew another day. How about you? What did you do today?

19 comments:

my cup of tea said...

Hi Barbara! Of course I love the camper!!! Adorable! I am a messy stitcher too! Mailed your package today, should be there on Saturday.
Cant wait for you to get it!
Have a great weekend!
~donna~

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

Now the camper is so fun!!

Vroomans' Quilts said...

The little camper stitchery is so cute - yes, I noticed the map fabrics you have been using. It's been a while since the snow ladies paraded.

Sher S. said...

Love your camper, it will look so cute in your trailer. I absolutely love the fabrics you pulled for your class, it's going to make a beautiful topper.
My daughter came out and we cut all the fabrics for a new turning twenty quilt, sewed all the blocks together and then sewed the strips. Next step is sew the strips together and put on the border. It's for a friend of hers and they had picked out all the fabrics on Monday. Almost ready to pick backing fabric.
Have a wonderful long weekend.

beaquilter said...

cute projects!

crazy quilter said...

I adore the camper! I agree let the stepchild stew a little longer, but I think it will be just fine in the end! Where is Smitty? And sweet Gracie!

crazy quilter said...

I adore the camper! I agree let the stepchild stew a little longer, but I think it will be just fine in the end! Where is Smitty? And sweet Gracie!

WoolenSails said...

You amaze me with all of the beautiful pieces you make. We used to do the hoop pieces and we always glued the back onto the back hoop to neaten it up.

Debbie

quiltzyx said...

Love the little trailer! Fun fun FUN!
When I win the lottery, and have a "real" house, I think I will put up a FINISH LINE to hang quilts on for photographing! The snowlady had a brilliant idea!!! And the kitty is perfect too. :)

Tami C said...

The stitchery for your camper is adorable! I really like your next Quilting Snowlady block. It's sure to be really cute! Love the cat you added that's sitting on top of the tree stump!

Jeanie said...

Your little camper is just the cutest piece! Good luck with the trimming. I've seen many of these hoop hangings trimmed with ruffles to hide the messy part. It really won't matter because no one will see it.... just the cute front. Great job!

Dana Gaffney said...

I love the little camper, great colors and it looks so whimsical. You picked just the right spot to put the cat.

Val's Quilting Studio said...

I just love your camper too...looks like some fun stitching. (Love that you added a kitty to your snow pic too!!)

Christine M said...

I love your camper stitchery, Barbara. It looks great in the hoop.

Michele said...

Your camper is just adorable.

Kate said...

The camper stitchery turned out great!

Lline said...

Hi There. Love the camper. I have two ways I cover hooped projects. the first one is before hooping I layer batting( cut to fit the inside hoop) and a backing fabric then hoop it. Add a bit of leftover binding from a quilt pleated or ruffled to the back edge with a glue gun. Or spray bast a piece of fabric to a piece of cardboard or super thin door veneer cut in a circle that just covers the back of the hoop. Pull and glue the edges to the back of the circle and glue the finished product to the back of the hoop. The space at the screw tab is big enough to hang it or tie a ribbon bow to hang it by. Just a couple of ideas I use because I can be messy too.

Brown Family said...

The camper is so cute!

Val's Quilting Studio said...

Perfect post to rejuvenate under our hoop theme this week!! THanks...I just love these campers...only wish I had one in real life!