Yo-Yo Quilt Update

I don't think I ever mentioned the full name of the quilt or the designer. Let me fix that. It is Welcome Wagon Yo-Yo Quilt by Kim Diehl from her book, Simple Graces. I can't find her website. 

There are a lot of websites that carry her books and patterns. 

This how the quilt looks like in the book. I found this picture on the web, I tried taking a picture from the book but you couldn't see the whole quilt. 

When I am working on a quilt I frequently design it 

in Electric Quilt software for designing quilts. 

Originally I had visions of a purple border like the one below. 

Then I thought maybe lighter would work. I usually prefer

 a darker resting border with a darker binding. 

When I looked at the book again and saw the red border, 

it started to grow on me. 

Just as I was sewing the last row on I notice a mistake in the last three blocks on the last two rows. If you look hard enough you can see it. It is supposed to be light to dark triangles and I have light to light and dark to dark instead. 

And yes it would have bugged me if I hadn't fixed it. 

On April 25th all the rows were connected and the center was constructed and I started previewing fabric I had in my stash. None of my stash fabric is big enough to do the job, so I have to wait until the quilt shop is open again to buy my fabric. I won't buy it online because it is too hard to determine the color. 

Above are the two purple samples I have and then I found a red I really like. Let me say there aren't many reds I like. But I like this one below and the picture doesn't do it justice. 

Since I was dragging out fabric, I started looking for 12 fabrics to make the corner blocks. My room still hasn't recovered from that adventure. Here are the winners.

And these were the ones I had chosen but were eliminated 

as I found others I like better. 

Previewing the corner fabrics. I am happy with these. 

Previewing borders and corners together and yes it is on my floor. 

I can't decide I will just have to wait for my favorite quilt shop to open again. 

Happy Stitching!

Stocking #1 Week ???

I need to go to my calendar to determine how many weeks I have been working on this stocking. I didn't work on it at all last week. 

Those little individual snowflakes were a pain. I almost didn't do them, I wasn't sure it would add anything to the design, 

but I am glad I did. 

On April 19th I started making the Confetti Stitch for the individual snowflakes. This is the website where I learned how to do the Confetti Stich. Here are the pictures from that night. 

The very top of the stocking.

Close up of the middle.

Starting the toe section. I showed these pictures to my niece and she really likes them. 

I took a break to make more masks and work on my Yo-Yo Quilt and came back to do more. These little stitches are tine consuming and use so much thread. I don't travel on the back. 

This is how the look on the back.

So last night, 28th of April I made the last one!!!!

The middle section, you can enlarge to see better,

The Toe section.

The whole Stocking, you can see the individual snowflakes if you enlarge the picture.

The only things left to do are to sew on buttons on the snowmen and stars on top of the trees but I have to buy them. I also have two little white birds to do. but I can't see them to make them.

Where the needle is sticking up I have stitched half of the bird but I can't see my stitches to know where to go next. Frustrating. I will try one more time with a light brown and if that doesn't work I will have to do something else. 

It is 14 weeks since I started but I haven't worked on it every week. 

I am so glad to be at this point. 

Card Making

As you know I do other things besides quilting and cross-stitching. 

I made some Easter cards in the shape of a basket.

This looking down on the basket.

This is looking straight at the front of the card.

I made the purple in two different shades. 

Here is the dark purple.

I made this same card for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day. My next version will be for Mother's Day. I think. I can also see it in Red, White, and Blue for the 4th of July. I don't usually make cards for the 4th but I might this year!

These baskets were designed by https://karenburniston.com/.

This next card was made by Lawn Fawn. 

Using their Magic Iris die set. It is easier to make than it looks.

This the Magic Iris closed.

Here it is opened!

The Magic Iris is fun!

Happy Card Making!

Yo-Yo Quilt Update And Masks for Cornona Virus

I know it has been a while since I have posted any progress on my Yo-Yo quilt. I finally made some progress since I had my sewing machine up to make masks for my family and nurse friends. 

But here is what you really want to see.  First I connect four rows of blocks together. 

Then I sewed two rows together. They are in the middle. I was thinking I can't wait to preview border fabric but my favorite quilt shop is closed for because of the Corona Virus! So, I have to wait. 

Feels good to be making progress!

This is just a small sample of masks I made.

Here I am styling with a mask on. Yes, I did make a quilt out of this fabric. 

And with a different mask on. 

Happy Stitching!

Stocking #1 Week #11

It has been 11 weeks since I started the first Christmas stock for my great-niece and her husband. I haven't worked on it for 2 weeks. And it has been 3 weeks since my last post. 

I did make progress and I also have done a few other things like dealing with teenagers who have been out of school for 4 weeks,

 1 week of spring break, and 3 weeks in quarantine.  New online classes for them. Interesting times. Plus I have been making masks for family and friends,  

So, the last time I posted the stocking looked almost complete. But there were a few details that needed to be finished. 

The first detail to finish was this little tree. It took me three tries to get those branches to go in the right direction. Then I had to make all those needles. I thought I was done and realized I forgot the two bottom branches. 

You may have noticed I am using my small embroidery hoop. I was tired of fighting with the big frame and it wasn't stretching the fabric enough to see the holes. Especially with all that fine work. 

The second detail work I worked on were these six fir stitches in the middle of this vine-like row. They also took several attempts to get them right also. They are good now! 

So now let me show you the whole thing now.

Doesn't it look great? But it isn't finished. There is supposed to be a bird sitting on the cat's tail and the snowman on the right side. Those birds are over one thread instead of two. I have made two of them and I am not happy with them. Let me show you.

I hit a snag when I start doing the second leg of the cross-stitch. It starts to look messy and I can't find my holes. I will try again and if it doesn't work for me, they aren't happening!

They don't look as bad here as I think they do in person. 

But I am still not done, I have a bunch of confetti stitches to make. Those are one stitch here and there to look like snow. I had to look up how to make them. Learning new things all the time. 

I will let you know how well that goes!

It might be hard for you to see, but you can click on the picture and enlarge it. The snow starts up in the words and goes 

to the toe of the stocking. 

Happy Stitching!