Art, Craft and Needlework, December, 2008

[SuzLew]

Didn't sell any ornaments at Farmer's market yesterday but it was dead! Luckily friend whose violet pots I took wants a couple so I told her I would trade for beautiful violet pot I have been admiring of hers!

HARRIET: I thought of you when I bought two apron patterns the other day! Plan to make some to sell around mothers day- might xstitch bib with mom saying! Your quilt is gorgeous!

Started doll face yesterday in cross stitch but need to hit Michaels this morning for floss I don't have.!

[Harriet]

You will have so much fun making those aprons, SuzLew. And how could anyone resist aprons? I have seen them sold at Farmer's Market once, and they went fast! The lady hung them up above her area somehow, or pinned some onto the wall up high - can't remember. Anyway, you would look across the Market, and everything up high was bare until you got to her booth, and the aprons there were so colorful, so people wanted to go look.

"he was a little amazed at the colors of the canvas"
This vinyl one sounds like it will be ideal, Harmony. I don't see how it could get dirty at all - sounds like it will last a long time.

[Harriet]

Have come up with a machine-only quilt binding I don't hate! I wanted to bind the 1860s quilt quick, but still was against most machine-only bindings, which LisaB will remember I've mentioned here before. They don't seem to hang right, or if the backing is brought to the front it seems flimsy-flat, plus the stitches show.

The look I want is the plump, piping-like look of separately applied straight binding. If stitches show, I want them to look traditional.

Really needed to do this one in one step, and started thinking about the blanket stitch (or blind hem stitch) and how it wouldn't be stiff, might look traditional on the front if the backing were pulled around to look like a separate binding. (I fell asleep thinking this out for several nights! ) I experimented on scraps and here's what worked for the quilt:

Thread that closely matched the backing helped (and the backing was a print - that helped to keep stitches from being obvious). I cut the batting 1/4-inch wider than the quilt top all around to make the bound edge plumper. I cut the backing one-and-1/4-inch wider than the quilt top all around. I folded the backing over to cover the batting and tucked it under the top, so that just about 3/8-inch of backing was showing beyond the top. I set my machine for blind hem (blanket) stitch that took a little more than a 16th-inch "bite" to the side, and set the stitch length so that the little "bites" were about 1/8th-inch apart.

I would pull the backing over the top by 1/4-to-3/8-inch, pin every inch for 3 feet or so, stitch that much, stitch in place a few times and take it off the machine to pin again. It went really fast. I have some pictures of how I turned the corners that I can post later, but you can imagine - you just work with it and cut away excess bulk, pin in place.

I'm very pleased - the edges are plump and soft and drape like my best quilts' bindings do. Yes, you can see the little stitches on the top but they look like hand stitches, because the straight part of the stitch is "in the ditch" right up against the binding and the "bite" over into the binding (didn't get it perfect, but mostly it looks like that!). On the back, it looks like a narrow decorative stitch 3/8-inch in from all edges, exactly the color of the backing, and I'm fine with that.

Dd10 made 5 nine-patch blocks tonight, probably for hot pads for Christmas gifts. I don't know if this binding would work well for such a thick project, but we might try one.

[SuzLew]

I was up at 3am working on dolls xstitch face and I am almost done except for outlines! Need to find pale pink cotton for doll body! Plan to hit fabric store this afternoon! Then need to get busy on "doll" clothes!

[Harriet]

SuzLew, they say if you can't sleep sometimes it is best to just get up and do something and then make a new start at sleep later. I find that concentrating on sewing thoughts/creative thoughts is a help to me falling asleep at night, too.

Here's the "Briscoe's Cabin" 1860s soldier's quilt, hung in our dining area to surprise dd28 and dsil as they walk in. No space to show it here, but with rearranging for the tree we've placed a low maple chest under it - looks so warm.

[Indiana]

Harriet that is a wonderful quilt.

I was looking at the different patterns you used so well. I found my eye wandering over the whole quilt. You did a great job on mixing the patterns so someones eye will wander.

[SuzLew]

Harriet: It turned out so wonderful! It looks so comfy - ready for a snuggle !

[Sunny]

Harriet, your quilt is beautiful. I love those colors! Is that your name for it, or is it the name of the pattern?

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Mystery asked for a picture of the stocking I'm copying. I photo'd my stocking since it give my name which you already know!

It is made of felt. I have the felt and yarn in close colours. DMIL must have used the same yarn on all of them because the colours match even though there are 30 years between the oldest and newest.

The Santa's, bows and bells are all different and I have bells and bows on hand. When DMIL went to make dd's she couldn't find a Santa so cut up an old Christmas Card. But when she made mine (only a few weeks later) she found some and obviously bought a lot of them because ds and mine (and my nieces and nephews) all have the same Santa. Ds solved the Santa issue for me by telling me to scan dd's and then get it printed off at Staples on card stock. I'll do four to the page and it will give three for my grandchildren's stockings (when I get Grandkids!)

So the difficult part is the embroidery. The sewing is simple, I'll just have to be careful with my work. You can't see it in this picture but it is a straight stitch all the way around and the edges are pinked. I'll embroider before I sew, so it will be easy to work with.

[Harriet]

That is about as Christmas-y a view as could be - thanks for the glimpse, Kathryn. Lovely. I'm sure the whole family will appreciate your efforts, plus it is good for one's own heart to keep up a tradition! I know what you mean about having to practice with hand embroidery quite a while before feeling confident to move on to the actual piece. Every time I do it I feel I am starting from scratch learning because I do it so seldom, probably years in between.

SuzLew, that is what dd says! Indiana,, I tried to keep an eye toward the primitive and bring in a few true reproduction fabrics that had odd looks, turn them different ways sometimes! If I didn't like a reproduction fabric, that made me give it more consideration, because I would remind myself that I didn't want perfect, but real and interesting. Some of them are ... ... strange! But a lot of the other squares have been in my scrap basket a while. Three square scraps have the words to "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" (written 1855, so cutting it close to be authentic). It was common for fabrics to have words imprinted during the 1800's, but that one was circa 1980s. Sunny, I chose the name for Briscoe Darling, who had a cabin that Sheriff Andy and Deputy Barney visited not far from Mayberry! A quilt featured in many of those scenes looked like this one.

I noticed a tip in that photo with my sewing machine - bring a telephone with you to your workplace if possible so you don't have to get up when it rings!