Cloud 9

Today I am happy to share the finished embroidery project, a laptop sleeve!

First, I embroidered some yardage of Nethercote, a fabric from the Miscellany line from Cloud9 fabrics . Cloud 9 fabrics are all organic cotton and printed with low impact dyes. They are beautiful and great to work with.

I quilted a piece of solid purple fabric for the back of the bag.

The quilting lines run horizontally on the finished bag to help the flap stay folded closed.

I sent the bag off to Michelle Engel Bencsko of Cloud9 Fabrics for her booth at Quilt Market.

I used the laptop sleeve pattern by Keyka Lou. I shortened the flap so that more of the embroidery shows and also omitted the velcro closures. I think the horizontal quilting lines help the flap lay closed.

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37 Sketches

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I'm back from my retreat up north with Gwen Marston. This year we used Gwen's 37 Sketches as inspiration for our liberated projects.Gwen's self published book, 37 Sketches is beautiful and inspirational.  Each quilt has a full page photo and a short description of the inspiration or idea for it. The text is like poetry. There are no how to's in this book just the 37 sketches. It is an elegant little book that is great for studying liberated piecing and inspiring you to try your own small sketches. Working on a small scale is a great way to try new techniques and work with different colors or fabrics. Since the book is self published there are a limited number and are only available directly from Gwen.Back to the retreat recap...Gwen had her little works of art displayed so that we could study them up close.

I made these at the retreat:

Sketch 1:10 x 13 inches

Sketch 2:8 x 10 inches

These little quilts were fun to do and they are even finished!!

I then got side tracked by another project inspired by a quilt someone brought for show and tell.

I have a weakness for little stars.

These stars will finish at two inches. They are smaller and not liberated like the ones I did last year.I have no idea how I will set these. They may be a quilt of their own in a nine patch setting or maybe a border for a medallion style quilt. Right now I'm just having fun making them.

Quilt retreat is very "grounding" for me. All of the ladies who come every year really make it special and help me put things in perspective.  I love coming home and feeling like I have a focus and direction.  Thanks ladies, it was a great week.

The First Grade Backpack

P needed a new backpack for school this year. Her kindergarten backpack was really too small. A full size folder would not fit in it without being bent. So, the NIGHT BEFORE SCHOOL STARTED, she reminded me that "first grade is starting tomorrow and I don't have a first grade backpack!" (mini meltdown followed)

We went to the sewing room and chose fabrics for a larger bag. This was enough to calm her for bed.

The next day after school she drew out the quilting designs that she wanted - connected flowers on the floral, and beads on a string for the green dot fabric.

This is a view of the floral quilting from the lining side where it is a little easier to see.

I finally finished the backpack today. It was my goal to have it finished before leaving for retreat and I did that!

It seems big to me but I guess she will grow into it and I won't have to make a new one next year! I used the large size of this pattern, the same pattern I used last year.

Changes to the design: I used the gusset depth of the small size so that it wouldn't be quite so big.

The zipper I had was not long enough so I had to make an adjustment for that. (I should have measured that before cutting and made the lower gusset longer to accommodate the difference.)

I omitted the pockets on the inside because she never used those on her other pack.

She is thrilled with it!

Behind

We are feeling a bit behind.

We should have frozen peaches and canned pears by now.

We haven't picked them all yet because our counter is covered with un processed fruit.

We have our first batch of grape juice in the refrigerator ready waiting to be canned. I'm trying not to think about the rest of the grapes on the vines, the raspberries it has been too wet and mosquitoey to pick, and the potatoes still to be dug.

Yeah, we're kinda behind.

I even told the boys I'd bake a pie if they came home this weekend. They didn't fall for that.---Why did I spend much of today making a larger back pack for Miss Petunia who says that her kindergarten back pack is too small for a first grader? 

Progress

I've made a little progress on my embroidery piece. I had planned a limited palette for this but I think it made need a few more colors. I have a pretty brown and am thinking about adding green. I'm not sure how the green will look with these colors and I have already used the teal in places that make sense for the green.

So, last night I thought about it instead of working on it.

I don't like being "stuck". Sometimes decisions are hard for me.

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Thoughtful Sunday

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(I took my nephew's senior portraits)

“If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together.. there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. but the most important thing is, even if we're apart.. i'll always be with you.”

Winnie the Pooh, A. A. Milne, 1926.

Now I've Sewn My A B Cs

I finally finished the flowery goodness on this Daisy Chain Sampler. The pattern is by Alicia Paulson.

I've stitched the letters from A to Z in the crewel wool that came with the kit. I had never embroidered with wool yarn and I really like the results. My satin stitch looks a lot better with the wool.

The fluffiness of the yarn hides mistakes well.

This was a fun summer stitching project! 

We just need to fix and finish the walls in my sewing room so I can have a place to hang it when it is framed. 

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A New Chapter

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While traveling in the car on our trip we listened to a recording of The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall.

Our local librarian recommended it as a good book for the whole family. I think everyone liked the amusing story of four sisters and their adventures on summer vacation. I know I did.

They got into just enough trouble and adventure to keep everyone interested without overwhelming the youngest in the car. I have also just seen online that there are more books about the Penderwick sisters. We'll have to check those out!Speaking of stories about siblings, our family is starting a new chapter this month.Yesterday M moved out and into the dorm.

D will be moving this weekend. All three kids start school Tuesday after labor day. Our schedule here at home will be much more relaxed with only a first grader. P wrote M a letter when we got home from dropping him off at college. "Evrea day at skoole I will cri my ise aowt.  Love P"

I am hoping I'll be able to get lots of sewing done!

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Magic Garden

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After visiting the guitar factory we stopped at Ringing Rocks State Park and hit some rocks.

Back in Philadelphia, we walked from our B & B in search of some food.

On our walk we passed Philadelphia's Magic Gardens.

This kind of folk art is so interesting.

I love the doily imprints.

Our walk ended here, at the famous Geno's Steaks.

The next day we arrived at my mother-in-law's in Virginia just in time to experience the first earthquake! We really had a fun vacation!

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Martin & Co. - Factory Tour

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While in Philladelphia we didn't see the historic spots downtown, we toured the Martin guitar factory just north of Philladelphia.

It was a much bigger operation than I was expecting.

Guitar parts were everywhere.

I loved all of these clothes pins used in this step.

They have a mix of automated and hand work procedures.

The on site museum was also interesting. You can get a taste of the older ways of making guitars and see some pretty fancy custom work.

I couldn't resist a little costume bling.

If you are ever in the area I think it's worth a stop.

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Big City Tours

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Our trip south to Virginia included a few big east coast cities. The first was Boston. We stopped long enough to take a walk around Harvard and visit the Harvard Natural History Museum.My favorite exhibit there was the collection of glass flowers.

Yes, these are pictures of flowers that are made of glass. "The models were created by father and son Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka, nineteenth century glass artisans who perfected their family craft. Their lineage of jewelers and glassmakers trace as far back as the fifteenth century." (from the Harvard Natural History Museum website.)

They worked on the flowers from from 1887 to 1936.

Truely incredible delicate creations all of glass.

I also enjoyed some of the needlework like these molas.

We also took a quick walk around the MIT campus and saw this which wins for "coolest building on a college campus".

I wonder what you have to do to get this lab space.We also saw this sculpture on our MIT walk.

From there we headed to Rhode Island. Because, well, none of us had ever been there before! (I think this means that Alaska is the only state I have not visited!) Next we drove through New York City, just because we could and stopped in Philadelphia.

I hope you are not too bored with the details of our trip. We have been home a couple of days and are still dealing with the catch up at home. We have lots of garden stuff to do and the boys are packing and cleaning their rooms in preparation to move off to school later this week.

It is wonderful to extend my vacation by sharing a bit of it with you.

Stay tuned for a FACTORY TOUR tomorrow!

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Liberty Tool

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B took us to a very interesting shop, Liberty Tool, not far from our camp site.

It was filled to the brim with tools and other old interesting things.

I am pretty sure they would have just about anything you might be looking for...do you have a tool with a broken handle?

Do you need a hammer?

Or maybe a saw?

It was a great place to browse.

The first floor was pretty much all tools but the upper three, yes there were FOUR floors to this place, had more variety. There were lots of books but we also saw an unusual piano, an early style bike, and a huge floor loom, and a number of things that I have NO idea what they were.

I liked that most items were displayed in old wood crates of all sizes.

If you are ever in the area it is definitely worth a stop. There is even a great ice cream shop around the corner.  They make all their ice cream on site.

Instagram Photos

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This summer we watched my two oldest grand kids one day a week. Towards the end of the summer they started making projects on their own in the sewing room. They made lots of little projects from my scrap basket including pillow cases and tiny quilts