Quilting Tools

There are just a few things I like to have on hand when I start to machine quilt. A good pair of gloves is at the top of the list. Unfortunately I'm yet to find a pair that I can fit my long fingers into.
These reach my knuckles, but better than none at all.
My walking foot for my machine and quality machine quilting needles. As much as I love free motion quilting, I'm yet to master it, so for the time being I'm happy to just use my walking foot.

A good sharp pair of thread snips.

A supply of nourishment..... oops this packet appears to be empty.

I don't like to rely to much on this, but it's a necessary evil when quilting.

I'm sure there are others that I've forgotten, but these are at the top of the list (except for the candy). Do you have tools you can't manage without?

Happy Stitching

Linda

Treasures

Yesterdays mail brought an expected box from Ohio. Some of the contents however were totally unexpected. I had a hard time, not just ripping into this box, but then I remembered "you", and I remembered how much we all enjoy the unwrapping process.
Under the plastic wrapping I found these beautiful treasures. Stephanie and I had arranged to share these beauties, after I had said how much I loved the one's she had sent in the Christmas parcel. Aren't they just wonderful?

On the top of the parcel were these little charmers peeking out of a plastic bag. Vintage spools, most still with thread on them. Into the bowl with the others I've managed to find, they go.

Vintage buttons, still on their cards, notice the price 29 cents. Wouldn't it be great if we still only paid that price for a card of buttons?

A Cute Nativity pattern that Stephanie found amongst her mothers treasures.

Finally, the best till last..... A wonderful Plastic canvas pattern booklet. How wonderful, a new craft for me to learn......

That last comment was very "tongue in cheek". Stephanie and I were chatting at the beginning of the Christmas swap about our tastes, and we both said how much neither of us liked plastic canvas work. So this booklet was sent as a joke, but the biggest joke may be if I make something up and ship it to Miss Creations.

Thank you so much Stephanie, such a treat to find the extra "treasures" you included in the box.

Happy Stitching

Linda

Evenings

I'm extremely fortunate to be married to a man who is happy for me to be a house wife, which allows me to pursue my love of fabric and creating. Because he works a 14 plus hour day, time together is extremely limited, so I like to make sure I spend time with him in the evenings before he has to go to bed.

Like so many others I can't just sit and do nothing, my hands need to be busy. Lately the time has been spent turning burp cloths in the right way and pinning them ready for pressing and top stitching. Now that, that is finished I needed something else to occupy my hands. Something that wasn't too brain demanding (at that time of night my brain is rather fried from the day spent in the sewing room).

So this is what I've been doing this past week or so. I can usually get at least one completely embroidered, and sometimes make a start on another.
Hopefully by the time the craft fair come around I should have a good supply of these little bibs.

What do you do to keep your hands busy in the evenings?

Happy Stitching
Linda

Merry Monday

A little later than I had hoped with this post, but here eventually.
There's been a number of parcels arriving at their new homes.

If you check the list on my side bar, and then check out Stephanie's list you'll be able to see the beautiful and thoughtful creations that have been sent.

Next Monday will be our final Merry Monday post.

We'd love for you to come back and read our final thoughts.

This post has been scattered with lovely photo's of gifts that I received on Friday.

Bonnie would have to be one of the sweetest most giving ladies I have the pleasure of knowing. All these lovelies are a thank you gift from her. The cutest fabric I've seen in a while and of course it has Koala's and Kangaroo's playing across it. I have a couple of thoughts swimming around my head for these, but haven't come to a final decision yet. A gorgeous apron with such a pretty scalloped edge and an apron pattern. Thank you so much Bonnie, I just love everything you included in your package.

Happy Stitching

Linda

From Her Heart

Many of you know Darlene from her blog Quilting Daze. She makes the most gorgeous quilts at such a speed that it has me giddy. Do you recognise this photo? If not then you can read about it at this post.
This looks familiar doesn't it? Wednesday's mail brought this parcel to my mail box. Tucked inside the envelope was this treasure with a card.

My photography just does not do this beauty justice.

This little treasure was made with loving hands, a giving spirit, and from the heart. Thank you so much Darlene, I absolutely adore my new treasure, which has now been named "From The Heart".

Happy Stitching
Linda

Sent

Yesterday and Monday I showed you the beautiful parcels that arrived here. Today I'd like to share what I sent to Stephanie for the Christmas in July swap. All the photo's are taken from Stephanie's blog, with her permission, as I failed to take photo's before I packaged everything up to mail.

I started with the bag, I thought Rudolf was so darn cute, but then as I do, I started to second guess my decision about him. Was he too whimsical? It was too late he was finished and the mailing date was drawing closer, so I thought I'd send him as a giggle and hope he was received well.
A little needle book, pincushion, spool of Aurifil thread and my favorite pins. Glass heads, you can iron over them without fear of the heads melting all over your work.

A Gail Pan stitchery stitched up in colors, rather than just red.

I had the help of Stephanie's friend Rumi. She agreed to do a little detective work and find out the size of Stephanie's table for me. I had this gorgeous fabric I wanted to use for a table runner and mats but had no idea how big to make either. Thanks Rumi. Of course it had to be Ohio Star.

This is what didn't get included unfortunately, as I spent hours doing the embroidery work. It was from a Bronwyn Hays design and the construction left a lot to be desired. It was to be a little candy basket that hangs from the Christmas tree. Now it sits next to my machine as a reminder to test a pattern first with scraps before doing the embroidery.
I so enjoyed stitching these gifts for Stephanie. If you check the side bar on both mine and Stephanie's blog, you'll see that a number of the Christmas parcels have started to arrive at their new homes.

More Parcels

Yesterday I mentioned that I had received three parcels on Monday. I'd like to share with you the contents of those other two parcels.

Candace sent a package, and I have to admit I thought I'd lost the plot for a while.
Such a thoughtful gift, a thank you for hosting the Christmas in July swap. Beautiful note paper and a tiny little note pad for my hand bag.

Thank you so much Candace.

The last parcel came all the way from France, from Barbara. This gift is for my grand daughter, when she arrives. Two beautiful French t-shirts. Such beautiful quality and so darn adorable.

Thank you so much Barbara, I simply adore these, so I'm sure Hollie will love them too.

Parcels Galore - Christmas in July

Yesterdays mail brought three lovely parcels. I want to give each gift giver the acknowledgement they each deserve, so I'll break this up into two posts.

Christmas in July

My partner was Stephanie, and I was hers. We decided right at the start of the swap, to swap with one another, that way we wouldn't be getting terrified emails from swappers, stating, oh no I have the swap hostess as my partner.

This is what first greeted me under all the tissue paper, chock full of individually wrapped gifts. Stephanie sent along a lovely card that explained all the contents. The doily on the front of the bag is vintage, and one she found at an antique mall. If you click on the photo, you'll see the adorable trim and buttons she used.
Where do you start when your faced with so many choices?

Oh my gosh aren't these just amazing? This is when the tears started to flow. I was so touched that she would think of purchasing these, and then to gift them to me. Just gorgeous. Another antique find, paired with beautiful vintage ricrac. I can't tell you how many times I have admire these on others blogs.

A lovely crochet dish cloth, a cute business card wallet and lovely Christmas binding, ready to put onto my next Christmas quilting project.

My own personal copy of her new bag pattern, a sweet pattern for a needle case and pin cushion and a lovely note pad and tea bag and divine soap from her trip back to CA.

Will you take a look at the size of this baby, just perfect. I always have pin cushions placed around the house. Now I can have this super sized one next to my machine and not worry about trying to find one. Stephanie used old table cloth scraps to put this beauty together.

This gorgeous Christmas fabric was wrapped around the last gift, (which also made me cry).
And here she is "Hollie Christmas". Sent to watch over my new grand baby, when she arrives, and she spelt Hollie's name correct. Ten points just for that one Stephanie.

It wasn't more than ten minutes after I had unwrapped everything and I received a phone call from Stephanie. Apparently my parcel arrived on her door step about the same time. I was trying to wait a little to compose myself, but that didn't work.

Thank you so much Stephanie, you have totally spoilt me rotten and blessed my sock off...... both feet. I have thoroughly enjoyed co-hosting this swap with Stephanie, without her help and input I don't think it would have been as successful as it was. Thank you Stephanie, for being a wonderful co-hostess and for being a totally awesome swap partner.

Happy Stitching.

Linda

How Many Irons In The Fire?

I'm happy to report that ALL the Christmas in July parcels are heading their way to their new homes. Well done ladies for being on time.
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Maybe I should have said "how many irons in the rubbish". Irons, they seem to be the biggest pain in any quilters life. Trying to find just the right one. I thought I had about 6 weeks ago. DH took a quick trip to the store for me to buy a new iron. My words were "Don't be cheap, and please make sure it has a stainless steel sole plate". He came home with the "Shark". I was impressed as Stephanie had only just written a post about irons, and how happy she was with her new one. Being impressed didn't last too long. Saturday it decided to do what most sharks do, bite. The steam button got stuck in the down position and it dribbled all over my ironing board like a teething toddler. Not to worry, I heard their customer service was good. Oh dear that must only apply for Ohio residents...... Now I admit to any American who hears me speak, I have an accent, but you'd think on a customer service line they would put someone on their phones who speaks the English language fluently. I was told that I could package up my 6 week old iron, insure it and mail it to them at my expense, and if I was lucky I might receive it back repaired in approx 6 - 8 weeks. Now normally I'm beyond polite when I deal with customer service, but my DH has advised me that I need to be firm in this type of situation. So I took his advice and told the woman, that after only owning the iron for 6 weeks I didn't see that I should have to pay for shipping and insurance, and then wait for my iron to be returned. Long story short, I could cut the cord off and mail it back and they would ship a new iron to me. Hmm well why didn't you tell me that to begin with?

So the Shark gets put into the kitchen to await amputation, and the Black and Decker gets pulled out of the cupboard, plug it in and away we go..................... for about 10 minutes. Then I notice a terrible smell. Said B&D decides it's going to give up the ghost and short circuits. Wait for it to cool and into the rubbish it goes.

Iron number 3, a $9.00 Phillips, works reasonably well, but not well enough for my liking.

So another trip to the store for iron #4, I wonder how long this one will last. I'm beginning to think that they don't make irons here to last past 6 months.

Now I'm off to press some fabrics.

Happy Stitching.

Linda

Threads

I'm hoping to get this top pieced today and ready for machine quilting.

This is the fabric I've bought for the outer border.

I think I'd like to use a subtle variegated thread to machine quilt it with. The only brand I've ever used is Gutermann. Do you have a favorite brand, or is there a brand that you think is better quality?

Happy Stitching

Linda

Bugs & Bears

Both ready to be stitched and turned into baby quilts.

Terrible angles on both, sorry, I was standing on a chair, which is a feat in itself.

Happy Stitching.