Saguaro Sunrise Completed!

I worked on this the last couple of days and finished the stitching. I am not sure if I will make it into a needlebook or not. The kit included fabric and felt to turn it into a needlebook, but the verdict is still out.

It was a fun stitch and I am glad the teacher allowed ghosts.

Happy Stitching!!

Blackwork in Red and Green

 This is a retired Embroiderers Guild of America, Inc. (EGA) Group Correspondence course (GCC) by Ginger Gouger Miller (c) 1997 and rewritten in 2000. 

I have the pages in a 1/2 inch three-ring binder and keep started it in June of 2021. I ran into a problem with the instructions (they referenced some diagrams that were not in the instructions). So I put it down and  have been moving it around my studio when I need to declutter for the cleaners. I finally decided to just stitch it so I could stop moving it around so much. 

When I picked it up I had two steps to complete the enter red section. I could not find the diagrams referred to, so I used the cover photo to figure it out. Once I got past that problem this is my progress as of April 6.

 

I have been working on this during baseball games and as of April 9 below is as far as I have gotten.

You probably can't tell it yet, but this is a tomoto pin cushion with a spool of thread and pins in the cushion. I am hoping for more progress on this now that baseball season has begun.

I am still working on Saguaro Sunrise and the Game is On! Both with minimal progress so nothing to report on those.

I thought I would close this post with a photo of Coco. This is what it looks like behind me to my left when I cook. As you see she was very interested in the ham I was dicing for soup.

Happy Stitching!

Some Papercrafting

 I took a class with my Paper Crafts & More club and made a squash box with lid.

This shows the inside and the top of the box at upper left. The whiter areas are a great place to put photos. I am not sure what photos to put in it yet, but will probably cut them into a circle to offset the hard lines and angles of the rest of the card.

This is the outside

Here is the side of the top (above) and the top of the top (below).

The "card" squashes down and fits into the box.

Coco safely watching the eclipse!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Arizona Quilters Guild Show - WARNING PHOTO HEAVY

On March 22 by local quilting club, the Quilting Bees had a bus trip to Mesa, AZ to attend a fantastic Quilt show. It was kind of cute our wrist band to get in had busses on it. Sorry no photo.

In order to post photos from the show I must tell you that all "photos were taken at the Arizona Quilters Guild, Quilt Arizona! Show." I will also give credit to each artist. I will type the information below each photo.  I tried to be consistent with the information on each quilt. 

This is Eldon created by Jan Pederson and machine quilted computer guided by Maria Melendez.

It is under the Theme Duet Category. Eldon is a published design by Edyta Sitar.

This is Sanduhr by Victoria Nelson. It is an original design and hand quilted by Victoria. It is under the Hand Quilted Category.

This is Garden Party. A design by Irene Blanck. It was created and hand quilted by Nancy Whitton. It was under the Hand quilted category.

This is So Many Ties under the Scrap category. I took this photo to send to my neighbor who has ties she can't figure out what to do with. It was created and hand quilted by Margit Kagerer.

Saguaro Cactus. Applique - Solo category. From the published design Saguaro by Jennifer Dick and Trish Price of Everyday Stiches. Created and hand quilted by Dana Barry

Let's Reminisce. Time-Span category. Created by various artists. Finished and quilted by Joyce Strassburg. Machine quilted- hand guided. It is made of up family textiles and a few items from friends and thift stores to create the quilt. She also added some embroidery.  Fuller photo below.

This is Alma's Kitchen Table in the Time-Span Display only category. Created by Alma Henson, Donna Monro and quilted by Char Gasker. It was machine quilted - computer guided. It originally was Alma's kitchen table cloth, made into a quilt and given to her daughter in 2021.

Succulents. In the Kit quilt - solo category. Created and hand quilted by Sheile Arnold. 

It is 13" x 15". I know this because I bought the kit from one of the vendors. It is a design by Rachel T. Pellman from Rachel's of Greenfield. I seem to really like this because when I got home, I already had the instructions and another kit! 

The North Pole. Created by Sandra Yeager and professionally quilted, hand guided by Julie Edward. It is from a published design by Vickie Higley. 

The Empty Chair. Mixed Technique - solo category. Created and machine quilted, hand guided by Margot McConnell. Her inspiration was a blurry black-and-white vintage photo. It is fused and almost completely covered in hand embroidery.

Traverse. Pieced-solo/large category. Created and machine quilted, computer guided by Kay Ratcliff. From the published design: Traverse by Tara Faughnan.

Just a Bee! Delightful Quilters Challenge - 24 for '24. Created and machine quilted computer guided by Carol Dimpsy. There are 24 bees on this piece. Original design.

The next two quilts are from the Special Collection - Log Cabin Quilts.

Created and machine quilted hand guided by Kathy Brown. Traditional design.

It was from a beginning quilt class she took! I loved the effect of the pink fabrics.

This is Tennessee Belle. Created by Inez Price Locke. Traditional desgin. Quilter is unknown. It was submitted by Judy Locke, daughter in law of Inez. It was pieced on an 1892 Singer trendle machine (the Tennessee Belle) which Inez inherited from her mother. 

HexMania. Display only Category. Created by Linda Piasecki, finished by Susan Parker and machine quilted, computer guided by Penny Boese. It is an original design and contains over 2,500 hexagons. It was a traveling project for Linda. Sadly she passed away in 2022 before she could finish it. I took this close up because I loved how the quilting swirled from the center of the pink "flower" and the feathers around it. Original design.

Every Which Way  - display only category. Created and machine quilted, hand guided by Liz Clark. Published desgin: On Eagle's Wings by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts.

The Beauty of Saguaros. Group Category. Christine Ermke asked her German online quilt group to make her a block about Saguaros. She prepared a booklet to help them learn about Saguaros. Christine finished it and did the machine quilting hand guided.  Created by C. Funklmke Preussler, I Besch, R. Kirchner, B. Arndt, A Hutig-Braun, K Selbmann, C Rosser and C Augustin. 

Family Memories. Other Category. Created by Latsy Parker. Original Design. Crazy quilt. Each block has a story releted to her family and life. She included photos in the blocks. 

Phew! I made it to the end. I hope I got enough information on each quilt and did not mess it up too much.

There were over 350 quilts, including 18 youth quilts. They also had a few 85+ quilts. There were 30 vendors and one of them sold chocolate and gave out samples!! They had lectures on Friday and Saturday and a Thursday workshop. 

I had a great time and hope to go again!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Charity Stitching

I do not have an update on Saguaro Sunrise, or the Game is on this week since I did not stitch on them!

I have been working on some charity stitching. My community is having a silent auction and a concert to support the Navy Seal Foundation. They asked the clubs to provide an item or two for the auction.

I love doing charity stuff and had the time, so I made these to represent the Festival Stitchers Club.

I used a Charles Craft Maxton Velour Guest towel and a project called Hearts and Stars from a brochure from the American School of Needlework called It's a Grand Old Flag in cross stitch. By Linda Gillum. I deviated slightly from the design by using star buttons instead of stitching the stars. It saved me a little time since the deadline for turning in our auction items was getting close.

The next item is a design by Erica Michaels that I have had since 2001. It was a freebie off the Rainbow Gallery website that was printed in a local needlework shop's newsletter - that is how I know the year. 

It called for Rainbow Gallery threads (duh) but I needed to get this stitched on a deadline, so I raided my stash.  I used DMC floss 321 for red, 797 for blue, 444 for gold and B5200 for white. I also used blue mill hill beads in royal blue instead of stitches and two mill hill treasure stars. I kind of wished I had a third star, but my stash was not sufficient. It still looks good though.

The design also called for the U-S-A to be open and not stitched. I did not like how this looked. The fabric had too much of an open weave. So, I stitched the letters with Kreinik #4 braid in gold (#002). The open weave is also why I used beads; I did not want the thread between the stitches to show.

I finished it as a flat fold and in the photo below, you can see the backing fabric I used.

I hope they do well in the auction!

Happy Stitching!!

 

Happy St. Patick's Day

 

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft on your fields,

And, until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

I made some leprechaun hat cards for my family and Irish American friends.

Also, don't forget:

Being at least 25% Scottish and only 5% Irish, I had to post that.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Game is On! Update 3

I am making pretty good progress! The top two rows are complete along with all the black squares in the upper half. It is starting to look like a checkerboard.

Below is a photo of my stitching set up in the dining room. I may have mentioned this piece is on 16"x16" stretcher bars and I can't stitch in my usual spot without clunking our dog in the head when I turn to the back of the project. She likes to lie along my leg when I sit in the recliner. She does the same with hubby, we call ourselves her people pillows.

This setup turns out to be a nice sunny area to stitch and lots of table space to lay my stuff out! We do not usually eat at this table, preferring the kitchen island, so it works out fine for this project.

Note my stitching buddy on the chair on the left. 

Happy Stitching!!!