Two framed finishes and stitching pouches

 I did a little framing over the weekend.  I had these two Blackbird Designs pieces stitched and I needed to get them framed.  Of course I first tried to find some frames in my stash but no luck.  I had a coupon for 50% off plus another $25 off so it was a trip to JoAnn's.

 This piece is from BBD Loose Feathers Spring 2012 book Mary Ann Blackburn.  As I mentioned in a previous post I put my paternal grandmother's name and date of when she would have been 8 years old as that was the age of Mary Ann herself when she stitched this sampler.  I think this will be a very nice heirloom of my grandmother.  It makes the sampler just that much more special to personalize it with my grandmothers birth date.  I was happy to spend the money on this frame as I think the sampler deserves it:) besides I did use that coupon!!!

 

 This piece is from BBD A Schoolgirl's Work book.  It is Ann's Sewing Tray.  Again I could not find the right frame in my stash so I ordered this frame from JoAnn's.  I so love the saying on this piece. 

 

  And lastly I ordered this Blackbird Designs quilt fabric last winter and finally got around to making some pouches with it.  I really like having my projects in these stitching pouches.  And of course I really enjoyed sewing them with my new sewing machine!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying the weather and having a great week.

 

 

I LOVE my new sewing machine.....

I was out today garage saling with my daughter and while we were out we stopped at a quilt shop.

I spotted this very cute fabric and knew I needed to make myself a set of stitching pouches.

Here is my set of stitching pouches.  Since getting my new sewing machine I have been trying out all of it's stitches. I have made these pouches before and would sew snaps on them well since I have a really nice automatic buttonhole maker with my new machine I decided I would put buttonhole's in these pouches. 

.  Boy let me tell you the buttonhole worked excellently.  I am so excited.  

Here is a view of the inside.  I just love this fabric.  Nice sewing theme. 

A close up of the inside fabric.

Here I am with my new sewing machine.  It is a Husqvarna Viking Sapphire 875.  It has been worth every penny I spent on it!!!!

I made an extra set of pouches to put up for sale.  If you are interested please email me.  I will sell this set for $45 plus shipping.  If you would like just the larger pouch it would be $30 plus shipping and the smaller version is $20 plus shipping.  These pouches are made with quality quilt fabric and have a button hole--not snaps.

 I only have one set of these pouches right now but if you would like to order either size or a set just let me know and I will make them for you.

 

  Here is a picture with to show that the larger pouch is big enough for a regular size pattern.

 

The smaller version will hold this type of pattern.  

 I bought this cute reusable craft bag from JoAnn's the other day.  Now I really like the bag, it is very cute but can you spot the problem????

Someone must have been asleep when checking the spelling---Caft???? 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.  

 

I love dying on a sunny day

Jill (Purple Peacock) and I decided to do some thread dying.  Now we did do some thread dying about a month or so ago but wanted to do it again with another method Jill had found on Calico Rabbits blog.

Here are some of our threads pre-dying. 

Here of course are some of our dyes.

Need those pans.  Also had some cups but I didn't get any pictures of them.

 

Here is our drying process.  Gotta love the sun:)

I am going to be doing BBD Mother's Gardens so I bought all of the DMC's and dyed them. I bought 3 skeins of each color--maybe a little over kill but then I know I will have enough.  I am so excited in how they turned out and can't wait to stitch with them.  Also notice our wonderful tags.  Thanks to Jill, she did all the work on them.  They are a very nice touch.  

Thanks Jill:)

 These are some other threads I dyed.  I really tried to get some variation in the threads.  It is a guessing game, but the more you dye the more you learn. 

 The next few photo's are some close ups of the threads.  I am hoping that you will be able to see some of the variations in the dying.  I am not to good at photography.

 DMC 666

 DMC 3012

 DMC 3052

 

DMC 3053

Here are some threads that I want to redo.  I would like them to have some more variance in them.  As I said before it's a guessing game.  So I will try some different dyes.  

I also think that when I do my dying from now on I will choose my projects and then dye the threads.  Although you do need to practice so sometimes doing random threads is good. 

Well I had a great day with Jill and I love the results!!!

Friendship Exchange and two shop model finishes

Today Jill and Jackie came over for a day of stitching.  We usually would gather on Friday's but some of the girls have been busy.  As a result those of us that can gather during the day will try to get together sometime during the week.  Well I was pleasantly surprised by Jill with my Friends Through Threads Friendship exchange piece.  Since Jill had m name she hand delivered my piece.

 Jill stitched this Blackbird Designs piece.  I am not sure of the name of the pattern but she changed up the colors of the piece with some threads she dyed.  I think it turned out pretty cool.

Thanks Jill, I love it:)

I have been busy stitching for The Country Sampler again.  I stitched up this piece which is a Willow Hill Samplings design called--Eleanor Jaegler Sampler. 

This is another piece for the shop by Primitive Things, the design is called--Lucy Adams.  These were both fun stitches. 

I almost forgot about this sampler.  I finished is on Sunday.  This is Blackbird Designs--Mary Ann Blackburn.  I put my paternal grandmothers name at the bottom and the year that she would have been 8 years old.  I stitched it on some 32 count coffee dyed linen with DMC threads. 

Started on 4-25-2012

Finished on 4-29-2012

Again I really enjoyed stitching this and putting my grandmothers name on this sampler.  I plan on doing more samplers and putting family names on them. 

Well folks that's about all for now hope your having a great week.