Am I having fun yet ?

I have a confession to make , I really do not like doing machine quilting , I much prefer hand quilting but time doesn't allow me to hand quilt everything I make so I am now quilting this UFO from two years ago , I'd say it is about time to get it finished . I started yesterday afternoon and I made good progress and I am now doing something I never did before , I am doing a machine embroidery quilt block , I bought this disk at least two years ago and I have never used it , bad girl I know but to be honest I am not that sure how to use it and it will be trial and error I am sure . I bought this machine second hand and therefore have had to learn all about it on my own so I think I avoid doing things that I don't quite know how to do ;-) There are large spaces along the sides and corners that needed something extra and I thought what the heck give it a try if it doesn't work I can pick it out right ? Fingers crossed that I have this figured out I'll let you know how this works out until then thanks for stopping by .
Sheila

One Flower Wednesday

 I know it is Thursday already but I simply didn't have time to post my progress yesterday oops . Well my garden hasn't grown by much , I have several cut , pressed and ready to go but time was just not with me this week so here is all I have accomplished . I am sure you will note the difference in sizes , the yellow flower was sent to me by Robyn at www.daisyquilts.blogspot.com I received it in the mail yesterday and promptly made it last evening . Isn't is just so cute , love that color combination .I may just applique that one on a bag ;-)
How much did your garden grow this week ?? These are really fun blocks to make so if you have never tried it I encourage you to give it a go , not difficult and quite relaxing if you like handwork at all .
Have a super day and thanks for stopping by .
Sheila

Challenge

I recieved a gift from Lynda for Christmas and it included a challenge .Here is how the challenge read :
-Use a piece or several of each of the enclosed fabrics (including the wrapping) on the front of the quilt .
-You can add as many other fabrics to the quilt as you desire .
-The quilt must be both pieced and appliqued.
-Have at least one hexagon somewhere on the front of the quilt ,although you can put in as many as you wish .
-Have a critter of some kind on the front of the quilt.
-Embellishments such as bedding , buttons , ribbon embroidery etc. are all encouraged.
-Be finished and email a picture of it to my friend Lynda by June 30 ,2010 .

The fabrics you see are what I have left of what we were to use in the quilt , you will see that I have indeed added other fabrics , I actually have very little leftover , this picture is decieving .
It took me a while to decide what I wanted to make to cover these requirements but here is what I came up with and I just finished hand quilting it .Not sure I covered the embellishment area too well , only one small button . However , the hand quilting took a while as I was trying to learn how to use a hoop , not the easiest thing to manipulate to be honest but I am slowly getting the hang of it .So there you have it all finished long before the June deadline , you have to love that part ;-) There are a few others involved in this challenge and I am anxious to see how they have used the fabrics , should be very interesting . Thanks Lynda , I enjoyed the challenge , it really was a lot of fun and I am pleased with my little quilt.
Thanks for stopping by .
Sheila

Is it Wednesday yet?

First off you must have known I could never wait until Wed. to make a block , my enthusiasm was over flowing to give this hexagon flower a try and the verdict is in , I loved it , so fun to make and quite relaxing too .You have got to love handwork :-) I am sure you can figure out that the picture of the single flower is what I have made , the other picture I just had to share with you , this is a portion of a Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt given to my husband and I 20 some odd years ago by his great aunt Bessie , it was in poor condition even then as she had owned it for at least 20 years prior to that and it was used a lot . The fabrics are worn and very faded and the stitching is coming apart but the dear old soul is now just for decorative purposes , don't want to stress those fibers anymore than necessary . By looking at the fabrics used I would guess it was made in the 50's early 60's as I recognize those fabrics used in aprons my Mom wore around that time so it is at least 50 years old and most likely older . Bessie told us when she gave it to us that an elderly lady in her late 80's had made it for her and because she knew I had a love for quilts she gave it to me, now wasn't that sweet of her .Bessie passed away not long after she gave the quilt to me but everytime I look at this quilt I have to think of her and smile.
Have a great day and thanks for stopping by .
Sheila

A new adventure

I know I probably shouldn't be taking on any more just now but when I see something I really like it is hard to resist and it has happened again ;-) I was innocently visiting some of my favorite blogs when I spotted a button on a sidebar that caught my eye so I just had to investigate and once I did the first thing I knew I was signing up . I am so easily swayed but they are just so pretty ,okay  I suppose it is time to tell you what I am talking about .Well it is a group of bloggers that are taking part in "One Flower Wednesday " .What is that you say , well just go on over here and you also might be tempted to sign up ,Karen has an interesting blog so you might also want to look around .  The interesting part about this is I have never made an English paper pieced grandmothers flower garden so it should be fun and it may be a little learning curve for me although I do love hand work and this will be perfect for working on in the evenings right , surely I can accomplish at least one flower a week , preferably on Wednesday . I 'll let you all know my progress , right now I am cutting out hexagons from card stock and next will go to my stash and find fabrics I think will make great flowers .It really should be fun and I encourage you to join in and help this garden grow :-)
Have a super day and thanks for stopping by .
Sheila

Two more :-)

I have two more finishes for April , a new mat for the sewing machine and a sewing journal cover . The journal cover I had the grand idea of hand quilting it which was fine I just didn't know where to stop;-) I love this fabric with all the antique sewing notions on it . I bought it in Seattle two years ago and have been looking for something to make with it so I am pleased with these items.
Hope the sun is shining where ever you are , today we had the first sun in a longggggg time , it is so nice to see it , almost forgot what it looked like :-) The clothes line is full and drying nicely!!
Have a great day and thanks for stopping by .
Sheila

A completed top

I am happy to say that I have finally finished my Louisa top , it was slow going for me , not that it was that difficult to make but I kept getting side tracked and when that happens it is sometimes hard to go back .I pushed myself yesterday to complete those borders .The pattern called for just the large floral but I added that very narrow dark border to break it up as I found things to be a little on the busy side . Since this was a kit I didn't have a lot of extra fabric to choose from and didn't really want to go buying any either so I had just enough to make this border and I am pleased with how that looks . Now comes the hard part getting it quilted , that will not happen for a while as I would like to have it hand quilted and I have a stack of quilts that also need doing , I probably shouldn't be admitting that huh!
Hope you are having a great day .
Sheila

April finish

This is my first finish for April , I can't take too much credit though as this project is what I received from our brown bag challenge in our quilt guild. I provided the fabrics and Kate made this great little doll quilt for me . All I had to do was quilt it and bind it , I did hand quilt it which took forever as I am rather slow but I love the effect of hand quilting so decided to go ahead and do it and I am so glad I did .If you have never taken part in a brown bag challenge then you really should it was a blast. The whole thing is a secret until you get it back , no one knows who has whose name and what fabrics they have added to their bags and believe me there were so many wonderful projects as the result of this challenge , I think everyone was pleased and had lots of fun in the process .
Thanks for stopping by .
Sheila