Still Here!

It has been so long since I have blogged that I hope I haven't forgotten how. This summer has been nice and busy on many fronts. Quilting and sewing  has added to that busyness. Graduation quilts for my niece and nephew have been quilted and bound . It is hard to believe that they will both be headed to different schools in Boston next week. Such an exciting time for them both, Jocelyn's request was for a  black and white quilt and is pictured here. I need to get technical assistance from Harmony before I can upload Evan's quilt, though. It is waiting in a saved file but I can not seem to retrieve it!

I am fortunate to quilt once a week with a group of friends here in Maine. Currently I am working on a  king sized pinwheel quilt in red and cream. This is a gift for a sister - in- law. I am using an Eleanor Burns book  to construct this quilt. Her directions are nice and clear and the process is enjoyable. This is a BIG quilt and will take me many more Monday's.

I have continued my second Sunday Christmas gift project . During June and July I worked on a UFO that I intend to give to my daughter.I quilted it myself on my Janome. She has already seen some of the project  so I am not saving it as a Christmas surprise. I am posting a  picture of it here. The Brenda Henning pattern  made a larger lap size quilt but I reduced the number of blocks for a wall hanging. I have enough blocks left to make a smaller version for my sewing room! My sewing room has been a  place to retreat from our unusually warm weather this summer. I have happily stitched away and made a new sewing machine mat  along with some redwork  pillows. I will have to get out the camera again! I'm off to work on a special pillow tonight. This is an embroidered pillow done in grey floss. The  picture I am stitching is original artwork done in June by a little kindergarten friend of mine. Won't his grandmother be surprised to receive this gift!

Flowers

Getting Ready

Sorry for the lapse in time since updating, I've been home from spending three weeks working at a summer camp for about two weeks now, but they have been a very busy two weeks as I have been preparing for a new school year. Normally getting my rooms ready for school is fairly routine, but this year there have been a lot of staff changes, including an all new administration at one school (eight days ago this change occurred!) so there have been a lot of extra little things to attend to. Needless to say, I am VERY eager to begin this school year and it is a good  think because we start Monday!

Machine Applique

I tried my hand at machine applique for the first time recently! I had a baby shower the week after I returned home from summer camp. Luckily, I knew this before I left and was able to whip up this diaper bag and the quick change bags found on this earlier blog. But Pieceful gave me an old issue of The Quilter Magazine and I this picture for Summer Blooms. And I decided that I really wanted to try it out for this little girls room. Here is a picture of my version!

I am quite proud of it. With the exception of the boarder I was able to use all scraps. As it turns out, my machine's "button hole" stitch is really just a zig-zag. Which I suppose I knew because I've done button holes before, but it didn't quite compute! I think I need to play around with some stitches before doing any more. This project was a challenge as a beginner in some ways, but I like being thrown in to things! How else do you learn? I would recommend this wall hanging as there is a good balance of straight edge, curves/circles and points to practice on.

Stay tuned for more!

Respectfully, 

Harmony