Come Stitch With Me

Yes, this quilt did indeed go to Boston for the holidays.  My niece and her new husband are spending their first Christmas together as husband and wife in Bean Town and will not be joining us in Florida to celebrate with the extended family.    The finished quilt is 72″ x 74″ and machine quilted (by moi) in an all over meander pattern.  This is the largest quilt I’ve ever attempted to FMQ on my Janome 6600.  Need a little more practice, but I liked the finished result so much I ALMOST kept it for myself.

I have no idea what the pattern is called.  It’s one of those 5 yard bundle kits that a number of quilt shops sell for $30-$35 each and you get your choice of a pattern to go along with the kit. I bought this on at A Scarlet Thread last summer thinking I would make the quilt and put the finished quilt in my Etsy shop.  W-E-L-L, life got busier than I anticipated this fall, so there was no way it would get done in time to put in an Etsy shop or at a local high-end craft fair.  So, it moved to “gift” status and Melanie & Conrad are the lucky recipients.

This is an easy, fun pattern that I will definitely make again.  Next time, I will select fabrics with more contrast and variation.  I got tired of looking at these particular fabrics because they were so similar.  But hey, quilt shop quality fabric @ $6 a yard is a good deal in my neck of the woods.  Not complaining about that at all.

Merry Christmas y’all!

The Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild sponsored a pincushion swap as our holiday gift exchange this year.   I have been on a pincushion making mission ever since.  Apples, pears, tomatoes, squares and other shapes have graced my worktable as I tried my hand at various shapes.  (Co-workers bought all of my samples – which came as a huge surprise!!) My hands-down favorite is the tetrahedron shape shown here.  I spied few shabby chic versions on Pinterest that I had to make for myself.

A tetrahedron pincushion pattern is available on Etsy, but being the resourceful type that I am, I knew I could figure it out and make one from materials I had on hand in my studio.  For equally resourceful types, here’s how I went about constructing my tetrahedron pincushion:

1)  Find a chicken pincushion tutorial of your choice where the chicken’s body is wedge shaped.

2)  Select two 5-6″ squares of fabric.  Or piece enough scraps together and cut your fabric squares from that.  Add flat trims, ribbons, and other embellishments to your squares now. (Save beads and buttons for later).  Interface the squares with a mid-weight fusible interfacing.

3)  Sew and stuff the pincushion (minus the chicken parts) as indicated in your tutorial.

4)  Add buttons, beads and decorative stitching if desired.

5)  Admire your handiwork and put your new pincushion to work in your studio.

Helpful hints:

1) A doll needle, a curved needle and embroidery floss are worth their weight in gold for this project.

2) Crushed walnut shells (found in reptile section at pet supply store) are a popular stuffing material.  It adds a nice weight to the pincushion.  However, if you or the intended recipient is allergic to nuts, you’ll want to avoid this filler material.

3) The tetrahedron shape needs to be weighted.  Instead of crushed walnut shells, I weight the pincushion with a small muslin pouch of aquarium gravel (brand new, rinsed off and allowed to dry first) and add polyester stuffing to finish it off.  Some folks also like to add dried lavender and other items from the garden to add a nice scent their pincushions.

We  signed a buyer’s agreement with the real estate agency this week and came very, very, VERY close to making an offer on a new house in Smyrna.  We really liked the house so much that we asked if a different floor plan that suited out needs a little better could be built on one of two other available lots in the neighborhood.

My biggest objections to the house we looked at are the number of steps leading from the garage into the house (7 of them) and the steep driveway.  We can navigate the stairs fine, but our parents and other certain guests can’t.  We need a stepless or one step only entry into the main level SOMEWHERE.  His hesitation was the inability to utilize the behemoth entertainment unit his father built on the main level.  So when the realtors called to say another offer was in the works, I could tell the other half was disappointed, but I wasn’t about to make an offer on a house where we couldn’t make key pieces of cherished furniture work.   Hopefully, we’ll hear back from the realtor one way or the other soon on our desire to build a new house on another lot.

One thing I will say is that driving to various parts of Atlanta from Smyrna will be a heck of a lot easier than from the Cobb/Paulding line in Acworth.  I also look forward to being in a position to consider employment and business opportunities in-town that I now ignore due to the Atlanta traffic.