Lemon Tree Tales

Saturday Sewing

I seem to have regained my sewing mojo and have quite a few projects either completed or in the works this Saturday. Today I mailed off a needlebook that I made for the Sewn Spaces Swap on flickr. My partner requested the color "rainbow". Fortunately I had some triangles that were from a baby quilt years ago. Yes, I saved them! I just needed to cut a few more fabrics to add some more color and then pieced them last night. I prefer sewing half-square triangles but these didn't stretch along the bias too much. I did trim them after sewing and that helped a lot. It's all surrounded by white fairy frost - love that fabric! I used Sew She Sews Quilted Needlebook Tutorial.

Once that was sent off in the care of our neighborhood post office, it was time to get cracking on the DQS11 cathedral windows. Over the last few days I cut, sewed, and folded the brown blocks. Then it was time to begin the hand sewing. So far I'm only half way done with the center of my design. After that I'll still need to make the border blocks and special end blocks. It's a good project to work on while watching TV with Steve. This morning we watched the F1 qualifying. (Yes, we're big F1 fans here.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First windows sewn:

In the middle of all of this action I've done a load of laundry, filled the dishwasher, and set the sewing machine to embroider the 1st of the last two fascinator hats for two of my blog buddies. Wow! I feel like I've accomplished a lot today. Oops, now it's time to take Fearghus for a walk around the block. (He's sitting outside my studio at the baby gate giving me 'that look' and whining.)

Doll Quilt Swap 11: planning stage

As if I didn't have enough projects to complete, I signed up for Doll Quilt Swap 11 over at the flickr group. This time around the rules state that you must make a truly miniature bed quilt between the sizes of 9" to 18". Think doll bed quilts. I wasn't sure what I'd do but after looking through Lynne Edward's book, Cathedral Window Quilts, I was sure that I had found a winner.

Here's my first practice piece of four blocks. I cut out the squares at 4" and once I had sewed, folded, and folded again, they finished out at 1 3/4"! Yikes! And the little windows are around 1".

And a closer look:

 

I broke three hand sewing needles while sewing them so I'll have to either be more careful or not use such cheap needles. Ah, but once the sample was done I realized that I would have to make 36 of these blocks in order to get a 10 1/2" square quilt. Off to the drawing board to plan it out.

These are the fabrics that I'll be using:

Turquoise Fascinator Hat for Miss L

I've finished another of the machine embroidered lace fascinator hats. This time it's in turquoise and is for the lovely Miss L in honor of her double digit birthday! YeGads time just flies by so fast. When she was a little thing she just loved the color pink. Everything had to be pink, pink, and yes, you got it, pink! However that started to change once she started elementary school and now her favorite color is turquoise which suits her so well.

Miss L's fascinator hat:

A closeup:

Now it's attached to a ribbon-wrapped headband (much easier for a little girl to wear than a comb):

 

And yes, I did subject poor Fearghus to another modeling session - he doesn't seem at all happy about it does he? He was so good about not trying to eat the hat. Then again when you're holding a treat in your hand and telling him to "stay" he didn't want to misbehave and lose out.

If you want to make your own hat, just go to Urban Threads and get their machine embroidery pattern. It's easy to do, but it does take a looooong time to stitch out. I haven't clocked it precisely, but it's around 5 hours not to mention the time it takes to hand-stitch and decorate it. Hopefully Miss L will like it. She really liked the one I made for Miss J but still, I can't wait to see her reaction when she opens the package.  :-)

Akira Blount Workshop Doll - done!

It's been a while coming, but yesterday I finally finished my Akira Blount workshop doll. I just needed to get some clear silicon caulking so that I could add the twig decor to her head. I sprinkled coffee grounds over the bare spots so that it would look complete. Now I wonder where on earth she should hang in the house. Right now she's on the wall above the mermaid wall-hanging quilt in my studio. As always I'm a bit of a loss for a name. Laurie says that she looks a bit Renaissance and I agree - perhaps a lady from the Italian Renaissance? Mayhaps she ran afoul of the Medicis and lost her legs? That being the mercy that she earned for previous good service - much better than the poisoner's brew some say. What say you? What is her Lady's name?

Peacock Wall-hanging by Alma

For one of my swaps I made a peacock applique quilt block and liked it so much that I offered the design as a freebie on my blog in January 2009 - here. I asked that anyone using it to please send me a picture of it so that I can see how they interpreted it. Just the other day I received an email from Alma W. in Arkansas with this absolutely stunning peacock wall-hanging. I just had to share it with everyone too. (Alma kindly gave me permission to share her pictures with you.)

Look at all the fabrics she used:

And the bedroom set that inspired her to make this wall-hanging:

with matching pillows:

and a matching curtain valance:

Here's what Alma has to say:

I normally make doll dresses, and why I took a notion to spread my wings into quilting I will never know LOL  Well I guess I really do, I was all excited about getting a new Janome sewing machine this spring after losing mine in a tornado, and while I was researching machines I saw a yahoo group for Janome owners and joined.  There are many quilters in the group and the beautiful projects they were working on got me interested in tackling one.  I've been sewing since I was 14 (Home Ec in 1959) but only clothing and curtains.  My first ever quilt this spring was a pastel floral for my room, then decided to make something new for the guest room which my plans were to do in blue and yellow to match some oil paintings I did back in the 80s.  I had bought the purple/blue geometric print just because it was so striking, then looked at it a couple of weeks thinking how pretty it would be to put in a quilt.  I found an inspiration quilt on flickr that looked like it would be beautiful in jeweltones, then rummaged around in my 'stash' of fabrics bought for doll dresses,  and found 5 that seemed to harmonize with the geometric.  One thing called for another - the purchased dust ruffle didn't look right (different fabric, different color of white) so I split it and added the band of quilt fabrics.   Then made the valance to match the dust ruffle.  Copied some of the bedspread design into the pillows.  The wall hanging was an afterthought - I couldn't find any kind of framed print with the right colors and after seeing how gorgeous your peacock turned out, it inspired me to try my own very first wall hanging.  Now I'm hooked - I have a million ideas I want to try.  :o))  One of my friends is wanting me to make a quilt with a big peacock as the center. Thank you for sharing!

I think that Alma deserves a big round of applause for making such a gorgeous guest room. Wouldn't you just feel welcomed to her home when you walked into this room? Thank you Alma for sharing your pictures with us.

The Color Turquoise

It seems like my summer is filled with the color turquoise. A few weeks ago my friend Heera of Let's Talk About came to visit me with her two lovely children, Miss N and the young sir N. Heera used to live here in the bay area but moved away to North Carolina many years ago and I've missed her. We had such a nice visit. While we were catching up, Miss N reorganized my thread rack and then they played with Fearghus. At the end I was surprised when Miss N handed me an envelope with some gorgeous turquoise fabric and sequins. Ooooh, such lovely goodies. Thank you!!!

Heera and me:

The thread rack:

and goodies:

 

My current projects also have that same turquoise - my sewing machine as I stitch out Miss L's lace fascinator hat:

And I also have a doll bed that I've painted for Miss L's American Girl doll:

which started out life looking like this - Fearghus doesn't like the bedding that came with it (an IKEA Duktig bed):

and the fabrics to make a doll quilt and bedding for it:

And finally the color turquoise as seen in a wading pool that we got for the backyard when it was really, really hot. Turns out that Fearghus loves playing in it. It also was a big hit when we had Miss L & Miss J over with their parents for a Sunday gathering a few weeks ago.

So now you know my secret to having a happy summer - it all boils down to the color turquoise!