Projects Archives - Page 129 of 213

Quiet Morning

September 24, 2012 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty, Quilting and Sewing

Around 4:30 a.m. I heard the click of my front door closing as my parents left for their journey home. Two hours later I was quietly getting my oldest two students and husband out the door for the day while the other children slept. They have no school today. The house was so still… the only noise being the breeze making it’s way through various open windows throughout the house. It’s a cloudy, cool morning.

My life is loud most of the time, so I chose to sit quietly in the stillness of the morning for a bit. From the living room couch I watched the curtains flutter in the wind as I tried something new:

I’m finally caving in to the hand quilting trend. It was kind of nice to snuggle under the quilt I was working on while being productive!

It lasted long enough for one stitching line in one small area before I heard the sound of footsteps upstairs. Then came quiet voices and a “Mommy!” from the three year old. A few seconds later there was an eruption of sound and my real day is officially begun. I’m off to do laundry, pay bills, clean the house, prepare food, organize play dates, and so forth.

But there is also this single running stitch to smile about.

A beautiful start to a gray but happy day.

One comment life, quilting

Sashiko Embroidery

September 19, 2012 jennifer Stitching

Once upon a time I loved embroidery and always had a project going. Then all of a sudden I had so many little ones who wanted my lap every time I looked like I might sit down that I let the hobby go. Lately, however, (and also as my children get bigger) I’ve found myself looking with interest again at various embroidery projects.

Early in the summer I came across some photos of Sashiko embroidery samplers. Sashiko is a Japanese style embroidery and I was intrigued, so I ordered a couple of them. It wasn’t until we went to the beach that I finally started one. Interestingly, as I took my first few stitches I was sitting outside near the sidewalk watching my children play and a woman in her 70’s walked by in a group. She glanced at me and said, “Is that Sashiko?” I was completely surprised by her comment, answered that yes, it was, and it was my first attempt. She said, “You’ll love it!” and kept walking.

So I finally finished it and she was right. I love it. It’s easy, relaxing and fun. I like the graphic design and it was really fun to stitch something on navy colored linen.

The question now is what to do with it? I was originally planning on a pillow of some kind, but when I’m honest with myself I have to admit that more pillows in this house merely means picking more things up off the floor. They NEVER stay where I put them, and they usually end up with something unsightly wiped across them. Making a pillow sort of flies in the face of my mission to simplify everything in our house this month.

So now I’m wondering how it might look as the center block in a quilt. Hmmm. It might just work. What do you think?

2 comments stitching

Vintage Holiday Quilt Top

September 17, 2012 jennifer Quilting and Sewing

The pictures aren’t great, but the quilt top is finished! Simple sashing and borders were a relief after wrestling with octagons. I’m very happy with this quilt and hope to make one or two more of the same pattern but in different colorways.

On the bottom row, I swapped blocks 10 and 12. I wasn’t laying the blocks out when I made number ten or I would have used different fabric choices because of block 7. I didn’t like the two blocks with the darkest red right next to each other so the switch works for me.

Because I’m making this entire quilt from scraps, I was thrilled to have enough yardage for the outer border. It’s totally strange to be taking pictures of a Christmas quilt on my green lawn, but I’m so happy to be getting this done now.

On to the backing and basting!

Jennifer