Stitching Hands Studio

Happy Winter Solstice!

My Solstice cloth is done. I love this one.  I just decided to wing (if you'll pardon the pun) the owl and I like it.  The trees were inspired by Jude's solstice trees last year.  The owl by Janet Bolton.  I had so much fun with this, expect more of these.  Click to see details.

I also like the back.  Iquilted it free hand, just changing direction on a whim.  I did Jude's technique of quilting behind something like the trees, but only going through the back layer. It looks more uniform that way, but doesn't interfere with the shapes on the front.  Signed it in stitch.  This is my new preference.  I am still working on that signature post.  Sometime soon, I promise!

This is our amazing winter view from the kitchen corner of the house.  It's sort of a mysterious view, but with the  leaves gone we can see the river and Mt. Bachelor.  This little lighted tree feels like a special gift just for us.  

I wish you a safe and joyous holiday, whatever you celebrate.  I think I might take a blog break.  Don't expect a whole lot of posting til after the new year, but I may pop in once or twice to share photos.  

Playing around

with my new Nikon Coolpix P500.  Just going through her paces to see what she can do.  Also, packing for the next trip and for moving.  And basking in the memories of the 36th annual Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show.  Busy, busy, busy.  Oh, and Magic Diaries just started.  Life is full...  

Sunflowers Moon Stars

Today's musing over at SunMoonStars was about this method of creating a sun/moon/star burst.  I found myself so intrigued I dropped everything and started making.  The star below was the first one, the pieces above came afterwards and need to be finished.  I do need some sunflowers for my Second Chances quilt, so I made several of them to give it a try.  The version top left is a little what-iffing with a square center and I may add more points.

I've already added the first star made with this method to the top right (above).

The center was created with an off cut from the moon.  The points are made with the backside of this great Kaffe Fassett print.

I really like it!

Moon and Stars

Sun Moon Stars is continuing and so is my Second Chances quilt.  I'm stitching down the moon now with a turned edge.  The stars are variations on themes that Jude has been talking about over at SMS.  Previous posts about this quilt are here, here and here.  I've done my sun and now it's time for the moon and stars.

I'm filling in areas with stitch now and having a wonderful time.  I especially love couching.  Many of the couched yarns are my own handspun.

The tree leaves are created with little cloth weavings.  There is obviously more to come.  I guess I've been concentrating on the left, but the right side will get more leaves, an outer border and something done to make the trunk not so rigid.  There will also be a swing hanging from the tree and some sunflowers.  Stay tuned for more!

2011 SOQS Quilt Block

My entry for this year's block contest.  When I got these fabrics I liked them individually, but not as a group and just didn't know what to do with it.  The pack sat around for a good two months.  A couple of days ago, I got it out and played around in my sketchbook with some ideas.  I finally settled on this one.  This block is inpsired by Tonye Phillips, Gwen Marston, Mary Lou Weidman, Jude Hill and Joanne Meyers.  After I got the applique done, it needed more so I added a lot of back stitch.  For the curious, here's the back.

I went back to make a mosaic of my previous blocks.  I guess houses are always on my mind, but I also considered doing a tree with moon, an owl and various patchwork star patterns.

Now, back to sewing!

A little stash enhancement never hurt anyone!

Last week was spring break here.  Both the kids had the week off.  Hubby was working, but not traveling, so we were all at home.  We had nixed a little Oregon vacation with the trailer, mainly due to our heavy travel schedule for the summer.  And a good thing, the weather's been classic Central Oregon "spring"- snow, hail, sleet, rain, wind and brilliant sunshine in small doses.  Anyway, with a totally free week, I had visions of staying home and sewing for hours on end- always a fantasy for me!  As the days went on, each one was filled to the max with time with friends which was fantastic, but not the week I had envisioned.  I have lots of stuff to post about, but I need to take photos and get them organized.  So, we'll start with these as they are easiest!  

On Thursday, I had a wonderful day out with my friend, Erin.  We had both won gift certificates at our guild meetings last year to Homestead Quilts, a store about 45 minutes from Bend.  We kept putting off the drive due to distance and weather.  Finally, we got to go and it was great.  The store was much bigger and well stocked that the last time I'd been there 4-5 years ago.  I stocked up on solids there.  I can always use more solids and these are the Moda Bella solids that I particularly like.  Today is Erin's birthday!  A big shout out Happy Birthday to her!

Yesterday was the Fiber Market Day in Prineville.  I went over by myself this time and didn't even buy any fiber.  I got some locally made soap and hand lotion.  Then went to The Quilt Shack in Prineville.  It's a small shop and had some nice stuff, but I didn't end up buying anything there.  On the way home I stopped in Redmond at one of my favorite quilt shops, Material Girl Fabrics, which sadly doesn't have a website.  Leslie has a fantastic assortment of contemporary prints.  It always makes me happy to walk in the door there.  I got the wonderful Alexander Henry Halloween prints above.  Plans for these include the Halloween/Christmas mash-up blocks that Tonya is looking for.  If you don't know what that means, you can read about it on UnRuly Quilting.  By the way, Tonya is coming to the Sisters Quilt Show this year!  Woohoo!  We've already made plans to get together.  It'll be great to meet after all these years.

Material Girl Fabrics also had the MoMo owls and Route 66 prints.  I've been collecting owl prints for a while now and have quite a few. I just love the Route 66 print with the retro cars and maps.  I've been to many of those places, but don't have plans for that fabric yet.  The last one is a street map of Paris that I bought on Etsy from Uberstitch.  This summer will be my first trip ever there and I already know I'm going to love it and will need to make a quilt.  I'll post more about the crafty pleasures of the week soon!

Moon face 2

 Isn't it nice that I can take a natural light photo at 6pm!  I worked on this all afternoon.  Now I'm working on the quilting on Imagine.

Moon face

This moon is not for Imagine.  It's for my "On the Divinity of Second Chances" quilt.  More on that sometime soon!

More

The little winter cloth continues.  I guess for me more is more.  It's hard to stop the stitching once you start and you just want to keep going until every available space is filled.  Thanks for your thoughts on the previous post.

For the curious, here's the back.  I will be adding a backing to it for finishing and adding some quilting stitches to hold it all together.  Jude's next (and I think, maybe, final) class starts next week.  I'm looking forward to that a lot.  Meanwhile I've started a new cloth and got out some of the old bases to play with.  Maybe more trees!

A little winter cloth

Thanks to Jude's holiday cloth series, I started this several weeks ago.  As usual, other items caught my attention in the weeks leading up to Christmas, but I finally got back to it after New Year's.

I love the ragged edge trees and that moon!  It's a shibori moon from Glennis.  My intention was to celebrate the winter solstice lunar eclipse. 

More snowflakes need to be sewn, not sure what to do after that?  Any thoughts?

On another note, Chloe just got her second college acceptance- to her preferred college and again with a hefty scholarship.  Yay- way to go Chloe!