Stitching Hands Studio

SOQS:: Block Contest 2012

I finished my contest block last week and got it turned in a month early!  There's still time if you'd like to join the contest.  Just check out the info here.  When I got my fabric pack, it took a while to come up with a design, but the orange print really begged to be bird tails in my mind.  All the other parts fell in to place easily and I had fun adding some embroidery embellishment.  This is my 6th year participating and it's always fun to see what others come up with.  

My current work includes my guild challenge quilt, based on children's literature and my book club quilt, based on Jane Kirkpatrick's Love To Water My Soul.  I had a terrible time choosing a children's book to do, but I finally chose my book and came up with a design concept last week.  I spent all last Saturday preparing a background and cutting fabric for applique.  Now I'm stitching down those pieces.  Unfortunately, this one needs to be a secret until July 16.  I'm also doing Jude Hill's latest class, Contemporary Boro 2.  It's all about remaking clothing or creating something new. I'm working on a vest and hope to have something to show soon.

With a busy summer coming up I am not sure how much I'll be able to post, but hope to check in every week or so.  I hope you are all enjoying the coming change of season!

Autumn in New York

My latest slow cloth is finished with a couple of weeks to spare.  Autumn in New York is inspired by Rules of Civility by Amor Towles, as part of the QuiltWorks Novel Idea book club.  This cloth is completely hand stitched with silk applique on a hand dyed indigo vintage linen napkin.  There's a lot of hand stitched embellishment that you can see better in the detail photos below.  I backed the whole thing with a single piece of medium weight grey shot cotton and turned the edges under the edge of the napkin to hand sew down.  The edges peek out and allowed me to square up the napkin.  It's about 22" x 22".  This quilt will be hanging in the QuiltWorks gallery for the month of April along with 35-40 others.  I can't wait to see the whole exhibit.  The few that I've seen so far are really wonderful.

The only building I wanted to be recognizable is the Empire State Building.  To make things easier I decided to stitch the topmost part as you see above.  Lots of little split backstitches make that up.  All of these techniques were learned from Jude Hill.  Please check out her website for all sorts of wonderful online video classes.

Meanwhile I've already started on a couple of other projects, my Undercover Quilter book club project has a great start and my Small Wonder Challenge project is looking really good.  More on those later.  I'm still trying to figure out what book to use as inspiration for my guild Children's Literature challenge.  There are so many wonderful books to choose from!  We are heading out for a little spring break in a few days, I can't wait!

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.  

Owl in Flight

My latest folk art textile piece.  This one is for me!  I love this owl too much to sell or give it away.  This is a small piece inspired by the work of Janet Bolton.  I"m nearly finished with it so you'll get more than a peek very soon.  I hope your holiday preparations are coming along nicely.  Chloe is home and we finally got a tree today.  Pics tomorrow!

More Whimsies

I finished a few more trees last night and listed them in the shop today.  I have some more owls to finish too, but time is running short!  I will post here when they are done.

The Owl and the Tree

I have stocked the shop with a few more ornaments including the owl below. I'm having so much fun designing and creating these little ornaments. The tree above will be staying here though.  Kaite do you remember this tree you sent me, how long ago was it?  I think maybe 2 years ago?  Anyway, Kaite spun and knitted this little tree and I finally decided what I wanted to do with it. It's quite comfortable on the same linen sandwich I made for all the other ornaments. This gives it some body and it makes a nice ornament for the tree or for year round enjoyment. I finished it off with one of the vintage glass buttons I've gotten recently. These buttons were too pretty to send them all away. I'm finally getting some artwork on the studio walls.  It's really nice!

The winner is...

Val!  Val, please send me your address or let me know if we can meet up to deliver you your new ornament!  

This is just one of about 20 that I'm working on.  Right now, I'm listing some over at my shop.  They are all different, but all so much fun to make.  The best part is picking the vintage button to finish it off with!

I'm working on a stitched signature that I like.  This is one of the first tries.  The later ones are a little more sophisticated.  I was thinking the other day that I'll do a post about that because I learned very early on to sign my work, so I have lots of examples in previous needlework.

Happy Birthday to me!

These goodies are destined for the shop, but today is a special day and I think it's high time for a giveaway.  Leave a comment on this post and I will pick a winner for one of these little tree ornaments Monday morning.  Have a wonderful weekend and don't forget to support your local small businesses today- Small Business Saturday- I know I will be.  I will be celebrating my birthday at the Sisters Christmas parade and a local presentation of A Christmas Story.  It should be fun!  

Oh, and you may have noticed the Instagram photo.  My early birthday present was an iPhone, which I've been having way too much fun with.  The camera apps are really the best!   So, now I'm posting some of these photos on Tumblr and Instagram.  Too Much Fun!  I have got to get back to the stitching!

** Comment are now closed.  I'll have Ryan do the drawing when he gets home!**

11.11.11

I love a parade!  Now that we live within the parade loop I think I'll be going to every single one!  Today the Bend All High School Marching Band was in top form.  I couldn't help myself, I marched right along with them.

Walking in late October

It's been glorious this week despite some really cold nights.  I've been walking around the neighborhood and can't seem to leave the house without a camera.  Today, Ryan and I went with some friends on a Bend Haunts walking tour of downtown.  Come along with me!  Above, our house decked out for Halloween (pun intended).  Actually, it's pretty light on Halloween, but I thought it would be nice to show where we started.

Around the corner is this lovely house, just dripping with fall leaves.

Shortly you come to the Newport Bridge, our gateway to downtown.

The tour started at the old Reid School, the first school in Bend.  This historical building is now home to the Deschutes County Historical Society and museum.

Our tour guide told us many stories about local sites that have had murders, suicides and ghost tales.  It would have been spookier at the later (night-time) tours, but then I wouldn't have these great photos, so just pretend it's dark and spooky.

McMenamin's Old St. Francis School has been remodeled and now sports a pub, hotel, theater and fabulous soaking pool.  On a side note, I was watching old episodes of Oregon Art Beat online yesterday and found this great story about the artwork at the McMenamin's locations.

There are stories about ghosts and hauntings here.  A couple staying at The Nunnery house (above) found the morning after they arrived, a photo of themselves sleeping, on their cell phone- creepy!   They didn't stay another night.  I wouldn't have either!

I just love the style here!

The old Bend Firehall has held restaurants for many years, but there are ghost tales here too.

Across the street is Hospital Hill (now hotel hill).  

Yesterday's walk took me past some leaf piles

and the footbridge

to Baked, an afternoon bakery that had a lovely pumpkin display to keep Scrabble company while I was picking out my delicious fresh baked bread.

Hope you have a wonderful Halloween weekend!  I'll be back with more spooky stuff soon.