Please share what you are working on

[Marsha Cassada]

Aw, just cute, cute, cute! Love the little twig legs! …and the friendly cat!

I find that I keep very little of what I make. I do have a bird cage that I keep saying I am going to make birds to put in it. And, I do hope to do that soon and when I do, they will be for me. lol

I have several bird patterns if you are interested. Be happy to share them with you. They are quite simple, but you could at least use them for jumping off.

 

[chandab]

Just finished up this little baby size quilt. The pattern is called: Wickedly Easy Quilt Pattern. And, it was quite easy.

 

[Charley]

Marsha, I would love the bird pattern. Like you said would be a good starting point. I am wanting a mixture of birds, one or two for the inside and one or two on the outside of the birdcage. Also thinking of propping the birdcage door open and putting some greenery on it. Love the idea of using some beads and might try my had with some twigs using your little mice as inspiration.

I started crocheting a bird this morning but know it will be too large for the birdcage but like the look so far and I'm just working on the wings so far. I am taking my time on it as I usually do it my way and want to follow the pattern exactly this time. It is one of the things I am working on this year, to do things right the first time and try not to spend my time trying to figure out where I went off course. lol

Chanda, I love your baby quilt. It is adorable. Some little girl is going to be so cozy and warm while she dreams.​

I hope to soon get back to sewing….seems my attention is not focused on sewing at the moment.

Also need to start Mother's Day gifts…sigh…looking for some fresh ideas. I really have been gravitating towards jewelry this year. I keep looking at my yarn and bead stash and am thinking of crocheting a necklace of beads and ribbon yarn and maybe a little bling thrown in…could use some wire crocheted in also. It would be new to me, but has my interest.

 

[Charley]

I was so excited to get this material yesterday in the mail. It is from Chanda's shop on eBay. Just love it! I see a lap quilt and a purse or two out of this.

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But I broke my rule of trying to use up stash material. Although the sashing and borders that I will use will be from my fabric stash so it is just a little change in this rule.

I was at a stand still on finishing two lap quilts one that is pieced and another that I am still adding borders to. So this is incentive to get them done so I can start on projects with these horses in mind. I am allowing my planning to start…just can't stop thinking of what they will look like done and won't start cutting until the other two lap quilts are finished.

Today though, my spare time is devoted to crocheting. I am working on the wings of a crocheted bird. I printed out a free pattern for this bird. But again, I could not follow the pattern as it is written so am "winging it". Here are two wings that look a little different from each other. I am working today on the mirror image of the wing for the other side of the bird body. Hopefully, they will match these wings. I already know that this bird will be larger than I wanted to make it. But when I get this pattern written out, I will be able to use a smaller hook and finer yarn or thread and make the bird smaller.

 

[dixie_belle]

Since the weather has been so yucky, I've been quilting up a storm on the quilt I'm making for my granddaughter. Since I do all the quilting by hand, it takes forever. But, I have made a ton of progress and am on the border quilting now. When I'm done, I'll take some pictures (hopefully the quilting will show up) and post them. I'm actually way ahead of schedule as it doesn't have to be done until her birthday, in September. (What.....me, ahead of schedule...what's up with that??) So I guess this terrible winter weather has been good for something, after all.

 

[Performancemini]

Sorry I can't post pics. I am working on a costume for my Mother for a big horse expo our mini club is participating in and she will use it this year for costume classes. She is going to be Merida from Disney's "Brave" and her little black mini will be the Shire, "Angus". I am going to make white 'leggings' for him that are shaggy so he will have the feathering. We have to get her the curly red wig and a quiver and a bow too yet.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Some great projects in the works here!

 

[Charley]

Marsha, thank you for the bird patterns. I will get started on them in a day or two. Hoping to shrink them down to size…truly you have sent me a great place to start!

I am working on my lap quilt top with the borders and then will be ready to "sandwich" it with the batting and backing fabric. It is coming together and I don't want to lose momentum on this project. I will tell y'all the whole story when it is complete. Let me just say this has been a long journey with this quilt.

It is nice to be sewing again!

 

[dixie_belle]

With all this horrible cold weather, and the fact that I've had force idleness due to sickness, I've finished the lap quilt for my granddaughter. I've attached (or I hope I've attached) some pictures showing the quilt as well as all the hand quilting. The only thing I have left is to make a label and then send it off. I'm thinking I'll wait until closer to her birthday, in September.

 

[Charley]

Dixie Belle, your granddaughter's quilt is gorgeous! I love the colors, the fabrics and the hand quilting. It is a work of art!

 

[dixie_belle]

thank you so much. She likes pink so hubby and I chose some fabrics with pink. But I didn't want it baby-ish because I wanted her to be able to take it away to college one day. And I love to do hand quilting, especially in complicated patterns because they look so good when you are done (although I was fussing and fuming when I was doing the actual quilting as it took forever). I'm debating what options for a label now. I know it's got to have a chicken on it, as that is my "signature" quilt thing. All my quilts have a little piece of fabric with a chicken on it somewhere in the quilt. Unfortunately, I simply could not slip that in on this quilt because it would have messed up the pattern on the front. So I was thinking of putting a little chicken on the label.

 

[Charley]

Your idea of putting a little chicken on the quilt label sounds cute!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Very pretty quilt! September will be here before you know it, and you'll be ahead!

glad the bird patterns arrived, "charley". Anxious to see finished feathered creations.

 

[jacks'thunder]

dixie_belle, That quilt is beautiful! Wow I can see the hard work and cringe! LOL! Well worth it though because it turned out to be a gorgeous work of art.

The only thing I have been working on is a few recycled tee shirt purses. They are cute and I like the way they are turning out but I have put the breaks on. My machine is acting up really bad. My bobbin winding part is screaming and then when I put a new bobbin in the bobbin spot I get all this shaking and grinding. If sewing is not fun and my machine is making it a chore, I'll stop until I can either get it serviced or get a new machine. I'm disappointed and mad, this is the perfect weather to sew and I can't..

 

[chandab]

Almost have the top done on this one.


Can't remember which catalog I saw the pattern in, the very expensive kit they were selling was batiks; but I thought it would look pretty good scrappy and an Irish Chain is pretty easy, so I didn't bother with the pattern.

 

[lucky seven]

I had Chanda's ebay link on my old computer that quit working. I've been looking for it on this new one, but can't find the link. Could someone please put it up for me so that I can visit and shop?

 

[chandab]

If its not ok to post it here, then you can find it by clicking on my website link in my signature, go to the HC Quilting Notions page and its there. Thank you for asking.

I've been having internet problems today, so only about half of the internet is accessible. I can get here, but can't check e-mail, Yahoo isn't loading and a few other important sites. I contacted my ISP provider this morning, it got back to working for awhile, now its not again. If it keeps it up, I'll have to contact them again today.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I bought a little dollhouse hoosier this week. It is made of walnut, and whoever made it did a fine job. But it is way too fine for me, so I have to make it more primitive. It had clunky brass hinges on it, so those had to go for sure. Could not find any good hinges that were suitable so I made some out of an old German candy tin. I don't have the correct equipment to work on tiny things, so the size is not perfectly proportioned. Holding that wee thing under the drill press to drill the little holes was kind of hard. And my tin snips are industrial. But I had fun playing with the hinges, and I can always replace them if I find something better.

The size is about Barbie size. Rather hard to find miniatures in the "play size", but the hunt will be fun. It is setting on my kitchen window sill.

www.cassphoto.com/hoosier.jpg

 

[Marsha Cassada]

dixie_belle, That quilt is beautiful! Wow I can see the hard work and cringe! LOL! Well worth it though because it turned out to be a gorgeous work of art.

The only thing I have been working on is a few recycled tee shirt purses. They are cute and I like the way they are turning out but I have put the breaks on. My machine is acting up really bad. My bobbin winding part is screaming and then when I put a new bobbin in the bobbin spot I get all this shaking and grinding. If sewing is not fun and my machine is making it a chore, I'll stop until I can either get it serviced or get a new machine. I'm disappointed and mad, this is the perfect weather to sew and I can't..

Does it simply need oiling/cleaning? Pretty frustrating when one's machine does not work properly! My old Singer was very tired and I got frustrated with it a little. It didn't make any noise, it just began to fade away.

 

[jacks'thunder]

I did go through it but I was so frustrated it almost went flying off the table! I'm going to take it apart and either blow it out with the air hose or vacuum it out good. I have no idea where to oil it! I just pulled the book out (again

) but it says nothing on oiling...

Could some one give me any ideas on maintenance? I would GUARANTEE it needs a proper cleaning!

I can post a picture if need be or are they all basically the same? It's just a cheepy machine. I think the simplest Brother makes. She has done well for me and I'd like to keep her.