Lillie's Birthday!

It was Lillie's birthday yesterday.  She said she had a fabulous day!  I stitched for her Blackbird Design's Souvenir de France (freebie) for the needlekeep.  It was stitched on 36ct coffee dyed white linen with 2 strands of Zarina's overdyed embroidery floss Aubrielle.  I went for a similar construction as the needle keep that my swap partner Mary C sent to me.

 

In keeping with the Paris theme I added the Kelmscott Paris needle minder and a mini charm pack by French General called Pom Pom de Paris.   And here's the whole package.

I am working on the Jacob's Ladder blocks.  Slowly but surely ...  Please don't mind the colour grouping.  I just cut and piece up some blues or red at a time and pin it on the wall.  They'll be moved around when I finalise the quilt top.  I am not sure how far I'll go with this but at this juncture it's twin sized i.e. about 140 blocks!  If you know me the quilt top may shrink to a crib size!

Some stitchery on the side lines :)

Christmas freebie by Gail Pan found here

 And then there's some joyful stashing :D

Fabrics from This-N-That

Rotating rotary mat is a genius invention!

Some lovely cross stitch charts ... be still my beating heart ...

This and that ...

I've been playing with some stitchery lately and having so much fun with it.  I traced Kaaren's First Friday Freebie pattern Apple 5 cents some time back on calico but only now I've earnestly completed it.  Actually I pulled out all my previous stitches and replaced it DMC 498 Perle Cotton #8.  I like the thicker texture of the stitches.

And I am currently working on Primitive Friends (freebie) by Jennie Baer.  Just the love that pig!  Working with Anchor 381 Perle Cotton #8.  The satin stitches were a challenge but Helen's tutorial definitely helped.

I also completed Barbara Brackman's block for a gift quilt that the Civil War Quilts 2011 Flickr Group is planning for her.  It was mailed out to Becky on Monday.  I've not been catching up on the blocks unfortunately but I will ...

I did a test Jacob's Ladder block.  And I think it has great potential.  I've even cut more prints and shirtings to make a few more blocks.  This will be quite interesting and we'll see how far I go with these blocks.  Their 6" finished.

 

Just by moving the HSTs around, you get a different colour arrangement.  Neat!

Basting them doll/small quilt tops

I basted most of the small quilt tops I've done so far.  There are still some not done since I ran out of cotton batting.  Will get that rectified pronto :)

 Some were basted with cotton batting for hand quilting.

And some were pin basted with polyester batting for machine quilting.

Also did some repair and finishing on some older quilt tops.

 Removed the border fabric as it was not of the desired fabric quality.

And swapped it with Moda's brushed wovens.  I think it looks better and will definitely quilt better too.

 Completed this doll quilt top called Underground Railroad by Kathleen Tracy by adding the two borders.  This is destined to be hand quilted.

And I'm putting in rows of fly stitches on Cheri Payne's Soot & Ashes (freebie)

I have enrolled in a 6 months online sewing course with eSewingWorkshop.  I find the videos very informative and Nehzat approaches it on a step by step basis.  No prior knowledge is assumed.  Great for beginners like me.  Nehzat's sewing skills are amazing.  Here's a slopper or basic block pattern for a straight skirt.  I am using calico for my muslin.  I have not marked or sewn it up yet for a test fit.  I intend to progress to an A-Line skirt sloper which is not too difficult and then to the pants and bodice.