SAL: Snowman & Reindeer Update

August hello to everyone 🙂

Time for another SAL update and I am here continuing with my Snowman & Reindeer project. At our last check in my project looked like this

I have been a bit slack in working on her but added a sweet cardinal sitting on the antlers.

This project has really taken form but it is a lot more slow going than I anticipated.

Before I sign off and head over to check out the others in the group I wanted to give a heads up and say I most likely will not be posting and missing next weeks check in. My daughter and grandchildren will be here from N.C. visiting and it has been 5 long years since we have seen them. In fact, they just recently returned from living 5 years in Okinawa where my SIL had been stationed. 5 long years, lots of changes to both households, ours and theirs. He is now stationed at Camp LeJeune and I am proud to say he has just accepted a Command 🙂 They bought a home in the town of Swansboro and are settling in. Very excited for the upcoming visit.

Now I off to indulge in some eye candy.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, 

Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Connie, Cindy

The next updates will be posted on the 28th August 2022.

About the SAL

Please note this SAL is not accepting any more new members until further notice but this is what it’s all about anyway. This SAL (Stitch Along) is slightly different to other SALs in that we don’t all stitch the same design at the same rate. We choose ONE unfinished project, or ONE new one, and show progress of its completion over a series of three weekly updates. There are no deadlines and no set amount to stitch. The result is that the space in our drawers full of WIPs (works in progress) is gradually being freed up to store lots of new crafty goodness. It’s surprising how much motivation I’ve gained from being in this SAL.

Weddings and Babies

It has been a busy week with cooler temps bringing relief from a 3 day heat spell. Here we are in August and I feel like summer has actually arrived. The big news this week was a sister in law is expecting a 2nd grand baby. She had posted some birthday gathering photos on her FB page and the ‘couple’ were photographed and I thought – hmm do I spy a baby bump? Our phone call – “I may be out of line but” “I know what you’re gonna ask, I have been getting quite a few calls” “do I need to start a baby quilt?” “Yes – we were waiting to let everyone know till they found out the sex” …. The picture was so cute. The couple standing with Dad behind Mom and his hands and hers were cupped under neither her tiny baby bump. It was not meant to indicate a baby and was purely accidental. Now we know the sex, its a boy!

So this week I got busy looking through my fabric stash. Most of my fabrics are flowers and feminine prints and patterns, lots of Christmas too. I was able to come up with a few choices, mostly bits and bobs of stuff but enough of 2 to make a simple 9 patch baby quilt. I had just enough of the sweet material with the children to get enough blocks for this. So far I have 4 made. I will need to get to the store to find backing and sashing material.

I wanted to share another journal I made that I am presenting this evening. We had a wedding in our family back in January. My husbands brother was married and this late afternoon much of the family will be gathering for a bbq and surprise party for them. I am all prepped and ready so I thought I would share the journal with you. It is a 2 ring bound book made from a cereal box. The cover is from a Chagall themed calendar. Many of the printable are from thegraphicsfairy.com and wedding photo prints from my collection of wedding photos.

All of the wedding photos are from my wedding photo collection

Taken from the 1903 edition of The Woman’s Magazine

A best wishes vintage postcard for the couple

Using my newspaper.com subscription I found articles on wedding menus from the 1930’s and printed them on coffee dyed paper

Envelope for tag below when opened

There are a few more blank pages specifically for journaling and all of the tags have space for jotting down a memory or two.

Quilting and Journal making ~ so many fun things to do!

Obsessed With Mini Journals

I am obsessed with mini journal making. They are just so cute, simple and fit in the palm of your hand. This mini is a compact 3 x 5.5″ Milliner themed journal. It is a no sew journal with 3 signatures, each constructed with one standard size sheet of paper, giving me 4 pages in each signature, (8 front and back), also allowing for top and side pockets. The cover was constructed out of a cereal box, then covered with book pages and some bits and bobs. I used silver metallic cord to secure the signatures.

Lots of cream lace and ribbons add to the feminine feel of this mini.

Mrs. Drums two daughters, Hattie and Minnie

Mrs. Drum is a milliner and dressmaker in Toledo, OH. After working for 13 years at one of the top milliner shops in town, she had decided to leave and open her own shop. This was quite a leap of faith and a bold move for her as she was a widow and her income was her families sole support. In the years that followed, she had become very successful and decided it was time and worth her while to make the trip to Chicago and enter the Milliners Convention being held on March 9, 1910.

Mrs. Drums daughter Hattie wearing one of her hats. The small photo up top is of Mrs. Drums mother who has since passed away.

Mrs. Drum knew just how she would set up her displays at the at the convention.

Above is Mrs. Brown, one of the finest lacemakers in the state who worked for Mrs. Drum. She was disappointed that Mrs. Brown was not able to accompany her on this trip. Mrs. Drum assured Mrs. Brown, who she affectionately called Teddy, that she would give her credit for all her beautiful laces adorning the hats. That is a picture of Mrs. Brown peaking out of the side pocket when she was much younger.

Here is Mrs. Drum in all her finest. There was a lovely opening dinner for the convention and she decided to wear her smart bolero jacket and dress with her finest hat. For the closing evening ball, she wore the beautiful pink gown her daughter Hattie had fashioned with the lace trim around the neckline that Mrs. Brown had sewn. Gloves, fan and a bit of lace adorned her hair. She had the most agreeable evening and was delighted when she was given recognition as one of the top Milliners in Ohio, and rightfully so I might add. (she was quite surprised by this)

Birds were very fashionable at the time and often adorned hats. Mrs. Drums daughter Minnie thought it was quite a ridiculous fashion.

Hattie and Minnie in their evening wear for the ball. Mrs. Drum always made sure she had extra buttons for mending

This journal has lots of tuck spots and mini journal cards. The printable are from TheGraphicsFairy – The Milliner Collection along with some of their other beautiful printables and lots of collected ephemera I have on hand. There is plenty of journal space on the backs of the pocket tags to jot down a date, a memory, a thought, a wish or a prayer.

They served the most expensive Champaign which was quite a treat for Mrs. Drum and her daughters.

Minnie and Hattie loved seeing the latest hat fashions and all the beautiful dresses the woman wore. Even the dogs wore their finest.

Lace by Mrs. Brown (affectionately Teddy)

On the right is a close up of Minnie arriving at the closing ball.

The most surprising and exciting part of the whole convention had been the arrival of the wife of Mr. Maurice Lajeunsses, editor of a fashionable dress design magazine in Paris, France. Her arrival at the convention had been kept a secret as her mission was to find a top milliner to design hats for one of the finest shops in Paris.

I am sure you have guessed it and it came as no surprise that while ‘Chantecler Hats’ took precedence in the newspaper article, Mrs. Drum received that honor!

Christmas In July: Week 4

Christmas in July has quickly wound down with week 4 being our last update on our project for this ‘craft along’. I picked a lap quilt I had started in January, a Christmas gift for a daughter. It had been slow going up until now, a stitch here and a stitch there – no rush – I had 11 months to go to get her done. I was thrill when Kathy of Sewing Etc suggested a Christmas In July stitch along. You can link to her page here –

https://livinginrapidcity.wordpress.com/

I am hand quilting Hoffmans Dream Big – Poinsettia. I have successful completed all of the red leaves. I am now moving on to the green background leaves. I plan on going back to the red and adding some more detail to a few of them but for now it’s finish the green.

You can see from the picture below that the red leaf simply does not pop! One of the problems is the batting is rather thin and I could have gone with a double layer. I am hoping a wash can help with that also.

I want to thank Kathy for hostessing this Christmas In July stitch along. It has really motivated me to continue with this project and get her done.

HQAL: Jane’s Quilt

Time to report in again on my progress with Jane’s Quilt. At our last posting I had reported that I had quilted 10 cabin logs/strips. I am working on the outer dark ring.

If my counting is not off I have now completed 31 logs. I threw the quilt over the couch back to get a picture of the progress. Skye, our mini schnauzer is looking quite annoyed I would dare to disturb his nap. Nap time disturbed, I am feeling good about my progress this go around. I have just about completed 1/4 of the that outer ring. Looking at the picture above, I am thinking instead of going all around with what I am working on, I may decide to complete the corner.

I hope everyone is doing ok in these high summer heats. It’s awfully difficult to thinking of quilting these heavy wintery beauties in the summer; so thankful for this HQAL and Kathy hostessing it to keep us motivated and on track. Thank you 🙂

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy and Tracy

Christmas In July: Week 3

I am continuing to make progress on my Christmas In July project, a panel quilt from Hoffmans Dream Big Collection. This is actually the third quilt I have done from that collection. I just love those panels 🙂

Here are three of the petals I have completed this week.

some wavy lines

open star

hearts

In addition I did some outline stitching on the leaves as well as some I had not yet done. I have one more red leaf to complete and then it is on to the background green leaves.

Project panel I am working on

Looks like next week will be our last check in. I am not expecting a grand finish but I can say I sure have made head way for a possible August finish.

SAL: Snowman & Reindeer

I am continuing to work on the Dimension’s kit, Snowman & Reindeer for my SAL project. At our last posting I had finished the partial body of the reindeer.

For this update on my progress, I have begun the task of his antlers. I haven’t gotten as far as I would have liked, but I am certainly moving forward and making progress.

My time has been split between a very large quilt I am hand quilting and working on a ‘Christmas in July’ project I am hoping to complete by the end of July. Here’s a sneak peak at the project for those of you who don’t follow my page. It’s a panel from the Hoffmans Dream Big Collection.

Thank you for stopping by and checking in on what’s been going on. Now I am off to look in on the others in this SAL, please join me by clicking on the links below 🙂

Avis, Claire, Gun, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, 

Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen, Connie

Please note this SAL is not accepting any more new members until further notice but this is what it’s all about anyway. This SAL (Stitch Along) is slightly different to other SALs in that we don’t all stitch the same design at the same rate. We choose ONE unfinished project, or ONE new one, and show progress of its completion over a series of three weekly updates. There are no deadlines and no set amount to stitch. The result is that the space in our drawers full of WIPs (works in progress) is gradually being freed up to store lots of new crafty goodness. It’s surprising how much motivation I’ve gained from being in this SAL.

Christmas In July – Week 2

My project for Christmas in July is to finish the Hoffman’s Dream Big Holiday Poinsettia panel. For week 2 I finished the red background leaf and then moved on to some outlining of another leaf I had not finished.

Once the outlining was done, I got another leaf finished.

1. Note to self – no pressure to get this done but it is week 2 with 2 more weeks to go 🙂

Christmas in July ~ Week 1

It’s Christmas in July and for my project I decided to continue to work on a Christmas project I have been working on since the beginning of this year. I am hand quilting a Hoffman’s Dream Big Poinsettia, 43″ panel for a Christmas gift.

Backing fabric

Above is the picture of where I left off in April. The inside leaves are stitched. Since then, I have not touched her, so I am hoping this ‘Christmas in July’ will motivate me each week to pick her up, show her some love and get her done. This is a pretty loosey goosey, no pressure, I joined the challenge, stitch along.

Have you thought about Christmas yet?

For all of you joining in, we’ve got this!

Until next week 🙂

Sharon

HQAL: Jane’s Quilt

At our last posting I was happy to report I had a very mini finish having completed the white around the medallion middle.

The next step was to begin quilting around the dark strips around the light colors I had finished. I haven’t done much in the last three weeks but I got a start. The cabin blocks are all in graduating sizes so saying I stitched 10 blocks isn’t much. I moved the ring a few inches over one time to get 10 strips done.

That wraps it up for me for this posting. I hope to find more time to work on her for our next posting. Below are the links for the others in this HQAL. I hope you’ll stop in and see the amazing work that is being done by the others ~

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy and Tracy