Pages

Thursday, April 25, 2013

A New Start & 2 WIP's


Melicent Turner
Little House Needleworks
30 ct R & R Olde Towne Blende
Called for Crescent Colour threads
 
This is one of my WIP's for 2013.  This is the first time I have picked her up since January.  She will be a fast stitch if I can get serious.  But I am being pulled in several directions as you will see below. :)



Potato Chip Scarf
NORO yarn
 
A new start!  I'll bet you aren't surprised that I choose pink. This was the program last Saturday at my local EGA guild.  Since my LYS closed last year, I gave up trying to expand my knitting skills (which are very few).  But this program was proposed and with a little help from my EGA friends I am on my way.  Who would believe that something as simple as casting on had escaped my brain?  Uh, me!
 

I'd like to share a little story with you.
 
 I took a beginner's quilting class in 1988.  The above book was our project book.   I handstitched all 24 blocks and was taught to attach sashing, then batting and backing, then quilt each block separately. Finally attach the blocks to each other.  As you can imagine the backing had to be folded over and slipstitched together. 
 
After I had attached my first 2 blocks together, my mother came to visit.  Yes, my mother, the over-the-top prolific quilter!  She looked at it and said "What is this?  I told her that this was the way the teacher in my class was showing us to quilt.  After a long pause, Mom said "I've never seen anything like this before."  She wasn't being unkind, just puzzled.  Well, that was all it took for me to put this away in a box under my bed and leave it there until this last week! 
 
What caused me to finally work up enough courage to pull it out? I think it was completing my 2nd beginner's class last year.  After studying what was already finished in the box, I couldn't bear throwing away all that handwork.  So I frogged a whole lot of hand quilting to get back to separate blocks and tossed old polyester batting.
 
Then I decided that I hated the fabric used for sashing (and border fabrics too), so I frogged all the sashing off and picked out new fabric.  Finally I'm ready to start making a quilt top .  Here is a little peek of some of my blocks below.  (I forgot to take a picture before I started)
 
 Luckily I kept all the extra fabric I used in the blocks.  I might get a narrow border out of one. And some small blocks for part of the sashing out of another. 



Does anybody else have a really old project under their bed or in a cupboard?  Come on and share it !

13 comments:

marly said...

Removing the hand stitching to start over took guts, and I'm sure you'll be happy with the finish.

cucki said...

Happy stitching x

Maggee said...

The LHN sampler looks good so far--quick stitch eh? And the colors of your quilt blocks are pretty--it's gonna be pretty! I have some cross stitch pieces I have touched in a while, but that's it! Got rid of other crafts... oh, except scrapbooking. But I really don't want to do all that so I need to find a home for all those supplies! Hugs!

Margaret said...

OMG, that is just soooo funny! That is the exact same book that I used for my first quilting class too!!!! I have my quilt all made, but the quilting is where I bogged down. It still needs to be finished. I was hand quilting it. Of course now, I don't like the fabrics anymore. lol! Oh well. I showed the quilt on my blog once. Can't remember which post though. So much fun!

Samplers, Silks and Linens said...

gosh you are not afraid of hard work are you? look forward to your next update on your quilt - great stitching start too - Amanda

Barb said...

Taking out all that hand stitching is amazing and very time consuming-good for you! I hope you will love the new quilt!

Lorrie said...

I love the look of the potato chip scarf. I'll have to try that one. Really awesome you have pulled out your quilt to finish. I admire your dedication to have pulled out your stitching and are reworking it. I'm sure it was just beautiful but can understand reworking it if you are not happy with it.

Linda said...

Everything your working on looks great. Keep it up.

Linda

Annette-California said...

Your quilt blocks look so complicated to do - And yours look beautiful. Hm..Old projects? Only needleworks, 3 needlepoint projects but not any for quilting. I luckily finished mine. Love your new wips by the way. love Annette

Samplings from Spring Creek said...

So glad you finished and did not toss. Yes, I have some super old projects and often ask myself why I stopped working on them and never finished.

Keep taking classes--a great way to learn, share and meet kindred spirits.

Anne said...

I'm so glad you pulled it out and dusted off the dust mites!! It will look amazing once completed. I have a really old cross stitch design I started when I was 16. Just can't seem to finish it. It has so much kreinik which I despise working with. It's not under my bed but it is in a project bag...yellowing...

Lesley S. said...

The quilt blocks look nice Mom! Its going to be pretty.

Brigitte said...

Wow, that is really old. But good that you didn't decide against it and will finish it after the changes you are making. The quilt deserves to be rescued. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished quilt.