Maxine's Quilt

I've added a few things to Maxine's quilt now. I'm really happy to have the majority of the repairs out of the way! I'll admit, I'm still a bit overwhelmed with embellishing a quilt this large so I'm kind working here, there and everywhere at the same time. When I get an idea, I just do it. Basically, there's no rhyme or reason to how I'm working. I figure it'll come together eventually.

So here's what I have done so far. You may remember this painted flower that I stem stitched around last week:



I added a vintage button and some beads to that now. I'll be adding more things to this motif but I haven't decided on what yet.

Next, I found this little leaf on the quilt. It was just hanging around by itself doing nothing so I added a crocheted flower to it and then beaded that:



Last, I painted some small vintage tatted flowers, did some stem stitched stems & leaves and beaded those with some bugle beads. The flower centers are vintage mother of pearl buttons:



As I suspected in the beginning, this quilt was one that someone got bored with and lost interest in. While repairing it, I found some silk patches with outlines of flowers done in light pencil marks. Very interesting. They're a bit hard to see so I won't be stitching those. Instead, I'll be doing my own embroidered motifs on it. In some cases, I will be stitching them on fabric first and then adding them to the quilt. It'll probably be easier that way.

I doubt I'll have time to post tomorrow. Scott's birthday is today and he has tomorrow off so we'll be driving up to Galena for a nice lunch and a little shopping.

I'll see ya on Tuesday!

Red Hat Lady Finished!

I so much enjoy making these little pouches! I did the finishing on this one yesterday:



I would like to have a sewing day next week for piecing a few new blocks, esp. cellphone pouches. I think I only 1 or 2 in the drawer that are ready to stitch.

Speaking of piecing blocks, Allison has posted a tutorial on her blog for crazy quilt foundation piecing. If you've been wanting to try this but have no clue where to start, Allison's instructions and photos will give you all the information you need.

My plan for later today is to continue on with the process of embellishing Maxine's quilt. Stop by tomorrow for an undate on that project.

Lots Of Stitching Time Yesterday

I completed the stitching on my Red Hat Lady pouch:



Don't you just love my little green spider?!!!!

After that, I worked on Maxine's quilt for a few hours and added this motif:



I found a whole package of these at an antique shop in Peoria Illinois. I think they were taken off of curtains or a dust ruffle. There's something familiar about them. Maybe they remind me of something my mom or my grandma had years ago.

Anyway, I trimmed the excess fabric away from the outside and then I hand painted it, sewed it onto the quilt and then beaded it.

Looking at this quilt, I feel that I'll be able to do anything I want, just as I would my own pieces. The only thing that I need to do is to keep everything in the muted antique colors. Anything new that I use will have to be "aged" with fabric dye before I use it. In fact, I "aged" a few other things yesterday and hope to have time later to work on this some more.

In the meantime, I'll be sewing up the Red Hat Lady pouch and getting it ready for it's new owner. Stop by tomorrow to see the finished pouch.

Red Hat Lady & Velvet Pansies

Digging around in my stash, I found some white cotton velvet that mom had given me not too long ago. Well, you know what you can do with cotton velvet? You can dye it! And that's just what I did:



They don't look like much now. I still have to Blanket Stitch around the outside and then add the do-dads to the centers. I'll work on those today. I want to make some leaves too.

I then worked on the Red Hat Lady pouch:



This is ready for some beads! I'll work it again later this afternoon. If I complete it today, I'll do the finishing tomorrow.

I must say, I love the way red and purple looks together!

Speaking Of Dragonflies......

Isn't this a gorgeous little creature?



Scott took this photo yesterday evening when he got home from work. We were sitting on the front porch watching this guy bounce around in the garden.

We have many varieties of dragonflies here, but this one is one of my favorites.