Berries, Babes, and Bags

Good Morning,  I just had to share a couple of things with you.  First, I found these adorable little dolls in John Day at 'A Little Bit of Europe.'  They were made in Germany, and I just couldn't resist.  I'm not entirely sure just what I will do with them yet, but finding 3 that are the same is so rare.  That was my find for the day.  

Theeeen, I picked a few raspberries.  It took a little while, but I did it.  They are now all safe and sound in their freezer bags - except for the ones that will be eaten soon.  If your screen were only a scratch-n-sniff.  Okay, wait.  That makes for a disturbing image, funny, but disturbing:)  A really quick recipe for summer. 

Bramble Berry Pie: About 4-5 cups raspberries, black berries, blue berries (whatever you have.)  Mix in 1 container strawberry glaze and dump it all in a graham cracker crust.  Chill for about an hour.  Top with ice cream or whipped cream.  MMMmmmm

Lastly, my bags are packed, and I'm ready to go. Watch out Baker City.  Here we come!!!  Quilts, fabric, stitching, antiques, mocha...  Does life get any better than that?  

Wishing you all a fabricilious weekend,

JoeyLea

Just a quick blog on the run.  Over the weekend, we kidnapped the niecelings and took them to the King Tut Exhibition in Seattle, Washington.  We all enjoyed it - highly recommend it while it is in the US.  We then brought them home to pick on, spoil, enjoy, and share time with.  
On a little more sober note, please say a prayer for those fighting and affected by all the lightening fires.  Another last night - as a large portion of the state is burning, my brother and sister-in-law were called out to help fight a fire last night and got in this morning at 6AM.  At least, this blaze is now contained.  I am meeting them half way to take the nieces home today, a little later than planned so they can sleep on the other end.  
On a lighter note, 2 more days until Baker City quilt show.  Counting down:)
Tootles for now,
JoeyLea

Wool Crazy Quilt

Good Morning.  I hope you are all recovering from the wacky holiday week.  I am so happy; I finally found some crazy quilt blogs.  As I said to Pat from Pat Winter's Gatherings, "I knew I couldn't be the only crazy one."  I am nearly finished with one crazy that I thought would be simple, but has turned into quite the challenge - more about that one later.  The one I am anxious to continue on is the one in the bag.

Yes, this is the bag.  To give you an idea of the actual size, it is the bag for my printer (like anyone would pack around a printer???) 

I have the blocks made-up.  They are 14 or 16 inches square (can't remember off the top of my head.)  I made them using all wool, solid colors, recycled/upcycled garments.  I did dye a few of the pieces to get a little  more color variation.  I couldn't resist.  I started stitching on it.  My thing is that I don't use the same stitch on any two seams within the same block.  

 I know that one is smaller than the others:(

 Another thing I did when making these blocks, is use red in the center - represents the hearth of the home.  I like that.  I will be adding 'pictures' to the blocks, but that will be the last thing I do, because I will want to lay all the blocks out and see where the pictures need to be and decide just what kind of picture will need to be in that space:)  Just a me thing.  I have began my own journal of stitches in a real journal given to me to write down my inner most thoughts - stitches work!  I have a few crazy quilts to refer to and jot those stitches down as well as ones I come up with out of necessity.  There are a few books that I just cherish also.

'An Encyclopedia of Crazy Quilt Stitches and Motifs'  This is a great book for beginners.  It has a lot of the basics and I use it often to make sure I have the needle turned just right or just to remember something I should know. 

'Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches' is amazing!  This was my birthday present to myself a couple years ago.  Love it!

And 'Elegant Stitches' has a lot of embellishing for the finer side as well as ribbon embroidery and some stumpworkish sort of stitching.  This one is a little more advanced, but has great illustrations for making even basic stitches.  You could use this book from beginner to advanced stages of stitching.  Okay, so this really makes me want to go thread my needle.

So, until next time - happy stitches.

Free Tutorial Burlap & White Book Mark or Name Tag

Here I go again.  Just thought I would show you a little how to book mark out of burlap and white muslin.  First you will need to go get the piece of burlap you have hiding in a special place so it doesn't make the rest of your fabric smell funny.

Then cut a strip off the end.  It is important that you cut on the grain of the fabric staying between two specific fibers.  If this is tricky for you, try pulling one fiber from the edge.  This will give you a cutting path.  I cut mine two inches wide. I am making a book mark.  If you are making a name tag, you might want it just a tad wider (a nice name tag size is 2.5 X 4.5.)  I then cut 5.5 inches from the strip.  (I will be making more than one so I cut a whole long strip.)  I then cut a piece of iron-on interfacing about 1.5 X 5 inches and ironed that (steamer off) to the burlap.  Very Very Very important - make sure the shiny side is toward the fabric so it doesn't stick to your iron.  That would be bad.  The measurements I use leave about 1/4 inch all around to pull some of the fibers away for a 'fringy' look.  Heehee, I like that word.  I then did what I refer to as doodling with my needle.  I just made a couple little flowers.  I don't use patterns for little things like this, but you could draw a little flower, a cat, write a name, or just any ol' thing you are into.  Next, you will need to get your white muslin. 

Snip and tear from one corner, then from the same corner, snip and tear in the other direction so you end up with a freyed corner.

 I then lay the burlap piece on the white muslin and snipped and tore to make it just slightly larger than the burlap (about another 1/4 inch on all sides.)

 

 

Now you will need your wonder under or heat-n-bond which ever double sided adhesive you prefer.  Cut a piece just slightly larger than the interfacing you cut before stitching.  Iron it (shiny side down & no steam) on the burlap piece.  While you are at it, might as well iron the muslin piece.  Peal the paper off and  place the muslin on the burlap making sure it is centered both top to bottom and side to side.

Iron this from the back - you don't want to take a chance either cinging or snagging your embroidery on the front.  Also, the heat travels through muslin better than it does through burlap. 

And "Voila!"  There you have it.  If you are making name tags, simply hot glue a pin back to the back of the tag or use fun, big safety pin to pin them on.  It is almost easier to make several of these at one time and use the little assembly line technique rather than just one.  This one is going to a very nice lady I met in Prosser last weekend. 

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
Hope you are having a fantastic weekend.