Embroidery 101 - A finish

It is done! Not only done, but gone to it's new home too! I didn't get to do much in the way of sewing this weekend, but I did manage to finish up the binding on this Friday so I could send it to it's new home Saturday. It was a pretty great weekend. A day-long date on Saturday was a lot of fun; a bit of shopping, a lunch date, a movie, and a bit more shopping before having a great dinner/dessert with my sister and baby girl :) It definitely put me in the mood to get a lot done this week. Of course today is the only day I have to make a couple little valentine's day gifts for tomorrow so I hope I can manage to get that done.

Anyway, on to the quilt! I started this one in the fall. Well it has been on my list since the QAL over at Clover and Violet this past summer, but I found the fabric while quilt shop hopping in October and had all the blocks together in November I think, and then they sat, waiting to be embroidered. I am glad I finally made myself take the time to do it. It was so much fun. I loved learning all the stitches and I'm so happy with how it turned out. My blocks are a bit small since I pre-washed my fat quarters so they weren't quite 18" so instead of 3" strips mine were all 2.75" giving me 16" finished blocks. I added some 2" sashing (4" on the outside) to bring it up to a 60" square. I quilted straight lines to the side of each seam and I love how it came out. I'd love to tell you what the fabrics are, but I'm not sure. I know the blocks are mostly from the Central Park line and the sashing/back/binding is from the DS quilts lines at Joanns.

This was a quilt I never intended to keep, although I wasn't sure for a while exactly who it was going to. It is delivered and loved though. And I am glad to have my second quilty finish for 2012. Now I just need to get one done start to finish this year instead of finishing up last years haha. I am on my way though, my ikea quilt is almost ready for basting! This week for sure. And now, I better go think loving thoughts and get some gifts done for tomorrow :)

Embroidery 101: blocks 4-9

I must be crazy...crazy productive that is! As of last week, I had 4 embroidery 101 blocks finished. This weekend I went into overdrive and finished the other 5! That is correct, all 9 blocks are finished, thanks mostly to some quality movie time. And I am hoping to have a quilt top by the end of the day. We'll see about that, but I'm going to try. I even think I know what I am going to use for the back, but I still have to go get it so it is subject to change.

I had a good time working on these. For the last one I did change it up and do a back stitch instead of a stem stitch for the outline because I do hate stem stitch a little bit, and the second to last one I skipped the satin stitch for the sake of time/thread/sanity. Oh, and my coral stitch - terrible. But I love how they all came out. So here they are, blocks 4-9.

I can't wait to see this all together. I really want to get this one done and out of the way to clear out some space. I have far too many things (quilts mostly at this point) just sitting around waiting to be made so I am hoping to put some energy into that over the next month or so. I am pretty excited about it, I just need to keep the momentum going.  Now if I want this quilt to together today, I best get to work!

Embroidery 101: blocks 1-3

I am finally really working on it. My embroidery 101 quilt that is. This quilt along was run over at Clover and Violet over the summer and it was on my to-do list even then. I put together the blocks ages ago and never got around to doing the embroidery part, but now it is on my finish-by-the-end-of-the-month list. The problem was that I was saving it as a project to work on at night while sitting around watching things, but there were too many other things to do instead. So I've been spending some afternoons working on it. Now that I am into the 4th block, I thought I would share the first 3. I am really loving them so far.

At this point, I have done: backstitch, french knot, running stitch, satin stitch, lazy daisy, and stem stitch. I'm not great at all of them, but I'm working on it. My satin stitch has gotten worlds better! Here they are!

I am just loving it! I don't know what I am going to do with this one yet, I have a few people in mind to give it to, so we'll see. I think today I'll be trying to finish up number 4. With a bit of luck, this weekend I'll get caught up on skill builder blocks, make some slippers and keep embroidering. And at this rate, I only need a few more movie nights to finish my Farmer's Wife quilt! Happy Weekend!