Dutch Sampler Pincushion

This is a little pincushion that I made for my dear friend Joan. 

She loves the color blue, so it will be perfect for her. 

It was a free cross stitch pattern called

Motif from a Dutch Sampler, dated 1776.

Flower Garden Doll Quilt

I would like to show you a quilt that I worked on from January through May of 2010.  I was away from home for several months helping take care of my dad.  I didn't have anything to work on, so I picked up a package of 3/4 inch paper hexagons from the local quilt store along with a little bag of pink scraps.  This is the final result. 

 The quilt has eight little English paper pieced pink flowers

 with blue centers. 





I started out by making the flowers and then setting them together with cream.  Originally I had thought to use only one fabric for the background, but found it a little boring and decided to mix it up. When working on this type of quilt it is hard to visualize the ends.  Putting the brown borders at the top and bottom helped me define the shape of the quilt .  The fussy cuts in the brown borders were fun.   

I only made one fancy flower.  Love how it turned out.

As the quilt progressed the background got scrappier.

This is how the quilt looks from the back before removing

all of the papers.

A little border is added.

Closeup of the quilting

All done and resting on my grandmother's vanity.

Bobbie

Orange Peel Quilt

I have been working for the last few weeks on a quilt from Kathleen Tracy's book Remembering Adelia.  I like handwork because I can work on it easily even when I'm not at home.  Originally I had planned on making it a brown quilt, but after cutting out a dozen or so orange peels I decided that I had better throw in some rusts and yellows.  There were so many fabrics that I wanted to include, that it was hard to decide what to leave out. 

I sewed the background squares all together first and then basted the orange peels to it.  After that it was easy to simply stitch them on.  I am almost finished with the hand stitching.  I have only seven left to do.

I thought that you might like to see my sewing caddy.  I use it all the time.  It is a black laquered wooden tray with a handle running down the center that divides the tray in to two sections.  I bought it a few years ago from World Market.  I folded up some fabric for temporary liners and it has been that way ever since.  It holds everything I need for hand piecing, applique or quilting.  

Bobbie