FINISHED: Silver Needle Acorns (6)

I have wanted to go to the long weekend camp that is hosted twice a year by the Silver Needle - a needlework shop in Tulsa - ever since I first heard about it.   I've been a mail order customer of theirs for decades (they opened in the mid 1980s and have been doing the camp for about 25 years now).

I just up and went for the first time last November.  I didn't know a soul.  But it was GREAT.  Nice accommodations in a lodge at a localish state park.   Wonderful meals - one by an Amish family on their farm!   And four blissful days of stitching.   There were three 'class' projects and this is the one I finished at home after the camp.    It's actually two kits - the brown ones were from a shop class, the colorful ones from the camp class.  

I will use them with a fall garland to fill the gap between Halloween decor and Thanksgiving.

Started at Silver Needle Camp November 2016, completed 8/18/2017

Pattern/Kits By Silver Needle, Tulsa, OK

FINISHED: Rose Bear

Earlier this year when I started quilting again, I went rummaging through the basement looking for boxes that I knew held fabric.   I found a BUNCH of it.   And wadded up in there were several of those one yard printed panels for various things, including an apron, holiday ornaments (Christmas and Halloween), dolls and a bear.   Most of them were/are un-started.

But this bear was all cut out and one seam of the head was in place.   Well, I was tired of seeing it on the "Works in Progress list" so  I set myself a goal of sewing one seam or doing one step every night that I didn't have a meeting of any kind.   And lo and behold, if you work on something, it gets finished!

Panel copyright Cranston Print Works/VIP Screen Print.   I didn't find a date on the remaining selvages, but it has to be from the mid 1990s given the box it was in.   Probably purchased at JoAnns or Hobby Lobby.

FINISHED: Dresden Plate Doll Quilt

Here's another recent finish from the UFO pile.   This started out as a "pattern plus" kit from the local quilt store. I did it scrappy style, using several Aunt Grace and other 30s reproduction fabrics. The outer blue border fabric is vintage.

The Dresden Plates were hand pieced over papers from "Paper Pieces" and the color choices on their pattern informed mine. Plates are hand pieced and hand appliqued and then the rest of the top was machine pieced. The sashing strips are a half inch wide finished.

Pattern is "Miniature Dresden Plate" by Paper Pieces, KY.

Top completed 4/15/2017. Machine quilted on my DSM (Domestic Sewing Machine),  a Singer Featherweight 221. Quilt completed 6/18/2017. Size is 18 x 24 inches (approx).

This will be gifted to Alexis for Christmas this year.

FINISHED: Crumb Baskets Wall Quilt

I grew up around quilters; both my grandmother and my great aunt quilted. I learned to sew on the Singer featherweight that I now use to machine piece. I learned to hem by helping to sew down bindings on my grandmother's quilts.

My mother, on the other hand, was a knitter, and she passed that craft on to me as well.  I started quilting seriously in the mid 1980s, moved away from it for a few years in the early 2000s, and am now back.

I had a project "in the works" when I got involved with the (now sadly defunct) Kansas City Historic Sampler Guild in the 1990s.  My quilting fell by the wayside when I got totally immersed in the world of historic counted thread needlework.    My project sat, partially quilted, until earlier this year.

I blame/thank the quilters at my church for getting me started again!

Front

Back

The pattern is "Crumb Baskets" by Marianne Fons (of Fons and Porter fame), the project was designed and started in a class by her sponsored by the Topeka Capital Quilters Guild in 1992.  Size is approx 28 x 28 inches.

It's machine pieced (both front and back) and hand quilted.  It was finished on 3/15/2017.

Wish list

Keeping track of things that I would LOVE to have:

Extension table for my Featherweight

Singer Treadle base with upright Craftsman Style legs and plain drawers

Vintage ZigZag attachment for low shank, straight stitch machines

Vintage Free Motion attachment for low shank, straight stitch machines

New cutting mat - need to check size

The obligatory welcome post.

My old blog, Threads and Needles Sticks and Strings, has been dormant for almost a decade other than a 'hey my life blew up, sorry about that' post.  AND the photo hosting site that I used went defunct and lost all the pictures.   So starting over again with a new blog here.

Hi, I'm Karla.  I have one son, a daughter in law and two wonderful grandchildren.   My hobbies revolve around all kinds of fiber and cloth.  I knit, spin, weave, crochet, tat, quilt, do counted thread needlework of all types, twilling, cutwork and other traditional surface embroidery.  I've done some costume design in the past.  I play handbells.   I read - a lot.

I also love vintage sewing machines and tools.  My most "modern" sewing machine is from the mid 1960s!   There's an honest solidity to the old cast metal machines that I love.  New machines may have tons of fancy stitches and built in walking feet and cut your thread for you, but I doubt they will still be functioning perfectly in 100 years like a Singer Model 15 or 99 treadle can.

My knitting, crochet, spinning and weaving are all documented on Ravelry from 2006 on (and a very few older projects that I've put up for one reason or another).  If you do anything at all with those crafts, you should totally join the site.  It's very well run and the databases and forums are all fantastic.    I'll talk a bit about my knitting here, but mostly it's going to be about the projects in the crafts that Ravelry doesn't host - the embroidery of various types, the sewing, and the quilting.  And books, and bells, and my family. (And shooting and archery and walking - you have to put down the needles at SOME point.)

Welcome to my world.