Workin' Outside

So, Saturday I fully intended to get some serious sewing done,

but.....the weather was PERFECT for being outside!!

So, Friday night, with a little help, the shrubbery forest known as landscaping,

finally (after 5+ years!!!) got yanked out!

I forgot to take a "before" picture as I usually forget to do, but just picture bushes that typically aren't used in landscaping but rather hedges hiding just about all the window and half the door...I know...it wasn't good!! I had a landscaping forest on my hands.

Whoever planted the buggers before I moved in didn't read the tags well AT ALL...and no matter how much pruning and love I gave them, they just weren't right.

So, as shown here, they're all goners!! Yup!!

 Now I have one smoke bush (which potentially could get out of hand) and four hydrangeas.

Next Spring -hopefully- there will be a nice porch added to the front of my house and at that time I'll deal with the whole hosta abundance situation...for now, they're green filler!

Nest step, 1,000 more bags of mulch...well, maybe 20 :)

This is taken from the other side...since I already had to go to the landfill to rid myself of a forest, I pruned my 3 remaining shrubs...and maybe a little of my thumb...

Like I said....my hostas are forming a take over!!!!

Now I', just waiting for yesterdays nourishing rain to turn my lawn green again....

that would be an AWESOME added little bonus :)

Now, I can sew ;)

~K

Groovy Girls Christmas :)

Merry Christmas!

From the Groovy Girls Club!

This past Saturday, we celebrated Christmas...yup...you heard that right :)

I made up some cute Terry Atkinson stuff for Christmas...you know, to give y'all a jump start on some of that Christmas sewing!!

Here's a picture of my display...you'll have to go to the shop to see things up close...i forgot to take individual project pictures...oops!

I made the Baguette Pattern (seen toward the front to the left of the doilie)

I also put together some popovers from her Popovers pattern...these are AWESOME!! Especially for little gifties and gift cards. They also go together pretty simply and quickly. All 3 sizes are useful. They are toward the back of the table on the left.

Lastly, the Christmas quilt. Made using Terry's Fire Escape pattern and fabric by Kate Spain for MODA called JOY! I'm super satisfied with how this turned out and it's a must see...and feel as I put red minkee on the back :) it's sooooo soft and cuddly!!!! Yup...it's at the shop as of this evening...it's currently back in my possession for binding.

I love how the little white squares look like falling snow :)

~K

Farmers wife

There's been some sort of grand plot against my sewing lately....i'm currently (hopefully temporarily) in search of my Farmer's Wife book as well as the book for another little project i'm working on!!

I've dug and dug and searched and cannot seam to find them!!

As you can see, nothing good comes from cleaning ;)

So...my appologies for the unlabeled blocks for this months Farmer's Wife club!

I'll update as soon as the lost is found!!!

~K

Darlene Zimmerman Class

Well, Darlene came to the shop to teach again July 14 and mom and I took the class!

You know how I am....I can never follow a pattern! I just HAVE to make it my own! So, after a little doodling, I came up with this:

The fabric is from an older MODA line by Bunny Hill called Lily & Will

It will still have scallop borders because how can you not?? Scallop borders are just so stinkin cute!

 Here is like to the FREE patern

The Redwork version (smaller like mine) click here

The pastel version (slightly larger) click here

Just Checking In

Hey friends-
I'm gearing up to start in on another month of Groovy Girls stitching!
~k

Farmer's Wife: Month 5 blocks (37-46)

Welcome to month 5 of the Farmer's Wife blocks. Can you believe we're almost half done already??? Doesn't it seem like just yesterday when we started in on these little beauties?

This month I made 10 blocks.

Please note that block 37-Flower Pot and block 43-Garden Path both have the beloved Y-Seams.

Confession...up till now, I had managed to NEVER sew a Y-seam and the thought made me really nervous. That's when I went and found this video clip on YouTube that really made it simple and I'm happy to say that all my Y-seams turned out perfect on the FIRST try. Here's the magical video.

Now that you've been educated on the simplicity of the Y-seam, we move on to our blocks.

Block 37: Flower Pot

This block has 2 Y-seams. Don't get stressed, just watch the clip a couple times and then move on and stitch :)
You can do it, I have confidence in you!!



Block 38: Four Winds

Nothing to technically difficult, just take your time and be sure your seams are scant!



Block 39: Friendship

So my seams "nested" nicely, I pressed the "red" blocks to inner little triangle and the "blue" blocks to the outer big triangle.

Block 40: Friendship Block

Block 41: Friendship Star

Block 42: Fruit Basket

Block 43: Garden Path

This is the other little stinker that uses Y-seams. It does go together nicely though!



Block 44: Gentleman's Fancy

Block 45: Grape Basket

I opted to make a blueberry basket. Do you remember the children's book "Blueberries for Sal"?? It was one of my favorites as a child and I think my mom had it memorized! If you haven't, consider taking a trip to the children's library and give it a quick read....truly a timeless classic in my opinion. Thus, I've entitled this block "Blueberries for Sal".

Block 46: Hill and Valley

Enjoy!!

~K

Stitcher's Club - May

My sewing zone has been pretty quiet the past couple weeks till last night!

I put the finishing touches on the April portion of our club project and then created the free May project. Here's how thing worked out:

April Step - DONE!

May project - made a bunch of these - the project is now DONE!
Picture will come later. Hope the picture leaves you wondering!!

Enjoy the sunshine today

~K