Disappearing Act

Hello dear friends and fellow stitchers! I didn't mean to disappear on you like that. It's just been a busy time. I have been keeping up with my blog reading and have done a fair amount of stitching; I just haven't had the time to keep up with my blog. Will try to rectify that now with a couple of updates for you!

One project on my to-do list was to finish up a quilt that my daughter had pieced together a couple of years ago. She got the idea that she wanted to take some of her old basketball t-shirts and make a quilt with them. We went shopping for fabrics (she likes bright colors) and we purchased some stabilizer for the t-shirt blocks. She then spent a couple of days putting the top together. When she was finished it went into box and there it sat for about 2 or 3 years now.

As you might remember, she went off to college in August. I decided that I wanted to surprise her by finishing off her quilt. With help from my friend Joan, we went shopping last weekend for backing fabric and for the batting. Joan did the quilting for me and put the binding on; I finished the hand sewing of the binding. Here are some pictures of my daughter's finished quilt!




My daughter personalized the quilt by transferring some photos of herself playing basketball onto fabric:



I also like this saying which she added to her quilt:



My daughter is home from college this weekend. Was she ever surprised to find her finished quilt waiting for her on her bed!

On the stitching front, I've been working on some Hardanger pieces lately. I have a doily that I'm almost finished with and have stitched up a few Hardanger crosses. I've been trying to use up some of the fabric scraps and small amounts of overdyed perle cotton threads I have in my stash.

One project that I thoroughly enjoyed doing again is this beautiful Cindy Valentine Hardanger scissors and needlecase. My friend Judy celebrated a birthday recently. She's been very good to me in the past year and I wanted to do something special for her birthday.

The case folds up in thirds; there's a matching scissor fob for the scissors:



Here's the outside of the case:



Here's the inside of the case; it's lined with dupioni silk:



As I mentioned, this is a Cindy Valentine design. It's called Apricot Elegance as the model was done on Apricot cashel. For the one I stitched above, I used Lakeside Linens 28 ct Bittersweet lined. The fibers were from Needle Necessities. It's pretty don't you think?

If you are interested, you can visit this older post from June of 2006 to see a picture of the needlecase I made for myself in a soft mint green! Click here.

Finally, check out this wonderful stitching portfolio that Joan made! We were out and about a few weeks ago and found this great Blackbird Designs fabric. I like the alphabet fabric on the outside; the inside is lined with coordinating Blackbird Designs fabric. It's large enough to hold some of my BBD books.




Joan has made more and is selling them. If you are interested, please be sure to visit her blog. There is a link to her email address in her profile.

Well, that's all I've got for now. Need to do a little shopping with my daughter this afternoon and then we're planning to grill a delicious meal for supper tonight.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you are enjoying your weekend!