This is my February project for Allie’s “Christmas Through the Year” club. It’s inspired by another one of those Flickr images I’ve had in my favorites for a long time. Each day in December, 2008, Barbara at Oodles and Oodles added a different vintage Christmas wrap image to her sidebar. This was probably my favorite…
For some reason, I cannot think about a quilting pattern until a top is completely done. I sit there staring at the top….go look at some pattern books….sketch a little….begin stitching a design….rip that out….stare at the top. This can go on for an amazingly long period of time. In the case of this doll…
This top was purchased on ebay a couple of years ago, and it was so cheap — $20, including shipping. It’s difficult to determine the age of the top since there are no prints. If I had to guess, I would say 1930s or 1940s just because of the color and weight of the green…
It’s been quite awhile since I posted an Alice block. I have so many different projects going on right now, it doesn’t seem like much progress is being made on any of them. Thankfully, Alice’s face on this block went pretty smoothly and I didn’t have to do the normal unpicking and re-stitching. I am…
This is a picture I stitched for Gordon’s parents when Elliott was born. Gordon, Sr. (“Big G”) just turned 89 and Gail was 81 on the 4th of July. Big G continues to play golf every week, and Gail works part time at the Bellevue Square Mall information booth. We just celebrated their 60th Wedding…
Sam at Feeling Stitchy selected my lion quilt block as the winner in the yellow category of the Feeling Stitchy Rainbow of Stitches contest. I entered a quilt block in almost every rainbow color, and I think yellow was the category with the least number of entries. So….better odds for my lion, which is good…
Maybe I should have pressed this a little better because it’s looks a little wrinkly. I do like Alice’s eyes on this one — the facial features are always the most challenging, especially the eyes. There is still no plan for how I’m going to set these blocks — whether I’m going to make alternate…
I am really enjoying working on these redwork blocks. It’s challenging to get all the tiny details in each picture (especially the face, which I had to rip out several times just like in the previous block), but that’s what makes it interesting. Also, I like the way it’s looking with the darker thread. This…
Thank you everyone for your kind words regarding Jack’s death. It is hard to lose a pet, but I am feeling much better now. This embroidered block was very enjoyable to stitch — the tiny outline work really appeals to me, although I did struggle with Alice’s face. The whole piece is stitched with one…
Since I am working on a Christmas quilt and am still sort of “in the spirit,” I thought I would post this darling pattern just in case someone would like to stitch it up for Christmas, 2010. This may be my all-time favorite cover of Needlecraft, The Home Arts Magazine. The designer’s name is…
These stockings are Charles Ross patterns and were all stitched in the 80s. I made Gordon’s stocking first, then he cross stitched all the rest — I sewed them together. It’s funny — the decorative alphabet letters provided in the booklet are all upper case. Elliott’s name was too long to fit in the space,…
Several years ago I saw this fabulous embroidered butterfly quilt top on ebay. I can’t remember what it sold for, but it was a lot more than I was willing to pay. I did, however, save the photos because I loved it so much and thought someday I would make a similar quilt. I am…
These pretty vintage pillowcases with the filet edging were purchased on ebay. For some reason they are huge, so I am going to cut them down a bit on the other end. I adapted the designs from the J. F. Ingalls embroidery catalog published in 1886. Scans of the catalog are available on John Governale’s…
Update: I used an online coloring page to make this pattern, and I just realized that the page no longer exists. Fortunately, there are lots of haunted house coloring pages out there, so I’m sure it would not be difficult to find a pattern you like. All of the fabric is vintage and the lavender percale was…
When my son, Elliott, was little, I loved to decorate his denim overalls with leftover trim pieces and embroidery stitches. As he grew taller, I’d cut that pair into shorts and stitch a new one with long pants. Once he started kindergarten, he told me he didn’t want to wear overalls anymore. I was sort…