T is for Tuesday; Q is for Quilt

I've been working on a quilt since last summer...

A gift for the newlyweds, which they'll be lucky to receive

by their first anniversary!

When I'm working on the quilt, I am careful to keep my

coffee cup (or any beverage) far away from the quilt!

The pattern is called Merry-Go-Round,

which I've completely hand-pieced, and

am also hand-quilting.

It has bright happy colors, and includes many fabrics 

from the bride's past:  vintage fabrics from the bride's

great-grandmothers' stashes, fabrics from clothes 

that I sewed for her when she was little, and many

fabrics from the numerous baby quilts I've made.

I set the quilting frame up in my parents' home, as 

they have a bit more room, and it gives me an excuse

to go visit them and quilt! It's been in the frame for

about a month now, and I think I should be able to

get it done by the October anniversary...I hope.

My quilting stitches aren't exactly perfect,
or even tiny, but I tell myself that it's
 part of the 'charm of hand-made.'

I do attempt to keep them uniform in size.

In the block above, the red gingham was a dress that

I made for my daughter when she was in grade school.

A couple of the fabrics are from my maternal grandmother's

scraps, and one is even from a guitar case that I 

made in high school.  Yes, a quilted fabric guitar case.

Weird, I know. But I liked it much better than the

black 'cardboard' ones that you buy.  (I used

pre-quilted fabric on part of that guitar case, wasn't up to

hand-quilting in high school! and no, I don't

 really play guitar any more)

The cable quilting designs are marked in pencil and

then stitched.  The triangle and rectangle shapes are

just 'eyeballed.'  So they aren't always perfect...

It's challenging to get your shoulders, arms and hands

to 'turn' in the right direction to follow the quilting design.

I find I have to pace myself so as not to get sore muscles.

Many quilters have their quilt tops machine-quilted these

days, but I really enjoy hand quilting.  I don't exactly know

how many hours I have in this quilt. At least 500 hours, 

at a guess.  If I kept an accurate track of how long it takes,

I might never make another!

Here's how I have my morning 'mocha' coffee...

to your coffee cup add 1 heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder,

a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of vanilla, sweetener to taste,

(I use any Stevia sweetener)

and a splash of fat-free milk.  Yum!

Visit Bluebeard and Elizabeth at

Altered Book Lover

to see what others are doing on Tuesday!

Perhaps they are having Tea on Tuesday,

instead of coffee, like me...

Handicrafts ~ ICAD 2013

The Index-Card-A-Day 2013 Challenge

continues with 15-21.

This week I ended up with the theme

of 'handicrafts.'  My Webster's dictionary

defines it as "an occupation requiring skill

with the hands."  A broad definition.

Above, a sketch of a cookie form

made from cast iron.  Somehow my

bird ended up looking angry...

Above, a motif inspired by chintz fabric.

I love big old-fashioned cabbage rose images.

I decided to draw some of the many pin cushions

that I've made in the last year.  Above, the heart-shaped

pin cushion that I made in February, using traditional

cross-stitch sampler motifs.

This cross-stitch pincushion is a design by

Homespun Elegance, c. 2010.

They call it a 'Pin Poke.'

I really liked the gathered circular shape.

When I got the pattern home, I discovered

that the gathered fabric base was a pre-made

item, and there were no directions included for it.

So...a little trial and error, and I made my own.

As I've mentioned before, I have 

a hard time throwing away any small

scraps of even weave fabric, so here is

a drawing with watercolor of a book mark

that I made using sampler motifs

on 11 count Aida. I whip-stitched the

edge to prevent more raveling.  It's 

considered poor form to cut things 

this close, but the rebel artist in me

doesn't really care about that.

Hope your day is filled with

flowers and bird song.

Stop by Daisy Yellow to see more

ICADs!