Saturday, September 20, 2014

bees, flowers and little girls

I was excited to sew with the bee fabric my friend Susie sent for my birthday.
Turquoise is becoming my staple color.
The dots just make every combination happy.
The back.
Susie gave me the batik on the left, too.

Don made us this stump table last week.
It's great for staging mug mats, don't you think?

I've finished the back of Genevieve's quilt and will start quilting it tomorrow.

I also played with another mug mat, but I wasn't happy with my white stitches on the back binding, so I won't be selling it (I don't have the heart to tear it out). I'm going to give it to my daughter Lesley. (I hope she won't mind. :-)


I think the black binding is too heavy.
I want to make this again, and I'll need to decide on a better one.
I can see that the turquoise and white dots would probably work. :-)
The fabric is quite a collection.
The white, red, turquoise and chartreuse leaf fabric
to the left of the girls is from a vintage table cloth
of my mother's.

You can see how the bobbin thread, being white, shows my imperfect stitches.
(closeup below)
It is challenging to get perfect front and back stitches sewing
the binding down.

A more neutral binding, and darker bobbin thread, would hide imperfect stitches.
Oh I see I also haven't clipped all my threads. :-)
The cute olive green and pink argyle is from
my daughter-in-law Andrea, in the stash she gave
me for my birthday.
I do like the tiny patch on the front of the mat.
There was a barely noticeable stain in the vintage white tablecloth fabric,
and so I just made a polka dot patch.
It echoes the girl's dress.

A little update on my Etsy sales. I had two sales before Etsy and have had six Etsy sales! The first time someone found my shop out of the blue, I was amazed. That makes eight sales. After ten (and every ten sales), I will donate a cozy, fluffy quilt to a women's shelter.

Bees & flowers mug mat at Etsy.



6 comments:

  1. You amaze me, Sister! For the perfectionist I am (as you know!), your "imperfections" don't bother me a bit. In fact, you're reminding me a bit of Bennett, who always found something wrong with his photography. The thing is, your creativity shines through...and outshines everything else. The black binding, btw, ties the whole mat together for me, because of the black inside it. Lesley is lucky. HA!

    This all is getting "funner and funner." :) I'm popping my buttons for you.

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    1. Thank you for sharing this with me, Boots. <3

      The thing is, I had just been studying a binding technique by a quilter/blogger I admire (she's pretty famous in quilting circles), and I hoped I could do it better. I know with practice it will happen. In the meantime, choosing a different bobbin color will help.

      I know what you mean about the black binding, which is why I chose it, of course. I may go with a narrower one: 3/8" instead of 1/2". I think this pattern would make cute placemats, especially for a couple of girls. ;)

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  2. Very, very nice! I am wild about that turquoise -- yes, I think it's an excellent anchor color -- so many shades and hues there's a lot you can do with it. And I do like that black binding, but yes, the white bobbin thread has to go! Although -- to be perfectly honest -- I'm not sure I would have noticed it if you didn't say. No matter what, you are rocking the design thing! And congratulations on your Etsy sales!

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    1. Jeanie, thank you so much! I am learning, learning, learning, and loving it.

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  3. I think your stitches are quite straight – that is an art in itself. I like the way you combine your fabrics – you really have a way to come up with great designs. I guess this quilting keeps you busy and brings you satisfaction, and the results are very beautiful. I also love that stump table that Don made. We have a couple of trees in the yard that fell down, and I would love to have a stump table, but without a saw and with Jim’s illness now, I think they will just stay down and gather, not moss, but ivy ..

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    Replies
    1. Vagabonde, thank you for your nice comments. I am sorry about Jim, I know it is difficult.

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