Stitch Me Up Blog Hop

Hello!  :)

Welcome to sewingly along! Today is my day to participate in the Stitch Me Up embroidery blog hop.

I would like to thank Madame Samm for hosting this blog hop and Jane from Jane's Fabric and Quilts for being our cheerleader!  :)  I would also like to thank Colonial Needle, our sponsor for this hop!  :)  One more big Thank You goes out to our pattern designers, Debbie, Cyndi and Madame Samm herself!  :)

I knew from the moment I heard about this blog hop that I just had to join in! I love to embroider! It's one of those things that really relax me. I also knew from the beginning which design I would stitch. I fell in love with the design the minute I saw it on the blog hop button. Yes it's the little girl designed by Madame Samm herself. Do you see her there? She's so cute! Don't you think so?

I embroidered her on a white polka dot fabric in red Presencia Finca Perle Cotton #12, using a simple back-stitch. Here she is . . .

She's soooo cute!!! As you can see I also dressed her in a red polka dot pinafore and head bow, which I appliqued on and button stitched around the edges. She reminds me of this picture of my mom as a little girl (she's the little one on the right).

Do you see the resemblance?  ;)

I haven't gotten any farther than this with my cute little girl. I just can't decide what to put her on. My first thought was an apron. Then I was thinking a bag . . . then a mini quilt. Oh boy! Someday I'll decide and find her a permanent home.  ;)  I'm curious . . . what would you do with her?

Thanks for visiting me! It's been nice having you here!  :)

Don't forget to stop by and visit the other gals who are hopping along with me today . . .

Judy @ That Other Blog

laurauvsloons and Quilting too

Sew Sharyn

Sewingly Along

Anita's quilts en handwerken

Quilt Doodle Doodles

Val's Simple Passions

Luv2Sew

Busy As Can Be

Paws for Stitching

Quilting & Other Craft Therapy

pieceful life

Live Love Labs

Felt pa Asly

Scrapbook-ChickADoodle

Until next time . . .

The Rows are All Done!

Hello!  :)

I did it! I finished the last 2 rows for my "My Favorite Things" quilt! Yea! Here they are . . .

Sorry but the pictures aren't too great as it was late and dark.  :(  I took some other close-up pictures to show more of the details. Here's the top . . ..

the middles . . .

and the bottoms . . .

Next I'll be adding the strips between them. It's really coming together!  :)

Until next time . . .

Cutting & A Little Piecing FINALLY!

Hello!  :)

Do you remember way back in March when I shared this yummy Pam Kitty Morning fabric with you?

I purchased it to use in my "My Favorite Things" Quilt. I'm making the quilt as part of a quilt-a-long over at the site "Stitch-A-Long". Do you remember? Then I appliqued and stitched up all the blocks for the 5 rows. Here they are to refresh your memory. . .

Well that was as far as I got. I kept meaning to get back to it and work on it but of course I didn't. It's supposed to be finished by the end of October so I figured I'd better get back to working on it. I started by trimming all those blocks down to size.

While I was cutting them down to size I realized that my "sewing" block was missing something.

There was supposed to be 3 mini quilt blocks at the bottom of the block. So I got the fabrics out, cut and sewed them together. Now my "sewing" block is complete!  :)

Next I finally cut most of the fabric for the remainder of the quilt. Here are the strips and blocks . . . 

All those blocks are 2-1/2" or under! Here's another view of all those strips and blocks . . .

I'm hoping to start sewing them all together with those appliqued blocks above tonight during the Friday Night Sew-In.

If all goes as scheduled I'm hoping to get a lot done. Wish me luck!  :)

Until next time . . .

A Friday Night Sew-In Celebrating the Red White & Blue!

Hello!  :)

Welcome to day 14 of the "Celebrate Red White and Blue Blog Hop"! There are only a couple more days left. Have you been hopping around and looking at all the fabulous blocks? I have. They're awesome!  :)  You can go here to find the entire schedule and links to the hop so you can start at the beginning. Don't miss out!

Here's Today's Hopping Schedule . . .

Diann C

Quilt Monster in my Closet

daisy and jack

sewingly along . . . You are here!  :)

MoomMist

Susie's World

Thanks so much for stopping by today to view my blocks. At first I thought I'd come up with 3 blocks and then put a table runner together in the end to tie them all together. Then I thought that I'd just make a bunch of blocks. Then I was thinking about what patterns I should use. After looking through some ideas I decided to just wing it. I hope you won't be disappointed. I actually came up with six 12-1/2" blocks. I took pictures of all of them outside and inside so there will be 2 pictures of each block. I hope you will like what you see!  :)

My first block came about by chance. I've been doing a lot of cross stitch lately. I actually made this one design for a swap. I liked it so much I made another for me. I used a different fabric then normal so it turned out bigger than I wanted. I decided to put it aside and made a third one for myself. I looked at the discarded piece and thought what should I do with this? Then it hit me. I'll use it in one of my Red, White and Blue blocks! Yes! That's it! Here it is . . .

Cross stitch and quilting combined! I echoed the cross stitch piece with fabrics from my stash. I think they accent it nicely! Here's another look . . .

A funny thing happened while I was working on this block. (Actually it wasn't quite so funny at the time.) I figured out the measurements for the stripes and began sewing strips together. Then I realized I'd forgotten to account for the 1/4" seam on both sides. Uggghhh! (This is something I do quite often.) So frustrated but eager to keep going I put it aside and cut new strips and started over. Then when I got to the center stripes I mismeasured again and sewed too many stripes together. Instead of picking it apart I sat it aside again, cut more strips and continued on. This time I got it right! Third time's a charm!  :)

What did I do with the all those strips I had already sewn together? I made two other blocks with them.  :)  Waste not, want not I always say!  ;)  (Plus I hate ripping out seams!) With the first of the two mistake strip blocks I appliqued some blue stars. I decided to blanket stitch around them in a golden yellow perle cotton thread. Another block finished.

Yea! Simple but sweet. The closer photo isn't really a good one (sorry).

Here's the other block I made with the mistake strip blocks.

This time I didn't have as many stripes to work with so I added a blue field and two appliqued stars with a patriotic eagle print fabric. I blanket stitched around these in a golden yellow perle cotton thread as well.

There are the first three blocks! All similar but different. Made by accident or was it fate? Hummmm . . . ;)

The next block is my favorite.

I had some beautiful vintage inspired fabric. I didn't want to distract from it's beauty so I just accented it with some stars and stripes. It needed a little something more. Hummmm.... I found some cool ribbon I had in my stash. It was perfect! Very simple and sweet!  :)

4 down . . . 2 more to show.  ;)  The next block is a basic log cabin with a historical fabric as the centerpiece.

I used lots of patriotic fabrics from my stash to complete this block.

Last but not least . . .

I'm not sure what this block is called. Is it a pinwheel? Is it a star? It's definitely red, white, blue and patriotic!  :)  The center fabric is my favorite find this year. It reminds me of the peace and love of the '60s. The other fabrics are favorites as well.

Well that's it! 6 red, white, blue patriotic blocks. What am I going to do with them? I'm going to make up a few more and combine them all into a throw quilt for me and the hunky dude. I'd eventually love to have one for every holiday and/or season. 

Thank you so much for visiting me and viewing my blocks! I hope you liked them!  :)  Thanks Jane and Madame Samm for hosting! It's been fun! Don't forget to check out all the other wonderful blocks!  :)

Also before you go . . . since I finished these up on Friday these blocks will be my submission for the Friday Night Sew-In.

Heidi and her cousin Bobbi host this monthly event. It's always fun to get together online with women from all over the world and sew on the same night of the month.  :)

Until next time . . .

Quilt Blocks & Cross Stitch to Share

Hello!  :)

Do you remember when I made this block . . .

It was for the month of March of the monthly quilt block swap I participate in at Mary Jane's Farm. I just realized that I never shared the blocks I received from my swap partners.

The first one was from Lorrie . . .

Isn't it gorgeous! I absolutely love it! She did a great job! Thanks Lorrie!  :)

The second block for March was from Barbara . . .

Kind of reminds me of mine.  ;)  Thanks Barbara! You did a wonderful job!  :)

Here's the block I made for my two partners for April . . .

A stair step block with an embroidery in the center. It's a free embroidery pattern I found online from Red Brolly. Here's a closer view of it . . . 

I fell in love with it the moment I first saw it! Isn't it adorable?!!!  :)

Here is the first block I received from Joan . . .

I've seen this Easter fabric before! It's sooooo cute! I love all the bright colors! It totally reminds me of Spring! Great job Joan! Thanks so much!  :)

The second block was made by Rebecca . . .

I love the bunny fabric! I've never seen it before. It's adorable! I also love the bright springy colors in this one as well! Thanks so much Rebecca! You did a wonderful job as usual!  :)

I'm hoping to sit down this weekend and work on my two blocks for May. The theme is flowers. I already know what I want to do for this one.  :)

Moving on to another subject . . . One of my favorite bloggers, Karen from Sew Much 2 Luv has been doing a lot of cross stitch lately. You can view some of her recent finishes here and here. They're fabulous!  :)

I've always loved cross stitch! There's nothing I like better than sitting down with an embroidery or cross stitch project and watching tv or a movie. It's so relaxing and rewarding!  :)  I haven't done any cross stitch for quite a while but always missed it. When I saw Karen working on all her projects she really got me wanting to get back into it too! (Bad, bad girl!)  ;)  Then she mentioned that she joined a cross stitch exchange over at Stitched With Love Exchanges. I had to check it out. Of course I loved the idea and signed up too! Now I've got my partner and I'm stitching her gift and gathering goodies to go with it. I won't be able to share any of it with you until after the exchange is completed sometime in June. For now I'll show you some of my favorite finishes from the past. The first three are Christmas ornaments . . .

I've always loved how they turned out!  :)  The next one is a sampler I did for my parents on their wedding anniversary . . .

I included the original date they got married and the date they reaffirmed their vows. I've always loved this piece! Of course it has a lot of pink and aqua so that doesn't hurt.  ;)

The last piece I'll share with you is a Paula Vaughan bouquet. I love her designs!  :)

This piece is unfinished. I just can't decide what I want to do with it. Any ideas?

The past couple of weeks I've been doing some cyber shopping for cross stitch patterns. I guess you can say it's something I've been doing for myself as part of the May for Me Celebration going on at Marcia's Crafty Sewing & Quilting blog.

I definitely deserve them, right???  ;)   They've been arriving this past week. I can't wait to get started on them and share them with you. Don't worry I'll still be quilting as well. I have too many WIP projects and new ones I want to start . . . lol!  ;)

By the way . . . I've decided to hold off on my combo 100th post and 400th follower giveaway until May 21st. I will include it as part of the Giveaway Day blog hop hosted by Sew Mama Sew.

Will you be joining me? I hope so!  :)

Until next time . . .