A Stitch A Half

Else found me yet another site. A Stitch A Half . Their current freebie is an embroidered clutch purse in three sizes where the panels are made with your embroidery machine and then stitched together with your sewing machine. Get over there now while this great download is still available and don't forget to get the tutorial for making the purse.

Worldwide Mchine Embroidery Designs

The hobby of machine embroidery is definitely a worldwide hobby. My on-line friend Else from the Netherlands, has been scouting new design pages for me and they are listed on our Embroidery Designs page. One is in Italian and one in Dutch.

I'm so glad for these emails from Else especially when having a bit of a rough day. Last night I went to sit down in my sewing chair and one of the 5 legs (which are supposed to increase safety) broke out from under me throwing me onto the floor. My left leg rammed into my thread, hoops and stabilizer cart and ended up knocking it on top of me with my right leg stuck under the cutting table. Thankfully I managed to get the thread stand back up without losing everything onto the floor and then the big project was getting me back up. With fake knees and sore, weak joints all over, this was a major project requiring the help of hubby and a step ladder. The good news was I had finished my sewing project and was just putting stuff away.

Gail's Sewing Projects

Finally got the picture out of the camera of the wedding quilt I made and the happy couple with me. I love these kids and I loved being able to make them something special that shows that love.

I also finished my Project Linus quilt on Saturday after a marathon 3 hours sewing session. I wanted to get it done by the main collection day as it is too easy to let things go if you miss a 'deadline'. While making these quilts I always pray for the child and the family that will receive it as these quilts are given to children in distress of some type.

Now to get going with some other projects. Started yesterday with mending. I don't particularly like mending, but I like knowing that by mending something, I'm keeping it useful for a longer time.

Project Linus Quilt 2012

Between surgeries, just not feeling good and a major wedding quilt project, I didn't get much other sewing done this past year. The other day I counted up how many quilt blocks I had made towards this year's Project Linus quilt. I had made only 10 and needed 25! Last night I finally sat down and whipped up 15 more,  machine embroidered the Janome Project Linus logo on one of the blocks, ironed them and trimmed threads. Hopefully today I will be able to get them sewn together, sandwiched with the batting and backing and quilt it so it can be turned in tomorrow which is blanket day at my local sewing shop, Super Stitch .  I try to get a blanket done every year and if I don't finish it on time I end up without the mental push of a deadline. This is going to be a big push for me so I hope I can get it finished.

I usually make most of my Project Linus quilts in bright primary colors. This is where cutting blocks out of leftover material at the end of sewing project really pays off. I cut all my leftover cotton quilting fabric into 4 1/2" and 2 1/2" squares and 4 1/2 x 2 1/2" rectangles. I always seem to have plenty of pieces to make a scrap quilts for this yearly project. I'm also glad that I didn't have to cut these pieces all at the last minute as the tendonitis in my elbow wouldn't have allowed it. It is amazing just how many different kinds of quilt blocks can be made with just these three size of quilt pieces. The picture shows this year's block design.

The Project Linus logo can be downloaded for free at the Janome website along with a lot of other free machine embroidery designs.

The Free Motion Quilting Project

If you want to learn how to free motion quilt on a domestic or home sewing machine, this is the place to go! Visit The Free Motion Quilting Project where Leah Day will help you through written and video tutorials to learn all sorts of designs and ways to quilt your quilting projects. Her site is a fantastic learning opportunity that you should want to take advantage of.

Valentine's Day & Project Linus

Just realized last night that Project Linus blanket day is this coming Saturday the 18th. Although they take quilts throughout the year, I try to have one ready by the blanket day as a prompt and deadline for me. At this point I only have 10 blocks made and need 25 total, plus finishing the quilt. I'll see how it goes. I haven't missed turning in a blanket for years, but this past year was rough with two surgeries and the new year hasn't started out so well either with almost non-stop pain from not only the RA but tendonitis. You would think that if you are already in chronic pain for one thing, you wouldn't have to get another source of pain too wouldn't you? It has sure slowed down my sewing plans. I'm going to give it a try to get the Project Linus quilt finished though, as it is simple quick blocks.

Also a reminder that lately several of the embroidery sites that I signed up for have been giving away free embroidery designs for Valentine's Day. So if you get newsletters in the mail, be sure to open them to see if you got a goodie! I think in the last couple days I got 5-6 free designs. Valentine's Day is now rather special for me as it is also my wedding anniversary. This year will be our tenth one and I'm so glad I have a hubby that not only loves me but works hard to help ease my physical pain and has stuck by me all these years of chronic illness! He is a wonderful guy.

The Free Motion Quilting Project

I've been hearing a long time about Leah Day and finally last night since I couldn't sleep I had time to visit her blog, The Free Motion Quilting Project. Definitely a place to visit if you are trying to learn FMQ and want to be able to both read and see how to do things. She has lots of videos showing how to do things. I barely got through the surface of what she has in her blog and know that will need to spend so quality time there.