Vintage Bucilla Alphabet Quilt ~ WIP

Here is the progress on the vintage Bucilla Alphabet quilt.  The colors are so funky bright, and the little characters are charming.  They really should have kept making this quilt.  It is such a wonderful starting place for newbies to embroidery.  I have been stretching my knowledge with this one.  I inadvertently screwed up the pattern by using the outline stitch instead of a backstitch around the main characters.  Funny thing... My Mom was certain she used the outline stitch when she made my sister's.  Talk about channeling the past! ;)

 

 

E is for Elephant...  Very exotic looking isn't he?

 

 

F is for Frog... I was so proud of how the satin stitch worked out on his eyes!!

G is for goose...  His beak looks a little weird due to the hoop being just removed off it.  :(

H is for Humpty Dumpty (in progress)...  Is he still popular?  LOL

These character quilts are so fun, but I really need to reduce my stash!  With my million other interests, it will be hard to complete them all.  Plus, I really doubt Farmerboy is going to have that many kids! LOL

Vintage Bucilla Alphabet Quilt

I have began working on my vintage Bucilla stamped cross stitch alphabet quilt from the 1960's - early 70's.  It boggles my mind a little to think that the crisp new quilt, that was manufactured that long ago, is finally taking its first venture out of the protective plastic packaging.  Even more weird, is the fact that I can still remember my Mom embroidering one of these for my younger sister 41 years ago.  Yikes! 

 

Ever since I listed one of these quilts partially finished on my selling blog, there have been several inquiries emailed to me about this particular kit.  I've decided to show each block on completion to help those inquiring about a color chart.  There are some pretty wild colors used in this quilt, due to the era that it was manufactured in.  The thread was also included in the original kit.  It would be interesting to see one of these quilts with more modern and tamer colors, but I love it just the crazy way it is. :) 

 

So with no further delay, here is the apple for letter A.  This was taken on a sunny day without a flash and portrays the border's blue and red the most accurately.

 

 

 

The bright little Blue Bird for letter B.  Due to today being a dark and rainy day, the flash has given a touch more intensity to the colors on the rest of the photos.  (I will take a progress to date picture on future posts to give a truer representation of the floss to use.)

The cat representing the letter C.

And to bring up the rear for now, the sky blue dog sporting his bright pink hat.  How is that for some 1960's colors?  ;)

The one thing that I really like about this quilt is that it incorporates more embroidery techniques than its modern day counterparts.  It really challenges me to broaden my skills into different stitches.  I also made a choice to bury my stitching in the quilt.  It hasn't been to difficult so far and is a nice change from always pulling the needle through the back.  Plus, there will not be a backing to attach later. :)   Well... I am off to do a little work on my Hummingbird quilt...

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

Summer in the Hollow

It is hard to believe that July is almost over! I have so much to catch up on and share.  Here is a little glimpse into the happenings here at the Hollow...

 

I have been working away on Great Grandma's Hummingbird quilt.  My purchase of a Huion light pad  has been a huge help in the piecing process.  The soft light helps me to fit the Hummingbirds around the octagon without any eye strain.  The light pad will be a great help with transferring quilt patterns and fine art as well.  :)

 

 

Does this look familiar?  I found another Bucilla stamped cross stitch alphabet quilt.  These over sized quilts are so charming!  They date from the late 60's to early 70's.   Although my bunny quilt is still in the process of getting the edging stitched on, this one is going to be the alternate stitching quilt for those cool fall evenings to come... or maybe sooner! ;)

Did I tell you that my birthday was a few weekends ago?  I will show you later the special gift that I purchased for myself.  Let me just say, it made me smile... I know myself so well! ;) 

Below is a special gift that I received from my coworker.  Lots of candy, a wonderful article on gourd crafting and a beer bottle that has an insert to be a candle.  Take a look at the label... Pumpkin Ale.  Isn't it wonderful!!  I think that it suits me perfectly and am going display it on one of my son's barnboard creations.  It will look so rustically cool! :)

 

 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. :)  My camera is overloaded with events and items to share, and I have been doing some serious baking.   My fellow bloggers have been putting up some wonderful recipes!!  My next purchase better be a new treadmill, or this blogger is going to need a new wardrobe! ;)

Sleeping Bunnies WIP ~ Embroidery Floss Dispenser Tip

 

I had a relaxing evening last night watching the Pink Panther on STARZ with my son and working on my Janlynn quilt "Sleeping Bunnies".  This quilt got put on the back burner for a while, because I was having difficulty deciding the color of the bowed border.  Here is the progress to date...

 

 

 

 

Since going out on a limb and veering away from assigned pattern colors, there is a lot of relief in writing that I am very happy with how the colors are intermingling on this quilt.  The darker border makes a nice frame and adds some dimension to the piece.  Hopefully, this quilt will see a finish by the end of May.  :) 

While working on my various baby quilts, I have tried different ways of storing and dispensing floss.  (My storage bins can be viewed here.)  But while working on my projects over the years, I was not happy with the methods that I was using for keeping the floss handy.  The individual baggies worked great for organizing the amounts of skeins needed, but my problems began once the thread was being dispensed.  On lazy days, I wrapped the thread back around the skeins and used a baggie for the odd divided strands.  On days that I was more organized, I tried the small cardboard dividers.  If my work consisted of counted cross stitch, I might have been more satisfied with the cardboard dividers and the cases that could be purchased, but they seemed too small and were just not working out for me...

While catching up on blog reading, I caught one of Lisa's beautiful pictures at her blog Lil' Fish Studios.  She was doing some embroidery on one of her fantastic felted stones and sitting next to her project was an assortment of floss wrapped around clothespins.  It was absolutely homespun dispensing and right up my alley! :)  Maybe this idea was not new, but it certainly was to me.  So I headed out to the store and purchased a few packages, because let's face it... clothespins are cheap and have a 101 uses! ;)

I am happy to report that the clothespins are working out great.  Size wise, they are easy for me to grab and not loose in the couch cushions, and I can still wrap the cut threads onto the pins and clamp them securely into place.  As with everything in life... this method was just suited for me, and I am glad that I stumbled upon it.  Plus... the clothespins look cool! ;)

The handles on the pins are perfect for labeling the floss number with a fine sharpie marker. :)

With the day off from work today, my "Sister's Choice Quilt" will be getting a border to finish it into a flimsy ***Yay!!***,  a few butterflies will get added to my baby quilt at lunch time, and then I have a date with a graphite drawing that has been waiting patiently in my studio... A perfect plan to settle down to on a rainy day. :) 

Winnie the Pooh Vintage Cross Stitch Quilt Finished!

I am so glad to post that the stitching on Winnie the Pooh is finished!  Yay!! :) 

This quilt has been such a joy to work on.  That silly old bear will bring a smile to my face every time.   I have been an admirer and collector of children's literature all of my life.  The Pooh character may have evolved from the more simplistic sketches found in A.A. Milne's original book, but he is just as endearing as ever. :)  It was fun to mix the colors up a bit, and I'm not going to complain about the larger areas of colors.  They were a nice change from constantly switching threads.  The big thrill is always in the black outlining.  It gives definition to the composition and brings all that work to life.  Such a huge payoff in one small step! ;) 

Pooh was the first of my stamped cross stitch quilts to be mounted on my standing quilt hoop.  Most of my life is spent slouching over ceramics, paintings, graphite art, and now piecing quilts with the sewing machine.  I made a decision to put together my quilting stand , so I would be forced to sit up straight and stitch.... Easier said than done. ;)  Every 10 minutes, my back would need a break!  It definitely will help me to improve my posture.  

Winnie the Pooh is one of my few over sized vintage quilt kits.  I have a few old ABC quilts from the early 70's that I will be attempting in the future, and they will require a lot more embroidery skills. Yikes!  But for the next quilt, I will go back to the bunnies on the blocks that I had originally misplaced.  There were some drastic color changes going on with that quilt.  Hopefully, I did not subconsciously misplace it on purpose, and it will come together smoothly! ;)

Revised Honey Pot on Winnie the Pooh Vintage Cross Stitch Baby Quilt

I wanted to show some finished work on my Winnie the Pooh cross stitch quilt that is getting close to being finished.  My quilted Winnie the Pooh officially has his honey pot!  Below is the picture from the quilt kit.  For being a Disney design, I found it rather blah.  So... my stash of DMC threads was put into action... 

And here is the end result.  It is enough of a change to make the pot a little more dimensional and pleasant to the eye.  The older Disney quilts tend to not have a lot of color variations going on.  Little changes in the layout can add so much to the quilt's appearance and give it some individuality from the mass production.  I think that the flowers will get altered, since they are mapped out to all be of the same shade...  Just a few more flowers and Winnie the Pooh's body are left to finish up! :)

And just in case you were wondering... I ordered my Lorax fabric today!  Kaufman fabrics created two lines one of earth toned colors and another of brights to make quilts with.  The original book is in earth tones, so I ordered that line.  Maybe later, the bright colored Lorax fabrics will find there way to my house, too. ;)   But, there is the Cat in the Hat fabric line that is calling my name... plus the rest of the spotted Seuss fabric... Aaaagh!  What is a girl to do?  Then as I wandered around the Fat Quarter's shop, I ran into Eric Carle's "Hungry Caterpillar" fabric.  My son's favorite book as a child and another addition to my wish list! ;)  It was then that I decided to work on finishing some projects, before I found too many more to start! :)

Winnie the Pooh ~ Stamped Cross Stitch Baby Quilt

I am back in style with this old quilt kit!  Disney is coming out with a new Winnie the Pooh Movie.  Yay!  Love that little bear. :)  As you can see, I have made some progress since the last post.  Other stitching projects are getting most of my attention right now, but I try to fit this one in here and there.  The blue on this quilt is so jumbly (must be a Pooh word?? ;) ) that it can be a chore figuring out the X's.  The Disney quilts do not have much for color change which can be refreshing and redundant all at the same time.  I love the feel of these vintage cotton quilts.  They are so soft and wonderfully oversized.  

I will be going through my collection of quilt kits this weekend and weeding out duplicates.  I've decided, that even if I should get twin grandkids in the future, I do not want to do the same kit twice.  Takes the pressure off my son! LOL  They will be getting listed on my selling blog if anyone is interested. ;)

Flea Market Treasures ~ Thrifty Finds

Not much of a haul at the flea market.  I think it was partially due to having town garage saled the day before! ;)  The weather was cool, damp, and threatening rain.  With conditions like that, I have a tendency to walk at a speedier pace.  But even in the worst of weather, I was still able to find some items to pack into the Jeep.  :)

I found a tub of some old cotton floss and 3 yards of the most beautiful variegated gold  fabric with leaf imprints.  I paid $2.00 for the floss and only 50 cents for the fabric.  :)

The ladies that I purchased the fabric from had bought several totes from an auction.  Most of the inventory was cross stitch and quilting.  They had sold most of the fabric, but there was a tub of DMC floss sitting at the table.  They were asking 25 cents a piece.  The woman's daughter was anxious to be rid of the sewing inventory, so I asked how much it would be for the tub and brought the pile home for $4.00.   DMC floss is getting pricey in the store, and I was thrilled to get over 75 skeins.  I am not picky about the age of the floss, since a lot of the my kits are vintage.   

I want to do my first quilt by hand, so this quilting hoop will come in handy.  It was new and unopened.  The asking price was $15.00, and the lady took $10.  I was excited to get it but wished that we didn't have the long walk back to the Jeep!

I didn't get a chance to take a photo of my last purchase.  Two vintage army wool blankets.  One was very heavy and gold in color, and the other was green.  My mind was not set on purchasing them until the seller shouted over that they were $5.00 a piece.  Yay!   For that price, they could be used for batting, foundation pieces, or backing on a future wool project.  The bag that they were in was heavy, and of course, we were at the farthest point in the flea market from the entrance.   Who says that you can't have fun and get great exercise at the same time? ;)  

Thrifty Friday Find ~ Floss & Wool for Upcycling

I woke up this morning and decided to devote the morning to being thrifty.  So, I put my freshly brewed green tea in a travel mug and set off for an adventure.  The first stop was a thrift shop in a quaint little town.  I was hoping to find some wool jackets that had some color to them or anything else that might catch my eye. ;) 

Jackpot!  Everyone must be cleaning in anticipation for spring.  I found 9 wool jackets in the most wonderful colors that I have seen all year... camel, red, black, green, sky blue, and purple.  And even better, they were all long jackets, and they didn't have any of that foam backing that you cannot remove from the fabric! :)  

The pic below shows them after I spent the afternoon hacking them up.  That is what my son calls it! ;)  Aren't the colors wonderful... *sigh*  I have been looking for some bright additions to my stash. 

If you look at the last row to the right, the grey and burgundy are two wool blazers that I found.  On top of them,  there is a piece of cream and brown wool fabric that I found in the remnant bin.  I measured tonight, and it is 2 yards of fabric!  This is the first time that I have ever found wool fabric that came from a bolt at a thrift shop.  Yay!  

At the same shop, I found some floss.  It was in a basket and not marked.  I asked the girl at the counter, and she said that they were 25 cents a piece.  I picked through and pulled out most of the unused skeins.  It didn't seem like a lot, but it ended up being 93 skeins all together.  I cannot wait to add them to my bolt bins .  

Quite a haul for the first stop.  So how much did I spend for 9 wool jackets, 2 wool blazers, 2 yards of wool fabric, and 93 skeins of floss?  Well, the total came to $48.00, but Fridays are 50% off, so I got the whole lot for $24.00.  Yipeee!

The next stop was to a Goodwill store for a few sweater purchases ;) , and then on to another small thrift shop.  Can you believe it... another sale!  Fill a bag for $5.00.  The wonderful ladies that work there taught me the fine art of filling a brown bag to capacity.  (They were the ones that packed mine!)  They said  that you got to know when to fold them and know when to roll them.  This was a spin off of Kenny Roger's Gambler song. :)   So, I went around the shop, by that time humming The Gambler due to the power of suggestion, and picking up bargains.  They waited for me to bring a few up, rolled them up tight, and added them to the bag.  The results can be seen below; although, they were packed farther down in the bag at the store.  I'm surprised the ride home didn't burst the bag.

So here is the end result of that stop: 1 wool blazer, 1 wool/cashmere blazer, 1 wool skort, 2 wool short skirts, 2 wool long skirts, and three beautiful wool sweaters.   And yes, they all came out of that brown bag!  The cashmere fuchsia sweater on the bag in the pic was purchased  half off for $2.50 cents from the same store.  This brought my total to $7.50.   I was thrilled, and the ladies from the shop were happy to get rid of some of their winter inventory.   



Now, I can go to sleep with a smile on my face and lovely woolly dreams! ;)

Working on Stamped Cross Stitch Baby Quilt Kits

The big discussion at work this week was about stamped cross stitch quilt kits.  Shocking as it may be to hear, I decided to get rid of some of my excess kits. LOL  I had some doubles that I parted with.  Really, what are the odds my son will have twins, if in fact he has any offspring?  And I am a big believer in individuality, so I wouldn't want to gift identical quilts anyways.  Right?   At least that is what I convinced myself of in order to make myself part with a few kits! ;)    

Of course if these are all suppose to be for the grandchildren, he'd better get busy! LOL  There are only a few that I have purchased retail.  Most were found by my parents or myself at garage sales.  There are some real treasures in these crates.  I located a Berenstain Bear quilt for $9.00,  a Disney kit that is older than me, Hummels, Peter Rabbit, a few ABC quilts from the early 70's, and etc. etc..  Old or new, I love them all!  And even today, I am still on the hunt for more.  So many kits...so little time!  :)

Let me just say that there is nothing like the sound of floss running through taught fabric in a hoop.  That swoosh is forever embedded in my mind.  I can remember that sound from when my Mother used to embroider and still find it calming as I work on projects today.  And when I complete an item... Well, it is the best feeling of accomplishment. 

This is the one that started the mania.  I found it at a garage sale in a neighboring town new in the package for $5.  It was love at first site... the deal of the day!  It has the honor of being the first found, and the first quilt completed.  Of course, this one still needs a binding and a backing, but I haven't decided yet what colors to pull from it.  No hurry.. at least there better not be! ;) 

Project #2 courtesy of my Mom and Dad.  This one was  already started.  I had to pull the stitches out of one partially completed dinosaur.  (The previous owner's stitches were a lot more taught than mine.)  I wasn't sure if I would like the rainbow theme of colors, hearts, and dinosaurs, but it really does translate well.  It came bordered in yellow, but that might get changed or at least widened when a backing goes on.

Believe it or not, I misplaced the quilt that I was working on, so I started this one yesterday.  Isn't Winnie the Pooh just one of the cutest bears that you've ever seen?  I use to sing "I'm just a little black rain cloud" song to my son, when he was little. That poor tortured little kid! LOL  The Disney characters do not have many floss changes.  So if by chance someone is looking for a good beginner quilt, any one of the big character quilts from Disney would be wonderful to begin with.

This one was started by a previous owner on the bottom but abandoned.   Many quilts are sold this way.  I do not mind this in the least.  There are a few in my collection that have the boarders all ready done.  Hey, less work for me! :)
 

I went on a hunt tonight.  Turned the house upside down and found the quilt that I should be working on.  (Isn't that always the way it goes?)  Here is the picture on the cover.  Can you make out the garage sale tag?  Five dollars.  If you look real close,  you can see my hand writing of $2.00.  That is what my parents offered and bought it at.  Can you believe it?  Yep, the original pickers that taught me everything that I know.  *sigh* ;)

Here is why I showed you the cover art to this quilt.  I have changed the floss colors to the outfits and blocks.  Is it just me or does it get boring sometimes looking at soft pastels?   So, I decided to change the colors and made them a little more vibrant.  This is where my extra floss in the bins have come in handy. (Photos of bins can be seen in Thrifty Finds posts.)  I just have to pick colors now for my butterflies and border.  I think that I will alternate working on the two quilts.  It will make for a nice change of pace.

My hubby always jokes that I have too many projects going on.  Although I do not watch a whole lot of TV, it is nice to have something to work on at the same time.  So, my quilts are my TV time projects or take alongs when camping or on vacation.  My wool projects are beginning to fight for the same time slot, but I will happily find time for them all!  :)

Thrifty Friday Find ~ Floss Storage

This fabulous Friday find is a combination of two. These storage bins are plastic bolt and washer bins. My husband found them at our local hardware store. They were updating to a new display wall, and my hubby asked what the store was doing with the old bins. The owner had someone else interested in them, but they never came back to get them, so we got them all! I took a few of them to make a storage unit for my embroidery floss. The bins are five to a row, and each one can tip and lift out of its holder with ease. The rows interlock with the one above it and mount easily onto the wall. There were stickers on each of the bins describing the bolts and washers that were inside. I removed the stickers by soaking them with a layer of Goo Gone. They cleaned up like new!

The second part of this find is the contents. I love to pick up cheap embroidery kits that are reduced do to missing colors. It gives me a reason to personalize a project with my own color choices. So, I need to have individual colors of floss on hand to complete these projects, and it never hurts to have older colors, too. Floss is getting harder to find in stores without a long drive from where I live, and it is going up in price. So, what better to look for at garage sales? To be honest, I haven't been that successful in finding many skeins, but as you can see, my Mom knocked this one out of the park. She kept finding bags upon bags of floss and at a cheaper than cheap price! When my husband came home with the bins and asked if I could use a few, the light bulb went on, and my floss had a nice, neat, organized place to live!