Crazy Quilted Jacket

I have been working on this jacket for some time and finally finished the pocket and sewed it on. It is called a design as you go with a basic sweat shirt. Today I finished the front flaps leaving a 2 inch band down the center. I have three elements to go; the neck and collar, the sleeves and the band around the bottom. It would be simpler to just use a pattern and much quicker.

My "Tea is for Tatting" book from Martha Ess arrived. WOW I can see why everyone is oohing and awing!! Just gorgeous and the patterns are well written with illustrations. I even had an extra bonus. I collect stamps and there were 4 stamps from a collectors book!

It is a beautiful, warm week in New Mexico without WIND!!! However the wind is back. The garden is growing, peas and lettuce are up with some nice potatoes about 4 inches and growing every day. Time to cut rhubarb for a delicious custard pie. The strawberries and cherry tree are in full bloom. All the other fruit trees were hit with frost.

The Internet Brazilian Embroidery Class taught by Rita Goff is completed. Rita did a fantastic job explaining, with lots of samples, how to do each flower. The tatted butterfly has found its home.I had taken a class in January and we were told to wash our embroidery. As you can see the reds bled. It was only put into cool water with a Shout color catcher for just a few minutes and then rolled up in a towel with Shout color catcher on both sides. I like Crazy Stitches, Ribbon Embroidery but not sure about Brazilian Embroidery. There are some stitches we use in Crazy Stitches like the Bullion stitch but the other stitches takes a lot of time to get them right.

Beaded Half Butterfly

The Beaded Half Butterfly is a pattern from Rosemarie Peel. It works up quickly and the beads are added on to the long picot when chaining around using a small crochet hook. The pattern calls for very long picots and she added 11 beads. This butterfly will be added to an embroidery I am finishing up so I only wanted a small butterfly. It is worked up in Lizbeth Mocha Brown Medium. The 2 long threads at the bottom will be attached to the material of the embroidery. The antennae needs to be a very, very long picot so it can be clipped and knotted. I might add a french knot to the ends.

Military Post Cards

We send Postcards to all Men and Women in the Military. Our group will have 3 or 4 shows during the year and we ask for addresses to send the cards to these people. The Elks Lodge pays the postage. We sent over 20 cards to the Army Reed last Christmas and were all rejected because it was sent to "Any Soldier". The Vintage Quilting Society hand embroiders the postcards. I finish the postcards putting Timetex with Stitch Witchery on both sides. It is then ironed on to the front of the embroidery. Then the back is ironed on. Trimmed up and squared, use a wide zigzag and smallest stitch to have the edging nice and filled in. The back uses Bubble Jet before the typing is done. Bubble Jet is a chemical solution to adhere printing. I have used all kinds of material and Kona Cotton from JoAnn's works the best. It has a high thread count. Cut the material 1/2 inch larger than a 8 x 11 1/2 . Wash the material in plain water then soak it in Bubble Jet for 5 minutes. I use a dish pan to soak the fabric and usually do about 5 sheets. I pour what is left from the dish pan back into the bottle. Let the fabric dry, iron it to a sheet of freezer paper cut to 8 x 11 1/2. Iron both sides making sure the top is ironed good. This is one of the problems people have getting it stuck in the printer. Trim off the excess material and threads. NO THREADS should be seen as this well also jam printer. You are ready to print. I usually do a test copy with plain paper and see if it lines up with what your are going to print. When I do labels for the back of quilts I print the picture first on paper then material. Then I type in what I want on the label and print again on paper with the picture. Just keep lining it up till you are satisfied then print on material. After printing let it set for 30 minutes. Swish printed fabric around in cold water with white vinegar or Bubble Jet Rinse to set the print. Because this is a chemical use gloves and in a well ventilated room.

Crazy Quilt Wall Hanging

I won second place in the speciality class at the Ogallala Quilt Festival in Western Texas. The show is judged professionally with 200 quilts in different categories. This years featured teacher was Charlotte Angotti. Lots of beautiful quilts!!