Another Finish!

 The first photo is no finish of mine!!!  Is nature not beautiful?  This little hibiscus flower only flowers for a day.  I was admiring it one morning thinking that the purple spiderwort, the green of the leaf and the orange is just too beautiful together.  I am technologically challenged and would have liked to have put this picture after the finish.  Don't know how to reshuffle the order though!!

Here is the finish.  A little appliquéd flag (needle turn)!  Just a fun little project that took a bit longer than I thought to finish.  However, ta-da!  Done!!!

Twilling a Fall Pumpkin!

 Twilling seems to be the new embroidery craze!  So I thought I would give it a try.  The stitch is not new.  It is called "Palestrina Stitch" .  There are many how to's on the web.  I drew a pumpkin with leaves and vine onto background fabric.  Next I went shopping for DMC perle cotton, number 5!

 The stitch is a lot of fun to do.  It is very textural and adds dimension to your embroidery.  It lends itself to designs which are not too small or detailed.

 Here is the completed embroidery.  I backstitched the veins on the leaves as I thought the twilling stitch would be too bulky for the delicate veins.  Therein lies the beauty of the stitch - mix it in with regular embroidery.

 I did a narrow 1" finished border around the embroidery and then a 2" finished border around the inner border.  Quilted it, and put the binding on.  I am really pleased with the outcome.  Perfect for fall - either to hang on the wall or to place on a surface!!! The photo above shows the backing fabric that I used.

Give it a try!  You will be glad you did.  Have a great day and thank you for stopping by.

Who loves Caramel?

 You have to love Pinterest!!!  So many cool ideas to be found.  This one is a keeper.  My family are not huge fans of cake icing.  My husband, especially, hates the stuff gooped on thickly.  What he does like is caramel between the cake layers and then confectioners sugar sprinkled on top of the cake.  The only problem is caramel is a bear to make.  You have to boil a can of condensed milk and cross your fingers that it does not explode during the process.  Until now that is.....

Get a few cans of condensed milk, pull the labels off and put them in your crock pot.  Fill the crock pot with water - enough to cover the cans!  This is an IMPORTANT step.  The cans must be covered.  Then you put your crock pot on low for 8 to 10 hours.

 Take them out once the time is up and hey presto, you have caramel.

It tastes so very good!!!  Give it a try!

Some Portable Work for a Roadtrip

 A few weeks ago we went on a short road trip to Oklahoma.  My eldest son who is now twenty two, has dated his beautiful fiancé since the 9th grade.  Of course we have gotten to know her family very well.  They have a log cabin in Oklahoma and we are fortunate enough to be invited out there often.   So of course one has to take some form of stitching.  I had not made a doily in quite some time and thought it would be good to crochet again.

Also my kitchen could use some new cloths.  I edge the kitchen ones so they don't get mixed up with the bathroom cloths.  That would not be a good thing at all.

This doily turned out really well.  It is also large and I was sure I would run out of thread.  I did the last row in the car on the way home.  This is how much thread I had left. Wow!!  Juuuuusssstttt made it!

Chevron Tutorial

I really love vintage quilts and I saw an amazing quilt made from thirties reproduction fabrics and solids.  Here is a brief tutorial because this is really easier than it looks. Cut blocks to measure 4 7/8".  

 Layer a solid block and a printed block on top of one another.  Draw a line diagonally from corner to corner and stitch 1/4" on either side of the line.  Once that is done, cut down the middle line and you will have two blocks.

 Open them up and gently press them.

 Here is the configuration for laying out the blocks!

 Stitch the top row together.  Stitch the bottom row together.  Stitch the top and bottom rows to each other and there is your chevron.

Four blocks make up one chevron.  This quilt is intended to be scrappy, so play with your colors and have fun.

Sew rows together and then your rows to each other.  I am not planning on adding a border to this quilt.  Just binding when I am done.  It is such a pretty quilt!  Give it a try!!!
Hope you are all having a great day and thank you so much for stopping by.