Stitchy Projects

 I had some fun projects to sew for my grandkids in June. 

My granddaughters went on an Alaskan cruise with their mom's family in June. Maybe because we have long winters...there are many great quilt shops in Alaska. One of my DIL's cousins is a quilter so somehow all my granddaughters where in this amazing quilt shop in Skagway, Quilt Alaska, that has a ton of fantastic eye candy. 

I have ordered from Quilts Alaska several times. They have the best customer service. Emails answered quickly and packages shipped on the same day ordered. FYI, Skagway is a town that sprang up during the gold rush. 

I actually got a phone call from my son while they were all in the shop asking me if they could pick up something for me. I should have been better prepared...I knew there would be many quilt shops along the way where the cruise ship docked. There is a wonderful Alaska shop hop going on this summer but I decided not to partake this year...I already have several shop-hop tops I need to quilt. And the kits are always available that are designed by this year's artist.

With the help of my DIL's cousin, we decided the girls should pick out pillow case kits and doll kuspuk kits.

 Kuspuks are native Alaskans' version of a hoodie. In the warmer months the women make them in colorful cotton prints and often add trims.

Cuteness overload!

I'm missing a photo of one...it's at my granddaughter's house...on one of her favorite dolls. 

I made a third kuspuk from fabrics and rick rack in my stash for my youngest granddaughter who will be getting her American Girl doll at Christmas.

You know I love batiks...and I absolutely love Alaskan batiks. We have very talented quilters who work with Hoffman fabrics to come up with new batik prints every year. I had not seen the latest designs until I saw the pillowcase sets. I love them all so much! The all-blue pillow case is actually made from my stash of last year's batik release which is for my grandson who was not on the cruise...but he needed one too.

While everyone was away on the cruise, I  took a fun class on making Hemingway bags. I have enjoyed seeing others making them on blogs and Instagram and taking a class means I would get it done!

I had several pieces of quilted Soft and Stable leftover from bag projects that were perfect for this class.

Bonus...we made a mini bag from the scraps of the bag. 

I had enough fabric to make four bags of this fun quilt shop hop fabric.

My last stitchy finish to share is my latest Bucilla Advent Calendar.

My oldest granddaughter asked me how many advent kits I was going to make!!! I have one more advent kit in my stash...so I guess one more.

This kit is from 2011, "Must Be Santa Advent Calendar." 

This kit was very oddly constructed and I made a major change. The backing for the pockets was a piece of white interfacing...yuck! So I used red felt to sew to the bottom of the top section which I then stitched the pockets onto. The made red piece of felt long enough to back the bottom burgundy triangle piece. 

The kit included a piece of polyester quilt batting which I did use. I covered everything with yet another piece of red felt.

To hang it, I made a simple loop and secured it on the backside. This method of hanging has worked great for me over the years.

The set of 24 ornaments for the stocking were pretty simple.

Two of each design.

Someday I would like to make a pouch to store the  ornaments...

maybe a Hemingway bag in Christmas fabric!

Busy Summer...Just As I Like It

 I hardly know where to start. 

Summer months are always intense with little time to sleep.

June was a month spent mostly outside. There was a garden to plant, annual flowers to pot up and perennial beds to tend. I love it all.

There were a few rainy days so I did get a finished quilt! 

Sparklers on the 4th

As a bonus...you can see my viola and pansy tubs. 

This was my third quilt using my digital quilt design program on my Amara 20. It was a major leap in my ability to program a design and successfully execute it on my quilt top. 

The digital design is a freebie through Quilts of Valor, "Star Spangled Banner." I used a King Tut variegated thread, "Home of the Brave." The digital pattern is from Wildflower Quilting

The quilt pattern is a design from the duo, Me and My Sister Designs, " Slice of Cake, Slice 2." It is a layer cake design. Definitely beginner friendly. This would be so cute done in bright floral colors...also as light tones of blues and purples on a dark background like snowflakes...no more talk of snow.

I was so inspired by our country's 250th birthday. I remember the 200th birthday in 1976. There was a full year of commemoration. Special bicentennial design of the quarter. NBC had little historical segments...just a few minutes at the top of the hour...just a few memories of the year in celebration.

For three years I focused on patriotic cross stitch designs and I had a sweet little display this year. 

I devoted a couple of weeks to creating finished pieces from my stitching...lots of painting...I had no idea how long it would take me to paint all the pieces.

My oldest stitched piece was a Lori Holt design, "Stitchy Stars." I laced the piece using matboard as a the base and glued some mini pompom trim around the edge. It was then glued a the white board.

My next finishes were completed last year...what a relief they were already finished.

I detailed my finishing July 2025. Lizzie Kate designs, Liberty Sam and  Lady Liberty.

I next opted for some simpler, little designs. Stitching with the Housewives has many adorable patriotic designs and I hope to stitch some more. This is a series of roundabouts.

I used sticky board circles from the Fat Quarter shop to mount these little finishes. There is a layer of quilt batting behind the aida fabric.  I trimmed the stitched pieces and did a basting stitch to cinch up around the circle. Then glued the pompom trim.

I had several wooden pieces to use for mounting the circles.

I found simple stands on Etsy, MelsCrazyCraftCorner. I painted them with an acrylic paint.

I ordered the next two fancy pieces from Paisleys and Polka Dots

It took me a ridiculous amount of time to paint these stands.

They sure are cute!

Next was a cross stitch finish of a Mill Hill Jim Shore ornament kit, Patriotic Gnome.

I  love this finish. This little wooden frame is from Michaels. I painted it with several coats of red acrylic paint. Covered a piece of sticky board with a batik fabric from my stash and glued the gnome in place. 

My final finish was the fun cross stitch piece designed by OwlHouseStitching on Etsy.

I laced the piece to matboard. Glued the rick rack in place and glued the whole piece to a roughly finished wood piece purchased at Walmart.

Everything came together so sweetly.

I happened to find the cute wooden stars at the Target Dollar Spot.

And...one last quilting piece...top finished. Waiting for backing fabric to arrive.

Such a fun quilt. This is a fat quarter pattern, "Starlets," by Modernly Morgan. I made this at a quilt retreat the first week of June. I used a set of batik fat quarters, "Liberty," from Robert Kaufman Fabrics. The fat quarters were a release from a few years ago.

I will share gardening happenings in another post...but here are a few critter visits.

I went to sit at my sewing machine and noticed I had a visitor...

Munching on new growth...

he headed to the front yard...looks like he is trying to hide behind the tree.

There have been a lot of visits from black bears at my neighbor's house.

They had a birdhouse hanging on the eaves of their front porch...a big no no in bear country.

They found out all birdhouses...no matter where you mount them...are not safe from bears.