Embroidery practice, noisemakers and memories

It has been a while since I applied embroidery to fabric in a mindless, random manner.  In all honesty, it would not have occurred to me to do it this week, except for a prodding from the FAT group having an "Embroidery Technique Week" so here is what I have so far:

I'm still working on this piece - there will be lots more stitches, some beads, silk, wool, more of that yummy variegated thread (Tentakulum Painter's Thread - Flower Thread - 101 Macke) from Germany - thank you Nadine and Valentina! 

The soft golden felted wool is from a vintage plaid - felted in the washing machine.  The linen background is a scrap of vintage drapery fabric - at least I think it was meant to be for drapes; not sure, but it has a hefty hand and takes embroidery really well!

It has been a productive month - I have 30 blocks ready for sashing, finished quilting on the Turkey Tracks quilt (come back for a pic next week, I'm still binding it.) The final border is on another Kid's Quilt, I now have 12 kid's quilts ready for quilting.  Sure hope I have enough batting for all those!

Last week, I served as 'Arts & Crafts Coordinator' for FPC's Vacation Bible School - they used the 'Re-New, Reuse, Recycle' theme, so all the crafts had to do with recycling something.  Scrapbooks made from wallpaper samples were a huge hit...

The rest of the week went by in a blur.... of heat, activity, wet shredded paper, tp tubes, seeds, crayons, ribbon, markers, and noise.  One of the projects for the preschoolers involved a wide assortment of recycled containers with lids, containing objects that made noise.  Once all the containers were taped shut, we 'paraded' up and down the hall making varying degrees of rhythmic racket with a wonderful degree of enthusiasm!   That's the picture I wish I could share with you, but there isn't one, except in my memory!

Hope you are filling your summer with wonderful memories, too.

Turkey Tracks, etc. progress report

I know you are just desperate to see how I quilted the Turkey Tracks quilt, right?  no?  too bad, that's about all there is to share this week - so here goes!
on the frame, 6 more triangles to do....

chalk marks for spacing only... here is a closeup of the block quilting.

and the only other thing I 've done this week is pull weeds!
but at least I don't have to pull weeds from the boot!

It is filling out nicely with all the rain we've been having.... but I'll probably have to water it every day next week as a heat wave is predicted - notice the little white funnel in the boot top?  that's where the water goes.
and the coral bells are in full bloom to the lower right - the bees are loving them!

and the daylilies are also in full force with this nice weather - I know it looks like this is two pictures of the same flower, but these are different blooms - they are a juicy dark red/plum color that does not photograph well, but I hope you like them anyway!

that's all for today - I'll be teaching crafts at Vacation Bible School next week, so I don't know if I'll have time for garden pictures, what with the heat and all.

let me know you dropped by - leave a comment & say hey!

Turkey Tracks quilt top on the frame

The shop hop was last week - I shared the driving with my friend, Peggy, who won the GRAND PRIZE - $500 gift certificate!  How lucky for her?  Not that I'm jealous, of course!  I have enough quilty stuff to keep me busy for at least another 100 years...

My 'ready to quilt' clothesline is sagging with 20 quilts - all matched up with batting, thread and backs - all ready to baste onto the mid-arm quilting machine.  Ready to roar.... the Turkey Tracks quilt is on the machine today.

Here is the quilt top:

this is a twin size quilt, so it should keep me busy this morning/afternoon, except I need to take dh's car to have a tire fixed first!  I've been looking forward to finishing this since March, and now I have to wait a few more hours.
Oh the suspense!  How will I quilt this?  Tune in next week for another exciting installment!
See you then!

Quilts for Kids

This is the kit I received from Quilts for Kids a couple of weeks ago - I requested it online, it arrived two days later, complete with directions and a label. 
I got right to work on it - the pieces and strips were already cut, so I just sewed the purple and turquoise strips together and made 4 patch blocks, then joined them to the larger squares included in the kit and added the pink border, so....  by the end of the first afternoon, it looked like this! 

and this is how it turned out, all quilted and bound!  I mailed it off to Quilts for Kids on Friday, June 5, so I am looking forward to 'following' the quilt online - it's so easy, go try it! 
Request a kit here. 

Also, I took an inventory last week of finished quilt tops waiting and ready for 'finishing' and now that I know for sure I have about 2 DOZEN quilt tops to finish, I'm going to be spending more time with my Works in Progress (also known as WIP) and my UnFinished Objects in the studio (UFO) and I'm also doing some pattern writing (see my Streak of Luck block of the month at Quilting Weekly) and there's a SHOP HOP this week so you may not be able to catch me at home much this week.... but relax, I'll be having fun, and I hope you have fun too!