I heart (love) finishes!

Don't you just heart finishes? I have a number of them but just seem to be too busy to get online enough to blog. There have been a number of friends come by over the past month. I realized I have not even shared my crocheted beret and scarf plus I have another stitching finish but first this one.....

Recently, I decided I had better unpack a moving box that had many of my UFOs in it. I kept hoping that if I left it all in there long enough the stitching fairies would come by in the night and finish them for me. No such luck. I opened the box and there they all were staring at me, begging me for a little appreciation of their beauties. This heart was so almost done that it was ridiculous that it ever achieved the status of being a UFO. I stitched the last bits and turned it into a heart ornament.

By the way, see the sweet little pincushion sitting next to the heart? It was a gift from Jantine who came here last week for a day of sewing little quilts. It was fun to finally really get together, something we had planned to try and do about a year ago. Why did we not do it sooner could be the only question as it was really great fun to sew together and the day was over before we knew it.

A rose pearl button as accent.....

Red plaid backing fabric and a ruched ribbon to trim the heart. In my quest to use stash in all times when possible, I have to make the ruching a little less full. It feels so good to use something again that I already had. I want to make more heart ornaments in the course of the year and hope to only work from stash. I am dreaming of my Valentine's tree filled with my own stitched hearts. Here is a peek at that tree (click for link to my other blog) which I put up each year.

I promise to show you another finish yet this week since I have another stitching finish and two crochet finishes.

Intertwined

Interwine - to unite or be united by twisting or twining together

Being intertwined pertains to two levels of this post. I have two finishes to share so they are united in both being finishes. And of course, bobbinlace and crocheting are both methods of intertwining threads. Okay...enough of the English lesson. *wink*

I finished my bobbinlace singing angel and am really happy with how she turned out. She will happily take her place on my lace tree again next Christmas. I will be starting another ornament next Monday. This time we are making a Christmas tree with pearls hanging as ornaments from the branches. It is becoming enjoyable to be working on lace again. I neglected it for too long time.

What can you do with kitchen twice besides lacing up a stuffed roast? Why get out your crochet hook of course! That is just what I did with this blue and white twine and crocheted two new potholders. I already put them to good use today getting a chocolate cake out of the oven as I am having a blogger over tomorrow for a day of quilting together. I am really happy with how they turned out and they work very well too.

I have more finishes to share. I have been working on getting some UFOs finished so I can start something new. I have an adorable chart which was given to me by my friend Carolien for my birthday last weekend. I decided I have to finish two old stitching projects first so this gives me lots of incentive. One is finished and the next is almost there. So back to stitching.....

Meaning.....

The meaning of happiness? Finishing a quilt, of course.


Back in December, I mentioned this UFO (unfinished object) that I decided I wanted to finish. I had the stitching done and patchwork sewn together in time for the holidays but then decided I would rather spend time hand quilting this than rushing it finished by machine quilting it.

You see, I really enjoy hand quilting. I find it so relaxing and soothing. I love seeing a quilt come to life as my needle gathers through the layers.

I took my time, enjoying each and every stitch! The results are very pleasing to me and I now have a new quilt to look forward to using next Christmas.

A quilt is never finished until the label is sewn on. Another step in the quilting process that is great fun to me is naming my quilts (I call this one The Meaning of Christmas) and making a label for them. I could do this as a career that is how much I love creating labels. *grins* They are always done freehand, letting my inspiration work itself out on the fabric.

Speaking of fabric...this is an extra special quilt since it is done with the fabric I bought at my friend's quilt shop. She passed away and I think of her when I see this series of homespun fabrics.

Off to grab another quilt UFO to work on.....

Down on the farm.....

Time to visit the farm again. Tonight the farmer's wives...meaning my quilt group...will gather round the table and share their choices for their first blocks. I am excited to see them all.

Each month, I translate a couple of the letters to Dutch from the book Farmer's Wife quilt sampler and test the blocks. Last month, they had 7 blocks to choose from and this month there are these eight blocks...

I am looking forward to thinking about deciding which fabric I will use for setting me blocks in this sampler. Once I have about half a year of blocks ready, I will be able to make some concrete decisions about what color to use for my sashing. The stack is growing in the meantime.

Holland is a small country but has much diversity in the 12 provinces that make it up. I have been including the various kinds of farm buildings in the monthly newsletters showing how different each area built their farms. A farm in Holland is unique in that the animals sleep in the 'deel' which is the barn section right in the house. There is only a door between the family and them. You can see some photos of Dutch farms on an entry I did last year from the open air museum in Arnhem. Just click here to read the entry.

Above is an oil painting by Jos Lussenburg entitled Farmer's wife darning socks. It shows a typical Dutch farm inside. Funny but we have lost so much of what was good in the world in the good old days. We throw away socks with a hole in them and a darning egg or mushroom is now considered a sewing antique. We are such a throw away society and just pitch the socks, run to the store and buy new ones. Am I crazy for thinking it would be fun to try darning a sock once? First I will have to get myself one of those antique darning eggs. *wink*

Speaking of eggs, here is a fun school blackboard saying from the 1920s farm life...

"Words spoken, like eggs broken, are hard to repair."