itching to do some stitching

I wish I could say this great piece was mine. Sheila, a quilting friend in town, shared it with me last week, knowing I'd fall in love with it. She said her sister got it for her at the Kane County Flea Market years ago.

While it looks like a dresser scarf I wonder if it was used to drape a sewing machine to keep off the dust.

The motifs are just killing me.

And all that crocheted lace. Oh my.

easy empire waist top

A new model for the class I'm teaching in October:

It's from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones book. This one was done in the 9-12 mos. size, but I think it runs large.

I still need to work out a few kinks before the class. I had a little trouble with some fabric pulling from the stitching on the sleeve vents, but I think I know how to solve it and make it much easier to do successfully for beginners. It didn't help that I was sewing that part around 10pm which is well past my sewing expiration time for the night. My brain has already shut down for the evening by then - I never cut things out that late at night either. I'm sure to make a mistake if I do.

The contrasting trim is far easier to do than it looks. You can almost see the vent at the bottom of the sleeve that gave me trouble.

Just a simple button closure in the back. There are side vents as well on the bottom of the tunic.

I'd love this shirt in my size.

church show

Yesterday I got to show off my work a little. Our church had an art show featuring members of the congregation who were artists and craftspeople.

Here's my little spot (I was sharing my table with a woman who writes poetry):

I just realized that I showed the first and last quilts I posted on this blog. Glenn's denim quilt was my very first post. It was also so heavy I could barely get it to stay up. I wound up wrapping twine around one corner to take advantage of a hook that was already in the wall. The other quilt is Carol's. I should have it in the mail to her soon.

The rest is a mish mash of doll quilts and needlework. Most of what I showed depended on what I could get my hands on quickly. Some doll quilts had to be reclaimed for a short time. Ellie yelled, "Hey, those are mine!" when she first saw my display.

All in all, it was a wonderful afternoon. I found out that several other women in the congregation quilt and we've made plans to start a "caring quilt" group in the fall. We'll piece tops for members who are going through a difficult time. The tops will come to church to be tied by everyone who is able to help and a blessing or good thought for the recipient is said as each knot is tied.

Besides quilters, there were weavers, knitters, authors, poets, photographers, potters, painters, flower arrangers, sketch artists, collage artists, musicians... Plans are in the works for next year and I'm already thinking about what I'd like to have done for that show.