Twisted Stitchers 2023 Quilt Show - Ajax ON

Poppy, Barb, and I attended the Twisted Stitchers Quilt Show in Ajax yesterday. The room was very well lit and the quilts were well displayed.

This was an interesting family quilt/wall hanging. Every element was significant, including the titles of the books on the shelves. The photos are inserted behind vinyl in the 'frames'.

There were several examples of English Paper Piecing. This was an adaptation of a pattern. The centres were all fussy cut as were most of the half hexies around the centres.

This quilt was primarily 1" (finished) squares. I would not even venture to guess how many kilometres of thread were used.

So each little square finished at 1". Lots of 4- and 9-patches alternating with 3" half square triangles and squares.

This was so pretty - a Laura Heine pattern on display at the Ultimate Sewing Centre (Oshawa) booth. They carry a lot of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

The predominantly white background squares nicely showed the appliquéd 'rings'.

I really do love the bright colours and this one was stunning. The flowers on the border were cut in a flower shape and the centres were appliquéd. The blocks were predominantly solid or tonal fabric with layers of other colors to provide dimension. This reminds me of an echinacea wall hanging pattern I've wanted to do.

The quilting on this one was stunning. It reminded me of compass roses.

A closeup of the feather stitching and tight stipple stitching.

Being a birder, I loved this foundation paper pieced bird quilt.

This is a great way to show off random fabrics. Most of the blocks are 'snowballed' squares. Sashing between blocks would have been cool, too.

The striped fabrics were a great choice for the outer sashing and binding

The Laura Heine 'Outdoor Garden Party' was one of the show entrants. 

Using a layer cake (10" squares) from a fabric line and this easy pattern makes for a very effective design.

I see this foundation paper pieced elephant at almost every show I attend. The pattern must be very well written because every one I've seen has been really well done.

This was a little paper pieced piece. It would be great for a beginner.

At the Cotton Harvest Quilt booth I noted they have a full range of Sue Spargo supplies. My nieces have taken classes there (Seaforth ON). The woman at the booth certainly recognized them by name.

This was an intriguing EPP quilt. some of the centres were fussy cut hexies and others were hexie clusters or diamond clusters. Lots of fussy cutting. They really popped on the neutral, white with black background.

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That's a LOT of hand stitching.

The proprietor of this booth was quite enthusiastic about his cuts of fabric. If I had a particular pattern in mind, this would have been a great source for the fabrics.

I only bought two things.

The Sue Spargo 'bible'. (2nd edition)

and the Buttermilk Basin Sunflower kit. Because - well... it's a sunflower...

It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon - looking at beautiful things and getting all inspired to do some of my own quilting projects.

How I'm Fully Finishing an Ornament - Part One

I finally got all the stitching and embellishing done on my Holly 'n Hardanger ornament.

Yesterday I began the process of FFOing it. I cut out around the design and zigzagged the edge. Then I covered the opening of the Hardanger area with a fabric, anchoring it with a piece of light, fusible interfacing.

Then I cut the backing circles, batting, and backing fabric. I used 2 layers of Bristol  on the recommendation of a YouTuber (I forget who), glueing them together and tack glueing them to the batting and put them under heavy books to dry.

Next I sewed running stitches around the lining and laid the batting side of the circle down on it.

When I pulled on the running stitches, it evenly encircled the edges of the Bristol circle - yoyo style.

Ready to attach to the front.

I followed the same process of attaching the stitching to the mounting circle. Then I glued the two mounted pieces back to back - spreading the glue fairly close to the edges,

I laid another Bristol circle on top of the stitched side so the clips wouldn't leave dents. They probably wouldn't have but I didn't want to risk it.

Some of the glue oozed out a bit but it will dry clear and when I add the beaded strand around the edge, any 'oozage' will be covered.

I'm now waiting for everything to dry and will continue to the last few steps in a future post.

Several Things

 It's been a while so I'll try to get somewhat caught up.

I finished stitching the Holly 'n Hardanger Christmas ornament from the 2005 Just Cross Stitch Magazine. I did notice that I didn't do the backstitching on one of the holly leaves and got that done.

Last Saturday I had the stitchers over for a stitching day and got the threads snipped for the Hardanger bit in the centre. I accidentally snipped the threads in one of the squares where the Algerian eyelets go but I salvaged it by spreading a thin layer of white glue which, after it had dried, was easy to stitch through.

Then I added all the 'bling' - clear and red crystals with my HotFix tool and a few cream beads.

Now to back the Hardanger with some fabric that I'll also use on the back, cut the mounting boards and put the thing together. I'm using DMC 815 #8 Perle cotton for the cording.

I was able to acquire acceptable fabric to start the Hello From Liz Mathews pattern, 'Santa's Night Tree' - another of her 'tree' patterns. I had hoped to get a 36ct or higher because I really do prefer to stitch with one thread (no tedious railroading required) but I was thrilled to find this piece of 35ct Blue Jeans linen at Kim's sale last week.

I signed up for the Jingle Ball and Liz Mathews' class on finishing her trees. There's no way I'll have it finished or possibly even started by the first weekend of December but I love the pattern and have it all kitted up and ready to go. 

Speaking of my stitch day, the ladies have been to some very cool stitcherly events since we last were all together. 

Marilyn showed us the swag she got when she attended the Hobby House's Primitive Primer event a couple of weeks ago. All the participants got a lovely wicker basket crafted by a local basket maker. It fits project bags and has leather handles. What a treasure!

Marilyn also showed us some of her completed stitched pieces. 'B is for Bunny' designed by La-D-Da.

'Spring Quaker' designed by Lila's Studio. This one is on my 'to do' list. Even just the center motif would be an excellent piece to stitch.

'Penny Autumn' by Plum Street Samplers. I particularly love those sunflowers.

I showed off a vinyl-fronted project bag I made using the checkerboard squares.

Poppy brought us treats from Boston and Ireland. The yellow box is for mounting a piece of stitching. From Ireland we each got a mounted card, a little embroidery on Irish linen, and a needle minder.

During lunch, we surprised Jeanette with an early birthday celebration. And she really was surprised!

We have so much fun getting together to share ideas and admire each others' stitching. A couple of us still work so it's hard to find a day when all six of us can get together, however, Sunday seems like a good day for all of us, barring other obligations that may arise.

At our guild's meeting this month we started a 'leaf' project where we will try out 6 different kinds of silk threads using the Scotch stitch and reverse Scotch stitch. I haven't started mine yet but this is the model.

Last week, Skip and I got our COVID booster shots with the new strain's Moderna's vaccine. While we were waiting the 15 minutes after the shots at the first location, I booked us appointments to get our high dose flu shots at a second location, the SuperCentre Pharmacy where a former student, Nick Reynolds, works. I went first then waited for Skip. My arm only hurt at the injection site for a day and only really when I rolled over onto one side or the other in bed. No biggie.

I need to get cracking and get my shingles shots since I only have a few months for our government to pay for it. I have a couple of other things I want to see the doctor for so need to add that to my list.

And finally, I completed some outdoor tasks I've had hanging over my head. I got the garden ready for winter (filling 4 yard waste bags and 2 compost bins) and hauled a pile of wood from one side of the house where it has been stored and seasoning to the other side of the house where I can easily access it this winter for cozy fires.

I had my mother's words going through my head as I only loaded 10 - 12 logs into the wheelbarrow at a time. "Do a little at a time and rest frequently". Those little loads really made it manageable - no heaving and actually no 'bad language'. I think I'm actually getting more fit having to do more strenuous work around the house on a regular basis. It was a beautiful, sunny, coolish autumn day - a joy to be outside. I found yanking the annuals out of the ground (herbs, flowers, and veggies) more strenuous than loading, hauling and piling wood. There's a bit more I can add to the pile so I may tackle that on another day it's not raining.

Hello Autumn Book - Finally Released

Teresa Kogut finally released her Hello Autumn book! I got all excited that I was going to be a cover girl but she used one of her Patreon member's photos instead for the cover. She had framed my model two years ago with a rustic red, barnboard frame and wasn't completely happy with how little room she left between the design's border and the frame. It was a Patreon pattern back in 2021. It occurred to me a few months ago that although she had shown it framed on a FlossTube, she had never released it. She reassured me that it would be coming out in book form with several other autumnal designs.

Although my model didn't make the cover, I'm thrilled my piece is on the design page.

I really loved stitching the barn. Variegated hand-dyed thread really make the boards look board-like. Her squirrels are also very cute. There are 7 other designs in the book, now available for order from you LNS. Click the link to see them all.

A Couple of New Starts + WIPs

I started a Christmas ornament from a Just Cross Stitch Christmas Issue on some dark green 28ct Lugana from my stash. I'm using B5200; the pattern calls for 1, 2, and 3 strands in different places. I like that it's only one colour. This is one day's work...

Yesterday, I finished the green leaves and while waiting for Skip's CT scan, I got a lot of the leaves' backstitching done. Only a couple more hours and the stitching will be done. Then to cut and weave the bars for the hardanger, and, of course, the FFOing

Another new start is Vintage stars by Jeannette Douglas. I purchased the pattern and silk thread pack on a Facebook cross stitch destashing group for a very reasonable price. I'm stitching it on 46ct (!) Bristol linen so it won't be too huge when finished.

This is all I've done so far. Thank goodness for magnification.

I finished the water and waves on the right side of the house on my Live On Little piece and am working on the house/barn. I've had to frog a couple of the bricks that I'd stitched in the wrong place and still have to decide what colour I'm going to do the 'mortar'. This is the piece that I don't expect to finish for at least a year.

Willlie's Quaker Sampler #6  is going to be a companion piece to another red sampler it's 1 over 2 on 40ct Platinum linen with my favourite DMC 115. I did a few stitches on it at Monday morning stitching this week. It actually goes pretty quickly when I do spend some time working on it...

Companion piece:

I do try to rotate among them and complete or FFO something on a fairly regular basis. I do need that sense of accomplishment.