The Fingertip Stiletto- A Handy Tool!

This little Fingerrip Stilleto is one of my favorite notions! I use it for prepping my English Paper Piecing when I prep with starch. It's so easy to use because it's comfy on your finger, it doesn't get lost because it stays on your finger! It is adjustable to fit any size finger so it's one size, fits all. The best thing is that it protects your finger from the heat when ironing the small pieces. It's a lifesaver! If you think you need one, you can find it HERE! I really think you need one! ;0)

Take care,
Missie
www.traditionalprimitives.com

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Great Travels...Good to be home! And Give Away Chance!

We're back home from a trip across the country to visit both sides of the family for a few weeks! It's so good to see everyone...living away from family makes you try to cram everything you can into a 4 day visit! We had campfires, fireworks, shot rockets high in the sky and chased them across the far, played cards and of course, we ladies did a little shopping in Downtown Bucyrus, Oh. These paintings are so beautiful, added to old downtown buildings to warm up the area and bring in tourists.

This first picture depicts Lady Liberty holding a wounded soldier, signifying respect we have for our brave soldiers. It is absolutely stunning...

The next painting is next to a park and the painting is of the city itself, many years ago. It shows the view you are standing in as you gaze at the painting and also shows that agriculture and industry have influenced the area. What wonderful artists to create such masterpieces!

 

We went to my husband's church and hanging on the wall is a quilt given to the church in honor of his parents. You can't really see it, but quilted in the bottom border of the quilt is their names. The makers did a wonderful job!

I also took a little road trip to Sandusky, OH to visit a new quilt store! M&E Quilt Shoppe is right on Market Street and is a wonderful shop! What a joy it was to meet these two friends who decided to open the store together. They really have a good thing going!

Lots of displays...and a beautiful check out counter. You can't see too well in the picture, but they glued buttons on the front of the counter to add a few swirls to the front. It is really unique!

Very cool fabric shelves. One of the owners said her father used these ladders long ago to work on this very building. She came across them, added some plant hangers to the sides and is now using them in her store! How cool is that?

If you are ever in the area, be sure to stop in to see these ladies! They are lots of fun and have a great selection of beautiful cottons and wools. And now they are carrying many of Traditional Primitives patterns as well. I'll be sending quilts their way for a trunk show ASAP!

 

We saw the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile as we passed through Indianapolis. Years ago, when my kids were in elementary school, we saw this fancy mobile while staying in a hotel in Omaha. And I have a tinly little whistle of an Oscar Mayer Weiner Whistle in my box of my favorite toys...somewhere in the basement. Brought back some fun memories!

 

Ginger had enough of the bucket seat and climbed into the back to lay on some of our soft sided suitcases! Do you see her?

I managed a wee bit of sewing while away from home. Here's a few more sneak peaks of the next quilt I'm working on! This quilt will have elements of English Paper Piecing and Appliqué. It's coming together nicely, but I need a bit more done before I can show off the actual blocks...

 

I really can't wait to show you this new quilt! I hope to show you next week! It is wonderful to be able to create again after being so busy for months! It is so exciting to have a project you just can't wait to pick up and get to work on!

Don't forget to go back a post or two to find the give away post! I'll be drawing in a few weeks for that cute little sewing box! I've found a few things that fit inside and I'll be sending it to someone who lets me know they have shared my blog on their sidebar or copies me in on an email as they share my blog with other quilters. I'm trying to grow my blog a bit, so help me out if you care for a chance to win this cute little box filled with a few goodies! Thank you!

Take care and thanks for stopping by today!

Missie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Holiday Stitching! And Giveaway Update!

Happy 4th of July! I can't believe it is July 4th already! This year is absolutely flying by...

I hope you all get to have a few moments to stitch before the busy weekend to celebrate the 4th of July! Those of you who live in the USA anyway! I got lots of prep done on my new quilt yesterday and I hope to find a few moments each morning and evening (except for during the fireworks of course!) Dont you hate it when you have some exciting stitching ready and then can't find any time to stitch!?! The weather is beautiful in the Midwest...cool, slightly breezy and pleasant temps for the last few days, so the picnickers will be thrilled with the forecast for family and friendly gatherings. The nice weather does not help me find time for stitching either...but I will steal away a few moments here and there to stitch a bit now an then.

That's what's so nice about hand stitching. I can do it on the porch, in the car, at the park, and of course all comfy cozy in my recliner! Perhaps I can show you some more snippets soon.

 

I can't seem to hold the camera still this fine day, but there's a little patriotic snippet of my next quilt! It will be a quilt using my favorite techniques...English Paper Piecing and Appliqué. I may add a little wool appliqué as well! Once you start with wool appliqué, it's a bit addictive, just like our other favorite techniques in quilting.

What's your favorite stitching technique to piece a quilt?

Don't forget to scroll down and go to my last post about my giveaway!

You could win this little sewing machine box (it's about 4" of cuteness!) if you let me know that you have added my blog to your sidebar if you are a blogger. If you are not a blogger, please copy me in on an email where you share my blog with a fellow quilter. I'm trying to grow my blog so if you are not a follower yet, please join my sight with the link titled "Join This Site" on the left sidebar of my blog. I'm planning on filling this cute little case with some small sized goodies for the winner! Maybe it will overflow just a bit!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Take care,

Missie

 

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Minnesota Quilters Show! And, A Give Away!

As you know, I did a little vending in Minnesota in the last few weeks! It was a great experience for me. I love sharing tidbits of Appliqué, English Paper Piecing and Punchneedle with others! It is so rewarding to see faces and eyes light up when they see that yes, they can do these wonderful arts! I think we need to lure in as many quilters as possible to keep these arts alive for the generations to come. Thanks to my friend Marcia for helping me once again at a show. She is a great help! I couldn't do it with out my wonderful helpers, Geri and Marcia! (And occasionally, my dear hubs, Jeff!). Ginger helps me too as you see below! She keeps me company as I am packing up for the trips to vend. Here, she KNOWS something is up and that her "mom" will be leaving again. She guarded and watched me the entire time I was bringing things upstairs. After a while she parked her caboose in the middle as she got tired of following me up and down, up and down. She stayed there like that for over an hour! Haha! Most of the time her head was laying on the step as comfy as could be. Ah, the life of a dog!

The show was filled with beautiful quilts from all over the country. Very many were absolutely stunning! Two quilting friends asked me to look for their judged quilts and let them know if they won a ribbon...low and behold, they both won ribbons! The first I came across in the aisles belonged to Karen Woten. She won a ribbon for 2nd place in the Large Appliqué category! Congratulations Karen!

Her quilt is the Emily Monroe Quilt, which she drew from a picture seen in a museum book. She is very talented, don't you think! She used wool on cotton for this quilt and quilted it with an old fashioned spider web design. It was stunning! Wool appliqué has become one of her favorite hobbies, along with hand appliqué and hand quilting.

Then, around the corner was the other friend's quilt! This one is Julee Prose's Civil War Bride Quilt. She also won a ribbon! Well, actually TWO ribbons! She won 1st Place in the Large Appliqué Category along with Best Hand Quilting! Congratulations Julee!

She used interesting cotton shirting a as her backgrounds to give her own spin on this quilt made by many. It's lovely! Her hand appliqué is stunning, and so are her hand quilting stitches!

I am so proud to know both of these ladies who continually win ribbons in large shows. The talent in the Des Moines area is so great and inspiring! There is always a reason to attend sewing groups because the inspiration is overflowing! I am blessed to have so many talented women in my life.

While I travel, I do love to stop at McDonalds for coffee or a large diet coke while I drive. I have not paid attention to the happy meal toys for quite some time, but the current toy caught my eye...the theme for the girls is American Girl and the toy that caught my eye? A darling sewing machine box! We have made a few trips lately and my dear husband so nicely stopped at McDonalds for every meal as we traveled across the country, so that I could see if they were giving away this special toy yet! FINNALLY, we found a resturant that was giving this as the Happy Meal toy! I was so excited!

I thought it was so cute, I got a few of them! I will be doing a give away for this cute little sewing box. How cute will this be with small sized sewing supplies inside! A thimble, a few bobbins full of thread, some paper pieces ready to use, hand sewn pieced blocks ready to sew and some small embroidery scissors... What fun!

I will fill this little sewing machine box with goodies and mail it to one lucky winner. I would like to put out a request for you to share my blog with someone. If you have a blog, please consider adding me to your blog roll on your sidebar. All you need to do to be entered in the drawing is please make a comment to let me know that you've followed my request to add me to your blog roll on your side bar or that you have shared my blog with someone. If you are not a follower, I'd love to see some new faces in my "following" gadget! I will keep posting pictures of what will be added to this little box in the coming weeks. Maybe it will even overflow with goodies! Help me grow my blog by joining in the fun.

I always try to include everyone in a giveaway here at Traditional Primitives. So, everyone who participates will get a little something by email. Be sure I have access to your email address when you post so I can send you a little freebie! I'll be showing that in future posts as well.

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great week ahead!

Take care,

Missie

 

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THIS Is What It's All About!!

Do you ever get a little Ho Hum about sewing the same quilt a few times over? When I WANT to make the same quilt over and over, it's all good, but when I NEED to make a repeat, sometimes I do procrastinate a bit...

In the past few months, I have sold a few samples to stores and needed to make my own sample once again. I'm afraid I fibbed a bit when I posted that I have not been doing any sewing. I realized today, the truth is, I have not been able to make anything NEW lately. I have, however, been working on the samples mentioned...Punchneedle Mini Quilts. The one I needed to replace in my own stash is Little Brookshire Star. My goodness...when I started sewing these little squares together this morning, I did get so excited about it! And....THAT'S what it's all about!!! Getting excited about quilting, punching, stitching, etc! I'm so excited to finish this little quilt up...LOL, the day before I needed it done!

Little Brookshire Star...here she is...

12.5" in all of her glory...

Two afternoons to punch and stitch, an hour to cut strips for squares, and an hour to sew the squares together! Voila'...a sweet little mini for me to enjoy once again! I love the colors and the work that looks difficult. We all know the secret that Punchneedle, lazy daisy stitch and squares are so easy to do! If you are interested, you can have one too by clicking HERE to purchase the pattern at my store! I would LOVE to hear what YOU are excited about stitching on today! Thanks for stopping by!

Take care,

Missie

 

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Getting Back to Normal !! And...Some Big News!

Well, I have two new graduates as of a few weeks ago! The Middle Daughter has graduated from Iowa State and has already started work. The Youngest Daughter has graduated from high school and is off to volunteer at a YL camp for a month. They are both so happy well adjusted kids and I am so proud!

We are empty nesters for a while. Hubs is traveling for work and I am vending, so we'll miss each other for one of our empty nest weeks! LOL! After such a busy spring, we have vowed to do something fun together, so we'll work on that when we both get home next week!

Since we had the graduation parties in our home, the above picture shows my sewing room...a mess once again, all squished to one end of the room and hidden by a partition during the party. I was happy to rearrange last year for so many good reasons, but I sooooo look forward to putting it together and leaving it that way! I have a good start on the process, but it's all a mess again as I start to pack for my vending trip to The Minnesota Quilters Show in St. Cloud, MN. Will anyone be there? Let me know if you are coming and look me up if so! I hear it's a wonderful show and I can't wait to see it in person! If you are up for a road trip the dates of the event are June 12-14. Please introduce yourself to me if you make it to the show!

I have had to throw another iron away. This will be the third one in about 6 months. They don't make them like they used to! Of course, part of my problem may be that I am using old irons. I am one who likes an iron to stay on while I am doing my thing in the sewing room. I have not been able to find a new one that works as well as my old Rowenta...which was so old, it smelled like an electrical fire waiting to happen. Recently, I was at my local designer big box store and found a $17 iron with no auto shut off picture on the box! I couldn't believe it! It is very small compared to my old faithful, but it gets hot...and does not turn off!!!! I love it! It's the Black and Decker F210 model. It appears there are some with the auto shut off feature, so maybe they only carry this one in the store. I better go get another one to have on hand! That feature is important to me, and I have been looking for months and months. I'm so happy I found one! To make sure it is off as I leave the room, I always use a stip extension cord with a switch. I also leave a light on and plugged into the same strip cord. When I flip the switch off to turn off the light, I am assured the iron is off also. That's my safety system I have used for over 20 years. So far so good!

So, you are probably wondering what the big news is? If you've read my blog for a while, you know I love English Paper Piecing, but you also know that I have a unique way of doing this! I use EPP for hexies and diamonds, traditional shapes, but also for blocks that are not traditionally EPP patterns. I have figured out a way that works for me to shortcut the basting with thread method. I have learned that I love to use starch and thick freezer paper (double layer of special freezer paper) to baste my shapes. One issue with some customers has been that some don't have interest in making the freezer paper shapes. (It's VERY easy though!).
SO, SOME of my big news is that I can now offer my customers my EPP patterns WITH the shapes cut out and ready to go! My patterns are not traditional EPP blocks and they are blocks that I would not want to attempt by machine because they are not easy blocks by machine, and I love handwork. Using the EPP method for these blocks makes them very easy and ENJOYABLE!! These papers can be used over and over when using my method for basting. I have used them up to 20 times or more before. ( It depends on how much lint your fabric has that sticks to the waxy side of the freezer paper.) I offer pin cushion patterns and a few quilt patterns using EPP. You could easily make a bunch of pin cushions, or, make a quilt using these same papers. I'm so excited to be able to offer these to you so that you can get started right away on your EPP projects!

These papers are available in the Pincushion Patterns and the Hexie Candy Mini Quilt currently and I will have them available in the near future for Life In The Midwest and A Warm Welcome. You can also choose to make your own as in the past. You can purchase HERE at my Website, www.TraditionalPrimitives.com if you are interested.
The OTHER big news is that I will now offer ALL of my Punchneedle Patterns WITH the printed weaver's cloth. This has been a work in progress for quite a while. I am so excited to have all of them ready and available for you with the stamped weaver's cloth included in the pattern. Now, when you receive your pattern you can start punching right away! The picture below shows an example of one of the printed designs, Primitive Pineapple Welcome.

You can find these HERE at www.TraditionalPrimitives.com if you are interested! Thanks for looking! (I do have a correction here...all but ONE design is available with the printed cloth temporarily)
With these tasks finalized I am so excited to get back to stitching! I promise I won't be missing in action any longer. My life is my own once again and I'll post more often once again!
Thanks so much for stopping by! I've missed chatting with you all. Please leave a comment to say hello! If your guild or store would like a workshop on my starch method of English Paper Piecing, along with all other methods of EPP, or another class, please write to me. I would be happy to send the information!
Take care,
Missie

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7 Feet of Shoes!

Hi Gang!

Still not much happening around here as far as quilting goes...life has been very busy in this household! From my last post, you know we have our two German students here. We are getting along wonderfully and they are so sweet! They communicate wonderfully in English and it's really fun to hear them speak German and very funny to hear my daughter try to understand them and translate what they say! They are having a great time together. Monday, one of them had to go to the doctor with strep throat and Tuesday my Katie was home sick with a cold as well. We have cool rainy weather and that always brings a cold to this household!

Katie was selected to participate in the Drake Relays this year. She ran last Saturday morning. It was an awesome experience! Her team of four took second place in the Shuttle Hurdle relays! Yeah Girls! The Drake Relays are a big deal around here...professional athletes as well as top track performers from colleges all over the country, as well as a few Iowa high school track members compete. We watched pole jumping, high jumping (7’10” by a high school boy!), shuttle hurdles, long jump, steeple chase, medley relays, and more! It was a great time! If you find me on FaceBook, you can watch Katie run the hurdles. She is the first leg of the relay. (Missie Mayo Carpenter on FB). As I was waiting to meet up with Katie, I snapped this pick of the famous (in Des Moines) Drake Bulldog, Lucy...she is quite a queen!

 

So Katie woke at 5am to get down to the meet on time Saturday morning and Jeff took the other girls to Garage Sales! They had a blast! As soon as Katie returned home, she and the other two started getting ready for prom...only two hours to get three girls' hair done for prom was quite exciting! They were only a few minutes late and they all looked so pretty! Here's Katie and her boyfriend, Brennen.

 

And the crew of 4 off to get a few pictures taken before dinner. These are the best pictures because the wind was so strong...so much for nice, neat hair! Haha!

Then came after prom after the dance...they rolled in about 6:30 am... The high school has a big event to keep them all there to stay safe and out of trouble until morning. Of course, we parents are up all night as well, wondering if they are having fun! So we have sleep to catch up on also!

Last night was Katie's Young Life group here at our house! Nothing like keeping busy around here! We had about 70 kids come for YL Club Night! Worship is not like it used to be for teens! They really have a wonderful time together with fellowship, music, food, and worship. It is an awesome thing that SO Many Kids make it every week to worship. Young Life is a way to introduce God to those who have not been to church.

This is what our 7' wide entry looked like last night! And the pile kept growing and growing! LOL. The picture below is how the basement looked as they all tried to fit. The screen you see shows videos while they socialize and also projects the words for them when they sing popular music with a good message. You can't really see in the dark, but there is 15'x18' of kids in there, packed like sardines!

 

I snuck away for Bees on Tuesday night. It was fun to see a gift I made for my Secret Pal a few years ago, hanging on her wall. This little quilt has a punched Bee in the center, with embroidery and a patchwork border. I have lost this Bee Pattern in all my 'stuff' in the sewing room! Did I say "stuff" ? I meant "JUNK"!!

The only thing "quilty" I have been able to do is work on a store sample of Punchneedle. This one is called Primitive Pineapple Welcome. I am doing it in a little bit different color way than the pattern. I do think I like the blue in the sashing for a little change! When punching a larger design, it always helps to sew scrap fabric around the edge of the weaver's cloth, so it will fit easily inside a larger hoop. Makes for Much Less Hastle keeping the cloth in the hoop as you work! You can see, I am just about finished punching and then will get on to the wool and cotton borders. You can buy the pattern on my website, HERE, if you are interested.

That's about it for now! I have plans next week for a road trip to KC to help my Melanie get to a job interview during finals week, a college graduation, a high school graduation open house for about 120, and lastly, the college graduation dinner with her roomies and their families! Not much! LOL! Then...I will have time for quilting the next week...IF I am awake, that is!

Take Care,

Missie

 

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