New Stitch Along! Pumpkin Village! 🍁🎃🍁

 Fall will be here soon and the FB Group, Woolie Friends, is starting a new wool applique Stitch Along!  It’s not too late to start!  I know many of you here in blog land don’t use FaceBook, but that’s ok!  Everything can be found on my website for you to get started and continue!  Pumpkin Village is the name of the Stitch Along and you won’t want to miss out on this super fun event!  12 designers have come together to create this group project.  Each week a new block will be released and at the end there will be a finishing design offered.  We will each be offering a FREE pattern download the week of our release or a specially priced printed pattern during the event for $5.  We will each offer fabric and thread kits as well.  My block will be released on Monday the 14th so that’s coming up quick!  You can preorder the kits or the printed pattern for my block (at a reduced price) from TraditionalPrimitives.com and we will ship as soon as possible! My newer wool applique patterns come with preprinted templates on our Needle Turn and Wool Applique Freezer Paper so you don’t have any tracing you need to do!  A big bonus! 

The first two designs have been released, but it’s not too late to join in!  Pop over to my website and you’ll find the listing for Pumpkin Village on the home page.  Be sure to read the description down below the pictures for more details.  You’ll find a live link list for each designer so you can order all of the kits and supplies needed.  It’s not too late to join in on the fun for this great project!  The blocks are so cute and you will love the fun of stitching this fun Pumpkin Village up! 

Join in on the fun with us!  You’ll be so glad! 

Thanks for stopping in today and as always, take care, 

Missie

TraditionalPrimitives.com

The registration is open for the New England Quilt Seminars hosted by David Taylor Quilts.  I’m thrilled and look forward to this event so much!  12 students for 5 days to have lots of one on one time of instruction on English Paper Piecing and Applique’.  This will be awesome to really focus on improving the techniques used in the quilt.  We’ll get a huge start on the class project, Nana’s Garden Club.  This quilt has a big block center with EPP and Applique.  I love teaching Starch Basting and helping students achieve excellent results.  It’s so rewarding to see the excitement of a student when they have success using the techniques I love.  ❤️  These techniques help make fancy quilts go together wonderfully!  

Join me won’t you?  Click HERE for detailed info!  The New England Quilt Seminars is held in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire and looks to be a beautiful setting!  I hope to see you there! 

Thanks for stopping by today!  

Missie

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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Binding Time!

The quilting is done and now I am binding DD and SIL's new quilt! The good news is that it will be done in time for the movers to pack it up and take it to Georgia to their new home. The bad news is that it is over 400" of binding! Ha Ha! Ginger feels the same way I do about binding!

She is snuggling up to it this morning. Last night she was laying on the part that was at my feet while I stitched one side of binding down. I had to keep moving her as I adjusted the quilt to get to the next part for stitching. I guess she is making sure to get the snuggles in before the quilt goes to it's new home. Funny how pets love to snuggle on quilts!

She had a good report on her broken leg last week! It is healing well. She now has freedom to walk slowly on the wood floor and have freedom throughout the main floor of the house. No big flight of steps allowed yet, but she got a little energetic and ran up and down when we weren't looking! So now we are doing the baby gate thing for a few more weeks while we build her strength back with daily walks. She is still limping a bit at times and I hope that will go away soon. I hate that she is hurting even a bit when she walks!

How do you like to make a binding? I cut bias strips 1 3/4" wide, sew the strips together and then press the long length in half. Actually I offset this seam a bit as you can see in the picture below. It is offset about a scant 1/8". I use a walking foot and a 1/4" seam when stitching on the folded binding.

Using this method gives me a nice small binding. I like to use one goodie clip as a pin to hold the folded edge in place a bit as I stitch up to it. I only use one clip because it is easier to handle one as you move it along the binding. Using more clips ahead of my stitching does not do me any good because I am placing the binding in it's exact place one stitch at a time. I usually place the clip about 4" ahead of my stitching and work up to it as shown in this picture below. The clip helps me get the folded edge in the approximate location needed and reduces the pull the binding makes with the double layer as it is folded to the back. Make sense?

Have a great day and take care ! I will show a picture of the quilt on a bed when the binding is done... Until then...

Missie

 

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One Woman's Junk Is Another Woman's Treasure! Let's Get Organized!

I have a pattern I designed for keeping my projects organized which I have used and loved using for years!

It's called the Sewing Bee Binder. I have made several different sizes...large, medium and small. When you go on a trip or to a quilting group to stitch and don't have a table, it works really good because the binder sides are stiff and allow you to have a little flat space to use as a table while sitting in a straight chair. Then when it's time to go home or get out of the car, all you do is zip it shut! They have been used ALOT! But now, I have so many different projects going, I have piles of projects laying here and there to stitch on now and then. I need to make a few more binders to keep projects in, but there just isn't time for me right now!

Taryn at Repro Quilt Lover was so sweet to send me a cute little sandwich box to take with me to keep my purse safe! I mentioned to her that my scissors cut through one of my nice purses! It was an extra for her and is now my treasure! You can see it here. It is working great to take to the Doctors office every few days! (Allergy shots with 30 minute waiting time after)

Even my own junk is a new treasure for me!! I needed a bandaid this morning and went in search of the right size...couldn't find a safety kit with any bandaids left so gathered a few to throw away. As I was getting the last health goodies we have not used out of the cases, I realized these cases could be used and used WELL! Look at this great divider in this big case!

And here it is in action!

It has a perfect slot for my glasses, thimble and thread and two larger sections for unused pieces and the block I am stitching on! I'm excited!

The labels are coming of easy peaty on this one! I think I have a new treasure!

I keep my buttons all nice an organized in floss caddies. Have not really used my buttons too much since I stopped smocking years and years ago, so recently I decided I could reuse this caddy. My Valdani floss is forever rolling away on the floor when I pull to get more length. I discovered this old floss box works wonderful for the balls of floss! I pull a length, leaving the ball in the box, close the lid and keep pulling while the lid is closed! No balls falling off my lap and rolling across the carpet catching dog hairs! Yeah! This caddy was pretty much junk sitting on the shelf for at least 10 years...now it's a new treasure!

I can keep all my floss colors for the project I am working on in the caddy, ready to find easily! Instead of getting snagged in a basket or lost under the end table. I also have a habit of forgetting to write down the colors I am using for a Punchneedle project, then spend quite a bit of time trying to figure out what exact colors I used for the pattern. With my floss all packed away neatly in this box, I have an easy way to know exactly what colors I used!

Life's getting easier with these little (junky) treasures! I could show you a few more, but you get the idea...

What do you use to keep organized??

Have a great day and take care,

Missie

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My House on the Hill

Just finished up revamping My House on the Hill in Valdani pearl cotton 12! This is a mini quilt, 12" square. These are so fun to lay around the house or hang on the wire hangers that are so popular now. I have several different little quilts hanging out of baskets and laid out on coffee tables. So nice to finish up another project! This pattern is available at Traditional Primitives HERE if you are interested!

Take Care,

Missie

PS... Here's a nice give away I stumbled on...cute blog!

COBBLESTONECORNER AND GRANDMAS BISQUITS, 50 FOLLOWERS GIVE AWAY! ENDING JULY 25TH...

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Mmmm Fresh Salad Please!

We moved to Iowa about 8 years ago from a 2 acre lot to a standard cookie cutter sized lot. We had a big garden in Ohio...squash, strawberries, tomatoes, peas, etc. Here, I have learned to mix the veggies in with my flower pots on the porch..it makes for a small garden, but it works! This year I only have tomatoes and lettus, but it will be enough for a few fresh salads now and then!

The big pots of light purple petunias all came back naturally from last year! We thought they were weeds, but then noticed they were petunias. It was nice to have those pots ready to go at planting time

Spinach is in the three tiered planter...can't hardly see it since I just cut it! More leaves will be grown in a few days though! On the right is my new Stawberries 'n Cream Hydrangia ...the blooms are only yellow so I need to figure out what nutrients it needs to get the pink color to come!

The back porch flower garden...helps us feel a little less closed in and gives us something nice to look at besides the neighbors! LOL. You can see the lettus bowl on the railing next to the three tiered pot where the lettus is growing. My tomato plant is just off view of the camera to the left and has some nice tomatoes ripening. When the lettus is done we will put out more seed for the next round. Lettus grows quickly so it works well!

And since this is a blog about quilts...here is an old quilt I made in the early nineties during the mauve and blue phase of my life. It is called Cottage Flowers. I haven't had it out for a while, so it's nice for me to see it again! Have a great weekend!

 

 

Mariner's Compass Coaster

Punchneedle is one of my favorite crafts that can be done easily when things are busy around here. Katie is off to camp as of midnight last night and we had a busy few days getting her ready to go. I had snippets of time here and there and this coaster was one project that was done in a flash!

This took only about an hour or so in total. I love making coasters out of punchneedle. The colorfast 3-strand floss from Valdani does not bleed after being moistened by drops of water from glasses. I have used my punchneedle coasters for a few years and just wanted to add to my collection. For the base I use small sized cork and wood plant protectors from the big box home stores. The punchneedle is glued on the backside to hold the loops in place and at that time I glue it to the wood base with permanent glue. Works great!

One thing about punchneedle...the projects are small and we decorate baskets an other things to sit around, but making coasters and framed art are my favorite uses for punchneedled projects. You can see a few more at my online store, Traditional Primitives.  Click HERE to shop! You will see that I like to do larger projects as well. I have a rabbit quilt using punchneedle that I will show soon. It is something I work on occasionally when I am not designing.

Katie and her buddies headed to camp bought black hats from the dollar store and decided to use some bright fabrics to put their name on them. After they got started, Katie decided to do hers a bit differently...we made a cover for the top of the hat, stitched it on and then she did her name in black. It's cute as can be! I wish I had pics of the others...they all turned out darling!