Fourth of July Weekend, Part One

Wow, what a lot of things we got done.   My daughters were both here for a long weekend.  This usually means fun, good food, laughter, some adult beverages and crafting.   This weekend did not disappoint.   Iron board at the ready and cutting table were set up for not stop use in the living room as we stitched in the dining room.

For whatever reason I have four or five bottles of Prosecco.....

so one morning we started with Mimosa's and the another is was Bellini's.   Everyone shared the tasks of prep, cooking and cleaning up; and it was glorious.  My son-in-law cooked our dinners on the grill on the nights he was with us.  Nasty thing called work had him back in the city as couple of times.  

But we got our crafting on in a big way.   I know I am so very blessed to have not only great daughters but great crafty daughters.

 A bit of silliness in the mess.  I enter the room to find they have each donned the portion of the pant legs Heather cut off when she hemmed her capris.   Ninja seamstresses I guess.

They started like gangbusters cranking out dress after dress, shirt after shirt.   They both participated in a Wardrobe in a Weekend in Vermont in May and they brought the lessons they learned.   I made them hang their accomplishments on the line so I could photograph them.  There were groans of "oh mother".

And there was more that was either being worn or packed in their suitcases already.    I love the whimsy Heather has to jazz up the pockets in her pants.

Some of Amy's finishes.   She pieced a pastel lap quilt with a camping theme.   (Since photographing, she has quilting and is now hand sewing on the binding as I type)   Next she added the border to the middle quilt as well as pieced a back for that quilt.   Lastly, she quilted an outdoors themed table runner that has insulated lining (like oven mitts) so she can put it on her glass topped picnic  table for placing hot food when camping.  The camping connection is because she has a 33 foot trailer on a site at a campground in New Hampshire where she spends most weekends.

Me, I started out much slower.   I am teaching an EGA Christmas in July class so I had to kit up everything.   This took the better part of a day!  My sympathy to class teachers and what they must go through.

I finished two patriotic pieces I stitched last summer as pillows.  I am kind of thinking about unstuffing and trimming down the blue portion by an inch or two.

Same with this guy.   Why did I make it so tall?    We shall see.   Maybe when I have a few free minutes with nothing on my to-do list and I will alter these.    Like that may happen anytime soon.  LOL

 I also worked on a  patriotic table topper.   The finished size is about 48 by 48 and I am glad to have this one out of my WIP basket.

 

 I quilted this by using diagonal rows of stitches every two inches from the corners in towards the center.   I left the center unstitched, traced a holiday dish and quilted stars in the center section.

I may tea stain this to give it an aged look.   For now, I just want to put it in place....that is after I de-construct my house-turned-sweatshop.

My next finish is my Mon Ami Pierre, A Stitcher's Notebook.   This is another WIP that I am glad to have finished/finished.

I plan to use this as an insert in my current project bag to keep all my tools and threads together.   I'd like to get a thread sorter/horn book type to insert and carry along.  I struggled with what fabric to use as a lining.   As soon as I told the gal at Serendipity Quilt Shop in Dagsboro, DE, that I like to have my quilts backed with something that is a surprise when you turn it over, she brought a bolt of batik.   I would have never thought to look at batik and it was the perfect choice.

All this not without injury.....got a blister from all the hand stitching.   Guess I need to learn to use a thimble.   

Glad to have accomplished so much, thrilled for all the things we were able to complete, glad I have one more day off to get thinks back in order (craft room is a mess!!) but best of all happy for all the memories we made.  But there's more.....stay tuned for Part Two.