More embroidery finished

......sharing progress

~Lea Anne~

Gettin Down!

On the floor!   This one is just to big for the design wall.   Bed size quilts just make more sense to me.  So  many times I wished I had made a quilt bigger.  And how many times I could have sold one if it had been bigger.  So as a rule of thumb if I don't have a real plan to keep it, I make it bigger just in case.

I started out in the Studio this morning.  That lasted about 30 minutes.  This is why...  Too DARN COLD in there.

So I'll number the rows on this big ole quilt and save it for another day.

My little birdie doesn't seem to mind the cold temps, she's singing up a beautiful tune.

Next on the handwork list is this one.  Its another free design, this time it's from Nana Company.  Amy has a wonderful blog with tons of cute free projects on the left hand side of her blog.  

Since you've nothing better to do because it's so darn cold, hop on over to Judys and admire all the talented quilters design walls.

~Lea Anne~

Quilty Stitches

Just had to share this cute little FREE cross stitch sampler from Little Miss Shabby. 

If you look closely at the blocks they are from some of the popular new quilt patterns from the last year or two.  The first free pattern was posted this week.  Looks like I might be adding some more hand work to the pile!  This is just too cute!  And would look super cute framed up in my studio!  

~Lea Anne~

Doing Cartwheels

Another finished block.  This one gave  me some trouble.  If I could stick to a pattern things would be easier but in true Lea Anne fashion.... changing it up to make it my own.  Those blue and white flowers were my downfall.  They started out pink and white, then pink and blue, finally the 3rd times the charm, blue and white.

 Here's the original pattern.  The little cup reminded me of the Kool-aid man.  It had to go. 

 So I folded the paper in half traced the cup in reverse in order to make the raw edge applique.   

 Here's the next little cutie.  I'm thinking about using fabric for the little musical note flags.  (is that what they are called?)  Since they are so tiny maybe a heavier fusible could be used with no stitching around them, whatcha think?   It's about time to make a layout plan in EQ with some simple patchwork joining all these blocks.  If your interested in any of these patterns you can find them here on pinterest.  I'm becoming a pin-o-holic.   It's where I save inspirations and ideas.  Much better than the old way of bookmarks or pictures on the computer or flash drive.

 Slowly but surely on the big pink quilt.  

 I could have popped this out in a day had my back been more cooperative.   Thanks for all the well wishes from my faithful readers.  I'm doing better but not turning cartwheels yet.  Yes I can still do them!  Maybe not as pretty or graceful as when I was a teenager but I can do them, that's all that matters.  Not a pretty site I'm sure.

~Lea Anne~

Spring has sprung!

Who's ready for spring?  ME!   Every year right after the holidays I'm ready for spring.   The only time snow needs to be on the ground is Christmas Day and then things can get back to normal.  Okay maybe just long enough for the super bowl an then that's it....Snow be gone!  I've already started planning for the veggie garden.  We'll be placing our order for seeds within the next couple of weeks.  Only eight more weeks till the planting begins.  Are you ready?   Until then these little cuties will just have to do.

 This little umbrella is my favorite so far.  It was originally supposed to be all embroidery.  I decide to add some gingham.  Here's the original pattern.

 Another free one found here.  Tons of free embroidery patterns on this site.  

~ Lea Anne~

For the birds DWM

Still not able to do any frame quilting without Edward Scissor Hands sticking his hands in my back.  However I've managed to start my annual pink quilt.  As you know pink is my favorite color, almost every pink quilt I make is given away.  Its become a tradition of mine.  So the stash was raided and a simple plan for a quick quilt.  Granted it would be quicker if I could sit at the machine longer.  It took all day to cut.  Cut awhile, sit awhile and groan.

The finished block in need of squaring.  See simple!  No EQ7 required.  However a better brain would have been nice.  I over cut by double!  Oh yes, enough for 2 queen size quilts.  So now what to do with all the left overs?  For now they'll just go in the scrap pile.  They were shades of blue to match the little blue flowers, so I just pulled all the blue out of this quilt.

I also finished this block.  It was a freebie found on Pinterest.  I've been pinning free embroidery designs with birds, hearts and lazy daisies.  Hoping to make them into a patchwork/embroidery wall hanging.

I'm not happy with the ribbons or the heart, but they are staying.  Chalk it up to lack of experience and know that in time I'll get better at embroidery.  

I'm linking up with Judy today over at Patchwork Times.  Hop on over and be inspired!

~Lea Anne~

What next!

What a week it has been.  One could look at it in a negative way but you just have to move on and make the best of it.  The cold weather froze the laundry room pipe causing a flood.  Gave me a reason not to do laundry!  Yeah!  And since my studio has been so cold I've spent my time doing handwork.   

 Oh I forgot to mention that when the pipe broke Ross had to go to work.  That left me to clean up the mess.  So I moved out the washing machine and dryer and sucked up all the water from the floor.  When putting everything back in place I pulled a muscle in my back.  Great!  Now that the weather has lighten up a bit I'm still not able to do much.  So more handwork.  Some lovely pillowcases for the spare bedroom, so girly!  

 Little progress has been made on my red and white quilt.  Some progress is better than no progress.  All 408 dime size circles are finished, now its onto the bigger pieces. 

Are you sitting down?  I hadn't been off the property since Christmas Eve!  So Monday morning I decided to get out early.  My back doesn't hurt as bad early in the day.  And we really needed some groceries.  Normally I do my grocery shopping in our small town.  The drive to get there is hilly and curvy.  For some strange reason this week I decided to go somewhere else.  The drive to Franklin is flatter and straighter.    Those details are very important.  I've not shopped in Franklin in about 2 years, but my gut said "Go to Franklin".  Also I had forgotten my cell phone, normally I'd just go on without it, but something said you better go get it you never know when you'll need it.  So I did, and thank goodness because on the way home, about a mile from the store on a country road, and 12 miles from home, MY BRAKES GO OUT!  NONE!   At first I thought since I drive a manual that I could just gear down and use the emergency brake and make it home.  Oh my goodness, bad idea, about 3 miles of pure hell and the tension is killing my back.  So at the next main road I pull off at a green house that is closed for the season and call Ross to let him know I'm leaving the truck and called mom to come and get me.  When called mom and she says "It'll be about an hour I need to put my make up on"  What!  Here I set stranded and your worried about makeup.  It would only take her five minutes to get here!  After much persuasion I convince her it'll be fine to go out of the house without her painted face.  We loaded up the perishables and spent the day at her house.   And because I'm a busy body I had to go dig through some of my old things to keep busy.  Finding this old camera that Granny had given me when I was a child.  So the day wasn't a total loss.  

Well Ross came to get me, we went to my truck, HE DROVE IT HOME.  The shock tower had collapsed, pinching the brake line.  He ordered the part and I should be back on the road sometime next week.   

It's kinda scary when you think what could have happened.  Had I went to the normal grocery store, on the way home one mile from the store is one large hill after another.    Call me crazy, but I think something warned me.  Do you listen to that inner voice?

~Lea Anne~

Warm quilty hugs

Who couldn't use a warm hug on these cold days?  This warmed me up from the inside out. Makes my little ole heart go pitter-pat.   My quilt pattern made by Shana Gray at Lush Imaginations.  Shana is fairly new to the blogging world, hop on over and give her some quilty bloggy love.  Isn't it wonderful?!  The black just makes those cute cherries pop.  Thanks Shana for making my day!   

We've had some really cold weather here in Podunk.  Temperatures below zero.  But before the cold came in we managed to get outside and build a snowman.  It was snowing really hard when I took this picture, those are snowflakes you see!  Huge snowflakes about 1 inch across.

The temperatures indoors isn't much better.  Well in my studio, it was originally an attached garage.  There's only one heat duct, so I use a space heater to warm it up.  The heater has a thermometer.  Today it's 2 degrees warmer than yesterday!  To be honest I've not worked in there since Saturday.  The tile floor is just way to cold.  Piecing a quilt is definitely out of the question because I've always taken off my shoe for the foot petal.  

That's okay there's plenty of handwork to be done.  I finished this little lovely that will keep my hiney off the cold leather chair in my studio.

And Look, 243 dime sized circles complete, only 165 more to go.   The hand work is great for these colder days.  So I've been sitting on the couch catching up on some TV making circles.  Recorded quilt shows and movies are top of the list.  Yesterday I made the mistake of watching one of those channels that's all about solving murders.  Well by the end of the day every time the dog turned over I thought someone was in the house and going to kill me.  You should have seen me sneaking around the house peaking around corners only to find the dog snoring!   Today I'm watching some love stories or comedies!

~Lea Anne~

Quick update

Thanks to all that have contacted me about my lack of postings.  This season always brings a bit of chaos no matter how hard we try to keep it at bay.  

Here's a quick run down of what's been going on in Podunk.  Now that the holidays are behind us I can get back to doing what I want to do instead of what needs to be done.  Almost at the half way point....

The picture below is a collage of current projects, and top of the list is looking through books and magazines for new inspiration.  Why I don't know, there's tons of UFOs to finish.

 Each day I've been trying to get one glorified nine patch pieced.  Its been a curved piecing challenge.  So I did a little Internet research on this block and decided to try a different method.  You can find it here.  For me it seems to work better eliminating some of the stretching.  The Variation of a granny square crochet project gets a little attention each day also.  And of course there's been tons of looking for new projects, like I need one!  In true Lea Anne style I did start a new long term quilt project.  It's called Red December.  And it's was free as long as you joined the yahoo group. Being that I was a member already, what the heck, it's just one more quilt .  So far I've managed to make 102 dime size circle applique pieces.  There's only 408 of them...shouldn't take to long....HAHA.

Here's what it'll look like when finished.  Esther Aliu's patterns are heirlooms for sure.  

Here's another freebie she offering if you feel adventurous and want to join a group.  Love Entwined, I'm saving this one for maybe someday.

And of course there's always tons of work on the property.  Yesterday I shoveled, yes I said shoveled by hand our driveway. We have a snow plow that hooks to the four wheeler, but it throws gravel everywhere.   Normally I let Ross take care of such awful tasks, but yesterday the temperature was dropping as the day progressed so by the time he came home it was going to be a whopping 10 degrees, and the windchill around 0.  He thanked me a couple of times for tackling this.  I think the trade off was fair...I shoveled now you shop for groceries!  He found it to be a more than fair trade. 

 

~Lea Anne~