3rd Horse Quilt

 Back in May, I started another Horse Quilt...you can see that post here.  Well, the 3rd horse piece is finally finished! 

And this one even has an eye!  How about that!  This is a leaf bead I had in my stash and I think it works...yep, he looks a little mean but that's ok!  I also didn't do a mane on this horse either.  The white marks on the paper seems to work as a mane.

But I did do a tail on this one!  That seemed to bug folks who see my other two quilts.  There's always a comment that they don't have a tail.  Funny, what folks see first!  HA

I'm happy with how it turned out...but now......what to do with the leftover piece from the cutout area?  A 4th horse????  I don't think so, at least not at this time...but "never" say "never". 

 I also dug out another project I started awhile back.  Forgot all about it until I went to look for something else.  And up popped this old project, which I'll share in my next post!  Also looking for another knitted top pattern for my sister and I!  Idle hands.....you know the rest of that line, right!

Small progress...but it is progress!

Yes, I thought this was funny!  I shared on FB recently, even though it's been around forever!  

 I honestly don't know where my time goes in a day!  Just seems like I get to sit for about 30 minutes in the a.m. watching GMA then it's time to make breakfast, clean up dishes and prep for dinner (so I don't have to do it later!) or at least think of what we're having for dinner!  Before this, as soon as I get up it's let dogs out, feed dogs, put jelly out for the birds and give them fresh water!  Whew!  

I am happier now that I changed the pattern for the side.  We both really liked how the left side was turning out but not the right...hmmmmm  So what to do but knit the left and right sides the same!  The only difference I could see is the slant for the 'y/o' (yarn over) was different...but, as I told my sister, if someone is that close comparing, they aren't  your friend!  There're looking for a mistake!  HA

 I know it doesn't seem any longer than my last post but I have been knitting on my lace tee!  I think my sister and I are about the same place...we need about 10-12" from the underarm..then do border and sleeves. 

And I added the binding on my Horse #3.  I used some leftover painted fabric I had...it's bright but I want this piece to be 'funky'!  

And if you look close, I am working on his tail!  I met my bud, Mary, for lunch last week and said I was thinking of using different yarns for the tail.  Mary suggested I combine beads and yarn!  What a great idea!

I still have some more to add for the tail and then I'll work on the mane!  

So, off to finish laundry and maybe knit!  Or bead? Or??  I've already made my menu for tonight...pesto oven baked chicken and spaghetti squash!  Sunday is a day of rest, right!

Project Progress

 So my last post, I was asking for advice from the designer of the lace tee I'm making.  She's on vaca now so I decided to do my own fix...which is knitting the same pattern on both sides and it's working out well! 

This is the side/underarm area.  That little hole is my arm hole!  HA  The stitches are being held on by some waste yarn...I'll pick up # of stitches to make the sleeve when I finish the body.

I need about 12 inches for the body or there abouts!  Won't know until I try it on...then border on bottom, then start on the sleeves...which should be easy since the lace knitting is already there...just need to make them the length I want.

and I did finish the background free motion quilting on my horse #3 piece.  Not my best work but to be honest I just wanted to get it done.  I have some bright fabric I may use for the binding, then I can put it away and start something new!  

Which is going to be another class with Hilary!  It's her Language of Flowers online class which starts August 29th.  This technique is how I started to follow her blog years and years ago!!!!  I remember watching her put one of these pieces together but not all the stitching/designing.  I am anxious to get back to doing some design and quilting again.  Class is at your own speed, so I can carry it on through the winter if I want to!  Works for me.

Horse #3 progress or not?

 

Still working on this bugger...Actually, it hasn't been bad...I'm just at a standstill right now.  I've finished all the stamped embroidery on the quilt.  This is the stamp I made several years ago...it's just cardboard that is part of a box.  Works for me!

The rectangles are all stitched.

After stitching, I fused small strips of the paper leftover from the horse paper.

So this is the progress so far....

Now my dilemma is to decide how to quilt the piece!  Isn't that always the way!  Quilting our quilts!  HA  This is a busy enough top, so I need to keep the quilting simple.  Fingers crossed!

Another Horse - Part 4

 It's been a busy week....so what else is new, right!  It's not easy being a retiree!  But someone has to do it!  Earlier this week, Joan (left), Donna  and I went to see the movie, Downton Abby!  Bob said this picture looked like a scary movie!  HA

  I think there were about 7 people in the theater!    The movie was good and the dresses and lifestyle is really what I love to see!

Of course, we went to the first showing at 11:15 so we could go have lunch after!

That's always the best part isn't it!  HA  And, yes, I did have a glass of wine (& a glass of water!).  

Carol and I ate at this restaurant, The Grafted Root, a week or two before and the sandwiches were delicious so I thought Donna and Joan might enjoy.  And they did!

This is quite a small cafe but good food and they serve all types of wine and cocktails.  Works for me!  They are in a small mall in Grand Blanc and worthwhile to stop for breakfast or lunch.  I think they close at 3 so get there early!  The Grafted Root Eatery.

 

I have been working on my 3rd horse quilt!

I sandwiched with backing and batting, which I didn't mean to do!!! The batting, yes, but not the backing!  I machine stitched around each of the rectangle stamp areas.  

I intend(ed) to do hand stitching, which I'll usually do just through the front and batting because it's hard to stitch through all three layers...but I forgot!  DUH!  

I found it easier to not go through all 3 layers, which is working so far.  I fused tiny strips of the paper on top of the areas I stitched.

 

So far I've hand stitched three of the rectangles!  HA  Slow going but at least I am working on it in between lunch out, movies and knitting...oh yea, cooking, cleaning, dog walking, walking with my bud, etc.  I do keep busy!  HA

Another Horse of Course - part 3

My Horse #3 looks decent on the background (actually under the background!) so now to decide what thread to use to stitch it down! I have a good copper/brown Lana Madeira thread but it's really hard to use in my machine.  Hard because you have to go SO, SO slow with it.  My daughter gave me a ton of her threads about a week ago and guess what!  She had a great variegated thread by Signature called 'Autumn'.  So I started to play around with sewing both threads to see which looked better.  The variegated won!  It has a touch of green in it along with shades of gold to dark brown.  I'm not a fan of quilting with variegated threads but with this stitch it did work.

Just playing around with small strips of paper on the background.

I prefer the placement above...this is too rigid.

Here he is all stitched!  I was playing around with some threads for his tail!  I'm actually putting a tail and mane on this horse!  My other two were missing both!  HA  So far...so good...now I'll fuse to batting and start some free motion work.

 

Another Horse, of course - part 2

 I last posted on arranging the painted paper behind the background fabric for my 3rd horse piece.  I got thinking that I might run into a problem with stitching over the paper so decided to put my thinking cap on (it took me awhile to find it!) and figure out a way to make the paper flexible or at least ready for stitching. Awhile back, I took a Zoom class from Margarita Korioth on using paper in our quilts.  I vaguely remembered the process and had to review!  Thank goodness I kept notes!  HA 

So, what to do but make a test sample!  Out came some pieces of painted papers, fusible web (Misty Fuse), fusible lightweight interfacing, cheesecloth and batting/fabric.  I started off by putting Misty Fuse on the back of my painted paper.  Then  I laid down interfacing and put the cheesecloth on top and fused together.  Next, I laid the paper (with Misty Fuse on) and fused those together (cheesecloth & paper).  Woohoo...it worked..the paper was flexible and not as stiff as it was.  This isn't quite the same method Margarita used but gave me enough ideas on how to apply her thought process to my piece!  

Next up, I wanted to make sure I could stitch through the paper, batting and background fabric easily.  So I cut out a small area on this painted/dyed fabric (I did add Misty Fuse to it before I cut out the rectangle).  Laid a piece of the painted paper under the opening and fused to a piece of batting.  I did some stitching around both paper and background and it worked great!

BUT, then I got looking at the background piece and I didn't think it had enough color in it.  I'll be doing some free motion quilting but still thought it needed some more color.  

Back to the dye room to find some paint to match the existing 'goldish' dye.  I have no idea what dye mix I used when I originally made this piece of fabric.  I did have the oval plastic pieces so it was pretty easy to paint more ovals on.

I also stamped some of the small stripes.  I'll be doing some hand embroidery on those as well as adding some tiny strips of the horse papers!  Just to add some color to the background.  Well, that's my thought process so far!

This isn't the final placement for the paper behind the background..  I just forgot to take a picture before I fused and too lazy to do it now!  I had to play around with moving the paper and then marked around the edges with 1/2 to 1" excess  and cut out a funky horse shape.  HA  Then I fused the background fabric to the horse paper cut out.    I had Misty Fuse on my background fabric too.  So now I'll do some stitching to hold the paper to the fabric.  Stay tuned for part 3!

And I have started on knitting the summer tee!  WHEW!  Long way to go but I may finish before winter!  Good project to work on while Bob watches baseball at night!

Another Horse, of course!

 

While waiting for my yarn to arrive for my next 'drive Robbie crazy knitting' project, I decided to play around with a  paper I stenciled and dyed.  I added some white paint using a small stencil and I was quite happy with it.  In fact, I thought this would make a nice background but what could I add to it!  

As I was standing in my sewing room, I got looking at my horse hex pieces I did a few years ago and thought!  Why not another hex horse and use the paper for the horse!!  

This was the first horse I made.  I hand stitched the patchwork background, then cut out the horse pattern into the patchwork (yes, that was scary!).  I knew how many hex pieces I needed (3/4" hex) so once I made a hex square piece of fabric I just stitched around the horse. 

For the 2nd quilt, I took the horse patchwork I had cut out and started to make a larger hex background!  It was easier just to make the horse fabric!  HA  

Waste not, want not, right!  Well, I didn't have any leftover pieces so................

This was my hex pattern sheet but I was also lucky to have kept the original horse pattern I made from a free coloring page site on the web. 

So I cut out a template of the horse shape reversed and this was a smaller one than the hex horses.

I have tons of hex pieces in every color there is!  So I started to lay hex pieces around the 'paper' horse!  HA   I did like the white/peach mix on top of his back.  But nothing really did the trick for me.

As I was taking off the hex pieces, I liked the simple contrast of the white background around 'him'.

So in my stash I went.  I found this hand died piece I did awhile back - yes, I pulled out probably 20+ pieces of fabric but nothing did the trick!

So I bit the bullet and traced the horse form on top of the dyed piece.  I backed the fabric with a lightweight stabilizer because I was going to use an Xacto knife to cut out the horse but that was not  working so I just used scissors.  And, yes, I  kept the horse piece!  Who knows...horse #4 in the future!  Maybe with a hex background!  HA

Then the fun came playing around with which way to turn the paper to get the horse to look right with the white stencil marks.  

I'm still playing with this part as well as deciding how to cut most of the paper away because I'll be doing free motion quilting and perhaps some hand stitching on the piece.  I'm still working on that aspect of the project.  

And my yarn came so my sister and I are starting another project together!  So much fun to cry on her shoulder when knitting doesn't work out!  HA  And to be the little sister and allow my big sister to cry on my shoulder too!  Just wish we lived closer to do this project. The yarn is quite thin and 4 or 5 wraps, which should drive us crazy!!!  It's a light weight summer T (Miya Tee)...now to finish it for the summer!  DUH!  Why don't I make a sweater for winter...no pressure to finish this, right!