A Somewhat Productive Week, and Several Visitors

Since my last post a week ago, I've made five more of my vintage embroidery blocks, and have quite a few more pieces cut.  These blocks really do take a lot of time, at least for me!  It's really difficult to locate embroidered doilies and table runners, but crocheted pieces are in abundance around here.  Of course, locating them is the first step in a long process.  Then they have to be cleaned.  I do that by soaking the pieces in the bathtub overnight with Oxiclean and Original Blue Dawn Dish Soap, and that method has not failed me yet, except for a few spots of rust.  Then each piece must be ironed.

Then the fun begins!  I move my nine different shaped plastic templates around over the embroidery until I find the best positions to get the most out of the doilies or whatever.  Next I draw around the templates with my Frixion pen and then I cut on the lines.  I don't want to shave a sliver from the templates.  Each template is numbered, and I mark the cut pieces with the corresponding number so I'll know which stack to put the piece in, laid out on the pattern.  That way I can have several different pieces of each shape to choose from while putting the nine pieces together into a block.   I just have to tell you this requires a LOT of fussy cutting!

When the nine pieces are laid out together, I stitch them together two by two, according to the directions, and top stitch the seam before stitching those two to the next two.  Then when all nine pieces are together, I press it and then square the block up with my 9.5" ruler.

This is not meant at a tutorial, but rather as an explanation of why it takes so long for me to make a block, (in addition to the fact that I'm old and crippled, and what's worse, feeble-minded sometimes).  There really are more steps involved than I realized when I started this project, but I'm having fun, and though others could have done a much better job, I'm pleased with my progress.   It seems I learn with each block how do do something better.   Here's the five blocks made this past week:  (I now have 18 blocks, and I think I'll need 54 with the sashing.)

Block 14

Block 15

Block 16

Block 17

Block 18

In addition to making these five blocks this week, I have continued re-folding, sorting, and storing fabric in my sewing closet.  It is looking so much better, but I still have lots of tubs of fabric to go through.  However all the tubs that stack in the floor are completed!  (Shelves still to do!)  Last night I cleaned the shelf with all my rulers.  When I got all those rulers out on my work table, I could not believe how many rulers of all sizes and shapes I have, and some that I have never used!  I'm betting that every quilter who reads this has this same problem! 

I've also had several visitors this week.  My local/church quilter friend came by to show me her recent finish; it was indeed beautiful!  Then my old friend/new quilter friend came by for more help on her log cabin quilt, and we went to lunch at a cute cafe here in town.  After she went home , I had a call from the guy who took my mother's sewing machine.  He had been to an estate sale in Fort Worth, and wanted to show me what he got there.  He came in with about 25-30 really nice pieces of embroidery that he had picked up for me.  I asked what I owed him, and he said was giving them to me because he wanted them to be his part in my embroidery quilt!   Wasn't that sweet?   I soaked them Saturday night and ironed them Sunday night, and they are ready for me to start cutting tomorrow!

If you were reading my blog several years ago, you may remember me telling about my "Walmart Friend", whom I had never met until she approached me while both of us were looking at quilt magazines at Walmart.  She told me she lived in a town about 30 miles away and asked if I knew a good quilter in my town.  Remember, I had never even seen this woman before, but I told her yes, and before our conversation was over, I had invited her to follow me to my home so I could show her the quilt the quilter had quilted for me.  (How's that for the use of the word 'quilt'?)  I told her where to meet me on the parking lot, and she went to her car while I was checking out.  I knew my cashier and told her what a stupid thing I had just done!   I told her to call me in a few minutes to be sure I was okay.   Well, all went well, and indeed the lady and I became good friends, and we visited back and forth until she moved to Missouri several years ago.  Her son still lives where she had lived before her move, so she comes back to Texas every year to visit him, and she always calls to set a time when she can visit me while she is down here. 

Well, today was that day again!  (Man, I'm glad I vacuumed and dusted a few days ago!)  She arrived at 9:30 this morning and stayed until about 2 PM.  She showed me pictures of her quilts, and of course, I made her look at mine.  We just had the best time together, as always.  She brought me a pretty little quilted coaster she had made, and also a little dish rag she had knitted; she always brings me some little something.  Since she left today, I've been thinking about what I would have missed out on all these years had I not invited her to my home, even though that really was not too smart.  Thank God, in this case, it has worked out wonderfully.  Aren't quilters just the best people you've ever met?  I don't think I've ever met one I didn't like, or that I couldn't trust.  (But I'm not sure I do the same thing again in today's world.) 

In addition to all the fun I've had this week, the sun has actually been shining several days, which really helps my attitude!  Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy today, and I think it will be raining maybe for a couple of days.  But then, the sun will come out again! 

Tomorrow I'm hoping to cut lots of pieces so I can make some different looking blocks in the coming days. 
 
Hope everyone is having fun with your quilting!

---"Love"