Candlelight Candlemat - Part 2

It's time for the quilting and binding on your candlemat. There are a couple methods you can use.......

First one........Cut a backing piece and batting that measure 14-1/2” square. Make your “quilt sandwich” and then machine or hand-quilt the little top and add a binding of your choice. Another method for binding the candlemat is the one I chose for my project.......... I used Quilter's Dream Poly batting for my candlemat and Quilt Basting Spray to position my quilt sandwich pieces. I chose to cut a piece of batting larger than I needed, sprayed the basting spray on the batting, and then smoothed the top until there was not a wrinkle in sight. :-) Then I took my scissors and trimmed away the excess batting.

Cut a 16-1/2” backing square. Position candlemat top on batting square (trimmed to 14-1/2") and then center this in the middle of the backing square. Make sure that there is 1” all the way around the candlemat top.

On right and left sides, fold over edges then press.

I chose to handquilt my sample and used three strands of Autumn Leaves floss

from The~Gentle~Art. I love their floss colors!!!

So that my stitches were even, I placed 1/4" masking tape along seams

and stitched along the edge of the tape.

When the quilting is finished, pin two sides of the quilt sandwich as shown in the photo below.

Next, you should snip out the little excess rectangle at the end of each corner.
See photo above and below........

Then as if wrapping a package, you will fold over the corner and the end
to create mitered corners on your candlemat.

Pin all corners and along the remaining two sides.

Slipstitch around this border ............

and you are finished!

You can also use a blanket stitch or other decorative stitch to secure the border. Adding rick rack or other trim is also an option. I encourage you to use your creativity and make this little candlemat your own design!

Your completed candlemat should resemble the basic design but beyond that………do whatever your creative little heart desires! Hope you enjoyed stitching!!

What's on the line?

Another wooly project is on the line! You've seen this one before but I've never hung it on the line. It has a whole different look when it is on the line and speckled with sunshine.............
It's a vintage piece that I shared just a few months ago. If you go here, you can read about the origin of this piece. If you're a regular reader of my blog, you may have already guessed that it's another piece that my mother and dad bought at auction. Someone else may have started it but I am going to finish it. So far, the only item I've stitched on here is the little basket and that's because the wooly work that I've been doing lately is stitching on the pincushion bases. Show and tell on Michele's round robin pincushion base will be one day next week. In the meantime, I'm taking this piece along to my retreat this weekend so that when I want to relax with some handwork......voila, there it will be. :-)
I am going to be super busy preparing for the retreat this week so I may not post much. I am a wee bit behind for two very good reasons. My computer has been sick and is still not quite well so that preoccupied my husband most of the weekend. Thank goodness he understands all this computer stuff! I am also kinda "under the weather". In part, I'm just plain tired. Kaiser the Wonder Beagle keeps me hopping with his allergy issues. Two nights in a row he's had a tummy ache and had to go outside so he could wander in the grass. At least he's smart enough to want to go outside. I've probably said this before but he's like having a perpetual toddler!
Remember that I said that I had a plan for "What's on the line?" as the weather turns colder, then snowy? Well, yesterday afternoon, I decided that in spite of not really feeling the greatest that I would take photos of quilts "on the line". I got the idea a couple of weeks ago that when we got the next nice day, that I would take pictures of a whole bunch of the smaller quilts that I've made. I now have enough photos of quilts on the line to last til April 1st. No foolin'. LOL! This means that every Monday, you can still come by and see what's on the line. It may be cool outside, but you'll see something quilty and also, a bit of warmth and sunshine, too. :-)
Rain is in the forecast for our Monday here in Minnesota. I love rain so it will make me feel better. It always does. :-) Have a good Monday......rain or shine!
Sandi

A "sneak peek" at some quilty fun!

I've been working on a little project the last couple of weeks. I finished it on Monday. In a week or so, I'll be posting and you'll get to see exactly what the little project is. In the meantime, when I started the project, I made a sample in 30's fabrics from my stash. I love 30's fabrics so I liked how it turned out...............
I needed to write instructions and double-check my measurements, so I made another one and this time I used Sandy Gervais' "Awesome" line from Moda. It had all the colors of fall and because fall is my favorite season, I liked how it turned out. :-) What I was thinking of when I started this project was "Christmas". I needed the perfect fabric and again I found it in fabric from Sandy Gervais. This fabric line is called "Adoring" from Moda, and I could not believe how perfect it was for my project! As I stitched, I took photos of each step for a tutorial. The little project is all finished right down to the hand-quilting and the binding. I love how it turned out! :-)

Wait patiently and the tutorial will be posted in about two weeks. That's a tentative date. When I get the "green light", it will be posted and you'll learn what the little project is all about. :-) In the meantime, I have another project that I'm working on and another tutorial to prepare so I better get to it!

Have a great day! I hope it turns out to be a spectacular day!

Sandi

Heritage Days .... back to the 60's!

"Only you, can make this dream come true........."
Do you remember the group that sang those lyrics, sang that song? I sure do. It was The Platters. They sang other favorites.........The Great Pretender, Twilight Time, My Prayer and more. This is Sonny Bryant who sang with The Platters from 1969 to the 80's. He's performing on the patio outside Toody's Sweets as part of Henderson's Heritage Days celebration. He sang many of those favorites and it was awesome!Every year, a different decade is chosen for the theme for Heritage Days and this year it was the 1960's. I graduated from high school in 1967. I know the 60's well. I loved everything about growing up in the 60's and the 50's, and especially the music. At the dime store (Woolworth's) my sister and I would sort through the bin of 45's (you know, those little records that my grandson once called "a big CD") and hope to find a copy of one of the latest songs playing on the radio. When I hear certain songs now, they can take me back and I am there at the skating rink or in the high school gym at a "sock hop". Do high school kids today even know what a "sock hop" is? I'll bet some of you remember....... ah, yes....just to be asked to dance by that certain guy could make your whole evening. Oh, and when he did.......talk about nervous!! LOL! I was not a very good dancer. I love music, love to sing, but I can only dance "in my mind". However, at the skating rink, it was a different story. There was nothing quite like gliding across the floor to "Only You" by The Platters or "Blue Velvet" by Bobby Vinton. Lights were turned low and the guy of your dreams would put his arm around your waist and he took your hand and you'd glide out on the floor. And when the slow song was over and the lights went up and they played "The Yellow Rose of Texas", we clapped our hands, stamped our skates with the beat and flew around the rink as fast as our skates would take us......and hope we didn't fall. I remember "Blue Moon" by The Drifters, too, and can see certain couples who could really "dance on skates" to that one. Oh, yeah, music brings it all back.
When Sonny took a break from singing, I decided to stroll up Main Street and see what was happening. I love classic cars. I want this cherry red coupe in my stocking for Christmas. :-)

There were food and craft vendors and so I had to buy some homemade chocolate chip cookies.....yep, had to. :-)

My favorite booth was this one........

I enjoyed visiting with Alex Stork about his work. He combines traditional photography with a bit of photo "magic". The one that really caught my eye was that butterfly photo. Here's a closer look at it (sorry for the reflection of the opposite booth in the glass)........

I'll admit, at first I wondered how he got those butterflies to sit so perfectly. Then I remembered that my son knows that my picture is posted next to the word "gullible" in the dictionary and I thought.....oh, Sandi, get real, it's "photo magic". LOL!

I headed back down Main Street to Toody's for more music and more car pics. Maybe the red Mustang should be in my Christmas stocking......... Cars also make me think of the 60's and, of course, there are songs about cars....Little Deuce Coupe and "409" by The Beachboys. Oh, yeah. :-)

I got my driver's license in 1965. From the time I was 16 until I was 19, I had five cars that would be "classics" today. And no, I did not crash or trash the cars! My dad and brother liked to work on cars so they were always buying something and fixing it up, then I'd have it for awhile and they'd look for another one. The "classics" that I had then and I wish I had today were ....... a pink and white '56 Plymouth, a red and white '58 Pontiac hardtop, a green four door '57 Chevy, and a fabulous '58 Chevy BelAir that was blue with a white hardtop and the big engine, a 348, I think it was. My dad decided I shouldn't have that one after he caught me speeding. The last "classic" I had before I got married was a car but it was no "classic". I would never speed again.........it was a black 4-door Comet that belched black smoke because it used too much oil. It was referred to as the "Blue Bomber". Oh, those were the days. :-)
Going "back to the 60's" was easy for me!! But now.........back to Sonny .......and here he is singing to Christy (I think that was her name). He's a great singer and really interacts with the crowd.

In fact, he decided to perform extra long because the crowd was enjoying the music so much. Now that's an entertainer!! A little birdie said that he might be back for Heritage Days next year. Sure hope so.....I'll be there for sure.

One last thought on the 60's........I remember having to read the book "1984" for an English class. We thought that was so far in the future. Good grief, that was nothing! It's 2010! Time flies too fast! Aren't we lucky, though, to be able to enjoy those memories of good times? Even some of the "not so good" times look rosier as the years pass by. :-)

That's all the time I have for this post. It's back to quilting projects tomorrow. I have a "sneak peek" of a fun project that I've been working on and will share a photo with you all. Back soon......

Sandi

What's on the line?

Something wooly is on the line today! Fall is in the air so I had to gather up a couple projects that say Welcome to my favorite season of the year!!! I also want to say "WELCOME" to those who may stop by my blog via We~All~Sew. I wasn't familiar with this Bernina sponsored blog until a couple weeks ago when I received an e-mail that my blog was going to be listed as a featured blog. Thank you to Erika and Bernina for listing me along with so many other great blogs! Made me smile. :-)

One "WELCOME" wasn't enough, so I decided to add another project that welcomes Fall.........

I made both of these projects in the late 1990's. The first "Welcome" has a wool background but I had to use acrylic felt pieces for the leaves. That's because I hadn't yet discovered woolfelt and my wool stash was just a baby then. :-) The leaf shapes were traced from leaves that I collected in the fall of 1998. I noted the original color of the leaf as I pressed it in a notebook and that's how I selected the felt colors I used. Granted, it's very bright, very colorful but then when the leaves begin to change along the river valley, the leaves are indeed bright and ........... colorful! The second project was made for a harvest festival event that I helped coordinate when I worked at Murphy's Landing. It's made of regular felt, although the colors aren't quite so bright. There were a few "country" colors available in acrylic felt at the time and so I embellished this inexpensive scarf with leaves in those colors.

This scarf looks great with a sweater and would be perfect to wear to your favorite teams Friday night football game. Make it in real wool and you'll be really warm and cozy. :-)

That's all that's on the line for today. Notice that there was a lot of sunshine the day I took these photos. It was one day last week. I was sort of "on vacation" from blogging and yet all week long, I was thinking about blogging and working on a project related to blogging. I did take time out for some fun........we went to a great barbecue and then it was Heritage Days here in Henderson this past weekend. I have photos to share from that event and will get to them later this week. :-)

Have a great day today!

Sandi

Our Day at the Minnesota State Fair!

We had a great day at the Fair this past Friday even though it never got warmer than 60 degrees and the wind blew all day long. As long as we could occasionally go in a building and get out of the cold wind, we were just fine. The first building we entered was the coliseum where a horse competition was in progress. I was too far away to get good pictures. Next we wandered into the cattle barn. I love the cows, horses, sheep and goats......pigs not so much. :-) I always look for the biggest cow and there were some big ones! I got really excited when I saw a couple of young girls combing the hide of this ....... bull! That's right, the owner was letting folks comb the hide of her bull. I had to do this and gave my husband the camera........I was like "oh, my gosh, I am combing the hide of a bull!!"
I mean, that's a bull!! a real live "ready to show" bull! The owners were out of Latimer, Iowa and were so nice. I just loved this experience and it was the highlight of my day at the Fair!

Even as we drove home, I could not believe that I had been that close to a real bull!

There was no excitement when we arrived at the Swine barn as Minnesota's largest boar was asleep. This is not a "little piggy"! I forgot to write down it's size but note the little kids that are looking at it and you can get an idea of just how big it is.

Sheep-shearing was going on all around the barn. That poor sheep has his head in that holder and must be patient while the shearing takes place. All I could think was .......who gets that wool and wouldn't it make good Santa beards? :-)

Then I saw this sheep and all I could think was "I want some of this wool for a Father Christmas figure". :-)

My husband, Steve, always likes the horses that the Minnesota Zoo brings to the Fair. This is "Duke" and his partner "Prince" is in the next stall. That little girl asked Steve if it was okay to pet the horse, so they both petted it at the same time. The trainer said that Duke and Prince often eat candy that the kids are holding but otherwise they are tame and very cooperative.

From the barns, we headed over the Grandstand area and into rows and rows of vendors. I was in search of sewing machines and also was looking for Rosebud's Cottage booth. I found Creative Sewing Centers and got my husband involved in looking at the machines. I got a good demo from the Janome rep, but the info on the Brother machines was not so good. My main purpose was to get my husband aware of what I want in a machine and then he can go buy it for me. :-) He was a willing foil in my plot to get a new machine. :-) My favorite vendor in this area was the Mini Donut stand! Yum!

Cold as it was outside, this area was hot because of all the vendors so we moved on to the Horticulture building (I found perfect Christmas trees!) and then to the Dairy Building. That's Linda Christensen, butter sculptress at work. She is capturing one of the Milky Way princesses in rich, creamy butter. For a little more info on this tradition, go here.

We thought about getting an ice cream in the Dairy building but the line was way too long! So instead we moved on toward the next building and as we came around a bend ...... there in front of us............was Elvis! Yes, Elvis was in the park!!!! LOL!

After passing Elvis, I headed to the Creative Activities building and Steve went in search of technology and tools. I enjoyed looking at all the handiwork and here are some favorites.......

I saw this set of doll clothes and decided I need a doll. The work on these outfits was exquisite and it only took second place. I voted this a blue ribbon in my book. :-)

In the back of the Creative Activities building, there are booths and I found Kathi from The Sampler quilt shop. She answered all my questions about Bernina machines and here she is showing me the "machine of my dreams". Steve wasn't with me, but at least I got good brochures which he read. I bought fabric while I was here. I've never thought of buying fabric at the Fair and I thoroughly enjoyed it. :-)

I headed back out to the exhibit area where I was amazed at the work on these hardanger pieces. I have never done any hardanger work but am fortunate to have a piece that was made by my husband's Aunt Jean. I treasure it as I know the precise work that goes into making these lovely pieces.There were lots of quilts but only one that really "caught my eye". This photo, taken through the glass is not very good but you can see that it is done in applique. The color is more light ivory beige, not a tan/gold as it looks in the photo. I've always wanted to make a red and green quilt and that's why I liked this one so much.

My grandma Goldie tatted although I don't remember seeing her do it as much as I remember her quilting or playing the piano. I'll bet, though, that she would have loved seeing these tatting projects. They were just amazing! I was also amazed at some of the beautiful beading work shown in another case. Photos of it just didn't work.

It was "time out" for dinner so we ate at the Epiphany Diner (run by volunteers from Epiphany Catholic Church in Coon Rapids, MN). The food was excellent! Steve was in search of dessert.....ice cream. I had mini donuts to munch on but we decided to wander in search of ice cream and headed toward Heritage Square. I was still in search of Rosebud's Cottage and knew it was there. That's also where we found the ice cream vendor. Steve got a cone and waited patiently while I found.......

Lots of fun shops are located in this area but it was at the west end of the Fairgrounds and the cold and wind sort of just settled right into this area. In fact, behind the pole in the center of the picture, you can see Roseanne, owner of Rosebud's Cottage, wrapped in one of her quilts. She looked so cozy wrapped in her quilt that I asked if I could take her picture and she said "sure".
Then I shopped and bought some really cute fat quarters which will appear here in a finished project one day soon. :-)

It was really hard to believe that earlier in the week we were sweltering in heat and humidity, and that at the end of the week, people were sporting gloves, headbands, coats and heavy sweaters! Typical Minnesota weather........always surprising!

This booth was also in Heritage Square and it was sooooooo busy! I felt sorry for all those animals that ended up just for display. :-( The sun was going down and it was getting even colder, so we decided to call it a day. This is the crowd in the area of the bungee jump (you can see my husband Steve in the lower right looking up at the person about to jump). It was "wall-to-wall" people in this area.

The Midway was on the right of the photo above. Lots of people were watching this ride..........

That's a group of riders hanging upside down in bucket seats at the top of that picture. The ride takes you up and then swings you down and around again. It's called "Rock it!" My husband loves this kind of thing and has been on the "Big Shot" out in Las Vegas. The wilder the ride, the better in his book. I like solid ground! He knew better than to ask if I'd like to ride. LOL! Others didn't share my sentiments as the line was long to get on this ride.

We headed out the gate and home. We had both had enough walking for one day. The body doesn't do this stuff as well as it did when we were younger! All in all, it was great day and a fun way to celebrate this Labor Day weekend.

And speaking of Labor Day, it's an official holiday here in the states (a little history is here). I won't be posting a "What's on my line?" post this Monday but will be back with that feature on Monday, September 13th. In fact, I'm going to take a week off from blogging and won't be back until that Monday. My husband is on vacation this week and I decided, I wanted to vacation, too! Have a good week and I'll see you next Monday!

Sandi

And the charming winner is.....

Lisa over at A*Mild*Season blog!! She's replied to my e-mail and is excited to be the winner. My "Random Number Man" also known as "the husband" drew her name from 114 lovely comments. Lisa's happy memory was ....... "Wishing a happy birthday to your Mother! My favorite sewing and I believe my first sewing memory goes all the way back to grade school. My parents had divorced the previous year and I was chosen to play an angel in the Christmas play at school, which was great until I realized that I had no one to make my costume. I was the only one without a Mother at home to sew an angel costume and my Father, who raised me, was the out-doorsy type, not the crafty type. But he saved the day by hiring a dressmaking neighbor to sew one for me. She taught me a few tips and let me help sew on the wings. Needless to say I was the best-dressed angel in the play! And my Daddy was my hero!"

I loved reading each and every one of your memories and wish that I could send you all a pile of charm squares. Actually, I probably could if I cut up my fabric stash but then I wouldn't have a stash anymore! And maybe that's not a bad idea because then I could buy more fabric! Cleverrrrrrrrr! Stay tuned to my blog because very soon there will, in fact, be another "charming" giveaway. I just discovered that I now have 300 followers so I think I should celebrate the occasion in honor of friendship!! I am preparing for a retreat with my quilty friends and I'm making some fall projects to share. Everybody that comes to my retreat will get a goody bag but that's as much as I'll say because all but a couple of those friends follow my blog. :-) I thought that I would cut "charm squares" from the fall fabrics I'll be using. Soooooo, at the end of the month when I go off to retreat with my friends, you can come by and leave a happy fall memory for a chance to win some "Fabulous Fall Charm Squares".

Thank you to all of you that left happy sewing memory comments. I'll be printing them out this weekend and sending them off to my mom. I know she'll enjoy them, too.
Sandi