Hand Quilting

An old quilt top that sat too long in a box waiting for me to pay it some attention.  A sweet friend who edged me on to take it out and shake its dust off.  A trip together to the fabric store to secure all the bits it needed to get 'er done.  Encouragement and love poured out just for me.

Slowly working on hand quilting.  Pricking my fingers many times.  Trying to get used to thimbles.  Trying hard to keep my stitches small and even.  Trouble with bad thread.  Replaced said evil thread last week.  Also found a beautiful small block of bees wax, golden and beautiful that should help me with knotting thread.  

Hand quilting is something that takes time and patience.  Kind of like parenting in many ways.  I am reminded to go slow, to stick to the task given to me, to not give up or to loose hope~ that the job is too big for me.  One section at a time, as God gives us just today. 

Lord, as I hand quilt this king size quilt, let me make sure that in my every day that I am allowing you to be King over all I do or say.  Humbly I fall before You, with thimbled bleeding fingers, submitting all I have into your hands again. 

Speak to my heart and give me listening ears Oh my God.

Luke 8:15

"But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

Sewing for the First Time

Our sassy Ethiopian Princess got invited to try her hand at Mama's sewing machine.  This machine is Mama's baby and NO ONE is allowed to touch her.  She runs like a dream and doesn't give Mama fits or make Mama cry, this is why children aren't allowed to touch her.

BUT

my girl is 14 and never has sewed...

SO

I 

invited 

her to come.

I walked her through how we were going to recover an old pillow I had acquired and how these two pieces of fabric, with their right sides facing each other would become a lovely new adornment to her hang-out couch downstairs.  We pinned them together and then with a marker I made dots for her to follow so she could hold a straight line.

She was NERVOUS.

(guess the fact that Mama loves this machine so much made her fearful.)

But Mama loves her more, so (sew) she sat her down and gave her lesson #1.

Honestly, I meant to do it sooner.  But my sewing time is scarce these days, but I am bound and determined to find time for some sewing time and such in our homeschool this year.

 She sewed beautifully.  I couldn't believe she would ever do so great on her first time out.  She currently is blind stitching up the opening.  Once she gets it done I will post it...

but for now, you will only see with what she started with...

Another benefit of homeschooling I guess.

Thrift Store Finds... repurposing

one purple beanbag...$4

one square pillow-$.50

a little time with a large remnant of fabric I picked up for $1 

and wallah refurbished accents for the kids playroom.

Now we are ready to put them to use..

got to love some recycled love!

Sewing Toys with Fleece

Fleece is easy to sew with.  

It behaves nicely, it requires little pinning (if any) and allows you to create as you go!

My idea of a good time with my sewing machine.  

Fleece is often on sale over the summer.  This is the time I stock up, as each
Christmas my 8 children get a new creature filled with stuffing and dried lavender to sleep with.  

If you've never sewed, this is a great way to start.

Cut your fabric slightly larger than you want your finished project to be. Keep your shape simple (think large kidney bean shape).

You will need:

fleece-thread-scrap fabric (optional)

1/4 or 1/2 inch extra on each piece for sewing (seam allowance)

2 main body pieces (head and body are attached-think kidney shape)

4 ears (if you want ears)

4 arms (make sure they are cut wide enough to turn and stuff!)

4 legs (wide enough to turn and stuff)

  I take the front body piece and apply eyes, face and such first-stitching them on with decorative stitches.  If I am sewing anything on to the ears or on to paws(think pads), I do this before I sew these body parts on to the creatures main body. 

Once your are *faced* or decorated, then you can sew all your parts together.  Sew ears and paws (right sides together), then attach them (you can use pins if it makes it easier for you).  Turn them right side out.  Stuff them lightly.  Attach to front of main body (faced part).  I pin the part that hasn't been stuffed (the opening) to the body edge and carefully position the parts, so that I don't sew them down as I stitch around the body to join them.

 Place arms and legs on to faced body, make sure you are only sewing about a 1/4 inch of opening of each arm/leg/ear.  Lay other (back part of main body) over faced body. 

Sew all the way around, leaving an opening to turn and stuff main body (at least a 4 inch opening is recommended).  

Stuff (lavender is lovely). 

Hand sew up remaining hole.

Hug and enjoy...or give it to someone you know will!

Handmade Felt Angel Ornaments

Instructions for Making Hand Sewn Felt Ornaments:

Craft supplies:

• felt various colors (craft supply store)
• embroidery floss
• embroidery needles (sharps...meaning a pointed needle tip)
• stuffing

Taking two pieces of felt, cut out your desired shape. Making sure that as you cut, your top and bottom pieces are identical.

Take one of the two pieces and begin embroidering it. Always leave enough floss, so that you can stitch several stitches in one place before cutting the floss, this will prevent your work from unraveling once cut.

If you do an angel as we did, start with the face details. Once you are satisfied with the details, grab the identical shape and begin stitching around the edge, sewing the two pieces together.

As you sew around the edges, make sure to leave an opening of several inches to insert the stuffing. A pencil (eraser end) can help get into the hard to reach places you want to fill with stuffing.

When you get it as stuffed as you'd like, finish off your embroidery around the open seam. Make a little loop on the top of your ornament with the floss, so you will be able to easily hang it on your Christmas tree or wreath.

My little angel makers are ages 6,7,8 and 10. They need a little bit of help knotting their floss, but everything else they did without help. We used all 6 strands of floss at once for our angels.

King Meemer's angel...(age 7)

Princess Sunshine's angel (age 10)

King Bonkey's angel. (age 6)

I showed him one french knot and then he was able to do the rest himself!

Princess Giggles (age 8)

Sewing Seeds...Update Chile!

picture: courtesy of Jeff Crandall

Just wanted to show you some of the sweet Mapuche girls in their Sewing Seeds skirts!

Aren't they cute?

And thank you to my Pastor~ Eric Peoples, for asking us to join you in this ministry~ what fun!

Sewing Seeds...update for Chile!

Thank you, all who jumped into Randi's, Sewing Seed's project for Temuco, Chile.

We gathered 43 beautiful skirts for the Mapuche Indians! So many beautiful colors. The mission team left yesterday and will be passing them out sometime in the next week. I am praying the lovely skirts will be a blessing poured out and overflowing!

Thank you so much for being a blessing-and using your time and talents for the Kingdom!

Sewing Seeds...an opportunity to be a BLESSING!

I am blessed to be friends with Randi~

I have to Say

She has such a big heart for others and is such a giver. Randi and I are joining together and asking you, our friends, to sew skirts to give to the women and children of Temuco, Chile.

We don't have a lot of time, won't you pop over to Randi's and get all the details on this ministry opportunity. She has some great tutorials on simple skirts for children and for women! This will be fun...won't you join us?

Sow the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of my love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you."---Hosea 10:12

My Gift from the Pirate

I taught her to sew and I am now reaping the benefits! I love my new bag,

made out of vintage fabrics that have been busted out of their holding crate

and now are happily draped over my arm.

Not sure when she'll have time to sew; as she is very busy doing her college studies at home. My piratey daughter is also working with an editor, on a book that she is hoping to have published...busy, busy, blessed!

update:

(the past week was done ahead of time and saved to post while we were away)

While on holiday last week (our surprise blessing from my Knight's parents)... this purse was stolen, along with our GPS system that belongs to my Pirate-y daughter and my bag of knitting-all the mittens I knit all summer and the baby knit pants I was working on to match Anna's dress (sigh).

Would you pray for the heart of the thief (s)? They also stole my bible!

We'd love for the stuff to be retrieved (all my credit cards, license, check-book were also included).

The enemy knew we were there to pray about adoption, to hear God's voice...though he distracted us... God still spoke!

Lesson learned...we will be more careful what we leave in our locked car...even if it is out of sight-even in the woods/boondocks of Pennsylvania.

Sewing Seeds Project 2009-Costa Rica!

Randi's Sewing Seeds Ministry

I asked Princess Mercy if she would like to help show all the beautiful skirts and shorts that came via packages from all over the world. She said, "Uh-huh!"

We won't show all of them...but let me tell you each of them were beautiful and certainly will be a blessing to a wee one in Costa Rica.

My friend Randi's Sewing Seed Project was a fabulous success!

We gathered from around the globe, 176 skirts and 53 pairs of shorts for boys. What an awesome blessing they will be in Costa Rica, on my sweet Bella's mission trip (July 7-17th).

Thank you all for joining in on this ministry. What beautiful hearts you have. I am sure many children will be greatly blessed. Last I heard they will be going to some Nicaraguan refuges, that the Costa Rican team will be ministering to during their 10 days.

Would you like to follow along on the trip?

Mergeahead.com

Thanks again...your generosity really brought tears to my eyes.

May the windows of heaven be open over your lives sweet friends.

Sewing Seeds Project...two skirts to give!

Hi Friends!

I am so excited to share the two skirts I sewed yesterday! I never would have believed that I could manage two in one day. I didn't think Princess Mercy (13 months) would cooperate, but she did (with the help of siblings!)

What fun I had creating them...no pattern; just my heart.

I rummaged through my sewing stash and within a very short time came up with two darling skirts to give to children in Costa Rica. My mind was trying to picture 2 little girls trying on their colorful skirts, with big smiles on their faces. Twirling children, laughing children, blessed little ones, who in other moments walk with a heavy load. Doesn't this make you feel like jumping into this to plant seeds in their lives?

What a blessing it is to give...won't you join Randi too, in this Sewing Seeds Project. Sweet Randi has all the details, so pop on over and get sewing! (or buying ...as we could use some sturdy boy shorts too!)

a simple wrap skirt-
four pyramid shape panels, one waist band/tie and a button hole

Princess Sunshine and I thought it needs a little more....

*My oldest said it is a little on the heavily ornamented side...but I love it! I am sure some little one will love to fill that big pocket with her tiny found treasures!
Princess Giggles was happy to try on the finished skirt!

Thinking...maybe I have time for a couple more...

perhaps a wrap skirt that can be two skirts in one?

I am sure I have some more fabric in the barn!