Leo’s Mane Sew Along

Sunday 27 May 2018

Slow Sunday Stitching

I missed doing a post last week. We were away camping for Avery’s 7th birthday. There was no stitching done during that time at all. Lots of grandchild enjoying. Lots of hikes and playing outside and getting wet since it was, of course raining. After all the Shepherds were camping and we can’t ruin a good pattern can we? Even so, we had a good time.

I went out to a local store this past week to talk about teaching English Paper Piecing and we have come to an agreement. I will be teaching at Stitch It Central after they move to their new location in London. I don’t have dates yet, but I will post them as soon as I have them for anyone interested. I am now working on my third version of the class sample piece. They liked the design but wanted it done in fabrics from their store so they could offer fabric kits to anyone wanting them.

Version 1, done from my fabric stash using 7 different fabrics. It will be appliquéd to a white background and have some borders added to it.


Version 2 also done from my stash using 5 different fabrics. It too will go onto a white background square and have borders added to it.


Version 3 using Stitch It Central fabrics that will be available as a kit. It also will go onto a white background square with borders. This is the centre of it. This shows the rest of the fabrics in one of the diamond units and one of the edge wing units. All of the sub units are done for this and I am ready to start assembling it. Not bad considering I got the fabrics Wednesday. I’ve been working on it almost non stop since then. So, with the goal of having this done by the middle of the week, I’d best get back to it.

I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching before going back to my stitching marathon.
















Sunday 13 May 2018

Slow Sunday Stitching

I’m slow stitching through this lovely Mother’s Day. I hope all you Mother’s are having a great day. I’m working on a second version of the class sample I made a week or two ago. I showed a picture of it last week, but I can repost it again. It will save you from having to back track to see it.
The first version was a test sew to see how it should break down into units for a logical way for assembly. This next version is for taking pictures as I go so I can write instructions for it. I love this process. I love looking at a design, breaking it down and then rebuilding it and describing the process in pictures and writing. In my wildest dreams many years ago I would never have thought that I would design and write patterns and classes. Isn’t it odd how life can throw such curve balls? The biggest news though is that as I said last week, Leo’s Mane is finished. The weather cooperated a few days ago and I was able to hang it up outside and get some pictures. Here’s a picture of the full quilt.

 And a picture of the centre section 

and then the four borders. This quilt has been a challenge and a joy to work on from beginning to end. So now in the midst of working on these smaller class sample projects, I’m thinking on what the next bigger one is going to be. I have plans........

In the meantime, It’s time for lunch and more stitching. I’m linking up to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching.








Sunday 6 May 2018

Slow Sunday Stitching

I’m a little slow getting a start on my slow stitching today. It’s been an exciting and also a disappointing weekend. We were booked into the Norfolk County Quilter’s Guild quilt show for the weekend as a vendor and were having a wonderful time on Friday, meeting and talking to lots and lots of wonderful quilters including at least one fellow Slow Sunday Stitcher. However our wonderful time on Friday together came to an abrupt halt due to some nasty weather that caused power outages to the area. Rather than staying until 5 pm we were all ordered out of the venue by the county authorities at 3:30 in the afternoon. The drive home that afternoon was quite the challenge. Instead of white outs due to blowing snow we had brown outs due to blowing top soil off the farmers’ fields.
When we arrived back at the venue on Saturday morning it was to find that the power was still out and that the show was cancelled for Saturday and would be held Sunday instead. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to stay for Sunday so we had to pack up and head for home.  Because of that we missed meeting up with even more of our fellow Slow Sunday Stitchers which is where the disappointing comes in. (sigh)
I have finally finished Leo’s Mane. He is quilted and bound and was able to go to the quilt show with us. I don’t have any pictures though due to the weather not allowing for outside pictures and he’s too big now for indoor photo shoots. While I ponder my next big project I’m working on a couple of smaller ones. The sample for the class I’m planning to teach is finished.


This first one was to figure out the best and most efficient way to break it into units for assembly purposes. Now I’ve started another so I can take pictures as I go for the written instructions.
 I’ve also pulled out my half hexagon sampler project that I started quite a while ago. I’m not sure yet exactly where this is going.  The current thought is to do a row of each type of pieced hexagon with the rows separated by a yet undecided something. The braid will be the outer borders. I think I have enough of the half hexagons units so now I’ve moved on to a combination of half hexagons and triangles.


So far this is all coming from my scrap 2 1/2 inch strips. It could end up being rather wild with all kinds of different types and styles of fabrics in it going way back to 10 or 15 years ago. I can certainly tell that my fabric colours and style tastes have changed over the years. But it is all going to be in here.
So,  now that I have this late in the day post written, I’m going to link up with our fellow Slow Sunday stitchers and then work on some more of these pieced hexagons. I’m going to have to find something to watch on Netflix on my computer while I do this. It’s hockey play off season on the main TV in our house. Since I am not at all a hockey fan, it will have to be the computer with my ears buds to drown out the hockey.