I suppose I should just admit that I'm only posting weekly now. Maybe once I pick up steam stitching again I'll post more often. But I do have things to share.

I started on Jenn's Mirabilia RR.

The white blob will be Rosebud Lullaby.  Isn't her RR too pretty for words? Wait until you see the whole thing.

I've also decided Marie inviting (& me going) to a local quilting group is the best thing I've ever done to help me towards of goal of actually quilting. I still may not be doing a whole lot, but I am making progress.

6 pieces appliqued down, 18 more to go. Then the embroidery embellishment.  I'm going to try to get at least another broom completed this weekend. The brooms are the hardest part.

And this morning I pulled the last of my first 28 books of the year. I'll start Deeper Than Dead today since it's due back on the 12th.

Which means I don't have much to blog about. But I finally do have a little something. I finished my latest Mirabilia RR piece & my replacement Fair & Square arrived!

Thank you Janice! Aren't they cute? They're even better in person.

Deb's Mirabilia RR

I stitched the two small squares on the bottom right.

I had talked to Deb last month and she said she wanted one of the little seadragons from Bluebeard's Princess, and there he is! And I wanted to stitch the dove from Queen of Peace, so there she is!

Tomorrow I'm heading back to the local quilt group where I started on the Witch block for my Baltimore Halloween. I'm taking the Hats & Cats block that I have prepped but unstarted. Hopefully the group will light another fire under me and I'll have another block to show off soon.

Woot! First block done, 12 to go. Unwashed, unpressed, & untrimmed but you get the idea. Now for the nit picky portion.  Two areas I wish I had done a little better... the bottom of the broom & the back edge of the brim on the hat.  But that's just my psychosis talking. I'll ignore it if you will.

Here it is finished, but before I removed the overlay. See how it's less that perfect? Do I care? Is anyone ever going to know it's less than perfect? No to all. We are not coloring. You do not *have to* stay inside the lines. The overlay is a GUIDE. Please remember that if/when you try your hand at needle turn.

I'm not sure how well I did, but in this picture I'm trying to show you the "puffiness" of needle turn. This is why you needle turn. There are scads of other applique methods out there. But none of them can give you that puff.

And this morning I also pulled and started the prep work for my next block; Hats & Cats.

This block also has some hand embroidery embellishments for the kitty faces and broom detail.

I have finally started on my Baltimore Halloween Quilt. I neglected to take some necessary pictures hoping that I could link to video tutorials to show you the finer points of the actual stitch I use. Couldn't find a single suitable one, for now I'll bitch. Later I may make my own. We'll see.

1. Make copy(s) of your pattern on freezer paper.

1a. DO NOT use a laserjet printer if you choose to use mechanical reproduction. You will regret it.

1b. Quilt shops sell freezer paper cut in standard 8-1/2 x 11" sheets for easy use in your INK JET printer.

1c. There's no reason you can't use a light box or or sunny window to trace your pattern. But for a pattern with many pieces you will want to use the easy INK JET way.

1d. Print as many copies as you will need to cut all the pieces of your applique separately. For this block I needed to make two copies.

2. Cut your pattern pieces out of your freezer paper. Mark them with the number they are to be sewn. (if they are not already marked #1 is bottom most piece #2 the second etc.)

2a. I was taught to cut on the outside of the line.

2b. You don't have to be 100% perfect.

3. Iron (on low) your cut pattern piece to the correct fabric (my quilt was bought as a kit so my fabric for each block is with the block pattern - so easy!).

3a. Fabric is right side up when you iron, freezer paper is wax side down.

4. Then trace around your pattern piece with chalk pencil. (I highly recommend Bohin's mechanical style chalk pencil)

4a. You may also pin it down to help hold it in place when tracing & cutting. That's optional.

5. My favorite appliqué scissors. Small, sharp, & serrated. Serrated is double plus good because it grips the fabric as you cut and when you're trying to cut tiny little curves it is a big help.

6. Cut out around your pattern piece, roughly 1/4". More is better than less, you can always trim as you needle turn and I frequently do. You may remove the freezer paper before or after cutting, it doesn't matter. But remember to trace before cutting - or you will be back at the ironing board re-sticking the freezer paper. (Freezer paper can generally be re-ironed 3 or 4 times before it looses its' stick.)

7. Back to the pattern. Tape a piece of grid fabric (available at quilt shops & regular fabric stores) over the pattern and with a felt tip marker (I use fine point Sharpie) trace the pattern.

8. Mark the center of your grid overlay. See the little + in the center? Lay that over the center (I just fold my fabric to find the center) of your block's background fabric. Pin to hold in place.

9. Then run a basting stitch across the top of the two fabrics. (sorry, white on white there)

10. Take pattern piece #1 and lay it on top of your background fabric but under your grid and use the pattern lines traced on the grid to place your pattern piece. The CHALK LINES  are what you are lining up with the INK LINES. (If you haven't removed your freezer paper yet you have to now.)

Lined up.

11. Lift the grid fabric and pin your first appliqué piece in place.

Now you're ready to thread your needle & sew. Which I'll cover in another post.

Couple of notes: This quilt is not for beginners. That being said, this is my first needle turn quilt. lol I have done a smaller needle turn project and I've found that I enjoy it very much and seem to have a knack for it. I have also taken a very good needle turn class at my LQS The Feathered Star. I had very good instruction and always bite off more than I can chew. If that sound like you go right ahead and dive in! Doing is the best way to learn IMHO. I also need to point out, this is not a good block to start with. I had a brain fart and paid too much attention to the number of appliqué pieces and ignored the difficulty of those pieces. That witch is an advanced piece. Unless you have a teacher in the room with you - do not start here. Please. I want you to love needle turn as much as I do, start small.

I haven't been doing much and I haven't been in the mood to do much. Barely stitched last week, I have been doing a bit of reading & watching some rented movies - but in general I have been a waste of space.

Some good stuff did happen. Marie lives just 20 minutes or so from me and she kindly invited me over for an afternoon of stitching and lunch. Like she said we didn't get much stitching done but it was a wonderful visit. And OMG you should see all the beautiful stitching she has in her house. She's working on a lovely sampler wall and all the smalls from exchanges - knock your socks off. I did start my HAED Sea of Roses with Marie's two darling dogs keeping me warm (it's cold here in Houston - below 40! lol). *sigh* I spent part of my wasted week browsing PetFinder - no! I'm trying to be a good girl. I do not need a dog...

Ooooo blurry picture. I had HAED remove the background & I'm stitching 1 over 1 on 25ct. Lugana. I think the color is Cherub Pink. Right now I'm kinda enjoying it, kinda not. I think once I get to solidly stitched areas, those 3 left side blocks are complete I think I'll enjoy it more. Right now it's too much starting and stopping.

HoHRH is washed, ironed and awaiting shipping. For the past week. *sigh* Unmotivated, that's me.

But gosh, doesn't she look pretty all washed and pressed?

Old news, a month ago I shipped off my Fair & Square Christmas squares. I haven't heard a thing from my partner. *sigh* The 21st will mark the 1 month past due mark. At that time I will call her out publicly. Right now I'll just share what I stitched.

I ended up liking this a lot more than I thought I would. It's not really my style, but I was making these for a partner and not myself. And she said no cutesy animals, no religion, likes geometrics, overdye silk, & purple/green. The design is from November's Gift of Stitching by Ink Circles. The overdye is another winner from a Dinky Dyes Oops pack. I filled it in with 3865 DMC. And it stitched fast. IIRC I started and finished it all in one day.

Yesterday I frogged out the verse on ATS.

It has always been my intention to include motifs along side my verse. I had originally thought that stitching the verse left justified with motifs on the right would work. Unfortunately after the verse was in I became less convinced. What changed my mind was looking at pictures of finished ATS. When you look at it let your eyes go unfocused so that you see the whole and not the elements so much, you see that the alphabet area (my verse now) is lines of red reaching border to border. Looking at the rest of the piece you see how balanced left & right the design is. If something happens on the left, it happens on the right. Now my verse did not reach border to border & putting motifs only on one side... it was going to FAIL. Badly. I've become convinced that leaving the verse as is with motifs on the right will ruin the balance of the entire design. So, out came the verse. Next Sunday the (same) verse will go back in centered. And from there I'll add balanced motifs and then I can move on.

And that's about it. Pitiful progress which mostly consists of frogging. If you can call frogging progress. lol