Happy Halloween!

How great would it be to be a child again. To have one night to dress-up in cool costumes and go to neighbors', friends', and families' homes (and they are expecting you!) to receive a boat load of candy!

view of my front window - I hope it isn't too dark

To have a night like that when you're grown-up! To go to other people's homes to receive, perhaps in may case: fabrics, matching threads, pins and sewing needles. Just one night isn't asking too much, is it?!

But back in reality, we try to make fun and happy memories with our children. We have the inside of the house decorated and the jack-o-lanterns placed on the front porch.

I hope you and your families have a fun and safe Halloween!

Jane

Einstein Has Arrived!

Done at last! I know I could have finished a week ago, but one thing that I hate to do is buttonholes. There is five buttons running down the lab coat. Buttonholes are fast and fairly easy to do, but the slightest mistake can make them look really funky. So, before it got too late, I got down to it and finally got the buttons and buttonholes done.

Then I added some straight-line stitching to the upper pocket so he could add a pen and a memo pad for a geeky look!

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The school was having a Halloween Walk this morning. The students, all in costume(along with the teachers who were also in costume!), were to walk up and down Main Street businesses to collect candy. The temperature this morning was a chilly 38 degrees! Quite a cold walk for all that candy!

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Next year may be the time that he decides that he is too big to go trick-or-treating! Until he realizes that might mean he doesn't get any candy!

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I can't forget my little one. He had to have the "purchased" costume. : ( But he promised that he would allow me to make his costume next year!!

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We're gonna be busy this weekend with Halloween. We've got more trick-or-treating to do as well as carve some pumpkins!

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Jane

Quilt Labels: Part Four

At last, the label is finished. I am planning to use a red and white check fabric for the backing of my Round the Block quilt. I think the bold red border on the label will stand out on the back of the quilt.



Once the quilt is quilted, I usually applique the label to the lower left hand corner.

Some other information that can be added to a quilt label is name or names of other people who helped construct the quilt, name of the quilter (if it isn't yourself), or the source of pattern of your quilt.


For example, in my Granny's Garden quilt, I had added the name of the quilter and the name of the quilt I had copied it from (I wouldn't necessarily use the word "copy." The pattern was in an issue of Quilter's Newsletter). I had embroidered that information half the size of the other letters.
I used fabrics that I had used in the quilt top to border the label. The ladybug was added because I had appliqued ladybugs to the quilt top. And the heart was added for Granny. I will miss her.

Brye Lynn, from her blog/pocast Sew Stitch Create (sewstitchcreate.com), she had mentioned adding your maiden name on the label. I had never thought of it and I think it would be a great idea. With my married name, history will not link it to my maiden name family, nor will it link it to my mother's family. So, perhaps, I might start adding my extended name on the label:
Jannie _______ Stamper (____)
That's gonna take up a lot of space on a label!
Halloween is just around the corner and I have to finish the lab coat my son will be wearing. I still have to think of a way for him to have the fuzzy eyebrows and mustache.
I'm gonna have to get back to sewing.
Jane

Quilt Labels: Part Three

Once the front-facing fabric is securely pinned to the aida cloth, I can start on the letters.
Please excuse the appearance of my hands. Once the photos were taken, I couldn't believe how my hands looked. I should have gave myself a manicure beforehand.

I may not use a hoop, but some people may feel more comfortable with a small hoop.

I can either work from the back using the marked letters as my guide.

Make sure to flip it over to the back side, to make sure there aren't gaps between the stitches.

Or, I can work from the front, This way, I can have a good view of the result. I will need to take a peek at the back to see where the stitches should be placed. *this is the method I prefer*

The holes in the aida cloth will show me exactly where to place my needle.

From the front, I make sure they are no gaps between the stitches. I'll place the needle in where the last stitch ended.

The letter "n" with gaps (what not to do).

The letter "n" without gaps.

The finished hand embroidery. I decided underline the name of the quilt to make it stand out more.

I should have the border placed in the next post.

Jane

The Next Book

I had just got a phone call from my local library that they had just received the latest Elm Creek Quilt series, The Aloha Quilt. I feel as if I still have tons of things to do, but I'm gonna have fit some reading in there somewhere!

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Jane

Quilt Labels: Part Two

On my quilts, the information I like to include is:

• quilt name
• my name
• date finished
• my location

I hand embroider my labels using 14 count aida cloth (used for cross-stitching).

Using a grid, I'll draw out my lettering.

Since it will be centered on the label, I have to count the squares in each line and then divide that number in half. This number will be the center point of that line.

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Using a 6 inch square piece of aida cloth, fold it in half to find the center. Mark the center line and lines with a pencil.

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The only awkward thing now is to draw the mirror-image of the lettering on the aida cloth. This will be the backside of the label.

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I will use a 6 inch square piece of white or off-white fabric as the front-facing fabric of the label. Securing the front-facing fabric to the aida cloth with safety pins, I'll start embroidering the letters with DMC floss. Remember, the letters will be embroidered backwards on the back so the front side will be legible.

Part three up be up soon!

Jane

Quilt Labels: Part One

I really don't know when I started to put labels on my quilts. I know that my earlier quilts don't have labels. At that time, I guess I didn't think it was that important. I may have started when I was entering them into contests.

But what to name them?? I was clueless and sometimes, even now, I'll have no idea to what to name my quilt. In my first quilts with labels, I made it easy. I named them according to what was going on in my life, at that particular time.

When I was working on this quilt, which I named Sandy's Journey, my aunt had died from cancer when I was finishing it. I was thinking of her journey through chemotherapy and the hardship the family had gone through.

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In this next quilt, which I named Jordan Fishies, my son, who was only two years-old at the time, would run his little fingers over the shapes and call them his "fishies."

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There are unlimited ways to label your quilts. In my next posts, I'll show you how I, personally, make my labels.

Jane