Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Tying up loose ends, Alex’s quilt, Mom's embroideries and it's a purple garden today!

Is your sewing basket a tangle of threads? If so this is a must have product for you….Incredible Tape by HA Kidd.

 


It is a heavy plastic tape that has no adhesive but it sticks to itself (like plastic wrap for food only much heavier). It can be used over and over again and it doesn’t lose its stick-to-it-ivness. It is terrific for wrapping around spools of thread that don’t have a little notch where you can secure the loose end of the thread. It is also great for wrapping around extension cords. I always keep one in my sewing machine carrier so that if I take a class and need a cord I’ve got one handy. The roll is about $6 and it contains 50 feet of tape so it should last a goodly amount of time! When I take the tape off the thread to sew, I just slap the tape on my machine and then when I remove the spool I just rewrap it with the tape.

 Look who dropped by for a visit and took a look at Alex’s quilt. I’m making progress! My goal is to have it finished by Saturday, fingers crossed. Mind you the next two days are very busy so I doubt that that will happen but it is good to have a plan!

 


 
 

Alex’s quilt is a one block wonder. For those of you who haven’t made one before it is very much in the same vein as stack and whack. A single fabric is used to make all of the blocks. I like the cutting out and arranging of the six triangles that make up each hexagon. It is so much fun to twist and turn them to see what lovely patterns are created but I detest the sewing together of the blocks. It isn’t difficult, just very tedious. I think that the colours aappropriate for a young lad. The fabric I used is Florentine II by Kaufman.

Florentine II

I hated to cut it up but the print is so large that I wasn’t sure what to do with it other than use it for a quilt back. There were quite a few hexagons that were almost white so they are the central focus although slightly off centre.

 

I think that adds a little interest. Alex is a huge hockey fan…I think his first word was hockey and the next two Bobby Orr! I think I’ll call the quilt Centre Ice (a hockey term).  He also loves his guitar so the backing is a soft taupe with line drawings of guitars.

The inside of the first circle is not quilted and I’ll have to give some thought as to what to do. Maybe I’ll quilt the name of the quilt and his name. If I do it with monofilament it will create texture but no thread will show. I kind of like that look so maybe that's what I'll do!

And this is what starting blooming yesterday and is in full swing today! It is a purple kind of day!

Species clematis
 
I forget the name but they look like fireworks!
 
Close-up
 
Wisteria
 
And I'll close with some of Mom's embroideries.

 
 


 
 
Until I post again, happy sewing!

3 comments:

  1. You must have a glorious garden - and clearly appreciate it! Love the purple photos:)

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    1. Thanks!! It really is more of a jungle than a garden - very natural plantings which is pretty much is to say that if a plant wants to grow in a place other than where it was originally planted, it is allowed to do so! My Mom's garden is also very beautiful - much nicer than mine even and she has plants that she has had since she was a child (she brought the seeds with her each time she moved) and she is almost 93 now!

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  2. Wow! I hope I am able to embroider so beautifully is I ever get to be 92!! Your Mum's embroidery is fabulous - easy to see where you get your talents from, it obviously runs in the family ;)x

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