Pebble Finished!

Hi again!

Well, spring is most definitely here and I am finding it harder to sit down and stitch when there is spring cleaning to do inside the house and so much yard work that needs doing outside!  I spent some time in the flower bed under the kitchen window at the front of the house friday!  OMG!!   The back of my legs didn't know what hit them!  I was paralyzed with pain for days!!!  LOL...   That'll learn me for not exercising more, though I admit I thought the swimming and exercise in the community pool was helping.

In any case, I found time to do a few things.  I am just about finished my "Pebble".  Previously mentioned here.  Also, it was taken from this original posting with Stitch magazine website.

I have the front of the Pebble all stitched up and I enjoyed the stitching so much I went much higher on the 'pebble' than I planned to.

The Stitch website suggests using a Ladder Stitch to stitch the front and back together but it just doesn't seem right to me.  Having never done the Ladder Stitch before, I am probably out to lunch and should probably just do it, but I will need to try it out on something else first before proceeding.   This is the back piece, ontop of the rear of the front piece.  I have to stitch the two together along the sides.   (that sounds so confusing!  lol)

I will have to let you know how that turned out!  There are a few great resources that I have come across to help me learn stitches.  One is Sharon B's Stitch Dictionary.  There is also her Take A Stitch Tuesday, which is now incorporated into her Pintangle Blog. And since I'm here, I might as well mention her Stitchin' Fingers site.  I wish I could spend more time in there as it is the most amazing place!  And finally, there is Pretty Impressive Stuff.  I also refer almost constantly to my Embroidery Stitch Bible. 

I do have to tell you about my machine quilting day workshop that I took with Kathy Tidswell last week.  WOW!   (OH DEAR!   I do wish I could attach the songs from some birds that are singing outside my window right now!  How Glorious!)    In any case, the drive into Charlottetown is about 70 to 80 km for me from where I live.  I had to be in Charlottetown for 9 this past Wednesday morning (to get a good seat) and it was an all day workshop so I wasn't planning on going to her Trunk Show, also in Charlottetown, the night before.  But, I couldn't resist!   What a treat!   Some of the quilts on her web sites where shown and Kathy was ever so kind as to provide some explanation as to how she came up with the design and some of her processes in creating.  I am so glad I went but boy was I tired for about 3 days afterward! (160 km of driving Tuesday evening and again Wednesday!)   

The course was beyond expectations, though I will admit that I was in a bit of a kurfuffle and actually thought the course was something else, but it didn't matter.   It was more than I could have imagined.  Kathy is an excellent instructor and quite obviously very learned in her art.  We covered machine quilting with both the walking foot, and free motion.  All aspects of machine quilting were covered, such as needle types, thread types, how to start, finish and everything in between.  We made up a sampler of our sewing.

What I learned was, I NEED AN AWFUL LOT OF PRACTICE MACHINE QUILTING!   LOL
Kathy was quite thorough though and because of her instruction, I feel more than capable of proceeding along in this learning process!  Thank you Kathy!

Well, the sun is actually out and we may not see it for a few days.   My husband is out cutting the grass for the second time this season, so I might see how those back leg muscles are doing and weed a flower bed or at least a part of one.  I have close to 80 to 100 or more feet of flower beds, in 4 different gardens.  As you can see, the grass has really taken over because  you can't see where the flower bed is and when the lawn starts.

In the meantime, for some practice at free motion quilting, you might be inspired by visiting this site for some helpful tips.   I can't leave though without mentioning Judy Cooper.  Her blog holds not only photos of her most lovely quilts and artwork, but also a whole slew of links to other blogs and sources of information that teach everything about art quilting.  I get a gazillion more bookmarks every time I go into her blog! 

Don't forget to check out The Sunshine Deli!  It always brings a smile!

Enjoy!