Hand-Stitched Oven Mitt

Well, after listing all the hand-stitching projects I had going, I've been focusing on a couple in particular, and lo and behold, I have a finish! 

After taking a Hand Stitched Oven Mitt workshop with Aaron Sanders Head and Tatter late last week, I was pretty excited to keep working on my mitt. I'd made good progress in class, but still had more stitching to do (read: enjoy) before construction began.

My main fabric was EssexHomespun in Scarlet, stitched with Wonderfil #8 perle cotton. I was a bit concerned about piecing the mitt by hand, considering all those layers, but it worked wonderfully. The embroidered stars are my favorite, though it was fun to try the tortoiseshell stitch as well on the back of the mitt. Aaron said it was important to do at least some stitching on both sides of the mitt to keep the layers from shifting.

And then it was time to stitch the two halves together! I was most concerned about this part! With the exterior fabric plus a layer each of batting and Insul-Brite, it was pretty thick!

But it all worked out great! And when I turned it right-side-out, the area between the thumb and fingers turned out pretty smooth, which was another concern. The mitt is lined, and I finished it all off with a running stitch to keep the main mitt and the lining in place. All in all, this was a really fun project, and don't be surprised if one of these days, I make another.

Hand-Stitching WIPs

I don't think I have ever, ever, had so many handwork projects underway at the same time! Handwork is what I do in the evenings while watching TV with hubby, so it's not like it's taking away from my quilting time. But still. It's gotten to be A LOT. From the oldest to the newest (I think)....

Bow Tie quilt - Totally hand-pieced top that now, of course, needs to be hand-quilted. It'll happen. Next up is finding a backing or piecing one from stash, then basting. The project started with Jenn McMillan's 100 Day Summer Sewalong in 2021, and I certainly hope to have it finished early in 2023.

Stitch Along with Jen embroidery - Begun back in October, I've made really good progress - better than shown here - but it got set aside when the next bright thing caught my eye.

24 Days of Sashiko - Also begun in October, I kept up pretty well, and had a finished top completed in mid-November. This one also needs a backing - and batting?? - before I hem it with some simple stitching.

Dropcloth Snowflake ornaments - Right after Thanksgiving, I put a hold on all the other handwork to squeeze in these ornaments before Christmas! I've made really good progress on three of the four, but still have a ways to go.

Hand-Stitched Oven Mitt - Oops! Last week, I saw a Zoom class was going to be offered with Aaron Sanders Head @aaronsandershead, and when I saw the class sample, I signed right up. What a wonderful and relaxing morning yesterday starting in on this project. I think the Snowflakes and the mitt will both be vying for my time in the days ahead.

So I probably shouldn't admit that I have two more handwork projects planned for the coming weeks, but honest, I'll just keep stitching, and I bet I have one of these finished soon. All bets are off, though, which one it might be!

100 Day Summer Sewalong Prep

Anyone else stitching along with Jenn McMillan and her #100daysummersewalong? You know I'm always on the lookout for my next hand-stitching project, so Jenn's sew-along is perfect. Plus it's a little different than my normal embroidery, rather creating a hand-pieced quilt block every day.

Deciding what to do is always an issue, and I finally settled on the traditional bow-tie block. Ever since I learned my grandma made #bowtiequilts, I knew I needed to try my hand at one too. I'm using a tutorial by Wynn Tan of Zakka Art. It includes a template, and to make the best use of my chosen fabrics, I am actually making two sizes of blocks, 2.5" and 3". I know that will complicate things when it comes to quilt construction, but it will also challenge me to create a more modern layout - we hope!

For fabric, I really wanted to sew from stash, and for the block backgrounds, I had enough Kona Enchanted, the 2020 Kona Color of the Year. I guess I stocked up and never got around to using it - perfect! I also found a custom 6" charm pack I'd purchased from Katie Pederson years ago....a mix of wonderfully varied purple prints that play off the Enchanted nicely. That only got me so far though, so I also am incorporating a Social by Melody Miller charm pack and some scraps to bring me to 100 unique fabrics. Minor caveat: due to the second charm pack, there will be blocks with the same design, but different colorways. Hoping there will be plenty of contrast and interest with that dark background.

So I have everything cut and marked for stitching! My little sewing bag is packed, including my Sew Fine thread gloss, scissors, leather thimble, needlebook (made for me by Heidi/@libellenquilts!); and for thread, I'm going to be using Spagetti 12wt Egyptian Cotton Thread in Ecru from Wonderfil Specialty Threads. 

One little thing I did want to mention, and may expand on later, is that I used a sandpaper board (see photo above) when marking sewing lines on all my blocks. I actually got that decades ago in my beginning quilting class, and it works so well to stabilize the fabrics as I draw those lines. Anyway, now I'm all prepped and ready to start my summer stitching on June 1! Anyone joining me?

ABC Max

Late last week, right before QuiltCon started, I had a bit of a major finish, in the form of my latest Dropcloth sampler. ABC Max. Three months in the making, I've grown to love it.

Stitched with a minimum of stitch types - ones I enjoy the most - made it relaxing, enjoyable work. The palette was loosely based on one I used for Disco Nap, just before I started in on ABC Max.

I do have a few more variegated threads now, and incorporated them often.

Stitching the 'rainbows' was probably my favorite part, though I think chain-stitching the alphabet in the darker threads really gave the piece some personality. 

The embroidery measures 9.5" x 13", is my sixth sampler from Dropcloth, and by far the largest. I enjoyed it so much, (surprise!) I've already started in on another.

Still Stitching

So it's a few more weeks before the Snowflake Sampler with Blair Stocker begins, but I'm ready!

The main supplies we need are several yards of 1/4" gingham, some white perle cotton, and a selection of Aurifil Cotton Floss (AKA Aurifloss). Blair suggested using variegated floss, so I went ahead and selected a mixed palette - basically green, blue, and gold. I haven't really used these threads before, so I'm looking forward to that, along with learning chicken-scratch embroidery, of course.

With a new major hand-stitching project looming ahead, you can bet I'm working like crazy on my current Dropcloth sampler, ABC Max.

I'm making good progress, and am enjoying incorporating some new threads, but it's still going to take a while. I'm not sure if I can get it done by month's end - in fact, I'm thinking probably not - but I'm giving it a serious effort. It's been motivating to include a few new threads, both variegated and plain, and I'm still totally stitching on whim when it comes to thread color and location on the sampler. Whatever, it continues to be a relaxing diversion at day's end.

Kawandi

"Kawandi" means "quilt." That, and much more, I learned in a recent class with Sujata Shah. The goal of the session was for us to learn how to make a small quilt in the style of the Siddi people of India. I had admired the occasional Siddi quilt in my IG feed over these last months, but honestly, it was when I heard a guild-mate mention the process of working 'outside in' that really piqued my interest. I could not imagine how that might be accomplished, so soon after when Sujata opened another session of the class, I jumped at the chance.

So of course, I needed to gather some supplies. And though Sujata gave suggestions, I did want to record my choices here since they worked so well for me.

• a Bohin crewel embroidery needle #7, which seemed the perfect size for the project at hand.
• Spagetti 12wt Egyptian Cotton Thread in Ecru from Wonderfil Specialty Threads. This was a new product to me, and I loved it for hand-quilting, and will definitely use again.
• a thimble. I had just purchased some new goat leather fingertip thimbles from Considine Creations, so I used a fresh one on this project. I've been using them for several years, and I like them alot - sturdy but soft, and they come in several sizes.
• Quilter's Dream Cotton Request batting. I found purchasing a Craft size (46" x 36") gave me plenty without being extreme over-kill. This product was new to me too, and is lovely for hand-quilting.

The time with Sujata was like escaping for a bit, with her sharing stories of the Siddi people and their craft. As I mentioned in my previous post about this project, fabrics from my small Anna Maria Horner stash were the basis of my fabric pull for this quilt. In retrospect, the result is less bright that a typical Kawandi, but my curated palette made me very happy, so there's that. 

Of course, learning a craft from a different culture involves some new vocabulary. The little corner triangles are "fula," and the small bits seemingly sprinkled around the quilt, are "tikli." (In the photo below, there's a darker blue tikli in the upper left, a light blue in the upper right, a long brown one in the center, and a white one below that.) I actually found adding the tikli about the fiddliest part of the Siddi quilt construction, but they add alot, don't they? Another thing to note that is quite different from our normal quilt construction, is that fabric pieces are torn rather than cut to fill in spaces as you progress along. That wasn't second nature for me!

After choosing and adding fabric bit by bit as I stitched round and round the quilt, finally coming to the very center and covering up that last bit of batting was really interesting. It worked out, of course, but still, felt very different. 

So you'll notice that the stitches on the front of the quilt are quite small, where on the back - shown below, the stitches are somewhat larger. I realized after finishing my little (17" x 21") quilt that a couple of knots showed on the back, when they really should be hidden between the layers of fabric. Chalk that up to being a newbie.

So making my first Siddi quilt stretched me a bit, in a good way. And learning the new technique was very satisfying. I'm really glad I took the chance to explore a bit.