Out of "Hibernation"

I've been sort of hibernating from this blog lately, just finding a whole lot of summer fun and not finding my muse for writing!  But I can show you some fun things that have happened while "the frayed edge" sat here taking a break.  Be prepared for a bunch of pictures!  Here are some things I have made (or started) lately:

I started working on a set of Christmas stockings.  This pattern is called Stopping by a Woods from Fiberworks in Billings, MT.  This is only #1 of 6 stockings, I have some of the others underway, too.  The background is a lightweight linen, all of the pieces are fused in place and I stitch all around them.  Takes awhile!

I've been trying real hard to stay focused on the positive and turning away from negative.  This book is interesting, considering the direction I am moving.

This is the Fat Quarter Pop-Up by the Fat Quarter Gypsy.  It has a heavy coiled wire that holds it upright, and can be compressed flat if needed.

I did some easy quilting on this quilt that my mom made.  It is made from my dad's shirts combined with a light colored background fabric.  It's good to see those shirts again!  It's the disappearing 4 patch block.

I finished this machine embroidered book for the grandsons.  It can be viewed with 3D glasses for a whole different experience!  R Is For Robot by OESD.

I made this pillow cover for my son, it features vintage pictures of Glacier Park and Whitefish, MT (where he resides).  The pictures came from American Quilt Blocks and I put them together with fabric from my stash in a design that I made up.  It fits a large 20" pillow.

Playing around with some Christmas pennants.  These were printed on a fabric panel and leftover from last year.  They might be just the right thing this year!  They were made by Riley Blake, and they have some directions along with a great free download of block letters and numbers if you want to add words to the pennants.

Working on a challenging quilting job for a customer.  It is all hand embroidered and shaded with colors (crayons).  I've been a very bad procrastinator in getting this done, but the end is in sight!  I think I was intimidated by it.  But we've become friends now!  Pattern is Gardener's Alphabet by Crabapple Hill.  The shading created with crayons adds to the embroidery.  The process is explained on the Crabapple Hill website.

So that's the fibery update from here.  Stay tuned for more!

what's happening around here

A brief look at the photo below might make you wonder about my purpose in displaying it here.  Well, the fact is, that is one of the side seams on the little letter sweater that I made for Ian.  Apparently, if you read the directions and then follow the directions, you can get a pretty good result!

So good that the seam is nearly invisible on the right side!  And I did try mightily to get a nice picture of  Ian modeling sweater on Wednesday.  I have seen some great pictures by another blogger of the wonderful knits that she makes for her little guy of nearly the same age, so I wanted to give it a try.  I'm not sure what her secret is, but every single picture that I took of Ian was a blur.  He would not sit still long enough to click the camera, so you will have to see what he looks like with a jacket over the sweater!

We went out for a stroll Wednesday morning in his fun little wagon.  It was a good day for playtime, and we even went for an outing to my friend's house to see some of my quilting friends.  We stayed and helped them with their stitching for awhile, ate a little lunch, wowed them with "So Big" and then waved goodbye!  They seemed very impressed!

Then back on task with some quilting that is on a deadline.  This one has now been delivered to Debbie--

The next one, Sewing Scissors by Bee In My Bonnet, is on the frame and ready to be stitched.  The backing fabric is the next picture, perfect for the theme of the quilt.  And actually designed by the Lori Holt, the Bee In My Bonnet creator, for Riley Blake fabrics.

When I can grab a few minutes I am back at my sewing machine putting together the rest of the blocks for this--

22 rows of 12 blocks each.  I am actually really enjoying putting together these tumblers and will have them done before long!  Which is a good thing, since it has to be quilted soon, like this weekend, so it can be all finished up and hung at the quilt shop for the new class display.   So, I have my work cut out for me, and the fact that there is about a foot of new snow in the yard doesn't bother me one bit!  Too bad Bob's golf league had to be cancelled last night, it would have been hard to find those white balls in the snowbanks!