Fast, Slow, Slow - A tale of three projects

Some sewing projects are like fast food.  Fast and easy and...satisfying...but not necessary quality sewing.  

Some sewing projects are like a carefully crafted slow - cooked Sunday dinner.  It takes some time to come together and is made with the best ingredients and the results...so worth it!

I have been sampling a bit of both in my sewing lately.  After my amazing long weekend of hand embroidery stitching with Laura Jenkins Thompson and all my friends at Stitchin' Charleston Style, 

Laura Jenkins Thompson (top right) and my Charleston friends.
The bottom right is a sample of the ways that Laura spoils us for lunch each day!

I was ready for a quick and easy sewing project.  My fairy goddaughter's birthday was coming up.  With the recent addition of an American Girl doll to the family, it was an easy choice for some "fast food" sewing. 




I found these scraps in  my stash and had the pattern from when my girls were into American girl dolls and in a couple of hours,  I had the bathing ensemble for Kaya, the American Girl doll. 













I used Simplicity 7688.   The best thing about sewing doll clothes - no fancy finishes.  The bathing suit doesn't even have elastic!  It literally took less than 30 minutes from fabric to done.  The coverup took a bit longer due to all those rolled hem finishes, but still an easy sew.

My daughter's Addy Doll modeling. 

After my fast sewing binge, I was ready to settle down to some slow sewing.

First up:  A present for my beautiful red-headed Irish friend whose birthday is St. Patrick's Day week. A shamrock theme was the obvious choice.

Hand embroidered linen/cotton guest towel.

I found the basic monogram on Mary Corbet's Needle and Thread website.  The original monogram has a flower in the middle of the monogram.  I switched it up to a shamrock and really love the result!  I also added the two groups of raised dots on the side of the letter B - a technique that I just learned in Charleston.

Madiera Applique linen monogram pillow
Design by Laura Jenkins Thompson

The final slow project was started in Charleston and just finished today.

All of our recent snow days (11!) let me slow down and focus completely on this project for hours at a time. 

Oh the joy of completely immersing yourself in something you love! 















I took a cue from Laura and added an old monogram pin to close the back of the pillow.

I love how some of the stitches are flat and silky and others are
so dimensional.
See the pin stitch on the Madiera appliqué?
See my mistake with the grain that is all supposed to be going the same direction?
Oh well...we'll can it a design feature.  :-)

So I ended this tale of three projects with a slow one.  Just in time to return to the school year mania after our last (I hope!) snow day.  Back to the fast lane tomorrow!

Snow Day Sewing and Quick Beef Stroganoff

Today it finally happened!  Our long-awaited snow day!

Snow Day!

We didn't get anything like the 6-10 inches our panic-y weathermen predicted - more like someone dumped a slurpy on the grassy areas, but it was pretty and we got to have a SNOW DAY!!!

So what to do on a snow day?  Sew of course!  And cook a yummy comfort meal for dinner.  And...if you are a teacher...Do those lesson plans and grade those papers that you never have time to work on because you are busy - teaching.  Imagine! Ha!

It was cold and gloomy and the snow was falling in big snowballs so it seemed like the perfect day for hand sewing.  I cuddled up in the recliner by the windows with the view above and finished up one of the projects from my Charleston trip.

Linen Bag from Stitchin Charleston Style

This was so fun to stitch up and I love all the little details that Laura Jenkins Thompson includes when she designs these projects. 

Detail of the embroider work

I especially love the stump work nest with the freshwater pearl eggs.  It is hard to tell from the picture, but the nest is really raised so it is 3-D.

Laura had us do a super quick lining for the bag so everything is neat and tidy when you are finished. 

Now I have to figure out what is precious enough to put in my little linen bag...

So after all that stitching and snow watching I was definitely in the mood for some comfort food.  I turned to my old faithful Cooking Light Magazine and it did not disappoint.  

Quick Beef Stronganoff
with Grainy Mustard Brussel Sprouts

The Jan/Feb issue had a recipe for Quick Beef Stroganoff with Grainy Mustard Brussels Sprouts.  (My parents will faint when they see this because, until recently, brussels sprouts have been on my very short list of Foods I Don't Like.

This recipe was delicious!  It came together quickly and made 4 generous servings at only 357 calories each.  Guess what we are having for lunch tomorrow!  :-)

Sure beats a PBJ!

Here is the link to the recipe on the Cooking Light site.

Wishing everyone a snow day full of things you love to do with a yummy comfort meal to wrap it all up!

Share you favorite snow day fun/food in the comments.  You don't have to have an account to comment.  Choose the Name/URL and you can put in your first name, initials, special symbol, whatever.  Can't wait to hear what you have to say!

Great Weekend of Feasting and Fabrics = Fun Hangover

My friend Nora and I escaped for a great weekend sewing workshop with Gail Doane this weekend and now I'm definitely suffering from a fun hangover! Getting up at 5:30 am has been a real struggle the last couple of days. 
The workshop was held in Richmond where our friend, Pat Goldman, sponsored the workshop at her beautiful shop, Chadwick's Heirlooms. 

My friend Nora and me with the very talented Gail Doane

Day 1 was a white pique dress with embroidered flowers.  That is Gail holding the sample dress.  All of the flowers are hand embroidered around hand-dyed buttons.  Many of the stitches use a casting on technique, so the flowers have a 3-D feel.  

Making a detached buttonhole flower

I'm hoping this doesn't become another UFO!

Here I am stitching away at a purple detached button hole flower.







Day 2 was a "notebook" class.  Gail made up some amazing binders with all the supplies we needed to learn a bunch of new and/or improved techniques from everything from adding smooth pipings and bindings to entredeaux and sash carriers.

Attaching entredeaux

We stitched from 9 am to 5:30 pm with just a 30 minute lunch break!  My head was about to explode with all the info!

Attaching piping to a curved yoke so that nothing stretches.

Gail has amazing energy!  Day 2 was mind blowing!

Gail Doane class at Chadwick's Heirlooms

Look at all the adorable embroidery and the scalloped binding!

Day 3 was a bit more relaxing.  We were working on this beautiful embroidered wool baby jacket.

Aren't these bullion roses so cute!!!

Making bullion roses with pearle cotton is so much quicker than making them with one little strand of floss.  I think this was my favorite part of the class!

But, even though we were very tired after all that learning and sewing, my friend and I had some time for after-class fun too.  There are so many great little restaurants and shops in Richmond to discover!

Can you even see me in this dark picture?

On the first night, after a shopping at some of our favorite haunts and a few new-to-me stops, we went to the Capital Ale House and enjoyed some delicious German Food.  On our last night we discovered a wonderful little gem called the Blue Goat which had a delicious and eclectic menu.  










So you can see that the "Fun Hangover" was well earned.  Feasting and Fabrics!!!  I went to bed on Sunday night dreaming of beautiful fabrics, sweet embroidery, delicious food and precious friendships.  

What a wonderful hangover!  :-)

Crazy for Summer Crazy Patch Pillow

One of the best things about summer - and there are oh so many good things - is the chance to finish up a lot of UFOs (unfinished objects).  I have an amazing number of UFOs in my little sewing room.  It is not so much that I don't want to finish the project or even that I don't have the time to finish, but the draw of that new, fun challenge is just too much to overcome sometimes.  The UFOs are starting to pile up...So...I have dedicated this summer to whittling down the pile of UFOs.

This week's no-longer U - FO is the crazy patch pillow from my Stitchin' Charleston Style trips two years ago.  It was really a fun project to work on - but there was a lot of detail (read: It took some time to complete).  Laura Jenkins Thompson is the designer of this little gem.  She is such a talented designer and teacher.  All of her projects are packed with amazing detail!

We started six of the patches in class and then Laura sent us home with directions for the rest.  Each patch has some sort of embellishment and then every seam is embellished.  It was great fun to work on. The seam embellishments were the perfect project for the car trips we have been taking this summer - not too detailed or small.

I decided that with so much embellishment on the front, I couldn't leave the back unadorned so I added some pretty buttons from my stash.

So...One more UFO  is complete!  Next up...Nevermind...I don't want to commit myself.  I never know when I will be distracted by what will become the next UFO!  :-)
What projects are you wrapping up this summer?

Peace baby!

Or should I say "Piece?"  I have the second panel of the pillow pieced.  Just need to embellish the patches and seams.  Progress!  :-)

Pillow Progress

Summer is officially here!  I am making progress on the pillow project:

The whole front panel is complete with embellishments.  Now to put together the other two panels.  The challenge is...Where to find freezer paper for the crazy patch quilting?  Safeway didn't have it.  Giant has it online.  I'm stopping by Giant this evening to see if they have it at the brick and mortar store.  I tried calling to see, but they don't answer the phone up there...Grrrr!

Anyone have ideas on where to buy freezer paper?