Monday, May 31, 2010

Weekends and finishes ...

4 days off ... what a great 4 days off, even with all the rain we had. Miserable weather and all the outdoor plans turned into indoor plans ... so we stayed up late and sleep in ... watched movies and Nascar racing and just played around ... and of course I stitched. But I also did some finishing and some sewing! Yep sewing. I borrowed Monica's sewing machine and had a lot of fun sewing. Sewing and I don't always get along, but this weekend everything went fairly well.

One of the first things I wanted to attempt was a needlebook. I'm doing a personal exchange with Kathy. We chose to exchange needlebooks ... since this is a new finishing technique for me I knew I'd want to make one or two before making the one for Kathy. Here's my first attempt ... of course the one for Kathy will have a stitched front and back ... here's the front ...
and here's the inside ...
and the back ... I have a few tweaks to work out, but all in all I think it turned out pretty good. I used white thread so I could see the stitches and what needed to be reworked.

I decided to do some finishes since I was in the mood for sewing ... even though Spring is almost over I can enjoy these for a couple more weeks ...

Here's another new to me finish ... a pillow ... and I just love it! I will definitely be making more pillows ...
and another pillow ... how sweet is this *smile*


And here's my last two finishes ... both are BBD's Bluebird, one stitched 1 or 1 and boy is it tiny! lol .. I stitched them both with Belle Soie's Poison Apple. The tiny one is my first ever floss tag ... and the bigger one is filled with crushed walnuts to use as a pin cushion ...
here's the backing fabric ...

I sure had fun this weekend playing around with new finishing techniques. Thanks for stopping by for a visit. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

I hope you find your Joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for new things ...

16 comments:

Karen said...

Great job with your finishing! love the little pilow with brown/blue...too cute.

Nancy said...

You did a wonderful job of finishing Michele! Everything looks so pretty.
Off to stitch!

staci said...

Look at all your wonderful finishes! You've had a very productive weekend, you must be so pleased!

Was thinking about you this weekend. I finally started Rise and Shine :)

Catherine said...

Everything looks fantastic!!!

Faye said...

Hey Michele!!! Remember the 4th of July square you made for me last summer in the F/Sq exchange???I am FINALLY putting it together this week for my Patriotic tree~~~omg, I just wanted to make you reflect back......Nice finishes btw...Faye

Natasha said...

Michele, I love the pillows. I am pretty good at sewing but when it comes to making pillows like you made I can never figure it out. I love the way yours turned out.

We have had so much rain the last few weeks and now we are finally on track for summer WooHooo I might be cheering to soon next week its suppose to be 92 :)

Take Care I am still working on AS I ran out of floss so just waiting till I take my lazy butt to the LNS LOL

Nic said...

Lovely finishes, Michele!

Jennifer said...

I love the fabric on your needlebook! Great job with all your other finishes...makes me want to pull out a few of my old ones and finish them up.

Kathy A. said...

Very nice needlebook there girl! I think you can move on to the stitched one. Thanks for the teaser!
Love your other finishes too. Great work!

Sally said...

Love, love, love all of your finishes Michele!

Michele B. said...

You sure were productive, and everything turned out so nicely! The pillows look wonderful and the needlebook doesn't look like a first effort at all. I can't wait to see the one you do for the exchange.

Jane said...

WOW! You and your sewing machine seemed to have been best of buddies as everything looks great!
I've only been brave enough so far to make pillows so your pics are an inspiration to try more - thank you xxx

Andrea said...

Wonderful finishing on all of your pieces.

TinaTx said...

Great finishes!

Sherry :o) said...

Nice finishing...and very clever to do a proto-type :) Good use of rainy days...and fun!

Siobhán said...

Wow!! What fantastic finishes. You go girl! You did a great job on all of them.