Ragged Thymes

I'm trying hard to be organized!!!! Right now everything is in nice neat piles BUT today is the last day of school so who knows what it will look like tomorrow! lol

The table I use as my workspace is on wheels and that makes it so nice to be able to roll it out of the way whenever I'm not working on it.

I was going to try to get some triming done and get a few blocks stitched together, but I just realized that it's already 1 in the afternoon and I need to get a few things done around the house first. Maybe a little later I'll be able to get a few done :-)

Block Count: 48 muslin stitched ~ 23 homespun stitched

Raggy Quilt - Cutting and Ironing

2010-05-25T11:08:00.004-04:00

Oh the joys of ironing!!! Have I mentioned ironing is not my favorite things to do! lol But, in order to speed up the process (and knowning myself all too well) I sat down and cut and ironed and layered the fabric and flannel. This made stitching a breeze because I stacked up the fabric next to the machine and just had to hoop and hit start. Great way to kick out a lot of embroidery in a short period of time.

I'm not real talented with a rotary cutter so I opted for scissors. I never seem to be able to cut a straight line with the rotary cutter - even with a straight edge. I'm not concerned with straight edges on my fabric because I have to trim it down to 6 1/2 inches anyway and the fabric is sized to fit in my 5x7 embroidery hoop. I'm going to have tons of scraps once I start trimming...

Embroidered Raggy Quilt Blocks

2010-05-25T10:40:00.016-04:00

My machine has a 5x7 hoop so I'm limited to 5 inch blocks. All blocks on the quilt will have a center machine embroidered design. This makes stitching it together a breeze :)

I've been stitching blocks for a couple weeks now. The square blocks are 36 blocks in various quilt patterns in candlewicking. I very much like these and know they're going to be great on my quilt!!! All the designs on the quilt will be digitized by me :) This set is available on HeartStrings Embroidery under the Quilt Block category.

The round blocks are called Compass Quilt blocks and can be found on HeartStrings Embroidery also. These are stitched on 2 pieces of muslin with flannel layered in between. I choose flannel over batting because batting doesn't rag well and makes a mess! lol I thought about Warm & Natural but when I compared it to this flannel, there wasn't much difference in the weight and flannel was half the cost. I ordered in a bolt of this flannel and am just waiting for it to come in.

I'm not being overly original with color. I have choosen to do only 4 colors - blue, maroon, green and tan for the blocks. All blocks will be one color and the homespun blocks will be tone on tone.

Beginning of Raggy Quilt

2010-05-24T11:09:00.010-04:00

So it begins ...

I hope I haven't bitten off too big of a project for my first (and maybe only) quilt. We have a king sized bed and I want the quilt to hang down over the sides and cover mattress and box springs. The measurements of a king sized bed are 80" x 80". I'm using 6" blocks (cut to 6 1/2" to allow for raggy). By my current measurements, with 20 blocks each way, my quilt will be 120" x 120". That should make it plenty big enough that I'll still have covers after hubby steals them all! :) This is subject to change as I start to get blocks piled up! lol I have promised that we won't end up with a lap quilt! lol

I have choosen 3 colors of homespun in 3 styles each and muslin material. I would like to also have a tan homespun but haven't found any yet. If I do find some tan I'll add it in. Not real original I know but I just love these :-)

My first batch of washing didn't go well...grrr I had a jumbled, twisted up MESS of material. Took me the better part of a full day to seperate and iron. Lesson learned there-DO NOT cut material and than wash it - wash it before cutting! lol :) Second washing went much better :)

Well I'm off to iron and cut some more pieces.

Happy Stitching,

Stephanie

Raggy Quilt

2010-05-24T10:55:00.003-04:00

A while back I decided to make a quilt. I have limited sewing ability so I thought making a raggy quilt will take a lot of the precision work off of me! lol I'm going to keep track of my progress on this blog and hope to get some tips from other bloggers as I go.

My finished quilt size is for a king sized bed. I am embroidering all blocks using 2 pieces of homespun/muslin and flannel. I plan to back the quilt with flannel so no stitches get snagged from everyday use.

I'm very excited about the quilt! All the designs will be mine so I've been digitizing quilt blocks like a mad woman! :)

So I hope you'll follow along as I create my raggy quilt :-)

HeartStrings Embroidery Hiatus

2010-05-24T10:51:00.002-04:00

Well, after much thought and soul searching - I have decided to take a summer hiatus from HeartStrings Embroidery with future plans to be determined at a later date. I am hoping to start back up in the fall but haven't decided as of yet. My kids are growing up so fast and I want to spend the summer just being a family while my kids still think I'm semi-cool! lol

My store currently has a 50% off sale running. If you want some wonderful Primitive designs - grab them now :-)

I am truly thankful for the wonderful years HeartStrings has given me and the embroidery friends I have made will be forever in my heart.

HUGS & BLESSINGS
Stephanie