Wordless Wednesday #140 ~ Duck in Alligator Farm, FL

@ Alligator Farm close to St. Augustine, FL

cropped shot:

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possibly used for this post

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Tuesday ~ Time for Whatnots #3 Amish Acres

Amish Acres, IN

Cropped Shot

enJOY

Stitching Sampler

          Everyone needs a stitch sampler of the stitches their machine can do no matter how many.  However, this is a luxury project because it seems other projects must be done for a reason whether it be something to wear, a gift or home decor.        
       It was 3 years ago that I broke my arm at the State Fair.  That meant a lot of doing much of nothing.  I'd read and watched series on HULU until I was sick of it.  I was really missing my sewing, but it was very painful to move my right arm which I thought I needed to be able to do to help guide the fabric in my machine.
        Finally, I thought what a better time to do a stitch sampler?  What little I needed to use my broken arm, I think the bit of exercise actually helped it.

             The machine's hand book said I had over 680 stitches on my machine. It took me about 3 days punching buttons with my left hand to finish this sampler.  Each stitch included if possible, small, large, reverse and upside down.
         As you can see, I numbered the pages with design numbers.  The first box had 249 stitches. 

               First Box means they are stitches from Box 1 on the Character Decorative Stitch Window of the machine.

                I decided not to take time to number the stitches, and it was a good thing, or it would have been a waste of time.  As I used a stitch later, I numbered it in pencil.  Notice here is #70 followed by #10!  Apparently when I used a stitch it got moved to top 10? Because when I went back to 70 next time, that wasn't the stitch for that number. 

          Here's another. I gave up on even numbering them by pencil.

           I know some folks either sew their "pages" together or use a ring binding clip.  I decided to just fold mine so later I can lay the "pages" side by side to compare stitches.

           They are stored on the shelf at my work space where I can grab them, look over them and decide what I'd like to use. I can spread out the pages if need.
            I never have gone on and made the sampler for box 2, because the stitches looked the same. Not sure why?

               I'm glad I made my sampler, because I have referred to it many times.

Thanks to:

Photoscape for downsizing & watermarking photos

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hard working hosts and more fabulous WW shots. 

Sunday Best ~ Water Lily

@ Brookgreen Gardens, Myrtle Beach, SC

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Quilt Shot Block #45 ~ Quilt Book Collection 1

A book that used to belong to my Mother.

No date in the book, but I'm guessing it was printed sometime in the 50s.

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On the first page, inside the cover, directions are given.

The following is the first paragraph in the directions.

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Here is a sampling of some of those patterns.

I'll probably try the pinwheel.

Notice how many of the following patterns could be scrap busters.

Do you think these would be easy?

Talk about a scrap buster.....

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More samples another day.

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Fri Foto- Barn Charm ~ Kentucky Fall Charm

In Kentucky

Drive by shot & cropped

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Thoughtful Thinking Thursday #24~ Topsy Turvy Reflection

from a hotel window

in Albuquerque, NM 

 Day 16 of 2013 Route 66 trip

 Twisting thinking?

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Think about it.

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http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/2015/09/home-sweet-home-237.html

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Wordless Wednesday #139 ~ Albuquerque, NM Building Art

@ Albuquerque, NM

On Day 9 of our 2013 Route 66 Trip

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Tuesday ~ Time for Whatnots #2 Painted Desert

@ Painted Desert, AZ

2013 Route 66 Trip

 Cropped Shots:

 enJOY!

The Rest of the World's Longest Yard Sale: 2015

I'm sure I have you bored with my bargains I found the first weekend of August on the World's Longest Yard Sale this year.  I had promised myself not to buy more stuff unless it went in my sewing room.  I don't usually find much in that category.  However, it seemed like others had gone through what I went through last year: Losing my Mother and then the daunting task of cleaning out my parents' home of all their beloved things.  
      On this yard sale, I inherited (bought) beloved fabrics of lost Mothers.

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I can tell this lady had a hard time departing, because as I bought, she pulled out more from a bag.  

Each were $2 regardless of amount.  

I chose pieces that had about 4 yards. 

 Would like to make tops out of some of these.

At another location, there was enough flannel  fabric to make at least 2 baby quilts with the batting I told you about earlier.

$4 for this stack.

 This package was also at second place.

Some real vintage stuff which included an old cut up apron.

Seeing a Christmas project here?

I've learned where a guy that sells tools and notions sets up each year, but not on Sunday.

He is a bit cheaper than stores and Amazon.

Located @ the little park next to the water tower in

Camden, Ohio 

So cheap in fact, that you can afford to buy different pairs of embroidery scissors to try them out.

I also like to have several pairs, because like reading glasses, I can put them in different places so I'll have a pair within reach.

These are to cut embroidery thread.  Easier to snip with the curved blades. 

One pair came with a cover, which would be handy for travel.

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Sunday Best ~ Merry Marigolds

@ Brookgreen Gardens, Myrtle Beach, SC
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Quilt Shot Block #44 ~ X-Quisite

12 inch block

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Cut nine 4 ½ inch squares and eight 2 ½ squares.

The smaller square's side needs to be half the side of the larger square's side plus seam allowance.

So for a finished 4 inch square(with added 1/2in seam allowance)
 cut a 2 inch square and add the 1/2 inch seam allowance.

 

Use favorite method to mark 1 diagonal on the small squares.

 Depending on the fabric, ironing can work.

An IKEA gel pen marks fabric well without pulling or stretching it.

It does run, so don't use steam. 

The line will be cut away later, so no worries about future problems.

Or use an Angler 2.

I know I have too much stuff, because I forgot about this souvenir I bought coming back from our Route 66 trip 2 years ago.

We stopped at Salina, KS  @ The Quilting Bee 

on our beeline trip home & I bought the Angler 2 as a souvenir.

It was the only sewing souvenir I bought on the 19 day trip.

I could have pulled out this thing many times before now and don't know why I didn't.
Even though I had the square marked, I still paid attention to the Angler 2 marks.

Glad I did, because it turned out these pieces need to be accurate in order to match up later.

So I WILL be using this more often.

I have before drawn a line on my machine.

The problem was the line wore away quickly.

I've seen some use tape to mark the line.

Sew squares on opposite corners.

Trim leaving a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

For faster cutting, line up 2 squares as you see here.

I can't stand to throw descent size scraps away.

So, while I was at it, I combined them.

All squares are placed in same direction.

I love the warped star you see in the center.

Looks like it wasn't just squares that were used to make the block.

Let's use PhotoScape to see how these would look in a quilt.

 Does the warped star get lost?

While it is by far not an Autostereogram,

I do have to make my eyes focus for a minute to see all the warped stars.

 With a border.

When adding the sashing using Intervals in Photoscape, I have found the "FRAME" botton has lots of decorative options that give the feel of multiple fabrics.

Find out how I used free PhotoScape to show this block in a quilt

HERE!

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PicMonkey creating collages used on this page