Needlework Tuesday - A Small Mystery Revealed

Needlework Tuesday is a regular weekly post where I share the progress of my various needlework projects over the past week. I enjoy the encouragement that I receive from my readers and in return visit their blogs and cheer them on with theirs. You are welcome to grab the cute little mouse and create your own Needlework Tuesday post. Leave a comment with a link and I'll be sure to visit with you.

 

Somehow I managed to stitch very little last week.  Might have had something to do with driving son all over the place. hmm.  He's starting his photography business and  is specializing in photographing body builders. That requires him to attend body building shows, and of course, they can't all be in his back yard.  He has posted some wonderful photos, visit his blog Pearson Photo.  This morning I delayed my post and caught up on  a wee bit of quilting. 

 

 

The past few weeks I have been sharing a small mystery I have been doing with The Canadian Quilt Swappers.  You are invited to join this group is you have a link with Canada (born here, lived here, still live here).  Judith, the owner, will be hosting another mystery starting mid June.  The finished piece, shown to the left, measures 24 1/2 inches square.  I love orange and thought this would be the perfect chance to play with it.  Works for me.  Now to figure out how I want to quilt it.

My mom recently told me that she found a pattern for a tumbler quilt that she wanted to make.  I recalled that Marti Michell had a template and I asked my local shop to order me one.  It uses strips of fabric from 2 1/2 inches to 6 1/2 inches, and then you flip and cut along the length.  Of course i had to try it out before I passed it along to mom.  It wasn't her mother's day gift, so a test run was totally acceptable.  I had a strip of left over floral pieces that i had already sewn together.  Trimmed it to 3 1/2 inches and started cutting.  Paired those with some light tumblers.  Because you trim the wide corners ever so slightly, when you pair the pieces for sewing, the edges align perfectly.  No guess work.  Press to the dark, and then when you lay one strip on top of the other, the seams nestle perfectly and match up like magic.  This strip is 20 1/2 inches and I'll use it in  placemat.

 

I am working on my big mystery quilt.  The central portion is sewn together and am cutting the borders strips.  The big reveal won't be till later in June, after my guild meeting.  Should have about 20 pictures as the other members will be sewing like crazy on their tops as well.

 

Did you manage to get some stitching in this past week or has your weather been too nice to stay inside?  Our weather has been all over the place, high 20's (Celsius) down to snow and ice on the weekend.  First i want to get out side to walk and the next day I am glad I still had my snow tires on.  Well, I am optimistic and the snow tires are being changed today.  No more snow in May.

 

Tami at Just one More Thing has posted a pic of the lovely black, white and red prayer quilt that she is working on.

 

Over at Lit and Laundry, great progress has been made on the Santa's Village Cross stitch. I love the tiny patriotic cross stitch pillow.