Stripping…The Rest of the Story

My brief but enjoyable career as a stripper is over…for the time being, at least.  Never did I think that at this stage in my life would I even be able to attempt this new venture but I did…and quite successfully, I think.

Remember this?

Well I was having such a great time so I took your advice and continued to strip and here it is now…

It’s a perfect size for our kitchen table…

Or I can hang it from one of the glass doors on our pine  step back cupboard…

I’m not quite sure whether to hand quilt it or have it machine quilted.  Do you have any suggestions?

Although stripping is not hard work, I did need to take a respite and during those breaks, I managed to complete the first block of the Civil War Bride Quilt. 

I blanket stitched around each of the elements…

 

and am now ready to move on to the second block.

I hope to get the all the pieces prepped and cut out today so I can begin to stitch them tonight.

Although my stripping career was short lived, I hope to take it up again in the not-too-distant future.  If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to use up some of the scraps that you’ve accumulated, I highly recommend that you try stripping.  Heck, if I can do it at my age…anyone can!  *wink*

Happy stitching!

Kaaren ♥

Wool Crazy Sew Along

About a week ago when I was blog hopping, I happened to see a photo of this new book on the market…

 

and I fell in ♥!

A crazy quilt done entirely in wool!  Be still my ♥!

I immediately emailed Brenda at at Pumpkin Patch Primitives to see if she could order the book entitled Wool Crazy by JoAnn Mullaly for me.  Well of course she could and a couple of emails later and before we knew it, the Wool Crazy Sew Along blog was born.  We thought that there are probably many more of you out there in blogland who, just like us, ♥ working with wool, ♥ the primitive style and would ♥ some company as we sew along and create our future heirlooms.

So if you’d like to join us for some fun & friendship, drop in and set a spell at the Wool Crazy Sew Along.   I’ll be your hostess-with-the-mostess for our sew along.  *wink*

Our goal is to complete this quilt and with each others help, we can do it!

Are you Wool Crazy?  We are!

Kaaren ♥

  

And The Journey Begins…

As soon as I saw it, I knew it was something I just had to make . 

I put off ordering the pattern until all my other commitments had been fulfilled.  At the end of November when I could finally see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, I placed the order for the pattern.  Two weeks later, it arrived from Australia and I promptly set it aside until  just yesterday.  That’s when I took it out and I can now say that finally the journey of creating my version of the Civil War Bride Quilt has begun.

Even before I ordered the pattern, I knew I was going to make one major change.  Rather than complete the quilt in the traditional needle turn applique method, I decided that I was going to do mine in wool on cotton. 

Last night I cut out the required number of blocks and this morning, I cut out the wool shapes for the first block…

and affixed them to the background fabric using Steam-A-Seam 2.

Later tonight, the fun part begins…the stitching.  I don’t know about you but I cannot sit in front of the television with idle hands.  Most of my stitching is done in the evening while listening to the television and raising my eyes only when it sounds like something interesting is about to happen.

There are 20 good sized blocks to this quilt plus the four borders.  This is definitely going to be a long term project but I do know one thing for certain…it’s going to be a long journey with many starts and stops along the way.  But I also know that it’s going to be a pleasurable one.

Happy stitching!

Kaaren ♥

My Stripping Weekend

What a fun weekend…shopping and stripping!  Can it get any better?

On Saturday morning we decided to head over to Ogdensburg, NY to do some shopping.  We left bright and early and were back home by 2 p.m.  We did our usual Walmart, Price Chopper and Joann’s.  I didn’t buy too much at Joann’s…sewing machine needles, some inexpensive muslin to use as a stabilizer backing for stripping and a few other odds and ends.

I was in the mood to sew so off to the studio I went.  I had completed all my stripping the day before so all I had to do was cut out the muslin backing squares.  Once I completed those,  I decided to take a little detour en route.  By Sunday morning, I had completed these…

Four needle books.  Since I had never stripped before…*wink*…I decided to try something small first.  I had a blast!  Easy-peasy and oodles of fun.

2010 is my year for RAK’s, so you never know what might show up in your mail box.

I continued to strip on Sunday.  Time to move on to bigger and better things.  All this stripping and I wasn’t even getting tired.  I even got to asking myself why I didn’t start my stripping career earlier in life?  Gasp!

I added the last border this morning and here’s the result.

I haven’t decided whether I’m going to stop here and make  it into a table topper or to continue until it’s a decent throw size.  I have plenty of strips left so I’m inclined to continue.  What do you think?

If any of you are on the fence about trying this, go for it!  Not only is it easy but it’s fun and totally stress free.  And what better way to use up some of those scraps? 

It was almost like taking a trip down memory lane.  Every time I’d pick up a new strip I’d say to myself, “Oh yeah…I remember where this was from”.

And the best thing is that there are NO rules and anything and everything goes.

If you’re unsure about how to get started, Robyn has a great tutorial that she wrote about a couple of days ago.  Pop over and have a look.

Give it a try.  Who knows?  You too can become a stripper!

Happy stripping…I mean stitching!

Kaaren ♥

No Strings Attached

I’ve been stripping…doing lots of stripping as a matter of fact.  No, not as in taking my clothes off…perish the thought…but as in cutting strips of fabric in all different shapes and sizes.

I joined Stephanie’s “No Strings Attached” challenge and today’s the day I’ve set aside to start piecing these guys.

I think Stephanie has over 100 people who have joined in the challenge so if you’d like to find out more about it or join in, click here and that will take you over to Loft Creations.  There will be prizes along the way too!

But you’d better hurry because today is the last day to sign up for the challenge.  Just think…you too can become a stripper!  *wink*

Happy stitching…and stripping!

Kaaren ♥