I really enjoyed stitching the Marsh block, the fifth block in Solstice Dream Quilt. The block is 6" finished.

I was a bit worried about stitching the dragon fly tail and frog, I was worried the bullion knots would not be round and plump. The frog and the periwinkle bullion knots of the dragon fly tail were stitched with Thread Gathers silken pearl. Silken pearl is a 100% silk thread with a tight Cordonnet twist that is about a size 5 pearl thread. The tight twist of the silken pearl creates firm stitches with a gorgeous sheen. The dragon fly wings were cut from a sheer, organza-type ribbon and stitched down with Painter's Metallic Braid thread.

The stitched the five block together.

I started this quilt 12 months ago, I finished the stitching and then waited 6 months to get the quilt machine quilted. I am so excited to have this quilt almost complete, I just need a hanging pocket and label to the back of the quilt.

This is my version of Sue Spargo's Tootin' Along quilt. I changed the generic auto with VW Bugs which are loved by myself and my daughter, Marcie. We have always driven blue Bugs, my first VW was a dark blue 1969 VW Bug with a flowered vinyl roof. Two years ago, someone made a left turn in front of my daughter and her lovely blue bug was totaled. I could only find a yellow VW Bug to replace the blue VW, hence the lone yellow VW on the lower left of the quilt. The quilt was machine quilted by Gina Perkes. The quilt is 23 1/2" by 37".

Marcie is also a dog lover, so I added some wooden dog buttons I found in Houston a few years ago. There is a poodle on the upper right of the quilt. Emmie is Marcie's miniature poodle.

I finished the fourth block for Solstice Dream quilt. The block size is 6" finished.

The center stem is stitched with Shimmer Floss using a Palestrina knot stitch. The horizontal stitch of the Palestrina extends the full width of the 1/4" stem which gives the stitch a different look.

I am stitching on too many large wool projects at the same time, so I am not sure when I will start stitching the fifth block of Solstice Dream. Most of the blocks are 6", the stitching is not as intense as stitching on Fresh Cut, Sue Spargo 2017 BOM, so I do find stitching on Solstice Dream a pleasant break between my Sue Spargo projects.

I just got home after an absolutely inspiring workshop with Sue Spargo at Madeline Island School of the Arts. MISA is located on Madeline Island, the largest of the 22 Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. I flew out of Phoenix on Sunday, June 25th to Minneapolis, Minnesota. My wool appliqué buddy, Monica and her husband picked me up at the airport and we drove to the Duluth airport to pick up a rental car. Monica and I then drove to Bayfield, Wisconsin to catch the ferry to Madeline Island and Monica's husband, Glenn, began his week fly fishing vacation in northern Minnesota.


The class project was the peacock. I spent a few weeks getting the background and peacock appliqué pieces prepared.


I had the wool appliqué pieces all whipped stitched on my background and I was ready to start embellishing. After 5 days of stitching, I have a good start on the peacock but have much more to stitch. The peacock block is approximately 21" x 21".

Friday afternoon, Monica and I drove to La Pointe. Monica had a chance to look for agates on the shoreline, she was brave enough to wade in the cold waters of Lake Superior and found some beautiful agates and rocks.

I finished the third block of the Solstice Dream quilt.



This block gave me a chance to learn a new stitch. The 3 marigold petals are stitched with the double Pekinese stitch. The double pekinese stitch looks complicated but really was quite easy to stitch. First, I stitched a backstitch around each marigold petal and then threaded another thread through the backstitches which gives the stitch a braid-like appearance.

I am always looking for the perfect bag. A perfect bag has the perfectly sized pockets and shape to carry everything I need. There are thousands of bag pattern but one pattern never seems to have everything I am looking for. Sue Spargo designed the Allium bag a year ago, the bag was quite ingenious and almost perfect. The Allium Spool Sac was designed specifically to store Eleganza, Razzle and Dazzle threads with the special vinyl zippered pockets manufactured by Yazzii.


I found the vinyl zipper pockets were ideal to keep my project thread organized. I loved that the vinyl zipper pockets had velcro along one edge so the pockets could easily be changed out of the bag. The bag was almost perfect but it lacked pockets to keep my wool block, notebook and needle keep with the project threads.

After months and months of thinking about adding pockets to the Allium bag, I finally came up with a bag construction plan. I decided to use a light weight mesh for the pockets. byannie has a wide selection of colors of mesh and zippers.

After much trial and error, I finished my first bag.


I am using the bag for my Solstice Dream quilt. Below are pictures of the inside of the bag. I have mesh pockets on each side of the bag, to hold block, pattern notebook. Solstice Dream requires a lot of different threads, I used 2 vinyl zipper pockets which attach to the bag with velcro.



Overall, I was pleased with my new bag. A few sewing design glitches which I tried to fix with my next bag.
I will use this bag for my 2017 Sue Spargo project, Fresh Cut.

I finished the second block of the Solstice Dream, called Petal Show.


Block 2 gave m the opportunity to learn the Basque stitch, which is illustrated in Yvette Stanton's book, The Right-handed Embroiderer's Companion. Yvette's book is an excellent reference for learning embroidery stitches and her Left-handed Embroiderer's Companion is an excellent guide for left-handed stitchers. The Basque stitch gives a beautiful picot edge to the inner flower petals. The bees are stitched with Dazzle thread.

The two finished blocks on my design wall.

I have been having some trouble publishing my blog so I have not been writing lately. Today, I decided I would try publishing and see what would happen.
I saw a new wool appliqué quilt pattern in February and it was love at first sight.

Solstice Dream was designed by Kerry Green of kerry stitch designs. The quilt is 36" x 42".

I decided to use hand dyed wool from Wooly Lady, I chose turquoise wool as my background. The butterfly is the first block I stitched, I really love stitching with the hand dyed silken pearl by Thread Gatherers. The finished size of the block is 6" x 12"

It has been quite awhile since my last post, life got a bit complicated.  After Christmas, I sewed the binding on Folk-Tails and today I hung the finished quilt. 

Folk-Tails is a wool quilt was designed by Sue Spargo and was introduced as her 2015 block of the month.  Folk-Tails was a creative journey for Sue as she was born and Zambia so designing the African animals, birds and vegetation brought back many childhood memories.  January through October 2014, I received 3 blocks to appliqué and embellish plus each month Sue would write a story about African folklore such as "How the Zebra got his stripes" and "Why Warthog is so ugly".  The beautiful machine quilting was done by Jessica Jones Gamez .  The finished quilt is 37" x 43". Close up of quilting on the giraffe and stork
The outer edges of the road were couched with bullion knots over two strands of #3 pearl cotton.

I am remembering Lucie today. It is hard to believe that it has been 7 years since Lucie died. I miss Lucie everyday, but it is true that time does heal. It was a lovely day in Phoenix, lately we have been having quite a few rainy days. I had lunch with Lucie's good friends, Jane and Mary Lou. We had lunch at Luci's, a delightful restaurant which has a beautiful outside dining area. Jane gave me a vintage milk bottle from Reading Home Dairy, Reading Michigan filled with beautiful bougainvillea from her yard.

I placed the flowers on ice box which use to belong to Lucie and John Protz.




In loving Memory of my sister Lucie June 25, 1943 - January 10, 2010