A Surprise

Sunday June 29th is the last day our interim minister will be with us.  She will be taking the job of priest at a church in Cincinnati, Ohio.  She has worked quite hard at filling in while the search for a new minister took place.  In honor of her work with us, I decided to make a priest's stole for a going away present.

 There are a number of embroideries on the stole.  On the back is a knotted Celtic cross which holds meaning for her.

On the front right chest is a chalice - which is used in the sacrament of Eucharist (Holy Communion). This is a "redwork" design, but I made the cross on the chalice a different green.

On the left chest is another Celtic cross.

On the lower ends are an angel and dove, and an angel and lily.  I apparently only took a close up of one of them.

You will notice the fringe at the bottom.  It was supposed to be sewn into the hem, but I could not find the fringe when I was sewing it.  I was planning to leave it off.   Then two days after I finished, it reappeared.  So I figured out a way to add it anyway.  I am thrilled with how the fringe came out on this.  I will possibly use that method again.

Godspeed Pastor Nancy.  You will hold a place in our hearts.

My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated.

Peaceful Saturday - Getting my Weave On

A fun random plaid weave. In case you are wondering, the plastic grocery bags are used in place of waste yarn to even out the warp threads at the beginning.   (They are at the bottom of the picture.)

My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated.

Bookmark Embroidery Sew-out

Today I made this little embroidered bookmark for a friend who will soon be leaving the area.  She loves music, so I think this will be great for her.

I also got up early and cut and trimmed some of the base plantings around my house.  By 8:30 I was sweating profusely and decided that was enough for one day.  Later I helped a neighbor with an electronics project.
It was after all of that when I finally got to make this bookmark.
I hope you had a great day.



My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated.

Quilting inside the Box

The title here is a play on words.  These adorable little fabric boxes have been showing up all over blogs.   Needless to say, I had to make one. Yes, I am sure I will make more.

I have a confession. I don't follow directions well. I do read them, in fact I am obsessive about reading directions.  I got going as I was making this and left out one important step.  I forgot to quilt it!  So the corners were ripped out- and of course I had double sewn them for strength.  That makes for tedious ripping out of stitches.   Once that was done, it was quilted and then re-sewn.

You can see that these boxes are a great way to have a few sewing supplies at hand.  I put Aurifil goodness along with my scissors and a wood turned seam ripper that I got as part of a gift basket.  I love the heft of it.  I used it to rip out those corner seams and it worked like a charm.

I had planned on some really cute buttons that I bought in Mexico, but I couldn't find them.  They are stored safely away.  Ha ha. So these black buttons were used.  Actually they probably go better with the fabric than the ones I had planned to use.


I found the tutorial for the fabric box at Seaside Stitches. If you click that link it will take you right to it.

My blog is http://blog.geneblack.com
Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible unless otherwise stated.