Who "helps" you stitch?

I have to admit it... I like dogs. In fact, I like them alot. But I LOVE cats! They're funny and cuddly and clean and.... well, I don't think they get the good PR that dogs do! So, when we got this email from Doris Marie Gerard of Cincinnati, OH, I decided that now's the time to toot the horn for kitty "helpers" everywhere! This is Doris' email:

... You left out one requirement in (Rules for Knot-y Girls Membership) Rule #4, but I don't know how to phrase it.... here's what happened: I did, on one occasion, stitch my cat's paw into my needlepoint! Biscuit was laying in my lab bathing when the loop of yarn caught her paw and pulled it up to the back of the canvas. She didn't scream or jump and run, she just laid there purring until I realized that I had a cat paw caught in my stitching. Then she gave me "The Look" as I picked out a half dozen or so stitches to free her dainty little grey paw! Years later, the same thing happened with my Siamese, Princess Oscar, aka The Kitten From Hell (shown below in the window) She wasn't so forgiving. Still have the scars! Fortunately, one of the skills Grandma taught me was how to reweave holes in embroidery fabric! LOL!



The next three pictures are our friend Shellee "Hiccup Girl's" helpers. I love the first one's hanging over the edge of the table/acrobatics act....

Somebody needs to keep the ironing board warm.....right?? Besides, what project would be complete without a little bit of cat hair sewn into it? Maybe if you move your board out of the sunshine... it's just TOO tempting!

The last one is a clear cut case of "Pay attention to ME, not your pattern!" I get this one all the time from my helper, Honeybunny. "If you like it, mom, I must need to be right in the middle of it!"

We got this picture from Terri Woodford from Fall Creek, WI. She says that she makes samples for a local quilt shop called The Quilt Yard. This is her "spin" on Halloween Journey. I wish the image was larger! She did her pumpkins in wool and it's SO STINKIN' CUTE!!! Thanks Terri!

This is Winter Wonderland made by Jan Thompson of McVille, ND. It was one of the first place winning quilts at the Indian Summer Quilt Show in Fargo, ND. (Congratulations! Great Job!) If that's not enough, her quilt will also be shown in a special show held by the North Dakota Quilters Showcase and will be photographed and documented as a quilt from the 21st century. Holy Moly Jan! How cool are you????!!! We're really excited for you!

These stitcheries were done by Robin Diessner (hope I got that right?) She made Halloween Journey and then decided that she wanted two stitcheries that could be hung together.... SO... she got really creative and flipped the border of Halloween Journey, designed her own title (Trick or Treat) in the same style of writing as mine, wrote her own verse in the same style as mine (LOVE her verse!!!) and added images from Vintage Trick or Treat that she shrank down to size to fit the stitchery. It is SO, SO COOL!!!!!! I want one.................really, I mean it Robin... get to stitching!!!! Really not kidding here Robin.... Get to work.

This Over the River and Through the Woods was made by Doris Jablonski from Georgetown, TX. She won a ribbon for it in the Chisholm Trail Quilt Guild Show this fall. (Once again, wish the picture was WAY bigger. AAarrrgghhh!!!) She also wrote that the judge's critique read, "Original hand quilting design showcases lovely embroidery"...blush, blush You SHOULD be proud of yourself!!, so stop blushing! You did a great job. (send us a larger photo next time please so that we can really see the detail.... I know, some emails automatically resize photos, what a pain!)

Well, that's it for today. Send in your photos of your projects (leave them as large as your email will allow) and photos and stories about your kitty helpers. They're so much company! There's just something very calming about stitching with a warm, purring (and vibrating!) cat leaning on my arm. The occasional floss covered in kitty spit is OK too! LOL!!!

By the way! Pieces of the Past (that's the center block at the top of the post) is almost ready and will be put up on the website next week! That pattern is HUGE!!!! Hope you like it!

xox Meg

Back From the Quilter!!

Pieces of the Past is home again! Jill Therriault from Wenatchee, WA quilted it & got it back to us in record time!!! I'm THRILLED with the way it turned out! Great imagination Jill...LOVE the wallpaper design she did on the wall "behind" the shelf and plates! This is a preliminary photo just to give you an idea how it looks!!!! I worked all afternoon today binding it... Tomorrow I'll try to hang it a little bit straighter & get some pictures in better lighting (it's very dreary out today & they've recently dug potatoes nearby...lots of wind & lots of dust storm!!) The quilt is leaving for Houston tomorrow. It will be visiting Nireko Ohira in the Lecien booth at International Quilt Market... Thank you Nireko!! I'm going to try to finish writing the pattern this week while it's all still clear in my memory. WHEW!!!

Finally... It's Time For Pumpkins!

Autumn is my very favorite time of year! The extreme heat of summer is over and leaves are promising to turn very soon! YAHOO!!! We've picked the pumpkins & gourds that we grew this year. Kind of a meager harvest... but every one's a winner!!! I couldn't wait to clean out the summer flowers & replace them with mums. I got plants that are covered with buds... can't wait till they start blooming! I also got a Japanese Lantern plant while I was at the nursery. They're SO COOL!!! I'm going to have to plant some of these in the gardens next year!

See those little faces?? They don't just grow that way!! LOL ! My son dropped by the studio yesterday afternoon & by the time he'd left we had Jack 'o Lantern faces on our little lanterns!! He's a whiz with a Sharpie & always "game" for a quick project. Aren't they cute??

He also suggested that a Japanese Lantern vine with Jack 'o Lantern faces would make a really cute stitchery.... maybe with a harvest moon?? (Hmmmm..... I'd hire him if he'd just agree to learn to embroider!! ... dream on!) I think I need to start drawing that one!

Think I'll make some pumpkin bread.... or pumpkin muffins.... or pumpkin pie!

Happy Autumn!!! xox Meg

We Have A Name!

One stage of designing a pattern is always daunting. At some point you absolutely HAVE to come up with a name for it! I thought we'd do something a little bit different this time... I asked YOU to name it.

We received hundreds of ideas from you. Most had something to do with "Grandma's China" or Grandmother's China Cabinet". Great names and also the first thing that I had thought of for a name too! There were many, many fine names that ranged from pretty..."Memories Stitched in Porcelain", to whimsical..."China Palooza", lyrical... "If Dishes Were Wishes", literary... "Marmee's Best Dishes", and literal... "Flea Market Finds". Several entries came with stories about mothers, grandmas and favorite aunts whose pretty china brings back memories of Sunday dinners and tea parties lovingly given for little girls with clumsy hands.

I have to admit that my china collection doesn't come with memories attached (with the exception of one bowl and two Havilland covered tureens" It's mostly the product of my china....problem?? "Hello, my name is Meg & I'm a china addict." If it's round or oval, pastel or floral... it's going home with me!!! I don't care if it's a little bit chipped or crazed or if it's remotely valuable, it's MINE, MINE, MINE!!!! HA-HA-HA...(that's an evil, "I'm taking over the world one bowl at a time" kind of laugh by the way!)

Anyway, thank you to everyone who took the time to contribute. I've taken words or entire phrases from each of the entries & added them to the pattern. You'll be able to choose any you'd like and trace them onto the crazy quilt blocks on the quilt's borders!

Thank you again and..... hmmmm..... almost forgot!!!! The winning quilt name was "Pieces of the Past" sent in by Diane Stone. I chose it because the border's crazy quilt blocks contain sections of the plates as if they were pieces of broken china... it fits like a glove!!

The photos above are of the (almost) finished quilt center... I still have to applique the "frame" down to the quilt top.... and one of the crazy quilt blocks that Sheila is stitching on. To get the blocks done quickly, Jan & Cyndy drove down this weekend & sewed the blocks while I traced & colored them. The four of us have split the blocks up so that we can get them done ASAP!!!

Thanks again for all of your help!

xox Meg

"China" Quilt Late Summer Contest

Here are some of the stitched blocks & the Lecien fabric that I'm going to use.... thought they might help you come up with names! At the moment it seems that everybody wants it to be called "Grandma's China/Dishes" !! Remember to email us by September 12th with your entry at info@crabapplehillstudio.com

Questions & Answers!

We get a lot of questions... these seem to pop up over & over again. OH!!! Somewhere in here is the information about our "Late Summer Contest" so read carefully!!

Q - Why do you prefer a spring tension hoop? And why so small???
A - I like to be able to re-hoop quickly. The spring tension hoops allow quick "re-loads", have very thin sides and no screw to tear my fingers up. It's also easy to loosen or re-tighten as I work... looser for that sewing motion with the backstitch.... tighter for crossing over or making long stitches such as feather, fly, lazy daisy. The size is good for women's hands. It's easy to reach to the center of the hoop.

Q - Why do you use Weeks Dye Works floss if it's not colorfast?
A - We use this floss because it's absolutely gorgeous! That, and we use it on designs that we feel would never be washed. You'll never see it used on a dish towel pattern.... YIKES!!

Q - Why do you call for a backstitch in your patterns & not a stem stitch?
A - Sheer laziness!! LOL! Really, for the most part the backstitch is much easier and faster. It doesn't roll over...... hmmm.... what else? If you do a stem stitch it needs to be very small and very precise & even to look good. A backstitch is much more forgiving. However, it's YOUR stitchery & you can use the stem stitch if that's what your fingers want to do! It's not going to hurt MY feeling!!

Q - Who is this man, and why is he smiling????
A - That's Bob, our UPS dude! He's probably smiling because we didn't have anything for him to pick up last night.... WHEW, those boxes of patterns are heavy!


Q - Why do you call for such a large piece of stitchery fabric (such as a 12"x12" square when the stitchery is only 6"x6") ?
A - I leave extra room for hooping around the edges of the stitchery. If you don't think you'll need the extra room you can always use your own judgement and use less fabric. It's up to you!

Q - My lazy daisy stitches are tight and don't look like the ones drawn on the patterns. How do you make them look like loops?
A - Easy! I find that they're often pulled too tight. Also, if the floss is pulled straight UP from the surface of the fabric to tighten the stitch, it's much easier to get out of control and over-tighten. Instead, pull the floss out right down along the edge of your hoop. Pull slowly until the loop is the size and shape you want.

Q - How do I keep my French knots from tangling and having loops on them? (Someone once told me in a class that her French knots "waved" LOL!!!)

A - The key to good French knots is to keep proper tension on the wraps and to work SLOWLY!!! If you pull the floss through the wraps slowly enough, you can even have a chance to un-tangle your floss if it gets knotted, before the stitch is ruined.

Q - What is the muslin for that you call for on the back of the pattern? How do you baste the muslin to the stitchery fabric?

A - I like to baste muslin to the back of my traced stitchery to stabilize the fabric and to cover up all the ugly thread ends and cross-overs on the back. The muslin will keep the ugly stuff from shadowing through to the front of the fabric. I like to hand baste about 1/2" to 1/4" outside the edges of the design and around here and there inside the design to hold the two pieces of fabric together. I like to hand baste quite a bit... it keeps the fabric from shifting when it's hooped and cuts down on puckering. The basting stitches don't need to be little... just big stitches & lots of them! The basting will be removed after the stitchery is completed however, you can also remove portions of the basting as you stitch.

Psssst............. this is one of the pitchers on the bottom panel of a new quilt! Right now we're calling it "the china quilt" but I need a new name & I need it NOW!!!!! Here's the new "Late Summer Contest".... will you help me name this quilt??? I'll describe it & you can email us your name ideas. The winner will get a gift from Crabapple Hill!! OK.... the quilt is designed to look like a framed picture (flowers in an urn) hanging on a wall above a shelf. Vintage china plates, platters, saucers are arranged on the wall around the picture and a bowl, pitchers, sugar bowl, etc... are clustered on the lacy tablecloth covered shelf beneath. There will be crazy quilt borders on the left & right sides of the quilt with little floral images etc... and china-type words to choose from. Any ideas???? Send them in! We'll need your entries by September 12th so there's not much time!!

Our Flight of Fancy is back from the quilter!! Susan Johnson of Signature Quilting did a great job on it. I'll sew the binding on this week & Sheila will do the hand sewing (she's SO fast at it!!) I'll start writing the pattern later this week - it shouldn't take long.... easy piecing & easy redwork.... YAHOO!!!

The flowers in front of the studio are blooming their little hearts out! They're also full of bumblebees (they're so cute!). It's about time to switch some of the flowers that are pretty much done for the year with marigolds and mums. I'm SO ready for autumn! The first weekend of September I'm going to re-plant my pots with autumn flowers and pick the pumpkins to arrange on the porch.

I've had many questions from you about the progress on our new house. Here's the "latest"!!! They're just finishing up with the drywall (finally!) and will get started on the trim next. There's a lot of woodwork in the house so that should take a few weeks I'm told! The porch's pillars & railings aren't in yet either & that will come soon. We're going to paint it a pale yellow with white trim. I just love the back side of the house... it reminds me of an old schoolhouse that sits in the wheat fields in the Palouse region east of here. It's all those windows! With that evening sun, we're going to have to plant TONS of trees! The front of the house sits face to face with the front of the studio. It'll be an easy commute to work in the morning! Oh.... there's so much landscaping work to do! I'm itching to get started!!!

xox Meg

Toweling Has Arrived!!

Hi Everybody!

Our Moda Home toweling arrived this morning! We got the multi-color stripe and the multi-width green stripe (my personal favorite!! - I'm thinking of making curtains or something for my kitchen & pantry using it.) Anyway... it's here and it's back on the website!

Last weekend we tried to beat the heat & headed for the hills! It wasn't much cooler as the whole state is having a heat wave, but it DID include a trip to my favorite antique store, APPLE ANNIES!!!! YAHOO!!! Always good for about 2 or 3 hours of wandering.... and buying! LOL!!! I found a green vintage tin box, some china bowls (I'm addicted!.... do they have rehab for china & diet coke addictions???) an aqua tablecloth that I'm thinking of slipcovering a chair with for the new house.......... and enough other stuff to make myself the tiniest bit ashamed of myself..... ashamed???? NO, never!!! I NEED all that stuff, right??? Just like I need all this fabric & every kind of floss on earth.........................right?

On the way home over Blewett Pass, we came around a corner & had to slam on the brakes. Cars were stopped in the middle of the road to let a herd of sheep cross! You don't understand..... this DOES NOT HAPPEN on Washington state's highways! This isn't the norm! There wasn't anyone "herding" the herd, just one very hot, tired, bored, big white dog. He pretty much seemed to be saying "Hey, I'm supposed to protect them from coyotes & maybe a bear or two....... big cars & trucks????.... they're on their own!!!" I got a couple pictures before people started realizing that the sheep were in no big hurry to cross the road & finally pulled through very slowly one by one. Kind of a fun way to end our day!

In the last two weeks we've had a few visits from people who either thought the shop hop was still going on, or who just thought that we were now open to the public because we'd been open during the shop hop.... anyway........ this is just a reminder that even though we'd all love to meet you & show you the studio... it's not always in "spotless, let's have visitors!" form! We work here & make messes & have shipments coming and going. We're on the phone and working on the computers and printing and sewing & designing. We can't stop working to talk & stuff and we're just NO FUN!! LOL!!! : )

One of these days I'll open the studio up again for a special event... we'll get it all dolled up again like a girl in a pretty party dress......we'll bring in some of the girls who don't usually work in the studio to help to welcome you and show you around! Until then though, we're not open.... I'm so sorry! xox Meg

Hmmmmm.......... the blog website is being grouchy today!!! It won't let me move these pictures into place! If you keep reading, you'll find that it's really, really hot outside & I'm having a decidely "lazy" feeling day. Because of that, sorry... you're on your own!!!! LOL!!! You'll have to decide which picture goes with what! Let's call it a puzzle................................. yeah! ........... I INTENDED it to be arranged like this!................ Have a happy day!! xox Meg

Oh... it's SOOOOOooooo hot outside!! All of the flowers are getting leggy & in this heat, the color in every petal just seems to fade. We need a few cool, rainy days! Oh well, guess I'll just have to stay inside & stitch! ........... IF I had fabric to stitch on! I'm waiting on a package from Moda with the new April Cornell fabric (Nature's Notebook). Then I can start stitching on "Susan's Dresden Garden". I'm getting antsy....want to get started on it.... I have a bad case of itchy fingers!!! This is the fabric & floss. NOW you see why I can't wait to work on it!

I finished sewing together "Flight of Fancy" using the French General's Rouenneries Line (I know I spelled that wrong...that's my best guess & best effort for right now. I'm too lazy at the moment to walk across the room to look at the Moda catalog! LOL!!!) Now all I have to do is sew together the back & take it to Susan, our quilter. I think she's going out of town on vacation in August so I'd better get on it, huh??? Wow, really should have ironed it befor taking the picture!...........get real tho!!! Iron??? in 100+ heat????? Not THIS girl!! Not unless there's an ironing emergency of some kind.... no, who am I kidding, not even then.

We've sold out of Pigma pens, most of the dish towel fabric, the blue & green crochet trim & embroidery hoops. They're all on order & should be arriving soon. We'll get them back up on the website ASAP!

We've had some questions lately about red floss & red fabrics bleeding. I haven't had any problems personally, but I know it's totally possible! We heard from a shop last month that had several boxes of red DMC that were purchased for class kits & they had trouble with it (big, really bad trouble!!) And from a shop in Canada that was having trouble with many of their red fabrics. All I can say is.... red's always been a problem. We're advising everyone to pre-wash red fabrics & use Retayne or a vinegar solution to set the dye, or use one of those dye magnets. You can also test your floss & soak the entire skein in Retayne or a vinegar solution. We haven't seen any problems at all with the Cosmo floss but please DO remember that the Weeks Dye Works floss is not colorfast. Good Luck!

We have some more show & tell for you! This Halloween Journey stitchery was made by Candace Peckich. She finished it as a little wall quilt. I love her piano key borders!! Look at the back too, I swear it's just as cute! Great job Candace! Thanks for letting all of us see it!

This stitched dish towel is from Donna Huckabee. She got this free Texas wildflowers pattern at a Texas shop hop (I vaguely remember drawing it!!! LOL!!) It turned out really pretty Donna! She also sent a picture of wild evening primroses covering a field near her home. That's SO very pretty!!! I'd love to be able to see the bluebonnets blooming some day. Texans should be so proud of their wildflowers being protected & cultivated the way that they are!

Last, I have to show you a watercolor painting by Jan Clark. She emailed me a picture of it last week. I saw it & fell madly in love immediately!! It's her kitty but she looks exactly like MY Honeybunny!!!! I had to have it!!! She's bringing it by the studio on Friday. I'M SO EXCITED!!!

Show & Tell

When I was a little girl I would fill old jars with tiny fruit that had been thinned from the trees in the orchard, pour water in them & line them up on boards I'd set up as makeshift shelves for my "store". Next to be arranged would be the empty vanilla bottles & tin cans. Last, would be the pies & cookies that, even though they were just made of mud, were carefully decorated with seed pods, flower heads & dandelion down. I'd throw an old sheet over the picnic table for the counter & my "store was complete & open for business! I'd spend hours & hours daydreaming & helping my invisible customers..... Last week when the studio was open for the shop hop I got to do it for real! It was so much hard work & so much fun!! Thank you to everyone who stopped by to visit......... you're all just so sweet!

Now, everything is put away & we're all back to normal in the studio. We're working as quickly as possible to get the new patterns & notions that we had in the shop hop up on the website & out to the shops! Hopefully, we'll get everything loaded on the website today!! Right now though, I'd like to share some photos that have been sent in over the last few weeks!

First, is a bluebird pillow sent in from Lori Delino of Poland, OH. She made this for a friend's birthday................. If I tell you when MY birthday is, will you make one for me too???? (That was whining, I know...) It's a bluebird from the "Bluebird" quilt. Really cute way to take an image from a larger pattern & use it in a different way!

Next is "Heirloom Romance" made by Cheri Testa from Maple Falls, WA. She's going to be entering this quilt in the Leavenworth Quilt Show in September. It looks beautiful Cheri! I hope you win a ribbon!!

This is Three Cheers for the Red, White, & Blue by Elizabeth Swinney. It's really pretty Elizabeth! Well done!!

This is Shellee Jensen's (Hiccup!) Gardener's Angel of Spring. I hope that you can see that she put seed pearls along the inside of her skirt. I'll bet it's just gorgeous in person Shellee!! Thanks for showing us! You can make just about any stitchery more interesting & pretty with the addition of some beading!

OK..... I just think this is the greatest idea & I like it SO MUCH MORE than the way I finished this quilt!!! I'm not sure who made this "Merry Little Christmas" but it was sent in by Roxie of ThimbleCreek Quilt Shop in CA. They used the stitchery from "Winter Wishes" and set it in the center of the quilt. Then, it's very heavily quilted. It's just plain gorgeous!!!! I'm SO JEALOUS!! I want it!

I mean..... SERIOUSLY!!!!..... look at this!!!! WOW!

Speaking of WOW!! This version of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" was sent in by Carriage Country Quilts in Des Moines, WA. It makes me wish I'd used this colorway instead of reds..... This is just beautiful.......... Oh man.............maybe I should do one again like this, just for me. Hmmmmmmm............................ ? Do they have kits???The rest of the photos are all from Carriage Country Quilts! I see "Farm Fresh Produce", "Home Grown" pincushions..."Honeybunny's Harvest" (look at the cute display!!!)"Three Cheers For the Red, White, & Blue"........love the way they finished it! Once again..... great display!! I bought one of those houses when I taught there last year... they light up, very cool!!!!

Oh!.... is that all??? ............ well, I guess it's time to get back to work! Bye!! xox Meg

Shop Hop Day 300

Proof-positive that the most fun shop hoppers come around closing time !!! We laughed so hard! Have fun hopping back to Boise!

Taking photos for her blog at gracioushospitality.com

Pretty, pretty ladies braving the heat....... it was 100 degrees today (it felt hotter than that!) We kept the air on full blast (I think we may have icicles around the windows on the inside!) so that we'd all be comfortable in the studio. We have one more full day of the Shop Hop to go! We're out of kits, we ALMOST ran out of floss but we got an emergency shipment just in time from Cosmo, we're out of embroidery hoops & running low on needles. What we still have plenty of is fun, laughter & patterns (we print our own & never run out. HA, so there!!!)

Maybe we'll see YOU tomorrow! Bye! Meg