Sweet River Studios

We got a few blocks to do this month and so far so good. These are called the Applique Border Blocks. I just did the A1H10 block and it's really very pretty. Block A1H11 is just a flipped version so no video for that one. This block is heavily embroidered at over 30,000 stitches. You will need fabrics 1, 4 and 3, water soluble thread and threads A, B, C and D.  The only issue I had with this block was that my thread A and B are fairly similar in color so when they're next to each other you can't really see any difference but that's okay. Overall, it turned out really pretty and I can't wait to see the next one. I did add stabilizer to Fabric 3 for this block. There's a lot of embroidery on Fabric 3 (the pink fabric in the picture) and if you don't add some stabilizer, it may wrinkle or pucker as its embroidered. I used Sew Lazy soft lightweight stabilizer and it worked just fine but use whatever you like or have on hand. There's a lot of thread c...

Saturday, August 16 was just perfect.  You know the type of day where the sun is warm but not blazingly hot and there's a gentle, cool breeze that doesn't have a drop of humidity in it.  Days where no one has their A/C on, except that weird family you never see with their windows open and you're not sure they're human. Where even your black dog doesn't mind laying on the cool green grass out in the sun to grab a quick snooze, instead of seeking the deepest shade so she doesn't spontaneously catch fire. You know a perfect day. Well, we just had one of those perfect days you normally get in late spring not mid-August. And I finally, got to see some butterflies including a monarch. I haven't seen a monarch butterfly for several years. They've probably been around but not in my yard. So this year I planted some milkweed to see if that would help.  The milkweed has been blooming since May when I planted it and absolutely nothing has found it except the ...

This is month 5 for the Jacobean Journey quilt Block of the Month and we're about half way done. Seems like I've already done a thousand of these blocks but we're not done yet. This block is really pretty and very easy to do. It's definitely been the easiest so far.  All you need is fabric 1, all coordinating threads, backing fabric and water soluble thread.  It's all decorative stitching and takes about 50 minutes to get done.  All I need to do is get 12 of these guys done and get back to working on the borders. Here's the finished block. Video for Block B2

Its been several months since we started the quilt as a BOM but since I'm adding on both inner and outer borders, I figure I better get started making those blocks.  The inner border comprises 2 blocks.  I need 36 of one (straights) and 4 of the other (corners) so I'm going to try to do roughly 10 per month or so.  I'll discuss the inner border corner block in another post. Inner Border Block This block I call the "straights." Both of these blocks are different from the rest so far.  For these two blocks you have to piece fabric together BEFORE you begin the block.  The inner block has a diamond pattern in it and you're going to sew 3 strips of fabric together (fabrics 3, 2 and 4) and then line up the seams onto the stitch pattern.  I have found this to be the most difficult step.  Its not really difficult but you have to be very accurate.  You sew the fabric strips together with 1/4" seam and if they're off your seams will not match up, your ...

My husband and I, went to The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium specifically to see the new Africa exhibit a few weeks ago. This exhibit just opened in May and is roughly 43 acres. The area includes a watering hole, camel rides and an area to feed giraffes and more.  The keepers move different savannah dwelling animals in and out of the watering hole area throughout the day and they have cheetah runs twice a day. Keepers thread a string around some well placed round wheels on the ground and the winch pulls a grocery bag covered tennis ball around the large circular area which the cheetahs love to chase. Think lure chasing with big cats. We also saw ostrich and zebra at the watering hole in the morning as well as some gray crowned cranes off in the savannah area. Next to the watering hole, is the giraffe feeding area. You can pay $3.00 and you get to feed the giraffe getting up close and personal with their sweet little noses and big dark eyes for you to see. Just befo...

Well, it finally July and we've had some visitors in the yard.  I live in the suburbs of Columbus and we're infested with rabbits and of course deer. Sometimes we'll wake up to 7 of them laying in the backyard and other times we don't see any for weeks. In early May, I noticed a loan doe a few backyards over standing in some large trees and I thought, "Wow, that looks like a weird deer." I took some really bad pictures of her because she was so far away but through the camera lens I could see her from all angles as she walked or should I say waddled around.  She was pregnant. I mean, about to explode pregnant and I'm fairly certain I don't know much about deer gestation but I was fairly certain she wasn't just having one fawn. I was fairly sure there was going to be twins, which I understand deer mostly have but I've never seen a doe in this advanced condition before. Anyway, fast forward several weeks to early June. My dog, River, sta...

This next block we received is block B5 which is the exact same block as B4 and we need to complete 8 of them.  B5 block is the same as B4 except some of the fabrics and thread color is different. I didn't do a video showing this block but here's a picture of blocks B4 and B5 together. B4 is on the left and B5 is on the right. And on a more depressing note, my Babylock Unity has been acting up lately and I was hoping that a good cleaning would take care of the issue but it hasn't.  So I'm going to finish up the remaining B5 blocks I have to do and then take it into the quilt shop.  I don't know why but the machine will just stop during embroidery. No error message, nothing.  It'll start again and sometimes stop again or it will just keep sewing.  There doesn't seem to be any reasoning to it and rebooting doesn't help either so I'll just make a note whenever it stops, take some video (since you KNOW it won't happen when its being repaired!)...