More ABC for Ewe and Me

Well, with the weather turning toward winter weather I am getting to spend a little more time indoors and that means sewing time.  I always seem to have a hard time getting excited about a project and getting in the sewing groove after such a long break, but I started by organizing what I already had going and that was all I needed to get back in the sewing groove and now I am excited to get going again. 

I jumped right into the ‘ABC for Ewe and Me’ again, determined to catch up which I  thought would be a real challenge since I am about 5 months behind, but I finished up month 5 in a day and started month 6.  While looking at that basket block which is ’N for Nancy’s basket’ I got inspired to try something new to me and use felt for the flowers and leaves.  Good call!  It went fast and I sure enjoyed the process.  There is so much fusible applique on here that I am going to have to get more Steam A Seam lite real soon.  I thought I should look for a roll….well, found it on Amazon for over $100, don’t think I need quite that much, but it sure would be nice to have on hand.  It seems to be the only adhesive that doesn’t gum up my needle when I sew on it which causes a lot of frustration.

The next fun little project I started inspired by a link from Pinterest for the little house block.  Now I tried to jump on the bandwagon for the little house project a year or was it two ago, but had found it difficult.  This time I found a link to the foundation piece patterns which come in 3”, 4”, 5” and 6” blocks.  I picked the 4” blocks and then did some log cabin strips around them and rounded off the corners to make some hot pads.  I like to make my hot pads extra thick so my quilt sandwich for a hot pads goes like this:  backing, batting, insul-brite, backing, and top.  It is thick but, not stiff and this method has made some of my favorite hot pads guaranteed to keep your hands from getting burned.

I was making this runner for a friend who recently got married, when I got to the quilting though I thought it would be easy and I would finish it in an evening…well, that was not the case.  I tackled the pebble stitch for the sunflower centers with no problem and actually enjoyed them, but when I got to the petals my tension was all off and I couldn’t decide what color thread to use on the light colored back.  I am now thinking I should have made the backing a dark color so I wouldn’t be stressing so much about the dark threads showing up on the back.  I learned through a Janome group I joined on Facebook that my tension should actually be set at about 7 which I thought would be too high, but it really worked.  I got frustrated with the quilting on this though and set it aside for another day.  Sometimes you just have to do that or you will hate the finished project.  So I am waiting for inspiration to strike me again then that project will be finished in a flash I am sure.  The piecing was a lot of fun though and I did it with no pattern just the picture from Pinterest.

Now that I have gotten back into my sewing groove there are lots more projects I would love to start and some I really want to finish.  I think I will be busy this winter.

Ferne