Row Along Progress

The weather outside is frightful here with wind whipping and cold rain falling so I got sent home from work yesterday.  I took advantage of the time though and stopped at the grocery store to get what I wanted for our little Thanksgiving dinner and whipped up some homemade rolls and squash soup, then I added 2 rows to my Bee in My Bonnet Row Along project.  I love this project but, had only gotten 2 rows done and was really wanting to get to the apples.  I was well disciplined though and did the wavy row first and got it added then I played with the apples.  I was having so much fun I almost forgot to eat my soup which turned out delicious and the aroma of homemade bread was in the air reminding me to eat, thank goodness.  My apple row is not attached yet, but that might be a project for tonight after work.  The next row is all flying geese and Lori has a new method for us to try that will make it quick and easy then I can move on to the current row of mugs that look like lots of fun and I will be caught up!  My favorite block in butterfly row and the apple row are both red…I have been told that there is red in every quilt I make…I had no idea I had a thing for red…   I am pulling fabrics from a box of 5” squares that has been hanging around for a while now, it feels good to put them to such good use.

 I love this project and am thankful that designers like Lori Holt share their talents with us!

Enjoy your Holidays!

Ferne

Update:  She is now on Row 7 so I am 3 rows behind…guess I will be doing a little catching up this week!

Inspired by Anka’s Treasures

This was going to be a runner for the buffet and the pattern was inspiration from a book  by Heather Mulder Peterson called Favorite Quilts from Anka’s Treasures.  The name of the pattern was Candy Apple Blossoms and she had appliquéd some flowers in the white section, but I am thinking I will leave it and quilt some feathers in there instead.There are several patterns in this book inspiring me right now, but I picked this one and spent yesterday working on it while it was hailing and raining out.  It didn’t look quite right as a runner, but moving blocks around led me to this design which fits nicely on my little table.  Now it is ready for quilting…deciding what to quilt takes me longer than the quilting so it might be a while, but hopefully it will be done for the holidays!

Well, since I started this post last week I have gotten some of the quilting done on this piece, but got stuck on how to quilt the colored logs and the border.  I am thinking of either quilting in the ditch or cross hatching for the logs and I have a curlicue design in mind for the border.  Hopefully this will soon be bound in black and done in time to grace my table for displaying some Christmas baking!

The rainy weather has had me on quite a roll of finishing up old projects and I am loving that it is also giving me more practice on my quilting.  I finished up this piece that I started a few years ago intending to make a round pillow, but it changed into a table topper.  I finished the embroidery and quilted it and I really like how it all turned out.  It is reminding me that even though the weather is wintery Spring will be back before we know it.

I also pulled out this  table topper that I bought as a kit at the Quilt Market in Des Moines last October.  I had so much fun quilting it with wintery designs that I made up as I went I played with threads too.  I made a chain of mittens and quilted earmuffs on the snowmen  I still have to tack that binding down, but that should be finished in an evening of hand sewing.  I prefer to use double thick fabric cut on the bias if possible for binding and sew it on at 3/8” then I fold it over and hand sew it on to the back of the quilt.  This is the method that has worked out the best for me.  I cut my bindings at 2-1/4” wide.  (I am posting this here as a reminder to myself).  I have 3 little quilts sitting right now waiting for me to hand stitch the bindings down and it feels so good to have gotten this far with them all.  I am very glad that I have learned to free motion quilt because it is helping me to finish all the projects that I started a few years ago and now I can look for new projects to start!

Looking forward to new beginnings!

Ferne

Zippety Do Dah!

 

About 3 years ago I won a jelly roll of Zippety Do Dah by Sandy Gervais and went right to work piecing this quilt then we bought this house and moved and life just got busy and it got put in a box.  Recently though I have been doing a lot more free motion quilting and trying to get all my pieced tops quilted.  I had never made a back for this, but had put all my scraps and extra blocks in a bag with the top so I went to work making a back which I now like even more than the top.  I ran out of that beige fabric though and had to try to match it as close as I could at my local quilt shop.  I love the scrappy look of it.  I had planned to donate this quilt to a cause and might still do it, except that my cat as fallen in love with this quilt and has been sitting on it as I move it from pile to pile while I am working on it.  He likes quilts, but I have never seen him get as attached to one as he has this one.  I am surprised he wasn’t on it in any of these pictures.  I put a navy binding on it and still have to do the hand stitching on it. 

It feels good to be getting all these things finished up.  I have even started and finished a few new small projects thanks to feeling more confident with my quilting abilities.  I have wanted to make this sunflower runner for a few years and recently I just went for it.  The pattern is from the book Skinny Quilts & Table Runners from today’s top designers by Eleanor Levie in 2008.  I had it pieced in a just a few night time sessions and quilted it in a just about an hour.  It is taking me longer to hand sew the binding on than anything else, but I love the process of doing that last finishing touch.  This will go on my buffet that recently got refinished.  The sunflower runner will be for fall and next I will work up something to take it through Christmas.  Runners are a nice size project to work on and actually finish up.  I love doll blankets for the same reason and follow Kathy Tracy’s Small Quilts Yahoo group.  That is a very active group and lots of info and blocks are shared there.  They do exchanges and Kathy posts free patterns on a monthly basis.  It is a great place to learn and develop friendships. 

And this is why I love to quilt!

Ferne

A Big Ironing Board

I am about ready to start quilting a big quilt and I like to iron the backing and front before I start, but it’s always a challenge with my ironing board.  I was inspired by several bloggers who had created large ironing surfaces and on my last trip to Home Depot a light went on when I saw an MDF board that measured 2’X4’ for only $10.  A while back I bought a small plastic folding table to put behind my sewing table when I am quilting large quilts to give me more sewing space and support the weight of the quilt, this MDF fits on top of the table perfectly.  I covered it with insulbrite and a nice piece of fabric I had that matches my sewing machine perfectly.  I sewed them together and pinned the corners to the backside, I might use velcro later so that I can take it off and wash it when I inevitably get something on it.   What I love the most is that when I am piecing I can use a small area and still keep  my supplies close at hand and then move them when I need more space.    Then when I get to the big quilting projects I can pull out my machine and move the whole table behind my table and it serves double duty.  I can also fit my fabric storage underneath so everything I need is close at hand.  I have all this set up in the little area behind my couch in my living room and it is working out quite well. 

Recently I acquired an old buffet that needed some refinishing and we got that job done, moved it in the house and I wasted no time filling it up with more of my sewing supplies which meant that I had to go through everything and sort and organize.  Now I am feeling really ready for some snow days spend sewing and I think being so organized will really be conducive to finishing up some of the big projects that have been on hold.

This is the buffet that lead me to get organized.  I bought it about 30 years ago and lost possession of it for several years, but so glad to have it back and looking beautiful.  Next I need to make a nice quilted topper to protect the top and wrap it in love.  It is now loaded with fabric and quilt projects.

Loving my comfy sewing space…

Ferne

Hot Sewing Going on

I haven’t had much time for sewing lately, but what little bit I have done has been pretty hot.  Hot pads that is.  I have a basket full of single blocks that I sometimes make just for fun with nothing in particular in mind so I pulled one 8” block from it and layered it with a backing, 2 layers of batting and 1 layer of Insulbrite.  I quilted and bond it and voila a hot pad is made that will not let any heat through from the pan to my hand.One of my favorite pattern designers is Laurraine from Patchwork Pottery.  I have enjoyed her blog for a few years so when she started making patterns for sale I was thrilled.  Her patterns are downloadable so you can buy them and start working on them right away.  I didn’t realize this however so I was waiting for them to come in the mail, but she sent me a personal email to remind me to download them.  Funny thing how the internet has changed the way we do things.  I bought the cute butterfly hot pad pattern and wasted no time making not one, but 2 hot pads.  I find it faster and easier to do 2 of something at once and going through each step all at the same time.   This patter was really easy to follow with Laurraine’s concise diagrams and instructions.  I did omit the antennae because I was afraid that they would get in the way and there were some buttons I didn’t add either because I was sure I would probably melt them, but I can’t wait to put these guys to good use with some baking I have in mind for my next day off when I am going to tackle the perfect pie one more time (or till I get it right).  I also bought the pattern for the house tape measure for my next little project.

I have a close friend who is a little house bound and wanting to learn quilting so I have loaned her my older Janome DC3050 and given her lots of books and tools to get her started.  Recently I was doing a little reorganizing of my sewing supplies and found the pattern for my Fig Tree pin cushion that I love so I whipped on up for her with some scraps that I thought she would like.  This pattern is nice and simple that I had it stitched and stuffed in about an hour.  I like to make an insert for my pin cushions with some ground walnut hulls and lavender then I stuff some bamboo stuffing in and I love the way it smells every time I poke a pin in it or if I get a little stressed I just have to squeeze it a few times and I am instantly relaxed.  I had also made  myself a sewing wallet from a Crab-apple Hill pattern a few years ago and found it very useful for organizing all the needles I need for all the different sewing applications.  I looked through that basket of stray blocks and used some to make a sewing wallet for my friend, too.  I hope she will find these as useful as I have and that I have helped to inspire her love for sewing in a new direction.  She had done a lot of sewing years ago and I think she is really excited to get back into it again and I am glad to have helped her out.

Now that my sewing area is more organized and I have dug through some old things that were packed away I am feeling ready for fall and some good indoor time spent working on some old and new projects.  Quilting on these little projects has got me wanting to get to some of the quilts that have been waiting to be finished up.  Yep I’m ready for fall and apple pie, leaves on the ground and a cold nip in the air…just a few more weeks of temps in the 90’s here and maybe it will be time!