December is turning into a very productive month in the sewing and crafting category, not so much in the house cleaning and gardening ones. We have had lots of rainy days, better than snow, but good times to stay in and sew/knit/craft. I finished all my gift sending last week, which also meant gift creating too. I made five people hats, one dog hat, and framed a cross stitch piece. I didn’t get to the embroidery machine projects that I had intended to, but those were just gift card holders and soft ornaments. There is still time to do those, as they are “local” gifts. I also want to make two small zipper purses, but again these are for local gifts, I have a few more days to do those. On the house cleaning, meh. It is hard to get enthused about floor cleaning when the dogs track in mud and leaves every time they go outside. Oh, my tree still doesn’t have ornamentation, it’s a good thing it is pre-lit, otherwise it would be a sad tree. I like decorating it, I just don’t like taking it all down afterwards.

The quilted baby milestone mat I made for a friends baby shower was a big hit. Everyone OO-ed and Ah-ed, and thought I spent hours on it. Probably only three, but I still can’t seem to take credit for my work in a public setting. I really have to remember that not everyone does what I do, and it is a specialty. Yeah, its easy to slap two pieces of fabric together, quilt it and bind it, but not everyone has that ability. Or maybe I just feel they haven’t found it within themselves yet. I’m a crafter, it is what I do.

I have been keeping up with the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt “Chilhowie”. I finished clue three on Friday afternoon, when I saw that she had posted an addendum to the clue. There needed to be 16 sets of 8, not 4, back to the cutting board. Luckily, I had cut a few extra strips and it wasn’t long until I was speed chaining them through the machine and pressing them into 128 quarter triangle squares. I am keeping them in plastic bags this year after dropping my soda flat box that I usually use, behind a stack of bins.

I am also making headway on the batik Christmas tree quilt, Wooded Whimsy. There are a lot of pieces to this one too. Thirty blocks with about 40 pieces in each. Thankfully, I completed the stars last month, each one of them had 19 pieces. I decided to keep all my trees green, I think that the red was too distracting, if I had a few red and green prints to break it up, like the pattern shows, it would’ve worked. I am thinking of adding some red and white pin wheels to this quilt, or maybe just using the red and white for another quilt all together. I have the Morning Star accuquilt Block on Board die, which could make cutting it out easier. I did utilize my 2 ½ inch wide strip cutting die for the trees, easier to cut those too.

The only (lol) project I didn’t touch is the quilt, Berties Year, which is on the frame. I did get it batted and basted down, it is ready to go. Maybe later today. I also have batch of sugar cookie dough chilling in the fridge. I was supposed to have a cookie making day with a friend, but she had to cancel. Okay, todays agenda will include a Christmas tree decorating hour, a long arm visitation, some block piecing and a ride on my horse, as the rain seems to be on hold for the next few days.

Be Kind.

This morning started with me awakening to a noise, it took me a bit to realize it was rain. I turned over and went back to sleep for a bit more. It’s been rainy off and on since Thursday, not much going on outside the house, even the dogs want to stay in. This weekend was productive in the sewing and knitting department, not so much in the house cleaning or decorating ones, and that’s okay! I got the hats done, the first three only took a few hours each, but the last one, mmm, days of K1 and P1 -ing. It turned out pretty cute though, the recipient will like it 🙂

On the frame, I finished the quilting on the Irish Chain bears. I decided not to block them out from the all over quilting pattern of sleeping bears. It is a process using the quilting software, that I haven’t really perfected yet. Since the minky backing isn’t really forgiving to removing stitches errantly placed, I made the designers decision not to. When it was quilting, I looked back on the first version I had made of this, and I noticed that the bears had black thread eyes, this ones had brown. A bit of outline stitch made them a little more noticeable. All bound up and ready to go out in the mail today. I had originally wanted to use a thick poly batting for this quilt, but decided against it, as the minky was stretchy, and I thought the tension would be a nightmare to figure out. I had steamed it and it was nice and flat, ready for something else. Then I thought of the two Baby Months milestone panels I had gotten earlier this year. I loaded up a backing that was 60 x 108 and stitched out two panels in a few hours. The machine had no problems going through the thick batting and since it is a mat to be used for photos, I think the cushion will be nice. The floral one has regular Hobbs 80/20. I still have to bind these, coincidentally I have been invited to a baby shower next week, so one of these will be given away. Next up on the frame, I should have put the “You are Loved” top on, but, I have been itching to do some free hand and ruler work. The Berties Year quilt top has been finished for a few years, and there was even backing for it. I lost a bit of momentum and still need to cut a batting for it, maybe today.

I made a few more flowers for the Turkey bay cross stitch, I was stitching in the day time, which is a bit different for me, as I usually stitch at night. I bought a few new charts, because they were on sale, not because I needed them or anything practical. Although, this one, “Silent Night” from Needle Case Goodies will work nicely on the beautiful blue piece of linen I had bought for Turkey Bay and didn’t use.

The other two I got are a booklet and a Halloween pamphlet, both have next year projects in them, back of the queue.

My tree is up, but not decorated, it has lights on it though, so it’s festive. I have also put up a few Christmas quilts, the Snowmen are in the stairwell this year, as I have the Baltimore Christmas on the new wall in my room. Maybe I’ll get some more holiday decor out today. My poinsettias from last year are starting to get their red bracts, they seem to like this east facing window.

Be Kind.

This weeks project, a small quilt using the You Are Loved panel is nearly complete. I didn’t get a chance to sew yesterday, as we had company for most of the day. I decided on the pattern for this quilt, and made a valiant attempt to find a written one, but in the end I am winging it. The center print is where I started, I measured it and by looking at the inspirational quilt picture, figured out how big to cut it. I noticed that there were 10 flying geese on each side of it, which led to 20 inches a side if I used 2″ x 4″ geese. Okay, then I’ll need to add 1 inch borders to the center.

This is the way it went for a few sessions, adding and subtracting, measuring twice (sometimes thrice) and sewing it together. I am being really careful with the fabric usage, as I only have half yards of most of the coordinating prints. The eggshell solid is from the scrap pile. The borders came about in a slap dash way. I measured the boxes on the print and figured out that three wide was seven inches. If I added a narrow border of tan, then they would be eight inches and I could put eight inch blocks in each corner. I was looking at my Accuquilt dies and saw the Winding Ways one, an eight inch block. I have been wanting to try this one, as its a B.O.B (block on board) and easy curved piecing. Ended up making eight, four reverse color and four forward color. The die is made to use the least amount of fabric, and the pieces are nested next to each other. This is great for conserving fabric, but it makes it difficult not to cut backgrounds at the same time as foregrounds. In order to make four different blocks, I had to cut eight. In the end though, it worked out because I had enough border print and white background print. the quilt top finished at about 65″ square.

I finished the Snowy quilt, with a red binding. I would like to get it posted this weekend, it might get sold before the holiday. I have enough scraps left to make a pillow or a table runner, but that will wait. I have been embroidering the facial details on the Irish bears quilt top. I can do one a day, the needle is a bit tough to pull through the fabric. It seems like I “carefully” placed each detail on a seam intersection. Pulling three strands of floss through three layers of fabric is taxing. I think sewing on linen for cross stitching has spoiled me. Now I wonder if I would have trouble hand quilting, maybe, but I don’t have any plans for such endeavors at this time.

I started the Turkey Bay cross stitch piece, got the bay done and part of a turkey, it is swimming. Apparently they are able to swim, who knew? The Pilgrim is also progressing, I started the crow, lots of mindless X’s.

Off to clean house for guests this weekend.

Be Kind.

I spent a few hours yesterday cleaning up the floor in my sewing room. I had an appointment to go to at ten, I figured since it was only a few hours to do something in, clearing the floor would accomplish something, but not be an onerous task. You know, like cleaning all the flat surfaces in the room. My sewing/cutting table is in the center and surrounded on three sides with bookshelves and drawers of fabric. The last side is my design wall which is in front of the closet. The floor space is sort of a moat in which to walk around. The moat was clogged up with small boxes of fabric, bins of scraps, and bags of project kits. There were also a few small boxes of picture frames and decorative items from the MBR that needed to go back. Since the remodel this summer, I have not put all the decorative things back on the dressers and such. That’ll be for another day though, I was concentrating on the floor. I was happy with the results of my job, even swept up all the threads and dog ears, shook out the rugs and dusted a bit.

When I got home, I pulled out the ‘Ribbon Runs Through It’ BOM to see where I was and what needed doing. There were 16 wedge blocks, piecing the top and the final borders to be done. I cut all the pieces for the log cabin style blocks in quick order. Then set about making one entire block, for my sample. Then I broke down the sewing into segments and made 15 of every thing in a chain piecing frenzy. All the blocks for this BOM are done now, it felt good. I put it all back in its box, to do another day. I really need to concentrate on the block placement for this quilt top. After the ripping fun time I had with the Reunion top, I want this one to be easier. Instead of “measure twice = cut once” my mantra will be “check placement twice = sew once”.

The second bear quilt is together and appliquéd now, still need to add eyes, noses, and claws. I am not sure about the backing. Usually my client likes the Minky/cuddle backing. I don’t have any blue in the house, I could go get some, or order it in. I have some blue yardage I can use, but its not baby themed.

Today I may just start a new quilt top. A few months ago I bought a panel from the fabric line called “love is..” and a bunch of coordinating fabrics to go with it. There are a few pattern ideas I gleaned, I need to pick one.

On the frame this week is “Snowy”, this was a kit from a local quilt store. I think I bought it in May, but I am hoping to have it ready for sale very soon, only 45 more days till Christmas.

Be Kind.