Five Shadows

December Recap

My goal was to make several gifts for Christmas gift exchanges with my quilty friends.

I found several fabric ornament tutorials and made these:

and these

and these which I started after Christmas. I’m jumping ahead for 2019 Christmas!

They need button centers and ribbon for hanging.

Plus I started and completed 2 Christmas stockings for my 2 grand children.

And finally! I bound Chic Country for my grand daughter’s birthday! Which we will celebrating tomorrow. Sew Kind of Wonderful pattern.

With just these bits of sewing completed, along with Christmas gatherings, Church, time with family & friends, I’m pleased with how the month of December has played out. I hope you also had happy celebrations with family and friends and are looking forward to a Happy New Year!

Linking to One Monthly Goal.

One of the gals in my quilting group thought it would be fun for each of us to make fabric stars to exchange at our December meeting. Here are the stars I made.

You can find instructions at Geta’s Quilting Studio.

I also made these stars for another gift.

I found a link on A Spoonful of Sugar for these folded Hexagon Ornaments – take a look at her pretty ornaments! Angie’s Bits and Pieces has a great Youtube showing how to fold the hexie star ornaments. She is using them as flowers on a quilt. Christmas Star Ornaments or Flowers, they are pretty used either way!

I took along extra pre-cut hexies to the party, thinking my friends would like to try their hand in making them. I was right, and they each folded up a hexie star and plan on making more for gift giving.

I’d like to try these ornaments next, time permitting. That little adventure might be waiting until next year!

The photo is from Through the Eyes of a Quilter Blog. You can find a how-to video on the post and some nice hints for creating these adorable ornaments.

Since I have nothing else to do – I’m adding 2 more projects to my week before Christmas. I’m laughing, are you joining in with me!? For several years I have planned on making new Christmas Stockings for our family members, and I have just not gotten around to doing so. Sunday, I decided enough! And dug through fabric, patterns, and internet for ideas and actually started 2 stocking for my 2 grand children! That is at least a start on the 7 stockings I’d like to make.

Here is the one, so far, for my grand daughter.

The Sing for Me snowman & cardinal pattern caught my eye. I used the bird pattern, reduced the size to fit the stocking. Grand daughter likes pink and purple, so Mrs Snowman got hat, scarf & mitten in those colors. Do you see the pink and purple tassel hanging off the hat? That was my daughter’s idea.

And this one is for my grand son, also in progress.

The moose will get a red scarf as he is to be a Christmas moose. I’ll also add evergreen trees. At least the stockings are both started!

Husband and I are hosting Christmas in our home this year. Everyone is to arrive at noon. We will have lunch together, then open gifts, then games and family fun!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I hope you are enjoying the countdown and not stressing out!

How did I do on last week’s To-Do List:

1. Side stepping again – finish up some little quilt gifts for gift exchange. ✔️ Little gifts all done and gifted at parties this past week.

This week’s To-Do List:

1. Finish Christmas Stockings for the grands.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

Lap quilt for a relative confined to a wheel chair.

Snowmen Tea Towels for a relative having hip replacement surgery. She decorates with Snowmen during the holidays – adding a little bit to her collection!  The lap quilt and 2 tea towels below go in the mail tomorrow!

Tea Towels for upcoming gift exchange.

Tea Towel for a friend’s birthday.

Tea Towel patterns are by the Wooden Bear. I found kits during a shop hop that included one tea towel, fabrics, fusible, pattern, and even buttons for the eyes. I bought 4 more tea towels, and added just a bit of fabric. The fabric amount in the kits were very generous. Having the kits sure added to making fast little gifties!

On my to-do list was FMQ Chic Country – I have about 1/3 of it quilted, with another 1/3  marked for the next step. Progress!

Dancing Stars quilt got set to the side to allow time to stitch up the gifts.

Do you have gift making on your to-do list?

How did I do on the last posted To-Do List:

1. Continue paper piecing Dancing Stars ✗
2. FMQ Chic Country ✔️

This week’s To-Do List:

1. Quilting Chic Country
2. Embroidery pumpkin

Linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

Aren’t these pretty 6″ stars?

I’m loving the bright colors and the batik background.

I only spent one afternoon working on these paper pieced blocks, so I’m happy with getting 4 more completed.

Hemming dresses? Whose idea was that!? I pulled them out of the bag to discover they are all knits. And not just t-shirt type knits, but those silky flimsy types. I really don’t feel like I have enough experience with these types of fabrics to do a decent hem. I talked to my friend, and she said they are just sun dresses she wears around the house, so she is not too concerned about how the hems look. I told her I’ll take a second look at them and decided if I’m brave enough to attempt them.

After looking at them, and searching instructions for hemming on my Janome, I decided to give a hem a go. I trimmed off some of the bottom of one dress so I’d have fabric to play with. I even called my local Janome dealer to get advice. I set up the machine with proper foot and needle, and gave hemming a go. It looked ok. I hemmed 2 of the dresses, but  passed on the slippery poly/spandex one.

How did I do on last week’s To-Do List:

1. Paper piecing Dancing Stars. ✔️ 6 completed
2. Continue FMQ Chic Country.  ✔️ progress was made, lots more to go
3. GOT to hem those dresses!  ✗ & ✔️ did 2 of 3, and passing on the third.

This week’s To-Do List:

1. Continue paper piecing Dancing Stars
2. Continue FMQ Chic Country
3. Road trip with friends to a quilt shop north of us.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

No, I really didn’t get sidetracked! I am just finally caught up on a year long project and decided to share the progress!

These pieced hexies are for my Temperature Quilt. I didn’t get all the fabric together until February. Since then, I have been trying to do two hexies a day to get caught up to present. I reached that goal this week! I have all the hexies pieced through today. But I still need to get caught up on stitching the daily hexies together into months. January is under way, left side of the photo. Each hexie is showing the low temp of the day in the two outer pieces, and the high of the day in the middle.

Another EPP project that I’m finishing is prepping for a class at my local public library. I’ve put together kits for each person to make a little rosette. And now I’m working on a few simple projects to show what you can do with the rosettes.

I need to stitch this rosette down to the fabric. It will be displayed in the 5″ hoop.

And for my To-Do list for this week, I did finish the purse made from a man’s suit.

I’m calling it the Midtownman Purse, that was the tag inside the suit. There is black ribbon stitched under the Midtownman tag, wrap the ribbon around the center buttons as a closure for the purse. I left the strap/ribbon long, which can be shortened to fit the build of the gal receiving this purse who wanted it as a crossbody purse.

How did I do on last week’s To-Do List:

1. Sandwich baby quilt. ✗ Hmmm. No, but I did buy a batting for it today.
2. Finish purse. ✔️ Ready to deliver this Friday!

To-Do List for this week:

1. Sandwich & start quilting baby quilt!
2. Work on UFO – Dresden Plate Table Runner.

It’s been a crazy week with my son and his family living 2 hours away but driving up to house hunt. After staying with us Thursday – Monday, they drove home late Monday just to get a call from the Realtor that a new listing will be available to look at Wednesday morning. They are driving back up tonight! Phew! I hope they find their dream house soon!

Linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linking Tuesday.

I was asked to make a purse from a suit, something a graduate could wear under a graduation gown. With no further instructions, off I go to find my creative juices & get this thing under way.

Part One: Cut apart the suit!

My plan is to use a leg with the cuff as the body of the purse. I’m going to embellish it with part of the lapel, sleeve cuff, and the Midtownman tag. Cording will be made using the Midtownman ribbon from the inside the waist band. I’ll add the inside breast pocket to the lining for the purse. I’m not sure if I’ll use the blue sleeve lining or something from my stash to line the purse.

I think I’ll use buttons and cording for a closure. And I also need to figure out a shoulder strap. But there is still lots of suit fabric available to play with a few ideas. Maybe belt loops will come into play at some point.

Part Two: Construction! Here is how it is all coming together.

I wish I would have photoed the lining with the breast pocket before stitching it inside the purse! I still have a way to go on construction.  Lining is not yet complete, closure not started other than the buttons attached in center of purse, and I am still puzzling over a shoulder strap. I think it looks far better in person than in the photo, so don’t be harsh with me! Thank you!

I hope you have had a productive week!

How did I do on last week’s To-Do List:

1. Working on the other baby quilt (newest great niece quilt.) ✔️ Top done! I’ll show it later this month once quilted.
2. Start order for a purse. ✔️

To-Do List for this week:

1. Sandwich baby quilt.
2. Finish purse.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

Will you be heading to any quilt retreats or shows this summer?

Projects this week:

I finished a table runner. I hoped to quilt up 3 table toppers in June, but only finished 2. This is the second one completed.

The pattern is from Upstairs Hobby Room, pattern is Whispered Dreams from Sandy’s One Block Wonders BOM series.

For the quilting I did some ruler and walking foot play.

Today I finished a little project for a friend. She had asked if I could patch her ripped eye glass case. She gave me a blue print to work with. The leather like fabric was ripped where the magnet fastener was attached. I opted to use the old case as a pattern and made a new case for her.

I added a card board insert for stability, and also fused interfacing to both layers of the fabric.

I used a sew on Velcro closer instead of the metal magnet. My friend was very pleased with the results!

How did I do the last To-Do List?

1. Continue quilting In Box Jaunt Quilt-Along, floral quilting in sashing, then setting this one aside for a couple of weeks.  ✗
2. Helping adult kids with their new home to get it move-in-ready. That should about fill my week! ✗ Sadly this trip got cancelled. New dates set!
3. Touch Monkey quilt if there is time.  ✔️

Sweet Mint is a pattern by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. A few years ago while working at a LQS, I demoed the Sweet Mint templates showing how to cut and sew the pieces together. But I never finished the project! Last month I pull out this UFO, finished the top as a table runner. This past week I completed the quilting and binding. Yippie! a UFO checked off the list!

Quilted, and binding made from scraps.

Last week I spent some time teaching a friend how to make pillow cases using the Burrito Method. We used a Serger though, instead of French Seams. Much quicker!

Shown are just a few of the 24 pillow cases made. These will be going to the charity Case for Smiles.

How did I do on last week’s To-Do List?

1. Complete next step in the In Box Jaunt Quilt-Along.  ✔️ Sandwiched and SITD quilted.
2. Sew up May block for the Sit Down Free Motion Quilters BOM.  ✗ Didn’t touch this one.
3. Quilt Dresden Plate table runner as part 3 of my OMG. ✔️ Completed!

This week’s To-Do List:

1. Part 4 of my OMG is to quilt another table topper – Jolene Star.
2. Thursday I meet with my Curvy Quilters group. I’ll be working on more improv piecing for the Facets quilt.
3. Enjoy time with family. I don’t think I’ll be fitting in any more sewing/quilting this coming week.

I’m linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

Oh! And this was a fun surprise this morning! My last week’s post about poor tension was featured on Connie’s blog Freemotion by the River.

This month I’m participating in Gosia Pawlowska’s Sew All Around BOM. You can find it on her blog Quilts My Way or Facebook.

I’m behind. This week’s lesson is on attaching a sleeve on the back for hanging. But I just finished the simple grid quilting.

The quilting was done with a walking foot on my Janome. I used a variegated blue trilobal polyseter by Signature Size 30 for the top and a 50 weight Aurifil for the bobbin. I’m pleased with the quilting.

I’m moving along on the Fusion Blanket. The first set of squares are all blanket stitched.

I decided I’d like to make the blanket a little larger, so I stitched up more squares now waiting for blanket stitching. That means more blanket stitching in the evenings. I have continued to practice 2 crochet stitches that will be used to connect the squares. I will eventually get brave enough to share a photo of that progress! Ha!

The t-shirt quilt is now a top and waiting on the Longarm quilter. Sorry no picture. I might be getting it back to bind, if so, I’ll get a photo then. it’s large and I need help holding it up for a photo. Adult kids need to come home and help. tee hee

This week’s To-Do Tuesday List

1. Sew t-shirts together with sashing and border. ✔️ Pieced and ready for longarm quilter.
2. Sandwich and quilt Sew All Around BOM quilt top. ✔️ Sandwiched and quilting underway.
3. Continue Fusion Blanket. ✔️ Part 1 blanket stitching complete, but making more squares that will need blanket stitching.

To-Do List for this week:

1. Continue Sew All Around BOM, binding is next, I’m not sure if I will put a sleeve on it for hanging.
2. Continue Fusion Blanket.
3. Hexie quilt top – hope to finish piecing top this Thursday at my quilting group day.
4. Enjoy Easter with family.

I’m linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

I do like it when my plans for the week come together. And, actually, January has been a pretty good start to the New Year.

Last week I listed the following on my To-Do-Tuesday list

1. Sew back for son’s quilt. ✔️
2. Finish center sofa cushion.  ✔️
3. Working on Leah Day’s 2016 BOM.  ✔️

1.  The back for my son’s quilt is all sewn together and the batting purchased. I even used an extra block to make a label which is sewn into the back.

How about a little Label Making Tutorial for those that do not have alphabet embroidery on their sewing machines?

Here is the extra block I used to make a label.

I had to figure out wording that would fit into the cream diamond shapes.

But first, the block needed some prepping.

On the back of the block I ironed on Reynolds Freezer Paper with a hot dry iron. Shiny side will adhere to fabric.

The freezer paper will give stability to the fabric, keeping it from shifting while writing on the fabric with a fabric marker.

Since I do not have the best handwriting, I used a light box to trace the wording.

I selected a font on the computer and figured out what I wanted to document, and printed out the label spaced for the area I had available in the block.  I used font Symbol, size 36, printed Bold for the label. (above)

Often, I will practice with different size pens to find what is right for the label.

For this label I used Pigma Pen Graphic #1.

Here the light box is on, the printed label is under the block, and the words are being traced.

Once words were traced, I removed the block from the light table and used a press cloth, pressed the writing with a hot dry iron to set the ink into the fabric. Remove the freezer paper and the label block is complete! (Did you notice the date 2012? Yes, I’m that far behind in getting the quilt completed for my son and DIL.)

Now, Back to my other finishes for the week!

2.  I finished the center sofa cushion cover. It just took me a while to get to the store to buy more zippers, which was my only hold up on finishing the cushion cover.

I think covering the cushions will actually be the easiest part of the whole slip cover making process!

3.  My version of Leah Day’s 2016 Machine Quilting Block Party is complete!

I’m happy with how it turned out.

The backing is the same yellow print as the sashing and binding. Leah has a new BOM for 2017, but I’m not particapating this year.

I’ve decided to follow along with the Facebook group Sit Down Free Motion Quilters and their BOM. Yesterday I finished the block for January.

This BOM will have a mix of pieced and appliqué blocks with the free motion quilting part starting up later this year. Jeanne Harrison has posted videos on youtube for constructing this block, and also has many other videos on free motion quilting. Check out Facebook to join the group!

As this month comes to an end, it is time to think of a new goal for the month of February to link to Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal. You can see the goal I achieved for January here. I’ll be posting my new goal later this week.

2017 has started out well for me with my quilting and sewing goals. I have 2 finished quilts, a new BOM under way, baby steps on the slip cover, all are putting a smile on my face!

How about you, has January been a successful month?

Now for my weekly To-Do Tuesday List :

1. Next step in sofa slip cover. Buy muslin to sew up 3 pillows covers.
2. I have so many things I want to get to – I’m a little overwhelmed right now with which to do next! FMQ sampler is one.
3. Start a new quilt? or start quilting a finished top?