Five Shadows

As 2015 rolls to an end and 2016 begins, I’ve looking around my sewing room, planning new projects, and wondering why some of my past projects have stalled. Many call them WIP – Works in Progress, or UFOs Unfinished Objects. I’m just going to be real here and say I have projects that I love, but for one reason or another they have Stalled!  In 2016 I want to get back to them and finished them up! Do you think listing them will help? Let’s just go with the top 5 Stalled WIP that I would like to get back to and finish.

Top 5 Stalled WIP

• Tilt-A-Whirl, paper pieced pattern by Amy Gibson, I’m calling it Whirled Peas because I’m using vegetable prints.
• Dancing Stars, paper pieced from Amy’s Creative Side
• Dresden Star by Edyta Sitar, table runner (sorry no photo)
• Sew Kind of Wonderful Curve It Up Quilt, just needs outer border
• Sew Kind of Wonderful Dot-to-Dot

Whirled Peas

Dancing Stars

Curve it Up blocks, hmmm, I can’t find the picture of the top, I’ll share one once the border is complete.

Dot-to-Dot, this is the first of two quilts, I need to finish the second one which is a pile of blocks right now!

Another category I see when looking around my sewing room is gadgets.  Apparently I’m a gadget girl. I think it comes from several years of playing working at a quilt shop where I taught classes and did Saturday demos of rulers, templates, & various techniques. I could make a long list of the rulers and templates I have purchased over the past 6 months since retiring from the local quilt shop.

Gadgets!

• Jaybird Quilts – Sidekick and Super Sidekick
• Kites Plus by Kari Carr for Creative Grids
• 60º Triangle 12″, Creative Grids
• Sew Kind of Wonderful Quick Curve Mini Ruler
• 30º Triangle 19.5″, Creative Grids
• Squedge 18º, by Phillips Fiber Art
• Curvy Log Cabin Trim Tool by Creative Grids
• Marti Michell Tumbler 2″ to 5.5″
• If I dig deeper, yes there are more …

Along with the rulers, I have also purchased patterns and fabric for new projects. So that would be a third list – projects I want to start!

Patterns!

• Sew Kind of Wonderful: Mini Pumpkins (my daughter wants a table runner), Mini Rings, Mini Scope
• Creative Grids 30ºRuler: Cut Loose Press: Table Treasure Table Runner, Selvage Star Pillow
• Creative Grids Curvy Log Cabin Trim Tool: Carousel, Squiggles
• of course there are plans for all the lovely gadgets I have purchased, lets just save that for another post, perhaps at they happen!

Plans for the New Year

• Finish the Top 5 Stalled Projects
• Continue working on current projects, oops, that would be another list!
• Continue the One Block Wonder BOM
• Participate in the Tribal Block Club
• Keep the creativity flowing!

Are you planning any special quilting projects for the New Year?

Linking to To-Do Tuesdsay and Linky Tuesday

Ringing in the New Year! Happy 2016!

Amy Garro of 13 Spools is such a clever quilter! In 2016 she is going to host The Tribal Block Club. Check out the link to learn more about the 6 blocks and 3 quilt patterns with endless possiblities she will be on-line teaching. The early bird cost is $29 before January 1st, then it is $39. I’m all signed up and looking forward to learning more about Amy’s modern look.

Have you seen Amy’s Paper Pieced Modern book?

I made a few things this past week that I had not originally  planned. Sometimes things just pop up. That is how this week went!

A few more little Pincushions, directions found in Tangle Stitches by Jane Monk.

A Purdue fleece blanket. I made this to help out a friend. She bought the fleece and hoped to have the blanket made to give to her son for Christmas, but a family emergency has kept her from getting to it. Goodness! Fleece stretches. A lot! Once trimmed, the cutting and tying the fringe went quickly.

Pictured is fabric I pulled to test a pattern for a blogging friend. She asked for volunteers, and I offered to help. No problem starting a quilt December 10th to have completed by December 19th, right? It’s not Christmas Season or anything, right!?

Sunday, hubs, daughter and I bought, set up, and decorated our Christmas tree. We finished decorating the house yesterday. Tonight I made one batch of cookies. Sand Tarts. I used this recipe.

My To-Do list this week will be to complete the test pattern. And enjoy time with family and friends.

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

I hope you are all enjoying this holiday season. Merry Christmas!

This Little Pretty will be a gift to a quilting friend. My quilting group meets this Thursday. At my home. I’ll be making cookies. Last minute, I thought I should whip up a little gift for each of my 3 friends.

I found this pincushion pattern in Jane Monk‘s book, Tangle Stitches.

For the top of the pincushion I used a piece of batting, a piece of muslin, and a blue marble all cut a 4 1/2″ square.

For the bottom of the pincushion I used a piece of muslin and a piece of quilters cotton both cut at 4 1/2″ square. The ball of white wool roving will be used to stuff the pincushion.

Assembly: For the top, layer the two pieces of fabric right sides together, position over the batting.

Stitch around the four sides of the sandwich, leaving an opening on one side, trim the four corners (I have one corner trimmed in the photo.) Pull the right sides out through opening. Press, and whipstitch the opening closed.

Now for the fun part! Decorative stitch a design into the top of the pincushion, using a favorite stitch. I set up my sewing machine with the walking foot stitched for this part, and didn’t have any problems stitching the design. (see top photo)

For the bottom of the pincushion, layer the two pieces of fabric right side’s together, leaving an opening on one side, trim the four corners, and pull the right sides out through the opening.

Press and whipstitch the opening closed.

Attaching the top to the bottom:

Off set the top and bottom pieces, starting the stitching on the corner of the top but in the center of one side of the bottom.

Whip stitch the top and bottom together from the inside for a nice clean finish.

I found if I did a little anchor stitch to hold the corner of the top to the center of the bottom side, it helped to hold the edges (sides) in place as I whipstitched them together.

Jane’s book has a better picture of the shape of the pincushion -

Aren’t they lovely!? Jane has many Zentangle type quilting motifs and projects in her book.

Have you ever made Pincushions? These are my first! One down, 3 to go.

This week my To-Do list includes hosting my quilting group, finishing up the pincushions before Thursday, continue working on the t-shirt quilt.

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

Happy December Everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are ready to move into the celebrations of Christmas Season!

All my girls home for Thanksgiving!

Have you decorated for Christmas? We have a long standing tradition. But, we are waiting for youngest daughter to return from college, then we will start our Christmas tradition of going out for Breakfast and then getting our tree. Once home, we set it up and decorate, while playing Christmas music, drinking eggnog, and eating snacks that includes fruitcake! Yep! That’s right! I said fruitcake! I guess we are one of the strange families that actually likes fruitcake! But, I’ve got to tell you, if you have never had a Claxton Fruitcake you are missing a real treat! No other fruitcake compares, except for my friend Janie’s homemade fruitcake! Her cake is wonderful too.

So fess up! Any fruitcake lovers out there? Do you have a favorite Christmas cookie recipe? My hubs loves sugar cookies, and I like Sand tarts. My mother, sister and I would go over to my grandmother’s to make them, so it is a fond memory.

As for quilting, I’m currently working on a t-shirt quilt. This one is for a guy who wants it to be very plain fabric wise. I am using a light gray from Red Rooster for the sashing, and black/gray from the same line for the border.

This week I hope to finish the t-shirt quilt top and back. My DIL wants me to help her start her first quilt that she designed using EQ7.

Linking to Linky Tuesday and To-Do Tuesday.

November is month number 2 in Sandy’s One Block Wonder BOM Sandy blogs at Upstairs Hobby Room. Here is November’s block:

Have you ever shopped online from Craftsy? I have. I like their merchandize, sales, and service. Last Thursday, instead of taking the Metro Hoops WIP along to my sewing group, I took some precuts purchased from a recent Craftsy order.

I was thinking I’d make some hexagon hot pot holders. But once I got the hexies sewn together, I decided they need to be a quilt top instead. I showed my friends how to do a partial seam for sewing the hexies. I was surprised none of them knew this technique! My friends all loved how the hexie blocks turned out, so we went to Craftsy and put together an order. I ordered 2 more sets of Moda’s Honeycombs.

(Ugh! Technical difficulties! No matter what I do, I can not get my pictures to download from camera to computer. I had written this post earlier today, took photos after supper, and now they will not download. I’m rewriting this post, as it only made sense with the photos!)

Continuing – I also took along some 2 1/2″ precut squares and stitched up the beginning of a table runner.

The Craft Bazaar I attend last Saturday with two longarm quilting friends was fun. They wanted to make their services known to the public, and this was a good start. One has gotten 2 orders for Christmas decorations she had displayed. I finished all the binding for one friend and she had those displayed as well, but none sold. I suggested they both open Etsy shops. As payment for the bindings I did, my friend tried handing off some money to me, but I told her if she thought it was fair, I’d be happy to barter for the Christmas table runner. She agreed, and this beauty is now in my possession.

The third new project is another t-shirt quilt.

This is just a quick shot to follow for the placement of the shirts. They will be sashed in gray, than a border in cream, 2nd border in the same gray. Binding and back will also be in gray. The fellow just wants a very simple quilt. It will be simple, but I think still pleasing, and the t-shirts will remain the stars in the quilt.

This week my To-Do List will be working on the t-shirt quilt. First up will be shopping to find the right gray for the sashing. Wish me luck, as  grays are hard to find at the local shops.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday and Linky Tuesday.

This week I’m binding table runners and trivets for a friend. She is mass producing runners, trivets (hot pot holders) and Christmas ornaments for a bazaar she will be vending at this Saturday. Last week she said she was not happy with her bindings and has been spending more time on them than the actual sewing and quilting. I like do bindings, so I offered to help. She took me up on it!

8 runners & 2 trivets & 1 baby quilt completed

She is using the 60 degree wedge design for her table runners. This Christmas runner is my favorite.

Bright and cheery design. The wedge ruler method works best with border & stripe prints. (hmm photo is distorting runner, don’t know why)

I have 2 left to bind. I’m using the Flat Felled method for attaching the bindings. I sew the binding on to the back of the runner and press it to the front. I pin the miter at the 120 degree corners and use the Flat Felled Presser Foot to stitch the binding down along the edge of the binding. This is a quick way to put a nice finish on mass produced table runners!   As fun as these have been, I’ll be looking forward to returning to my own sewing next week!

I took a break from sewing and made this for supper.

Sausage & Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash. Yum! It got the stamp of approval from the family. I think next time I make it, I’ll cook the Acorn Squash in the microwave to speed up the cooking time. And might try subbing black beans for the sausage.

Do you have a favorite Fall recipe? This was perfect for our cool day here.

To-Do List for this week: Finish 2 more table runners. Thursday is quilting day with my little group – I’ll be working on Metro Hoops, will take along Dot to Dot as a back up project. Saturday I’ll be going to the bazaar to encourage my friend. That’s all folks!

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

October was a good month. 5 UFOs completed. 1 new quilt- fabric purchased, quilt completed & gifted! One t-shirt quilt made and sent off to longarm quilter for a customer, so not a UFO but happy about that one!

UFO’s – honestly, almost too numerous to count!

UFO’s completed – 5!

UFO’s currently working on – 2

New projects completed – 2

New projects started – 2

One of the quilt shops in our area held their annual Birthday Sale this weekend. Yes, I did shop! Who wouldn’t at yardage 50% off!? I bought flannel fabric to have on hand for baby shower gifts, self-binding baby blankets.  I also bought fabrics for planned quilts, no more just buying lovely fabric because I like it. My stash needs to be used up, not added to at this point. Plus I bought 4 patterns at 25% off.

Scroll on through my older posts to see the quilts.

This coming week, I’m helping a friend with binding a pile of table runners. Then back to normal programing aka working on my own list!

So gals, are you continuing to build your stash? Or at you a point where you want to use it up?  I’m all for using mine up, and only buying when what I want to make I can’t find in my stash already.

Linking to Vicki Welsh’s UFO Busting.

The Harley Davidson T-Shirt quilt is back from the longarm quilter.

It’s large. Queen size, made so the t-shirts cover the mattress, plus 2 borders for the drop to cover the sides of the mattress.

I’m working on a flange binding. The orange flame print adds a nice POP to the black border and binding.

More photos promised once it is complete!

I didn’t get to more ruler play to finish the table runner I shared last week, because a migraine invaded my happy little life. So my To-Do list from last week will carry over to this week. Oh, but wait, that is not 100% true, because I offered to help a friend with her table runner bindings. I might not get to my table runner & Metro Hoops until next week. This week: bindings!

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