Weekend sewing

 I did LOTS of sewing this weekend.   So much so that my shoulders are a little sore. But it feels good to get things off my list. 

First up are some more sets of coffee blocks for my exchange.  I really had fun with these.  I like to piece and I would make a drawing on graph paper, block out the measurements, make a sample and then proceed.   There were a few several adjustments made for things like the handles.  But I enjoyed the creation and using up some scraps. 

Each block was required to be 8 1/2 inches and a white on white background. ( Which I ran out of and had to attack my scrap bag. )

Block 1 

With 4 additional ones for the set. Each is slightly varied, as the flowers were cut from 1 fat quarter.

Set 2 is a china teacup.  ( A little washed out on the white)   But it is very cute and has a lace edge on the top of the saucer applied with fabric glue prior to stitching to keep it in place. These teacups were paper pieced. The tricky part was getting the bowl of the cup to align with the paper once it was sewn.  I had to use pins to place the pivot points. 

With the whole set. 

And lastly some more hand stitching.    Slowly this set will get completed.

Hope you all had a pleasant and productive weekend. 

( And prayers to Ukraine and its families far and wide.)

Projects and more projects.

Progress: a little at a time. 

I have switched my projects and have been working more on my Gnomes for Christmas. 

I have been working to finish all the tree blocks. Since I had a plain green block, I took it apart and added more colors to it. 

So here it is with a variation of greens. 

And I have been stitching more on the gnomes at night.  I am a little behind. But that is ok. 

They are cute and fun to place the tiny stitches I enjoy doing. 

Further, I have been working on my hourglass blocks. 

So many seams at the corners :  8 total meeting in one spot! Persistence and a seam ripper.  And keeping at it. 

                                               

                        124  hourglass blocks and a big pinwheel for the center.  

And to top it off, I even sorted and cleaned part of my sewing area.  All good. 

Unstuck

As the title reflects, I was fretting over my projects. (That and the darn Olympics.) And although I was sewing a  little each day, I am behind in getting things done especially for my online sew alongs. 

 But I am so grateful for my quilting friends.  Encouragement was what I needed to get going. And your comments rang in my ears as I sat down yesterday to sew. 

THANK YOU! 

So my first big AH HA moment was when working on my SAHRR round 4.  I finally put the blocks next to the center, and yes, I needed that coping strip.  

I then worked on arrangement of blocks around the center.  My idea of having matching colors near the corners bombed. Oh, Well... 

But it came out.  The coral/peachy stars are brighter in sunlight. 

And then I got back to embroidery.  I got cold and didn't want to move from under the quilt, so I just pulled the gnome out from my basket next to the couch.

Lastly, a mug rug.  So cute for Valentine's Day. 

One was given to my daughter and this one to a very good friend.

Progress.   

More to come!  

And quilty friends are the best.

 

QUILT SHOW

 YEAH!   I am so excited!  I went to my first quilt show in TWO years. 

Seriously, the one I attended over the weekend was the last one anyone in our area was able to attend in 2020.  And everything since then has been canceled or gone online. Sigh......

This was the Winter Quilt Show put on by the Wisconsin Museum of Fiber and Arts. ( formerly it had been a guild).  This was north of Milwaukee at a county fairgrounds. But it was GREAT!   Lots of vendors and the 4H served sandwiches and soda.  

So I purchased fabric..no surprise.  And I did need to actually find a quilt store afterwards for fabric for my SAHRR as the bright sunny colors were not part of any of the displays.  Now I just need to keep sewing on it.  I do a few blocks at a time, and yes, I am behind.

So here are some of the wonderful quilts displayed :

The next two was part of a group from Japan, I believe, from the Quilt Museum only making 3 stops in America.

This was a part of a challenge group. It was my favorite of the bunch

An incredible Oh My Gosh quilt!  Love the diagonal color lines.

So many tiny 9 patches

A gorgeous wool quilt

The workmanship on this one was AMAZING, completed by a quilt judge and quilt appraiser.

She described the pattern from an old Quilter's Newsletter as being frustrating and had to redraw it herself. Hand Applique. And gorgeous fabrics. 

And then I saw 2 jackets, I just loved as well:

           

So much to enjoy!

SAHRR Round 3

 I have made the plan for my row and love the colors and design.  I feel so bad that I have not completed the patchwork for the deadline. 

The issue is the odd measurement which started with my center block. As I used charm squares, the measurement could of course, not be 5 inches. so as I made hourglass blocks, It ended up at 11 inches. And each successive round is off.  

So this round is starting at a measurement of 23 inches. 

My plan is to reduce my 6 inch blocks 1/4 inch making it fit the width/length.

Here is the design of the blocks and mathematics for how many.

And here are the sample blocks which are not sewn together yet.

And then these are the corner blocks:  

So I will have to work twice as hard to get my Round Robin completed this week.

Plus I need to finish my valentine mug rugs. 

Valentine fabrics.

 After my heart fabric purchases, I had to make something with them.  

So, I accepted the challenge to make coffee mug/cup blocks to exchange.  And then, I thought how cool it would be to have a heart on the mug.  I decided to make a sturdy mug and piece a heart in the middle. I started with the pieced heart taking inspiration from Pinterest for ideas. After first attempt I needed to resize it to make it a little smaller.

I also liked the diagonal bottom to the handle.  It took a little finagling.  The block is 8 1/2 inches.

The main portion of the mug is 5 inches squared.  ( without handle)

Then I paired up several color options and perfected the piecing for the replications. I really liked the variety of shades of pink from a raspberry to a coral shade of  pink. The herringbone was one of my favorite fabrics.

And I put the handle on the left for the creative left handed people and to add some variety for the quilts of different receivers.

And some more red heart ones:  I will make one into a mug rug for my daughter for her work desk.

Total of 7 coffee mugs made!