Stitching away!

 This has been a week of progress on lots of projects:

1) Machine quilting (free motion) my Christmas Gnomes for my daughter in law.  Each gnome is quilted in detail with monofilament thread. All that is left is the background and the tree itself.

2) New blocks to catch up for Moda blockheads 5:   Only 1 left to do.

3) More paper pieced borders for my 9 patch quilt 10 out of 28 finished

4) 3 1/ 2 inch  churn dash  blocks for Midnight at the Oasis:  28/ 52 finished

5) Mini orange peel blocks for the same quilt  8/ 20 finished. I have been enjoying the hand applique by the television each night. 

What I need to do is bind my quilt, Over the River and Through the Woods.  However, I am debating on the quilting and whether I need to add some more to it. I worked so very hard and so very long on the hand stitching that I want this to compliment and accentuate it well. 

This week will not be as productive as I will be heading to Canada to help transport my mother to a care facility in Indianapolis where my sister lives. 2600 mile trip not all driven by me and over many days for packing and unpacking and such will be part of the experience. I am relieved that this is finally occurring . 

Little Pieces

 For the first in a few weeks, this is not a finishing week for quilts.  It does feel so good to get 2 quilts off to the quilter though.   I just need to get to quilting my smaller tops. 

I am working on my paper pieced borders for all the 9 patches that were made:

In the meantime, I have started a medallion quilt for the spring quilt show.  This is my 1 dollar find at a book sale. 

And an awesome Jen Kingwell pattern. 

So for the piecing I am working on: 

These are 4 1/2 inch blocks with hand appliqued orange peels.

And these are 3 1/2 inch churn dashes. I make 2 at a time with the colors reversed as I use the 8 at a time half square triangle method. 

Funny how little blocks take as much time as big ones. 

It has been a messy week with family and such.  My mother's husband in Canada has regressed so and is frustrated and angry taking it out on everyone especially now that he has moved into a nursing home himself. But he is preventing Mom from moving here to be with us. He is 2 hours away from her , himself leaving her behind. 

And to top it off, we were cat sitting for our daughter's talking cat whom we have had here regularly. And this weekend, she went downhill fast and we had to have her euthanized. She was 15 years old and probably had cancer.  Oh, the tears! 

Fall retreat

 Every October, I get to go to a retreat at a college.  No classes, just living in a dorm with a great big sewing room for the 18 of us. Inspiration galore, jokes and laughing and concentrated sewing time from Thursday to Sunday.  The best!  

I packed way too many projects (Of course). And some took more time than I had anticipated. Yes, it happens. 

But here are the things I was able to complete:  It feels so good to get things done. 

1)  This is the Sewcialites 2 I have been working on for a year.  The blocks were one per week on Fat Quarter Shop from fall to April. My blocks are 9 inches each giving the entire quilt 100 inches square. In other words big! And the missing block is already set in.  These are obviously Christmas colors with lots of different prints. And I will use a scrappy binding after quilting. 

2)  I completed the setting for my gnome blocks which I made last winter in January and February. 

The original patterns were designed as redwork which I made as applique with lots of embroidery purchased from Etsy. Each gnome is 5 by 7 inches to give you and indication of size. 

3)  Lastly, I made 2 trick or treat bags for my grandkids. This was a panel I saw online and had to have.  Each is lined with black fusible interfacing.

Another project is on hiatus as I needed to order more fabric. Frustrating, but it will be SOOO cool when done. 

Other projects I took note of from my friends.:

A Little Pumpkin

During August I had shown the photo of this Halloween quilt to my daughter, a proud cat/ human?  This is her companion and friend through thick and thin.

Anyway, she liked the idea for a door hanger. So I purchased the pattern and created a one block quilt.

At first it was a synch to whip up the patchwork pumpkin with 2 1/2 inch squares.  And then I liked the idea of the framing from the pattern, but altered the size for such small quilt. 

Here is the back that I just quilted with my regular foot after ironing the 3 layers together.  It held quite well. 

And the final product with a striped binding done by machine with the help of " Elmer".

I even got the rod pocket on in the ditch of the frame. 

My daughter, husband and I took a little jaunt to an outdoor art show.  It was a little chilly all of a sudden as the weather dipped to the 50s and it was windy on the hill. But it was a great trip. 

On our way home I saw the most amazing yard displays of  skeletons. 

Holy cow! Rhat is a lot of bikes and skeletons.  Not to mention all the helmets.

Go Pack Go!

Merry Merry Me!

I am so excited I have finished the quilt top for Merry Merry Snowman by Bunny Hill Designs!  YEAH!

This has been a labor of love and a shared goal with a friend. We each combined our fabrics and worked weekly on it starting in January. ( You can see many of my 9  blocks done individually in previous posts. ) 

Each snowman is appliqued in wool and hand stitched including their noses, arms, wordings, etc. While the rest of the details are appliqued with a machine blanket stitch. 

After it is quilted I will add bead eyes and many buttons. 

Today's goal is to piece the back.

A little a day makes the projects go away :)

 Well, each day sewing some makes the projects get closer to finishing. And that does a body good.  I feel like I am accomplishing something and it motivates me to keep on going. 

Sew:  

1) A Christmas Sewcialtes 2 I have now got all the setting blocks made.  I needed to make a quick run to a fabric store for more of the same colors. 

All of these are 9 inch blocks:  16 each of the half square triangles. 8 of the red quarter square triangles. and 16 of the green ones. 

I hope to get the background squares and rectangles done as well as begin the piecing. 

2) New project:  Blockheads 5.  

I am making the blocks in batiks and started out with some I already had, but added a few more teals and lights to mix from a trip in August to one of my favorite stores in Appleton, WI: Going to Pieces.

These are 12 inch blocks and this one is paper pieced. ( Needs a good pressing)

Here are all that have been completed thus far. 

3) Finished the feather free motion quilting on my mini trees.  I even have the binding ready.  Now just to cross hatch the in between blocks.