December, already?

 Where have I been???

Needless to say... A simple Thanksgiving for 2.   Another round in the hospital for my daughter in law rejecting her kidney transplant.   Two fractures for my Mom : hip and arm from falling out of bed.  No surgery.  But painful and now immobile.   No trips for me , but lots of prayers and conversations across the miles.

I don't know what normal is anymore. But I do know that we are going to Louisiana after Christmas to see the boys and that is wonderful. 

So this month is my 7th year blog-iversary.  I still enjoy keeping track of my sewing and projects and getting positives from other quilters/friends over the miles.  

Onto better things: I just returned from my winter quilt retreat with some needed rest and relaxation and focused time on quilting with friends.

Projects I was able to accomplish. 

This was started for a Quilt along with Corrine and Cecile in January. But I changed my mind and only included 6 of the 8 gnomes. Each is appliqued and hand embroidered. This is destined for my daughter in law. 

This is my Moda Blockheads 5 fall session of blocks.  I have the setting blocks cut out , but need to attach and then get it quilted. My daughter requested teals and having a seasonal quilt. 

My Mother's birthday is next week and this is for her door in the nursing home. 

She will be 92 years old.  

I made this masculine table runner for my daughter's new beau for Christmas.

I am just going to quilt it on the sashing with a thin brown binding.

I am hoping he will like it. 

And lastly, here are 2 stockings for the same gentleman and my daughter. 

I had purchased the knitted stockings and added the braid around the edges

 as well as hand embroidered initials on red wool mittens. 

Catching up!

 It is so nice to be home.  After a while gathering my thoughts and catching up on news and such, I got into a mood to clean. And it feels good to do those things that I have put off for some time. So each day I have made a list to accomplish a few tasks. Some are easy tasks like baking cookies; others are not so much fun like washing windows that I never got around to this summer.   But all in all, things are getting accomplished. And it keeps inspiring me to do a little more.  

I wish I could say I have been on the sewing train to finish up a few of those oh, so close projects. 

I did make a door hanger for Mom for Christmas for her new place.   And I hope to do a monthly one as the calendar progresses.   12 by 23 inches I think in my stash fabrics. Buttons and hanging ribbon to be attached.

This is a new pattern I found at Quilts Plus in Lebanon, Indiana.  They were my first quilt store in Indianapolis at the time on 86th street way back in 1978. 

Other progress on projects:   borders of flying geese finished    14 out of 28

Cornerstone square in a square blocks:   Also paper pieced all 28 DONE!

    

mug rugs

Christmas mug rugs

I know I started these at least a year back if not the previous one.  But it was an easy one to finish.:

I had modified some image on pinterest and made 4 red and 4 green packages. It was easy to make a flying goose for the bow on top. They are about 8 inches square.

So I spent an hour or so finishing the quilting using the heat resistant fleece. 

And then added the binding. 

Then I spent the Green Bay Packer football game binding them. 

And finished the last of them watching Santa Claus and The Sound of Music.

DONE and ready for gifts for my coworkers.

To Frolic and Christmas

Time has gotten away from me. And I have not posted in a while.

Christmas is upon us and I am really missing my grandsons to make cookies and do all sorts of Christmas things.

And then Monday I got a very sad call from my DD. Her boyfriend of almost 2 years broke up with her. We all liked him so much  and feel he just wasn't ready for a commitment despite the fact they are both 31.  She, of course, is devastated and it leaves me a little bummed as well.

But onward. I have been sewing.
First here are the 3 steps of the Frolic mystery by Bonnie Hunter. I really like these colors together.
But instead of a scrappy background, I found yardage of a cream print for  dollar a yard on Connecting Threads Black Friday.

Then I am going to finish these mug rugs as gifts for my school pals. 

 This set needs quilting and binding

This set is quilted, and just needs binding.

And I have made a block for my Quilt a Long to see how hard it was and whether I liked it.  I think it is a go. 

Wedding present

Two years ago, I made this tree skirt for my son and daughter in law. ( December 2016)
Additionally, I pieced a 2nd one at the same time.  It has been sitting.
It was initially made with the intention of going to a niece. But stayed in the undone pile.



Last week I got it out and took it to retreat to begin the finishing for a different wedding on June 9 for another niece.  So, the piecing is done ( It is from a Quilting World magazine.)
And I layered it quilted it with straight lines in red thread during retreat.

I have now added the binding to the outside perimeter. Last night I hand stitched it all the way around.




Last steps:  add the gold garland by using a decorative stitch on my machine. DONE! See above.

 Cut the center and slit and add the binding there. Add ties.  Lastly hand stitch it and add a label.  ( Something I have been remiss in doing in the past.)

Goal to have it done this weekend!

First finish of the year

I spent the evening last night under blankets, notice the plural.  My husband and I ate pizza and watched a movie.  No way was I going out in that cold again.  I had hoped to see my girls' basketball team play at home against a local team. ( They are state ranked again this year.)  

So I had sewn the binding on this table runner and it needed the hand sewing on the back.  It did take the duration of the movie. This was a panel that all I had to do was sew the 3 pieces together. Easy peasy. I did machine quilt it with a clear thread on the top. The back and binding are coordinating fabrics all from Patrick Lose which I purchased from Shabby Fabrics on sale. Love the bright vivid colors.

First Christmas present done for next year. Hooray!

Next up: Here are the 30s fabrics that I am cutting into strips one night last week. Underneath is my rotating cutting board. It has ball bearings that make it so easy to turn and a ledge to keep the cutting board on it. 

This is what I am going to do as a block of the month. Jo's Country Junction is having a BOM link up on Saturdays.  Here 

I am subdividing the different blocks into monthly projects and hope to get it done by midsummer to assemble and finish it then. I have wanted to have a Christmas quilt and have neglected doing it as I make projects for others, instead. 

I received the pattern booklet in the mail this week, but left it in my computer bag at work where I opened it. It is one of the latest Kansas Troubles's patterns. And of course, I have a bag of fabrics from her lines to pull from and hopefully not buy more fabric. I do think I will need a background, maybe. 

1st weekend of December

Christmas is coming. The goose is getting fat...And so the song goes.

But in real life the last month of the year; the countdown truly begins...to Christmas.

It started with leaving work early for an eye appointment. But I already knew I needed glasses to read and of course, sew. Have you seen one lying around? There are several missing. 

 Anyway, what a headache from all the light in my eyes. So now, I need eye drops, just saline.  

And then I had time to sew yesterday. I finished 2 blocks  for  Covered in Love.

Covered in Love is a call for blocks and she then assembles and has then has them quilted and donates them. 

      

And the assembled and quilted 4 mug rugs/pot holders.

 

This is one colorway.  I have a 2nd color with a green print and red ribbons.

And little by little I am getting my applique done:

Here is one end of the 60 inch borders. so far the stems are done. and leaves on one border. 

This is the decor for a great little restaurant in downtown Waukesha.  My spouse and I went to last night. The ambiance was wonderful with the lights and ornaments hanging everywhere.    The long thing above the bar is an assemblage of characters like Dick Tracy and  all collectibles.manner of old collectibles.  This is the 2nd bar mantel as the restaurant burned down once.  Great time!

Hope you and yours are doing well. 

RSC blocks and more

I was able to squeeze some sewing time in tonight. I did not have to go help my son and grandboys as mom was home from work tonight.  I made turkey tetrazzini with leftover turkey. And we have enough for a 2nd meal.

I sewed the basic part of the package for these Christmas mug rugs/ potholders.

And now I have my brown Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks completed.  There are 8 brown blocks bringing my grand total to 98 blocks and I have extra 3 inch half square triangles for a border. It will look great together.  But I probably won't have time for this until after the holidays.

Little by little...Bit by bit.

Busy week

School was crazy as the staff and students prepared for our football team playing at the state championship for Division 3. There were 8 buses of students, the band, the dance team, cheerleaders, and multitudes of cars traveling to Madison, WI to play at Camp Randall home of the Wisconsin Badgers. The excitement was crazy and Friday was a no classes day as the game was at 10:00 A.M.

But we lost after such a great season. The best part was being in the cafeteria as the crowd clapped the whole team to the locker rooms; it went on and on as the players descended from the bus across and across the room They were disappointed, of course, and their heads hung low. But we were proud; they still were amazing to have gotten that far.


The picture is from the regional championship.

On another note, my daughter in law has had a tough week with her diabetes and went in the hospital last night to bring her blood sugar levels down. I feel for her and my son and the boys.

As far as quilting in my world:

I have started Christmas and have made the tops to some mug rugs/ pot holders.  Cute pattern found on Pinterest, of course.  They went together easily and the scraps were in my Christmas box.  It will be perfect to send to my mom especially as mailing to Canada is costly, but fabric isn't. But they will also be great small gifts for others as well.



Then I found the Covered in Love block drive.  Many hands make light work. I love being able to do small things with my fabric and be creative, but not having to devote time to a large project. Plus I feel it is one way I can make a difference by sharing my talents.


Lastly, I finally have some RSC blocks to show:  brown.  Each time I make this block, I try to be so careful meeting the center of the pinwheel. Ahh.  sometimes it is just not to be.  But the more I make them the more I love the blocks and how they look together.

Starting and finishing

Here are the projects I am working on today.  First is a wall hanging I made of wild and goosey 3 and a half inch paper pieced blocks. I arranged them into this design, bordering groups of four, and adding middle cornerstones and square in a square  blocks. All that is needed is binding.

And the second is the beginning of the log cabin quilt along. These are the first 2 blocks for week 1 of the expected 16. The pattern from Kim Diehl's pattern in Simple Appeal. I need to get started on the applique. This is mostly old Thimbleberries fabrics, nice rich colors.  

Finished!

Here is the quilted tree skirt;  finished.  The final touch was to add a decorative stitch as a garland in gold on the individual trees. Any ideas on how to get the velcro to stick; I even have industrial strength. It is a bear to sew by hand.

Binding

Christmas tree skirt : I finished quilting outside the panels of the trees using straight lines to be more of a modern style.   It was fairly easy using the walking foot. 

Here is a close up of the quilting.               

I cut the binding on the bias for the curves; (back and binding are red as well).

Now to sew it by hand, an easy project for tv watching.

All that is left is for using a decorative stitch with

 gold metallic thread to make a garland on the tree.

Christmas projects 2

So I started working on the 2nd batch of stockings for the other part of the family.

I purchased 4 stockings, 2 each of red and 2 of white, that are cotton for $4.99 each at JoAnns, and I want to embellish them.  I have found another Pinterest idea using felt.

I started by finding one of the stockings my mom had made.




Then I cut out 4 green felt, polyester mittens. After which, I used a white pencil to trace letters and embroidered them in red or ecru floss in a chain stitch, I accidentally ended up leaving 2 felt mittens together. See close up to notice the stitching. followed by doing the blanket stitch around the edges to make the edges look neater, while it added a spark of color. They are now glued on. Good start for today.

Oh, and don't try to iron polyester felt. It sticks to the iron. Fortunately, I had some of the cream, glue that rub on it with a soft cloth while the iron is hot. It worked like a charm.