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. 

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 . 

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.:

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.

 

Piecing progress

 First I wanted to show the progress on my Stay at Home Round Robin.

This round, the 2nd one around the wool applique center, was to use diamonds. I took all week to come up with a plan.  It just came to me as I was sewing this afternoon. And I really needed to put it back into a square anyway.  So it is kind of a diamond. 

Then I worked on my hourglass blocks. I keep rearranging the colors. But then I did get this together. 

I just didn't get a picture as it didn't get pressed yet.   50  units each at 3 inches. 

Next I worked on my patchwork trees for my Christmas gnomes. 

          

Each a little different from each other and fun to figure them out.  

Sewing away

 I have been out and around a few times, but it is cold, not artic blast cold.  Just cold. 

So I have restricted myself to the necessities.  Some groceries, some tutoring. 

And I have enjoyed being home, doing things. I lost my large, to do list.  And so I went back on my blog to see what I really have gotten done in the last month.  Not bad. 

I guess I am in the throws of many projects which I do enjoy.  But I am not seeing ending trajectories at the moment: 

So here are some of the various 

More of the sampler blocks 6 done and 3 to go.  I am deciding on the setting. I know I need to space them out with either a connector block or something.  I find them fun and easy to do.  The hardest part is making sure I have the right fabrics in the right places. They each come in a little package with just enough fabric for cutting the block. It also makes my piecing skills better.

                  

Then I cut out 2 more gnome blocks to embroider.   Each one has its own personality.  

And these definitely need some details.  Wonderful work to do in front of the tv.

       

Lastly I got out a quilt I started a year ago.  I made 20 hourglass blocks a week for a Temecula pattern. But never put it together.

So I started putting them in rows.  Two small sections put together.  And then I discovered, I miscounted. And now I need to make 100 more.  

50 hourglass blocks sewed and trimmed while watching the Green Bay Packers LOSE.

Ugh!  They definitely did not play their best. 

So 10 more  hourglass blocks. cut out today. 40 planned and ready to cut. 

Keep on stitchn

What a beautiful morning!  The sun was shining through the crystallized branches on the trees. I love seeing the winter weather. But I have not been out for several days, partially due to my aversion to cold and partially due to the self quarantine for my mild Omicron case of Covid.  I will come out of hibernation tomorrow.

My hubby worked yesterday for his transportation job for the hospital system giving my hours to play in my sewing area.  I have been slowly making progress on cleaning up the messiness. It doesn't look like headway, but it makes me feel a little better finding things and organizing others. 

Anyway, I made 2 of my pieced blocks for my French applique and piece sampler challenge. 

I played designer as I made 2 tree blocks to fit my 9 inch unfinished blocks. The math in me likes the finagling of spaces and numbers.  And it did not turn out quite as planned, but it IS done.

I will be making all the trees out of solids to go with the Gnomes. 

This one I drew on graph paper for the paper piecing. 

This one I found a pattern online, but had to change the measurements to suit the size of the block. 

And I forgot the different between finished and unfinished sizes.  Hence, the side seams. 

If I have additional fabric at the end I will remake it to avoid the seams on the side. I only have so much left of the background fabric and need to make 6 more blocks. 

And I finished all the embroidery for the first 2 gnomes, working  nightly on it while watching tv with my spouse. The outlining will be done when quilting at the end. ( I am not sure about the noses and will have to decide once I see more of them.)

 

The patterns are on etsy for a very modest price and are downloaded. There are 10 embroidery gnomes in the set available here: Embroidery gnomes

Lastly I have now pieced 4 of these sampler blocks of the  kitted BOM purchased at our quilt rummage this summer

 

Working on the to do list

 First project for the time being: Jensen's 4K Quilt 

Originally this quilt was made for 4K for my dear grandson Jensen: 4K quilt post   in August 2020.

And he loved it.  I can still hear him saying, " You made this for ME??????"  

I could tell the teacher loved it. So much so that uniform nap towels were the required thing for this year. 

So current story, the dog chewed a hole in it.   Nonny brought it home to fix last October.

And now I have repaired it using fabric left over in my "stash".

               

Not too noticeable.  And the fabric is a duplicate of the machines covering the hole. 

Mission accomplished. 

  And the second project finished.  Our quilt guild makes doll quilts, pads and pillows to accompany a little wooden cradle that a woodworkers guild makes.   We were given odds and ends pieces to make the rest of the ensemble for next year. I took 3 pads made of Christmas fabrics. And I constructed 3 different patterns and fabrics for quilts and matching pillows. 

Here are the 3 quilts and matching pillows for each one. Quilts are about 8 by 13 inches. 

This one has 1 inch squares; but the other 2 have 3/4 inch units. 

This one I have shown before Christmas.  ( above)