Too much to do!

 I have felt very busy the last week trying to get lots of things finished and off my plate. That plus lots of meetings for this and that. 

But I have managed to be at the sewing machine: 

So happy to have finished my 12 inch block for Valentine's Day. I pieced and appliqued it last year.  And now I have it quilted and the binding on. I found the pattern on Pinterest.

And I have made 3 more blocks for my sampler quilt; they are fun and easy to accomplish in a small amount of time. 

And I just played around with pink scraps to make valentines.

The first group is stitch along edge and fold over.

The second group are just scraps with all over quilting.

I need to add some buttons and/or ribbons.

Valentines Day is coming!

 Since Mom has moved to Indianapolis/Carmel last fall, I have made a goal of making a wall hanging either for Mom's door to her room or her room.  It was the least thing I could do from a distance using my skills. I have made so many things over the years for her. I have done 3 mini wall hangings already: her birthday cake, a Christmas tree and then an embroidered snowman with wording for January.

So now I have finished a cute Valentine one and made a spare for my sister who lives close to Mom.  I thought I would do something for her since she does so much for Mom. 

The newest edition of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine had a pattern for one.  I felt it was perfect for this situation but reduced the blocks from 3 inch to 2 inch making my wall hanging 16 inches square.  I had a good time digging through my assorted reds and white prints with red to make it. 

Here was the webbing of rows:

And here are the finished quilts.  The lighting makes them look dingy, but you can see in the photo above that they are in did crayon red and bright white with a lovely light coral for the lettering.

The quilting was done in red, because I ran out of white thread.  Oh no!

In between sewing, I am starting to clean and organize some of my supplies.  Today, I cleaned behind my cutting table. My scrap basket is overflowing. That despite just using up a lot of it in my 9 patch wonder. Today I sorted through my patterns and filled a plastic shopping bag to donate to the guild's quilt show in March. I have been slowly going through my pile of magazines. My how much we accumulate over the years. 

In addition, I have been sorting a few UFO's and trying to get them moving along to a finish. 

I added the borders to this quilt top. I had made the blocks 2 years ago from small packets of fabric and instructions from a quilt store at 2 dollars a block. I had found them at a rummage table of a quilt show. I purchased the setting blocks and borders to go with them. I love the reproduction colors. 

Now to  assemble the layers and quilt it.  I even found a stencil for the between/setting  blocks

( So much for starting new projects; this feels good to get things done. )

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

 

Back to sewing.

 I always like January.  The Christmas sewing pressure is done and it's time to start and finish projects.    I am really motivated this year.  

So things I have started:  

This is my 5th year of doing the quilt along from Corrine et Cecile of France.  The challenge this year is a sampler quilt with half appliqued blocks and half pieced blocks.  My take on that will be 8 appliqued and embroidered gnomes with 8 different pieced trees latticed by a great Christmas print from Hustle and Bustle. 

           

I also decided to attack some projects just hanging around.  This summer I purchased at the guild's rummage sale some prepackaged blocks. These BOMS are from Quilts Plus, the first shop I ever went to in Indianapolis; it is still open. The fabrics are reproductions. 

 I love the colors of the first block and I love piecing smaller blocks. I feel it forces me to be precise in the piecing of the blocks. The hardest part was getting the right print for the right cutting directions ( there were 7 different ones). And I did make a mistake in cutting and had to substitute one of my own. 

I also want to complete a couple things for my daughter's birthday in a week.  I pieced and quilted a bright colorful table runner for her new table.  So cheerful and so easy: it is a border print. . After beginning to attach the binding, I realized I needed to miter the corners better for the 120 degree angles.  So I took them off and have a plan. 

It is tough to see in this picture, but I did free motion quilt the words and around all the cakes and candles. 

Lastly I can say I have officially finished the binding on my 30s hearts for Mom quilt.  In my conclusion for 2021, I had it listed. But that was all the piecing, borders, and quilting. All I had to do was attach the binding by machine and hand sew it. It took several evenings in front of the tv.