WIP Wednesday 12.30.2020

 When I went down to the sewing room today, this was as far as I had sewn on DD's bed quilt.

So I cut another set of arrows.

After a few hours, this is my progress.

pattern credit: Walk About by Grizzly Gulch Gallery

arrow pattern credit: 

                I used the MSQC method, just adjusting to the size I need, found here.

Linking up with Susan at MidWeek Makers

Design Space MONDAY 12.28.2020

 I needed to empty long arm bobbins so I could quilt the next QOV, but in order to do that...I needed to empty bobbins for my Brother piecing machine. I own about 10 long arm bobbins and 24 Brother bobbins. Whatever bits of thread are leftover from long arming, I use those to piece my quilt tops. So I set to work on sewing together my leader/enders two patches into 4 patches when I had a few moments to spare.

I've ended up with a pretty nice pile of 4 patches and enough empty long arm bobbins to quilt another QOV!

I still have a few more 2 patches to sew into 4 patches. There are a few ideas noodling in my head where to go next with these little beauties. Pretty soon, Sarah will be hosting her Hands2Help Quilt Drive so hopefully, a few quilts will result from my pile!

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday.

Merry Christmas 12.25.2020

 

Merry Christmas to all that Celebrate!

WIP Wednesday 12.23.2020

 My DD is here! So, I've been spending time with her!

I did manage to quilt down another Casual Quilters QOV.

Batch 3 Quilt 4

pattern credit: not really sure, a variation of a brick and stepping stone, 

                        if you know the name - drop me a comment and I'll add it here.

                        I did sketch it out, see below.

                        I think the bottom rows are half blocks.

panto; square spiral

A rough sketch of 'how' I see the blocks.

Again, a rough estimate of fabric needed. 

I forgot to add on the below picture that you would need *at minimum*:

                         50 inches of Color 1

                         50 inches of Color 2 

                         35 inches of Color 3

Linking up with Susan at MidWeek Makers

Whoop! Whoop! on Saturday! 12.19.2020

 DD is visiting from school! So not a whole lot of sewing or quilting is happening!

 I did quilt down three of the current batch of Casual Quilters QOV's.

Batch 3 Quilt 1:

pattern inspiration: Bean Counter Bouncing Borders. The squares and rails finish at 3 inches.

panto: petite stars

Batch 3 Quilt 2.

pattern inspiration: Rail fence, public domain

panto: Square Spiral

Batch 3 Quilt 3

pattern inspiration: Villa Rosa Iceberg. The squares finish at 3 inches with the background cut to match.

panto: Square Spiral

UPDATE:

My bird seed wreath is missing! There were very suspicious animal tracks in the yard...looks like deer. The next night we were driving around the sub looking at the Christmas lights and saw many deer roaming the area...I know that I can't pick and choose which wild animals I feed but the chickadees had just found the wreath after like three days...

So, I'm working on more wreaths! DH said he would hang the next one higher out of the deer reach! This one is not as pretty as I used flour as my 'glue' but it was much easier to mix, but some of my cranberries feel off. DD and I are trying to repair the wreath. 

Linking up with Sarah at Whoop! Whoop! 

WIP Wednesday 12.16.2020

 So, I brought a couple of pillows at Wal*mart for Christmas. One was really cute and the other, well, meh. The plan was to re-do the meh one, re-use the fabric and pillow insert. I found a tea towel that I liked  and I was off to the races!

I started to deconstruct the pillow. The fabric was a very coarse, very loose weave. Inside was not a pillow form but this awful looking grayish blackish stuffing!

YIKES! Onto plan B! I sewed this back together!

I trimmed up the towel and found a suitable plaid in the Christmas bin and TA-DA!

My Christmas pillow makeover was complete. Here is the front.

Here is the back. I made it so the entire pillow just slips inside the Merry Michigan case. I didn't even bother to line up the plaid! LOL. I'm sure there are lots of tutorials out on the web but I just winged it from my memory bank...

I've also been stuck on the idea of bird seed wreaths, scouring Pinterest for ideas. I finally gave a recipe a try. I think I did something wrong as it was so thick and gooey that I kept adding water to get the flour to dissolve. I'm going to try another recipe as I want to make one to have on inventory in case the neighbor brings over a gift...then I have something for her. It's my first Christmas in this house so I'm not really sure  'how' the neighbors celebrate!

Birdseed Wreath recipe can be found here.  This recipe called for 1 and 1/2 packs of gelatin. I'm going to try again but with less gelatin. Some recipes call for lard or suet and peanut butter...I'm skipping those! 

It looks cute on the tree. I thought the birds were show up in mass, but only a few have been eating. I also thought squirrels, turkeys or deer might eat too, but no...

Linking up with Susan at MidWeek Makers

Design Wall Monday 12.14.2020

 I've been wanting to make myself a new apron. I thought since I had quite a bit of the border printed Christmas fabric, I thought why not Christmas?

I used another Groovy Girl pattern circa 2010.

TA-DA! My new apron! I left off the yoke and pockets because I wanted all the fabric to show!

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday

Whoop! Whoop! 12.11.2020

 Not a whole lot happening in the sewing room this week. 😞

I did make progress on some of my Christmas items! 

*Baked cookies and seven layer bars.

*Addressed a few Christmas cards. 

*Shopped (online!) for gifts, but I have more shopping and wrapping to do! 

*Sewed a few gifts this week, too.

I did make two medium Traveling Totes. I used a Christmas print that my MIL had given me many years ago with a wide border. I checked and a bottle of wine will fit into this tote bag. My family canceled our sibling Christmas celebration due to COVID, so now I'm two gift bags ahead. We are hoping summer 2021 will be a safe time to meet up again. I have 5 siblings and numerous nieces, nephews and even great nieces and nephews! We are planning on having a little chat via Zoom on Christmas Eve when we normally get together.

pattern credit: Atkinson Design circa 2010 Groovy Girls Sewing Club

I actually made these totes about 10 years ago to the day! I blogged about the bags here.

Linking up with Sarah at Whoop! Whoop! and Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday

Design Wall Monday 12.7.2020

 DS asked for a few custom bags for his gf. A peak into the stash revealed that I needed more specialty fabric so off I ventured to a new to me quilt shop.

The Rockin' Bobbin.

I did find some fabric and a few of the Villa Rose pattern cards that I like.

I also turned in Batch 2 of the Casual Quilters QOV's and received another batch of 6. They are currently in time out...

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday.

Whoop! Whoop! 12.4.2020

 Quilted, bound and on the bed!

Pinned to the design wall.

On my bed.

A close up of some of the variety of Christmas fabrics used.

pattern credit: pinwheel flying geese, sized to 12.5 inches unfinished

                        one tutorial found here 

                        plank sewing, end to end joins then cut to desired length

                            (this quilt = approximately 93 inches then trimmed even)

panto credit: large scribbles

Linking up with Sarah at Whoop! Whoop! and Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday

WIP Wednesday 12.2.2020

Once I made my flying pinwheel row (blogged here), the sewing of the planks for my quilt went really fast. I simply sewed the 3.5 inch strips of random lengths end to end and cut at approximately 93 inches. I then sewed the rows together. As you might guess, I didn't pay real close attention and let the fabric fall where it may.

Here it is pinned to the design wall.

\

I estimated the number of strips pretty close! All I had leftover was this 3 inch piece of decapitated carolers! There are a few 'things' I might change but overall, I'm pretty happy with it. The best part is that all the fabric is from stash.

pattern credit: flying geese pinwheel block sized to 12.5 inches unfinished,

                         found here.

                        plank sewing...end to end with a straight seam, cut to desired length.

Linking up with Susan at MidWeek Makers

Design Wall Monday 11.30.2020

 I pulled out my bin of Christmas fabric and washed it. Not my most brilliant idea but some of it dates back to 2001 when I first started my quilting journey. I then pressed it and cut it, first into 3.5 inch strips and then 2.5 inch strips. This is leftovers from a few Christmas pot holders, Christmas quilts and Christmas tree skirts. A real hodgepodge of fabrics!

Linking top with Judy at Design Wall Monday

Whoop! Whoop! 11.27.2020

 My Whoop! Whoop! for today is my A11 Mystery from Alycia!

pattern credit: A11 Mystery from Alycia and JudyL from Patchwork Times

go to her blog and click on the A11 Mystery tab you will find the clues to make this quilt

panto credit baptist fans

I also finished quilting the last of the current batch of Casual Quilters QOV's.

pattern credit: no pattern given

panto credit: fern gully

Linking up with Sarah at Whoop! Whoop! and Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday 

 Warm Thanksgiving Greeting to those in the US and all who are celebrating. It's only DH and I today but the empty chairs at the table remind me of our loved ones who are staying safe in this season.

WIP Wednesday 11.25.2020

If you been following along with me, my third bad thing happened today. DH went to replace the light bulb in the oven. There were some exposed wires, a FLASH and dead oven! We were lucky DH only shocked himself and nothing worse. Good thing I have crockpots and a spare oven in the basement!

I cut my leftovers from my Walk and Stop Quilt and sewed borders on two sides of the strips. I'm not sure that I'm really liking it, yet. It will have to wait as I have more pressing (aka: on deadline) quilts to be done.

I blogged about my Walk and Stop quilt here.

This is based loosely on the Rainy Day Quilt pattern, found here.

My new guild is collecting blocks for another member. So I jumped in with a secret sewing block.

The center block was supplied, the star legs were requested white and any other color that went with the center square. I originally picked the block for grey/black combination. That was before I read the instructions completely!

Block credit: Friendship Star

My FB QOV Stars shared a Flying Geese Pinwheel Block. I saw it and thought it would look good in my Christmas quilt for my bed.

Here is the online block

Here is the row I made for my bed quilt.

pattern credit: Flying Geese Pinwheel block, found here. I made the adjustments so the block finishes at 12 inches.

Linking up with Susan at MidWeek Makers

Design Wall Monday 11.23.2020

 Do bad things come in three's?

My number 2 bad thing (that just sounds wrong!)...I went to start my car on Saturday and it hesitated. So I thought I'd turn it off, let it re-set and start again. I'd be on my way in a jiffy to the grocery store.

Guess again...

...dead battery. We were on our way in a jiffy, but to Costco to buy a new battery. 

I'm working on Clue 6 from the A11 Mystery from Alycia.

pattern credit: Alycia from Alycia Quilts and JudyL from Patchwork Times

Linking up with Judy at Design Wall Monday

Whoop! Whoop! 11.20.2020

 I finished assembling my next quilt in the queue. I misjudged the amount of border fabric I had available so I needed to insert cornerstones to make it work. 😀

pattern credit: Walk and Stop

I was anxious to make this quilt so I could load it on the long arm and she how she behaves on one of my quilts and not someone else's. DH had adjusted the belt so I needed to adjust the tension a tiny bit. When I first fired her up and was quilting, she was making a new clicking noise but that eventually went away after about 4 quilting passes. The rear digital display is not showing but her stitch regulator appears to be working fine. I do have a call into the service technician in my new area to 'talk'....

pattern credit: Walk and Stop

panto credit: large scribbles

On a side note: I did sacrifice my container of long arm threads cut offs that I have been gathering since I got my machine in 2007. I filled the glass container with water...hoping to increase the humidity, old school. LOL

Linking up with Sarah at Whoop! Whoop! and Alycia at Finish or NOT Friday