Storm of Finishes . . .

 

I wish I had a storm of finishes to match the last two weeks of snowstorms.  I'm afraid that kids home due to snow days, equals very little time sewing for me!  What I have completed are weather appropriate, all having something in common with the blanket of white outside my window!  The above were made from a kit I purchased about eight years ago.  It was supposed to be one larger table topper, but I used a tiny bit of the fabric for something else and I thought a couple of soup rugs would be a nice change.

 My favorite finish for the week is part of a challenge/project from my quilting Bee, the quilting sisters.  We were given a 14 X 15 square of fabric and we are to make a snowman doing something or holding something and then in February we will get together and decide if we want to border them the same or not, then I suppose we will finish them.  I have decided to make a snow kitty, I've had enough of snowmen lately (still trying to finish a few) so I needed to do something fresh.  Initially she was fishing, but I couldn't get the pole right, and had trouble with the fabric for the stick hands.  I've kept the fish, but decided to have her decorate a tree instead.  I used scraps of flannels for the tree and I love how it turned out!  This is actually my practice piece, that is why it is finished, it even has a sleeve in the back and a label.  It is also my first finished Christmas present for next year!  It is for my Father and Mother in law who have rescued tons of kitties over the years and currently have 7.

 I needed a practice piece because the kitty is made from some fuzzy leftovers from burp clothes for my great niece.  I put thin interfacing on the back so they wouldn't slip or distort and it worked nicely.  I actually prefer the lighter background fabric.  Above is the unfinished block with the background fabric that everyone is using.  It is very dark and it was hard to find fabrics to go with it, I'm really trying to work from my stash.  He will have buttons on his vest, and of course eyes, but they will be added last.  Also thinking about putting a derby on his head.  I embroidered a whisker and it looked horrible.  I took it out and you can still see it!  I am going to ask one of my friends to see if she can fix it.  You would think that I could at least embroider a couple of whiskers, right? Just ridiculous! On the bright side, still stitching each and every day.  So far, so good!  Happy Stitching !!  Now to link up with crazy mom quilts and Finish it up Friday!
                                                                      

Drip, Drip . . . Drip

No, that's not a faucet, that was my nose earlier this week.  Fixed the drip, but now I'm all stuffed up, that's a bit better since it makes it easier to sew!  I finished another bag that will soon have two completed quilts in it and off to it's new owner!  The bag is constructed differently because I am using scraps from old projects and most of the time the size of the smallest fabric dictates the eventual size of the bag!  It has a nice little pocket inside.  I do not have an inch of the inside fabric left, used every last bit!   The snowman wall hanging is a bit of a disappointment.  I started working on these snowmen (15 total) in early 2001.  I had all of the elements heat n bonded in place, then put it away  A couple of years later I blanket stitched around the hats and scarves and started on the embroidery, then put it away for quite awhile.  I started bringing it to Friday's bee as handwork if we weren't working on a project and one Friday pulled it out and all of the snowmen were done!  The disappointing part is that I don't remember how I laid them out or what was I going to do to finish them.  I had fabric with them that I though I intended to use with it, so I made this one and I just don't like it.  Of course in hindsight, now I would have used a light weight interfacing on the white so the background fabric wouldn't be visable.  I quilted it with

sewing machine and it turned out a bit baggy and my binding is ridiculously askew.  Not terribly excited about finishing up the remaining 12.  Boo.  Hiss.    Speaking of hiss,  I have never heard my sweet little Samantha utter that noise.  She barely meows.  She has her little spots in my studio, basking in the sun.  Doesn't she look gloriously comfy?   I guess I'll have to sleep on what to do!   Till then I'll link up with my crazy mom quilts for Finish it up Friday!                                         Happy Stitching!



Thousands of Stitches!

My stitch less spell is over, I have stitched every single day this year!  True, it is only the 10th of January,  but I am off to a great start!  I also had the gentle push of a Guild meeting guiding this latest finish.  The UFO club has begun again this year with the first finish due this morning.  I finished putting the label on this fancy lasagna quilt about 9:30 last night and it was nice to have everything packed up and ready to go this morning.  Typically I'm putting the last stitches on the label during the Guild meeting, so I'm ahead already this year.   This was a Jelly roll, The Water's Edge by Black bird Designs, Moda.  I taught my Grandmother how to do a Lasagna quilt about 1 1/2 years ago.  When it was finished she didn't like it, and said she did not care to ever do another one.  I think she felt that it was too plain, but of course that was before I put the borders on.  I had to get a little fancy with the corners, a lot of measuring and piecing, but it was well worth the effort because I think it really enhances the quilt.

 While long arming the quilt, I added the flowers, and that's how I figure I have sewn thousands of stitches on this quilt!  All of the flowers have three thread changes.  I copied the flower in the border, enlarged it, traced the elements in a graphic style, cut it out and traced onto the wrong side of fabric.

 This one does not have berries in the middle, I did not feel the need to put them in all of them.  I first started adding elements to the lasagna quilts when I would make them for Quilts of Valor, I added stars, it was a nice touch.  In fact, I have two waiting to be quilted for Quilts of Valor.

 I echo quilted in the border because, well, the border just begged for it.  I really had no other choice, I just couldn't bear to do anything else.  Thousands of stitches !  It was a lot of work to quilt this, but it was fun, challenging and I am very happy with my first UFO and OPAM finish of the year!  Now to link up with crazy mom quilts  and finish it up Friday!

 Happy Stitching!

Happy New Year 2014!

I have not sewn in ten days, and that is ten days too long!  In the past ten days I don't believe I have spent even one solid hour in my sewing haven that did not involve Christmas decorations of some sort, and not only does that not feel right, it doesn't even sound right!  One of my new years resolutions is to STITCH EVERY DAY.  Yup, 365 days of stitching!  What kind of stitches?  Whatever kind of stitches that suit my fancy, or I that I find most convenient for that particular day.   The stitches can either be sewn, quilted, crocheted, knitted, embroidered, or needle pointed, etc., as long as I make/do/create some kind of stitch!  I just decided this on New Year's Eve, and since our New Year's Day activities did not include time in my sewing haven, the stitching I stitched yesterday was of the knitted stitching sort.  I finished a little scarf for a snowman wall hanging and this morning I started another one!  I also hope to squeeze in some time on my sewing machine sometime today, but that's not looking very promising.  Speaking of the snowman wall hangings, I made five, but they were pretty popular and I actually fell behind.   I need to make two more as Christmas presents for this past year, finish three I had already started and make one additional smaller one.  Not thrilled to start the year behind, but I'm going to try to get them all done by January 31st.  Now to post a few things I managed to finish prior to my stitching break.  The stars are paper pieced ornaments, they were fun and I'd like to do more paper piece ornaments this year, a nice use of scraps.  I made this kleenex box wrap with this fun
celestrial fabric.   I was going to make it from butterfly fabric, but after spending two weeks off and on looking for the fabric, I came across the blue and gold and figured that would do!  I think some major organizing and rearranging are in my future.  My last finish for the year was a book purse/tote that one of my nieces asked me to make for her.  She didn't have a specific fabric in mind, just purple and GLITTERY.   She didn't want it too fancy, no pockets or flaps, so without a pattern and just basic guidelines this is what I came up with.  She said she loves it, so I am very happy about that!  Happy Stitching !!

How is this for glittery?