Stars and Strips

I had made a red, white and blue quilt earlier this year with the intention of donating it to QOV.  Then it occurred to me I should give it directly to a someone currently servicing.  So that began my goal to make each of my DS#1 friends a quilt.

Shine which I made back in March did not thrill me.  I didn't really like the pattern and my sewing was so off and I made the smaller version not knowing it final destination.  So I had the Ohio Stars done from 2 years ago.  I had started making the mystery quilt that Bonnie Hunter does each November but just didn't have the time nor inclination to finish it.  But I did finish those Ohio Stars and then they sat.  I wasn't sure what to do with them but knew I needed to use them.  They were alot of them, 54 total. So I went in search of inspiration.  Bonnie has a lot of free patterns and found the one I wanted in Ohio Stars and Rails.

I already had the stars done, I pulled all my 2.5" strips that were already cut and the only thing I need to get was the white strips.  I had the quilt done over a weekend of sewing in November.

I used fabric I had in my stash for the back including the left over stars.  I quilted just a meandering again on this one and it went very quickly.  I had it done in one movie on TV and then I pulled the basting stitches which went pretty quickly.  I put a red scrappy binding on it.

I am so happy I finished another quilt off my Q4 Goals!  I will be linking up with She Can Quilt. That gives me 3 out of 5 done!  I am pretty happy with that.

Also linking up to NTT at My Quilt Infatuation and Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Happy Sewing.

Graduation Dance

I finished it.  This quilt is from Quiltville and the pattern is Dancing 9-Patch.  This was an attempt to use up the 2.5" squares that I have.  It didn't work.  This however will be a gift for a friend of my oldest son for their college graduation.  He has three friends and two of them are from grade school.

I have scraps and thought well this would be fun and they won't expect it all.

Here is Aaron's.  His favorite color is blue so I am pretty sure he will like it.

I made the majority of the 9 patches as lender and enders while doing Tula Pink City Sampler blocks.  They were like bonus blocks!

I then had the quilt basted by a longarmer.  It was nice to not have to pin it but then I did have to pull the threads.  Time wise it was probably about the same amount of time.  Considering that I hate basting ripping out the basting stitches could be done while watching television.  I think that was a win situation.

 The only fabric I bought was the back.  I found it while shop hopping in November on a clearance rack.  It a map of New York City.  I loved it!  Plus the price was right!

The quilting was just a large meandering in medium grey Aurfil thread.  It went fast and had it quilted up in one night.

I still need practice in keeping my stitches even some get too large and others too small.  I have to say it is fun to go through and see all the fabric from lots of different quilts over the years.

I even put a label on this one and named it.  I don't really do names but this one is "Graduation Dance" and is about 72" x 86".   Aaron will get his degree in Radiology so I am sure he will be happy to be done.

This quilt was part of Q4 Goals so I will link up with She Can Quilt when the time comes.  I am so happy to finish this before the end of the year!

Now to get one more done before the end of the year!

Christmas list update

Let's see what I have gotten done on the Christmas list.  I linked up but haven't made much progress until this weekend.  One of six done.  Granted this was 5 of them!


1.  5 Thread catcher - pin cushion thingys. November 13th

• I finished these!  Yeah!  I used the pattern from Oh Fransson on Sew Mama Sew's blog.  I can tell you that I just don't do well with bag type things. Why did I choose directional prints?  Oh I love it when I buy it but not when I am using it!  When I sew, I like to just sew and not do too much thinking ahead so I just started to sew the first one up (the red spools).  So I cut it, sewed it and then realized I did not cut it right for the direction of the fabric. So I ripped and resewed it so the spools were going in the right direction.  That is why that is smaller and no facing.  It turned out cute.
• So on to next one's I made the two white ones.  Those turned out better but when I put on the facing I was getting some puckers.   
• Then on to the last two.  I love that fabric and now I knew it was directional right?  Well I still cut it wrong, so I had to cut again!  Then when I sewed that one up I didn't take into account that one side was fine but the other is upside down!  I was tired so I left it!  No facing on this one since I could not get them to fit just right.  Since there was a front and back whose going to notice!?
  
   

So then then last one - ok I will get both sides right.  Well I did get them going in the same direction but now my seams didn't match.  I wasn't trying to since that had lapsed from my brain too!

I lined them up and had my husband look at them all.  Of course I am telling him all of these things and he said, "let's keep this in perspective, they are garbage cans right? They look good all lined up"  How sweet is that guy! I am still not thrilled with them but I will be gifting them and I am sure my friends will use them and like them.  And if they want I will happily give them the pattern and they can make a new one.  Maybe they could redo mine too!  The pin cushion and hanger part turned out great!  There are little pockets in them for small scissors and seam ripper (mine can never be too far from my side).

They took longer than I thought (lots of unsewing) and it is the thought that counts right.  I can tell you I almost scrapped the whole idea but thought that is too much fabric to toss aside. So they are done and ready to go next weekend.

I think this one is my favorite.

So one thing off the list for Christmas.  I plan on doing a few things tonight and I have been organizing the quilts that I want to finish by the end of the year so now I have lots of things ready to go and finish up.

Remaining on the list:  (nothing new added)
2.  Apron- chocolate theme - gift for my friend that we make chocolates together each year

3.  3 sets of pot holders and towels - gifts for co-workers

4.  Knitted cowl - bought the yarn last year and want to wear this now!

5.  Paper pieced pillow for SIL Xmas gift-nothing here at all

6.  Xmas Table runner - gift for my son to give-fabric selected


Linking up at Quilt Matters. Now let's see how others are doing!

WIP Wednesday

I have been busy the last two night with the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway day!  I have a giveaway here so if you would like to enter head there.  If you are a new follower welcome.  It has been fun to check out new blogs and the fun comments back to see what people are doing for the summer.

I have been sewing not as much as I like since work really gets in the way sometimes.

Here is where I am at on my WIP's:

I have been working on my Moda Club block which I am doing from stash with different grays as the background.  Liking these so far.  I have 4 more to make to stay caught up. That is on the schedule for this weekend.  

I was able to get the heart together on my guild sew day last week.  Here is the quilt from Don't Call me Betsy.  I have changed the size and they are 4.5 instead of her pattern at 3.5.  Now I just need to get the negative space on there.  It is the black yarn dyed Essex.  I like this fabric.  It should be fun quilting it as well.

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My bee blocks have been coming in and I love this block and this quilt.  The corners are black on white prints with each block scrappy rainbow.  I have two more that I have not gotten and will need to make a couple and will need to finalize a layout.

Finally, I put the borders on my Easy Street Quilt.  That seemed to take forever and I am liking it much better now that the borders are on it and I have had some space from it.  I have decided that I am going to have my longarmer do the quilting since it finished about 98" square.  I am not wanting to wrestle that one through the machine.  I still need to find a back for this one.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a great week and find time to sew!  I am linking up with Freshly Pieced.

A New Start-Strings

I have a wedding to attend in August and she is an older bride with a house full of lots of stuff and I saw over on Don't Call me Betsy a quilt mini heart quilt that I thought would be perfect for a hard to buy for friend.  She loves the color pink!  Everything in her wedding is going to be pink so I decided on these fabrics.

I pulled a few more from my stash but I definitely did not have a whole lot of pink.  I need to make 20 string blocks and cut up strips to work on them on Saturday at our guild sew day.  Perfect kind of sewing for a day  with lots of socializing too.  Here is the pile of strings I have ready.

I cannot wait to get started on this one.  I think it will be lots of fun to make and quilt.  Hopefully, she will love it.  

I am linking up over at Made in the Home for the Let's Get Acquainted Link. I am totally getting in under the wire on this week's link up.  

WIP and Easy Street

I have been able to do some sewing either I am not finding enough time or things just really seem to take longer than I think they should.  I have always been know by my quilting friends as a speedy sewer but doesn't seem to be working that way lately.  I know that when things become a little too crazy at home or at work sewing always puts me in a better mood.  So on the WIP's....

Progress 

Easy Street, I have finished step 3!  I had all of those cut so watched a sappy Hallmark Christmas movie and finished them all.  I am still working on those fly geese.  I was trying to figure out which method to use but since I had some 2 inch strips cut I am using the Easy Angle.  They are turning out pretty well I just need to sew more of them to get caught up on step 2 and step 4. 

The shaded 4 patch

Here are the pieces in one place.

Completed Projects
Since I had holiday sewing to do and I started Easy Street none of the other projects have gotten much attention but that is ok since I did get the 3 pillows done for three co-workers.  I am very pleased with how they turned out.  Not so thrilled with the pictures since it was very gray all weekend with no sun and it is dark when I leave in the morning and dark when I get home. So a few pictures snapped in the sewing room is all I got!  Here are the three all together.  I really like them.  I gave them to their new owners and each of them loved them.  I had the fabrics nailed for each of them.  A couple close ups as well:

This one was my favorite.  I love that olive green and turquoise together with a touch of red.

I had been saving these fabrics for something special but decided it was time to use it up since I am sure there will be new Christmas fabric to buy next year! 

Now I just need buy a few more gifts and wrap them all!  All the baking and chocolates are done which is a big relief.  A snow storm is headed this way tomorrow so hopefully I can stay in and get those gifts wrapped and sneak in some sewing! 

 Have a great week everyone and thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to WIP at Freshly Pieced and Plum and June, Let's Get Acquainted, and Easy Street at Quiltville!





WIP Wednesday

This is my first link up to WIP Wednesday and only my second post.  I have lots to learn about blogging, linking and taking pictures but figure no better way to learn than to just do it! I have been following and seeing all the great projects people are working on and what a great way to stay on task.  I also hope then I will get some things accomplished.

This weekend is a a quilty retreat with a few friends at my mom's house a couple of hours from home, so now I need to get ready to spend 4 days sewing. 

I am starting with a quilt for my grandma.  I am doing a really easy pattern from Quilting in the Rain, Rainy Day Quilt.  I had pinned this awhile ago and am using all fabric from my stash. 

I need to make a donation baby quilt by Thanksgiving weekend.  I think I will use a Kona charm pack and either white or light grey and do a simple coin quilt.  Not sure which background I will use so I may need to bring both.

I would like to finish my Summerville quilt. The patchwork blocks are done just need to sash them.

I also want to make some small projects.  I bought the drawstring bags pattern from In Color Order.  Then a maybe a sewing machine cover, iPad cover, and a binder cover.  So I will just bring some fabric and cordinates and hope to get a few of them done.

I currently have 8 projects on my list.  I know there is no way I will get all this done but you have to have a list right?  Well, at least I do and I will love checking them off too!

We'll see what gets finished.  If you have visited from WIP Wednesday, thanks for stopping by!