Wow! I wasn’t planning on being gone so long! Life took over with lots of activities for the kids, camping over the summer and with new school year volunteers are allowed back in the school! I’ve been spending lots of time with 2 kindergarten classes, plus PTA activities and holiday parties for the kids.
Since the holidays are over and all gifts finally got sent out (1 package went out late!) I decided that as much as I could this week I wanted to spend some time sewing. I have a few quilts in process that I’d like to get to a finished state, or at least finish the tops. I’m still saving up for a long arm, it’s very slow going! Today I got back to working on the Harry Potter SAL quilt, finished the Quidditch Cup and started working on Fawkes. Hoping that I can finish Fawkes tomorrow and cut out the last 2 blocks I have to put together!
While I was working on the HP blocks I worked on stitching the sashing strips I need to continue working on my 2017 Hexie temperature quilt. I now have all the strips done for the sides of the blocks that have been done for awhile, so I can start putting the rows together, possibly while I’m working on finishing up the HP top.
I have some cross stitch projects I’ve started in the last few months, I’ll write about them another day. One is a SAL (stitch-a-long) that starts on Monday (1/3) that I can’t wait to work on.
I haven’t been doing much quilting lately, but I have been working to change that this weekend. After I finished making some masks for my sister and finished a small project for my dad, I decided it was time to work on my bow tie quilt. It’s been sitting around since before 2017 and I needed to get more done on it. So I stitched up all the bow ties I had sitting here already prepped and then finished all the alternate 9 patch blocks I needed for the border. I’m trying to do each bow tie block out of a different fabric, so I pulled out a large bag of scraps that I had bought years ago at a guild garage sale. All the squares are 3″ so I have to do some trimming before I can start sewing them together. I also need to cut some 2.5″ white on white squares, I will do that on the Studio once I’ve got the rest of the squares cut up. Hopefully I’ll have some time this week to cut them and get everything paired up so when I have time to stitch I’m ready to go.
I’ve been spending my time after the kids go to bed working on cross stitch. I have 2 wonderful teachers at school that are getting special gifts this year, one is finished and I need to get the second one started soon. I don’t have any pictures of the piece I’m working on right now, but it’s almost finished and I will post about it then. A friend on instagram had posted some Star Wars planets she was working on and she told me where to get them on Etsy. The first planet is almost done and Alex is quite thrilled with them getting done, all 9 will be framed and put on the wall in the hallway upstairs. I’m hoping that I can get the last 2 colors finished off tonight, depends on how tired I get after dinner. 🙂 That will be my Slow Sunday Stitching, check out what others are working on today at Kathy’s Quilts.
Since I got my cross stitching out again I found that there’s an awesome app that you can use to mark off what you’ve stitched. Unfortunately for me it’s only available for android, what’s a girl to do but buy a small android tablet for the app to run on? Pattern Keeper is a great app, but not all charts can be loaded in it yet. So I pulled up my MacStitch app and started putting some of them in myself. I also found that some charts on Etsy are already formatted for Pattern Keeper (PK) and if you ask nicely they might even add that to the download for you. I had one that I asked about before I bought and she saved it in the download for me. I can’t wait to start that one, it’s a Harry Potter Deathly Hallows piece, but I need to get the teacher ones and the Star Wars planets done first.
I need to get back to work on cutting up the 3″ squares, I hope to be back soon with some finishes.
I was afraid I’d have to much to do this month and not have time to finish what I wanted to this month, but I’m happy to say I’m wrong! Not only did I get ALL the pentagon/squares put together and pinned to the background for applique, but I started stitching them down to the background. 3 in the batch are done, and the rest all need to be stitched still. This has been put aside for a bit because I have some cross stitch I want to work on. I have 2 wonderful teachers that both kids have had, that I want to make something special for before the end of the school year.
Happy to have the first months goal met, now to decide on what the goal is going to be next month! Check out everyone else that met their goals at Elm Street Quilts.
It’s January 2nd, and we had a great New Year’s Eve! The kids wanted to see the ball drop, so we let them stay up until midnight. OMG were they cuckoo crazy! Running around the room, and just being goofy. We played some video games and watched the ball drop and put them to bed just after midnight – let them sleep on the couch, which they’ve been asking to do for awhile.
I try this every year, maybe this year I can stay consistent and do something every month! I start every year out with good intentions in participating with the One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts and after a few months I just get so busy that I fizzle out and never get back to it. So let’s try it again! 🙂 This month I want to get the rest of my pentagons put together, there’s 18 of them left, and then pinned to the background and ready for applique.
Need to finish my inventory today so I can balance my 2020 books for the business and I really want to start some quilting today if I can. So I’m out of here! Good luck on your goals this month!
Ugh, I was so hoping to get more quilting done this year! We had all this time at home and I could have done so much. However, I did have an absolutely wonderful year for my business and had lots of time spent with the hubby and kids.
I have started hand quilting my first hexagon quilt, it’s slow going because I have so many hand projects that I rotate through. I’ve only been working in the white areas, because I haven’t decided what thread I want to use in the hexie flowers yet. I figure there’s a lot of white and I can decide the other color(s) later. You should be able to see the detail if you click on the pictures. My stitches aren’t 100% uniform, but I’m getting the hang of it and as it’s not going in a show/contest I don’t care. It’s mine and it’s been 100% stitched by hand. I don’t think I’m going to put a regular binding on it either, I’m thinking of doing a knife edge to it – I think I’ll need to do the edges before I quilt that last border though.
In October I started working on the pentagon project. It’s changed a few times since I decided what I wanted to do with it, so now I have 4 pentagons with a square in the middle appliqued to a background. I’ve gotten enough done that I put together the first row, used a ton of 1.5″ squares from the bin, and there’s a lot more that will be used by the time I’m done with this top. I’m working on putting the sashing together while I put together bow-tie blocks and the 9-patches I need for the border on that quilt. It’s all pretty mindless sewing when I need it.
As if I didn’t have enough hand projects, I pulled out some cross stitch and started working on that again. This is a piece for Alex and I have one I want to make for Cassie as well as one I want to make for 2 special teachers the kids have had. I have a bunch of Star Wars ones to make for Alex and at some point they’ll get done. In the past I’ve done all my cross stitch with paper patterns, but lately I’ve wanted to do it with an ipad. The app that I really want to use isn’t available for ios yet, and the android tablets we have are WAY to old for it to work. So I found a pdf app that will allow me to annotate the file and we’ll see how that works. I just got it updated last night but didn’t have time to try and see how well it works, might try that tonight.
Kids are off until next Monday (1/4), and I’m hoping to get some time to work on quilting. I got everything ready yesterday, because I intended on starting the quilting until I realized I may have inadvertently tossed my quilting gloves! I ordered a new pair yesterday, but who knows how long it will take for them to get to me. I’ll have to start quilting without them I guess and hope I have enough black thread to last until the new spool gets here with the gloves. I know I won’t be able to finish it before the end of the year, but I’d still like to start working on it and maybe start the new year with a finish.
Here’s hoping that 2021 is a better year for everyone and that I finish some projects in the new year!
Back in July when we were allowed to start having guild meetings again, one of our members – who owns a quilt shop – did a presentation and showed a new MSQC Quilt As You Go (QAYG) hexagon template. Of course I had to buy one! When I got home that night I grabbed a charm pack I had sitting here and some scraps of muslin to see how quickly I could put one together. While you can machine stitch them once you’ve folded the sides over, I decided to hand stitch them all. Because you know I needed another hand project 🙂 I used 3 charm packs I bought from Connecting Threads years ago, Mirage Garden and Mirage Home, for the centers and black and muslin for the backings. I used just enough of the muslin to account for the 6 really dark charm squares that just wouldn’t show up with a black binding/border, of course that was just enough to make a big hexagon for the center. 🙂 I think once I get my dresser in the bedroom cleared off – it’s a mess! – I’ll use this as a cover for it. But I might find somewhere else to use it in the meantime.
I’ve been busy the last few days working on orders – a few HUGE orders came in so it’s been all day with the embroidery machine running. Hope to start quilting the next quilt soon.
I mentioned earlier in the month that I had 2 finishes, I just didn’t have any pictures! So finish #1, last year I picked up a baggie of HST from the free table at guild. I started putting them together slowly as the leader/ender as I was working on other projects. Eventually it took center stage and became a finished top. Then came the part I just don’t like – basting! It was small so I was able to spray baste it before I started quilting it. I decided to step outside my comfort zone and do something different, so I put on the ruler foot and used a straight edge ruler to help me stitch stars in each 9 patch area. Still not sure where it’s going, might just let Cassie have it for a doll blanket 🙂
In 2013 we had a block swap at guild. 6 women participated and each made 2 blocks. I wanted it to be a little bigger so I added the blocks in the corners. I finished the top right away in 2013, but it sat here for a long time because I just don’t like to baste! This year I just had to complete something, so this was basted in January and was just sitting here waiting for me to quilt. Since I had started working with rulers I decided let’s get moving and work more with them. It was so much fun! I did ribbon candy in the sashing, which I’ve never done before. Once I got the hang of the moving the quilt the right directions it wasn’t bad. The picture doesn’t show any of the details of the quilting, it was taken at guild and I don’t feel like pulling it out to get another picture 🙂
So, 2 more finishes for the year, I have another quilt that I basted a couple of weeks ago at guild that I’m just waiting to start quilting. Working on a huge order right now and hopefully I can get to it in the next day or so. I’d love to have 1 or 2 more finishes for the year.
So I’ve been working on cleaning my office like I mentioned in my last post and I’ve been planning this cleaning for awhile now. Back in July or August I ordered another cabinet for in my office. Today my dad came over and put it up for me. A full cardboard box and items from other areas in my office now reside in the last cabinet on the right (in the picture). I still have room to access everything on my embroidery machine, but anything I don’t use a lot is now in the cabinet. Everything in my office feels open again since I put so much away!
I mentioned yesterday that I found cigar boxes with what I think were meant to be EPP projects. My EPP papers should be here Monday and I can start working on putting them together. I need to decide what color fabric I’m going to use for all the octagons, and then the backgrounds. I’ve used all the EPP papers that I had on-hand so that project is in a holding pattern until Monday. I do still need to figure out a setting for these, after I looked at each set I had a handful that did not have enough pieces so I’m down to 21 pentagon sets to work with.
I ordered an entire roll of batting and it just arrived yesterday. I’m ready to baste a quilt and get started quilting it!
How on earth is it already October? The last week has been busy in cleaning! My office has been a royal mess for quite some time and there’s a closet outside my office that has things just thrown in it and not put where they belong. So, the closet is now cleaned and organized, some things going to the basement and some getting tossed. Items from my office that don’t need to be up here are also going to the basement.
While I was working on cleaning off the mess of my sewing table I found 2 cigar boxes that a friend found at a garage sale that had fabric already cut out. Each box had various cardboard shapes for cutting out the shapes. I spent some time this afternoon trying to figure out exactly what I was going to do with these pieces, and looking at the EPP pieces that I have here that I could possibly use.
What I believe I have is 3 different quilts that will be made: Pentagons, bow ties and diamonds. The bow tie quilt will probably be the last one I work on, I don’t have any EPP pieces that will work for that right now, and there’s no cutting template for them either.
The pentagons I’m going to put together in rings with an octagon in the center – EPP papers are on order from paperpieces.com right now. I found 1 pack of papers here so I started glue basting some this afternoon/tonight just so I have a head start on them. Once I have the rings put together they will be appliqued to a background and the blocks then put together. It looks like there are 27 pentagon sets so I’ll have to play around with a setting – might have to make a couple extras in order to have an even setting. I’ll have to wait and see when I get these all together.
The second box had pieces that I think might have been going toward a wedding ring quilt, but there’s no way I’m going hand piece one of those! So I had to figure out something else I could do with all that fabric. 1″ diamonds fit nicely on the fabrics and I’m going to do them like tumbling blocks. I even basted and sewed one block together – this is going to take a LONG time since they finish so small. I had a small package of diamonds I ordered years ago, so I ordered a much bigger package with the rest of the EPP pieces. Not in any rush on any of these projects, because I have so many hand projects under way already!
I have a few finishes to share, I’ll get pictures taken and get a post up in a few days. I also have a roll of batting on it’s way so I can baste another quilt and start working on the quilting, especially since I now have a fairly clean sewing table!
Wow, 5 months without a post! It’s been a whirlwind last 5 months and I just haven’t done a lot of stitching. We finished the school year at home with mommy as the teacher, Cassie did great and Alex just didn’t want to work on anything. Home just isn’t the right place for my kids and school. They just started back this week and we’ve had an eventful first week! Yesterday the phone rang and my heart always drops when it says it’s the school. Yep, Alex threw up at recess and had to come home from school. So I had to run up to school and get him. Let’s hope it’s the only time this year!
It was a busy spring and summer with orders, including one to Germany that took forever to get there! Everyone was shopping online for the end of the school year gifts and it definitely helped me! It’s been a slow start to fall, but that’s ok it will pick up in the next month or so for Xmas. Because I was so busy with orders the sewing machine sat idle for a long time. Plus we were doing a lot of camping and visiting with family in other states. We stayed in the whole time but had so much fun!
Sorting HatQuidditch RingsSlytherin Crest
Now that I am starting to have some time to myself I’ve been working on Harry Potter SAL blocks. Just finished another one today, I only have 9 more blocks and I can get the top put together. Since our quilt show for 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19 I have time to get this and maybe a couple more quilts completed before our show in September 2021.
I have a lot of projects to work on when I’m sitting in my chair at night, cross stitch, all the various EPP projects, a new knitting project and I picked up a QAYG Hexagon template at a guild meeting a few months ago and have been hand stitching those and will be machine stitching them together when they are all ready. Hope to be back soon with a new update, hopefully it won’t be 5 months from now!
