Finished!

Finished the Ladybug quilt last night.........yippee........and as it were I'm finished early because the due date got moved to late Feb.   Oh well, now I can focus on the other projects with due dates.

I ended up sewing the brooch pin backings onto the ladybugs so that I could pin them to the quilt because I couldn't figure out a doable way to stitch them on with the number of layers that it has.

And then in the morning before work I needed something that didn't make me think, so I took these scrap strips of silks (1" to 1.5" in width) and started sewing them to a piece of fusible fleece for the start of a new purse.  I have a couple more strips to sew on to cover the fleece.   Next up is finding something to use for lining.   I'm thinking maybe a coordinating oriental print for the lining, and ribbon for the strap on it.   I also want to put a pocket on the inside of it, but haven't decided what i'm going to do for that.   This will eventually be listed for sale.

Gratitudes:

1. Paper work that I need to gather for the mortgage is almost together.  

2. For progress in getting things done.

Yikes........

Because I don't want to have to see all of what I've got on my to-do list for this year or even this first quarter....(what can I say....lol), I've decided to show the active projects in order to help my focus stay where it needs to be.   Mind you, I'm not saying anything about my sanity here..........  I just gotta keep telling myself that a few minutes here and there spent working on things will make a hug difference in how long something takes me to complete.

Non-Quilty

• Start the process of looking for a place to buy now that the pre-approval has come through.  May take a miracle to find something in my price range, but God has always supplied my needs.
• Email to Sharing Committee re: missions and status / to-do's
• Make word doc copy of missions application and send out to committee - in progress but not done

Quilty

• Wallhanging for baby shower - 
• Design pattern for name blocks
• Fuse Top
• Applique Top Due Feb. 17th
• Make framed backing for signatures - Due Feb. 17th
• assemble
• Quilt
• Bind
• Label
• 7 Baby Bibs (gift for above shower) - due Feb 17th
• Applique stitching
• Cut out neck opening
• Add binding to neck
• Stretching Art Challenge Quilt - Due in February - almost done, just a couple of things left 
• Make one final ladybug
• Attach pin backs to all ladybugs
• Sign label
• Mail to Amy
• Tablerunner for QuiltMaker - Finished piece due to QM by end of Feb. - 
• Make 8 side sections "A"
• Make 8 side sections "B"
• Make 8 corner sections "A"
• Make 8 corner sections "B"
• Assemble blocks
• Assemble tablerunner
• Border
• Quilt
• Bind
• Label
• Tablerunner for QM, pattern pieces/sizes - due first week of Jan to QM - sent info, need to send additional email with border fabric amounts and sizes
• MQG mini swap quilt - Due in February, Quilt is complete and ready to mail
• Wedding quilt - Binding and Label
• 2018 BOM - 
• Write up 1st block pattern
• Add post showing example of how block can be used in an individual project (baby shower wall hanging)
• Upload block for 3/1 release date
• Blog posting for fabric requirements before release w/pics of fabrics that I'm using
• Start working on next block (for Vol.18) for submission to QuiltMaker
• Finish Hankie Butterfly quilt (quilting and binding) - Send out to be quilted
• Regatta QAL -
• Pull fabrics for this

Commissioned Sewing

• Follow up on possible t-shirt quilt commissions (2 of them)
• Potholders - fabrics are purchased
• Cathy C - 2 blueberry, 2 mixed berry (all square)
• Ruth H - 4 blueberry (2 sq, 2 rd), 4 cherry (2 sq, 2 rd)

UFO's

• Find the Aqua and Brown Swap blocks, set 1, 11 blocks 
• Bright Houses blocks into a finished quilt top/backing - Quilt

Design

• Get needed information together for my pattern that QuiltMaker is publishing.  Due to them ASAP (will be sent off the first week of January) - Need to send border info asap
• Write up pattern for Calico Lion, Block 1 for 2018 BOM - Not started, need to get done this week so the pattern can be posted on 3/1
• Write up patterns for the military bears (5 individual patterns + 1 combined pattern) and publish on Craftsy
• Write up patterns for the quilting bears (3 individual patterns + 1 combined pattern) and publish on Craftsy
• Write up snail quilt pattern and publish on Craftsy

Gratitudes:

1. For getting through the preapproval process

2. For all that I've been blessed with in my life

Ladybugs Are Flocking

I made lots of progress this weekend on the art quilt.

All leaves are now made and attached to the quilt.  The last two rounds of leaves are only stitched down at the base and part ways up the sides in order to give a 3D feeling to the quilt.



















And I figured out how to make the ladybugs.  I've now actually made 4 of them, with the final one for the center not shown here.  At the moment I've just got them pinned to the quilt, because I'm still trying to figure out how I want to attach them to the quilt.   One friend suggested that I could make them pins and put a brooch pin on the back of them so that they were pinned to the quilt.  And at the moment I'm leaning towards that, but haven't fully decided.

I need to make at least one more bug, and maybe three,  because I want an odd number of them in the quilt.  Fabrics for the bugs was pulled from my scraps.  the black is sewn to the red before the ovals are cut out. 
Spots on the bugs are painted on with acrylic paint using a q-tip for a paint brush.


Gratitudes:
1. Mortgage pre-approval has come through (and for more than I'm planning on spending)

2. That even when I'm not seeing a lot of choices in housing possibilities (like well under 10!), God has this in his control and will supply what I need for housing in this forced move.

Lady Bug Progress

Thanks to getting off work early last night I was able to make more headway last night on getting this top closer to done. 

Binding is now on (using the same fabric that is on the underside of the leaves).    The hanging sleeve is on and sewn down, and the label is sewn on as well.    I also managed to get the second round of leave stitched down.

The final round of leaves is pinned on in the approximate size that they will be trimmed down to.  Tonight I'll do the satin-stitching that will finish off the ends so they don't ravel and then stitch them down to the quilt.    And I plan to find fabrics to use as test materials in order to make a sample lady bug to see how that process goes.

Close up of the center to the right. 

So far I've used almost 800 yards of thread in making the leaves with all the satin stitching that has been done.

To be decided - the best way to attach the lady bugs to the quilt.  There will be three in the center of the leaves, and several others tucked under some of the leaves.

Gratitudes:

1. For warmer weather

2. For not having to deal with the issues that were found in the home inspection of where I'm currently renting.

Progress on the Lady Bug Challenge Quilt

Made progress on my art quilt for the Stretching Art Challenge today.

Made 12 padded leaves, the top side is a yummy blue-green batik.   I'm using a variegated Sulky 30 wt cotton to satin-stitch around the outside, colors 4120 and 4013.  The underneath threads are by Mettler and Coats.

Bottom fabric is this print.   It is a blue-green with gold metallic weave.

7 of the leaves have been pinned into place and are ready for the centers to be stitched down.   the upper halves of the leaves will be only tacked down at the tip so that they have a little bit of a curl to them.  Once these are stitched in the center, then i'll stop and put the binding on so that I can get it done before it gets too heavy.

One more round of leaves to be made and then 5-7 lady bugs to be made and stuffed before being sewn to the quilt.

And here is the photo that I'm working from. 

Gratitudes:
1. Good friends who speak truth to me

2. For encouragement from those who know me best.

To-Do Progress and goals

Time to check in and see if I've made progress on things........and going through the lists I can see I've made progress, but not as much as I'd hoped for.  Still we're not quite through January so hopefully I'' make more progress soon.

Non-Quilty

• Look into finding and getting Tableau training - on-hold, other possibilities for software training have come to my attention
• Email to Sharing Committee re: missions and status / to-do's
• Make word doc copy of missions application and send out to committee - in progress but not done

Quilty

• Applique sweatshirt for D - Completed and mailed
• Stretching Art Challenge Quilt - Due in February, quilt is in progress
• Tablerunner for QuiltMaker - Finished piece due to QM by end of Feb. - Fabric has been received from Hoffman and pp'd patterns have been printed
• Tablerunner for QM, pattern pieces/sizes - due first week of Jan to QM - sent info, need to send additional email with border fabric amounts and sizes
• MQG mini swap quilt - Due in February, Quilt is complete and ready to mail
• Wedding quilt - Binding and Label
• Wedding Quilt - Make backing - Done!
• Send the Wedding quilt off to be quilted - Done!
• 2018 BOM - Make the blocks in a timely manner
• Start working on next block (for Vol.18) for submission to QuiltMaker
• Scrappy Wolf - in process of cutting 2.5" squares needed for quilt
• Scrappy Deer - pattern chosen
• Finish Hankie Butterfly quilt (quilting and binding) - Send out to be quilted
• Complete the Regatta QAL - Haven't started

Commissioned Sewing

• Appliqued T-Shirt for D (commission) - Stitching is in process and should be completed by the 22nd  
• Follow up on possible t-shirt quilt commissions (2 of them)
• Fruit cobbler potholders for CC - 2 blueberry, 2 mixed berry
• Fruit cobbler/pie potholders for RH - 4 blueberry, 4 cherry

UFO's

• Complete 30's Baby Cakes blocks quilt top and donate for sunshine auction
• Put together top with 30's Granny's Choice 9" blocks (12 blocks)
• Put together top with Aqua & Brown Swap blocks, set 1, 11 blocks - Need to find these blocks because I'm going to swap them......or hope to in March
• Quilt one of my 2015 mystery quilt tops
• Put together the Bright Houses blocks into a finished quilt top/backing - Done, but wasn't on the to-do list originally.....lol

Design

• Get needed information together for my pattern that QuiltMaker is publishing.  Due to them ASAP (will be sent off the first week of January) - Done
• Publish the final bear pattern for the 2017 BOM - Done
• Write up pattern for Calico Lion, Block 1 for 2018 BOM - Not started, need to get done this week so the pattern can be posted on 2/1
• Write up pattern for Sherry Bear - Done
• Write up patterns for the military bears (5 individual patterns + 1 combined pattern) and publish on Craftsy
• Write up patterns for the quilting bears (3 individual patterns + 1 combined pattern) and publish on Craftsy
• Write up snail quilt pattern and publish on Craftsy

Gratitudes:

1. For allergy meds that help

2. For the blessing of having a job 

My Memories Software Review + Giveaway

I don't scrapbook, but I've wanted to be able to do fancier pics / collages for a while for my blog, but hadn't gotten any thing to help with that.   I was given the opportunity to review the "My Memories" digital scrapbook software a few weeks ago. 

The software downloaded without a problem.  In initially opening and trying to use the software, I had problems that turned out to be a 'disagreement' with the anti-virus program that I use.  I emailed the customer support group about the issue and received an email that explained with the probable cause was and three different things to try to resolve the issue.  The first of which solved my problem.  I was very impressed with the speed and completeness of the email sent!

The pages that you work on are part of an album.  Each album contains 28 or so pages.  Because I want the ability to create jpg's for for the quilt patterns that I design and for use on my blog I went through some of their help system looking for a way to save as a jpg format, didn't find that but did find that you could export your album you can specify jpg format along with a couple of other formats.   These are the two test album pages that I created.

The software is drag-n-drop for the most part and there are a lot of tutorials for it on YouTube.

This isn't a traditional use for the software, traditional being scrapbooking and memory pages, but even though I'm not a scrapbooker, I'm happy with the end pics and will use the My Memories software again to do more things like this for my patterns.   And I might even use some of my quilt pictures to make custom cards.

Now the giveaway!

To enter the giveaway for a free copy of the My Memories Scrapbook Software leave me a comment on this blog post telling me which of the paper packs or bundle packs on the My Memories website that you like the best.   I'll draw one name from those that comment before Sunday the 28th for the winner.

For those that want to purchase the software if they don't win the free copy, you can go to this link - MyMemories Software Suite 9 to buy the software.  And if you do so, and then enter this promo code - SM4ME1017 and I will receive a little payment from MyMemories.  And if you do, then thanks in advance!

Gratitudes:
1. For being able to test the software and finding that it will help me accomplish what I'd like to add to my patterns.

2. For great customer service dept in the company

UFO Weekend wrap-up

The house blocks are no longer "yelling" to get out of my UFO block stash because they are now in a finished quilt top.   Top finished out at approximately 50" by 80". 

The black Kona and the blue star print used in the borders were both from my stash.   The outer border is 3" cut, and the upper border (the "roof") is 15" tall unfinished because that was the largest square I could cut for the HST's I used for the sides.




Final 7 blocks were pieced into the backing for the quilt.  The black that appears solid is actually a black with blue dots all over it.



Next quilt to work on will see me back to working on the art challenge quilt.   Prepping more fabric for 3D leaves is on the plans for tonite.









And under the needle this morning is this commissioned t-shirt with an origami crane on it.  This will be finished up this evening.

Next commissions up are a bunch of fruit cobbler/pie potholders.   4 for a friend in Austin, and a friend in Idaho wants to order 8 of them.  Gonna have to get more cherry print fabric, but I think I have enough for this order....just not any more afterwards.....lol.....


Gratitudes:
1. I now have an answer to the question on whether the buyers of the town house are going to live there or rent.......and they are planning on living there.

2. As one of my best friends said, the time between now and when I have to move (end of July) will give ME the time to find what is right for me at this time instead of having to either rent something totally blind as I did in Wyoming, or depend on someone else looking at a property for me, or having a scant 2 hrs to find something to move into and hoping that the place and neighborhood were ok.

UFO Weekend - Part 1

Made the final block needed for the layout I had in mind for these house blocks (bottom center) and got them laid out this morning.

The blocks finish at 8" wide by 10" tall.   Without the border I have in mind the quilt will be 45" by 60".   The border that is in my mind for this will bring it to basically 50" by about 80" if I leave all rows on the front like this. 

Gratitudes:

1. Now that the townhouse has sold, God already knows what the next 6 months hold for me as I figure out where to live next

2. Having fun blocks already made in the stash to work with.

UFO Stitching, Part 2

One more set of UFO blocks came to mind as I was looking through things.   These blocks were given to me by an online group of quilt friends back in 2006 or so when I bought a house in Phoenix.   Then came a cross country move to Boston and then one to the Dallas area where I bought a second home.....and then I lost both homes in 2009 when i was laid off.  =(   Through all of that I never did manage to get them put together.

However, now that I've got 6 months to figure out what I'm doing next for housing, I thought it would be a good time to at least get the top put together. 

This pic shows 15 of the 30 blocks that I was gifted with.  All but one of them have a black background.  I will be making one to replace the one that just doesn't fit  with the others.   I'm going to set them 5 wide by 6 tall, and then add a pieced border.   And I'm going to find something in my orphan blocks to use for the main part of the house.  =)



This is the one that just doesn't fit with the others, but I'm thinking it might make a cute cross-body purse if I can find coordinates for it.    And would be the perfect size for one like i've been making.

Gratitudes:
1. Having a stash of blocks to "play" with

2. For temps that are ever so slowly warming up this week.

UFO stitching

I'm in a group that purposely takes time out each month to work on making progress on our UFO's.   The first one for 2018 is Thursday through Saturday this week.  Those of us that can participate will sew at least 8 hrs on a UFO of our choice.

For this month I've pulled out a couple of sets of UFO blocks from years past.   These were done with two different online groups.  Pics are horrible for lighting and color this morning in my sewing room, but you can get the idea.

The first set of blocks were from a swap where the "winners" sent out a focus fabric and everyone else made a block and sent it back.  I sent out a bright fuchsia batik that has touches of pink, gold and blue in it.   I also sent the light pink batik used as the background I believe because it seems to be in most of the blocks.

I'm going to make one more block so that I have 16 of them, and then border all blocks with either a dk grey or a black so that I can trim them all to the same size.  Border and/or binding for the quilt will be the same fuchsia batik.

The second set of blocks that I pulled out are these batik / black Kona snowball blocks.  Each person in the swap made sets of 3 9" finished blocks of each type.  I've got about 8-10 sets worth of blocks.

This one should be an easy one to put together.    I plan to border it with a narrow border of black Kona and then a wider batik border.

Since I don't plans for the finished quilts from these, I'll get them to the top stage and then put them with the other finished tops that I have.

Gratitudes:
1. The winter storm/cold front didn't dump any snow or ice on the area where I live

2. Fabric for the table runner being published arrived this week from Hoffman.

Weekend Progress

Made progress this weekend on multiple fronts.....

Finished sewing these scrappy blocks together and found the hand-drawn sketch I had made of the alternate blocks I needed for what I was going to do.........but guess who didn't put down how many I needed of them?   oops......so it's back to the drawing board on what I want to do with this quilt next.












Next up was finishing up my mini quilt for the Modern Mini Quilt Swap with the Modern Quilt Guild.  It is quilted and bound and labeled.   Just waiting for time to be mailed off.

I ended up echoing the "beat" and then on alternating rows of stitching did an match-stitch echo of it.    I used a variegated thread in colors of gold, brown and yellow for the front, and a dark brown thread for the back.

Finished size is 16" square

Back of the swap quilt.



Gratitudes:

1. Work went well today.

2. Friends that are a blessing no matter what is going on in my life.

New Binding Technique

I happened to see a new binding technique online this past weekend that looked interesting so I gave it a try.  (and no I didn't make a note of where the original idea was, just did my own thing for it)

Here are the basic steps that I did. 

Step 1 - Take the binding strip and a 45 degree cut on one end and press down a 1/4 or so seam allowance.

Step 2 - Fold in half and press binding.

Step 3 - Sew binding on, making sure to start the initial spot after the fold for the hem.  When finishing the final side, you will need to lay the end of the binding into the middle of the start of the binding.  Trim the binding so that it is about a 1/2" past where the hem fold is.

Step 4 -  Finish stitching the binding onto the quilt.   then with an invisible stitch, sew the folded hem down on the binding (both sides) before folding it over and stitching to the back.

Thoughts - It worked ok, but was bulkier than doing it the normal way, so for a normal quilt I probably won't use it.   However, it would be a good way to do binding on small items where it gets to be difficult to do a normally seamed binding.

Gratitudes:

1. A warm house with the frigid cold front that is coming through North TX tonite.

2. For the blessings of the food that God has provided me.

Stretching Art 19 - Ladybugs Started

And I've finally been able to start this quilt, a good thing since I need it completed by mid-Feb.

First step was to trace my rough draft pattern onto tissue paper sheets and then stitch the leaf outlines into the quilt.    Then the tissue paper was removed.

 Once the paper was done, the next step was to prep and then stitch the first sets of leaves onto the quilt.  To make these leaves, I fused a layer of batik to batting, then cut out the succulent leaves.  Once the leaves were cut out I satin-stitched around the edges using Stitch-n-Tear to stabilize them as I stitched.

I'm using Sulky 30-wt cotton variegated thread (color 733 4120) for the satin-stitching.   And it's looking like I will have to get a second spool of thread because I've got a lot of leaves yet to make for this. 

Once the leaves were made, I then used a straight stitch to applique them to the quilt.   I still need to do a little stitching in the leaves because the batik was contrary and bubbled on most of the leaves.  But I figure that will just give added texture to the quilt.

Closer picture of the leaves. 

I am going to have to go back and do some additional stitching on the leaves that I quilted into the background of the quilt because the stitching lines are not showing up well.  Am debating how I want to do that.   Am leaning to the stretch straight stitch, but might decide to do a very narrow satin-stitch instead.

The remaining succulent leaves remaining to be added will be totally 3D and will be used to add depth to the quilt.

Gratitudes:
1. Finding the additional fabrics over the weekend that I needed for this.

2. For the unexpected half day holiday at work today.

Scrap Happy - Completed purse

Finished the little cross-body purse last night.   This one went together much easier than the first one did because I remembered to not do things the hard way....lol

Most of the fabrics in this were batik strings that I had accumulated through buying scrap bags in various quilt stores.   The 3 or 4 that are about 2" in size were cut off of larger scrap pieces.   The lining was a large scrap piece that came home in a scrap bag at some point.  The binding around the edges was also out of scraps.   And the batting that the strips were pieced to was also a scrap piece leftover from a long ago project. 

The purple webbing was the only thing bought new and that was 3 or so years ago.   The button was bought last year at Joann's when they redid their button layout and had a lot of them on clearance for $0.25. 

Finished size of the purse is 7.5" wide by 9" tall. 

This year there is a 2020 challenge being hosted by Sharon Boggan to use 2020 different items in their stitching by the end of 2020.   And while I'm not taking part in the challenge per se because I'm not working on only CQ, I am adapting it to fit what I'm doing these days.  So I will be keeping track of how many different fabrics, buttons and other items I use in my quilting over the next couple of year.

In this little bag my totals are 17 different fabrics, 1 button and the purple webbing for a total of 19 different items in the purse not counting the batting used to give it body.

Linking up with Kate and Gun for the Scrap Happy posts.   To see what everyone else is doing click here.

Gratitudes:

1. Possibilities for future housing if mortgage pre-approval comes through.

2. For no icy conditions in the current cold front last night and today.

Mindless sewing

I'm at the point on the multiple projects that I've got in process or need to get in the process that I need to be able to think while I'm working on them.  As a result I needed a project that didn't need a lot of concentrated thought to work on in the mornings before work. 

So this morning I started sewing together some batik strings that I'd sorted out of the two batik scrap bags yesterday while pulling scraps for a friend.  I'm using teals, turquoises, purples, lilac, and similar colors for this piece.   The colors in the picture don't show any where as bright as they really are in real life.

A large scrap piece for the backing and a scrap piece of batting finish up what I'm using for this piece.   This will be the main body of a new cross-body purse that I plan to put up for sale.   I do plan on adding a couple of pockets to this one.   One inside, and I'm thinking a zippered one for the outside of it.  I'll be digging through my button stash to find something special for this one.   And might think of adding some sort of trim as well  to it.

 I've also got a pile of strings in browns, golds, oranges, and yellows that I'm planning on doing the same thing with.

Gratitudes:
1. Dinner tonite with a friend from Austin

2. Even though a cold front is coming tonite through the first part of  next week, it will be nothing like what parts of the country is having to deal with.

Teddy Bear BOM - Kathy, Miss January

The final teddy bear pattern for the 2017 BOM is now live on Craftsy.  

This is Kathy, and she is our Miss January.   She is modeling her new winter coat.

You will find her pattern here on Craftsy.

Gratitudes:

1. for a job to go to even when the office is colder than normal.

2. For knowing that I've got all of the paperwork needed for the mortgage pre-approval process somewhere........now to figure out where.....lol

Wedding Quilt Top Finished

Finished the wedding quilt top and found a wide backing in my stash for it.   Backing is white with black floral sprays on it and 108" wide.  So no piecing required to put it together....YEAH!  At this point I'm figuring that I will bind the quilt with blue.  Haven't decided though if it will be a single blue print, or a scrappy blue binding.  Got enough that I could do either one.   And once I get it back I'll put it on my bed and then try to count how many different fabrics were used in making it.

Gratitudes:

1. For a few days of warmer weather during the rain yesterday evening and before the next cold front comes through.

2. For wonderful, unexpected surprises coming in the mail.

Mail Surprise

Got a surprise in the mail (through Amazon) when it was delivered after my vacation.  I know I didn't order it, but there was no name telling me who it was from......

But I love these blocks and they are paper-pieced.   I'm thinking I might have to try some of them with my teeny batik scraps.  =)

Gratitudes:

1. For unexpected fun surprises in the mail

2. For friends who have enough knowledge to help know what kind of bandage will help with the pain I've been having in my arm.

Modern Quilt Guild - Mini Quilt Swap Quilt

Last year I had decided to take part in a swap hosted by the Modern Quilt Guild.   Quilts are to be mini quilts, and will either be exchanged at Quilt Con in February or mailed to swap partners before the show. 

My swap partner said she liked earth tones, geometrics, and negative space.     This is the finished top.   The pieced units are a smaller version of the ones I used in the Heart Beat block seen here.  My original plan was to do a miniature of the table-runner layout, but I decided to simplify and not do the connecting blocks.   I then played with the layout and ended up with this.

Am currently debating on how I want to quilt it.  Current two possibilities running thru my head are to echo the 'peaks/valleys' on both sides, or to some modern cross-hatching using the 'peaks / valleys' as guides.  This will be quilted sometime this month.

Gratitudes:

1. That God is in control of things and knows where He wants me to live with the townhouse where I'm currently living going up for sale this month.

2.  For safety (traffic and weather) in the drive back home from Phoenix over the New Year's holiday weekend.