Goals and plans November 20th

Been busy so it has been a couple of weeks since I updated this list.

Completions for the last couple of weeks -

1. Complete memory bears #7 and #8 - Finished!
   
   
2. Sample doggie - Finished!
3. Complete second round of Christmas postcards for the shop - Finished!
4. Vend at the Lavon Christmas Bazaar - Done, sold enough to more than cover the booth rental.
5. Purchase more of the Pellon 71F when sale goes off (use a coupon) - Done

Goals for through Thanksgiving Weekend -

1. Complete memory bear #9 
2. Complete memory bear #10
3. Complete memory bear #11  
4. Complete memory bear #12
5. Complete applique work on letters for center panel of commissioned Basketball quilt
6. Quilt and bind Commissioned Basketball quilt
7. Complete repairs on pants & comforter for KA
8. Complete remaining bowl warmers (4 to be sold to JD)
9. Start first tote for KM
10. Make commissioned postcards for CS

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Current commissions-

1. Memory Teddy Bears from button-down shirts (12 of them) - 8 of 12 bears are done
2. Teddy bear for JR - Shirts in hand for her to choose from
3. Add Zipper panel to top of Zebra tote (sample)
4. Postcards for sale as I can make them - More Santa postcards are needed, one already sold
5. Enhanced tote w/pockets - cats - Designed, fabric approved, need to pull coordinates
6. Enhanced tote w/pockets - dachshunds - Designed, fabric approved, need to pull coordinates
7. Set of four custom postcards - Have design ready to make pattern from

Christmas gifts -

1. Pillowcase(s) for triangle support pillow for PN - Drat it, where did those dimensions go...again?
2. Pillowcase set for HM - Found a completed pair in the gift stash....woohoo!
3. Embellished blouse for MM
4. Mini wall-hanging for RD (Coffee panel) - Now where did I put that panel?
5. Mini wall-hanging for SR -
   Found a spoon rest that will work for a gift, nothing to make as a result.  =)

Coming Commissions-

1. T-shirt Quilt for friend in an online group (no due date, waiting for shirts and specs)
2. T-shirt quilt for a friend at church (no due date, waiting for shirts, specs)
3. Men's Shirt alterations (multiple, not sure how many at this point) 
4. Hem dress for wife of #3

Possible Commissions -

1. Airplane quilt - need to make sample blocks before getting back with friend to see if she's interested (most likely for Christmas if she decides to do it)
2. Music Quilt - long time possibility....rumblings about it happening again - Designed, waiting on down payment
3. 2 "Floor" mats - 24" by 18" size, same person as #2 rumbling about these, time will tell if they happen - Designed, waiting on down payment from customer
4. Applique work on costume for Renaissance fair - Waiting on payment and costume from customer

Other projects that need to be done -

1. Ship snail quilt out for quilting - Ready to ship, but have to wait till I get paid again 
2. Donate garbage bag of fabric - Need to load into car to go to Goodwill
3. Go thru the two boxes of books that need to go to second hand store and document what is there before donating
4. Additional work for the PT job - Ongoing work......thankfully
5. Finish 4 UFO's that will be headed to the kids of a family who lost everything in a forest fire in CA - three of four quilted and ready for binding, backing pulled for the remaining one
6. Prep t-shirts for my own t-shirt quilt - t-shirts are all together (and have been for several yrs) but need to back with interfacing and get ready for quilting (doing quilt as you go).

Gratitudes:

1. For having been approved as a vendor for the Richardson Farmers Mkt, now hopefully to be off the wait list before long.

2. For the thought of vacation that is coming....even if I can't afford to go anywhere

"Raw Materials"

I've really enjoyed working with the men's shirts as I've been making the memory bears.  And I've had a lot of positive response from the pictures of them.  And actually I had someone want to buy this bear....but it is one of the 12 memory bears that I've been making for a commission. 

The friend who really liked it, wants to order a bear from me.  Not having anything else like it (shirt or the fabric stash), it was off to Goodwill for me to see what I could find.






First stop was at the small Goodwill store in the small where I live.  As it happened the day I went in they had green tagged items on sale for $1, and another color was half-price. Of the top 5 that I bought on Saturday (the bottom 3 I'd had for a while), three of them were only $1. 

One men's shirt, and three 2XL/3XL women's scrub tops that were in like new condition and 100% cotton fabrics.   I'm hoping to make a dog from the middle scrub top because it is a cute dog print fabric. 

Loved the top one in this stack.   It's a patchwork seersucker that should work up to be a cute bear.   Almost makes me want to use some of my precut squares (or cut some!) to make some of the critters.

I'm a little worried about the navy/cream print not working with the black buttons for eyes.  That might end up as a pillow instead.

Pinks/reds fit for a girl bear.  The bottom one is a light pink/white gingham looking shirt.


















These are the shirts that I could find between the three different Goodwill stores that I went to that are close to the one memory bear.   Will take them to church to let my friend pick which one she likes the best.

Gratitudes:

1. For good prices on the "raw materials" that I was able to get on these shirts.

2. For the one bear already 'sold' that will pay for most if not all of these.

Finishes for the weekend

I made it through the bazaar this weekend and even managed to finish up a few things as well.  First up was finishing off Bear #8 for the commission.  Only 4 more to go now.













Next up was testing the second critter in the pattern I've been using for the bears.   The doggie critter was tested with a remnant that was in my stash.  A little different in how it's sewn together, but still not hard and only two pieces for the pattern.

This little doggie will be for sale once I get a bow on him.

And the final finish for the weekend was this wool penguin ornament.  Made with wool felt and felted wools.


Gratitudes:

1. For what I did sell even with the slowness of the bazaar.

2. for the bearableness at this point of the tooth pain.......and hopefully for a bearable price tag on getting it taken care of.

Unexpected Blessings

In this case, comes from the church friend who has been displaying my quilted postcards for sale in her hair salon.   She was in the salon yesterday when the director of the economic development council of one of the small towns near where I live was in to get her hair done.   The director saw my cards and ended up buying 4 of them.  While at the same time telling my friend that she wanted to get me to be at the town sponsored bazaar this coming Saturday.      A second blessing is that my sweet friend has volunteered to help me Saturday at the bazaar.....

Ultimate result is that I decided to do it and am now in the process of pulling stuff together.   Am very thankful that I've been in the habit of making lots of goodies ahead of when I might actually need them or put them up for sale, so I have a lot of things that I'll be able to take with me.

Some of the types of things I'm taking include -

Quilted Christmas Stockings

Passport wallets

Tote bags

Quilted postcards

Bowl Cozies (these are in process now)

Quilted goodies like table-toppers, wall-hangings, table-runners, and perhaps a small quilt or two

A cross-stitch rooster picture

 Will have to see what else I can find in the stash of completed items.   Now is when I'm thankful that I've got a stash of finished items that I can sell, without it there's no way I'd have been able to do this. 

Gratitudes:
1. For the reasonable price of the booth and table at the bazaar

2. For friends who keep their ears open for things that could help me sell things and/or get new commissions.

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Scrap Happy November

Unexpectedly I was invited to have a booth at a Christmas Craft and Small Business Bazaar in a small town near where I live on Saturday this week.   So all week I've been pulling things together to take with me to sell.   Thankful that I've got a lot of things that are already made, but wanted a few more things to sell.

I ended up pulling out a gallon sized bag of UFO Hst blocks that were left over from the wedding quilt I made for my niece 18 months ago.  I'd sewn the blocks months ago just had never trimmed to size or pressed them.  Pulled out ones that would make 2.5" trimmed blocks and ended up making two more Christmas stockings for the show.   Backing and lining were from remnants in the stash.

I still have more of these scrappy blue HST's to use up, and I've an idea for another layout for stockings so more will be coming.

Gratitudes:

1. For friends who let me borrow baskets and a table so I can set up what is needed at the craft show on Saturday.

2. For being being able to find most anything in my stash that I need for my projects.

My Day on the Stitch It and Gift It Blog Hop

Today's the day for my post for the Stitch It and Gift It blog hop.

I've been working on getting a bunch of teddy bears made from shirts that had belonged to the father-in-law of my adopted niece.  And of course there is material and pieces left over from the shirts that are used in the bears.  The shirt plackets are one of the sections that didn't work in the bear.

I wanted to make something for his widow, so I decided to make a pillow using the plackets to give to my niece (or her MIL).  First layout was with space between the plackets to see how that looked.










The second layout, and the one I ended up keeping, had the plackets right next to each other.  The plackets are pinned down as I weave them so that they don't shift.

Once all pinned, then I straight stitch along each side of the plackets to hold them in place on the finished pillow.

Final layout of the pillow with one of shirt pockets added in the upper corner added for a bit of pizzazz.

I've also made a pincushion using the same technique using the plackets from just a single shirt.  This will end up as a gift for some quilting friend at some point.

Check out what the rest of the hoppers are making to give today.

Wednesday, November 13th

MooseStashQuilting

Pampered Pettit
Mary Mack Made Mine
The Quilted Snail
Days Filled With Joy
Melva Loves Scraps

Limeleaves

Gratitudes:

1. For being able to bless others with what God has given to me.

2. For the food that I have to eat.

Stitch It and Gift It blog hop starts today

The Stitch It and Gift It blog hop starts today.  Below is the schedule for the hop.   Stop by and check out the gifts that everyone are working on!   Thanks go to Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks for the blog hop because she did all the work to set it up.

See below for the blog hop schedule this week.  Click on the links to see what kind of gifts everyone has been working on.

Monday, November 11th

Just Let Me Quilt

Selina Quilts

Homespun Hannah's Blog

QuiltFabrication
Domestic Felicity
VroomansQuilts
Karrin's Crazy World
Storied Quilts

Tuesday, November 12th

Life in the Scrapatch

Alycia Quilts

Kaholly

Words & Stitches
Quilt’n Party 
Patchwork Breeze
desertskyquilts

Wednesday, November 13th

MooseStashQuilting

Pampered Pettit
Mary Mack Made Mine
The Quilted Snail
Days Filled With Joy
Melva Loves Scraps

Limeleaves

Thursday, November 14th

Beaquilter

RidgeTopQuilts

Cynthia's Creating Ark
Songbird Designs
Farm Quilter
Kathy's Kwilts and More
Bumbleberry Stitches
Quilt Schmilt

Friday, November 15th

Quilted Delights

Seams To Be Sew
Ms P Designs USA
Just Because Quilts
Inquiring Quilter
Susie’s World
Creatin' in the Sticks

Gratitudes:

1. For safety in my daily commute

2. For my parents safe travels

Stretching Art 2020 - Community

It's that time again when the new Stretching Art Challenge theme has been given out.   And this year's theme is "Community".  there are two main definitions for "community" on the internet - the first is "a group of people living in the same place or having a specific characteristic in common", and the second is "a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests and goals".   It will be interesting incorporating those ideas into my piece.

 While going through the tote with all of the panels in it, I found two batik panels.   The first one was this figure of a woman.  I'm sure someone gave it to me but don't have any clue now who it would have been. 

It isn't my usual type of subject for sure.   But I did think about using it as the basis of my challenge piece.   Thinking of it as an homage to all of the women in my life past, present and future.   However, it really isn't my type, so I've decided to just list it for sale.

The second batik panel that I found was given to me by a friend who had been a missionary to Papua New Guinea with her husband.   this panel was one of the things that she brought back to me when they moved back.

I'm going to use this as the center point of my challenge piece.   I'll have to do some piecing of a border for it to get it up to the correct size (18" wide by 36" tall), but that will be easy.   Not so easy is deciding what colors to make the border for it.   Ideas?

I've got an idea of how this panel (the birds are the national birds of Papua) fits into the theme.    So I'm happy that I'm well into planning for my quilt for the challenge..........I need that this year.





Gratitudes:

1. Finding the panel in my stash that will work with the theme

2. For my brother, tho he is no longer here, my life is forever richer for him having been a part of it for 19 yrs.

Oct 10 Update

A mixed bag this week - some sewing and some sorting & cleaning happened this week.

First up was finishing this UFO.  Center part is cross-stitched and then sewn onto a fabric 'quilt'.


















Scraps were used for the backing and binding.

 Teddy bear #7 has been completed.   I'm thinking of using the collar on the bear.  Have been told tho that if I do, then he needs a bowtie to complete the look.   Hmmm, gotta think about that.

 My last creation for the week was this wool ornament.  Still need to add a ribbon hanger, but I think it turned out well.

Also started this week was updating the UFO pages of my quilt tracking spreadsheet, something I try to do once a year for the sheets in it that I don't use frequently.   And that let to me going through some totes to figure out if what was on my spreadsheet was still in my stash or now....and if I was missing things that I need to list on it.   The two pages I've been concentrating on are the Quilt UFO's and the Cross-stitch UFO's.   

In going through one of the totes I found some interesting things - An embroidered eagle block, and a blank embroidered quilt label.  The latter was given to me at some point but I haven't a clue who now.

Then I found two personlized, embroidered quilt labels, that had been made to go with specific sets of swap blocks.    Ummmm, guess who isn't sure of which sets those might be...oops...guess I need to look at the UFO blocks and see if I can figure that out.  It I can't then I need to figure out what to do with these labels....lol

 One of the totes I went thru was the one with various panels and other things in it.   While going thru it I weeded out ones that I figured I was never going to use.   These have been flung to someone who will use them to make Sunshine quilts with.  Two of the panels have coordinates with them.

 And these blocks were pulled out to make quilt for Sunshine.

More was pulled out, but I'll write about that in another post.


Gratitudes:

1. For the warm temps of the weekend in the face of the frigid temps that are coming tomorrow.

2. For my knees and joints feeling better now that the storm is closer to here.

UFOs of the Cross-Stitch Variety

I counted up my UFO's this past weekend and all I can say is Yikes!  LOL    I knew I had a lot, but until you see the numbers they can sort of be ignored.   Among those UFO's are a lot of cross-stitch pieces or embroidery pieces that I've completed the stitching on but then never did anything with after that.   Also in the number are oodles of kits that are either actual kits that I've collected or put together out of my stash for kits.

To start whittling down the number, I've pulled four of them to work on and complete.

 First up was this abstract piece of cross stitch.   It is on the way to becoming either a pin cushion or a needle book.  It is approximately 3.5" tall by 7.5" wide. 

It was stitched with scraps of floss that were from various completed kits on a scrap of 14 count aida cloth.

 Back of the piece made by piecing  a red scrap of fabric together to get it big enough.

 Next up was this piece.   Also made from leftover aida cloth and scraps of floss that were from various completed kits on 14 ct aida cloth.

The plan is to finish it up so that it may be used as a pin holder/earring holder. 

At the moment I'm still trying to decide how best to finish the edges on it..

These were two kits that I had bought last Christmas that are now finished and ready to be used as gifts.

 This is a mini wall-hanging that I did the stitching on yrs ago and is currently in process of being finished.   It will be used as a gift when finished.



Gratitudes:

1. For my "401UFO" that means I have lots of projects to work on and pull when I have time.

2. For still having a job at the present time

Weekend Completions, November 3rd

Made progress on commissioned projects and sale items this past weekend.

First project up with working on the basketball quilt commission.   All blocks are pieced and the sections are together and pressed.   Next up is making the 30" square (finished size) medallion center for the quilt.  2 names and a jersey number are to be appliqued in the center.

 I then finished up these 26 Christmas themed postcards.   Added the backing fabrics and satin-stitched around the outsides.

 And these 5 everyday postcards were also finished up.

Memory bear #7 was also prepped for sewing over the weekend.


Gratitudes:

1. That the new furnace & ac units were installed in less than 24 hrs from when the furnace quit working.

2. for the beautiful sunny day today.