Wedding Quilt Started

 Finally got to start a new project as my eyes heal!  My niece is getting married the end of September this year, and now that I can see clearly I'm finally feeling like I can trust myself to cut the strips needed for each block type I need to make.   The quilt pattern is based on the pattern found here - Sweet Retreat Bed Quilt.  Quilt is a take on an Irish Chain pattern.

Changes being made are to use an overall floral print instead of the large scale floral print used in the original, and colors have been adapted to what my niece said she likes.   Colors will include 3 shades of yellow & gold, 2 shades of green, the large-scale floral print featuring hydrangeas and roses, a coordinating smaller print, and a cream batik for the background fabric.    Final quilt will be a queen-size.

First 4 block 'types' are done - 2 sets of full blocks, and 2 matching sets of half blocks.  

Still to come - another set of full blocks and a set of matching half blocks, and a set of background blocks.

Gratitudes: 

1. For being able to find the coordinating print that I needed to make the block sets.  

2. For finally getting started on dealing with more health concerns.  Why does it feel like my "warranty" has expired and things are starting to wear out?

Mini Wall-Hangings

 I'm in a small group at church, and have known the other 4 families in the group for many years.  

In prior years, I've always tried to get something for all of them at Christmas.  With all the eye issues over the past 13 months that didn't happen this past year.   So when I found a panel with 4 mini panels in it (panel was a remnant) I decided to make 4 mini-wall-hangings for them.   

And instead of waiting for Christmas to gift them, I'm going to gift them and personalized notes to everyone as a surprise to them at our next meeting in a couple of weeks.

Gratitudes:

1. Longtime friendships

2. For working AC.

April Showers blog hop - My Day

 This months challenge was to pose about what showers, such as baby or wedding showers, late snow showers, or "just because" gift showers for friends.  What do you like to shower everyone with?

"Just Because" Showers - 

I enjoy 'showering' friends with gifts throughout the year.   One of the gifts I make and share are pincushions.

I love to use interesting bits of glassware and pottery found while thrifting to make pin cushions for quilting friends.   One of these days I may make some for sale.

This pincushion was just finished last week.   It will be a birthday gift for one of my best friends.  I used a single candleholder that I found at a local Goodwill store and a scrap of red material.  There's room in it to hold thread and mini scissors while stitching.

One of my fav things to "shower" my friends with are quilted postcards.   I love sending notes to encourage them, wish them happy birthday, or just let them know I'm thinking of them.   And what better way than with a card that I've made.

Scraps from other projects, or things that often would be thrown out find homes in them.   Like the flowers on these that are made from drawstrings cut off of a pair of capri's and silk leaves that would have been tossed in the trash.  And yes, these flowers were a "What if I do this?" kind of experiment.  =)

My little cross-stitch pieces  or even ones that I've found in thrifting (like the ones shown in these pics), often find homes in my cards.  Scrapbooking supplies frequently get put to use in the cards as well.

More thrifted cross-stitch and scrap-booking goodies used in this one.

Silk flowers, hand-dyed motifs, ribbons, scrap-booking supplies and bids of old cutter quilts have all been used at one time or another.

Baby Showers - 
I love it when my friends have babies because that means I can make something cute as a gift for them.  Over the years I've made quilts for close friends and lately stuffed animals for babies and older siblings.   But I always keep a stack of baby bibs that I've made as a gift, and will usually wrap up 6 or 7 of them for a gift.

I'll add ribbons, lace, or like these take and add quilt blocks or partial blocks to wash cloths to decorate them.  The opening is just a half circle that I bind with double fold bias tape.   I use Wright's for this because I have a ton of it to use from all my years of sewing clothes.   

Be sure to check out what everyone else has posted today.

Wednesday April 24

Quilted Snail

Ms P Designs USA

 Days Filled With Joy

Quilting Between the Rails (Facebook)

Bumbleberry Stitches

Gratitude's:

1. Estimate has been received for the needed work on the house, so I'm almost to the point of being able to get the remediation and restoration started at the house, putting me one step closer to being able to move in there and sell the mobile home where I'm at now.

2. For the blessings that come with long-time quilt friends, even when that comes with watching someone struggle with worsening health issues and knowing there is nothing that you can do to make it better. 

New projects and other things

 I'm back in Phoenix after almost a week in TN for my mom's funeral.   And one of the things I'm working on each day is sorting through and donating/tossing (whichever is appropriate) to make the house safer for my 89-yr old dad.   To say it is cluttered is a huge understatement.   here's the initial look into the bedroom my mom had used.

Yes, those piles are taller than I am and it's about 9 ft from the stack of boxes to the outside wall of the bedroom.

After many trips to donate books, clothing, clothing fabric and all sorts of other things, this is what it looks like as of this afternoon....  The floor is empty all the way back to where the blue and white box is.....a distance of about 5 ft deep........... going thru all of this really does make me want to keep my stuff under control!

I've started a couple of small projects when I'm back at the house where I'm staying with a new friend.   Both are table mats that will be gifts.   This one is being made with  fairy fabric by Michael Miller fabrics for the gal I've been staying with.   She loves fairies so this was perfect for her.  

Gratitudes:

1. For actually being able to see visible progress in getting thru things that my mom had, and making the house safer for my dad.  

2. for the job interview that I have Monday afternoon, and for being 1 of only 2 people selected to interview for the position with University of Texas in San Antonio.

ScrapHappy September 2020 - A Belated Graduation Gift

 Lots of scraps were used in this month's project, and most of them large ones that were left over from other projects that I know longer remember what were.  In the case of the print - I had a piece that was about 2 yds long by 20+ inches wide.  My niece chose the print, and I picked the yellows to go with it because that is her fav color.  all fabrics other than the print were batiks.

Back of the purse, blocks were paper-pieced.  Batik was used for the adjustable strap.

Front of the purse.  Extra blocks used for a small pocket, large pocket strip pieced.

Top flap using two more of the blocks.

Lining was more of the print.  

I did the lining like I do for Christmas stockings which meant that I did not have to try to bind any edges on the flap or top edge of the front.

inside of the purse - final block used for a pocket on one side, scrap used for a pocket on the opposite side.

Check out what everyone else has done this month:
Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Susan, 

Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Moira,  Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, 

Kerry, Claire, Jean, Joanne, Jon, 

Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Connie, Bekki, Pauline, SueL, Sunny, 

Kjerstin and Vera

Gratitudes:

1. For seasonal hiring starting that will hopefully let me bring a little income in w/o getting too exhausted from working 4 jobs

2. For friends who are willing to help me take the quilting frame down so I can sell it to help pay the bill

Designing Patterns......otherwise known as why didn't I take notes.....

Christmas of 2018 I made and gave several cross-body purses for gifts.  I have a niece that is graduating from college this year, and I asked her mom, one of my best friends, what would be a good thing for her.   And she suggested a new one of these because my niece had said that her's is showing the wear and tear after almost two years of use.

These pics were of one of the one that I made for her originally.   Made with silk drapery scraps, linen, and cotton it has worn well for what i'm told has been almost constant use.

Finished size of the purses were approximately 7.5" wide by 9" tall. 

Only problem is that I didn't write down any details of what I did the first time.   Oops...guess what I'll be doing this time around, lol.

Debating on what fabrics to use for the new purse, but do know i'll make it from stash.



Gratitudes:

1. For being able to find a new purse at a decent price (I really hate having to shop for purses!)

2. For surprise pkgs (a lovely journal arrived today)

Weekend Sewing - June UFO Weekend

Not too many projects worked on this weekend because I was also row-hopping here in the northern stores of the Dallas area over the weekend.

To give the length I needed for the snail quilt I added a 12" tall section across the bottom of the quilt.    Left side of the bottom shown here.

Right hand side of the bottom shown here.

The quilt still needs a border on it to finish out to the approximate size that I want.  Am debating whether to make it a single fabric (with a scrappy binding) or scrappy squares (with a solid binding).    The solid would be faster, but the scrappy would let me make a dent in the green scraps in my stash.

I also took the remaining washcloths that had been stashed away, all of which were plain, and added trim to them - either ribbon or a lace/ribbon combo.  Trims were from stash.    These are now ready for ties and finishing.


Gratitudes:

1. One paycheck has been received

2. The storm Sunday night was only heavy rain with a lot of thunder and lightening.

One Thing for the Week is Complete

I started with these two piles of washcloths that had been purchased 5-7 yrs ago and the transformation process started with them, but then stopped. 

 And yes....the neck cutouts have been there for at least 5 yrs.....sigh...........

Getting these finished up was my one thing goal for this week - and I actually finished it early!  Not often that I managed to do that.

 And here are the finished bibs....well one of each different style.   I didn't take pics of the all the dups........

A total of 26 bibs have been finished up over the last week.

Gratitudes:
1.  That I only lost power for about 14 hrs because of the storms that hit where I live Wed night but don't have any other property damage as a result.

2.  For the class I'm in on Wed nites at church

Progress on the Bibs

I've been working on the washcloth bibs after pulling a second stack.  These are all ones that don't need any embellishments added to them - whether they've got a print or are textured.   The plain washcloths that need embellishments will come later.

This first stack has 12 in it.

 Batch 2 of the ones I'm working on at present.   This makes a total of 21 one currently in process.  And yes these truly are UFO's - the top two had the neck holes cut out yrs ago!











And here are some of the ones I've finished at this point.   The top row all actually have multiples (can be seen in the first two pics).

Not necessarily any rhyme or reason to how I'm working on them other I'm trying to prep and then sew all of the ones with the same colored ties to make the thread changes fewer.

Once these are still done, I've still got another 20+ yet to go.   Some of those just need the neck ties.   Others will need embellishments to 'fancy' up the plain wash cloths.

Gratitudes:
1. For having the "raw materials" and time to make gifts ahead of when they are actually needed.  Now I just need to find where the bias tape I bought not too long ago got put......hmmmmm.

2. For understanding coworkers in the midst of frustrations.

Working on Old Projects

One of the things I've been trying to do this year is to work on old projects.   One of those projects that I've run across this year in trying to go through stuff, was all of the washcloths I had purchased yrs ago intending to make them into baby bibs so that I would have a stash of them to draw on for baby gifts.   Well I have managed to do that with some of them, but as I've found I still have a bunch that need to be made into bibs.

 These 4 are now completed.

And this stack of washcloths have been pulled and are in the process of being sewn up into bibs.    There are still more yet to be sewn up.  Thankfully these are quick and easy to make.     I'll have plenty to pull future baby gifts from once these are done.  =)


Gratitudes:
1. For a variety of projects to keep me from getting bored.

2. For the dry weather today!

Stay at home retreat sewing, day 1 & 2

This is UFO weekend on one of my lists, and I've made it into a stay at home retreat weekend.  Started Friday and I've worked on several projects -

 These 14 string blocks were made on Friday.   I'm now through 4 colors of my batik strings in this slow moving UFO project.


















I got the label made for the back of this quilt.   Yes it is big and in an unusual spot, but the backing didn't cooperate with me when I quilted it at Christmas so I had a long pucker to cover up.  =)

 The label went onto this quilt and with that this UFO is officially finished and ready to be listed for sale.


















I finished the final Christmas for last year.  A little cross-body purse made for a niece.   All gifts for that family will now go out in the mail early next week - woohoo.  Fabric chosen was in the Vera Bradley general style because that's what she likes.

And the last project worked on was to make one more snail block for my quilt.  Made with orphan block parts from my friend Susan and scraps from my stash.  Block finished at 27" wide and 18" tall. 

Now onto finishing the London TTQ and another UFO!


Gratitudes:

1. If the worst side effects I'm dealing with are a sense of taste that is off, no appetite and occasional leg pain from the meds then I can deal with it, things could be a whole lot worse.

2. Thankful for no symptoms of how low my counts have been.........also a cause for concern because I don't have warning of what is happening.  Mixed blessing here.

Christmas 2019 Projects

Two of the after Christmas goodies that I bought were these two felt stocking kits.   Normally for kids, I thought they'd make cute "gift wrapping" for little goodies that I'll purchase over the year for a swap that I'm in.

The kits were designed for kids to glue them together but I did a simple straight stitch on them.

First up was Santa.  I substituted buttons for the snowflakes, eyes and nose. 

Then came the snowman.  I didn't like the string of lights at the top so left it off.   Then again substituted teeny buttons for the 1/4" felt circles used for the snowflakes, eyes and buttons on the snowman.

These will now go into my quilting tote where they will be ready for me to put my shoebox together in November of this year.  I'm happy to say that these won't end up in never-never land where all my other kits are.


Gratitudes:
1. Platelets are up, albeit way too high now.  Time will tell how long they take to settle down.

2. Meeting with a friend (my realtor) tomorrow about the first commission of the year.

Mail Surprise

This week was  a blessed one -

I arrived home from work on Tuesday after a rainy drive home to find a surprise package on my doorstep.  Inside was a wonderful wall-hanging as a sweet house-warming gift from a sweet group of online friends.

 Full pic of the quilt

The idea for the quilt from KTJ

 Top panel - from Roseanne

Sides - from Margaret

Side - from Margaret

Bottom - from Edi

Center - from Susan

And a label made by Susan listing all of them. 


Gratitudes:

1. For friends who do sweet surprises like this!

2. For my vacation being approved for Christmas time, along with the 5 weeks where I'll have a Friday off.....woohoo.....

Memories

One of the things that has been coming to light as I've been unpacking and getting settled in the house are photos, and lots of them.   Priceless pics of family and friends, some of whom have gone on to heaven.

Included in some of the pics coming to light were these two taken at the party for my parents 50th anniversary.   Included in them were these of the king-size quilts that I made for each of them.

Both of them were made from swap blocks from some of the many swaps that I had been in years ago.

Dogs for my dad -

And cats for my mom.

Linking up with Val's Quilting Studio.


Gratitudes:

1. For my parents still being around and doing well for their ages.

2. For the memories I have of friends and families from over the years.