Soon to Finish

Sew & Tell Friday

 

Actually, I finished the top in December, back when I thought I'd have all sorts of stuff done at Christmas. This ORBC Quilt Along (wonky log cabins with Quilt Dad) was lots of fun. Once I got over  trimming away fabric to make it wonky (seemed wasteful, but there are ways to be less so), it was a lot of fun to be using some fabric I'd purchased a year before and not made much progress with. As usual, it is much more vibrant in real life--finally had light outside and who knows what happened to my settings :)

A couple of tips with this one:

1. cut sashing strips parallel to the selvedge (instead of width of fabric) for less stretch as you sew--these went on beautifully
2. tip your sewing machine toward you--I read somewhere to place rubber door stop wedges at the back--you can really see where the needle works so much better!

I'm looking forward to getting this quilted. Maybe my brother will get it before he graduates this May!

For more Sew & Tell Finishes, click on the button to your left! Come back Sunday for my last giveaway (for awhile).

Gratitudes

• Spring is truly on it's way--today we have an average temperature for the first time in 3 months!
• Beautiful views when the sun comes out even if I don't know how to use my camera

Yes, I'm A Liar

Sew & Tell Friday

 

But I just couldn't resist. I know for every swap I've been in I specifically say "no pink, no cutesy, please." And here we have a pink background (very sweet Japanese print) and Kitty Cucumber. But you see, about 20 years ago when I lived in Seattle, there was a fun stationery shop on the "Ave" (near the University of Washington) that had great pop-up cards and Kitty Cucumber items. I have ornaments and gift tags and paper dolls and some fun little games and even a tin to keep it all in.

Yes, it's a Kitty Cucumber Collection. So, when my LQS got in this Kitty Cucmber fabric, I couldn't resist making just a little something out of the reliable D9P block. My husband says we can even hang it in our room, next to the embroidered kitties my mother made me when I was born. Yes, I am a liar. Please forgive me.

Lots more going on this week sewing-wise: finishing up some projects from 2009, starting some swap projects. And then, of course, more snow (we have 37 inches so far this winter!) changes the daily routine a bit. For more Sew & Tell, click here! Today is the Secret Gift Edition! (I neglected to take pics of most of my gifts :( )

Gratitudes

• We're all warm, even with a HIGH of -8!
• The swaps are gearing up--yay!
• We're all home together tonight--movie night!
  

So Close . . . And Yet

Sew & Tell Friday

So close to finishing my grandmother's quilt! She pieced this entirely from scraps about 25 years ago, and did a lovely job. I was hoping to get it quilted and back to her for Christmas, but here I am, a week away, and I still have 14 lines of quilting plus the binding left to go, not to mention 1500 miles of mail trails. It has been fun working with fabrics from my childhood (I nearly always got at least matching shirt & shorts from everyone's leftovers.)

And yet . . . . I was going to try to power through it today, but it's starting to pucker. I don't want to mess it up! I ended up doing straight diagonal lines in order to quilt with the grain--this baby is full of bias edges. With more time, I might be able to get a few lines in highlighting the pattern as well.

I have a few other Christmas gifts to start finish, too. So I might set this aside a bit so I can work on it calmly. My grandmother is 92, and I want to do a good job yet get it back to her very soon.

For more great Sew & Tells, click on the side button to the left!

Happy Holidays to all ~ and peace through it all!

Gratitudes & Highlights

• Lovely, yet busy holiday season--we have snow!
• Awesome confirmation kids who raised $700 with bake sale for local adopt-a-family gifts--how much fun to shop with 20 kids & spend a total of $1200! They are learning the joys of serving.
  
• At least half a day to sew!
  

Sew & Tell Friday

::Nov STUD Swap::

I had so much FUN with this little quilt--I got the background finished fairly early in November, then I had a fantastic cold. Finally this week I was able to finish the yo-yos--only to find that the ones I'd made were not BIG enough (didn't take into account overlapping them).

Frantically, I made some larger ones and searched for buttons (I wanted to mail it on time to be in the Dec swap!). In the end, I was really pleased with the results. I didn't even want to mail it off! Nearly done with a smaller version (using the first yo-yo's) for myself.

 

November's theme is "Winter with a Twist." I have something sweet (candy border), something sparkly (lots of fairy frost and shiny thread), and something vintage (like--yo-yos).

Lessons learned:

1. Overlap yo-yos look cool.
2. One can spend oh-so-much time choosing buttons!
3. Backstitch rayon quilting because rayon thread slips out of knots.

Can't wait to get going on the December SWAP ~ Go Green!

For more Sew & Tell fun, go here.

This has been a tough week, but my GRATITUDES are:

• Satisfaction in finishing a truly nice swap.
• Great meatloaf sandwich for lunch (it reminds me of Grandma)
• No need to shop much for Christmas gifts--most of my family is perfectly happy with HANDMADE!

 

Sew & Tell Friday 3

Actually, the title should read Sew & Tell Friday 3.

This is the Saga of the Quilt That Wouldn't Finish





Monday All week I have been struggling with this little bugger. I've been waiting a week to pin the layers together. I drew the back out 3 TIMES before I sewed it together. I finally get a chance to do the sandwich and the back is twice as big as the front--which turned out to be just too puny to be a lap quilt, especially for my dad.

Wednesday Then I hear the rest of the family will be together for Thanksgiving, so I think if I hurry, I could get it in the mail with their other little gifts so they could open them together (why not show off the quilt to everyone instead of just him?). So I cut off part of the backing to make an additional border on the top. I take it all to work so I can pin baste it on the big tables--now the top is much bigger than the back (I probably had enough for both but I just whacked off one section of the back instead of measuring).

Thursday I go to the fabric shop for just 1.5 yards more of the green dragonflies--no one can find the green dragonflies. "We have a big bolt." "Where did it go?" The computer shows 7 yds inventory left. I spend an hour (during employee sewing night) eating cupcakes and searching for the green dragonflies. Finally, 5 minutes before leaving, I find a 3yd piece in the remnant stack, on the bottom, shoved back out of sight.

Friday I will try to get the back repieced so tomorrow when I'm at the shop with the BIG tables I can get it pin basted. Unfortunately, because I'm working Saturday and have extra stuff Sunday, I probably won't have time to quilt it IN THE SIMPLEST WAY POSSIBLE until next Friday.

*sigh* At least it's progress. After all this UFO WIP is only 2 years old!

For much more pleasant Sew & Tell, goes to Amy's website.

Gratitudes
Found the green dragonflies!
The aroma of minestrone soup just waiting for DH to get home.
Getting closer to ADVENT, my favorite time of year.

Sew & Tell Friday 2

It's finally Friday! This week I have been working on this UFO, previously posted about here. It is a 4 patch frenzy--four repeats of one fabric are stacked exactly, cut into squares, and then each stack is sewn together.

I got the blocks sashed (it's all actually darker) and borders sewn on. The dragon flies is part of the backing. Now I just need a chance to pin it together and get it quilted. My hope was to quilt it today, but I ended up working most of the day. It rained all day--a perfect quilting day. Maybe Sunday afternoon . . . .

I can't wait to get this finished--it is a very late birthday present for my dad. Click on the left button to visit all the other Sew & Tells!

Sew & Tell Friday

Poochie Bag
Originally uploaded by QuiltyBee

Do you think a newly turned 6-year old girl will like this? It's her birthday tomorrow, and I was looking for bag patterns to try--this is the Poochie Bag from Happy Zombie! She also had a cute variation at Moda Bake Shop for trick-or-treat/gift bags. This is such a great pattern!

I am lucky enough to also have 4 nieces (the rest of us all have boys), so this year for Christmas they are all getting bags.

The poochie bag is so very easy to follow--although I admit I didn't quite follow the directions (I find that nearly impossible). I added batting for a bit of firmness. Otherwise, I tried to do exactly as Happy Zombie so clearly described. I really like the results and will spend some time today digging through my stash for some more baggy collections--3 fat quarters is all I need for each one!

If you'd like to join Sew & Tell, just visit Amy! Have a great weekend!

Gratitudes:
Healthy (relatively) men in the house
Most of a day off work
Fun with fabric (plus I received my STUD swap from Julie--more about that later!)