Memories

I don't know how many of you have dealt with home renovation projects.  We are in the midst of having both of our bathrooms redone.  It is not fun.  The last time we did a renovation project I said that I would rather burn the house that do it again.  I am eating those words. This is the master shower after being re-tiled.  Love the way it looks, but not the mess it has created.  We are also having all of the doors in the house replaced.  I didn't realize that I would have to empty the closets for this to happen.  At least it has given me a chance to clean out all of the closets.







When putting things back in one of the closets I came across a box  and I had no idea what was in it.  When I opened it and saw what was inside, I was immediately transported back to when I was 8 years old and my mom was teaching me to do embroidery.  I remember it was in the summer and after she had done what had to be done for the day we would sit outside on the porch and she would show me different stitches.  These placemats were the first things that I ever made.  This was during the time of iron on transfers.  I remember going to the store with my mom and picking out the pattern that I wanted to use.  What was the first project you ever made?

Love Collage

I am totally addicted to collage.  This is the second one that I have done, both  have been patterns by Fiberworks.  The first one I did was Lola and Olive, the pigs.  It is currently hanging in my office at school.  This one the Perfect Dress Form will go in my sewing room once it is quilted.  Taking it to Leisa tomorrow for quilting.  I didn't think that I would like this process, but it is extremely relaxing.  It reminds me of putting a puzzle together, without the box to look at.  I can't wait to start my next one. 

Moon Garden

 I am a huge fan of anything that Lisa Bongean does.  I have been lucky enough to take a couple of classes with her and meet her at several different shows.  She is a wonderful person.  Several years ago when I wanted to start dying wool I emailed her some questions (really not expecting her to answer them)I was pleasantly surprised when she not only answered my questions but gave me additional advice that I didn't even know enough to ask.  I was super excited when I found out she was going to do a SAL on Facebook.  I am using her great patterns and my wools.  I have finished the first two blocks and have just started on the third.  I am excited too that I am managing to keep up with the blocks as they come out.  I usually have really good intentions to do them each month but never get around to making the.  I can't wait to see how she puts these blocks together.

Other finishes

 I am finally getting around to finishing some other projects.  I made this quilt a few years ago, I used the Turning 20 pattern and all shirting fabrics.  It is a really soft romantic looking quilt.  The top has been hanging in my quilt closet for a while and I finally had Leisa quilt it.  Love the way she quilted it.  I even had a label ready to go on the back.  Hubby liked this one. 

Preprinted label but at least there is a label on the back.

I just finished Block I of Lisa Bongean's Moon Garden SAL.  I have Block II almost finished.  The hardest part about this one was all of the little colonial knots in the middle of the flowers.  I had never made a colonial knot before, I have always used a French Knot, I have to admit after I got the hang of this knot I really like the way it looks. 

July OMG

I started this table runner a long time ago, not even sure when I did the stitchery.  I  managed to sew it together but never did go back and quilt it or bind it.  I should be able to get it done this month and have it ready for Thanksgiving this year. Check out all of the other July One Month Goals at Elm Street Quilts.

June Finish

 Finished the binding on my quilt for this month. Love the way it turned out.  I love the pattern but don't think that I will ever make another one like this.  I love the way quilts that are set on point look, but don't like putting them together.  This one is going on our bed.  I even have a label on the back of it.  The pattern is called Blue Berry Cream, I used blues and neutrals from my stash.

June OMG

Hopefully, I will have better luck this month meeting my goal.  Last month's is still waiting to be finished.  I have ordered more wool to redo the last block.  This month my goal is a simple one, put a binding on a quilt. I picked this one up from the quilter yesterday.  I am anxious to finish this one as it is going on our bed.  I have been wanting to redo the bedroom for a while and was waiting to get this quilt finished.  I am redoing the bedroom in different shades of blue and cream. Check out other goals at Elm Street Quilts.

What was i thinking?

I obviously wasn't when I did the last square for this wall hanging.  I am trying to get it done for my May OMG.  I had all of the blocks started except the be warm one.  I wasn't thinking and just grabbed a piece of black wool and cut it to size and finished the applique.  Today when I started sewing all of the blocks together I realized that the other pieces were dark navy.  I am so upset.  I don't have any more of the navy wool, that  is what I get for having the project started for a couple of years.  Going to go through all of my wool tomorrow to see if I can find a blue that is close, at least then it will be in the same family.  This is a lesson learned do wait two years to finish a project unless you have all of the pieces together.

Fabric Painting Class

On Saturday I was lucky enough to go to a fabric painting class at Intown Quilters in Atlanta.  I have dyed different types of fabric, cotton, wool, and velvet  but have never done anything with fabric paint.  After the first technique I was hooked.  The first technique was color wash adding texture with leaves, and salt.  I loved using ginko leaves on this.  I also found that salt is better used sparingly.

Next we did a shibori style fabric.  I only had time try one of these, can't wait to do some more fabrics using this technique. I liked the shimmer that the metallic paint gave to this.

We also did fabrics using stencils, and stamps. This piece was made with a stencil with different sizes of circles, then I went over it with a color wash.  I should have waited a little longer before doing the color wash some of the paint from the stencils hadn't completely dried so it smeared some.   I have some great ideas of things I want to try. 

Due to the size of the class and the number of  people we were only able to use small 10 x 15 pieces of fabric.  I want to try some larger pieces. I would love to try some of these ideas on canvas to make some tote bags. 

May OMG

I totally forgot all about this project until a couple of weeks ago.  I was trying to reorganize my sewing room and I found it.  I think I started it about three years ago, not sure, maybe 2 but it is definitely time to finish it.  The pattern is Snow Happy by Woolen Spool Designs.  This was a BOM from Homestead Hearth a few years ago.  I actually did the hand dyed wool for their BOM.  I kept some for myself and started it but never finished it. Looking forward to getting another project completed.

I did it

It took all  month but I finally finished my April goal, last night.  I can't believe that it took me all month to finish 4 pillowcases.  Glad they are finished, will probably end up being Christmas presents for some of the family.  This month has been extremely busy, we sold our cabin and had to  move everything out.  I realized that over the last 20 years everything that we should have gotten rid of we just took there, so there was 20 years worth of stuff, and I do mean stuff.  I have lost track of the number of trips I have made to Goodwill.  We sold some things, gave some away but still have a lot to sort through.  I would get rid of a lot of it, by my DH is a pack rat and wants to keep everything.  My sewing room is in our basement and unfortunately that is were we have put everything and I have to do some more cleaning before I can even think about sewing. 

April OMG

My goal for this  month, is not a big one!!  I have been on  Spring Break for the last week, and out of town.  We have also sold our cabin and are in the process of packing it and moving everything out of it.  All of that means that there  won't be a lot of time for sewing this month.  My goal for this month is three sets of Christmas pillowcases that I have had cut and and folded up for the last two years.  It is one of those projects you think won't take long but gets put aside and never finished.  Hopefully I can get them sewn up before the end of the month.

March Finish

I  didn't think that I would be able to finish this panel this month, but I just finished it last night.  Now all of the stitchery panels are complete.  Putting it together will be  a project for another month. 

Spring Retreat

Last weekend was the first Anytime Stitching Sewing retreat of the year.  Leisa and Nancy do a great job organizing this twice a year.  It was a great time.  Got to spend time with  friends that I don't see very often (since I still work) and met some new ones.  There are some extremely talented ladies in our group.  Here a just a few of the great quilts people were working on.

Lynn's colorful quilt.

Marti's Civil War Chronicles.

Candy's squares

Quilt make for Charlie Elliot Center

Becky's Cats

Matri's Jen Kingwell

Jane's Shashiko stitchery  quilt.

March OMG

 My mom taught me how to embroidery when I was about 8 or 9.  I remember begging her to teach me and she finally gave in.  It is the one needlecraft that I always return to.  I might knit, crochet, do applique, but I always come back to embroidery.  This pattern is Twas the Night Before Christmas from Crabapple Hill.  I started it several years ago, and for some reason got to the last panel and just put it aside.  Finishing this panel is my goal for the month of March. 

I hope to get the pinwheel blocks completed this month also, but that would be a bonus.

February OMG finished

 I decided to do  my Monthly Goals in baby steps, my goal for February was to put the border on this table  topper that has been in the UFO stack so long I don't even remember starting it.  I had put off putting the outside border on because it was scalloped and it was appliqued on.  After getting it out and starting it, I realized it wasn't that hard to do  just time consuming in getting the  border curved and pinned just right to the background border. 

The border is on now and it will be off to my friend Leisa to be quilted, the binding will be a goal for another month. 

82 in February

 I like Spring, but not in February.  It was 82 today and has been in the upper 70's for the  last two weeks.  My jonquils, and crocus are blooming their little heads off.  All of the trees are budding out.  Winter is not over, Atlanta always cold weather in March, but this year could be different.  What's the weather like where you are?

February OMG

I found the One Monthly Goad over at Elm Street Quilts, and decided this was what I needed to finish up some of my small UFO's.  Today I decided to look through my two boxes of smaller UFO's to see what I wanted to finish this month.  I knew it the minute I saw it, this table topper has been a UFO for so long I don't even remember when I started it.  All it needs is the border, but the border is a scalloped one that has to be appliqued onto the background border.  It probably won't take long, the prep work will take longer than the actual work.

Table topper from Mrs. Rosie's Schnibbles

I am using the blue snowflake fabric for the border background and the white will be the scalloped border.  I should be able to finish this by the end of the month.

Too many different kinds of UFO's

I know that most of us probably have several ufo's in our sewing rooms. I know that I do.  Not only do I have quilt ufo's I have knitting ufo's, stitchery ufo's and wool applique ufo's.  Over the holidays I did some cleaning in my sewing room and was really amazed at the number of ufo's I had and the different kinds.  My goal this year is to get them finished, at least some of them.  One month into the new year and I have finished one quilt, this quilt has been in my finished but not quilted stack for at least 10 years.  I had just never gotten around to getting it quilted.  Leisa did a great job quilting it, but I hope my piecing skills have improved some since I made it.  Some mistakes just don't quilt out.  It is a pattern from Pat Wys at Silver Thimble.

This stitchery project was started two, maybe three years ago, it is a table runner from Pat Wys's Christmas book.  I finally finished the embroidery this week, now just to get the backing on it and put it away until Christmas. 

Valentine's Day will be here soon

Just realized that Valentine's Day will soon be here.  Finished these wool bowl fillers earlier this week,pattern is from Cheri Payne.  Added some extra stitches and keys to a couple of them.  Instead of filling with stuffing, I used a combination of cedar shavings (left over from some of my DH's woodworking projects) and lavender.  I plan on using them after the holiday in my closets to help keep moths at bay.  Now need to get out all of my red and white quilts.

Amazing what you can find

 Last week we had two snow days, I definitely used them to my advantage.  Did some sewing and some cleaning in my sewing room.  I did more sewing that cleaning.  I did set aside an hour or so to clean.  I was cleaning out a drawer in my sewing cabin and found this sewing machine mat kit that I have had for several years.  I also found the cute piggie fabric that my friend Kristie gave me to use for the mat.  I don't know why I had never made it, it only took a few minutes.  Now I have one less project in  my cabinet and a new mat to take to retreats. 

Snowballs on a Snow Day

 Today was a snow day, the second one in two weeks.  Snow days don't bring the dread that they once did, you knew if you had a snow day you would have to make it up later in the year.  No More, we now have digital learning days.  Students have online work to do and if we don't have a classroom we have to watch training videos and take a quiz.  Did that first thing this morning then headed to the sewing room.








 I decided to work on the snowball blocks for the
Temecula Quilt Company scrappy snowball sew along.  I was a week behind and wanted to get caught up.  I am using fabrics from my stash for
the snowball blocks.  Each week you should make 8 light blocks and 8 dark blocks. 

After finishing my snowball blocks I finished up my flying geese for ORL by Bonnie Hunter.  One good thing about making this after all of the steps have been published you can skip around.  I decided to make all of the flying geese at one time.   Mine are cheddar and brown with neutrals.  Only thing left is to trim them up.  Hopefully can do that tomorrow, another SNOW DAY.

One more name completed, and I am in love

Just finished "Donner" only 5 more names to go. Trying to decide if I want to do "Rudolph" in the same blue/grey shades or if I want to do it in red, all of the background fabrics are different shades of greys.  Red would definitely make it pop, but don't know if I want it to pop that much. This is part of the Dash Away All quilt.  In the pattern the names were regular needle turn applique, but I decided to do mine in wool.  I am also going to do the branches in wool, the rest of the quilt will be cotton.

Donner is ready to join his friends.

Now for the I am in love part, I am so excited to have discovered this starch, actually I didn't discover it my friend Margo do. She had Publix order her a case, I am so glad that she did.  I purchased one bottle from her, and I already know that I will be getting more.  Absolutely love it.  This is what I used when cutting and pressing the pieces for Clue 1 of ORL from Bonnie Hunter.  This made the cutting and sewing so much easier. 

Clue 1, at last

I always look forward to Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt in November.  However, I never get to start on it until after the first of the year.  I am always diligent about printing each and every clue and putting them aside in a special notebook.  Since I had an unexpected day off today, I decided to get started on it.  I finished the first clue, love the way it is looking.  I switched up the colors a little, I am totally using my stash,  I decided to go with repros in blues, cheddars, and shirtings. 

Christmas Vacation Ends

All good things must come to an end, and so does this Christmas vacation, back to school tomorrow. (unless I win the lottery tonight). Every year I have these huge plans of everything I want to get done over the winter break and this year was no different.  I should know by now that 90 % of the things I want to do aren't going to get done.  Maybe my word for the year 2018 ORGANIZE will help me plan better in the future.  I have always be terrible at keeping a planner/calendar either paper or digital.  I am hoping to do better year, it isn't a resolution, just a plan.   I have always had problems being organized but the last few years it has just gotten out of hand.  I have got to do better.  I decided if I had a nice planner that would be a good start.  I bought this one a few weeks ago on sale at Michael's.  I picked this one because it had not only a calendar but additional pages for making lists and notes.  I  spent part of today making notes of all the important dates that I already know about for the year, including all of the important birthdays.  Wish me luck.

I could only do so much "organizing"  I was almost finished with this scarf and decided to finish it.  In a way that goes with "organize"  I am trying to finish some of my UFO's this year.  If I could get some of them completed I would have more room to organize things!!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, may 2018 bring you much happiness and joy.