ThanksgivingThat's Finishes

I'm a day late thanks to traveling for the holiday, but it was lovely.

These are the gifts I made for my SIL's birthday and first wedding anniversary. She'll be hosting Christmas at her house this year and I wanted her to have something elegant to enjoy.

I finally finished hand sewing the binding on my little runner. I'm not overly happy with this one, but it's finished.

That's all I've gotten done this past week. I'm hoping to finish up a few more things so I can start cleaning up all my sewing and decorate for the winter holidays.

Napkins, runners, pieces, and a baby quilt

In contrast to last week when I didn't have much to show, many things were worked on this week. First up are my fruit basket napkins. I've had two of the fabrics (blueberry and blackberry) for a couple of years and finally picked the basketweave and other fruits this summer. However they were sidelined in favor for doing projects for other people. 

 I also finished piecing the "Holiday Mystery Runner" from a Facebook group I belong to.

 It still needs sandwiched for quilting.

This runner took a front seat as it's an anniversary gift for a family member that we'll be seeing at Thanksgiving.

 There are also coordinating napkins that I started Friday, but I'm waiting on more of the silver leaf fabric to arrive.  None of the local quilt shops still had any in stock, so I had to order it online. These are the eight I've cut and started sewing already. They need trimmed, turned, and top-stitched still.

I also started some autumn napkins for myself. They're currently in the same state as the napkins pictured above.

There will be a runner like the black and red one too, but I forgot to get a picture of the cut pieces. I do have a picture of the coordinating placemats that I pieced. There are two of each.

A couple of years ago I designed a quilt top to sew for my dad. I finally figured out how I am going to do the background and cut the fabric for it. One hundred and eighty 5.5" squares in white-on-white tonal fabrics. I still need to cut the pieces for the main blocks.

Finally here is the quilt top a friend and I finished Saturday night. A mutual friend is expecting a baby girl in January and we wanted to make something for them. The mother-to-be likes deer and the nursery is going to be green. We've got a matching diaper bag in the works too. 

We're going to sandwich this quilt and another one later today. The plan for the deer quilt is I'll do the quilting and my friend will do the hand sewing on the binding. We both worked on the piecing Saturday. I made the blocks and put them in rows, then she sewed the sashing and borders. We also managed to get the center of a quilt she's been working on pieced on Saturday and some rows added to a second one she's been slowly piecing. Not sure if we're going to work on either of them again today or not.

Hopefully next week I'll have pictures of the quilting on several pieces to show you. Until then, I hope everyone has a wonderful week and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Running Late, But Still Here

After the misfortune my right shoulder caused me last weekend, I've been taking it easy all week. Mostly I've been reading. The pain finally subsided enough for me to start working on the Mystery Runner again.

 It's not much to look at yet, but I think I'm happy with the way it's turning out.

Pixel and Gus seem to be getting along better... at least when Pixel is asleep. She forgot he was on the couch too and actually snuggled him in her sleep.

That's everything I've got for this week. Hopefully next weekend I'll have something more substantial.

Forth Time's the Charm?

I tried three times to post this yesterday and I kept getting error messages when I tried to add photos.

Last Tuesday I cut the pieces for the Holiday Mystery Table Runner and put together the first clue, i.e. the sashing.

Wednesday I made myself finally start piecing yet another baby quilt that's been cut and ready to go since August. I've been dragging my feet because I'm both tired of this pattern and irritated by the poorly written instructions. But soon it won't matter anymore because I'll be finished.

 The top is done and ready to be sandwiched and quilted. I'm hoping to start that today. It will be bound in the dark brown, which will frame it nicely.

Saturday I decided I'd had enough of my windows being filthy and started cleaning them. Not a smart move whilst recovering from a torn rotator cuff. I've been in pain ever since. I've also been resting since then, but I will try to work on the baby quilt today and/or tomorrow. The next clue for the table runner comes out today so I can always play with that if the baby quilt is too heavy to work on without FH's help.

See you next week, hopefully without the technical issues!

Getting There, Almost and Finished

As the title alludes, I've worked on three projects this week. First up is the Mystery Quilt's top, now with borders and waiting for me to have help sandwiching the layers. FH is holding it up for the picture since it's too heavy for me at the moment.

 I did get the binding on my little runner too. Just need to sew it to the back by hand.

 Here's a close up of the quilting so you can see the variegated thread colors.

 And finally a set of eight placemats for a Christmas gift.

Next project goals are a baby quilt that is already cut and waiting to be pieced, finishing the binding on the little runner, and I'm doing another Mystery project. This time it's a table runner. We've already been given cutting instructions for our fabrics and get the next clue tomorrow. I haven't cut my pieces yet as my fabric is still in the wash, otherwise I'd be showing them off too.

Until next week!

Mystery Quilt - Two Thirds Done

This is late thanks to life happening, but better late than never. I'm part of a Facebook group for quilters and one of the latest projects was a mystery quilt. It's a mystery since you only start with specific yardages in light, medium, and dark fabrics and get a new "clue" (block design) each week. The title is "X Marks the Dot" and was designed by Joie Holcomb of Lamb Creek Farm Quilts and Fabrics.

Clue 1: Contrary Wife blocks

Clue 2: Eccentric Star blocks

Clue 3: 9 Patch with three fabrics

Clue 4: 9 Patch with two fabrics

Clue 5: Sashing and cornerstones.

Clue 6 is the borders and that's what I'm working on now. I still need to cut the outermost border pieces and attach them. The lighter green fabric will be the outer border. That was my project for today, but life got in the way of play time.

Then I'll piece my backing, sandwich the layers, quilt, and bind. I'm honestly not sure I can sandwich and quilt this one on my own with my shoulder still healing. I'll have to wait for a quilting friend to be free to help me before I can finish this one.

I've also fixed the batting issue with my diamond runner and quilted it. It's trimmed up and ready for binding.

That's all for this week. Hopefully next Sunday I'll have the runner bound and the mystery quilt top finished, even if it's not sandwiched/quilted. Ttfn!

Playing Around

For my birthday FH took me to the local quilt show and I picked up some fun goodies. One was a new pattern for placemats that uses fat quarters. I played with it last week after I remembered four holiday themed fat quarters and matching yardage that was just laying around in my stash.

 The cutting directions rely on the fat quarters being squared up to the same size so you can stack and whack all the pieces. Then it's simply rearranging the order of the stacks in a certain way. The pattern instructions come with a total of five variations of the design. I played with the simplest as my fabrics were fairly busy.

 I started the quilting on this runner and I'm sort of happy with it. I'm thinking about going back and putting in a thicker batting. The stitching doesn't look bad as is, but I think I'd prefer more definition.

 I know I'm going to take this one apart and put in thicker batting. Stitching in the ditch isn't even visible so nothing looks quilted. Kind of irritating, but live and learn.

 I've also done some utilitarian sewing this past week. We have a good friend, P, staying with us as he recuperates from a bad motorcycle accident. He almost lost his left foot, but doctors managed to save it. Currently the dressings leave his toes exposed and since it's getting chilly out, I made him some toe covers that fit just over the bandages without squeezing toes, cutting off circulation, or touching his heel where the skin graft is healing.

He'll be with us on and off for a couple of weeks... basically when he's not expected at one of the doctors' offices back in the city where he lives. His family all lives in this area, but none of them have first floor bathrooms or they have stairs everywhere. Eventually he'll get to go back to his apartment 100 miles or so away, but for right now he's comfortable here.

That's all for now. I've got to go up and see if P needs anything. Take care!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday and I'm feeling rather accomplished.

I've been doing a bit of sewing for one of the local quilt shops for a few weeks. Last week, I took 40 half circle napkins and six fabric bowls to them. That was in addition to the original three fabric bowls I'd made the week prior.  These are the initial three. They're autumn, sewing room, and Christmas themed respectively.

 Next came the nested, matching set featuring snowmen. I was given enough fabric to make my own set as well, plus I got to keep all the leftovers and will have enough to make a matching runner for myself!

Then came three more singletons, although two of them are similar.

And then the napkins. I swear I was making napkins in my sleep.

So that's a chunk of recent projects. Here's a look at what Pixel was sleeping on in the last post. I made this for my mother-in-law for last year's Christmas. I used the 10 degree mini wedge ruler from Phillips Fiber Art. The pattern comes with the ruler. I started one for myself and it ended up put away somewhere. It will roll out eventually and I'll finish it. It's really a fun little project.

I was able to use up the leftover strip set pieces as well by designing a coordinating runner.

Pixel really liked the runner too. I was afraid my MIL wouldn't get them in the end! Well not really, since i"m bigger than Pixel. But I digress. The runner's corners and points are all rounded off to fit the style of the table topper better. I was very pleased with the results and so was my mother-in-law. I can't wait to see them in use this Thanksgiving.

I'm off to go have fun with FH and enjoy being alive. Take care!