Some Little Projects

I've been working on a few little projects over the fall and holidays. I have made four 12" square wall hanging for my sister's room at the Nursing Home. Everyone seems to love them. I have plans for Valentine's Day, and Easter. Finally I completed two Christmas stockings using fabric and pattern from Jinny Beyer. They were somewhat complicated, but turned out very pretty. I've also made 5 blocks of a 12 month Block of the Month. This will be featured in the blog when it is complete.

Fall Sewing 2011

I've only been working on small projects for the past few months. I have made several table runners using the 90 degree ruler and border fabric. I also made two table runners for Pat.

Mondo Bag

On the Katie's Quilting Corner podcast, Katie talked about making a Mondo Bag from pattern and foundation from Quiltsmart. I like some of the Quiltsmart products and I liked the look of this bag, so I bought the pattern and one for my friend for her birthday. Here is a picture of mine. I'll add Sue's bag when we finish it. It is quite big!, but I like it a lot.

Cluck, Cluck

Mary's cousin and my friend, Kathleen, loves Roosters and has decorated her home with many roosters. When I saw this fabric and panel, I knew I wanted to make it for Kathleen. It's quilted on my machine with a simple meander. Hope she likes it !

Today is the Day

Well, actually yesterday was the day. Mary bought fabric for a quilt for her expected grand-niece back in March or April. She did not want it cut up. She loved the fabric and just wanted it quilted and made into a quilt for Sienna Joy, expected in July.
I did not post a picture because I did not want her mom to see it and ruin the surprise. Sienna was born yesterday 7/11/11 and I'm sure her mom is too busy now to read my blog, so I'm posting the picture. The fabric is Valori Wells flannel. I quilted around some of the animals and then meandered to fill in.

Garden

This colors in the garden are so inspiring. I love the tropical medley colors in the impatients.

Knitting and Charity

In May I was knitting and here are some pictures of a couple of baby gifts I made. I also made a Noah's Ark baby quilt that I gave to our guild's charity project.

Middletown Mystery Quilt - part 1

In February we started a Mystery Quilt with out guild. We choose fabrics, made some small blocks and now we are beginning to put blocks together. I'm very anxious to see how it turns out. Here are some of my blocks to date. This should be rotated to get the correct perspective, but you get the idea.

Houses

I saw this pattern in Weekend Quilts and loved it. I finally bought some batiks and made it in a few days. I really like it as a summer wall hanging. I can envision embroidering the words "Be it ever so humble" along the bottom, but that is a future project.

Summer Projects

I finished a quilt that I bought fabric for 2 years ago in Michigan. It has a fussy cut center and uses scrappy Kaffe Fassett prints. It was a pain to make because it is big and it had to be laid out to make the diamond pattern and keep the colors in the correct place. Twice I ran out of a certain color and had to order more. I finally got it pieced in May and quilted it on my Bernina. I like the quilting, which included some free-motion and some straight-line quilting. It is a lightweight quilt with only flannel as a batting. I was happy to finish this project. I used a vintage sheet as a backing, which makes it soft and light. I really like this as a summer coverup.

My beautiful new quilt

I saw this quilt about a year ago on the p s iquilt blog by Rachel Griffith. Rachel designed the quilt using the fabrics - Rouenneries by French General for Moda. I fell in love with the pattern and colors. I made the quilt in the fall of 2010, but did not get it quilted until spring 2011. It was quilted by Laurel Cook and it is exquisitely quilted, however, I did learn a lesson on this quilt. If I had studied Rachel's quilt closer, I'd have seen that she just quilted it with on overall Rose pattern. I had mine custom quilted and although it is lovely, the quilting blends into the quilt to the point that it really does not enhance the overall look of the quilt. The patterns in the fabric are dominant, and the quilting blends in. I don't think I would have liked the quilt at all, if I had made the quilting dominant by using a darker thread,because that would have detracted from the fabrics. The quilting does not take away from the quilt, it just does not add anything that an overall pattern would not have provided. The border quilting does show up. This custom quilting was additional cost for no additional beauty, in my opinion. Lesson learned. There is a time for custom quilting. I've had it done on other quilts and it made the quilt. More is not always better, just more.

A Long Break

I have not posted to this blog for a few months. It's not that I've have not been sewing at all, but I haven't finished anything completely until yesterday. I did a little gift sewing over the winter. I made Mug Rugs in February and some grocery totes in March. I've also been knitting. I finished a little Schnibbles Quilt and it is pictured here. The Schnibbles are designed by Miss Rosie Quilts, who defines a schnibble as follows: Schnibble: noun A scrap of fabric; a leftover bit of cloth; a small piece. The word has a German origin and is found primarily in German settlements in the Midwest. These are little quilts, less than a yard square. This one is hanging in the powder room. I also have another quilt completed except for the binding. And I have another on the design wall.

I'm sorry to have missed the Red and White Quilt Show in NYC last weekend. The pictures on blogs make it look breathtaking.

What have I been Up To?

It's been a long time since I added anything to this blog. I did take some time off from sewing over Christmas and January, but before Christmas I completed two quilt tops. I'll post those after they are quilted. Since Christmas, I've been doing a lot of knitting. I made several caps and two pair of socks. At least I've almost finished the second pair. Here is a picture of two of my knitting projects. Also, I made a felted wool pin cushion that was a kit given to me for Christmas. And last night I finally went back to the sewing machine and stitched the Mary Engelbreit Christmas Book shown. I plan to get back into sewing, but knitting is a nice activity for sitting in front of the TV.