Wednesday, December 19, 2018

What am I thankful for?

This is the napkin I had for dinner tonight and it got me to thinking. 


Today my quilt-y friends and I celebrated Christmas together, so I have to say I am thankful for great friends that share my love of quilting.

They are very talented.






(apparently I did not take pictures of all our show-n-tell)

....and very generous with gift giving


So many great gifts from quilt-y stuff to some good smelling stuff.  

Thanks gals.

It was a fun afternoon with good food, drinks, chatter, and going through Nancy's scrap bag!  :D

Now we are to the countdown of Christmas.  It's going to be busy around here for the next couple of days and then once it is all over......I'll be heading to the sewing room.  



Monday, December 17, 2018

I broke down.....

.........
.....and baked a batch of cookies.


I've had a taste for some Molasses Spice Cookies.

I've never made them before, so this is a first for me.  Found the recipe on-line.  I couldn't wait to try it out, so I ate it steaming hot.  It WAS steaming hot, but pretty good.  Still, I would like some that are even more molasses-y and spicy.  

I guess I will still keep looking for a recipe.  Don't worry though...these won't go to waste.  I am sure they will be gone before Christmas.  

Friday, December 14, 2018

Final stitch

Put the final stitch in the Christmas socks last night and got all the loose ends woven in.



Now I am ready for a cozy night in front of the fireplace  during the holidays.....maybe with a hot cocoa with a peppermint stick in it.  

I am pretty proud of myself that I got the stripes to line up with each sock fairly well.  Normally, I would have just knit whatever came along next.  So, I guess my knitting skills are improving.  

Guess I had better get to gift wrapping so I can get all the gifts under the tree before the last minute. 

Enjoy your weekend.  

Saturday, December 8, 2018

Final projects before the holidays,....

I think.

I tell myself these are the final ones, but you never know.

Just took this quilt off the long arm.  


It's a variation of a split rail  done up from an exchange of Christmas fat quarters.  My customer, Heather, has had it in her stash for some time and this year was the year to get to it and get it done.

I used the "Flurry" pantograph to quilt this one.....


....using So Fine thread in a darker tan color to go along with the backing which was an ivory "cuddle" fabric.


I just love how it looks on the cuddle fabric. 

For myself (even though I said I wouldn't pick up another knit project until I worked through a problem on a cowl that I had started), I picked up my Christmas yarn for a pair of socks.  We will be taking a little road trip and I thought it would be a good idea to work on something easy while going along on the ride.


I fell in love with this yarn that I saw on Etsy from a shop called DyeforEwe and I just couldn't resist.  It looks good enough to eat ....or at least makes me want to eat some candy canes.  These will be fun to make and as you can see, I have gotten quite a bit done already  before even leaving for our little road trip.  Oh well, there's always the second sock to work on. 

That's it for now.  

The house is decorated, the tree is up and decorated, the Christmas cards are sent, menu is being made up for  Christmas Eve dinner (cookies are at the bottom of the list since we DO NOT need any cookies in this house!!, but I may break down and make a few), Christmas concert schedules are marked on the calendar for all the grandkids.....Christmas will be here before you know it.  

Here's hoping you are ready for the holidays, too.  





Sunday, December 2, 2018

Photo finishes...... (photo heavy)

Spin-Stitch poncho is complete.





















Big Wool yarn, Cara Sweater went from skeins to sweater in one week.



After completing the Cara sweater, I decided to weave in a million and one threads (or so it  felt)  so I can call the Caramel sweater done.


Blocking it here.


Ready to wear on our beautiful 51* day in December.




Linked Up is on and off  the long arm.



 ....and  bound.



Binding is made for Kira and completed.



Then there was this belated wedding quilt (2 years ago) that I needed to somewhat deconstruct (make smaller), quilt and bind for a friend.  It's a bit under wraps because it is going to be gifted but I just had to share the pantograph
I am using called "Cupid".  Perfect, right?



It, too, is bound and will be off to the customer this week.  



From the left over blocks that I had removed from the wedding quilt, I threw together a top with some added solids and quilted it with a minky backing.  Their little one-year-old is going to have a quilt just like mama and daddy.






Now I am ready to get this house prepped for the holidays.   

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Need I say more?

Got stuck on the second Section of the Rikaart cowl.


So picked up this oversized sweater called Cara and got one whole skein knitted.



.....and while doing that, the mailman came with this great self-striping yarn from DyeForEwe for a pair of Christmas socks.


I have nothing to say for myself.

Sunday, November 4, 2018

Sew-In day with the guild.

Things never got unpacked from retreat earlier this week.  So I  loaded everything in the car again and  headed over to our guild's Sew-In day on Saturday.  I continued working on my Linked-Up quilt and got all the sashings on.  

We had a vendor at our Sew-In who has been slowly going out of business (retiring along with medical reasons), so everything that she brought that day was marked down significantly.  We were her LAST vending arena; and she said she didn't want to take anything back home with her. We made quite a dent, but there was still plenty of fabric to be packed up again.  


From left to right....the check fabric is a total of 5 yards for the back of my Linked-Up quilt for a whopping $15; the next one was a yard of blue tiny dots to be used for the border of Linked-Up for $3; two yards of the blue for pillowcases ($6); white fabric with red squares just because ($3); the next two fat quarters were for a basket quilt that is a "want to make in the future" and  the light FQ is a just because for $3.  

The center of the quilt was completed at the Sew-In.


Tonight I completed the two borders for the quilt.
There's my tiny dot fabric for the outer border.  Not a bad match.




All this just to stash bust my charm pack.  Who would have thought I would have to buy 4 1/2 yards of sashing, a yard for a border and five yards for backing.  Oh well......I have  a quilt that is ready for the long arm.  

One other thing that I just touched on this weekend was the red/white/blue fq's that I cut up on the Accuquilt.  I cut a bunch of them in their 3 1/2" lengths and started putting them together to get an idea of how it will look.


I think this will make up a cute little quilt  or maybe just a table topper; but this is just for when I need to do some mindless sewing.  

I am somewhat caught up on quilting other than a customer quilt.  Now I have the knitting projects calling my name.  

Hmmm...what will win out?




Friday, November 2, 2018

Where has the week gone?

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I was at a mini retreat with my gal pals.  I was almost to the point of thinking that it wasn't worth going to since we were showing up at 11:00 on Monday and then leaving already midday on Wednesday.  In my head I felt like I only had one full day of sewing.  

I was wrong though.  

I got plenty done  and there was lots of sewing happening.



This was my work station.

Here's a pic of the quilt that I was working on. 



I put it  together from start to "almost" finish.  It is called Linked Up.  The pattern was found on YouTube and it is a Missouri Star quilt using a charm pack.  Check it out.  It was super easy.

I say "almost" because most charm packs come with 42 charms and mine only had 40, so I had to come home and find a couple more fabrics that would go with it before I could complete the last row.....and I have to do some shopping around for a print border to totally complete this top.

Now....for someone who says she is trying to use up her stash, where is the sense in using up a "charm pack" when you have to go out and buy 4 1/2 yards just to make all the sashings and still have to buy the final border?  Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.  Oh well.

I, also, put in a little time on my "pluses". 

(no pix at this time)

One of these days this quilt will be done. 

At the retreat we were gifted some fat quarters thanks to Nancy's generosity (or maybe it's just because she is just trying to whittle down HER stash). 



Anyways....whatever the reason, I have decided to do a simple little quilt that she showed us at retreat, so for a "sew-in day" that I will be attending on Saturday, I have cut the FQs up in 2" strips and will work on that quilt hopefully. 



Then to top it all off, after getting home from retreat, I got myself over to my favorite yarn shop (Ewe-nique Knits) to look for buttons for my poncho AND went with a pattern to look for yarn for an oversized sweater I wanted to make.  

I left there looking like a bag lady filling my bag with goodies.



I found my buttons.


Found my yarn for my oversized sweater (bulky)


.....and bought yarn for another sweater I have been wanting to make, too. 


Like I don't have enough to do, right?

I'll check back in after tomorrow's sew-in day and fill you in on anything new.  

For now, it's over and out as I have to get up earlier for more sewing.   ðŸ˜Š





Sunday, October 28, 2018

Keeping busy.....

Trying to complete the Spin-Stitch Poncho I found myself running out of yarn.  Yikes!  I bought this yarn back in Philadelphia last year at the yarn expo, so I didn't expect that I would find another skein to match perfectly. So, nearing the end, I started weighing yarn after each 12-row repeat to see if I was going to make it.  As it turned out, I had to cut back one whole repeat (12 rows) and the final section I ended cutting back 2-3 rows so I would have enough to bind off.

This is cutting it close. 


I was hoping that once I blocked it, I would reach my 22" x 51" that was required. 

It worked out once I soaked it and started pinning it to the blocking boards.


Here's a close up of how pretty this lace opens up once blocked.


Once dry, this will be folded in half and buttons will be added to make it a "poncho".  

I originally saw this made up and draped over a jean jacket, so that is the plan once I get to wear it.  

So for now, I am taking it off the blocking boards, folding it up and setting it aside until I can get to the yarn shop and audition different buttons for the closure.  

Today I am packing up for my mini retreat and once back I can devote some time to finishing this knit project along with some quilty ones, too.  

Have a great week!







Michigan quilters, take note

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