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Saturday, December 23, 2017

Halo Medallion Flimsy


Today I completed the Halo Medallion for month 12.

How does it look? Do you notice anything missing? I didn't put a floater between the flying geese and the Delectable Mountains. When I figured the size for a floater, it would have been 1/4" finished. That is crazy. I decided to leave it out. The border fit perfectly, so I decided that I could do without it.

I will be loading this on the long arm when we get back from our Christmas trip. See you all in the next year.

Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Halo Medallion

   I worked on the last installment of the Halo Medallion BOM from The Quilt Show. The last step is to construct the four corner blocks, attach the floater, and then the outer borders. I have very little sewing time remaining this year. My sewing time is precious. I spent Sunday working on the four Ohio Star corner blocks.

    I took my time. I was very pleased with my progress. Perfect points. Oh joy.
Aren't these great? Perfect points. Did I say that twice? It rarely happens, so it deserves to be repeated. So cute. Ready to attach to the Delectable Mountain borders. Oh oh. They are supposed to be 6.5". 

These are perfect 6" blocks. Doh. When I printed the patterns, the shrink to fit box was checked. Oh no. This hasn't happened all year in any other installments. I don't know how the wrong box was checked, but it was.

Now, I will have to print out the foundations again, carefully checking to see that they are the correct size. I am pretty sure I have enough fabric to re-do these. Oy vey. I REALLY wanted to have this flimsy sewn during 2017. Very little sewing time remaining considering our holiday travel plans. More to come.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Wanna Build a Snowman?

I had room for another project on my wide backing that is loaded on my Lucey, so I added this wallhanging. It is called "Wanna Build a Snowman" and can be found here.

The pattern came as a 21" wide project. I wanted it to cover my fuse box and I have a 42" space. I took the pattern to the UPS store and had it enlarged by 200%. Now it is the perfect size.

 This one is all free motion, so hardly any ruler work. I only needed to use my straight ruler for the SID on the inner border and the piano key border on the outer border.





This is a fused applique project. I didn't zigzag it on the DSM so I quilted around each piece in addition to the FMQ.

My favorite part was working on the fringe on the scarf. This was a fun project. It is still on the machine because I have room for one more project on that backing. Yes, I am lazy. And also frugal.

Thanks for stopping by.


Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Kitty Caddy Clutch

The Fat Quarter Shop is presenting another fun project. It is the Kitty Caddy Clutch. If you follow me on Instagram, you have seen some of these pictures before. The pattern is by Stacy Iest Hsu and can be found here. The pattern includes both a kitty and a puppy version, but I stayed with the kitty version. Little Missy is definitely a cat person.

First, I chose fabric with a kitty theme. I found this bundle at FQS.
Very cute 30's style fabrics. I would have preferred to use Woof, Woof, Meow, but it wasn't available when I was working on the project.

Stacy's pattern was easy to follow.

Here is the interior panel. I haven't put in a zipper in years. I quit making clothes years ago. Following the pattern instructions made it a breeze.



Here is the exterior panel. The pattern called for embroidery of the face. I was lazy and used my Pentel Gel Pen instead. I used a Pigma Pen in red to lightly color in the nose. It is a little more red than I had intended.



The two panels are put together with binding. No turning inside out is required. The cute mouse pincushion is attached by its tail when sewing the binding.



If I had thought more carefully when cutting my fabric, I would have chosen to have the green kitty themed fabric on the outside. Oh well. The purple is cute. 


Cute little mousey. I didn't find the video until after I had finished the mouse. Find it here.



Thanks to the Fat Quarter Shop for presenting another fun project. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, October 29, 2017

September Sunrise

This was a great weekend. I was able to put September Sunrise on the longarm. I got it quilted, labeled, and bound.

September Sunrise was designed by Debbie Caffrey. I bought a kit from Craftsy on sale. I think it was a great deal.



I used an overall edge to edge pantograph. I used Glide thread in Sand. The batting was Quilter's Dream 70/30. We hung it behind the dining table. I am thrilled to see it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, October 16, 2017

Serendipity Finish

I finished Serendipity yesterday. It is bound and labeled. Phew!




I used Glide thread in silver. This gives the look of metallic thread without all of the problems that come with metallics.

Monday, September 18, 2017

Lady of the Lake Bound

This is actually my first finish for this year, unless you count my sewing room clock. This is the first quilt. It is a large lap size.


It was a nice sunny day to take a picture on the deck.


 I used the pantograph called Star Dance. I made a navy binding with a red flange.


I found a new pen that I love for labels. It is the Pentel Gel Roller pen for fabric. It writes really smoothly. It is much easier to write with than any other I have used on fabric.

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, September 8, 2017

Lady of the Lake Quilt Along Finish

What a great pattern to use in this QAL. Thanks, FQS. I have been working on blocks for the Lady of the Lake QAL.


Here are the blocks on my design wall. I have decided on this setting for the quilt.


I completed adding the setting triangles and border. This is now ready to go on the long arm.


I think it looks great with my scrappy flag pillows.

Thanks to FQS for such a great pattern for this quilt along. Thank you for letting me participate.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Serendipity Off the Frame

I finished quilting Serendipity this weekend. I took Serendipity off the frame and turned it to complete the side borders. I only pinned one side and let the quilt drape down on the other side. I just used some clips to give some tension. It was looser than usual, but it worked. Was I just being lazy, or is that how other long armers would do it?



It is now off the frame and trimmed.




Now I have to soak it to remove the blue marks and get some black fabric to make the binding. Phew. That one was a long time coming.

Thanks for stopping by.

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Lady of the Lake Quilt Along

Hey Everyone,
   Fat Quarter Shop has a great quilt along called Lady of the Lake. I remember seeing this block a long time ago, but haven't thought about it in years. It is a very traditional block. Visually, it is very striking. It is great as a scrappy project or in a planned colorway.

I chose to use my highly valued fat quarters of Indigo Crossing (Minick and Simpson) that I have been hoarding, hiding, petting, lusting over, holding for the perfect project.
Fabrics selected from Indigo Crossing

A few beiges that are being saved for another project


I am using my stash to supplement and make a patriotic red, white, and blue colorway. What fun.

As always, FQS provides the best instructions, including pressing directions. That always boggles my mind when I have to try to figure it out myself. My time has been really tight, but I had time to whip up seven blocks in one afternoon.

Seven completed blocks - 12" finished


I have all of my fabric cut and ready to go. I plan to finish the lap quilt size (18 blocks). I am looking forward to putting this out when I hang my Uncle Sam wallhanging and put out my scrappy flag pillows in the summer.


More blocks ready to sew

Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Serendipity

I haven't finished any quilts this year. It is nearly September. What have I been doing? Lots of piecing. I have finished several tops, but no quilting finishes. What's the story?

The last time I blogged about Judi Madsen's Serendipity was in February here. I was so in love with this project, I couldn't wait to get it done.

Since I still work full-time, my only sewing time is on the weekend. I spend every available minute in my sewing room on weekends. I actually resent when any event intrudes on my sewing time, no matter what it is. Each weekend, I get as much done as I can, and then resume the next weekend. I just dive in and take up where I left off.

One weekend, I went at it. Pebble, pebble, pebble. Great. Doesn't this look great?


Uh oh. Look again. The previous weekend, I hadn't completed tracing the pattern onto the quilt top. I inadvertantly pebbled over areas that were supposed to be unquilted. What to do? Do I repeat the mistake in the remaining two feature blocks so it won't look like a mistake? No. These are the main part of the design of the quilt. I knew I would hate it every time I looked at it. Rip out? All those tiny stitches? I couldn't face that huge mistake and fix it. I spent several months ignoring the problem. Every time I went to my sewing room, I walked past it. I couldn't bear to spend precious time in my happy space ripping out tiny, tiny stitches.


Several times I would make myself work on it for an hour. I always ended up with a backache. The pain became another excuse to ignore it. I finally kicked myself in the butt and started working on it. I took the quilt off the frame so I could handle it better. I spent a couple of intense days picking out stitches and threads. I was so afraid that I would poke a hole in the fabric with my ripper, but I don't think I did.


 This is what the design is supposed to look like. Much better.


 I hope the holes will close up when I soak the quilt to block and remove the blue marker.




Back to work. Progress is finally being made.







I have finished the bottom border. Now it is time to turn the quilt so I can work on the sides. That's my plan for Labor Day weekend.

Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Zoo Nouveau Update

I am still working on the Zoo Nouveau installment for this month. I attached shisha mirrors to the bitty blocks. I am happy with that part of the project.
 

I have not completed the embellishments of the butterfly blocks. I am hesitant to use beads because I am not sure what will be required in subsequent blocks. I am mostly using embroidery to embellish the butterflies.
 This block is completed.
 This block needs more embroidery. I am most pleased with the butterfly body on this block.
 This block is complete. I worked on this one first. I thought the french knots on the body looked like he has the measles. I added some whip stitching. This is my least favorite of all three.

I hope the embellishments will take attention away from the terrible DSM quilting. I can't do DSM free motion quilting. That is why I bought a long arm machine. Unfortunately, this project can't be quilted on a long arm. I will persevere.

Thanks for stopping by.