Finished up!

Another Finish it up Friday. I actually finished all these last weekend, no time for sewing during the week.


I love these table mats. I only completelely finished one, but I have 6 other tops that just need some backing. Hmmmm.....all the reindeer heads were cut off-I had better keep an eye on that!







I also finished a Christmas table runner. I think it needs to be a different shape, but it's a good practice piece.

I linked to Crazy Mom Quilts

Table Cloths

Although I had visitors on Saturday and had to work on Sunday, I still had a pretty productive sewing weekend! These projects were fun and so quick.

First, I made this reversable table-cloth-fall/Thanksgiving on one side and winter/Christmas on the other! I didn't put any batting or anything in it, just sewed the two pieces front sides together, turned it right side out and did a zig-zag stitch around the edge. Wo-la! A new table-cloth!

Our house is on the market so they made me clean up my sewing corner. Therefore I now sew in the dining room. I made a nice little ironing surface there next to my chair, and I have my computer sitting on a stool. I found a great site with free audio books to download, I downloaded "Jane Eyre" and was listening to that while sewing. I haven't read that book for many years. What a great find, I listened to 23 of 38 chapters so far and hope to finish it up tonight.

I saw this adorable Sponge Bob Christmas fabric at JoAnn's the other day, for 40% off, plus I had a 25% off entire purchase coupon so picked up a few yards. My husband loves Sponge-Bob, and Patrick. I paired this with fabric I picked up from the red-tag bin at JoAnn for about $2/yard a year or 2 ago. I will be sending this to him at school-I think he'll get a kick out of it, and I'm guessing it will probably stay on the Christmas side year-round.

I finished my two sided table mat. The center is not very flat and I did a horrible job on the binding-good thing this one is my practice one, so it will stay at my house. They are so cute though, I'm going to give it another try. I also put some fleece on the back of a large 9 patch made with Christmas fabric. Not sure if I like it or not, but it could also be a table mat-or I could do the same with a few other blocks I have done and they could be place-mats. I didn't take any pictures.

So many great ideas for quick Christmas gifts. I have to start early as I will be spending 36 days with my hubby in FL over Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm thinking about taking my sewing machine with me.

Teenage Werewolf

I made this costume for my friend's daughter-she is going as a teenage werewolf. She wanted an expensive store-bought hood/scarf thing but instead I purchased some faux-fur at Joann's with a coupon and used some left over black fleece I had on hand (10 years old!) and whipped this up for her. The fur only cost about $7 and I have quite a bit left over. I added some fur to her skirt and made a pair of leggings that will fit above her boots. I also added a little glove thing on the back of the 'paws' so she can slip her hand in there (like the one she wanted to buy). I can't wait to see her in it!

It matches Josie the cat!

Here is the hood up close.

Hmmm... the white Pointer dog shed on it. This will also keep her warm Halloween night.

I'm linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts finish it up Friday. Now that this is done hopefully I can finish quilting the quilt I'm working on and have pictures of that next Friday.

I MUST start labeling my quilts!

My friend's mom received her "inspiration" quilt-she loves it by the way-and her other daughter asked "where did Tracey buy this?" Ummmm....it's time to start putting labels on quilts. But, WOW! she thought it was store bought? I guess she didn't notice the thousand imperfections-woo hoo!

Off for more Halloween costume making! I'll post pictures of the great "Teenage werewolf" costume I'm making for my friends daughter-too cute!

Holiday Table Mats

I LOVE these! Tutorial here. Thanks Love Laugh Quilt. I think I may make some like she does with the fleece backing, but I also like the idea of making it two sided like this.

I think the fabrics I chose are a bit too busy, next time I'll choose some that are a bit more solid and aren't directional. They are a great first try though, and hardly took any time (or fabric!) at all. Without having to get a beverage, use the bathroom and re-wind a bobbin I could probably get a top done in 1/2 an hour, and it will be an easy "assembly line" project for Christmas gifts. One side can be Christmas, and the other just winter for the rest of the winter-or send them for Thanksgiving.

Here's the fall side:

Here's the Christmas side before I sewed it together, hmmmmmmm.......not sure why I didn't take a picture of the finished side.

I love all the great ideas and instructions you can find on the internet!

Inspiration!

My friend's mother has been very ill so I wanted to make her a nice lap quilt to remember that those of us far away are thinking of her. I based it on this pattern. I did buy the pattern but I wanted it more a lap size so I added a column, added sashing in between the columns, and made the side borders 1.5 inches wider than called for. The top is ready to be sandwiched and quilted. I think it turned out nice. My rotary cutter blade was REALLY dull so it made it difficult to cut the squares/triangles very accurately so my points are not lining up very well, hopefully she won't notice too much!

I embroidered words of inspiration in the white squares. Faith, Peace, etc. This one is "healing".

Get well soon Velma!

What I did this summer

Obviously not post anything!

I picked huckleberries-yum! This was from just one of 4 outings!

I floated-A LOT!

I think I have spent more time on the water this summer than in the last three combined. Once summer finally got here it has been just beautiful weather.

I also got some sewing done.

I made a plastic bag holder.

I love this and may make a few for Christmas gifts.

I sewed some dog treat and pick-up bag bags-no I don't use the same bag for both!



I used patterns I found here.

Here's a set I made that you can put around your waist like a fanny pack and clip the pick-up bag holder to the treat bag strap. I love these and have used them often.

I purchased a fabric bundle of fat quarters from JoAnn Fabric, using a 50% off coupon so 5 fat quarters for $5! I have made 3 treat bags and 2 pick-up bag bags and have not even used up 2 fat quarters-how awesome is that! I used some left over table-cloth material for the inside of the treat bag.

I also made some pillow cases to match the quilt I made last year-Finally! I don't know why I procrastinated on that, they are so easy to whip up.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to our sweet Jazzy-kitty in August. Her kidneys finally gave out.

RIP sweet girl.

Auction quilt was done in time!

I actually had the quilt done in time for the race this year-woot! It turned out very nice-if I do say so myself.

Here's a picture showing the back.

The backing is fabric that I found in the red tag bin at JoAnn's-I love it and I think it looks great on this quilt. I will definitely be using this pattern again.

2011 Auction Quilt

I think I'm going to use this for my auction quilt this year. The last two year's I've auctioned a quilt to raise funds for a local youth home. I'm also going to try to run the entire half marathon, if my ankle ever heals.

I used Amanda Jean's pattern. She calls it Long Division. This isn't all stash but mostly. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the back yet, but I'm sure I'll use some scraps from top.



I LOVE this quilt! I think it would look great on a bed in cabin.

The fun thing about trying to use your stash is that you find all kinds of fabric you didn't even realize you had! This quilt has fabric from the very first quilt I made, from several little purses, and from quilts that I have made for my sisters.

This quilt measure 91.5X 83. I didn't do too well on my seam allowances so it's not the size I thought it would be but it still turned out well. I added an additional light strip and an additional strip of 11.5. I also increased the light rows to 7 across and medium/dark rows to 14.

I cut and pieced this entire top over the weekend! A VERY quick and easy pattern-just the kind I like.

This year I'm gong to have my quilt done and ready before the auction even starts!

Blast of winter!

It was rainy and 42 degrees yesterday. Today is in the teens, snowy and windy. I wish I had a big quilt to work on today, it would be so much warmer having a quilt over my lap while I work on it, than sitting here at the computer with a heater on my feet. I have other work to finish and I'm planning my next auction quilt.

I feel like sewing but it's too ugly to go out and shop for some fabric. Hmmmmmmmm.........maybe I have something around here to sew a few neck pillows or purses or something.

A perfect sewing day.

Thinsulate not so thin

A relative of mine works at 3M-where they make Thinsulate. They can't sell any of the bolt after testing it so they give it to employees. She gave me this huge roll-I think it's about 105" long and many yards wide-it should last quite a while. Here's the roll as I tried to pull some off for the man-quilt.


Right now it is in the 2nd bathroom. It is wet ouside, I can't carry it, I have to drag it, so I needed to store it somewhere where the cats can't get to it. Since I'm here alone no one uses that bathroom. I will have to drag it out when I want to take a soak!

Not sure why they call it THINsulate.


I just googled Thinsulate to make sure that was the name of it (can't find the label) and found some really awful reveiws! "They" claim it shifts too much and is hard to quilt and is made for clothing more than for quilts. I haven't had any problems and I think I've used it for 3 full sized quilts. All I know is that it has sure saved me a LOT of money! And will continue for many quilts to come.

Done & Shipped!

I finished the man-quilt! I finished hand sewing the binding this morning, took a couple pictures and put it in a box and had it to the PO before 1:00. He should have it early next week. I hope it stays cold!

Quilts are much thicker when you tie them.

Here's the front:


And the back.



I really like it. I was surprised how long it took to tie. I don't think I'll do that again, although you never know. It was nice to be able to tie while snuggled with my Minnie Moo and watching tv-can't do that when machine quilting.

A Day Late and a Binding Short!

Well, I'm a day late for the Challenge, and not finished! I realized Sunday night that I had used the fabric I was going to use for my binding on the back of the quilt. It was too late to run out and get some fabric and I didn't have anything on hand that I liked. So I had to put it away.

I stopped and picked up some fabric for the binding after work on Monday, came home and cut it, pieced it, ironed it and sat down to pin it to the quilt. I got 2 pins in and the phone rang. It was my sister. I haven't talked to her since Christmas so a 2.5 hour conversation ensued! ACK! Although I didn't get the binding sewn on, I did get it pinned on and clipped all my ties while talking to her.

I was determined to finish tonight, but alas another phone call! This time my niece called, and an hour and a half conversation ensued. Then DH called, and another 45 min. on the phone! My ear is numb!

Anyhow, with all that talking the quilt isn't finished, but it's real close.



I don't normally spend so much time on the phone, but January has been over the top busy at work so I haven't spoken to any family-missing a quilt deadline is certainly worth catching up with those I love! Hmmmmmm.........maybe I need to do the calling next month.

Dang! The link is closed. Oh well, maybe next time. I'm not too embarrassed, it looks like 40 other people were late too!

Congratulations to all those who met their goal-AND got the results posted!

Man Quilt

My DH is off to school. He took our old quilt that is literally threadbare, with him. I decided he needed a quilt of his own. It is cold there so I needed to get it done quick! I decided on this pattern-I love this pattern. It is so easy and quick. I pieced the top and the back over the weekend. Thanks AmandaJean!




The focus fabric is from The Last Frontier line at robertkaufman.com

I'm not quite done. I am actually going to TIE it, not machine quilt. I'm not sure why, it just seems that it should be tied. My challange this week (check out Amy's Creative Side) is to get this tied, bound and MAILED.

Here is Josie helping me lay it out.

Here is Minnie and Jazzy checking it out-the only one that hasn't tried this out yet is Colt.

As I was pinning I looked over and there was Minnie sucking away! ACK! She has "issues" and sucking blankets is how she seems to sooth herself.

Minnie loves this quilt too!


Changes I made to this pattern-my stips for the pieced border are made from fat quarters and the stips measured about 11 to 12 inches. I didn't worry about them being the same length. I also made the inside and outside borders wider than the pattern called for. I wanted this to fit a queen bed. My finished quilt will be about 81"x91".