February accomplishments

Yup, didn't quite get everything on my list accomplished but came so close that I'm happy,  extremely happy!

#1- I only got one color section quilted but the quilting design is top notch and I'm so happy with it.  What do you think?  My question now is for the diamond center, should I add another stitching surround within it?
Those feathered fat commas surrounding and spinning around the diamond is not my own design.  I did see a quilt with this on it at the Malone Quilt Show and snapped a picture.  Of Course after much distortion I had to draw it out and then go to my local copy center and have them print it to a 9 1/4" inch size when I was happy with it.  Then to make a template and mark the top was a learning experience in itself.
I know many of you  love those Frixion pens, but I personally don't care for them since where I live is in a cold climate for 5-6 months out of the year and I will even keep a quilt or two in the car for travel.  That being said those pen lines will surely reappear continuously and I can't have that.  I did use a chalk pencil for this first block and am thinking of trying the pounce with the iron off chalk for the next colored block to speed that process up.

While taking the photos, I couldn't see any of the stitching  or even that much chaulk left remnants, that's why I laid the stencil I cut on top so you could see the quartered design.   It really shows up differently here.  

 I'll be washing this quilt out after all the quilting is done.

Should another design be added to the centered diamond quilted shape?  

#2- Baby doll quilt that matches the baby quilt I made last fall was Totally done!  This was a first for me making those scrap bits of fabric into blocks to add to the fabric when I didn't have enough charm sized squares left.  Mile a minute block is what they are called I believe. Not bad if I do say so,  now all of that fabric is completely used up.  What a great feeling about that.  It also used pink for the backing which was the color for February in the RBSC another plus in my book.

The second blue colored row has a mismash of fabrics sewn together to get enough for the row.  

Cute messages about family, love and friends written on the white cloth strips.

Baby Quilt with a matching doll blanket for when the child grows up she'll have a blanket for her dollies like she had.
I think with the 24" x 24" size this could also double as the infant carrier cover first.

#3- Check!  Got all the white stitched on but there's a stitch count off somewhere in the snow area.  Don't know if it'll be crucial to repair since snow blows all over the place around here.  Think I'll try to work on the rest of this corner this next week to see what should be done as whether to rip it out or keep it and make it work.

#4- Check!  Made 36 HST with the pink, (four made of each pink fabric).  Glad I am keeping up with this challenge so far this year.

#5- Check!  Made a total of  7  pincushions.  Will be back to share those later on this week.



#6- Check! The Round House by Louise Erdrich was a good book that I enjoyed. Near the end of the book the main character was making 12 peanut butter and pickle sandwiches for a road trip.  Jackpot I thought!  That combination in a sandwich is one I have loved since I was a little girl.  I kid you not.  Peanut butter sandwiches with thin slices of Kosher Dill pickle are great.  So for a snack at our book club meeting, I made little sandwiches for the members to try.  One didn't care for them, 2 wouldn't even try them and some thought they were good and several ladies loved them.    More of the members loved them than didn't so that book and I have converted some more palettes to this combo.  Insert wicked laugh here.  Maw Haaaa!

Enjoy Your day.  Jane

Make a list Monday

Hope to get these six things done by next week:

1- Quilt 4 different colored blocks of the 40 diamond quilt
2- Quilt the doll quilt from the Wee Wander scraps I just threw together/
3- Stitch all the white on the bottom left corner of the  CXS Lizzie Kate Winter Alphabet
4- Cut some pink scraps for the RBSC and make some HST units.
5- Make pincushions, another idea
6- Finish reading The Round House by Louise Erdrich (am midpoint right now).




Remember how I said that one wool was shedding terribly several weeks ago while working on the candle mat?  While visiting with my friend Carole, she gave me a different piece of the same wool to use and just to be sure, I pulled out my needle punch foot with the coordinating stitch plate and felted the heck out of it just to be sure.  Worked like a charm.  It really changed the clarity of the houndstooth print  Since that foot combination was out, I photographed them and pulled the other Bernina accessories I own out and share how I store them.





This bead box purchased at Michaels is perfect for the majority of feet and makes it a quick access since they set on a shelf right behind my sewing chair.  The Bernina Feetures Books, the 1-3 set on the bottom shelf just below the feet for quick access.  It's amazing how many times I'll pull out these books for a reference.

Some of the feet came with each of my two Berninas and most of the rest were purchased at Quilt Shows with a 25% off and then some others when the Bernina LQS offered a 30% discount including Bernina Accessories.   A win - win for sure!
Of course I've been collecting them since my first Bernina 170 back in the 1990s and when I upgraded I made sure the feet would transition to the newer Bernina 440.   The most expensive of these was the binding foot combo which was close to $160 when purchased, that is if my memory serves me correctly.  That one was a "Non-smoking Gift to myself" to justify the expense.

I have been enjoying a quiet day home alone today.  That doesn't happen too often.   Seems nice to have the house stay picked up and clean without more effort needed.  Typically I am picking up discarded papers left on the counter, closing doors, cabinets and drawers left open, wiping up coffee spills, etc.... and that is just DH's doing not the grandchildren!  They'll all be here tomorrow so I'm getting off this thing and going to read in the silence and enjoy it immensely.  TTFN.

Blues making me happy and January's summation.

Blues are making me very happy this month.  The RBSC has been a great incentive to work through some of my blue scraps. Those 2 additional projects I mentioned several weeks ago that were a brain glimmer are now done.  Yippee!

Another snap bag, this time to hold those electronic adapters in the den near the computer.
For this I used the selvages of the fabric as the pull tabs to open the bag with.  
Ahhh,  gotta love a Free spirit fabric and especially since it has Nap Sack written there for all to see.  lol

The other blue remnant that was used was an apron panel thrown into the scrap basket.
So I rummaged through my stash for a different blue suitable for the lining and voila.
Another languishing pig is DONE!  That's 6 pigs done this month!
I think this PIG may very have been at least 12-15 years old if not older.   Sad isn't it that it took so long.

The directions says Winter Wonderland Apron, but I think it more Christmas themed.  

The only weird thing is that it has two Santa-s with sleds directionally heading right for each other.  

The fabric looks black here but trust me, it's dark navy.

The pin dot is what was used for the lining.  Any leftover navy pin dot will be used to make some more HST units for another community quilt project.   I'm on a new kick with making those HST units. For the apron it seemed easiest to sew right sides together then flip it inside out to finish with a top stitch.

Since it's finished, I'll pack it away for Christmas 2015.    Happy !

So the tally made for January is:
 1 circle ear bud zippered pouch,
4 snap bags,
1 apron,
10 quilt blocks for the RBSC and
more blues are ironed and cut so they're ready for a quick use  at a later time,



Made some hats with the grand children for the kitchen island's illuminated Birch tree.


 It's so cute!   There are 6 hats hanging on it now and I thought some ice skates or mittens out of felt could be made next year to continue the winter  theme .


Also finished reading the book: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, a nice read.  (Pulled me in quickly but I didn't care for the ending,  Just saying.)


AND the Quilting is so close to being done on another community quilt for my guild that I'm calling it done!



Not too shabby.



Hopefully I can keep this momentum going for February since the color for the month is PINK.

Another project I recently started is this wool table mat.  This will serve as my portable one which will be easy to take to basketball games, hockey  practice/games when the fan area is warm enough to stitch that is and then speech at the local college for the youngest grand child which also will be re-starting soon, so that will make another hour I could stitch after chaffeuring him to that.     ; )

The only thing wrong with this kit is one of those wools is shredding terribly without any abuse.  I'll be trading  that one out as I have some  red remnants left over from the valentine wool wall hanging I did last year and they didn't seem to fray at all.  4 hearts stitched so far with 4 more to go then the vine embroidery to stitch.  It mentions buttons but I'm thinking beads will be used on mine instead.  Making me  happy,  happy!

For my bigger quilting project for January with the Q-1 and a ALYOF I am almost done quilting it.

Yippee!

We celebrated our 41st anniversary this evening so I know I won't get to it tonight, but will finish it when I get up in the am which is close enough for a January finish in my book.

A different quilt design was stitched and I will share this finish at the beginning of next week.    Promise!  I have the binding all made so it'll be a relatively quick finish.  lol


As for the counted cross stitch project, that has progressed  nicely this month too.

My February endeavors and dreams are:  

Catch up with my BOMs is top on my list,
RBSC- PINK HST units in sets of 4.
Start working on some of the bird projects in my PIG pile,
Quilt the brown sashing areas of the Tweet Camping Quilt,
then if enough time quilt the bird themed  fabric squares too!
make the pink Rose pillow (that's a PIG),
A March themed wall hanging or two? (both of these are more PIGs),
make another doll blanket,
then make another table mat/runner or progress/finish the wool heart table mat shared on this post,
Get the snow scene finished on the bottom left section of counted cross stitch Lizzie Kate Winter's alphabet.
And Finish reading The Round House, by Louise Erdrich. It's really good so far. I'm up to page 100.

Goodbye January 2015, it's been quick but a good one.

Jane

January's Blues

This past week was a continuance to "avoid" the larger projects on my January list, choosing a couple of little projects that can be started and finished in a relatively short time.  It all started as I was purging those blue bits.....
First thing accomplished was a label that wasn't required then it was if you know what I mean.  I used a very pale blue scrap to make the label for the Nicaraguan Horse quilt using 2- 7" rectangles which finished off that remnant.  
It was printed onto the fabric after being adhered to freezer paper, colored with markers to make the cupcake paper area striped with a neon yellow and bright aqua blue to pronounce it a bit.  Then the shapes were stacked wrong sides together, outlined stitched, turned outside right and ultimately stitched onto the quilt back.  
It turned out cute, but I never grabbed a photo before the quilt was turned in.  Anyways, it looked sort of like this:    

These blues will make a nice blend for a quilt I have in mind but can't share here.
 It would give away the surprise I have in mind.

Second attempt of using blues came with making half square triangle (HST) units.  I plan to do that each month when Angela at So Scrapper calls for the next months' color focus with the RBSC.   I'm amazed by all the blue leftovers in my scrap bin as I normally don't gravitate to that color.  

This month was able to get 40 HST units made.  All the muslin squares are cut and the center line was marked diagonally with a pencil, (did that part during my local quilt guild meeting).






While sorting and purging, I found some larger pieces. Thinking, "Oh that piece looks big enough to make a bag", "oh that one too", now what compliments them I wondered then wandered off.  (lol... Did someone say "Squirrel?)




Then I found some larger remnants tucked away in the scrap bin.  Since I won a couple of different more modern fabrics in recent years past,  I had placed them in there to be used for zippered bags or snap bags.   So what was realized?   

Snappy Bags!

Used hair rubber bands to make the pull tabs.
Color is perfect.

The star fabric now houses the wind able rechargeable flashlight with it's multitudes of adapters for different phones it can also charge in case of an emergency.  Much nicer than the plastic package it came in if I do say so myself.

It will also store nicely in the nightstand drawer
and not get the flashlight lens scratched, another plus.

After finding another larger blue scrap that coordinated nicely with that beach/hotel print gave me to think of a bag for drink containers while at a water park, pool or beach where you can't bring a cooler.  So a HUGE Snap Bag was finished out of those.  

Happened to have a nice red/white woven ribbon
to make these pull tabs.

The size of this photo is not relevant since
this baby can hold a stack of six cans.
Will keep it cool enough without the weight
and bulkiness of a cooler besides fit in a beach bag!

There are 2 more blue projects I'd like to finish up before the end of the month.  Will share those  if they're  realized.  

TTFN,

Jane 

  

January's peek

Here's a peek at what I've been up to.  Sorting, merging, and purging.  One huge basket  and one smaller one cleaned out and all sorted by mostly color.   Some day I'll share how I keep all these scraps in order.

The  RBSC color this month is blue so hopefully I'll be focusing on a table runner that I thought  of  this afternoon before the Meme Taxi runs into town for Grandchildren's activities and an errand for a pair of trammel points, (there's another table mat I want to get off the PIG pile).

As for my slow Stitching Sundays, that (Lizzie Kate Winter Alphabet counted cross stitch) project just reached an impasse.  I messed up counting my threads on the framing around the  letter V so was actually un-stitching them when the threads broke.  DO you know how hard it is to remember the actual sequence of the stitching you've done?   I had one of those Ah ha moments while making my tea this AM, and know that I can cut out all those stitches out around that frame instead of ripping out the wrong ones.  I think it would be a lot quicker for me and then I 'll correctly stitch it the whole thing.

TTFN,
Jane