Slow December Sewing

Considering I've sewn for only an hour of December on my machine, I do not have much to show for the month so far. I literally finished this purse in the wee hours of December 1st. The kids went to bed on Saturday night and I stayed up and made the bag start to finish in about 4 hours. It's my only finish for December so far.

It's a sample for a class I'll be teaching in the new year called the Barbados bag. I really like the size and shape of it. I have fabric to make myself one, but it will have to wait until my samples are done. Deadline is Dec. 21st, so I need to get a move on.

Daddy was hunting on December 1st, so Mikaela and I spent the afternoon decorating the house of Christmas. She really wanted pretty lights outside and it was gorgeous - in the 50's, so I got out the ladder and put up my lights from college. Apparently they aren't pretty enough because she told her daddy he needed to buy some prettier lights and put them up. It's become a joke with us, since this is the first year in at least 4 that we aren't the scrooges on the street.

We also cleaned and decorated inside, putting up the stockings mom made and some of her Christmas houses. I love to see these and remember mom. It's also fun to have the house all decorated for Christmas except the tree and we'll do that this weekend.

Mathew turned 1 on December 5th. Since we were pretty busy, we gave him a few gifts and will have a party next weekend. He gave me his bottle, crossed his hands and fell asleep the other nights. It was just too precious. Wish his sister fell asleep this easy.

Here's a picture of him on his birthday, first thing in the morning before we headed to daycare.

He didn't want to sit in the chair.

This weekend my aunt and uncle kept Mikaela while Mathew stayed with Grandpa and Grandma. Aunt Janie made Mikaela a scarf and she picked out the yarn.

She also helped Mikaela color and cut out her hand prints for ornaments.

And they made glitter snow for the snowbabies. She had so much fun spending time with my aunt.

My college roommates and I got together for a quick night of supper and the Tonic Sol Fa Concert. We've been going to #TonicSolFa since we were in college and now have been trying to get together for their Christmas concert in Sioux Falls about every other year. It's so fun to go out with our husbands, catch up on our lives, and just enjoy seeing each other. I can't believe it has been 11 years since we graduated! I'm the short one on the far left.


Hopefully this week I'll be able to do some sewing after I get back into a routine. Last night my final paper was due for my finance class. It is turned in and I now await my grade. Hopefully my TA is approved for Winter quarter and I'll graduate in March. I thought about sewing, but need to clean and put stuff away from the weekend, so I decided going to bed was a better idea. Here's hoping tonight is a little more productive!

Sewing Studio Tour

I've been following the Sewing Studio tour over at Ellison Lane Quilts and felt inspired to clean up and organize my little sewing space. Those who have followed my blog for many years know I used to have a whole room for quilting and sewing, including a quilt frame set up to the King size. Last summer when I found out I was pregnant with our second child, I knew we needed the space for the kids, so I put my quilt frame down to the crib size and sold off/donated 12 huge totes full of sewing and craft supplies. I am now down to my UFO's, some background fabric, a small bit of sewing themed fabric, and lots of pink ribbon fabric. I inherited a lot of sewing supplies when my mother passed away two years ago, but I had my own full sewing studio already, so I consolidated. 
The quilt frame is in the kids room and I quilt when my amazing husband Paul watches the kids during races or while watching TV, usually on weekends. I sew in the corner of our bedroom. This is my little space at the end of the bed. It's about a 3'x5' space.

I have a Janome 6600 and table which I normally use, but recently was given my mom's Bernina 730 and I am trying to bond with it. I've sewn for 25 years, but adjusting to a new machine brand is a bit of a challenge. I do love the option of doing machine embroidery though, so that is the big plus. I need to figure out a better table, but for now I am making this work. I will have a big cutting table once we get it moved back from my dad's in the next few months. The pack and play in our room will be put up to make room since we no longer have a new baby sleeping in it. Mathew is 8 months and has moved in to the crib in the other room. The blocks to the left of the ruler rack are from a friendship block swap we are doing this year. I have about 8 of the 16 I will receive, so I have them hanging there for inspiration as to how I will set them.

I keep my rulers on this ruler rack my little brother Ed gave me for Christmas one year. I absolutely love it. It's over flowing and I even got rid of quite a few. At one point I had 100 plus rulers. I probably have 6-8 at work, several in my travel bags, some in the closet, and I still have this one over flowing. I'm a huge Creative Grids fan and am slowly replacing my older ones. The "Create" sign on top was a sale purchase that inspires my creativity. The Aurifil empty thread spools are from quilt retreat. My friends and I finished these at retreat and we're collecting this year to see how many we can acquire. The quilters picture on the bottom right is a mug rug I have hanging up. I made my friends these from a panel for quilt retreat one year. My knee lift hangs from the rack for quick access, since it doesn't fit with my chair under the table.

My ironing board is a covered piece of wood that has semi-naked firemen on it. I covered it with cotton batting and thinsulate fabric before putting the cotton on top. It's all stapled to the back for easy removal for washing. I also have a small fan on it to keep me cool while I work. Since I work mostly after Paul goes to bed the bright Ott Lite is essential. It's the perfect amount of light without keeping him up. I also have a couple other smaller ones when I don't need it quite so bright. The end of the ironing board holds my purple notions bag that Jen B. made for me when attended quilt retreat in 2009. Jen and I have known each other since 2005 when we met through blogging and we've had a chance to meet a couple time since then. She lives in Milwaukee, WI. This bag holds all my "gotta have" notions for sewing. I know if I'm going to sew somewhere I can grab the bag and it has everything I need.

The wall hanging is one I made for 6 close quilting friends. It says, "Good friends are like quilts, they grow with you, yet never loose their warmth". The bottom one is the excess HST's I had after making all the wall hangings from my Buggy Barn scraps. Hanging off of the light are the 2 name tags Jen B. made for me. One was for the retreat and the other was just because. I love seeing them as they remind me of her daily.

To the left of my machine, under the TV is a wall hanging I made after attending the bloggers retreat in 2009. It's made from fabric I bought while we shop hopped around Ohio. We met in Cincinatti and there were 11 bloggers and 8 friends who came to the retreat. It was the first time we had met and was such an amazing experience. This quilt became a siggy quilt for my local quilting friends. I have a much larger one that all the blogging ladies signed. It's in my office at work. Next to it is the granny square quilt Emilee made me for our Christmas swap exchange last year. We each brought a bag of scraps, swapped them and made something for the person out of their scraps. It was so much fun and we are doing it again this summer. I also have a ribbon I won at the fair and my name tag that my friend Jenn from Rapid City made me. She made them for our local quilting friends when we attended a retreat in May. The Bernina feet box sits behind the machine.

This is my "WIP" cupboard. I allow myself to work on the projects in here and limit myself to these. If I start working on something else, I have to make room for it to fit. This keeps me controled and the room stays cleaner. With a 2.5 year old, everything has to be put away or out of reach at night. My grandpa build this for me in college so I had a place to store my food. It reminds me of him and I wish he was still around to do such amazing woodwork.

Inside I have a few boxes of thread. These are approximately the size of fishing tackle boxes and they hold my Aurifil and King Tut. They are within easy reach. I also have the bag to the right with Aurifil thread that is ready for travel. The next shelf holds the fabric for my Swoon, my scrappy swoon that needs a few seams fixed, and my pink box with my "Ahhhh's" fabric. This is the fabric I have pulled to make them all and I use this to make up the "kits" for my prepped ahhhh's so I can work on them when travelling. To the right is fabric for a tumbler quilt. I found an inspiring pattern on pinterest, so I may just finish making this quilt after all. On the bottom self are books, a Happy Hour quilt for a friend, and the fabric kit for my Rubic Star quilt. I also have a B/W/Pink quilt I am working on.

This wall hanging was made by my Aunt Jane for a quilt retreat I planned in 2012. Everyone who attended signed the back. The blocks hanging from it are my "orphan" blocks. I didn't think I had any, but once I started finishing some UFO's this year I have a ton! Not sure what they will become, but it's fun to see them.


This wall hanging was made by my college roommate and friend Angie after my mom passed away in 2011. It's so very special to me and reminds me of my mom. Mom and I quilted, sewed, shop hopped, taught, and spent a lot of time discussion quilting. She was my best friend and I miss her so much. Everything I do with quilting reminds me of her in some way.

This is my awards box from high school. It's all the pins and letters and different medals I won in high school. My grandpa Jim made the shadow box. It's been 15 years since I graduated, but I still love to be reminded of all I did back then. On top is a little sewing sign that reminds me of Jen and one of my Willow Tree collection given to me by mom. There is also a mold of my daughters hand from when she was 7 weeks old. The sheep was given to mom by a close quilting friend, so I keep it there to remind me of moms friends as well.

A close up of the pieced sewing machine for my name tag. I'm a purple girl through and through and my friends know that about me.

To the left of the sewing area is a big 2" piece of foam with grided flannel. I use it for a design wall. The TV is up there too. I never actually watch it, but have it on more for noise than anything else. Last week I made my 6th Swoon block. Slowly I will get them done.

So that's my sewing space in a nut shell. Eventually I would like to have a larger space, but for now this works and I am able to sew each and every day. I work full time, teach 1 night a week, and am working on my masters degree, so sewing is my stress reliever after some very long days! Thanks for stopping by my sewing space. It's been fun to organize and show my "new" space.

Quilt Retreat Prep

April has been filled with some interesting sewing, no quilting, and a lot of piecing. At the end of March, beginning of April I made 16 glasses cases out of fleece for my brothers 4-H gun club. I used the leftover fabric from a fleece blanket I made for Mathew, so they were hunter orange and camo colored.

I finished Ahhhh #1 this week. I ordered all of the Ahhhh's and joined the gotta have them all club, so I have quite a few to get caught up on, but I have 7 completed so far.

I also made these 1 1/2" needle book hexies to be made into needle books.


On Sat. the 6th, I made notebook covers with the Autism awareness fabric. They are going to a friend and her nephew. I love how quick and easy they were to put together. I used 1 half yard, plus a fat quarter to make both, so not a lot of fabric.  I also made a couple pairs of PJ pants, one for me and one for Mikaela. Hers fit great, mine, not so much. They were too tight for my liking, so I'll give them to Ann.

I've slowly been working away at my winding ways blocks. I did the two light blocks a couple weeks ago and wasn't happy with how my centers were turning out, so I changed my quarter inch and the two dark ones turned out much better. I actually really enjoy sewing these, so I think I'll be cutting out more to take to retreat to sew.

Sat. night my friends and I got together for a PJ pants making party. I taught a couple how to make them and we all finished with cool pants we can wear at retreat. Gaila, Jenn, and I all made sewing themed ones. Now I just have to get the shirts embroidered, which I hope to do this weekend.

I've been working on the blocks for my scrappy swoon. This is the center block.

These are the blocks for steps 2-4. It's going to be very dark, but that's the look I was hoping for since I want to use it on our bed and I hate real light colored quilts on the bed since stuff, cats, dog, etc get on the bed.

This is what I have so far. I'm hoping to get all the blocks sewn in the next three weeks, so I can put it together at retreat.



















I also finished all the setting blocks for my Thangles BOM quilt. I hope to put it together with the sashing at retreat. I've been slowly putting stuff together and I now have about 6 quilt tops I want to make. I'll need to re-evaluate as I get closer and see if that is enough to keep me busy. I'm thinking I may cut out a Happy Hour Snapshots quilt to make since it is simple and easy and mindless sewing with not a lot of seams.
I still have a bunch of little things I want to make for our trade, so I hope to get those done this week. I'm feeling very creative. I need to get it all done by next Friday as we're going to be replacing the flooring in our bedroom/ my sewing area. I won't be able to sew the weekend before retreat as we do that, so I want to be packed and ready next week, so in the move I don't misplace things I need. 

Fun Mail, Special Gift, and Friendship Block Swap

Last night Paul gave me two packages from the pickup he had forgotten to bring in. I was so excited when I saw the first address. It was from Becky in VA. She had a drawing for a kit if someone wanted to take it off her hands. It's this Autumn Visitors and she cut wrong and just didn't want to deal with it, so I said I'd take it. I knew Paul would love it and he did. He thought I should start working on it last night!

While I was in my sewing studio for a bit last night. I took pictures of the blocks I've received for the Friendship block swap. Gaila made this block. I just love the little black/purple dots.

Jen made me this one.

Jacque made me this one.

They look awesome together and I can't wait to receive the rest. Since I know I won't have enough for a whole quilt, I'd like to have other friends make me blocks to go in my friendship quilt. I know I have a lot of readers/followers and I would love to have you all send me a block. Please comment or send me an email if you'd be willing to send me a block for my friendship quilt. The block is easy and I'm having it done in a black with 3 purple batiks.

The other package was from my college roommate Angie. She lives in MN and came out for mom's funeral with our other roommate Nichole. It's a beautiful framed cross stitch picture in memory of my mom. I just love it and can't believe how much it makes me think of mom. She would be so proud. Mom did a lot of cross stitch. It's been 6 months today since mom's been gone, but not a day goes by that I don't think of her and remember all the wonderful time we spent together. I miss her so much, but know that she is watching over me. This weekend Mikaela and I are going to the Quilts and Vines Outdoor Quilt Show near Sioux Falls with Nichole. It's a show mom and I went to several years and just loved attending. I can't wait to go and hopefully meet up with my blogging friend Sara. If you're gonna be there let me know and maybe we can get together too. Hopefully I'll take lots of pictures and be able to show you this truly remarkable show next week some time.

Hannah's Summer Tote

Hannah's mom, my friend Angie, is coming to visit this week and I'm so excited to see her. Since I've been collecting pink John Deere cottons for the past year to make this bag for Hannah, I decided there was no time like the present. Hannah's 1st birthday is coming up in Aug. Since it will be so much easier to send it home with Angie, then to mail it. I pulled out my summer tote pattern and set to work yesterday. I wasn't sure how all the fabrics were going to work together, but in the end I think it turned out pretty cute.  The front shows more of the I love JD saying on it.

The back pocket covers up more, but still has lots of room in it.

I love the size/shape of this bag, but hate using the Steam a Seam 2 to make it, so sometime I need to just make it as I would any other bag with a lining and see if I still like it. I think it would be just as cute and so much cheaper to make without those 2 big pieces of SS2. Has anyone altered this pattern to know how it would turn out?

Tonic Sol Fa

Paul and I jam packed this weekend with lots of fun and friends. Friday night we went to his company Christmas party. It was a great meal, fun games, and lots of laughs. There were several prizes given away and the wives each got a nice ornament. I got to meet several of the guys he works with and talks about all the time, so now I have a face to go with a name.

Saturday morning we were up early and headed to Sioux Falls. We did a bit of shopping and had lunch before heading out to our friends Nich and Jon's house. Our other friends Cory and Angie met us there and we all went out to eat in Sioux Falls at Grille 26. It was phenomenal! We had some time to spare, so we went to see the lights at Falls Park. Then we all went to the Tonic Sol Fa concert at the Pavillion. It was a great concert and we all enjoyed it. We had seen them in concert before, so it was fun to get together and go again. Angie, Nich, and I used to go each year when they were anywhere close to Brookings.

Sunday morning we visited for a couple hours before leaving. It was wonderful to visit with friends and spend time just relaxing. We got to play with Mason, Jon & Nich's son, a bit too. It was a nice, enjoyable, relaxing weekend. We arrived home about 6:30, so not real late compared to the last few weeks.

This week I'm working on custom quilts for Christmas gifts. I got the first baby quilt done last night and have been working on the hand work today. They are coming together nicely. The customer I'm making them for will be back home the 18th, so I'm trying to have them done by then. I cut out a Christmas quilt too last night, but don't know that I'll get it done before Christmas. We'll have to see how much time I have. I'm teaching Lickity Split baby quilt tonight, unless the weather gets worse. So far it's just snowing and if you slow down it's not bad. Too many people were driving too fast today and there were several in the ditch.

100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 221 Blocks/ Day 86

Carter's Quilt

The third quilt I finished this week is for Angie and Cory's son Carter. He's 3 years old and a ball of fire. When I saw him this summer he was constantly running around and showed me his baby quilt I made when he was born. Since he's a big boy now, I figured he needed a bigger quilt. When I saw this one I realized it wasn't a whole lot bigger, but it was definately up his ally. I love the panel and I quilted it with 2 layers of warm and natural batting to make it a heavy quilt for playing on the floor. It's the size of a large baby quilt.





100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 221 Blocks/ Day 71

Hannah's Baby Quilt

My friend Angie and her husband Cory had a little girl Hannah back in August. I had been planning to make this cute barnyard themed quilt for her since before she was born. After she was born I embroidered her name on it and quilted it. I just finished putting the label on it and it's ready to go to her home. It's a real lightweight quilt for carrying around since I used a thermore batting in it. I'm taking it in a couple weeks to give to her parents when we all get together for a fun couples weekend.






100 Blocks 100 Days ~ 221 Blocks/ Day 71