May the 4th be with my quilting

May the 4th be with you - Press to the Dark Side... All the fun sayings for May. For only being 1 week into May, so far it has been productive. I made 5 more "heart" Sweet Pea Pods for my Cardiac Rehab friends when they finish.  

My APQ UFO for May is Takes the Cake, which are a bunch of 9 patches. I'm slowly piecing them as a leader ender and at the end of the night when I don't want to start anything new. 

I pieced my Nightingale block 1 and started 5 more blocks. I realized I can piece and then trim at work, so I have 5 ready to trim and then I'll finish sewing them tonight.  

I finished the Mini Brick Road table runner, which is an Atkinson Designs pattern. It is Glamping Gypsies fabric. 

I also finished this Hearts runner in LAmor fabric. The pattern is by Atkinson Designs. 

I made this Gala Wax and Wool Tote with Navy Waxed Canvas on the bottom. I put pink grunge in the lining. 

We also celebrated Mathew's 1st Holy Communion. 

 

Weekend Sewing

This weekend was bitterly cold in the Black Hills of SD. It never reached above 0 for a high. I made this Let's Play Hearts runner by Atkinson Designs using L'amour fabric by Sandy Gervais for Moda. This fabric is 11+ years old as I made my first hexie quilt out of it. 

I spent quite a bit of time on Sunday sewing the diamonds into the edges to give me a place to cut out the fabric so I can add binding. I was so proud of myself for adding the extra two rows at the end, until I realized the two hexies in the center bottom are white instead of cream. 

See the white standing out? Luckily I had the cream grunge with the other fabrics from this line, so I was able to cut new fabric and re-use the hexies. I finished sewing them on and then removed all the  papers while the Daytona 500 was on. It was a perfect way to enjoy my birthday, doing English Paper Piecing with my family. 

My dad's quilt from his grandma was in the quilting room, so I took a picture to show his cousin. She said she got a quilt from their grandma with butterflies too. Quilting ran in both sides of my family. 

 

Last week of January

For Valentine's Day, my friend Linda hosted a sock exchange. It could be any socks and include anything else we wanted to provide. This was my package from Pam in OH. I love the purple and camping socks and those heart pins are so cool. The kids found the candy quickly. 

Mikaela wanted a new minkee blanket and I quilted this minkee with luxe cuddle on the back. My friend Emilee did the binding for me. It turned out wonderful and Mikaela loves it. 

Mathew needed some additional masks, so I made him a few new ones. 

My leader ender project this week has been mini Brick Road blocks for a table runner. I'm using Glamping Gypsies scraps. 

I'm working on a new baby quilt and these are the giraffe heads. 

Our Chiefs are in the Super Bowl, so we're looking forward to watching on Sunday. 

I finished the Hope quilt along top and bought backing, so I hope to quilt it soon. 

My stash report for January:

In this Month: 14.75

Out This Month: 24 yards
____________________________

+9.25 yards of stash used

 

Busy Sewing Week

 I've been busy sewing this week. While I couldn't show everything on IG or FB, I have been very busy with custom orders. I finished this cross wall hanging for a former co-worker. 

Mikaela made these key fobs out of her favorite Science fabric. 

She also made this treat pouch for Bailey's treats. We didn't have a pattern, just kind of winged it. 

I made this Wrist Wrap for a friend to see if it is what he wants. 

I also made him an apron. 

I made caring heart blocks for the quilt guild. They will be used in quilts given to members going through challenges. 

I made these for a customer who wanted brands to match her kitchen. I used the Desert Stars pattern from Atkinson Designs. 

The pattern Random Shuffle is the topple your stash challenge for The Sewing Center group, so I made it out of Glamping Gypsies. It still needs to be quilted. 

January Sewing

My quilting friend Linda had her daughter-in-law make these beautiful cookies for me. She used the Tula Pink fabric below as the inspiration. 

Monday was a holiday, so I was able to quilt these two table runners. They are Desert Stars by Atkinson Designs

I also quilted this minkee blanket for Mikaela for her birthday. I just quilted it with loops and it quilted up BEAUTIFULLY!! I couldn't have had a better day quilting. 

Here's the table runners as I got them made. They are a custom order for a gal I know from back home. 

I have been working on hexie diamonds to make a quilted table runner. I got these finished and have started on the white hexies. It's going together surprisingly fast. 

I made Mikaela some new, bigger masks with nose pieces. She really likes them. 

 

What am I work on this Wednesday??

This has been a busy week in the sewing studio! I found my groove and spent quite a bit of time sewing and quilting this week. Saturday I loaded and quilted this Autumn Visitors UFO. It was an unloved UFO the Sarcastic Quilter sent me a couple years ago. I love the fabric, but wasn't sure who it would go to, so it sat untouched. However we are going to a wedding next month and I needed a gift. I'm not sure if this will go to them or not, but that's what I'm planning to use as the gift. I'm just not sure of their tastes, so I'm kind of on the fence. I trimmed it up on Monday night and put the binding on. Last night I stitched it down by machine. Just wasn't feeling like hand sewing it down, too many other handwork projects going on right now.

Saturday late night I loaded this Autumn Star quilt on the frame. I fully intended to quilt it, but the tension was off and I was really struggling, so I put it away and didn't touch it until Monday night when I got home from work. We had leftovers, so I had a chance to quilt it. I ended up adjusting my bobbin tension and then I was able to get it to an acceptable level. My top tension has been running between 1-2 for quite a while and you can only go so low, so I knew I needed to adjust the bobbin. Luckily the adjustments worked. I read online, but it didn't really help me to know which way to go. The backing on this one is pink batik. It's from the same piece I used to back mom's pink ribbon quilt back in 2009. So glad I was able to use up some of my stash.

Here's a close up of the quilting. I used a variegated King Tut and pink Bottomline.

Yesterday I got the email about getting our class samples in for photos next week and I realized I hadn't even made this sample. It's a new class I'm teaching in the next quarter. I just love these purple fabrics. I wish I could find something to make with the whole line. I worked on this for an hour last night and when I was doing more unpicking than necessary I quit. On something so simple I think the seams need to match better than I had them, so I am fixing a couple spots. This one is a bit of a challenge, but I think it will turn out cute in the end. It's made with 4 fat quarters. I just wish one of the many hexie rulers we have in the store would have worked to cut these out. I ended up using 2" hexie EPP's.

Yesterday I finished #18 Ahhhh, Aunt Mollie's Umbrella. My goal for August was to finish 3 Ahhhh's, which I was thinking was really unrealistic considering all the other handwork I have been doing on other projects, but this one went together so fast I started another one.


Today I finished up #12 O' Matt's Lantern. I realize I need some lighter fabrics in these, so I'm going to have to incorporate more next week when cut out a new bunch. I have 3 left to piece before I need to prep more. I started the 3rd one and with a wee bit of luck I should be able to finish it before the end of the month.


We are off for a camping adventure over the long weekend, so I'm planning to take a few EPP projects to work on. If I get the hexie table topper done and quilted I'll have some binding to finish as well. This has been such a productive month. I hope to get as much done in Sept. when I am off school for 3 weeks!

WIP Wednesday Week 25 6.20.12

This week has been so productive! I had lots of samples with deadlines to get done and I think I've met them all. Late last week a storm rolled through the area and I couldn't plug my machine in to sew, so I did some more cleaning and reorganizing. I cleaned out my ruler rack and got it down to under 30 rulers! Woohoo for me! This is a miracle since I had over 100+ on there and they are all in sale pile. I picked up some totes from Emilee and already have quite a few of them full. I got through a few more drawers and my pattern boxes. I took two full boxes down to a half of one box. I need to work on the books and shelf next. I'm hoping Paul will help me get in the crawl space this weekend and get more out. It's really starting to add up, but I feel great about what I have left.


I made this Classmate case by Atkinson Design. It had to be done by last weekend.
This is the inside of the case. It has a lot of vinyl, but even more pockets. It was really easy to put together, yet there was a lot of steps to it.
Then I quickly made this little Baguette from Atkinson Designs. It turned out super cute with mesh on the front and is made to hold a rotary cutter.


This is the Easy Hex Table Topper by GE Designs. It's out of a recent table topper book and I'll be teaching a class on it this summer. I love how it turned out and I think I'll make a smaller version of it with the leftover scraps. It's really a fun and easy one to make. I probably could have made it in an hour, minus the cutting, if I hadn't had any interruptions. I used mostly scraps with a purchase for backing and border. It uses the quilt as you go method and I finished up the hand work on the binding yesterday during lunch.

This is another of GE Designs quilt as you go patterns I'll be teaching. It's called Lickety Split baby quilt. The last one I made was personalized for Wyatt, but considering he just turned 3, it's been a while. I love how this one turned out and I can't wait to personalize it for a friends baby. It's one of the 5 I need to make this fall. I have the top of one done and this one just needs the binding done, so I'm well on my way.
 
This week I hope to get more packing of my sewing room done and maybe do a quilt or two on the frame. Quarter break is going by way too quickly!

Finished this week:
Classmate case
Baguette
Easy Hex Table Topper
Lickety Split baby quilt

Ongoing projects:  (and progress this week on them) 
Swoon - 2 Blocks done
Dilly Dally Baby Girl Quilt
Pink/Brown Friendship Quilts -Handwork on binding
Buggy Barn Pink/Brown Extra Blocks -Binding
Cre8tive Swap w/ Jen
Completed tops awaiting quilting:
Blush Quilt 
Pink/Green Jungle Animal Baby Quilt
Confetti Top
Friendship Block Swap Top
Twisted Heart
Merry Go Round
Sign Language Baby Quilt 2
No progress:
Mocha Meringue Wonder Blocks- Together, needs 3 borders

Ed's Crown Royal Quilt - Started sashing
This week's stats:
Completed projects -4
New projects -0
Currently in progress -3
Finished this year - 39 , 11 Samples

I'm linking up for WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced!