{Post #77} Upgrade on 2013 Ornament

I am liking this much better...are YOU?  On the first ornament I did a running stitch with white thread to hold the front and back together.  I also had a brown button with a jute hanger.  This ornament called for a little more pizzazz.

Here it is with a braided cotton thread hanger and red stars machine embroidered around the perimeter.

You like?  I do!!

Before, for comparison:

{Post #76} 2013 Ornament?

Saw one of these on Pinterest and made my own.  Very simple.  Sewing the seed beads on was kind of tedious, but only because they are so small.  I am going to take off the brown button and perhaps sew the front to the back with a decorative red sewing machine stitch to add a little color to the front. 

Three strands of brown embroidery floss for the trunk and branches, two strands for the needles.  Various seed beads sewn on all over.  Pearl seed beads for the falling snow and pile of snow at tree base.

Size wise, the felt circles for the front and back are the outside line of a canning jar lid.  I cut a piece of batting using the line that is the center of the lid.

I've been in bed with the flu all day yesterday and most of today.  My married daughter and her husband are here, so the bedriddenness really super stinks.  I'm hoping to be up a little bit today.  

{Post #75} Money Box

It's a wonder I get anything finished!  Every decision I make is monumentous to me.  Just today, my husband and I finally talked through our children's Christmas gift list.  We decided to spend $65 on each child.  We are giving "just" the money to two of our kids.  One of them is getting a tiny something from us, so we will give her a check soon.  The other has a peculiar habit of getting his extra money in one-dollar bills and putting it in his safe.  I asked him why he did that.  He said it looked like more that way.  

So here is what I did for his $65 in cash.  I got 65 one-dollar bills from the bank.  I emptied out a boutique tissue box and saved 3 of the tissues.  Then I taped the bills to a toilet paper roll (which happens to fit perfectly in the box) and rolled the bills up.  I taped the last one to the third tissue and carefully placed the roll then the tissues in the box.  From all appearances, it looks like a regular box of tissues.  I'm going to write "Don't blow it all in one place" and print it on to make a label for the box.  I hope he finds it humorous!

{Post #74} Oops and a Good Chuckle

A pictureless post.  Woe is me!  You can look at the last post for a picture, because that's what THIS post is about.  I have 8 children; my sister has 10.  I'll let that sink in for a moment.  We (my sister and I) often chat and laugh about things that we understand a lot more than others...eternal stacks of dirty dishes and laundry...items broken or lost by "not me"...forgetting things...remembering things!

I thought I was being all stealth, secretive, cunning (you know--a real agent 007...Joan Bond), and mailed my sister a box for her birthday (the 13th) and Christmas without telling her it was coming.  I mailed the Evergreen Pinwheels and a supply of metal stamping stuff (blank circles and a steel pounding block) for making jewelry.

She WAS surprised.  She loved the quilt.  Ten times more than the exact same quilt I made her 10 years ago!!!  Yes--I made her the same pattern 10 years ago.  As she was checking it out (as only a sister and fellow-quilter would do), her 14-year-old daughter asked, "Um, mom?  Didn't Aunt Joan already make you one like that?"  She had to think for a minute (even though it hangs in her kitchen every winter).  She didn't think I had, but her daughter went and got it from her decoration box.  Busted!!  We both had a good laugh about that.  I do have a fall quilt in mind for her.  I better check with my 14-year-old niece to see if I've already made her one!

She said she liked the first one, but she loves this one.  I did a lot of custom quilting on this one.  The first was just large meandering with an invisible thread (which did the trick, but was not as fancy).  So, all's well that ends well.

{Post #73} My Sister's Quilt Finished

Here are a couple pics of my sister's Christmas quilt.  At the time of the pictures there was not any binding on it.  It is 48" square.  Here are the back and front:

I have Emily's quilt loaded on the quilt frame and have tacked down the top edge.  Let the quilting commence!  Susie and I are going to her house for her birthday (Nov. 9), so I hope to deliver it then.  I'm glad I already did the above quilt so I can see how I want to quilt Emily's.  Hers is identical, but has a larger outer border in place of my sister's brown.  Hers measures 53" square.  

{Post #72} More Quilting

Here is some more of my machine quilting on the Evergreen Pinwheels.  I really am happy with the way this is going.

I have to get dark brown thread before I can continue.  

Watching the presidential debate now.  <sigh>

~Joan

{Post #71} Machine Quilting On Pinwheels Started

I started the quilting on my first Evergreen Pinwheels top today.  I thought long and hard on how to custom quilt these.  This first one is for my sister.  Emily's is coming up next.  The only difference is that Emily's has a printed, wider border.

I did a stencil of a wreath in the diagonal plaid fabric "cornerstones".  It fit perfectly.  I really like the look of this.

~Joan

{Post #70} Progress on Christmas Surprises

A few minutes here, a few minutes there, and voila!  Christmas surprises are coming together.  I am making 3 identical tops.  Two of them have homes.  I was planning on selling the third, but it's hard to get one's money's worth for the time.

Here is the center so far.  It will have one thin border of the dark brown, then a wider border to finish it off.

Measures about 42" square now.  Pattern is from Thimbleberries--Evergreen Pinwheels.

{Post #69} I Spy for First Grandbaby :)

"Elaine" posted an I spy quilt with this exact pattern.  I told her to check out my secret blog, then I realized I had never posted a picture of it here!  Wait no more... 

This is for my first grandbaby, due at the end of February :)

It measures 42" x 46" now.  I will have to ask my daughter how large she wants it.  I seriously could make this king-sized!  The squares are 4" finished, sashings 1/2" finished.  Fun-sized!

Here is a close-up of some of my favorite prints:

{Post #68} Center of Xmas Surprise Progress

Since I'm making three of these at once and trying to keep them all at the same point of progress, this is slow going.  But I press on.  Literally.

This measures 26-1/4" square.  A couple more borders to go!

{Post #67} New Christmas Project (s) !!

Sew, I started 3 copies of the same Christmas quilt today.  One is for Emily, one is for my sister, Diane, and one is to sell as a top.  I am going to keep it secret from even you, but show progress as it happens.  

I made 16 of these today.  They measure 8-1/2" square.

{Post #66} Washed, Dried, Finished!

Just pulled Susie's 9-patch out of the dryer.  It's a good size for her, and the quilting turned out just lovely all scrunched up.  


This measures 58-1/2" x 65-1/2".  

{Post #65} Quilting Finished!!!!!

Just finished the quilting on this.  I was using a disappearing ink marker at first for the vein of the feathers, but it disappeared before I could finish quilting.  So I was hesitant that it would work out, but I marked it as I rolled the quilt ahead.  Next time, I will mark it before I pin it on the frame.


Here is a close-up of the border (so you can see the finished feather as well as the curlicue C's as I call them that span the muslin and blue border):

Now a pic of the whole thing, still pinned to the top of the frame:

{Post #64} Machine Quilting on 9-Patch

I got carried away and started posting on my regular blog.  This AM I started machine quilting Susie's 9-patch quilt.  I am hoping that with continued practice I won't have to think so hard to get some decent quilting done, but I am happy with how this is going.


Here are some pics that speak for themselves.  I am doing a feather in the muslin border, reverse "C"s on the muslin and blue inner borders (treating them as one) and 8-petaled daisies in the cream alternate blocks, extending them into the 9-patches to leave just a little area unquilted.  I like it so far.


The first picture shows feathers on only one side of the "vein" down the center.  The other picture must not have truly been taken.  There will be more to come!

{Post #63} 9-Patch Top Finished

Just finished this top a few minutes ago.  On to the quilting!  I want to get this finished and put away into hiding until Susie's birthday mid-November.  I think I can do it!


After the majority of my family leaves Saturday AM, I need to go through a couple more laundry baskets of stuff in my sewing room.  I am looking forward to having that done and out of there.


Measured this top while I was downstairs and promptly left the numbers down there.  It's about 63" x 68" or so.

The cream is muslin.  This top is very lightweight as compared to one made of Thimbleberries or a heavier weight fabric.  It will be a nice throw once quilted.


~Joan

{Post #62} Center Finished on 9-Patch

Here is the center of my 9-patch.  Came up to cook supper. Will clean up kitchen then go down and trim then border with muslin.  

{Post #61} About Half Pieced!

The 9-patch on point is about half finished.  Not that I'm all that speedy...54/56 blocks were already pieced.  All I did was piece 2 blocks, cut the muslin squares and trianges and put the pedal to the metal.


Here it is...I'll likely finish this as far as I am able tonight.  Tomorrow I am going to get a blue for a thin inner border, backing, and binding.  Will need to determine yardage for this.


This picture includes 3 of the 4 corners for the quilt.  This part will measure 46" x 52" when I am finished.  I was thinking of a muslin border, then a blue strip, then a wider muslin border.  Susie's room is blue.


I've already sort of picked out a quilting pattern, too.  An 8-petaled free motion flower in the cream squares extending out into the 9-patches.

Time for a little nutrition and then some more sewing.  It's my laundry day, so that is in there somewhere, too.


~Joan

{Post #60} Finders, Winners

My blog post title is a take-off on Finders, Keepers.  If you read my regular non-secret blog, Keeping you in Stitches, you know I just did a huge sewing room rearrange, declutter, discard, etc.  One of the things I found was a stack of 5" '30's prints 9-patch blocks.  Susie really likes these.  I just had to make two more (although we used up all our '30's fabrics on her rail fence quilt, including the backing--well, we thought we did).  


Here is one of the two identical blocks I made:

Here is a favorite block:

The whole center of the top laid out:

I am trying to piece and quilt this while Susie is in South Africa.  She drove to and then flew out of Washington DC last night.  She should be in Paris, France now!  

Her birthday is in November, and I hope to finish this secretly and have it ready to give her then.  

Only one son and I will be home from Saturday until next Sunday.  Can you say take-out?  Hahahahahaha...  You can be sure I will be spending plenty of time at my sewing machine.  I would like to make 5 jumpers for myself then, also.  My wardrobe is getting nastified.  My cotton jumpers are wearing out.  That is a catastrophe of monumental proportions!!

TTFN,

~Joan

{Post #59} Baby Quilt Under Way

About 6 weeks ago I bought a set of vintage double pinwheel blocks on Bonnie Hunter's e-yard sale.  I know...I was supposed to be selling things.  And I have...and will again.


One of my friends at church loves (and I do mean loves) antique and vintage things.  She even buys new things and distresses them to make them look old.


I decided to use my newly-acquired blocks to make her a baby quilt.  She is expecting a girl on MY BIRTHDAY!!  That little one deserves a very nice quilt, right?


One problem was that the blocks were all different sizes.  I took one block apart and made it perfect, but that was not going to happen again.  I bit the bullet and just cut them all down to the same size, irregardless of points.  But I think it's going to be OK.


Here they are laid out with muslin sashing and '30's pink cornerstones:

I have webbed the first 3 rows together.  Once I lay it out, I am eager to get it sewn together so the pieces don't get messed up.  So, I am off to a good start with this one.


Here is a second baby quilt I'm making (for a boy due, ironically enough, right around my birthday as well).  It's from Bonnie's Rectangle Wrangle pattern.  It measures 37" square.  With a small border, that's close to my target of 40" square for a newborn's quilt.

Shirts.  I.  am.  hooked.


~Joan

{Post #58} Ready to Mail

I pieced and ironed the binding last night for this quilt, Army Stars.  This AM I sewed it to the front.  I contemplated hand sewing it to the back, but what's the point?  I just machine sewed it to the back and added a label.  This afternoon I had time to wash and dry it.  Looks like it will be going in the mail tomorrow.

{Post #57} Machine Quilting Finished!!!

Doing the happy dance!!  The quilting is finished on the Army Stars.  This has been such a fantastic quilt to piece, and the quilting went equally well.  If I didn't love my sister so much, I'd just have to keep this for myself.  


I did a simple quilt pattern of loops and stars.  Had a couple boo boos and how-did-I-get-over-here's, but it went very well.  The thread colors matched the top and bottom fabrics very well.


Wes and Ben raised the table about 2 inches.  It seemed like it was a little too low.  

She has no idea this is coming!!  Wish I could see her face in person.

My sweet Rachel is having oral surgery tomorrow AM.  It is supposed to be a very painful recovery.  I am guessing I won't be sewing tomorrow much.  I will take my hand project for in the waiting room...I might just sit.  How weird would that be?  

~Joan

{Post #56} Started Army Stars Quilting

Right off I need to apologize to Natasha.  She asked me what secret projects I was working on.  I told her none.  I guess I've been mentally working on this quilt for a week, trying to decide how to quilt it and what thread to use.  


I started the machine quilting on the Army Stars quilt this AM.  Started piecing the back last night.  Did the final seam this AM then loaded it on the HQ frame.  


The first three passes are finished.  As I rolled it I discovered a gnarly knotted area.  I don't know what happened there.  After it is finished I will rip that out and requilt it.  Seriously have no idea!


Here is a shot of the border where the quilting thread shows up the best so far.  I am doing loops and stars.

The HQ pair (machine and frame) is a dream.  Glides so easily.  <sigh> bliss.


~Joan

{Post #55} Birthday Gift

What's black and white and read all over?  My niece's earbud holder for her birthday at the end of the month.


I didn't have a black or white zipper :*(

{Post #54}

I sewed the inner border on my sister's quilt.  It looks really good.  It measures 67" x 79" or thereabouts now.  

{Post #53} Center of Army Stars Finished

I have all the inner pieced border units together.  Now I need to mix them up and sew them to the center.  Then one wide one-fabric border.  Then the quilting and binding, of course!

{Post #52} Ta Da!

Here is my finished layout.  Lots of juggling before I got the colors distributed.  But I think it was worth it.  Do you?

{Post #51} Last Pic of Night

Here is the way my Army Stars blocks finished tonight.  Three more to go.  I need to make the HST for the corners for these as well.  I think I can finish them tomorrow.  

We picked up our "new" piano this afternoon as well.  That's the vicarious "we"...my husband, son, and 3 friends.  

It will be tuned next week and the girls will be good to go again!


~Joan

{Post #50} Army Stars Blocks Nearly Finished

I am at the stage where I'm fine-tuning my color selection to make sure nothing is overly matched and the star colors are spread out.  All I have to do is fill in the holes you see to finish the blocks for the center.


If you read my other blog, Keeping You In Stitches, you will rejoice with me that I found my instructions, so I am ready to cut the inner border pieces.  


The layout is 5 blocks by 6 blocks, so I'm in the home stretch.  Date with hubby tonight, so not much more time to sew!


Oh yea!!


~Joan

{Post #49} Sixteen Army Stars Blocks Finished

As the title says, 16 blocks finished.  As I arranged them on my little design wall, I realized a few things:

~I need to make 3 more star block centers.  Somehow I ended up with 27 instead of 30.

~My blending of the scrappiness will need lots more concentration than one of my "regular" scrappy quilts.  I'm trying to distribute not only the star center color, but I don't want any same color to touch in the stripes coming out from the blocks.  On top of that, I don't want any of the blue corner triangles to be right next to one of identical fabric. 

~There's a lot more work to be done on this quilt.

That's all...except hope you have a blessed 2012.

~Joan