Pincushions Done; Scratch one off that list!

In my last post, I outlined my ten goals for the 4th quarter of this year. I am participating in Andrea’s 2015 Finish Along and decided there was no time to waste in getting to that list.

Here are my four scrappy pincushions, which were #4 on that list.

Fronts. Can you tell I was trying to use up that black gingham??

Backs: I was also using scraps here.....

So, they are not the cutest pincushions ever created, LOL, but some have vintage buttons (they are going to family for Christmas) and the best thing - THEY ARE DONE!!   One down, nine more items on my list to go........

And here are some blocks that represent progress on my Farm Girl Quilt.  I have another couple to do for the quilt before beginning to piece the top together. But that is OK; I love this process of selecting and making the blocks. Still thinking I need a turkey and an apple core and/or half-cut apple.

Corn and Tomatoes II

Bumblebee. He still needs his antennae embroidered.

Woolly Sheep

And still more progress. I have sewn all 30 blocks (16” each) together on my Rainbow Orbs quilt. Right now it measures 80x96”, and as you can see from the pictures below, it already has the Feline Seal of Approval. That is very important you know.

Rainbow Orbs is resting while I finish my black needlepoint/CQ for a photo shoot. And then I will begin piecing the back for Orbs - you may remember it will be that Hoffman digital cityscape print, with color gradation around it. I am thinking I will bind the whole thing with some black and white stripe; you can never go wrong with a striped binding!  :-)

So, as you see, I have been busy. We are also finalizing our wills and trust with the attorney this week and next, so there is never a dull moment.

OH! I almost forgot! I have been so darn lucky these last couple weeks.  After the Quilt Adoption from a couple posts ago, dear Cynthia Brunz of Quilting is More Fun Than Housework notified me that I had won a pair of Gingher 9” scissors she was giving away for participating. Then, one morning last week I got an email from Angela of So Scrappy telling me that I had won the August bundle of hand-dyed fabrics from Vickie Welsh. An indigo bundle! (check out her amazing hand-dyed fabrics!!).  As if that was not enough, that very afternoon, I got a private message on my iPad from Meg Cox, Editor of Quilt Journalist Tells All and the President of the Quilt Alliance; I had won her monthly newsletter drawing. My prizes? A copy of the newly-released Spoonflower Handbook and a six-month subscription to Creative Bug.  I am just totally beside myself!!

Thanks to all the wonderful people I mentioned in the paragraph above! I linked to everyone so you could check out their wonderful services and products. The world of quilts and the people in it are just amazing.

So what I am going to do now?? QUICK!! I am going to buy a lottery ticket and enter Missouri Star’s birthday bash giveaway....  (just kidding; I will give you all a chance.......)

Hugs,

Quarter Four Goals for 2015 Finish-Along

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry over the list I have prepared for myself of Things to Finish for the fourth quarter of this year.  But Adrianne has encouraged us by reminding us that there is no punishment for not finishing them! It is just a guideline or roadmap. So, maybe if I list more I will be more productive.  Last quarter I had 5 goals and finished 3 of them.  In my own defense, however, I had several other finishes that were not on my list. PLUS one of the projects was was totally written off and given away as an orphan for someone else to love.

But, my creative juices are flowing, and I am nearing the end of completing the two major quilts that I have been working on for the majority of the year. So, without further ado, here we go.


1.  Black needlepoint and crazy patch quilt. OK, I saw you roll your eyes! Yes, it has been on my list all year. Every. Single. Quarter. But I will tell you why I am going to finish it this quarter. Because I have a deadline. And no excuses (like “it’s summer - too hot to work on black and wool!"). The stitching is done and the top is sewn together.  The batting and back are all ready to go. A couple hours and it could be done. And so it will be, before the weather turns and I lose all opportunity of taking decent pictures outdoors.


2.  Rainbow Orbs.
I love this baby. It has been an all-year project working with Angela and her Rainbow Scrap Challenge for 2015.  The top is all pieced and mostly sewn together. The picture at the left shows exactly half of the top. The bump under the dark green patch is Darla. Alfalfa is on the nightstand watching her.  The quilt is made up of 30 - 16” blocks.  If it were just a matter of adding a plain backing, quilting and binding, I could finish it next week. But, I am adding a fancy back to make it reversible, and that backing is complicated. It is a Hoffman digital cityscape print (see HERE) and there will be quite a bit of piecing around it to create a gradient of color. I have not yet decided if I should piece those colors in squares, rectangles or crazy-patch.  Regardless, it is still just a part of this one project.

3.  Pillow Shams for Rainbow Orbs Quilt.  We have two large Euro-shams that I will cover with one giant orb each. Bruce has requested red (his favorite color) and mine will be orange and pink, bright. These are separate from my quilt, and therefore I am counting them as such.  :-)

Scrappy Farmgirl Pincushions

4.  Scrappy Pincushions.  These were on my list last time, and I have sewn on them. The problem is I have to put them away for our weekly sewing circle (with my cousins) because the pincushions are for them. Then I forget to take them out..... excuses, excuses. One good hour and they would be sewn, stuffed and embellished.


5.  Helen’s Garden Quilt.  This is another carryover from my last quarter’s list. And I have changed the pattern that I am using for it. the prints are so large that I wanted a pattern that would show them off better. And I want to finish it this quarter, because the only quilt I have for me to snuggle with in the living room is a Christmas Quilt. That is fine for this quarter, but I don’t want to go another year without some variety!  I LOVE this line by Tamara Kate (called Helen`s Garden, after her mother) because my mother was a Helen, too. And that dragonfly print!!!! It will be a happy quilt.

6.  Six Zip Pouches.  I love zip pouches. They are easy, versatile and so useful. I have already made five of them since Labor Day.  Two were sent off to my daughter in Seattle (no picture) and the other three finished ones are in the right part of the picture at right.  But I have AT LEAST six more to make, so this one list item is for six pouches.  Those pincushions above? They are going to be gifted in the zip pouches along with some other goodies, so those are 4 of the six right there.  Isn’t that bird fabric cute? It was a sample from Spoonflower, and that one will be for me. The baseball ones are for guys in the family. We have found the zip pouches to be a handy way to carry along chargers and cords for phones, iPads, tablets, etc when we travel.


7.  FARM GIRL QUILT.
The Farm Girl Quiltalong by Lori Holt started in May and just recently wrapped up (although we are going to keep going on other Farm Girl stitchy pursuits).  I need 49 12” blocks to finish my quilt, and currently have 45 done. I will show my latest blocks in a separate posts.  The final blocks I will do are: bumblebee, hand mixer, another  apple or two, and ??. Anyway. These will be sashed, with cornerstones, which has me doubting my sanity. But there is a first time for everything, and the point of this quilt (besides being fun and making a bed-sized quilt) is to grow and learn.

8.  FARM GIRL PILLOW SHAMS.  Since this will also be a bed quilt, we will once again have pillow shams to consider. This time, they are long (picture king pillows), although I do not have the exact measurements handy. Bruce wants a tractor, and Lori Holt has a great tractor pattern that will fit.  My sham will consist of 2 - 12” blocks; a house and a flower.


Are you still with me??


9.  Doll Dress-up Play Pad and clothes.
There is some cute fabric out there by Dear Stella called Dress Me Up.  Check out the tutorial for a cute play mat (quilted fabric) and clothes here.  As you can see in the picture, I have made one set of these already.  I originally bought enough to make 4 sets, but two sets are going to the young sewers in the family to make as gifts, so the last one, which is my goal #8, is for my granddaughter London. And the fabric on the back will be a lovely pink floral from my stash called, oddly enough, London, by Dena Designs.


10.   Aria bed quilt.

This is a line of fabric from earlier this year called Aria by Benartex (not the blue one). I am in love with it. (PSA: another line of fabric named Aria by Kate Spain will be coming out next year). The pattern will feature big blocks of the multi-colored paisley print, and my plan is for the broken sashing (which is shown in the pattern in white) to instead be done in orange and teal. that may change if it looks bad, but we will see. This should be an easy cut and sew once I get started.


11.  Lighted Christmas Tree Wall Hanging.

This is a kit I purchased last year from Missouri Star Quilt Company and should be a fairly easy sew.  Naturally, I would like this one done by the end of November so I can hang it in December.  I have everything laid out and ready to quilt, which is the first step (unless one adds to it). But this will be hung on an interior door, so I don’t want it too wide.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

So, that’s it. Ten items on my list. Ten doesn’t seem like a very high number, but there is a lot of work involved in each one. Truthfully, I will be pleased if I get 6 or more done.  And now, I am off to get working on one of them.......

Linking up to Adrianne’s blog, On the Windy Side, where we are all setting out our goals for the 4th Quarter Finish-Along.

Until next time,

Lauren Visits

Yikes! It has been almost a month since I posted!  Is anyone still out there?!?  LOL   I have actually been thinking about you all as I bustle about my summer.  It has been a busy one and a hot one, and from my blog reading, I can tell it has been the same for many of you.

I have taken pictures here and there, so I hope to get caught up a bit with blogging this week.  And I still need to take pictures of my CQ Journal Project blocks and to-date progress, and promise to do that this week.

Last week I had my granddaughter Lauren here to spend the day with me last week before school started. She’s 8 and going into 3rd grade.  Actually, my son Ryan and her mom Kim are getting married next June, but have been together for over 5 years and we have known and loved Lauren and her brother Easton since they were little.

The plan was to have sewing lesson #2.  The first one was about a month ago, when we made her a tote bag (visible in blue in the background of the second picture, below). She learns quickly and did 90% of the sewing. I only did enough to show her, plus I attached the handles.  No good pictures of that.

Anyway, our plan went awry as soon as Lauren saw the gold Victorian pincushion that my friend Gerry K had made for me some time ago.  Lauren fell in love with it and wanted to know if she could make one like it.

Well, luckily, I have been saving candlestick bases for just that, so, she selected her favorite (the biggest and heaviest one!) and we got to work.   There were plenty of crafty lessons along the way, but the only sewing was making the red velvet square into a round yo-yo; so I taught her about gathering stitches, yo-yos, and stuffing things.

We also had fun glueing the components together, and it was quite a challenge since both of my tubes of E6000 were dried up. We ended up using the silicone that I used to glue together my recent garden ornaments.

Another lesson was a color one. As a typical young girl, she loves anything flashy and bright. She wanted red, pink, purple, silver, gold, jewels, flowers, strawberries, butterflies, etc. on it.  So first we selected the color red, based on what I had in the way of trims that matched fancy fabrics she liked.

After that, I had her bring out everything she thought was a possibility, and once the stuffed yo-yo and trims were glued to the base, we began auditioning things.  To her credit, Lauren realized quickly that some things did not look good and others would have to be saved for another project later. It did not all have to go onto this one.

One thing she really liked was the dangly things, so even I made concessions to let her design and put on as many as she liked; a key, jewels, a tiny locket, fancy pins, vintage jewelry, etc.  I had previously made the organdy rose, and she wanted to add the gold vintage leaf brooch to it.

Lauren also fell in love with rhinestones (that’s my girl!!) and so to satisfy her Deep Need for More Bling, we included a vintage rhinestone clip-on earring on the back side.   It turned out really cute and she wants to come back as soon as she can to make another one!!

Here is a picture of some of garden produce, taken about a month ago. Our corn is gone now, so we are picking it from the Community Garden we participate in (that is also where the peppers and onions come from).

Over the last couple weeks I have made a lot of strawberry-rhubarb compote, frozen green beans, peppers, and tomatoes. And then there is the jam: strawberry was early summer, but jumbleberry peach was this past weekend (peach, red and black raspberries and strawberries).   Later this week I will freeze more peaches and make some peach jam.   And the tomatoes, peppers and squash (zucchini and yellow crookneck) keep coming.  We are eating soooooo healthily!

Talk to you soon!