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2017 Here I Come!

2017, Here I come and hard to believe. I’m working on cleaning up my office, updating websites and more. It seems like the end of 2016 was busy and I did lots of sewing.

One of the things I made was a couple of table runners. I love this log cabin pattern made with an Accuquilt die and I’ve used it for several different  sample blocks. I’m looking forward to making a quilt from it this year.

For now this is all I’m going to post.. I’m still searching for photos. I guess I haven’t been as organized about that as I thought.

table runner 

Too Long

I didn’t realize how long it’s been since I’ve been here. I’ll start now and add a few more posts later in the week. It’s supposed to be a very hot few days here so this should be a good time to get caught up again.

The most current project has been an apron for my son’s girlfriend.  She is a cat lover and when I saw this pattern for a cat apron I knew it was the perfect choice for her. She also cooks a lot so it should be useful as well.  As with all first time projects, this took longer than I expected and when you start at 11 at night there is bound to be some un-sewing as well.  It was fun however and I did enjoy the project.

Katie's cat apron

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The Farmers Wife 1930’s

The Farmers Wife 1930’s  is a sampler quilt book written by Laurie Hurd. There are quilt blocks and letters from farm wife’s that were written in the 1930’s and compiled to make a quilt.

There are always “quilt alongs” on the web and this one seems to be popular this fall and winter.  The coordinator of the one that I am doing is Angie at Gnomeangel.com  Each week since the end of September she has released two or three blocks for any one that wants to join and you can choose your own fabrics/colors and sew it your way. She has been great at giving several options on ways to cut and sew the blocks each week. Not only does she have many bloggers involved with tutorials, there is also a Facebook page and an Instagram hashtag so you can follow and see what others all over the world are doing. It’s been great fun to see the different colors and skills and learn some new tricks. It’s also been great practice for me learning to cut and sewing accurately and consistently.  This has been met with moderate success on my part. I keep reminding myself that it doesn’t have to be perfect and I’m learning and practicing and each one will get better. I do find it’s better if I can sew more often. This fall I’ve had mixed success with that as well. I hope that now we’ve arrived in January, I’ll have the time and inclination to catch up. I’ve decided to do mine in somewhat of a rainbow theme but most likely it will be a bit “scrappy” because I decided I need to use fabric that I have on hand and not purchase more new fabric. It’s been fun and I’m now headed back to the machine!

 

 

 

Christmas Sewing is Done!

Christmas sewing is done. I guess that’s good because it’s the 2nd of January 2016! Each year the holidays feel like it’s coming more quickly.

This has been a calmer year in many ways. I got the “crud” at Thanksgiving and just wasn’t able to shake if so have spent most of the vacation sleeping and doing only what needed to be done. Nice to feel like I have the time for that but oh the plans I had. Looks like I have a new year to carry out all those unfinished projects.

Christmas sewing included some small projects. I made some doll clothes for my niece’s daughter.

12" doll dress12" doll diaper12" doll pants and shirt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also made some patchwork bibs to save those pretty dress clothes.

patchwork bibs

Sons girlfriend is a cat lover so I made her a cat pillowcase and a cat key fob. This was a fun project.

cat pillowcase

Of course there was the ever popular pajama pants for the daughters.

pj pants

And niece #2 just shared she is having a baby at the beginning of June so I tried a new receiving blanket pattern. This was fun too.

frontback

 

There were several other things that I forgot to take pictures of but it was a fun and low stress sewing season here.

My sewing machine and I will spend some quality “bonding” time together I  can spend some time making quilt blocks for a 1930’s Farmers Wife Quilt. Onward 2016..

More babies

More babies. It certainly is that time for many young families.  I had the pleasure of making one more baby gift before I start on the Christmas sewing. One of middle daughters good friends recently had a baby and she assured me that this friend would treasure a quilt for her new baby because no one in her family did those kinds of things.

I do like to make baby quilts. The are usually fun to make, I can try new things and it doesn’t need to be perfect.  This quilt fit all of those criteria. To begin with the white fabric that I planned on using needed to be replaced when I started to sew. It was so cheap looking compared to the rest of the fabrics I just couldn’t use it. Well, I suppose I could have but it didn’t look right. I was also starting to feel a bit pressured because I knew the baby was coming and would likely be early and I seemed to be quite busy with work so didn’t feel like sewing in the evening. I started to cut the strips to use in the die cutter and made several of the strips too narrow. I could have made them work but knew the fabric was more likely to stretch when I cut the shapes. I finally got everything cut, started to sew and changed my mind on the arrangement so had to recalculate and sew some more.I decided the colors of the fabric that I was going to use on the back wouldn’t look good so I went shopping again.  Yes, some of the pieces did stretch and it didn’t lay very flat when I was done piecing the top. After quilting however, and washing. It looks fine, I love the colors and I know the mom and baby will not care if all the points don’t match and it’s not perfect. It will keep the baby warm or be a good quilt to put on the floor and work fine that way too.

The bib was made to try a new quilting pattern. That worked fine too and all have been mailed and received by the new mom.

Now on to Christmas.
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Fauna quilt

Minions and pin cushions

Minions and pin cushions were next on the list. A friend saw the orange Minion pillow cases and wanted a blue one for her college age daughter.  It was fun to make and I added a little coin purse. This fabric was great quality and had a great feel to it so it was fun to sew.

Minion pillowcase

Minion coin purse

 

 

 

 

 

Next was a pin cushion for a friend. After reading about other folks using this pattern I was hesitant and I procrastinated   it took me a long time to make it. When I was done, I realized there were several things I could have done differently had I known but it turned out OK and wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it might be. A win for sure.

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And one more jar cozy.

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So Many Projects and So Little Time

So many projects and so little time. That seems to be the story of my life these days. I would love to spend my days sewing all the projects that I imagine and have fabric for but reality is not the same.  Guess that’s good for I’d hate to run out of things to do.

I have made lots of little things and couple of bigger things so I think I’ll start back with the smaller items and continue the story.

Minions have been a popular item and topic of discussion in several places. Either you love these little guys or you just can’t figure out what the charm is.

Some pillow cases.

Minion pillowcare

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there was also a lunch sack, napkins utensil holder.

Gnome lunch bag

 

 

 

 

 

Some jar cozies for packing lunches. These are pint size canning jars in an insulated bag that can be packed in a lunch.

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And one more baby quilt. This was a fun one to do and came together quickly. This was made out of 61/2 inch half square triangles.

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Cute little zip pouch

A cute little zip pouch was in order for a little pair of ear phones.  This was for one of my brothers.  He was going to take a long plane ride and was complaining about not being able to wear his ear buds for very long and it was going to be a 12 hour flight. I have a pair of the over the ear head phones and have been pleased with them because I too have a problem with the ear buds. They just are not comfortable for very long. One thing I have learned about this type of ear phones however is the mesh over the device that rests against your ear does get pulled off easily. When I put these in a pocket and pull them out again it doesn’t take long and they are coming apart.  This of course in my mind equates to some kind of storage device and in this instance a zip pouch is perfect. My brother is also a bit of  a neatnik so this is right up his alley. I found this “manly” fabric with arrows on it, in a lovely blue/green and knew it would be perfect.  I don’t know how much he actually used the ear phones, we haven’t had much chance to visit since he returned but it was a quick, fun and satisfying project.

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Postcards

Postcards were again on the agenda for my camp friends. I tried to customize them a bit with something special for person. Sometimes this happened to be a name, like Chipmunk or Tigger. I didn’t have any Tigger fabric so had to make do with Pooh instead. And one for a friend whose name was from the Wizard of Oz, and there were several themed ones as well.

A Nature, a boating, a generic Girl Scout, a crafter, a Cat (mouse) and even the kitchen folks.  These were fast and fun. I might have made them more elaborate if I had started sooner but… Starfish Alley

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Gifts

I was lucky enough to recieve some gifts from friends this summer too. A friend who I chat with many times a week but usually by email, found a pincushion pattern that she wanted to try out so I was the lucky winner on that one and one friend I had made a pincushion caddy for and in turn she created me a beautiful pair of hand knit socks.

It’s always such a treat to receive handmade gifts from friends. (Actually it’s a treat to receive any kind of gift. It always makes me feel special.) I love creating gifts for people and in turn I love to receive theStarfish Alleym as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This beautiful wool pincushion was created with love and care by my friend Gretchen.

I feel honored and blessed to be on the receiving end.
For my friend Terri, I made this pincushion caddy similar to one she had see on a website.

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As a thank you she gifted me with these hand knit socks. What a lucky gal I am!

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