Friday, November 29, 2013

2 more Challenge finishes


 
I finished these placemats quite a few weeks ago. I just kind of forgot to post about them.

 
This is my finish for today. It was a mystery quilt the first year I went to quilt retreat. That has been quite a few years ago. I did a meandering all over quilting on it. Just simple and fast. I thought the pattern speaks for itself, and does not need much enhancement. The quilt is lap sized.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

I kind of forgot to post


This sweater was forgotten in a closet for a very long time. I call it "Holly Sweater", because the color of the yarn is called Holly. This is one of my own designs.

 
These Mittens are a very quick knit. I found the pattern on Ravelry, and it took me 2 weekends to knit. They are called "Give A Hoot". If you look closely you can see the Owl on the back of the Mitten.
 

This Afghan took me exactly 1 year, but that is only because I had it laying in my sewing room for a few months. I bought this Pattern from Herrschner's, and really like it. As you can see, it is a descent size, and spans my Queen-sized bed. I love snuggling with it on my sofa in the evenings after a tough day at work.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

I see PUPPIES!!!!

I finally have my daughter's quilt finished. It was high time too. The edges needed bound so badly, because they were unravelling. It feels so great to have a finished project again, but then it is also sad that it is finished.
Oh well, on to the next project, which ever that may be.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Let it Snow!!!


Perhaps not quite yet, since Autumn is just starting.

I finished my first Project of my challenge. One down and only 7 more to go. This project did not go quite as smoothly as I hoped. While finishing it, my sewing machine gave up it's ghost. Naturally I tried my hardest to finish this with the smallest of delays by getting the sewing machine I have been eyeballing for quite some time. So my new purchase is quite justified with the finish of this long overdue table runner. I am so pleased to have started of my challenge at a good pace.

Friday, September 20, 2013

Time for an update and a challenge!!!


I am way overdue for posting again. I am not trying to make excuses, but I just have the hardest time to find a rhythm in my live that will work and balance out work, family, home responsibilities, and my fun time.
 
I was at Quilt Retreat last weekend. My it already feels so long ago. I guess it was a very long week at work. But anyway, my friend Carolyn and I came up with a grand idea. We thought we should challenge each other to get some of our UFOs finished. Needless to say out plan went viral in no time. The challenge is to post pictures of projects we want to finish until April 2014 for our next retreat. But the kicker is, we are supposed to use fabric from our stash to do so, but if not possible, we may buy small amounts of fabric to finish a project. It has to really be justified. If we start new projects, they have to be started from our stash.
 
We are hoping to get a few projects finished, get some room in our sewing rooms by using what we already have, and to have some fun along the way.
 
So here are my projects I plan on finishing in various stages.
 
 
This is my "Deer Quilt" which I sewed last April retreat for my husband. Of course this man, who sponsors and supports my fabric habit deserves a quilt. So my goal is to get it quilted and bound, so my husband can actually use it.
 


Above is my "It's a Star" quilt top. It is queen-sized quilt top sewn in Eleanor Burns' construction method for Log Cabin quilts. I started it a few years ago, and it just hibernated for a while, and now it is in the holding pattern to be quilted and finished of. I think it will look really great on my bed.


This little bright beauty is a Mystery quilt we made at retreat a few years back. It is only lab-sized, or even smaller than that. It would make a great table topper too. My goal of course is to quilt and finish it, and finally get it out of my UFO pile.


This "Let it snow" table runner was a total surprise to me. I completely forgot about it. I made it a few years ago from a magazine pattern, stuck it into my to-do pile and forgot it. I made this from stash, and hope that it will be my first project to be finished, so I can enjoy it this winter season on my coffee table.


Above you see an orphan, on purpose. I abandoned it because one of the blocks I sewed wrong, and I am not fixing it. I do kind of like the look of the block anyway. This was a BOM we did on the Ohio Quilter yahoo group a few years ago.  It is twin sized, and the perfect size to snuggle with for nap time. The colors are just warm fall colors, and I really love the fabrics I used. I guess just frustration with my inability to follow a pattern properly made me put it on ice. Not anymore!!! Goal for it is, to quilt and finish it before April.


Above you see the start of Eleanor Burns' "Twisted Star" quilt. I am sewing the Queen-sized  version of it. My goal is to have the top assembled by April. I am not going to be too ambitious with that. I have to remember that my day job takes up a little of my sewing time.


Above you see the beginnings of a Hunter Star quilt. I have no idea how big it will get. I started it at the last retreat because some friends showed me a new method of sewing the pattern, I fell in love with it, and now I am making a quilt with 6inch blocks. So I have to see how big I like to grow it. It might become lab-sized or it might grow into a Queen. Who knows!!! But we will find out by April, hopefully


This little project should be easy and quick to finish. These are Autumn Place mats I started at retreat. I did not cut enough fabric for them, this is why I could not finish them. No they have become part of my challenge, and I hope these will be the second project that will make it on to them finished list. So that I may enjoy them this Autumn on my Dinner table.

Now this is my little confessional from my quilting room. I am not even starting on knitting on here. Those would be my bonus projects.

I am not going to make promises to update my blog on certain days, because that will not work out for me. But I will keep you all posted on my progress in the challenge, and on other things that are going on in my life.

Monday, May 27, 2013

I am still kicking, and quilting


I am back!!! Yes, it seemed like I have been disappearing from the face of the world, but I am still around. I just find it very difficult to fall into a good routine with my work. I have been in this job now for 6 months, and still I am struggeling to find a routine that works for me. But I am sure, eventually I will get the hang of it. I work 4 days a week, a lot of days more than 10 hours, and I drive 1 hour each way. So including lunch break I am gone from home about 13 hours most work days. Needless to say, I don't feel like doing anything on those days, and can just muster up enough strength to get the basics done, so my house will not turn into a health hazard. LOL
 
But I am trying hard to get in quilting, knitting, or crochet time on my weekends. Some weekends I even get something finished.
 
This is the Mini Bow Tucks Tote, and I made it for my Mother-in-law for Mother's Day. She was happy to get it, because she wanted to make herself one. So I lend my pattern to her, and she said it was a little more complicated than she would have liked it to be. So I thought it would be a great gift idea to make her one.
 

 
I also have another finish this month. I am so excited to finally get something done, and making progress with all these projects. But don't get me wrong, it is very difficult not to start a new project. But I know, I need to be more diciplined and get actually something finished.
 
This is the Buckeye Beauty that I made for my daughters High School Graduation. It is only one year late, as she just finished up her Freshman year in College. But she loves it anyway. She could not have been more excited if I would have handed her a pot of gold. 

 
I have of course a few other projects in the works. I am piecing the Twisted Star Quilt by Eleanor Burns. I must say, I love her patterns, but this is the last time that I follow her instructions. The next one of her patterns, I will read over the instructions, and see if I can figure out an easier way of making the quilt. She always has a lot of unnecessary extra steps in it, and it is just very labor intensive.
 
I also started to baste my Puppy Quilt for my other daughter, so I can quilt it. I am planing on straight quilting it, and then quilt some  motives into the Puppy blocks, so that my batting will hold together.
 
After that I still have my Log Cabin Quilt, a few pillow cases for every quilt, my Churn Dash quilt that needs finished piecing, my Eye Candy that wants hand quilted,  and many more in the plans.  Currently I am looking through my patterns for something to use my batiks with. Then in September I am going on another Quilt Retreat, and we will be having a mystery quilt. Of course I am looking forward to receiving the first step of the instructions, so I can pull my fabric for it.

Well, now I am all motiviated to get my breakfast in, get a few things taken care of around the house, and then go back into my sewing room on this cloudy, chilly day today, and relax before I have to get back to work again tomorrow.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Puppy Quilt has it's border on

My Puppy Quilt for my daughter is ready to be layered. I sewed the border on this morning, and now I have to figure out where I want to layer it. On the carpet or on the table. I am leaning more toward the table. I might have to get myself some of those table cloth clips so I can stretch the backing across my table. That way I will be more comfortable than crawling on the floor, and I can pin baste my quilt in sections. I am just worried that if I layer on the carpet, that I will have puckers in the back after quilting.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Happy National Quilt Day!!!!

I hope you all have a Happy National Quilt Day. I know, some of you are now making a face and say, "But it is St. Patrick's Day today!!!" Yes, it happen to be the same day. But since I have not a drop of Irish in me, not even Guinness, I am not qualified to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. But I am a quilter through and through, pure bred. Therefore, that is the holiday I chose to celebrate today. BTW, I don't celebrate Cinco De Mayo, Ramadan, and Hanukkah either, because I just don't fit the bill. But I am very excited about the Holidays I do get to celebrate, because I am part of the group they are for.

This is my daughter's graduation quilt. Graduation from High-School that is. She is about to finish her freshman year of college. I know, I am a little behind times. But I also know she will love it just the same. Today I finally quilted it, and put the binding on. I still have to fold the binding to the back and hand stitch it down, but that will be for my weeknight, after work, hand work times. I am very excited that I have it done this far, and my daughter will be sleeping below it in foreseeable future. I will also make a pillow case to go with the quilt for her.

Right now I will take a little break from quilting, and then perhaps work on another UFO for my other daughter. Said quilt needs to have the last border sewn on, and layered for quilting. I don't want to stress myself out too much, so I will keep my goals low, and for now I will just do some work around the house, and maybe take a little nap. Then I will see where I go from there.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Ruffle Scarf

OK, I finally made one of these scarfs. Really the only thing holding me back was the technique. But a gentlemen who was in the waiting room of out office made one for his girl-friend the other day, and was so kind to show me how. I just could not resist making one for me too. Besides, some of my friends were making these too, and I just love how they look.

I used Red Heart Sashay, and it took me only last night to crochet it. It was a fun and fast project. I love these instant gratifications. Let's hope I don't ruin it when I wash it the first time. The label instructs to hand wash in cold water, and dry flat.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Acute Case of Staritis

 
Once again I contracted an acute case of startitis. I just could not help myself. I saw this BOM on craftsy.com, and since I like traditional blocks, I decided to join in. It is a crossover of a mystery quilt and a sampler, since there is no picture of the finished quilt. I just know that it has 12 blocks, but no idea what these blocks might be. I decided to make it from my stash, and use my country colors for this quilt. At first I thought about making 2 blocks for every month, and enlarging it to a queen sized quilt, since that is the size of all my beds in the house, but then thought better about it. Not every quilt has to fit my bed. It is OK to have a quilt just the right size for the sofa, or a nap.
 
This is January's block and is a Monkey Wrench. The colors do not show up properly in my computer, because the dark is not black, but a nice, rich, dark brown. This block went together very quickly, and was easy to sew. The finished size is 12 inch square.
 
This really gave me back some of my quilting mojo, and I am looking forward to next month's block. I really need to get going in cleaning my quilting room, so I can put this quilt into the frame that I would like to finish this month. Maybe I will get started on that tonight, or maybe next weekend. I don't want to feel like I am rushed, that is much too close to work, rather than pleasure. But for now it is just good to be back to sewing again.



Friday, January 4, 2013

Feeling very unmotivated today

Today is just one of those days that I would gladly spend laying around like a beached whale. I see the work around the house that needs done, and get it done a little at a time. Just my heart is not in it today. I should go out to the grocery store, but I am not even motivated to write a shopping list, or a menu for the week, so I would have an inkling on what to buy.

I also should exercise every day, but that does not happen. I started weight watchers online again. After having been diagnosed last month with hypercholesterolemia, and pre-diabetes I know I need to watch my diet, and incorporate frequent exercise. So I am hoping that weight watchers online is helping me to learn not to eat like a teenager anymore, and adapt a more healthy lifestyle. The prospect of heart disease and strokes just scares me a bit. I also hope, that once I am getting myself to exercise more frequently, that I will have more energy, and not be tired as can be by 8pm.

I also spend some time this morning to clean out my blog list. There were quite a few blogs that have moved to new locations, or were abandoned for quite some time. So I removed them from my list. I know myself how easy it is to get away from blogging. I am guilty of not keeping up all the time too. I am hoping to get to blog more too. It seems to be doing wonders for my emotional well-being. I guess a diary can do the same, but unless someone invades my privacy, nobody would know what I am about. Besides, there is something to be said about the interaction blogging brings with it.

On the weather in my area, it is very cold and blustery. Snow is still on the  ground, but thankfully not on the roads. Perhaps that contributes to my laziness. I am having a sweater in the works for nice cold days, but no motivation to pick it up and knit on it. I guess once I get all my work done today, (really only laundry left) I will find a good movie to watch, and get some knitting done. I will let you know how it all goes.

I hope you all are staying warm, and have the opportunity to have some fun with your favorite activities.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!!!

Have a New Year, and may it be filled with health, happiness, prosperity, and all the things you want to have.

I am not making resolutions today. I know how it goes, I want to lose weight, and after about a week I end up gaining. I want to quilt or knit more, but end up doing nothing of the sort. So this year I am not making to many plans. Mostly because I can not stick to them anyway. But I will hope that I will finally fall into a routine to juggle my work and home responsibilities, so I will find more time for the things I love to do, like quilting and knitting.

My monthly UFO to finish will be the Buckeye Beauty quilt I made for my daughter who is in college. So I am planning on getting that top quilted, the quilt bound, and hopefully 2 pillow cases sewn. The quilt is a queen sized top, in red, black, and white.