Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Some Finishes!

I had some quilt tops finished and pin basted, and ready to quilt, back in November, but had to work on Christmas presents, so had to set them aside.  I've finally gotten back to them and finished them!


First up, I really got into old trucks with trees in the back this Christmas.  I made my sister a small wall quilt for a gift, but then duplicated it in a lap size for our family.  


I love the Woolies flannel fabrics.  They are so thick and soft and cozy colors! 


The truck is raw edge appliqued on using Soft Fuse.  Then I used baby rickrack to write the words.  So fun!  I can't wait to use it next Christmas!!


I made this quilt top at a guild retreat last fall.  This design was very popular on Instagram last fall...it was shown with a solid grey background.  


Then I saw another pumpkin block online, that had a star pieced into it.  So I combined the two!  It was so fun finding the different orange fabrics for the pumpkins, but finding the magical blue-purple fabric for the background was a real find!!


I loved quilting this!!  I used orange thread to quilt the outline and vertical lines on the pumpkins and then used lime green thread to quilt the leaves and vines between!!  


I love, Love, LOVE how this turned out!!  You know how I LOVE me some Halloween!!


This quilt was an UFO that I had completely forgotten in our move to this house and I found it hidden between some stacks of fabric.  


It is at least 10 years old by now... where did the time go?  


So, I finished it up, added some applique for fun, and donated it to our guild auction.  I had some leftover pieces, so I made them into a mat and ruler tote, which I also donated to the auction!!  A twofer!!  Yay!!


Our little grandson, Neal, continues to grow and wind us all tighter around his little fingers!!  That smile makes us so very happy!!



Yogi is wondering when spring will really arrive... he loves to sit on the porch on the glider with me and watch the world go by!!


Sew, what are you working on these days?


Wednesday, March 1, 2017

March!! Already?

Wow.  I can not believe it's March already!  Where did February go?  Wasn't it just yesterday, that it was January?  Here in northern Virginia, we've hardly had a winter at all.  No snow to speak of...sigh.  I love me some snow...bigger sigh.  I still hope we get some before full on spring arrives.  But this morning, I noticed some pink blossoms budding out on my plum tree out back...biggest sigh.


My dear husband made a little convertible sewing table for my Mother's old Singer 99.  I've had my grandmother's treadle machine base for many years.  When I got it, there was no top on it and it was a rusty mess.  I took it all apart and cleaned it and repainted it and reassembled it and made a table top for it.  It sat in my dining room in my previous home for about 15 years.  Back then, husband made a greenhouse of old antique windows that sat on the treadle machine tabletop, and I kept plants in it.  


When we moved to this house over three years ago, I sat the table in my morning room with one big plant on it.  I wanted a place here on the first floor to set up a sewing machine sometimes, so my wonderful husband used the old table top already on the treadle base, and cut out part of it so my antique Singer 99 sewing machine would sit down into it.


Then he made another top that would sit over that base when my machine was not in it, and allow me to still use it as a piece of beautiful furniture for my big plant to sit upon!   He did a wonderful job with the construction, and I stained and polyurethaned it.  I am so happy with how it turned out!!


I had bee at my house on Valentine's Day, so I made my bee friends little lovebug pin cushions that I saw on Pinterest.  I like how they turned out!


I saw this adorable Brooklyn Bag from Swoon Designs, at Oh Sew Persnickety, our wonderful local quilt shop, and just had to make it! 


I love the cork fabric but it was the SLOTH fabric that sucked me in...


Making the purse was not hard, but sewing the thick cork fabric when it was doubled was tedious.  


The purse directions were well written and the designer has a photo tutorial on her website, as well.


I had three quilt tops draped across The Queen Mother, aka my Handiquilter 16 Sit-Down Machine, since before Christmas.  I'm happy to say, they are all quilted and bound and labeled!!  I'll share them next time!!


Yogi is plodding along!  He is almost completely deaf and has about 25% of his vision left.  He sleeps allot and is on several medications.  He'll be 16 in a month!  He still looks like a puppy, though!!  He just moves a bit slower!


So, what have you been sewing on lately?