December's Sewn Together



Well, I'm embarrassed but I can hardly remember December's meeting. These pictures help a little - Sarah made this stunning iron caddy. I remember that because she let me pick the thread color for the quilting. I felt like I was 10 again and Mom was asking for my opinion and then kindly explaining why that might not work. Except Sarah just accepted my opinion with gaity. She's like that. Always making you feel like a million bucks.

 

 This picture of Jane cracks me up because she is always pulled together so perfectly. She was sewing these scraps into strips and it looks likes she's made a coat of many colors! She in kind-0f the church darling so that makes sense. All of those scraps were from quilts she's made over the last 20 years. How meaningful now to have enough to give one to each child. She's going to sash them in each kids favorite color.

 

 

 Then Sarah produced these from under her table and allowed us to each pick our favorite. She had extra thermo-batting and bundled them with these adorable fabrics and then challenged us to make our own design of potholder. Oh wait, maybe that was just me. Did the others get patterns? Could have.


I picked the one in the lower right, then traded it for the
upper left, then went back to the first one. Ugh! It's hard
to chose when they're free!

 Marcia got this 30's repro sampler top completed. She whips up quilts like nobody's business but then has to beg her husband Rod to long-arm them. They're the cutest couple in the world and we kid them a lot about their marriage. I can't wait to see this one quilted - wonder what he'll decide to do!

 

And finally here's a happy shot of Pam. You never know what Pam will come with. She has many things going at once and they move along quicker than most, unless of-course it's tax season. Then we miss her dearly. She makes quilts that have instructions to make 1352 flying geese and she'll actually do it. I'd be out after 8. Also, noteworthy here is the scissor lanyard that Sarah made for all of us. There's a joke about keeping those pokey scissor tips away from critical body parts. You can figure it out.

 

 I believe this last shot is a sampling of Sarah's BOM club, or I should say one of her BOMs! Her and Pam have about three going from The Quilt Cove. This one is Women of the Bible.

Happy New Year!

Wow, I'm sort of late to the New Year party but since I haven't written since December it still holds true. By now you're all accustomed to writing 2016 and have Christmas décor put away, right? I'm still finishing the latter, but to be fair, I'm ahead of previous years! I have to have the tree on the street for pick up tomorrow and new to this year - it has to be cut in half! If I was handy with a saw I'd cut it from tip to stump to make two perfect halves, but I don't think that's what they have in mind. Call me 'Amelia Bedelia'!

But we're here for project updates and that's what I've got in store for you. Four very fun things I whipped up in the past weeks that actually got finished and used! Whoa.

The story for the first one is that I at the cutting counter at The Cove to get a selection of fat quarters for my sisters Christmas present. Sarah had gifted me a set of FQ lollipops and I was all gun hoe to duplicate them.

These are the ones I made for Julie. Sarah gave me a set
from a wonderful line called Mon Ami.

Then in one quick instant I heard myself say 'go ahead and give me a half yard, I'm keeping the other FQ.' What???? this right after I had famously vowed to not buy fabric for myself? Well, I rationalized it by stating it's purpose and critical need to the skeptical daughter, 'this is needed for the foyer table'. Now the project was established and I got to spend the next few hours designing a new runner. Hehe.

Modern Barjella? or simply Staggered Strips.

That wave design is supposed to represent the snow we
weren't getting. But then we got snow, so hurray!

 I love doing after Christmas sewing. All the hubbub and rush of the holiday is over and usually I have some free days at home to myself. I offered to sew something for Laina's mentor and after several suggestions, we decided on a bible tote. I'd been dying to cut into my Alison Glass hand dyed batiks and it was really fun to see the colors meld together. I topstitched a few words here and there (love, joy, peace) and also used my specialty stitches - the Greek Key and a cute chain flower.

Love Alison Glass Fabrics!

Piecing the design. It's much harder to make random look
random than you think.

This inside is lined with linen and some utility twill gives it an edgy feel.

Another tote that was gifted was to my adorable niece, Alex. She's a crafty gal and book lover and this tote seemed like just the right thing. I bought some stiff interfacing for totes and learned some key lessons in adding zippers to such a stiff product.

Most of the fabrics are from a line called Let's Play -a cute
line comprised of game motifs.

The pink handles are a Wordfind print.

Inside there are two pockets and another zipper pocket.
It was surprising how much this tote could hold!

I was never more happy than when my friend Diane announced that her daughter was having a baby BOY! I'd been eyeing up the cute boy quilts on Pinterest so I lost no time ordering a green and blue FQ bundle from Bloomerie Fabrics. One of the fabrics was from the line Which Way and that inspired the overall design. Luckily we had Quilt Club that weekend so I got to sew steady on it and reap the benefits of having a room full of experienced quilters. I finished this in one week flat, doing a few hours every night. Now when I look at all my unfinished projects I know that finishing them is possible (as long as there's a deadline!).

Planning with the help of a few photographs. What did
quilters do without iPhones?

The evolution.



I quilted it with a tight meander. I wanted a crumply look.

Staged in my guest room. Scrappy binding, green Minky
Dot on the back. I call it Every Which Way.
Congratulations, Angi and Nathaniel!