Mini Retreat At My House

I invited some friends over for a day of sewing at my house - C made it. We had a great day. She arrived about 9:40, with two coffees in hand (I'm not a coffee drinker so none in my house). She set up in my dining room and we got down to business.

Notice a coffee and a giant drink of water

C sewed away on sugar block of the month. They look great but are pretty finicky.

I finished this quilt top this morning - the one for my niece.

for some reason these are flipping when I insert them and I can't get them straightened out - kindly tip your head

Once I'm back to work next week I'll get it sandwiched then I'll start quilting. My machine likely needs a tune up before I start quilting though.

For lunch I made us homemade roasted red pepper soup - delish but I forgot to take a picture.

My afternoon sewing consisted of gifts for people who read my blog - I took pictures and will show them once the gifts are given.

I'm linking to Patchworktimes - check it out.

Boxing Day Moving

I moved my design wall downstairs tonight. It was a much easier job than I thought it would be - it always is. And I re-arranged and tidied the sewing room up a bit too. Tomorrow I have to get some marking done - then on to some sewing!

Cabinets with assorted fabrics - and dining room chair holding more fabric. I want to get a clothes drying rack to hold the fabric of works in progress.

Design wall - directly opposite cabinets

work table - in doorway to dining room, between cabinets and design wall. Switched the locations of ironing board and work table - like it much better.

Design Wall Monday

There's not much on the wall this week - cause the wall is still upstairs in the old sewing room.  I want to get it moved downstairs but need to finish cleaning my house first. And get ready for Christmas.

I finished this for my sister-in-law for Christmas. She's just started her Masters so I'm putting some nice pens, sticky notes, cash, etc in it.

the front - Charley Harper fabric

the back - also Charley Harper fabric

the pattern

 This went together really quickly - so quickly that I thought I'd made a major error. I hope she likes it.

You might remember this tablerunner from a few weeks ago:

I started appliqueing around the shapes and letters - a bit hard to see in the photo.

 The appliqueing is going well, except when my cat jumps up on the sewing table, sits on it, and weighs it down so I can't move it. One of these days she's going to get her tail caught under the needle.

We've also just had a major ice storm go through my area. Lot's of damaged trees and power outages. My big tree is so far okay, with only some small branches coming down. My lilacs are a bit weighted down but I hope when the ice melts (next weekend maybe??) they spring back up. Here's a few shots:

a good 1/2" of ice

lilacs - finally the sun has come out

more lilacs with sunshine

Merry  Christmas!

It's been over a month

I knew I hadn't posted for awhile but I didn't realize how long it's been since I last posted. I've been really busy though.

Crafternoon with my nieces and we made ornaments for the family. They are coming over Friday for the day to finish off.

Baby shoes - for sale and hopefully sold.

Baby shoes for sale and also hopefully sold.

Baby shoes as a gift

Owl hat - sold this one already

Another owl hat - this one sold too.

Table runner for me. It needs buttons, which are on backorder so I'll have to wait a bit. It needs applique around the shapes too.

 

I've also done some marking (since my boss reads my blog) and planned a giant volleyball tournament.

 

My first day of Christmas vacation is Friday and I can't wait.

Design Wall Monday

I must be busy cause it's been awhile since I posted. My friend L asked if I was okay. I am, just busy with work I guess. And I had a cold too.

My design wall update is on the floor this week because the design wall is upstairs still and I'm too lazy to go up there.

Here are two more rows for the quilt for my niece

My blocks all seem to be off square and wonky - oh well. A little trimming goes a long way and hides a multitude of sins.

Head on over to Patchwork Times to see what everyone else is up to.

Design Wall Monday

I made great progress this weekend - I decided I'd worked at my job hard enough all week and that I needed some rest and play time.

I love having my sewing room on the main floor - it's so easy to slip over there and sew for a bit here and there. For some reason, going up the stairs before was a huge obstacle.

Here's what's on the design wall this week

This is all my progress to date; Row D and E of Dear Jane and the top row of the Animal Parade quilt for my niece

Close up of Animal Parade

Check out what everyone else is up to.

I Got My Homework Done!

In my Dear Jane class we get a certain number of blocks assigned each month. I've been woefully behind in my homework all this year (and as a teacher, it's a bit embarrassing). This month I've finished the homework and with a week to spare.

I8

K10

Dreaded Triangle 1 Top Row 11

Dreaded Triangle 2 Top Row 12

It feels pretty good to get my homework done - I feel like I deserve a gold star.

Progress!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I'm so grateful for all the many blessings in my life.

All summer I worked, with my dad, on renovating my house. This weekend I moved part of my sewing room down to the main floor. My new sewing room is in my front room and is much larger than the bedroom upstairs, has better natural light, and will let me do a few more things. I'll still have to use the upstairs bedroom for sewing storage, etc. - there isn't a closet in the front room and the one in the bedroom is full!

my view when I sew - out into the front yard



the other end of the room; I still have a lot of tidying and sorting to do

 



I sewed for the first time in my new sewing room tonight and it was a dream. I looked for over a year for this house and it took me quite a while to realise I was looking for a sewing room with a house attached. Thankfully I found it.

Design Wall - still upstairs but it will come downstairs soon. These are rows D and E.

E4

 Check out Patchworktimes to see the design wall progress for the week.

Progress?

Work has been crazy busy in the last few weeks and I've been working on trying to finish my house renovations.

I'm moving my sewing room down to the main floor this weekend and I'm super excited about it.

I think I took these photos over a week ago - but I haven't gotten any sewing in since then so they're current.

another pair of baby shoes for a friend

my design wall with rows D and E of Dear Jane

Last time I tried to sew my cat and I fought over who would sit in the sewing chair; we ended in a tie

a Dear Jane block

another Dear Jane

the most recent Dear Jane

Babies Have Small Feet

One of my colleagues at work had a baby girl this week. I'm rather fond of the mommy and the baby is adorable.

When I asked her what she'd like me to make for the baby she asked for something knitted. The blanket is in the dryer right now - I'll post a photo later this week. I finished it today. I also sewed up these little cuties

Babies have wee, tiny feet! These are size 0-3 months and they are pretty darn cute.

I'm thinking of making a bunch up to see if I can sell them on Etsy or at a local store that takes handmade goods on consignment. I'm stuck on how much to charge. Any suggestions? They are 100% cotton and reversible.

Design Wall Monday

Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to school I go - well, tomorrow at least.

Here's my Dear Jane progress - Row C

Row C

 Here's the block I finished tonight - C5. This has 17 pieces and 3 layers! It was a lot of applique.

C5

First I made 2 identical pinwheel blocks to make the very inner circle and the "bumps" in the next round. This is the freezer paper I used to make the inner circle, to applique onto the background.

Getting ready to applique...

To get the outside section, I made a "window" out of white, then appliqued it on - this is how I got the 3 layers. I also trimmed away excess in each layer as soon as I finished appliqueing.

Check out everyone's design walls here.

Oh, It's Been Awhile

I guess I haven't been sewing that much lately - I'm in full renovation mode around here and that has taken precedence.

I did finish the needed block for row B of Dear Jane tonight.  Here's B6:

This darling has 43 pieces! It's been awhile since I did one with that many pieces - Jane must have had a lot of time on her hands (or a lot of help).

Row B is now awaiting assembly on my design wall

I'm also hooking up to Patchwork Times - go check out what everyone is making.

Two Little Reasons I Sew and Gift Quilts

You might remember two little elephant quilts I sewed in June for a colleague who was expecting twins.

The boys were born at about 39 weeks - unusual for twins - and everyone is healthy and happy. The mommy called me from the hospital when the babes were 1 day old to thank me for the quilt and she sent me this picture - they are under a week old here.

I'm so happy that I stayed up late one night to finish these off. They have gone to a good home where they will be used, loved, and appreciated.

I Have Finished A Row - Woo Hoo!

I've finished an entire row of Dear Jane - it feels like a major accomplishment and now I'm excited to sew this quilt again.

First I had to sort out all the blocks I've completed. It was a larger pile than I expected, which is good because I often felt like I'd sew and sew these blocks and not see much progress.

Then I laid out all the blocks for row A. I'm missing one...

 

 

...so I whipped it up. Here is A8.

All of row A is complete - that's 13 5" blocks.

Next, I cut about a gazillion 5" x 1" strips for the sashing between the blocks.  And I forgot to take a picture.

Here is the row all sewn together - with my helper. It's so long that I almost had to stand on a chair to get this picture.  It will fit on my design wall but I can't get back far enough to take a picture of it.

I think my homework for Sept is to have the first four rows sewn together - that's what I'm going to do anyway.  I need to make up some more blocks before I can sew any more rows together.