NOVEMBER FREE MOTION QUILTING CHALLENGE AND MACHINE BINDING

I almost gave up on myself this month.  Yes, I almost didn't do my quilting challenge.  It has been a busy month and yesterday I was just plain tired.  

However, today is another day!  So I decided to do it.  I didn't practice as much as I should have.  I don't have any really imaginative quilting like some other people do, but I will say that I really appreciate sewcalgal for hosting the challenge all year.  And I appreciate the expert quilters, like Sarah Vedeler who were willing to share there expertise with us.  The tutorial definitely is helpful in giving us a great method to follow.   So, here are my samples.

In my last post I blogged about the two donation quilts that I finished.  I forgot to mention that I bound them by machine.  Pat Sloan has an excellent tutorial on how to do the machine binding and you can get to it here.  I pretty much followed the directions to a "T".  Except, when I went to put the binding onto the girl's quit, I sewed it to the front instead of the back.  So, since I had followed Pat's directions about ironing the binding down 1/4", I was able to still stitch the blanket stitch from the front while folding under the binding as I went.  Luckily, it turned out OK.  (I was too lazy to take out the stitching since I was over half way before I realized that I had sewn in on the wrong side).

Front view of girl's quilt.

Back view of girl's quilt.

This picture shows both the front view and back view of the boy's quilt.

Thanks for the tutorial, Pat.  It really saved me a lot of time and for a quilt that might get a lot of use, this binding will work fine.

DONATION QUILTS FINISHED

This morning I finished binding on two donation quilts that I have been working on.  They will go to children's hospital for older kids (one boy and one girl) in the ICU.

Pinwheel quilt for girl made out of leftover HSTs.  The back is a piece of very nice fabric from an estate sale.

Ohio Star quilt for boy - made out of repurposed men's shirts.  The back is men's shirt fabric that I got in a thrift shop.

It always feels good to finish something.  These will be taken to my guild meeting next week and in January or February will be donated  in memory of one of our former members who was a doctor there.  She's the one who got us started making quilts for the ICU and it was a passion of hers.

I'm almost finished with my Christmas ornaments and will be posting them soon.  How are you doing on your short list?

MAKING PROGRESS ON SHORT LIST

I thought I would write a post today before I get going on the cleaning and food preparation for tomorrow.  I have made some ornaments that I will post after they are given.  Below is the Santa that I am cross stitching for Eli's ornament.  So, the ornaments are close to being finished.

Doll clothes:  2 pair of pajamas and one "formal" dress completed.

Pajamas for Abby's doll.

Pajamas for doll in my doll bed - doll was my mother's when she was a child.  Poor thing has hair problems.  He is a boy doll and has been wearing a dress for years, so I'm sure he is happier now.

Another dress for Abby's doll.

I'm crossing doll clothes off my short list.  I might make one more dress, but that will be after I have finished all other projects.

I finished "A Christmas Wish" which was designed by Gail Pan. 

Backing for Christmas Wish - Moda fabric that I got at an estate sale.  Didn't really like it & didn't know what I would do with it, so it's perfect for a backing.

 I got this lovely 100% wool jacket at a garage sale and I plan to felt it for future wool projects.

I'm off to do my chores for tomorrow.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

THE SHORT LIST

Carolyn at Lakeside quilting posted a short list about projects she needs to finish in the next month or so and somehow I got hooked into making a short list also!  I don't know how that happened.

1.  Doll clothes for Abigail.  Here is the dress I made yesterday.  I also made some flannel pajamas, but they aren't quite finished yet.  Plan to make (maybe) 2 more dresses.

2.  Gail Pan's Christmas Wish BOM from 2009.  Yes, the embroidery has been finished for 3 years, so I guess it's about time to put this together.  Here are 6 of the 9 blocks auditioning the sashing fabric.  I think I can get this finished soon.  

3.  Christmas ornaments.  I finished one for Abigail and am working on Jonah's (they both get a cross stitched penguin).  Eli will get a cross stitched Santa.  The rest will be little quilt blocks in red and white.  Not sure how many I will make yet.

4.  Quilt 2 donation quilts to take to December guild meeting.

5.  Batik fish for Eli and Jonah (stuffed).

6.  Finish appliqué (machine) top for DIL.

7.  Quilt lap quilt made out of Australian fabric.

If I think up any more things to make for gifts, this list will need to be revised.

I showed parts of this doll in a previous post and now she is finished except for adding yarn hair and finishing her green apron and bonnet (I'm looking for the right color green ribbon).  Here's a picture of her before I sewed on her head.

I got her from Keepsake Quilting.  There were 3 printed panels.

I bought this chair for 75 cents at a garage sale and needed a doll to sit in it.

Miss Malinda Dalton, Born 1835 in Virginia - she works as a maid for a landowner.

Sitting by the fireplace in her Sunday dress with the moose and rocking horse.

Do you have a short list?

APQ BLOCK SWAP QUILT FINISHED!

I finally finished my APQ Block Swap quilt!  The blocks were swapped in 2010.  I'm really glad this is finished.  I only need to put the label on - I hope I can find it.  I'm sure it is here somewhere, but it's probably underneath something else!  

I quilted it on my domestic sewing machine.  The hardest part of doing the quilting myself is figuring out how I want to do the quilting.  Of course, it is done by free motion (FMQ).  At first, I was thinking about an "all over" pattern, but I didn't want to use a light colored thread in the black setting triangles and didn't want to use black thread on the rest of the quilt.  So finally, I decided on what to do in the blocks which was a kind of swirl around the seams.

Next, what to do in the sashings?  Luckily, I recently won the Free Motion Quilting book by Angela Walters.  On page 44, she has a "Swirl Scroll" that I had already used in a couple borders and it was a lot easier than it looks, so I decided to use that in the sashing.

The black setting triangles weren't a problem because I already knew I would quilt hooked feathers in it.  I think you can see them better in this blog post from a few days ago.

The inner 1" border got circle swirls, so that was easy.  Then came the HST border, and I wasn't sure what to do there, but then I just got an idea, partly from DH and partly from some of the FMQ challenge lessons that I have done this year, so I just did squiggly lines going opposite ways on the light and dark parts.

The lessons I have completed from the FMQ challenge that sewcalgal is hosting have helped me immensely, not only in the actual quilting process, but in my attitude about the quilting.  I'm glad that these experts have made me feel more free about trying things and about not being a "perfect" quilter.  I'm doing this because I love it and enjoy it and if I was a perfectionist, I don't think I would enjoy it nearly as much.  And luckily, the quilting itself isn't always really that visible and the mistakes aren't always that noticeable.  And what if someone does notice an irregular line?  Well, life is too short to worry about that.  It is a lot of work, but I'm glad that I'm doing the quilting on my own quilts.  The quilting part isn't for everyone, though and I understand that.  Your quilts will be more professional looking than mine!

What a lovely way to spend a beautiful fall day!  Driving 45 minutes away to spend a day with 2 blogger friends, that is.  Jennifer and "Love" are blogger friends that I met online originally at least 5 years ago when we were all beginning bloggers on the APQ web site.  We met for our 2nd "sew-in day" at Love's home.  She has a beautiful large sewing/sun room that is perfect for setting up 3 sewing machines to work on our projects.  I didn't take very many pictures, but here are a few:

Christmas wall hanging made by Love from a panel.

Santa Clause wall hanging made by Love, also from a panel.

Patriotic quilt top made by Love.

Patriotic quilt top made by Love.

 In case you haven't caught on yet, Love is obsessed with Christmas and Patriotic quilts!  That is an understatement!  Hee Hee!  Sorry, Love, but it's true - I'm sure you will admit it.  I can't believe how many quilts and wall hangings she has made this year.  She is something else.  Thanks so much for having us in your home!  BTW, regarding the Christmas obsession, she leaves her gorgeous Christmas Village set up in a special cabinet all year and on top of the cabinet are crystal christmas trees and crystal reindeer.  She might have put a picture of them on her blog last year or the year before.

Jennifer is a busy Mom of two and has a full time career, so I am amazed at how much she gets accomplished as well.  On our sew-in day, she was working on a customer's project for her Etsy shop.  What a cute idea!

Hand Print Tree pillow by Jennifer - in process.

I worked on a border for a donation quilt that will be for a teen aged girl in children's hospital.  Here are a few pictures of what it looks like after finishing the top.

I used all different sizes of HSTs to make pinwheels.

The pinwheels are made of HSTs left over from other projects.

Very scrappy!

Thanks for visiting!  I have been thinking about those in the northeast who have endured 2 weeks with no power.  One blogger I follow just got power yesterday.  Let's hope things improve up there soon.

AUTUMN FINALLY ARRIVES IN TEXAS

These 2 pictures were taken on my walk this morning!  Not all trees are turning colors, but these are 2 of the prettiest.  Lots of trees are still green and lots are turning yellow.

It's been about a week since I last posted, but I've been busy.  I am trying to finish quilting this quilt.  I have half of the black setting triangles left as well as the border.  I'm hoping to get it finished by the weekend.

I saw this cute penguin on Pinterest and thought it would be so cute as an ornament for Abigail, so I got started right away.  I am all finished with the stitching, except for the snowflake on the right.  I ran out of white thread!  I thought sure that I had more, but no.  Now, I need to figure out what ornaments to make for the other GKs.  I could make another penguin with boy colors for Eli or Jonah - I'll think about that.

Saturday I have a special outing that I'll tell you about next week.  

ENTERING THE BLOGGER'S QUILT FESTIVAL

I decided to enter the Blogger's Quilt Festival on the last day!  This is my Kaleidoscope quilt, a pattern by Becky Goldsmith and was originally named "Everyday Best."

A blogger friend from a block swap posted the quilt made by her mother on her blog and I commented that I really liked it.  I didn't ask her for the pattern or anything.  A week or so later, the pattern arrived in the mail.  I took one look at it and put it in a drawer - saying to myself that I would never make it!  As time went by, I would occasionally see it and really liked it, but it would go back in the drawer.

As I was getting ready to retire, we bought a camper so we could do some traveling.  I bought a Featherweight to take in the camper so I could sew in the evenings or other times when we were camping.  Getting projects to take in the camper, I realized that this quilt would be something that I could do easily with a bag of scraps and wouldn't take up a lot of space, so I started paper piecing the circles while camping.  It took a few trips to get the circles finished.  I used fabric from my stash for the whole quilt and I'm really glad I made it!

Quilted by me on my domestic sewing machine.  It measures 71" square.

There are hundreds of amazing quilts entered in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Click on the Festival box below to see them:

A NEW PURSE!

It was time to  change from my summer purse to a winter purse, but I was tired of the one I had been using for a few years.  I decided to make one and I had received a pattern a couple years ago from Barbara in a drawing.  I looked it over and decided it might make a good purse for me.

I had the pattern and I wanted to use fabric from my stash, so I started trying to find some fabric.  I picked out a piece of upholstery fabric that I either got at a garage sale or from someone in my guild - I didn't remember which.  Then I picked out some fabric that I liked - and that went with it - for the lining, pockets and handles.

Here is the outside of the bag done.  The only thing I purchased to make it was the magnetic  closure for $1.00.

Here I'm making pockets for the inside lining.

One side has a huge zippered pocket that is equal to the whole side.

Here it is finished.

View of the inside with stuff in it.

One inside section with pockets along the side. 

The two zippered sections, one is a divider for the middle.

When I got to the handles, I didn't think I would have enough of my cotton fabric to make them, but luckily I just barely had enough!  I will use one of the outer pockets for my keys and one for my cell phone.

As I was literally digging around looking for purse fabric in my sewing closet, I also found some other upholstery pieces and decided to make a couple of these little bags.  I like this for keeping just some money and a cell phone for when you don't want to carry the larger purse around.  They make nice little gifts, too.

I like these little zipper pulls that I purchased several years ago to use on little pouches.

This is the pattern I used for the little bags.

I think I'm going to really like my new purse.  It sure has plenty of pockets for different things.  I doubt I will even need all of them!  Do you make your purses?