Monday, December 31, 2018

2018 Year in Review

I didn't get as much done this year as I normally do.  Of course, I was gone to Alaska for 3 weeks, waiting for our first grandbaby to be born.  Then, the baby came to visit us for 8 days in June/July, then another 7 days in late July.  No sewing happened during those times, of course.  We were also gone for 2 weeks in November, for my mother's 80th birthday and Thanksgiving (another 7 days with the grandbaby).  Grandbaby's are MUCH more important than sewing;)

That said, I did get quite a few things made in 2018.  I started off with a 2nd Peter Pan quilt for the new grandbaby.  I used the Riley Blake fabrics for this Peter Pan quilt. 
Riley Blake Peter Pan quilt

up close of some of the fabrics

I used some of the scraps from this quilt to decorate some burp rags for the baby.
Peter Pan burp rags

Of course, you need to see the quilt being used....
Gwendolynn on her 2nd Peter Pan quilt

I also made a play mat for Gwendolynn, keeping with the Peter Pan theme.
play mat
Gwendolynn wasn't quite ready for the play mat at only 5 days old

Gwendolynn's 1st Peter Pan quilt in her nursery (2017 finish)


Before we left for Alaska, I finished the Elephant Parade quilt for my large guild's challenge.  More info about the quilt and the challenge are here.
Elephant Parade


Lots of baby quilts were made in 2018.  Here is another one that I made using fabrics I won from Henry Glass.
flannel baby quilt


Hubby wanted something to hold his chisel's, so I made him a tool roll.
tool roll for chisel's

tool roll with chisel's


I made a couple of sewing machine mats and pin cushion thread catchers.  I have a tutorial for the pin cushion thread catchers here, and a tutorial for the sewing machine mats here.
sewing machine mat and matching pin cushion thread catcher

sewing machine mat and matching pin cushion thread catcher


My daughter in law's mother loves bicycles.  I figured she needed some bicycle placemats.
bicycle placemats for Beth


Our daughter in law had picked up a high chair, but the cover was ruined.  I brought it home from Alaska, to use as a pattern, and made a new cover for the high chair.
old high chair cover

new, washable high chair cover



Gwendolynn using her new high chair cover


My best friends son and daughter in law were expecting a baby girl in August.  Here is what I mailed to them a few hours before the baby was born.
pink camouflage flannel quilt

matching baby blankets

matching burp rags

OOPS!  I got a call about 2 hours after I mailed these off.  The doctor was WRONG!  The baby was a BOY!  Back to the drawing board, and in November this baby quilt was delivered.
replacement baby quilt

Since I hadn't ever made a quilt for the baby's big sister, I decided that she also needed a quilt.  Here is Mady's quilt (she prefer's turquoise camo).
big sis's quilt


I finished 2 quilts for my little quilt guild.  We made these for Naperville 360 boys home.
Spritely

flannel circles


I also made a quilt for my Secret Sister for Christmas.  The quilt top was already made (by someone else) and found in a scrap bag in Ottawa.  I just had to back it and quilt it. 
Secret Sister wall quilt


I finished a few quilt tops in 2018, too.  These are baby quilts.  I quilted one of them a few days ago, and have done most of the quilting on the 2nd one.  I need to add some hand quilting to the 2nd one.  Both of these babies have been born.  I have an excuse for one of them, since that baby isn't supposed to be born until Jan 3rd (she was 3 weeks early).  I'm 4 months late for the other baby.  Oh well. 
2 matching baby quilt tops


I quilted covers for two chairs back in January. 
1st recovered chair

2nd recovered chair


I made some sewing machine carriers for my vintage sewing machines.  These worked great for carrying some of my machines to demo's. I made 4 of these carriers.
sewing machine carrier

sewing machine carrier


As usual, I also made several project bags in 2018.  Most of these are already gone.
one of these went into the silent auction for my quilt guild

one of these went into the silent auction for my quilt guild

only 2 of these are left
my first mini project bag
these are gone

these are gone, too

these are also gone

backs of above project bags

 These last 2 were gifts for my daughter in law. 
Hufflepuff project bags

backs of Hufflepuff project bags

I have several more of these project bags, waiting for binding.  They all will be heading out the door, shortly after they are finished. 

I did realize that I didn't do much stitching on my hand cranks or treadles this past year.  I used the hand cranks to make half square triangles, exchange blocks and paper piecing, but not much else.  I mainly used my purple Featherweight for piecing and my Janome for machine quilting this year.  Hopefully I'll have more time in 2019 (doubtful) and do more stitching on my beloved hand cranks. 

Happy New Year!

Saturday, December 29, 2018

Two More Blocks Done!

I've finished the last two Be Attitudes blocks.  This one I finished before Christmas.
February block
I finished this one last night.
January block
There is still a bit of embroidery on a couple of the blocks, and eyes and a few buttons to be added.  Most of the buttons will wait until the blocks are stitched together.  Once I get the blocks stitched into a top, I'll decided if I am going to do any machine quilting on this, or just hand quilting.  I figured I could straight line quilt where the blocks go together, then hand quilt some details on the blocks.  Since this will be a wall quilt, it doesn't really need lots of quilting on it. 

I'm going to try to get the last bits of detail embroidery done on these blocks (it wasn't drawn on until last week) and the eyes stitched on in the next few days.  I don't know if I can get this completed as a quilt top before the end of the year or not.  We'll see. 


Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Another Be Attitudes block done

I finished the March Be Attitudes block last night.
March Be Attitudes block

I have more applique to do on all of these blocks, but I've done the blanket stitch around all the fused pieces so far.  I pulled out the book this morning to see what else needs to be done to each of these blocks.  Here are the blocks shown in the book.
what the finished quilt will look like

Jan, Feb, March & April blocks

May, June, July & August blocks

Sept, Oct, Nov & Dec blocks

I need to go thru my button jars to find buttons for these blocks.  I have a package of carrot buttons, for the Snowman's nose, and lots of the plain buttons I'm sure, but I'll have to start shopping for flower buttons (May), a candy button (July) and a black triangle button (dog's nose, Oct).

I'll draw on the extra applique' that is needed for some of the blocks, and get started on those as soon as I finish the February and January blocks. 

We've been watching Christmas movies after supper every night.  I can get lots of blanket stitching done during a movie.  In our house, Christmas movies are not what you would always think of as Christmas movies.  To be a Christmas movie, it has to show a character from Christmas, or be set during  the Christmas season, etc. {ex: Die Hard & Die Hard 2 (takes place Christmas Eve), Trading Places (takes place between Thanksgiving and New Years) and last night's movie Operation Petticoat (takes place between Dec 10th & shortly after the new year).  Don't worry, we also watch the 'regular' Christmas movies, like The Santa Clause, and Rudolph, etc.} 

Friday, December 14, 2018

Another one bites the dust

On Monday I showed the May Be Attitudes block finished.  Well, I finished the April block on Wednesday night.
April's Be Attitude block

That is my quickest finish for any of these blocks.  I'm already working on the March block now (yes, I'm working backwards on this stitchery). 

My fabric stash is a mess.  I've had fabrics stored in the basement for ages, in plastic tubs.  There isn't any method in the storage, just what fits in a tub goes in the tub.  That doesn't make it easy to find anything.  I've also run out of space in my sewing room, on the shelves, to put more fabrics.  I like to fold my fabrics around Comic Book backings.  They fit better in my bookshelves that way, and also fit nicely in the plastic tubs.  Here is a link to what the folded fabrics look like in my sewing room along with the Comic Book backings. I can't believe my sewing room & closet looked so neat back then (it sure doesn't now).  I'm working on sorting the fabrics, as I fold them, into color groups.  It should be easier to find fabrics if I can just pull out a tub of 'yellows', or 'greens' when I am trying to 'shop my fabrics'.  I wonder how many UFO's I'll come across as I go thru these tubs?  I've already found one UFO. 


Monday, December 10, 2018

Stitching, Etc.

I've not had much time to get any stitching done, but, I did finish another Be Attitudes block.  This one is the May block (I'm working backwards from December).  I've already started the April block.
May block

Last Monday was my little quilt guild's Holiday Party.  Jo, the president made little magnetic pin dishes for everyone.  Here is mine.
magnetic pin dish

magnet on the back along with non-scratch pads

Jo also got everyone a wooden seam presser.
wooden seam presser

Kay made everyone a candle mat, but I forgot to take a picture of mine (oops). 

At the party, we play Left-Right-Center with 5" charm squares.  This year we used striped charm squares.  (we've used solids, polka dots & batiks in the past).  Thelma won them again (she also won the batiks last year) but she didn't want to do anything with them, so she gave them to me.
over 60 striped charm squares
I have a couple of ideas for these squares.  I'm supposed to have a completed quilt top by the end of 2019.

On Friday night, the ladies group at church had our annual ornament exchange and Secret Sister reveal.  This is what I made for my Secret Sister for Christmas.  The top of the wall quilt I found in the scrap bag at Camp Tuckabatchee, over a year ago.  All I had to do was quilt and bind it.  My Secret Sister's favorite colors are pink and orange, so, I've been saving this all year for her. 
gift for my Secret Sister

I can't make anything for my Secret Sister until the end, since I'm one of the few quilter's in the church.  They would know right off who their Secret Sister was. 

I'm hoping to get in my sewing room this week.  I haven't been in it since early November (other than to put stuff on the cutting table).