Christmas Presents, etc.

I finished all of my sewing for Christmas, yipee!  First, I finished 10 placemats, using Pioneer Woman fabrics for my daughter-in-law.  I curved the corners and made bias binding for the first time.

front of placemats

back of placemats

I had 2 different patterns for fabric chalkboards.  I didn't really like either pattern, so I took the parts I liked and made some jumbo fabric chalkboards.  I made 5 chalkboards, but 3 of these are for my grandkids.  

fabric chalkboard with pockets for chalk and eraser

back of chalkboards, with one rolled up and tied

Since I got these things finished early, it gave me time to make some fabric books for my grandkids.  I don't use batting for these, instead I use fusible interfacing.  

4 fabric books

We've been watching Christmas movies several evenings.  I've been working on the Angels Among Us block.  I finished the July block and have started on the August block.

July block

Are you finished with your Christmas stitching?

Catching Up

I haven't been blogging, but I've been busy.  

I finished Autumn Chains, my king size quilt from the class I took in October.  The quilter has done her part, and it's waiting for me to trim it and sew the binding on.  That will be after Christmas.  This quilt is for me.  I will put it in my large quilt guild's quilt show in March.

photo of the top, before it was quilted

quilting pattern from the quilter

I've made more Women of the Bible blocks.

Sarah

Hagar

Rebekah

Rahab

I now have 5 of the 40+ blocks for this quilt made.

I finished the June block for Angels Among Us.  I went back and added all the buttons, etc. to all the previous blocks, since I decided that I will hand quilt this, not have it quilted.  Sorry the colors don't show properly.  This is a calendar quilt.

January

February

March

April

May

June

I also finished a baby quilt for Ryan that I started back in October.  I added fabric down the middle and also borders to make it larger.  I have gray minkee on the back.  This is quilted, bound and washed.

finished baby quilt

up close of the mastodon and dinosaur

up close of the saber tooth tiger and more dinosaurs

I've had some gift exchanges and also some lovely gifts arrived in the mail.

This is from the ornament exchange at church.  My Bible study teacher made this herself.

cross stitch Nativity scene

My little quilt guild had our holiday party Monday night.  The fabric that everything is on was the wrapping paper for my gift (notions exchange).  The bookmark was from another member of the guild.  I have the ruler to make the bookmarks, but I haven't tried to use it yet (I really need to).  The Janome foot was on the freebie table.

Stash-n-store and marking pen, plus beading foot and bookmark

A nice lady helped me with my Willcox & Gibbs treadle (moving it from California to Arizona).  I also helped her with a sewing machine cabinet (moving it from Chicago to Oklahoma).  She sent me a lovely package as thanks.

great bag

bag, zipper bag and pin cushion

I'd love to know how to make that bag (blue one).  I'm guessing that it's a giant square that is folded to get it to look like that, but I can't figure out how it is folded & stitched.  Such a cute bag.  The zipper bag has Coats & Clark thread material.

I've been working on several other things, too (no photos yet, Christmas presents).  I've also been working on Omigosh! 9 patch blocks (leaders & enders) and I've cut out and stitched ric rac to over 100 I Spy blocks.  I still have to stitch the I Spy blocks to the background fabrics.  I'm looking for a few more fabrics (I don't have a boat, Moose, or elephant).  

I'll be in a blog hop in January (more info coming).  I finally got the patterns, and chose one to make.  I won't start stitching on this one until after Christmas (too much to do before Christmas).

Quilt Class and other sewing, etc.

Back on October 21st, I took a class with my quilt guild.  It was called Island Chains.  You could make the quilt in 6 different sizes (crib, lap, twin, full, queen & king).  I, of course, chose king size (the only one in the class).  Since mine was going to be so large, I started with the only part I knew how to make before the class, and started stitching some blocks together.  I should have waited, since they showed in class a great way to lay out the quilt 'chain' blocks.  This is how far I got in class.

how much I got stitched in class

Because of the colors I chose, I decided to call mine Autumn Chains.  

Because mine is so big, I didn't have a place to lay out the entire quilt to make sure that none of the 'chains' were too close to one another, so I took it to the church, and set up tables so that I could lay it out.  I'd already laid out almost half the rows at home.

all laid out

I'd already enlarged the pattern sheet and numbered it so that I wouldn't get my pieces turned the wrong ways.  I also used sticky labels to number all of my blocks.

my layout 'cheat sheet' and you can see some of the sticky labels, too

That layout sheet was a HUGE help when I was trying to sew each row together, especially the longer rows.  I now have all the rows stitched, and I'm sewing all the rows to each other.  I have about half the rows done so far.  It takes a long time to pin rows together.  I have TONS of leftover blocks and fabrics from this quilt (enough to make a queen size).  I'm thinking about drafting a pattern to make placemats and table runners with my leftover blocks.  

Our church had Trunk or Treat the Saturday before Halloween.  I dressed up as Snow White (hubby was a cowboy).  Because of the black wig, some people didn't recognize me.  

Snow White and her cowboy

our car, decorated, with ring toss as a game for the kids

Our dogs dressed up for Halloween, too.  The kids love seeing the dogs in costume.  The dogs stand by the glass door for hours, watching all the kids.

Westley as a lobster

Ziva as a hot dog

We're starting a new Bible study at church next week about some of the Women in the Bible.  Years ago, a quilt store offered a Women of the Bible quilt as a weekly download.  I'd downloaded all of the blocks, but I'd never gotten started on the quilt.  Well, now I'll get started.  The Bible study we are doing at church only has 11 women, while the quilt has 40 women.  The first woman we will be studying is Leah.  I've already made the block.  I'm using Civil War reproduction fabrics.  The blocks are different sizes (10" & 15" square). 

block, Rachel & Leah (15" block)

what the finished quilt looks like

the 40 Women in the quilt

The Bible study we are doing lists 3 women that aren't in the quilt (Abigail, the Canaanite woman & Sapphira).  I might make other blocks those weeks (the quilt blocks are for me, not the class).  The class is a good excuse for me to finally get started on this quilt.  

My little quilt guild had a sew-in on Wednesday.  I used that time (and space) to cut fabric for kits to make baby blankets for a group our guild wants to support.  The baby blankets have flannel on one side, and either cotton or flannel on the other side.  They are supposed to be 40" square.  I cut out 15 kits, and another 7-8 flannel backs during the sew-in time.  I'll have to pull out more cotton fabrics to go with the flannel backs I have ready.  I'll hand out kits at the guild meeting Monday night, to ladies who want to sew these baby blankets together (easy peasy, envelope style, no quilting needed).  

Now to get back to sewing those rows together.....What are you working on?

Quilt Show, Fabric and Purchases

On Thursday, I went to a guild members home for fabric.  Another member is giving away her fabric stash since she doesn't feel up to sewing anymore.  I gathered some fabric.

free fabric

I can use some of this for the I Spy quilt.

Three of us wen to a quilt show on Friday.  Prairie Star Quilt Guild had there bi-annual quilt show.  I usually don't get to attend this quilt show, since it falls on the same weekend as my family reunion, but my family reunion has been moved to June, so I could attend.  

We started the day by going to a quilt shop.  I had a gift certificate to this quilt shop.  I didn't know that this shop is closing before the end of the month.  I checked out their scrap deal (scraps by the ounce), and found some for the I Spy quilt and also some larger pieces (1/2 yards to a piece that is several yards long) that I will use for different projects.  Sitting on a shelf, she had a Singer bentwood case.  I asked if it was for sale, and made an offer.  The case was locked (no machine in it), so I couldn't tell what condition the inside was in.  Hubby had to help me get the case unlocked, since I didn't have a key.

locked bentwood case

base is in nice condition with the attachment area cover

missing the hinge pins that hold the machine in place

This case is for a 3/4 size machine.  I have a few of those that need a base or case.  This will fit the bill nicely.  I should be able to find some hinge pins and a key.

I also bought some fabric at this quilt store (had to use my gift certificate).

larger pieces, especially the bottom one which is several yards

from the scrap bucket

Following are photos of some of the quilts at the show.

great quilting on this one

gotta include some seasonal quilts

This next quilt is one that I'm also making, using it as a leaders and enders quilt.  I've actually gotten a lot done on parts of mine.  It is Sue Garman's Omigosh!

1/2 inch squares in this Omigosh! quilt

one of the challenge quilts

I like how she added the photos

This next quilt is for Barbara, since she does so much embroidery with her quilts.

EPP pattern

up close, all hand stitched and quilted

another block up close

You won't believe this next quilt.  I thought the Omigosh! quilt had lots of tiny pieces, but this one has even more.  She paper pieced this quilt during the pandemic and it took her 14 months of intense work.  I show the quilt with someone in front so that you can see how large the quilt is and how tiny the parts are.

all flying geese

up close

I have this next pattern, but I haven't made it yet.  

up close of above quilt

I got blocks from the next quilt, that were already stitched, off the freebie table at my large quilt guild a couple of years ago.  I haven't put them together, since I just didn't know how I wanted to set them.  Now I have a good idea.  Maybe mine will be done before Christmas 2023 (we'll see).  It is wool work, and I haven't done anything with wool (yet).

This next quilt is a great way to use all the coordinating fabric with small panels.

up close

up close

We all hit the scrap fabric booth (fabric from the guild's quilters).  It was very organized.  They had pre-cuts, fat quarters, buckets of scraps (by either color, fabric type or novelty) and larger than a fat quarter was rolled up with rubber bands.  Of course I wanted to find fabrics for the I Spy quilt (it needs 7-9 inch squares).  I also found neutrals for backgrounds and a few fabrics for other projects, too.  I also bought some fabrics from vendors.

scraps

backgrounds (including a 5 yard cut from another quilt store we stopped at on the way home)

fat quarters and vendor fabrics

larger cuts

more fat quarters

We stopped at another quilt store on the way home.  I had another gift certificate, and bought 5 yards of background fabric (shown with the backgrounds above).  That quilt store was having a sidewalk sale.

Yesterday I washed and treated (for bleeding) all the fabrics I'd acquired on Thursday and Friday.  Now to iron and star cutting out fabrics for the I Spy quilt.  I've already pulled a few fabrics out of my stash and started cutting them out.  

While I was pulling fabrics out of my stash for the I Spy quilt (before the quilt show) I checked to see how much ric-rac I have.  I found much more than I thought I had, so I have a good start.  The pattern says I need at least 27 yards, so this is only a dent, but at least I can get started on blocks.  

ric-rac from my stash

Off topic:  I had Panda Express for lunch on Thursday, after picking up all the fabric.  When I opened my fortune cookie, I got 7 fortunes.  Each fortune was different. I'm a very fortunate lady, I guess.  

7 different fortunes in one cookie