Thanksgiving and Stitching, etc.

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving.  It was just hubby, our oldest son and me for Thanksgiving.  We still ate well.

our Thanksgiving feast

I've been busy stitching even though I don't have much to show to prove it.

The ladies ministry at church hosts an ornament exchange each December.  The lady in charge of decorating decided that we needed matching table runners as part of the decorations for the tables and I was drafted to make them.  She provided the white fabric with the gold ornaments, another lady provided the batting and I provided the red with silver snowflakes fabric for the reverse side.  Thank goodness she just wanted solid fabric on each side.  I did some simple stitching with my walking foot.  Here are the six finished table runners (showing both sides).

red on one side and white on the other side

A special friend offered to quilt both of the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings quilts for me.  I made labels for both quilts, including a separate label that lists the names of the blocks, in order, including the 'extra' block on the back of each quilt.  Both of these quilts have the binding stitched to the front of the quilts.  Now I just need to stitch the labels onto the back along with the binding.

both quilts with the labels listing the blocks

I finished almost all of the hand stitching for the board games (no photos, sorry).  Now to finish the last parts by machine, then stitch the parts together. 

I'm also doing some hand quilting on the 2nd Fat Cats quilt.  I made both quilt tops back in 2011.  A friend asked me to make one for her, and I finished that quilt in 2011.  The 2nd quilt top was made when I made the first quilt top, but I never finished it.  It will be finished before Christmas and gifted. 

Fat Cats quilt (being hand quilted)

Back in September I found a roll top desk at Goodwill.  The roll top desk is MUCH larger than the computer desk that I'd been using for the past 20 years.  We had to take everything out of the computer room and completely re-arrange everything to make it fit.  It took longer than expected to re-organize everything (one of the reasons I haven't had much stitching to show since early September).  I took everything off the walls (mainly hubby's ball cap collection) and we've finally hung some of my quilts in the computer room.  I still have space for a couple more wall hangings.

roll top desk with barn quilt and String Star above it

Elephant quilt to the right

Crazy quilt by the printers

Hubby also hung my wooden scissors above the door frame.  You can see our Christmas tree (lights but no ornaments yet) and our Alaskan Malamute, Ratchet.

wooden scissors

Now to get back to stitching!

Misc. Sewing

This is my first 'complete' finish for 2019.  I actually finished it Jan 13th, but haven't had much time to blog.  This is winging it's way to it's new owner now.

table runner

showing fun floral backing

The hearts are paper pieced and can be found for free here.  I pieced this on my 1927 Singer 15 hand crank, and quilted it on my Janome.  Most of the fabric in the hearts are scraps leftover from my son's wedding signature quilt. 

Last week my large quilt guild had a schoolhouse as the program.  I was one of 4 people who taught different quilting techniques.  I taught several different ways to make Flying Geese.  I taught this to my little quilt guild last August and wrote a blog post about it then.

On Saturday, I taught a mug rug class at church.  Because of the weather (snowing all day), several of the ladies didn't attend, so I'll be teaching this again this coming Saturday.  Here are the ladies who attended, and the mug rugs that were completed.

ladies making mug rugs

Ruth's

Kelly's

Carla's

mine

I have kits prepared, but still need to cut out fabrics for a couple more kits.  These mug rugs come in sets of 7, that you quilt as you go.  You can get Spiritual, Uplifting or Quilty themes.  They also have a YouTube tutorial on how to make these.  They are fun and quick to make.  All the fabrics are from my stash.  Here are some of the kits I have leftover, that will be used for the next class.

My friend Marilyn just had a special birthday.  She had been wanting to have an ice cream party at Colonial Cafe on her birthday but her hubby planned a trip, so she was out of town.  Well, Colonial Cafe is known for their 'Kitchen Sink' ice cream sundae.

The 'Kitchen Sink' sundae gave me an idea, and several of her quilting friends helped out.  On Sunday we surprised Marilyn (at Colonial Cafe, of course) with her own 'Kitchen Sink' full of 'fabric' ice cream.

Marilyn & her kitchen sink full of fabric ice cream

I'm way behind on several baby quilts.  I made 2 quilt tops back in October, but didn't get them quilted until this month.  Today I finally finished the binding on the quilts.

1st Churn Dash baby quilt

faux piping binding

back of 1st baby quilt

The 2nd quilt I used some poly batting that I've had for a while.  My Janome wasn't happy trying to quilt thru it, with minkee on the back.  The walking foot didn't want to walk very well (the layers kept shifting), so I machine quilted much less than on the first quilt.  That left some spaces without enough quilting.  Well, the baby this quilt is for is named Zariah, so, I used her initial and hand quilted it in those spaces.

hand quilted 'Z'

Here is Zariah's finished quilt.

2nd Churn Dash baby quilt

pale yellow minkee backing

The yellow backing doesn't show it's true colors.  It is really a deep butter yellow.  I used faux piping binding on both of these quilts.

Last week I found a different way to join the ends of the binding on quilts.  I tried it first on my mug rug on Saturday.  It worked GREAT!  Now I don't have to remember what size I cut my binding.  This is the easiest way to join the ends.  I'll be using this method from now on.

Goodies!

Some goodies arrived in the mail this week, and some at the thrift store.

Kathy at Sparkles, Sprinkles and Everyday Crap had a giveaway for one of her hand made Birthday cards.  Guess who won?!?!  I got to choose a card, with a Birthday number on it.  I chose one for my mother, who will be 79 in November.  My mother loves elephants, so, Kathy incorporated an elephant into the card.  Isn't it cute!

79th Birthday card

Kathy also included a little something extra.  I love my new, personalized mug rug!  Thanks Kathy!

mug rug

I also won some great blocks from Julie, at Julie K Quilts.  Julie's picture of the blocks is much better than mine, especially since I missed putting one of the blocks on the design wall.  Oops!

Oops!  I missed a block

 My daughter in law loves orange, so, these may turn into a baby quilt (my first grandbaby will need LOTS of baby quilts, I'm sure). 

Julie also included some 'extra's' in her package.  I got a lovely card, and a magnetic pin cushion.

card and pin cushion from Julie

Last week, at the thrift shop, I discovered this, on the wrong shelf.  It had fallen behind all the craft items, onto a lower shelf with glasses.  Boy was I glad when I decided to see what it was.

bag with 4 wool pin cushions in it

 I've been wanting to make a wool pin cushion.  Now I have 4 wool pin cushions to choose from, all for $1.99. 

4 pin cushion kits in the package

picture of the completed pin cushions in the package

Everything is there, including the directions, so, I just need to get started on these. I still have 2 more pin cushions to make, for the 4 exchanges I signed up for.

Speaking of pin cushion exchanges, my partner received her pin cushion, so, I can now show it off.  This is the pin cushion I sent to Norway.

pin cushion I made

I also have a finish to show.  I finally got around to putting the binding on the watermelon table topper. 

on my table

up close

with the watermelon dish I found

I finished another table runner, and just have part of the binding left on another one, but, I don't have pictures.  You'll see those later this week. 

I have been stitching up a storm around here.  I cut out the rest of the 14 project bags, and, they are all stitched together, EXCEPT the handles and the binding.  The backs were quilted on a treadle.  They were pieced on a hand crank.  Unfortunately, because the binding is difficult to work with (I need 2 hands to work with it) these will have to be finished on my Featherweight.  For 2 of these, that are part of 2 different Treadle On exchanges, that is cheating, but, I'll include a note, to let them know.  They just won't look very good if I don't have both hands to finish the binding on them.  Darn!

stack of 14 Project Bags, almost done

I'll finish 3 of these, then the rest will just have to wait a while to get finished.  Not only do I have some 'deadline' projects to finish (all for exchanges, so, I can't show pictures yet), but, some of the great designers at Fandom in Stitches have been busy, making new Peter Pan themed paper pieced blocks for me, so, I'll be busy testing them out.  Kristi and Alida have each made patterns for me.  I have 2 different Tiger Lily's and 2 different Wendy's to test for them.  I spend yesterday prepping one of the Tiger Lily patterns.  There are 140 pieces in that pattern alone.  These will NOT be quick patterns.  I can't wait to get them done, so that I can show them to you. 

Stitching & a few other things!

****Special Announcement at the very bottom of the post****

Between the 12 Days of Christmas in July blog hop, the Michigan TOGA and being sick (worst sick I've been in years), I haven't gotten a lot of sewing done the past few weeks.  I've felt better this past week, so, I'm trying to play catch up.

First, I finally finished the second set of blocks for the Family Reunion quilts.  I make 2 matching quilts, so that they can raffle off the first one, and, the second one is for me.  That means double blocks.  The quilt I'm making this time is from TheElecticAbuela blog, and is called String Crossroads.

98 blocks (2 quilts worth)

up close of one block

her version (pattern on her blog)

I'm making my quilt in 1930's reproduction fabrics.  I still have the string blocks to make.

blocks left to make

The reunion isn't until October 2018, and I only needed the signature blocks finished (the 98 blocks above), so, I don't think I'll get started on the string blocks for a while.

In making these blocks, I did get a bonus gallon sized Ziplock bag full of mini Half Square Triangles.  I haven't ironed or trimmed any of these.  There are 552 Bonus HST's in this bag.

bonus bag of HST's

On Saturday, hubby and I traveled about 2 hours from here, to pick up a long arm table with a machine, that a friend found for me. 

12 foot long arm table in our trailer

machine that came with it

The lady's sister bought this around 1985-91.  The lady got it when her sister died, a few years ago.  When we got home, we realized that the table is too long to fit in our basement :(  Other than taking the sides off the solid wooden base (they are screwed on, and also stapled on the base) I don't know how to get it in our basement.  Hubby is still working on this, but, I don't think there is anything we can do to make it fit around the stupid corner, to get it down the stairs.  This is an older model, unlike the newer models, that can be folded up, or taken apart.  Waaa!  Does anyone in the Chicago area want a long arm base (with 3 rods)?  The good thing, is that this was free, so, I didn't spend anything more than gas money to get it.  There was a bonus.  The lady was going to throw out a portable sewing table, similar to  this one (sorry, the picture won't work.  Someone had cut out the machine area (roughly) and added wooden extensions to the legs.  We removed the extensions (made it too high to comfortably sew with a hand crank) and hubby will make the cut out area neater, when he gets a chance.  I forgot to take pictures.  I'll do that when hubby has finished his part.

Well, hubby is going hiking in the Uinta Mountains, in Utah.   He asked me to make a table runner for the lady who will be shuttling him and his fellow hiker.  I saw this table runner on the blog hop.  Unfortunately, it uses a specialty ruler, and, I haven't a clue how to use that ruler.  The blogger doesn't show how to use it, either.  After some guessing, I came up with these table runners.  The first one is in 'frost' fabrics, the other is in patriotic colors.

2 table runners

I still need to figure out what backing I'll use for these, and finish them.  Sorry about the picture.  The 'frost' one is really lovely, but, the picture doesn't make it very pretty.  It looks like ice and snow in real life.

On Sunday, I was given a great gift, from one of my beginning quilters, that I taught a few years ago.  She had vacationed in Wyoming, and brought this back from a local quilt shop.

perfect fabric for me, don't you think?

Row by Row pattern

another view of the blocks in the pattern

 Between the sewing machine fabric, and the boot in the Row by Row, she said that these spoke my name.  I've never done any of the Row by Row patterns before. 

My little quilt guild is having a name badge challenge.

Somewhere, buried in the basement, is my last name badge, with my first Wego Quiltin' car pin.  I put it up, in a safe place, years ago (remind me to NEVER put something in a safe place, since they always get lost that way).  The only rule is that we put our car on the badge.  Easy enough.

I'm in 2 quilt guilds.  I've been meaning to make a new badge holder for the larger guild, for a couple of years now.  This is what I've been using for the larger guild.

I found this at a thrift store a few years ago.  I added all the pins, over the years.  I knew I wanted something along these lines for both quilt guild badges.  Here is what I came up with.

Wego Quiltin' name badge, with my 'car' on a road

Pride of the Prairie name badge, with printed name tag in a plastic sleeve

Of course, I  had to put the pins on the new badges.  Here they are, with all the pins added. 

I forgot to take pictures of the backs, but, I used my practice piece, from my ruler class, as the backings.

ruler practice piece

No need to waste that practice piece.  Now it has become useful!

Well, at the very top of the blog post, I said that there would be a Special Announcement.  I was allowed to share this back on July 14th, but, I was driving to the Michigan TOGA, and the 12 Days of Christmas in July blog hop was going on.  I didn't want to add this to any of those blog posts.

I AM GOING TO BE A FIRST TIME GRANDMA!

The baby isn't due till February 15, 2018, so, I have plenty of time to start making things.  My daughter in law has chosen to decorate the nursery in Peter Pan.  I love Peter Pan, but, there isn't much out there to work with.  The last Peter Pan fabrics were printed in 2009, and I can't locate any (still) available.  I did find a great fabric at the JoAnn's in Battle Creek, MI, the night before the TOGA.

Pirate Map fabric

This fabric is on clearance at JoAnn's.  This is the only fabric I've found so far, that is good for Peter Pan.  I've bought all of it at 3 of 4 JoAnn's stores (one store was out already).  I should have enough to make several things now, for the nursery, etc. 

The few Peter Pan things I've been able to find, are some paper pieced patterns at Fandom in Stitches.  They have a Peter Pan block, 2 different Captain Hook blocks, Smee, and the Crocodile.  They also have a Tinkerbell block.  I made the Tinkerbell block a few years ago (another thing that I put up in a safe place, and now can't find).

missing Tinkerbell blocks

I messed up those Tinkerbell blocks (looks like she has white eyeshadow, where is should have been flesh colored material). 

Now I'm looking for Wendy, and some of the other characters, so that I can make a quilt.  If you know of anything, PLEASE let me know.  I do have a couple of the Tinkerbell fabrics, but, since we want it to be gender neutral, I can't use very much of those fabrics. 

I finally joined a social media site.  I joined Pinterest, so that I could save ideas and share them with my DIL.  I have a whole folder of Peter Pan nursery ideas.  I'm listed as Cheryl Parker, if you want to find me.  (contact me, and I can give you more info).

I'd better get back in the sewing room, since I have several projects due before the end of August.  I"m behind again!