Busy Busy

Seems like a lot of time has gone again between posts.

This is not to say I have not been busy.

Have made two trips to Michigan for various reasons, decided to move my sewing things

 from one room to another, have finished 5 more quilt tops, and sent them off to be 

quilted, been sewing more, and found a lovely group of ladies

that like to work on scrapbooking and cards.

Since our son bought his home last September, his former room has been empty.
I got to thinking, why not move my sewing things to that room.
There is more space, more light, and as you can see I have a ton of things.

I decided that in the process, I would touch everything.  The process of doing so makes
me go though it all to decide, do I want to continue with a project or abandon it because
I am no longer interested in it.

This is making me go through patterns I have purchased, (found doubles), all the ones
I have gotten from the internet, as well as books.  Haven't even touched my quilt
book library yet.  I have gone through magazines and will donate them to our quilt show for
a fund raiser, along with patterns and books. 

Went through fabric, and donated yards and yards to an organization,
"Quilts for Kids". As you can see, I still have yards and yards!
Going through every container also yielded some projects I wanted to complete,
and had forgotten about.

I still have a lot of things to go through.
Organizing and putting things away takes a lot of time, :)
I am setting up boxes with a whole project in it, so when I go on a retreat, or a sew day,
I have it all there to work on.  It will eliminate a lot of time and energy getting ready.
Can't believe how many plastic bags of projects that one or two items just
need to be finished up.  There are even things that needed to be hand sewn, and they
would be finished.

I am working on one of two tuffets.
I have all the hardware and pattern, just need to sew the tops, and put together. One is sewn, now on
to the second one.  It means another area will be cleaned out!
There was a stack of quilts in the new sewing room that I went through as well.
Some were antique, and the other pile was wall hangings, I had hand quilted many years ago.
Washed and sorted them all out as well.  Time to let them be used and enjoyed by others. 

The new group of ladies has let me join them and I can work on cards.  These
are just a few that are in the works. I am having fun. Instead of only one
a year, I now am getting out twice a month.  I taught a couple of ladies
how to do the iris folding, and they are teaching me to use my scrap papers for other
types of cards.  You can never have too many cards ready for use.
Working on my Christmas card designs as well.

Then to add more things to work on, I have been making mug rugs that we will give to
a special group of ladies in Racine.  I already have 50 in the works or done.
While on the trips to Michigan, I got a lot of hand work done.

As I said we also made two trips to Michigan. One in May and one in June.
Those are for another time.
I have tried to get some birding time in, plus photographing wild flowers.
My little vegetable garden has been a challenge, as the critters have found it tasty.
They days are full and flying by, as always keeping busy.

Hope your summer has been full of fun and good weather.

Mary

Saturday Sewing

Good Morning.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.
The turkey was done to perfection.
Dinner was so good.
Now on to sewing fun.

My Kona project is done!! The wonderful lady I have quilt my quilts has it in hand.
Even my son gave it his seal of approval.

After I work on a big project, I love to work on a few smaller things.
Mug rugs fill the bill.
I love to paper piece, and those cute 4 inch squares can work right into a cute rug.
Actually, I do have a list of things I should be working on.
Today, I will organize the list and get started.

Here is Ron at the computer with his posse!
Princess is in the back, Charlie in the front. They help both of us in all sorts of activities.
Have a super weekend.
Mary

Sunday Card Making

Sunday I woke up very early and after some puttering around decided to work on some card making.
This is my dining table in all its glory.  I have a ton of card making supplies.  I like to working on iris folding cards. It is like quilting, it became addictive.

These were a bunch of cutouts I had acquired and just had not gotten around to use.  Done!

Iris folding is like a two step process.  In the evening I work on doing the iris folding.  It is like paper piecing.  You cut little strips of paper and using a pattern place and tape them down.  Once a get a bunch of them done, then I will go about creating the card.  I add papers and card stock and embellishments.  Once I have the face done, I put it on folded card stock to make the card.  I will put a verse on the inside, and maybe even more embellishments.  Most times I remember to sign the backs of my cards.

I made the ducks into birthday cards for men.  Feminine cards are easy to work on.  I try to find apertures already cut, as I feel I am not a very good hand cutter. It does take me quite a while to work on them.  I take my time to make each card an individual. 

These two cards needed finishing too.  I finally decided to make them into birthday cards.  I still have quite a stack of iris folding shapes done, but not made into cards.  I do make them for each holiday.  Last night once the light outdoors fades I started working on some turkey iris folding.  I like the daylight for picking colors of card stock. Just like in quilting, it is harder to see colors in night light.

I also got one more project done. Just had the binding to finish on this table runner.

Today is another catch up day.  Cleaning, bills, you know all the stuff that gets in the way of a day of sewing.

Have a great week.
Happy Sewing

Mary

Michigan part 4

Here is what I was working on.  I had started this at the retreat the previous week, and did not like what was going on with it.  I took some of the center apart and added the black star strips and like it much better.  Now for quilting.

I made a twister too, and will add applique around in the brown border.  It was suggested that I put a pumpkin or two.  Have to work on that.

Got the twister table runner top done.  This was a kit I had picked up last year, and had not gotten around to working on it.  The kit had an off white fabric around the twisters.  I did not like that, and replaced it with the cheddar fabric. Like it much better.

I had found this great little pattern at Primitive Gatherings.  It is a candle mat by Farmhouse Threads.  The binding is sewn now, and I am working on the applique to get the snowmen and trees done.

Made a couple more fall mug rugs.

Pat liked the twister pattern so much that she made another, bigger one and is going to add the leaves to this one too.  They look so nice.  She is doing a great job on hers.

Here is a close up of the snowmen we made.  I found out that the pattern for them is also from Farmhouse Threads.  What a coincidence.

Fall colors.  It was beautiful up there, even if the weather was not the greatest.

Tuesday Sew again.  Ron said we did not have to leave until noon on Tuesday for home.  Lois brought back her completed quilt that she worked on last week.  Look how wonderful all her thread play appliques look.  We were all amazed. The dimension is fabulous.

Here is another finished project one of the quilters brought in.  The place mats and runner are adorable.  She was also making napkins to go with them.  I think she said these were going to be a wedding gift.  What fun.

On our way home, we ran into a rain storm.  I had to try to get the rainbow through Ron's side of the car.  Involves a bit of tricky  posture for me to get the picture.

It was a wonderful week.  Pat and I have known each other for a very long time.  When Ron and I were married, almost 29 years ago, our wedding reception was held in their home in Williamston, Michigan.  Pat's husband Tom, passed away in February of this year.  We all felt he was there with us.  We miss him a lot. 

We met Andrew, our son, for dinner on our way home.  It was good to catch up with him.  I think we got home about 10 o'clock that night.  Unloaded the car and I was off to bed. 

I came home energized.  Started to clean out some closets and taking care of more of my Dad's things.  Have to get that garage emptied, so I can get my car in there before the snow flies.  People are going to think I am a hoarder!  Time to get moving.

Have a wonderful rest of the week.  Hopefully, I am going to get some sewing done.

Mary

Michigan part3

Ron and I decided to take a little drive on Monday.  The sun was shineing!  We went down the peninsula and found a little part beside the lake.  Ron found the swings!

It is cold.  I had 3 shirts, one being a sweatshirt.  I forgot to bring a jacket.

Look what someone did with hay bales!  Too cute.

Looking out to the lake.  It is a fishing community.

Some fisherman were out on the lake.

Nancy was with us on Sunday, working on her twister quilt. 

Pat and I worked on this snowman from the latest issue of Primitive Quilts magazine. 

This is the Noah's Ark piece Pat did.  She is going to make 5 more of these. One for each of her children and their families.  Pat has 5 children and 13 grandchildren.  She has made quilts for all of them.  In the evening she works on wool applique.

Here we are with our snowmen.  They were fun and easy and took only a few hours to make.

Ron is his favorite chair.  He got caught up on a lot of reading!.  One day we put him to work.  He made chili for us for dinner.  So good.

One more posting to go.

Have a great day.
Mary

Michigan Part 2

Nancy come over one day to sew. She and Pat wanted to learn how to make a Twister quilt.  Here I am showing the technique.

I was in the process of making a twister table runner.

Here is Pat's.  She added an extra border and decided to add some applique.  She used her machine to stitch a vine around the edge.

Here it is with the leaves ready to stitch down

Here is a view of Lake Michigan from the back of her house.  We had a lot of rainy and cold weather during our week.  This was one of a few hours of sunshine.  Look how far the lake is down.  They told me it is down 13 inches.  There should be a lot less sand showing.

On Friday evening we took a break and enjoyed a jazz concert and sing along down at the Congregational Church.  It was so much fun.  The locals put on a great performance. It is so nice to be a part of a small town. Everyone is so friendly and kind and welcoming.

More tomorrow.

Mary

 

Finishes for the month

At the beginning of the month I was busy sewing, at the end, not so much! Lots to do taking care of my Dad's things, and organizing everything.  I even got a little of the house cleaning done that has been much needed. 

Our sew days at the quilt shop are a great help in working on those projects that need finishing or even ones that need to be started!

This month I made these 2 pincushions from a Moda pattern using hexagons.  It looks like a cute little pattern. Guess what these puppies are huge!  They will hold a lot of pins!  Why do pictures make things look cute and petite and they turn out a lot bigger?  As you can see these are sitting on the end of my ironing board, and are 6 inches across.  I did say 6 inches across!  Imagine if I filled these with sand (actually crushed walnut shells).  I would have weapons I could use on the dust bunny invasion!

Finally got the shamrock wall hanging done. It is 26 x 28, and just needed quilting and binding.

These are 3 laundry bags that I added binding too.  Lori from Bee in your Bonnet, had written about doing these, which can then be purposed for a gift, or used as a project bag.  Great idea!

This is a project folder. ( Sorry, I can't remember where I saw this.) I did follow the instructions, and used Steam-A-Seam for the holding of front to insides.  It makes noice when you use it.  I think a pellon interface would have been a bit nicer.

Inside there is room on the left to hold the project. On the right is a place for needles, and the bottom has been divided for scissors, ruler, or pencil.  Oh, the left side could also be used to hold a small cutting board.

The twister pumpkin is also finally done.  As you can see I hand stitched the eyes, nose and mouth.  I quilted and bound it, too  Now I have a new Halloween wall hanging.  It is 21 x 21.

Here are two "older" projects I got done from scratch.  I have a calender quilt that was started in 2007 and was missing 4 months to be completed. Now it is only missing 2.  Here are September and July.  If you look closer, you can see I am practicing my machine echo quilting.  I am pretty pleased with how these turned out.  Just happened to have a few 4th of July type buttons to add for embellishment.  Oh, these two are about 13 by 12.

Now these are oldies but goodies!  Would you believe these have been sitting around, basted, but not quilted, probably from the 1990's.  I decided I would again practice machine quilting them. The one on left is 11 1/2 x 13 1/2. The one on right 11 1/2 square.
I am learning a lesson, it is a good idea to put binding with an unfinished quilt top, no matter what size.  I had no trouble finding the binding for the one on the left.  The one on the right, no way could I find fabric.  I did find 2 small strips, and I mean small, that I could sew together to create the mini binding.  It is the same pink in the quilt. 

Last but not least was another hexagon pincushion, tool holder.  This one has been sent to my secret pal, from the Dear Jane yahoo group, for July.

I do have the blue triangle quilt top put together except for the borders.  We finally determined what colors to use for the 3 borders that are going to go on it. Now to work on it.  I have picked up 3 quilts from Wendy, the lady that I have quilt my quilts.  So will by busy getting those done too.  I am working on my bowls project as well.  Oh, the ideas I am having for that.  I think my day to show the finished project is August 16. So stay tuned.

Have a great rest of the week.  Happy Sewing!

Mary