Saturday, December 31, 2016

fourth quarter of the finish along

Well, despite setting low goals for the fourth quarter finish along, knowing I was having surgery and all, I only finished two of the three items on my list. The third one is, however, well under way! I'll just add it to my first quarter goals for 2017 and be happy with that.

My first finish this quarter was my wonky dresden neighborhood quilt. I had so much fun with this one!
My second finish is my most recent bee quilt which has already been put to good use.

My Liberty plus quilt is still a work in progress.... although I am nearing the end of the piecing! I am thinking now that it may become a pretty pillow. We will know soon. This is the only goal I didn't reach in the finish along for the whole year. Pretty proud of myself for that.
How did you do with your quilty goals this year?

I'm linking up over at A Quilter's Table

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

a little quilt for Christmas

I want to share a little quilt I made for Ally for Christmas. Ally is a huge fan of Llamas and succulents. So, when I saw the line Lovely Llamas by Michael Miller, I knew I needed to do something for her! 
I made a simple economy block mini quilt for her to hang in her apartment. Along with the featured prints, I used three different grunge fabrics (Ally loves grunge as much as I do!) and I think it turned out really cute! The finished quilt is 24 inches square.

Saturday, December 24, 2016

rope bowls

With all of the coiled rope bowls popping up on Instagram, it was only a matter of time before I went down the rabbit hole too and gave it a try. My first bowl came out pretty good (even if the edges are a little wonky!)
I'm still getting the hang of molding the shape of the bowls and evening out the top. Let's just call it organic and move on, shall we?
My second bowl is equally wonky  organic and quite a bit larger! I loved pulling out green strips I had on hand as I am rather loving the newly announced Pantone color of the year, greenery! I intend to explore this color even more in the new year. I don't think I've ever made a quilt that featured green so that will be a new adventure for me.

Also, I'm guessing there will be more bowls. And maybe, just maybe, I'll master those wonky edges. Or maybe not. Stay tuned!

Thursday, December 22, 2016

weaving houndstooth

My poor loom has been sitting empty since October! While weaving is relaxing and fun, warping the loom is labor intensive and required more up and down, back and forth, than I was capable of just after my knee surgery. Until now! Last weekend, hubby helped me get everything set up and I warped the loom to try something new! I had been wanting to weave a houndstooth pattern for a while. I used this tutorial and found it to be simple, even though it looks complicated. Love that!
I ended up with two yards of 20 inch wide fabric when I took it off the loom
wow, this picture makes it look really blue!
And decided to make it into pillows

I was able to get two 14 inch square pillow covers out of the fabric. I really love the way they look (duh! AQUA!)

The back is bound in fabric envelope style, allowing a pillow form to be inserted
I am thinking about making a bunch of pillows like this and filling up my etsy shop. Poor little shop has been sitting empty for ages!

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

ornament swaps

December is always filled with fun gatherings of friends, gift exchanges and yummy food! This year has been no different. Two of my Christmas gatherings included ornament exchanges and, as always, I added some happy decorations to my tree! 

Our December McKinney Modern Quilt Guild meeting is always fun and festive. I was dead last to choose my ornament, and took the last ornament left wrapped on the table. It turned out to be this sweet little tree, in aqua and red which was perfect for me! The maker was a new guild member who said she was a new sewer.... but I did not get her name! I hope to get to know her at future meetings and let her know how much I love this little tree.
 On Crafty Tuesday we had another fun ornament swap. I ended up keeping Joellen's little felt mitten, filled with candy canes and I just love it too!
It's so much fun to have these treasures to pull out year to year. They always remind me of good friends and good times.

Somehow I managed to not take a picture of the ornaments I made for the swaps! I made two identical sets, and I had to steal this photo from Mahriam's (three owls handmade) instagram feed! So here is one set, hanging on her tree....

They were fun to sit and hand stitch during my recovery.

Have you made any ornaments this year?

Thursday, December 1, 2016

where did November go?

And just like that, it's December. Wow! My November was filled with recovery from surgery, physical therapy, doctors appointments. I'm happy to report that I am doing great! Back at my sewing machine, mostly working on secret Christmas gifts. This time of year is so hard for blogging. So many secret projects.

November ended with a full house at ellyn's place! All of my kiddos were home for the weekend, including Steve's girlfriend Lily. It was so much fun to have them all together. Lots of laughter, food, oh, and Gilmore Girls, of course!
We even found time for a family photo shoot. 

After everyone went back home (boohoo!) I finally found time to prep my hand dyed fabrics for use. I thought I'd share about them today.
Back in October,  Joellen and I took a fun fabric dying workshop from our friend Melissa (you can follow her at My Fabric Relish) Melissa's workshop is so great! She does all of the prep work, you make a huge mess in her garage and then she cleans it all up! Such a deal. 

Melissa approves of Joellen's mad dying skills
I came away with a dozen beautifully dyed fat quarters. I want to use them all in one quilt, but I'm having a hard time deciding exactly what I want to do. I've been keeping a pinterest board of modern solid quilts, hoping the answer will come to me. Thinking this will be a good project to begin 2017.

Meanwhile, I'll just keep admiring this pretty bundle!