Playing catch up on the blog!

I have been terrible at keeping up this blog… but then, I don't have a whole bunch of new things to share. Well, there are some little things, but not much in the way of quilts.

Here we go! First, I made this apron for my husband for Christmas. I know, some might say that's not a very manly gift, but look how manly it really is:

He loves it. He is our designated barbeque-er, plus he likes to make cookies, so there you go. The man needed a manly apron.

Then I started a holiday pillowcase… um, tradition? I'm not sure what to call it, but I made the two little ones Christmas pillowcases, and that started me down a path of making them for every major holiday. Here are the Christmas ones:

Remember the "mug rug" I made from the hexi class at Quilt Bliss? Well, my friend started one and didn't feel like finishing it, so she gave me her kit. I finished it up and now my husband and I have "his and her" mug rugs on our nightstands. The first time I attempted the binding, it just didn't settle in nicely, so I took it off and re-did it with a new method of easing those corners.

Before

After

I did finish this big Christmas quilt! I really love how it turned out.

I had a couple of mishaps with it, though. I knew the points were going to be tight with the binding. I debated putting a white border on, just to give me a little wiggle room, but you know how you get to the point where you are just DONE and you don't want to do one more thing with a quilt? That's where I was, so I sent it out to be quilted and hoped for the best.

I did cut a few points off with the binding, but this was the worst one:

I really tried to live with it, but I couldn't. I unpicked that small section of binding and moved it out a bit. It still wasn't perfect, but it was something I could accept. :) It was worth redoing.

But this was even more sad! As I was stitching the binding down, I saw this:

WHAT??? I couldn't believe it, and I also couldn't figure out what happened! After thinking about it for  a while, I realized it must be from my chair in my sewing room. It's one of those hydraulic chairs, and the kids had gotten grease on their hands before when they played on it. Needless to say, the chair is now out of my sewing room. I was so sad.

I washed it over and over, sometimes using Fels Naptha and then clear Ivory Soap dish soap, and then Shout. I did each one a couple of times. (I asked my quilty friends on IG what to do, and tried some of their suggestions.) FINALLY, it came clean enough that the spot was hardly noticeable.

See? I bet you can't find it! I'm just hoping all those cleaning agents won't end up damaging the fabric in the long run.

Some more little projects…

Valentine pillowcases for the little ones:

A quilt block for a friend who is fighting breast cancer. One of the IG ladies invited a bunch of us to send in a block to put together in a quilt for her. It's going to be a really pretty quilt, and I hope it helps her feel surrounded with support and love. It's a blessing to be part of the quilting world.

Haha… this hardly counts as a sewing project, but I added stars to yellow tshirts for Dr. Seuss week at school. I did this last year, too. I'm not really very creative. haha. My kids were happy, though, so I count that as a success. (You know, Sneetches on Beaches?)

More pillowcases… this time for St. Patrick's Day! My kids really like them, and they are fun to make with the Dilly-Dally method by Me and My Sister Designs. (aka The Burrito Method)

My husband and I visited My Girlfriend's Quilt Shopped in Midway when we went out for a Valentine's Getaway, and I found this pattern (The Olivia Skirt by Butterfly Kisses Patterns) and fabric (Lil' Red by Moda) to make my daughter a skirt. She had been asking for one, since she only has dresses, and I guess that's a bummer of a thing. :)

I'm really happy with how it turned out, although the gathered edge gave me fits. Next time I'll use polyester thread (the cotton thread broke while I was gathering it) and maybe I'll get better at sewing that gathered edge in. Otherwise, it was really simple and my daughter loves it!

She LOVES it! And I found a red shirt that matches the skirt perfectly.

Last, I finished this Lone Star paper pieced block! I took the class by Anna from my quilt group, and I really enjoyed it. I say that even though I did a lot of seam ripping and had to do a couple of sections more than once.  I could also mention that I needed more paper patterns, and the one I printed didn't match the others in size (which I found out AFTER I sewed it… and yes, the 1-inch sizing guide was on, so go figure). Anyway, Anna was so sweet and met my husband in town to give him more patterns for me to finish up. What a nice lady!

It's done, though! And I really like it. It's not perfect (which it should be, with paper piecing, right?), but I'm happy with it. I still need to figure out how to finish it off into a mini for my sewing room wall.

I have one quilt at the quilter and one on my wall that I'm working on. I'll share when they are finished!

Some Christmas stuff and a new baby in the family...

Blogger is not cooperating with picture uploads today, so these projects aren't necessarily in the order I finished them… but I finished each one since the last time I posted …

I made this cross stitch back in 2003. (The nice thing about cross stitch is that it's natural to "sign" it with the date.) I had finished it into a wallhanging, but I didn't like the way the binding had turned out. It was one of my early "quilty" things, so I don't think I even squared it up before adding the binding! And then it was all crooked looking because the pattern of the fabric didn't go on nice and neat. Anyway, I never felt quite satisfied with it, so it sat in a box all these years. Last month, I took the binding off, trimmed it up evenly, then turned it into a pillow. My son said we needed to put it downstairs near the fireplace so that Santa would be sure to see it when he came down the chimney to leave our presents by the tree. :)

And… next… I really love this Christmas quilt! I used the leftovers from the Christmas Tree Wallhanging I posted about earlier. I obviously had a lot of leftovers! 

I fmq'd it myself. It's the first "big" quilt I've done on my own.  Excuse the folding crease down the middle. It's been hanging on a quilt rack and I didn't feel like ironing it just for these pictures.

I added a little strip down the back so I didn't have to match the design of the backing fabric.

Most of the quilting went pretty well… although I did hit a safety pin once and broke my needle. It made my machine make a bad noise and I was so scared that I messed up my new Juki! Thankfully, everything was fine.

Can you see that thicker stitching up in the right corner of the green? I have quite a few spots like that where I had to go back and tack down some stitches that were too long. 

That green and red dot! I love it, but it was a bear! I could not see the thread at all while I was fmq'ing, so I ran back over my stitches more than once when I encountered that fabric.

I just added a simple, handwritten label… and it really does have my last name, but you know. I'm that kind of private person. ;)

It took me about six hours to quilt the whole thing. It wasn't so bad. And I think it might be even better next time, because my husband made that drop down sewing table for me. The quilt might move a little better, even though it wasn't bad with this one. We'll see. In any case, my kids love pulling this quilt off the rack and snuggling with it. That makes me happy.

Also… we have a new baby granddaughter. She is super sweet and we're excited she's come along. I knew her parents liked the flannel quilt I made for her big brother, so I went flannel again. I would have never thought to put greens with pink and gray, but the quilt shop had a kit and I liked it! I added a couple more greens for variety.

I just kept it a simple pattern of squares.

A strip of leftover grays to break up the backing a bit.

You know by now that I protect the innocent. :) I had finished the quilt itself in October, but it took me a little while longer to bind it and label it, so I gave it to her in November. My friend, Stacey G. longarm quilted it for me.

I also made this cute snowman wallhanging. I had bought the kit one day a year or so ago when I was feeling like I needed retail therapy. I made an impulse stop at a local quilt shop and it was on a good sale. Then it just sat there for a long time…

 I decided I should get it done in time for Christmas this year. It was a fun process!

I tried my hand at fmq appliqué. My bird was a little shaky, but it was the first thing I did, so it got better from there. :)

Finished with the appliqué!

Added the snowballs next.

I drew on the swirls with a washout marker… but I still had wobbly quilting lines.

The backing isn't so pretty. Sewing on the buttons and all that made me glad it's a wallhanging so that nobody is really looking at the back.

All done, except...

... later I found this cute carrot button for a perfect finishing touch!

Throwback Thursday… and more...

I have a handful of things I've finished up in the last month. (And a handful of things that I'm still working on…)

First, though… a Throwback Thursday to one of my earliest quilting efforts. I finally labeled it, so I can post it!

I used all Joann's fabric. It still looks okay in real life, but it definitely doesn't have the density of higher quality fabrics.  It feels thin and floppy.

 That's a horrible picture, I know. My real camera has broken and I took this with my phone in a room with bad lighting. Here's a closer view with a more accurate representation of the colors:

I went the greatest distance possible when I hand quilted this. At the time, I must not have had a walking foot or something. I had machine quilted another quilt at around the same time, but it was fmq'ing, so I don't know. Was I afraid of straight-line quilting? This was before all the quilting blogs and all the information available like we have now. I think I just didn't know what else to do! 

Haha! And my stitches were sooooooo even on the back!  So happy I have discovered the art of machine quilting!

I thought the colors looked like Spiderman colors - or maybe that's just what I told my 4-year-old (at the time) son so that he would think it was cool to have a quilt hanging in his bedroom. 

 Another Throwback Thursday… although not quite as far back…

I made this quilt for my now 8-year-old… probably when he was about a year old. I have pictures with layout possibilities that were taken in October, 2008, with what looks like a final sew-together in early 2009. Then I had it quilted by Stacey G. in 2011. By that point, I realized my boy had outgrown it, so I mentioned to Stacey that I would donate it to a charity. She was so sweet and did the quilting for free as her part of the donation! So nice. I finally put the binding on this month, and it's ready to go to a new home.

I just found a backing that was on sale, if I remember correctly. I'm actually a little confused about if I had washed the fabrics for the top and then if I did or didn't for the backing… I'm going to wash it now that it's all done and see what happens.  (ETA: I washed it and I still can't tell! So I guess that means it's all good. And I find it's a little hard to let this go, mostly because I know it was originally meant for my youngest boy. BUT… I'm strong. :) I hope it brings some comfort to someone who could use a warm quilt hug.)

I didn't put a label on, since it will be going out as a donation.

At the time that I made this quilt top, I also made a pillow to match. It was in "kid size" and it got lots of good use. I took this picture that happens to include the pillow… even though I was really taking a picture of how my son had arranged his toys on his bed. LOL. I love little boys!

After more than a few years of lots of love, my son decided he was too big for his pillow and he was ready to let it go. My sentimental heart cracked a little (hence taking a picture), but my practical side is all about decluttering, so we sent it on it's way. Oh, if they only could stay little a bit longer…  :( 

Moving on to present time… Halloween. I decided to make costumes this year. WHY??? Actually, I used to make my kids' costumes all the time when my older kids were young. I've done a bit more of the "store bought" routine with these younger two, mostly because I realize it's cheaper and they are usually happier about it!

But… for whatever reason, I decided to make the costumes this year. I chose a super easy pattern… really, the costumes weren't all that great. And I had issues with my machine at the same time. AND the hoods were out of a thin, very stretchy knit. Nothing about it went well, and I'm vowing to not do this again. Who cares if my kids wear the same Costco costumes as half their class??? Not me. Haha.

Anyway, they were ninjas. And they actually were happy with these getups, so go figure! (I got sick on Halloween, so I never took official Halloween pics… but these blurry photos will do:

I ended up doing a wrap-type hood for hers. I had just had it with dealing with that stretchy knit!

After all the problems (and my husband's fixes) with my machine while working on those costumes, I decided to throw together this dress-up cape that had been in my "to-do" pile for quite some time. I wanted to see how my Bernina was doing, and I thought a thick patch on felt would be a good test. What my husband had done to fix the machine worked, because this came together like a dream. (Which is how my Bernina usually behaves!)

The patch was from a reversible cape that we had purchased years ago. Batman was on the other side. It ended up tearing at some point, so I decided to make new capes and use the insignias from the old one. The Batman one has been done for quite some time.

Funny (?) anecdote: While I was away at a quilt retreat, my husband was trying to put together a pirate costume for my son's "pirate day" in first grade. He decided to make the eye patch out of some black felt… which he cut off the bottom of the Batman cape. I was like, "Whhhaaaatttt???" He claimed it was only 1.5 inches, but when I got home, it was really like 2.5 inches. OFF THE BOTTOM OF THE CAPE!!! Who does that??? Anyway, my kids have pretty much outgrown these capes, and I just have them for the grandkids' dress-up box, so I didn't make a new one, even though my perfectionist self wanted to. 

Next… I used to have a handful of small, stuffed pumpkins that we made at a Super Saturday one year. They added such a nice decorative touch to the top of my piano each fall. Well, a few years ago, my son helped me pack them up, along with the other fall decorations. He was about 13 or so… so I'm still trying to figure out how he didn't think that maybe it wasn't a good idea to pack the REAL mini pumpkins in the box, as well. 

The next year, I opened the box and there was a horrible musty smell. It didn't take long to find the moldy mini pumpkins… or the bugs at the bottom of the box. EW! And I was so sad. There were several homemade fall decorations that got ruined. :(

In any case, I saw a tutorial on IG this year for stuffed pumpkins. They turned out bigger than my old ones, but I like them:

They were super quick and easy to make!

Another quick project this last month or so were these gift tags made from the leftover trees from the Christmas Tree wallhanging I did back in September…

I actually made six total, but the other two didn't make it into this picture. :)

AND… last weekend I went out of town for a girls' R&R in St. George. It was so nice! Before I left, my husband and I had talked about a sewing table for my Juki that we could custom cut so my Juki would sit even with the top.  We found some tutorials on a couple of blogs that showed how they started with an Ikea table, and how they converted it to a sewing table.

Well, my husband is the kind of guy who makes things happen. When I got back from SG, I found this in my sewing room:

It is sooooo nice! It's just the perfect height and it's awesome to have it all flat and even. And the flowers were an extra sweet touch. :) He's such a good husband and so thoughtful. (And talented!)

While I was looking for the picture of the pillow I posted up above, I found this one that made me chuckle: 

So it's a horrible picture, I know. I took it with my old iPod Touch in the basement, so it really didn't stand a chance. This is something I found one day when my youngest two were about 3 and 4. I'm pretty sure it was the 3-year-old's work, although it's entirely possible they were in cahoots. Yeah, that was one of my quilting gloves. I didn't find it so amusing at the time, but I can (kind of) laugh now. I ended up buying new (better) gloves, so all's well that ends well. 

Two more finishes!

This one has been a long time in the making… actually, both of them have…

This mini is a block I made back in about 2009 when we tried to start a quilt guild here in my hometown. It kind of fizzled before it got too far off the ground, but we (at least, I think a couple of us followed through) did make a block using the same pattern. I don't know if it was because I was still a beginner or if the pattern was just difficult, but I know I thought it was hard!

I was cleaning out my sewing closet and seeing what WIPs I had in there when I found this in a box with other projects. Projects that I didn't really have a plan for… like the embroidery I showed you in my previous post. Anyway, I decided to just turn this into a mini and get it out of a box. I love how it turned out!

I feel like the reds in this are a deeper color than they translate to on film. More of a burgundy
 instead of that red-orange.

More fmq'ing practice.

I started adding my last name to my labels, but I still like a little privacy. :)

This next quilt was made from fabric I've had stuffed away for a long time. I think I bought most of it when I was still trying to self-teach and was using a book to make a sampler wallhanging. As usual, I overbought, although to get variety, you kind of have to buy a lot of different FQ's! I had pre-washed this fabric, so I washed the binding and backing, too. I would pre-wash everything, except you can't really do that with pre-cuts and kits… I haven't quite figured out where I stand on the washing issue.

Anyway, I love this quilt! And it wasn't planned that it would match my mini, but they look great together, don't they?

I just did a single-fabric backing to keep things simple.

I love the colors!

Since it's staying with our family (and not a gift), I just did a simple handwritten label. It was machine quilted by my ever faithful quilter friend, Stacey G.

Right now I have a very simple baby quilt up on my wall for my newest granddaughter (who will be here in a few weeks!) and I'm also super excited about this upcoming project:

I have this quilt top and backing all ready to go. My friend is going to help me pin-baste it on Friday, so I can try to machine quilt the whole thing on my Juki. I am really hoping the larger throat space will make it manageable. It's a quilt for our family, so I'm not too worried about experimenting on it. I just hope I don't get too frustrated with the bulk. Wish me luck!