The Future's Bright...

...for the next generation of quilt makers! Gregory was in the house today to quilt up his Star Wars top and get the binding attached. For him, to acclimate to the longarm and understand its workings were like a duck approaching a pond. It was 100% clear sailing all the way!

He used an easy beginner pantograph: "Loop de Loop"; he was done and off the rails by lunchtime. 

The binding was attached and basted down after lunch. He persevered with the hand finishing.

He'll get there. Admittedly this was his "least favorite" part. But, he did ask me about making a label for the back to contain his name and the date and "hand made by..."; we'll definitely get that done. 👍

Life is Good!

Star Flower Sew-Along

I took part in a Sew Along back in 2013. Yes, you read that right; it was here, on a Crafty Fox's blog. As you might surmise I didn't keep up the pace. I did find, when I unearthed box #5 (of 8) of my UFO's this week, that I did have all of the star flowers pieced. Why did I ever lose steam on this project? Well, maybe, it could be all those thousands of Y-seams! Anyway, there's no time like the present and being MINDFUL this year, it has been moved to the front burner. Low volume quilts are already timeless, right? 

I still have two more rows to add but I should get them done and added by the end of this weekend. I'm wild about the soft, vintage look of this quilt. After cutting all of those setting hexagons I was left with a pile of equilateral triangles in the bottom of the project box. 

A sane person probably would have tossed them. Well, I know that I'm crazy and I have bins of scraps begging to be combined with these. After a few trials I found just the right shape to run through the die cutter along with a few handfuls of brights out of the 4.5" bin! So, UFO #5 has given birth to yet another UnFinished Object! 

Those background triangles will set off these hexies perfectly!

Yes, this will do just fine. I guess this new, baby quilt, will be need to be numbered #5.1!!

I hope to get this one moved on to the done list too; as well as make a BIG dent in the scrap bin.

We'll see...

Life is Good! 

Who's At The Door?

Welcome! Mr. Snowman is all quilted, bound and is guarding the door to the sewing room for the winter months. This was a wonderful Country Threads pattern to stitch up, you can find it here. 

I used a straight-line quilting approach for a quick and easy finish. Somehow I made twice as many flying geese units than I needed (?!!), they were relegated to the back. 

And, speaking of people at the door... our doorbell rang yesterday after lunch. Outside stood our next door neighbor with this roll of batting, it was accidentally delivered to his house. I've been waiting for this order since the 11th of November! I have been piecing batting scraps together (and making door banners and table runners) since that time. From what I understand the batting companies are still running wa-a-a-a-a-y behind in their orders. Hopefully this situation will catch up before I find myself needing to order again; this 30 yard roll should last me a good while!

Life is Good!

Holly Jolly Christmas

You might remember those "Stitch Pink" blocks that were published daily by Moda back in October. I downloaded them all and stitched them up in Christmas fabrics instead, this wall quilt contains twenty five of them. The remaining five are destined to appear in a future table runner. After Christmas I got this loaded onto Snowbird and quilted it with a wonderful new (to me) pantograph by Urban Elementz: "Allover Holly". It was the perfect quilting solution for this sampler quilt. The name for this 64" X 64" quilt, "Holly Jolly Christmas" came from a combination of the pantograph's name and all of the cute and happy elements contained in the fabrics. I learned a LOT while piecing these blocks. With as many as I could, I adapted the directions to accommodate using Studio 180 tools for accuracy; that's become my go-to, preferred, method for almost all block construction. 

The tiny elves might just be my favorite little print in this one: they're found scampering about the blocks on white, green and gray backgrounds.

The binding went on yesterday afternoon. After machine stitching it in place I then press it back and hand baste the folded edge (and hanging sleeve) down so that no pins or clips get in my way during the finishing slip-stitching by hand.

I'm all ready for some relaxing handwork in front of the television in the coming evenings; plus, I like to believe that I'm eleven months ahead with this Christmas quilt for 2021. 😉 

Life is Good!

Then and Now

When Lynnleigh was born, eight short years ago, I was required to wear a mask for our first meeting. I had a bad cold at the time but that wasn't going to keep me from holding our new granddaughter; oh, no! Little did I know then that mask-wearing would ever become the norm! We were eager to recreate this iconic moment today. Happy birthday, Lynnleigh; you've made these past eight years a joy (and you've grown just a teeny bit too 😉)!

Life is Good!

Who's Under That Hat?

If you were playing along with the teaser from my last post, and you guessed a snowman, you were right! I needed a new sewing room door banner after taking Santa down last week. I saw this pattern on Country Threads website and knew it was just the thing! He measures 22" X 51" and is just the right size to fill the now empty space on the door. I have a series of door quilts that cycle through the year and really needed a wintertime one. 

This frosty fella sewed up quick and easily. (Thanks, Mary and Connie for another great pattern!) It probably took me longer to choose the fabrics and machine applique the edges to the letters than anything else. I had every bit of fabric in my stash. That background fabric, Debbie Mumm for South Seas Imports, has been in my closet for decades; it was just perfect! I used the reverse side of that same fabric for the letters and made my own pulled-thread fringe to trim out his scarf. I'll need to take care when quilting him not to catch that fringe! Also, after quilting him he'll get some handsome buttons right down the front. Hopefully, I can get this quilted over the weekend. I'm excited about this newest addition to the door banner line-up. Oh, and there's more good news:

...thanks to another new addition to the sewing space, this one from Santa, it's not "BRRRRRRRR" in here anymore at all. 

Don't worry, the snowman won't melt!

Life is Good!

Getting A Handle On Things

I stitched this carrier up yesterday afternoon after church. I didn't have any measurements to go by, but I did have some leftover canvas duck from making tote bags and some cotton clothesline to stabilize the edges. Mr. G approximated the dimensions and I set to work. 

He needed a sling to carry the firewood up to the woodstove from the pile outdoors. I doubled over the handles, added more of the cotton clothesline to give them a substantial hold and filled in between the sides of each with two layers of soft and stable to cushion the grips. It worked great!

Oh, and one more thing: the floor stays neater and cleaner 

with each trip from the woodpile to the hearth, too. 😉

I'm getting a handle on a new project that's wandered onto my cutting table. I have this much done. Guesses?

Life is Good!