Slow Stitching Sunday

I am on my way! Here is what I will be stitching on while traveling:

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Yep, more hexies. And also a wee bit of binding:

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Linking up with Kathy for Slow Stitching Sunday

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Goodbye February, Hello March!

Time to look at those monthly goals and see how I did.

1. Finish the two QOVs in progress. Done!

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2. Finish my calendar quilt. Not done.

3. Stroller blanket for GB #1 Turned into a tag blankie but it is DONE!

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4. SQT Challenge Done!

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5. Finish the Midwinter Blues QAL with Lori at Humble Quilts. Done!

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6. DS Hexie Quilt  in progress. – Top is done still needs border and quilting.

7. Clean all my closets and cupboards. I know, not a sewing goal but I am making myself organize something every day before I sew. – Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

I also made a quilt for GS#2:

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And made two cloth books for the grandbabies:

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I got 40 Album blocks made for my bed quilt:

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And pieced the top of the quilt my daughter just finished for her friend:

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And I made one wheelchair quilt for the VA hospital.

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I am heading out to Arizona in the morning to finally see Baby L, my son and lovely daughter in law, and my daughter. I can’t wait! I may blog some while I am there but since I will be working from my phone and kindle, I probably won’t answer comments via email. I have a few projects ready to go but we shall see how much I actually get done! My first priorities are to hold the baby and spend time with my kids. I can’t say I will mind the heat either! It will be glorious to get away from all this Michigan snow. Yuck!

Back to my March goals:

1. Compete the March challenge quilt for the SQT group.

2. Complete a QOV for the HMQS Quilting Treasures challenge.

3. Make crib skirt, bumper pads, crib sheets, and quilt for baby Q’s baby shower.

4. Finish the last 20 Album blocks.

Have a great week everyone!

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Finished!

Daughter #1 finished quilting and binding the quilt for her friend today. Here it is all washed and crinkly.

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Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it Up Friday.

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Finishing it up Friday

I am not sewing today but someone else is….

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This is beautiful Daughter #1 working on a quilt for a friend. She used my old quilting machine but this is her first time with the Avante. She is really a natural.

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She sure doesn’t need any help from me!

Have a good weekend.

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Needle and Thread Thursday

Good Morning! Here is a quilt I made a number of years ago butI don’t think I ever shared it on this blog.

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It’s hard to get a good shot of it where it is hanging. This was a fun one for using up scraps. I am thinking about making another one like this, maybe in a bigger size.

I made 5 more album blocks yesterday and am up to 35. I am happy to say this pile is growing:

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And this pile is shrinking:

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I also started packing for my trip. In three days, I get to hold Baby L!

I have a long day at work today so I best bet moving. Have a great day everyone.

Linking up with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday.

Needle and Thread Thursday

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Work in Progress Wednesday

I have a couple things in progress today. First a bit of hand stitching and cutting more hexies for this:

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And I made a few more album blocks. I am up to 30 now, more than halfway! I have not added the corner triangles because I may use something other than the background there.

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I finished the little cloth books for the baby boys yesterday.

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I had to sew through 14 layers of cotton duck to put them together. I love old machines that can “git ‘er done!”

I had a birthday this week and received a lovely quilty gift from Daughter #1.

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She knows me well!!

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday.

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All About the Babies

That suns up most of my sewing yesterday! First, I finished this tag blankie for Baby L.

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I didn’t think I had a good enough variety of ribbons but when I went through my trim stash, I found lots of interesting bits! Most of the items had polyester in them so before sewed them into the blanket, I used a lighter to melt the ends. This will keep them from fraying and pulling out. I am pretty happy with how this turned out.

I also started an embroidery project for the grandsons.

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I am making cloth books with shapes and colors. I am no expert at machine embroidery but I thought you might be interested in the simple appliqué process.

First, I downloaded a free embroidery design pack from a web site that sells machine embroidery designs. I like to use sticky back stabilizer for hooping. I just stick it to the back of the hoop and then just lay my fabric on top. Easy peasy.

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Then “block” 1 is stitched to show fabric placement for the appliqué.

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Then fabric is placed to cover the stitching and block 2 is stitched. (This picture is from the “oval” page and the next shots are from the heart page. I got distracted in the process of taking pics. Not terribly surprising!)

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Cut away excess fabric close to the stitching.

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Put the hoop back in the machine and stitch the last block of the embroidery design.

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I use a drop of fray check at the beginning and end of jump stitches and then trim. I have two hoops this size so while one hoop was in the machine, I was removing the finished piece from the other and preparing the next piece.

Not gonna lie, this is a lot slower process than it looks! I have a couple more pages to do and then the covers and assembly.

I did get 5 more blocks for my Paisley album quilt done as well.

Daughter #1 was not feeling well so our quilt date got moved to later in the week.

Linking up with Connie at Free Motion by the River for Linky Tuesday.

Posted in Crafty Things, Embroidery, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Design Wall Monday

Due to spending the morning at Med Express with Daughter #3 yesterday, not much sewing happened. She has strep. Blech!

As you can see, I am behind on my 4 block a day program with this quilt:

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I hope to get at least 3 blocks done today but I have other goals for the day as well.

Daughter #1 is coming over to quilt this for her friend.

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And I hope to get this tag blanket finished for Baby L.

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I bought the backing for it yesterday and started pulling bits of ribbon and trims from the stash. I really want to finish this today.

I am also hoping to start a little embroidery project for the grand babies. I will share pictures of that tomorrow if I get started.

I am linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times for DWM.

Posted in Crafty Things, Design Wall Monday, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Sunday

I finished and washed this little quilt last night and took a few pictures this morning. I learned SO MUCH making this one.

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I used a very tight weave bleached muslin for the top and a piece of flannel I had laying around for the back. I would use Kona Snow or something like it for the top next time.

I wish I had put more points in the compass and done the star differently. The anchor still seems to “thick” to me. The frames around the name and anchor are 3/4″ wide. I think I would have preferred a half inch frame. I am really happy with the background quilting. I really like it around the anchor. I used white Glide thread and never had a single tension or breakage issue. Love that stuff!

All in all, a very fun experiment. And here is something else for fun:

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Dear Son sent this shot of Baby L this morning. I so love him!

Posted in Baby Quilts, Finishes, Free Motion Quilting | 8 Comments

Saturday Sewing

I follow a number of blogs by excellent machine quilters. I have come across several things lately that I wanted to try myself. I hate just making a practice piece that will get thrown out so I decided on a cradle quilt for Baby Q due in June.

I printed out letters and taped them to my cutting board so I could trace them onto white fabric.

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Wow! That “I” is not centered! Oh well, didn’t notice that until now. I added a few other motifs as well, a compass, star, and an anchor.

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I used a ruler to help keep my lines straight and quilted all the motifs before going back to fill heavily.

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Those lines took forever! I got the idea for this from a blog called I Dew Quilting.

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Not happy with the star, I should have echoed the shape and done something different in the center.

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The anchor looks to fat to me. I am still thinking about going back and adding some more stitching there. Then it was time for background fill. The idea for this came from another blog I love called, Quilts’N Things Done by Betty Boop.

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I finished the quilting and binding but final pics will have to wait for tomorrow.

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It drives me crazy that the I is off.

I used two layers of batting in this: Warm and White and a layer of Quilters Dream Poly to give it a bit more loft.

I only pieced one album block today so I have some catching up to do there.

Hope you are all having a “pieceful” weekend!

Posted in Baby Quilts, HQ Avante, Machine quilting, Uncategorized | 9 Comments