Q3 FAL

Just squeaking in here with a list of UFO's that need finishing.  They are not that old so maybe they are WIP'S instead.  Either way they need doing. 2 table runners and 3 wall hangings.

1. Quilt and bind.

2.  Needs borders, quilt and bind.

 3. Quilt and bind.

4. Quilt and bind.

 5. Quilt and bind.

Linking up at Sarah's for Q3 FAL

Round wedge UFO finished

Not sure why this fall round table topper didn't get finished last year.  But it decided to make it's way to the top of the pile this past week.  

To finish it all I had to do was applique on the fabric in the center, quilt and bind it. 

Have you ever tried making a wedge topper?  They really are not that hard. In the header at the top of my blog I have a tutorial on how I make mine.  I use the 10 degree wedge ruler.

Tish I busted another UFO so I am linking with you!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and if it's too hot and humid outside enjoy the time sewing!

Island Batik challenge featuring Aurifil

I feel like the luckiest gal around(well along with 49 others) that I get to work with Island Batik fabrics every month.  But this month we are also working with the wonderful Aurifil threads.

The challenge this month is called Artsy Fartsy.  Meaning we are to make something artsy using Island batiks and embellishing with Aurifil threads.  I have to say I was way out of my wheelhouse, or my comfort zone or out of my box!!  I was really fearful I couldn't pull it off.  But I rose to the challenge and am happy to report that I really like my finished product.

Never ever have I done improv curved piecing before.  I watched a You Tube video and from there I just winged it!!  I wanted it to be like grass or green rolling hills and then the sky.  See the pink row of tiny flowers growing on the hillside:)

I used the decorative stitches on my Janome Skline 7 to make pretty stitches with Aurifil thread.  I used 80 wt, 50 wt, 40 wt, 28, and a floss!  For the floss I put it in my cording foot and did a small zig zag over it.  

I thought one of my Island Batik buttons was appropriate to adorn my little quilt. Now we need Aurifil buttons!  My little wall hanging is about 11 x 18. 

Thank you Island Batik and Aurifil threads for making me jump out of my box and create something fun!  Thank you for the products used in the project also.

I used fabrics from several different collections to get the coloring I wanted for this project.  Most were from the 5" x WOF rolls that are just perfect for adding to your stash. 

Next month I will be joining several of the ambassadors in a blog hop using beautiful Island Batik fabrics that were released at Market last May.  It's going to be a really fun hop so I hope you'll be back and watching for that.  

Linking with:

Wednesday Wait Loss

Midweek Makers

NTT

Put your foot down

Can I get a Whoop Whoop

July One Monthly Goal

Decisions, decisions which project shall I pick for my July OMG.  Us, us screams my leaf blocks!! 

I have 3 of each color paper pieced and ready to be set into 3 table runners with their needed borders.  This is definitely the goal I will pursue for July. 

Linking to OMG at Elm Street Quilts.  Which by the way, I was lucky to have won a Fat Quarter Shop gift certificate for my June OMG!!  So excited to go shopping!! 

Another round of round placemats

The last of my round placemats sold so I was anxious to make another set of gray and red ones.  They would coordinate with my snowman table runners.

 I am so glad that my friend Wendy from Piecefulthoughts passed on the info of where to get this cute pattern.  It is from s.o.t.a.k handmade.  It is not only fun to make but quick!  I love making them.

Maybe this cookie plate is all ready for Santa!

 Then I thought I should make a set for fall.  So off to gather up some scraps to make these.  Yes I say scraps, it doesn't take much fabric.  Just to let you know how quick these are I made all 4 today, start to finish!

Linking with Wednesday Wait Loss, Midweek Makers

Things are gearing up for The 12 Days of Christmas in July blog hop that is hosted by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Prepare to be inspired as several of us bloggers are taking part in it once more.  My day is July 17th.  

Happy 4th of July!!!  

Cobblestones table runner

Working with batiks is fun, my grandson is drawn to them also.  When he comes over he runs his hands through a pile of them I have in my cutting table cubbies.  He hasn't learned there are different brands of them though.  And with different brands there is different qualities.  He keeps asking me why I don't use them more often.  While I prefer Island Batik brand, I have decided I need to sneak in a few things here and there with other brands I have in my stash.  That is what this runner is made with-other brands.

The pattern is an easy one to piece, but still very effective in delivering a 'cute' punch.  I love the modern feel while using more traditional fabrics.  But as you look around the internet and at quilt shows you will see batiks making themselves shown in a modern form these days.  I love the versatility. 

With this style of runner I like doing custom quilting to punch it up a notch.  U turn quilting is a favorite of mine for sashings and small borders.  And wishbones in the rectangles, what can I say I love quilting them!  While straight line quilting for borders leaves an interesting effect when they intersect in the corners. 

A nice orange peel design done with a circle template is a great choice for square blocks.  I think the block on the right might be an Island batik after all, see I can't stay away from them!  The cobblestones pattern is designed by Dragonfly Fiber Art(not affiliated, just a happy customer).

What have you got planned for your week?  Our son and DIL will be down to visit for a few days, hopefully our daughter and grandsons will be over also.  But until Thursday I hope to get lots of sewing done.  

Linking with MCM, and Design Wall Monday

Butterflies make my heart flutter

Another cute fabric found, and these butterflies flew off the fabric and followed me home!  I am talking about the fabric I used in the wide border.  It has some glitsy shiny's in it, which I think I actually captured in this photo.  The binding fabric also followed me home.  All the rest I had in my stash.

The butterfly applique I made using EQ8.   For the quilting, after basting it onto my longarm frame I SID(stitched in the ditch) the skinny teal border. Then SID around the white background fabric to stabilize it before stippling it.  In the photo above you can see I did piano key stitching in the border.

After a little photo shoot I listed it in my Etsy shop(link in the right side bar). 

Because butterflies love flowers I will share my Lupine with you. A friend gave me the plant last year and it only had one bloom last summer.  These photos are from this year, it was fun to watch the progression of the blooms opening a little each day.

He looks much healthier this year and has 4 flower stalks this year.  The tall flower stalk on the left is so tall that he curved himself before heading upward some more. I planted my Calla lilies beside him.  The same friend gave me the Calla's several years ago. 

Linking with:

Foto Fun

TGIFF

Whoop Whoop

June OMG met

I am so happy to report I met my June goal for One Monthly Goal.  The goal I set for myself was to work hard on 10 turkey table runners.  I planned to make 200 feathers for the turkeys and get them set onto at least 5 of the background fabrics.  I achieved that and more!!  You can see HERE what I had to work with at the beginning of June.

After putting together the 200 feathers into 20 groups of 10, I glued them to the 10 table runner background fabrics.  I was still in the mood to work on them so I cut and sewed the borders onto 5 of the runners.  Next I felt like quilting, I managed to quilt up 3 of them before I decided I had spent enough time for now on these.  I am so happy that I achieved my goal and went beyond what I set out to do.  

If you are asking what OMG is check out this link to Elm Street Quilts for all the info.  I'll be linking up for the end of the month  OMG celebration party.  I hope to see many of you there:)

I do have a pattern for the turkey table runner called Gobble it Up,  if you are interested you can email me, link on my About page.  At some point I am hoping to get it listed in my Etsy shop.  If you are interested in a finished Gobble it Up table runner, I have it available in my Etsy shop.

Linking with Tish for UFO Busting

Let's play some Football!!

Some days I don't know how ideas pop into my head, that is the case with this one.  They just dig in and don't let go.  Seriously I had never ever given thought to making something football related before.  But I just had to go with it.  Once again I went into EQ8 and sure enough there is a football that is perfect for what I needed.

Since I personally am not a football fan I turned to DH to give his opinion on what I was coming up with.  He thought I should have goal posts at each end.  Yep they are in EQ also!  But in the end I decided I liked the simpler version and went with that.  This was easy to piece and then I could spend the time appliqueing the footballs.  DH really liked the stitching on the outside of the football-blanket stitching by machine.

 I appliqued before quilting on this one so I could stitch around the white of the football stripes and also the line down the center of the football.  After the quilting I zig zagged the white ties on the center football only.   The other footballs are tumbling around where you can't see the ties;)

 Stipple quilting on the actual football field and straight line stitching on the side lines.

I am hoping that this will be a good seller in my Etsy shop where it is now listed.  It is team generic so it will go with everyone's decorating scheme!

I am thinking this was like a Squirrel for a DrEAMi moment.

Linking with:
Midweek Makers
Let's Bee Social
Wednesday Wait Loss
NTT
Put Your Foot Down

Clicking off the UFO's

When you finish one project you might have a tendency to look around your sewing room and see what UFO or WIP needs attention next.  In my case I had parts of green trees still sitting out on my sewing counter.  These were leftovers from tree runners I had made last fall.














So I cleaned up the mess and the result were three tree table runners.  The timing couldn't have been more appropriate.  The pattern for this runner is from a Quilt A long that Heather Mulder Peterson from Anka's Treasures had a few years ago.  The pattern for the runner was just for participants but you can find a tree quilt in one of her books.  Back to the timing...I met Heather on Thursday at the MN quilt show.  She is the MN quilter of the year!  She is such a sweet person.  I have loved her work for a long time so it was fun to actually get to chat with her a bit.  If you have been reading my blog a while you might remember that I thought I saw her and her boys on a bike trail near where she lives a couple years ago.  After the fact I emailed her and yep it was indeed her, she remembered because they had asked about our Terra Trikes.

I am glad to have that little space of my counter cleared off.  Will it stay that way, I doubt it.  I seem to work just fine in chaos.  Sure I would love to have one of those rooms where everything has a place and it is in it's place all the time.  Preferable behind closed cabinet doors.  I think I used to have that but I have long since outgrown my sewing room.  You would think I would have learned a lesson by now...stop buying more!!!  Perhaps I need to just sew faster!   What project should I work on next?

Linking with Tish for UFO Busting and Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Trying Something New

I tried a new to me pattern yesterday.  It was 'sew' much fun!  A Tuffet pincushion, how stinking cute is this!!

These fabrics, of course, are the wonderful Island Batiks;)  These were sent to me by Island Batik for use in our monthly challenges.  This month the challenge is to try a new technique or pattern.  I knew that I had several scraps of paisley dots left so I chose my favorite colors.  You don't need much fabric to make this little guy.  These are my absolutely favorite colors. 

I needed a piece of thin wood from DH's stash, no problem he had a small piece for me to make a 3 inch circle.  In fact I had everything on hand I needed to make it up.  Only took a few hours. I would have been done a little sooner if I had read the pattern thoroughly before beginning to cut out the fabric:(   But it doesn't matter now because I just love the finished tuffet!!  

 Little wooden balls for the feet. I used this light green Aurifil thread for the piecing.  I love looking down at the top of this cutie patootie!

This button came home with me from Arizona.  In fact a couple bags of buttons came home with me, they were only $1 for a big bag.  And they had lots of black buttons in there for snowman eyes;)  As I was getting ready for the needed button on the tuffet I spotted them and saw this one that was perfect for it.   The tuffet pattern can be found HERE.

All ready to sew, in a couple days.  First I need to attend the MN quilt show Thursday and Friday.  I will have time to sew on Saturday because DH has a meeting to attend. 

                                                         
Here is a list of all of the creative and talented Island Batik Ambassadors.  They would love it if you visited their blogs too:)  You are sure to be inspired!

• Alison Vermilya ~ Little Bunny Quilts
• Anita Skjellanger ~ Quilt in a not-Shell
• Anja Clyke ~ Anja Quilts
• Anne Wiens~ Sweetgrass Creative Designs
• Barb Gaddy ~ Bejeweled Quilts by Barb
• Bea Lea ~ BeaQuilter
• Becca Fenstermaker ~Pretty Piney
• Bill Locke ~ Studio Bill Locke
• Carla Henton ~ Creatin’ the Sticks
• Carol Moellers ~ Carol Moellers Designs
• Carolina Asmussen ~Carolina Asmussen
• Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs
• Connie Kreskin- Campbell ~ Freemotion by the River
• Denise Looney ~ For the Love of Geese
• Dione Gardner-Stephen ~ Clever Chameleon
• Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood
• Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail
• Gene Black ~ Gene Black
• Geraldine Wilkins ~ Living Water Quilter
• Jackie O’Brien ~ If These Threads Could Talk
• Janet Yamamoto ~ Whispers of Yore
• Jen Strauser ~ Dizzy Quilter
• Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter
• Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations
• Joan Kawano ~ Moosestash Quilting
• Joanne Hart ~ Unicornhearts
• Karen Neary ~ Sew Karen-ly Created
• Kathleen McCormick ~ Kathleen McMusing
• Kim Lapacek ~ Persimon Dreams
• Laura Piland ~ Slice of Pi Quilts
• Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
• Leanne Parsons ~ Devoted Quilter
• Lisa Nielsen ~ Lisa Lisa and the Quilt Jam
• Lori Haase ~ Dakota City Quilter II
• Mania Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for Quilts
• MaryEllen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack’s Blog
• Michelle Roberts~ Creative Blonde
• Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts
• Sally Manke ~ Sally Manke
• Sarah Goer ~ Sarah Goer Quilts
• Sherry Shish ~ Powered by Quilting
• Stephanie Jacobson ~ Steph Jacobson Designs
• Suzy Webster ~ Adventerous Applique and Quilting
• Terri Vanden Bosch ~ Lizard Creek Quilts
• Tina Dillard ~ Quilting Affection Designs
• Tish Stimple~ Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland
• Toby Lischko ~ Gateway Quilts & Stuff
• Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts
• Vicki Schlimmer ~ Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting
• Sandra Walker mmm! quilts

Linking with:

NTT

Can I get a Whoop Whoop

Finished or Not Friday
Friday Foto Fun
TGIFF

Sewing with the grandson

Last Monday and Tuesday our oldest grandson, I'll call him B, spent the days at our house.  He wanted to sew with Grammy!  I thought that was a rather fabulous way to spend my birthday.  So in the mornings he sewed with me and in the afternoon he spent time with grandpa. 

B wanted to make a blanket quilt for his stuffed animals, he thinks it is a blanket as that is all they use in their house:(  He has done this with me before, but this time it need to be bigger to cover more animals!  I have a stack of charms for him to pick from.  He then arranged them how he wanted and with a little reminder of safety of the sewing machine he was happy to sit in front of the machine.  By noon he had the top pieced. 

When he came on Tuesday I had baseball fabric ready for him to learn how to make a pillowcase.  This was only the second one ever that I have done.  And I didn't do much on this one.  I found directions online for the burrito case and had him read them and then I cut and pinned.  He did all the sewing and did an awesome job for an 8 year old.  He was pretty proud of his sewing!  Here he is with his projects.

In some of my free time I love to make greeting cards, I forget to show them most of the time.  But I decided to try to sell some in my Etsy shop so I finally got a photo!  I am going to sell them in sets of 6 cards with envelopes. 

The hubby and I had a great Saturday riding bikes on an old paved railroad bed.  We've been to this place before but several years ago, it was nice to go there again.  Gorgeous weather for it.  That night we were invited to grill out at our friends house.  Good thing we did some fun things as it turned cool and very overcast on Sunday. 

What's in store for your week?  We have the MN quilt show in town, I'll be there on Thursday and Friday.  In between that I want to continue working on my OMG turkey runners.  I have a few other runners to bind also.  And maybe a couple more runners to piece, I have another idea or two for snowman runners:)  That bike ride must have relaxed me as I got these ideas while going down the trail!  Whatever you do this week have fun!

I finally picked this months OMG

It is really hard to pick just one project for One Monthly Goal, OMG.  There are always tons of things on my list to work on and I usually just decide the night before what I will work on the next day.  Now there are times that I don't want to do that project when I wake up and well that is okay as long as I don't have a deadline! 

For the month of June I did decide I wanted to work on getting all the parts together for 10 turkey table runners.  Now that is a whole lot of feathers!!  There are 10 dresden blades per turkey and 2 turkey's per table runner and 10 runners translates into 200 feathers!!  This is only part of them.  So for June I will make the rest of them and assemble into groups of 10 each.  And I hope to glue at least 10 turkey's onto 5 table runners and add their bodies.  Elmer is my friend again, I glue the peaks of the dresdens to my background fabric, and applique them down while quilting on my longarm. 

And this one is from a batch of turkey runners I made last year.  So the new ones will resemble this in the end.

Linking with OMG at Elm Street Quilts

A new table topper

The month of June has just begun and a squirrel already attacked me!  Oh boy what does the month have in store for me.

It is sometimes strange how we quilters come up with ideas for a new project.  Friday afternoon I actually took some time to relax and enjoy the beautiful mid 70 degree day by laying on my deck.  That is when the idea came to me to make 60 degree triangles for a hexie table topper and applique a snowman head to each triangle.

Given that I was in the middle of piecing three other table runners, I filed the idea after quickly drawing a pic on a post it note pad.  That evening the hubby and I went for a bike ride, during that bike ride I kept picturing the hexie snowman topper.  Now I should have been just enjoying the scenery shouldn't I have.  Saturday morning arrives and I quickly finished piecing the tree runners I was working on.  We thought we were going for another bike ride Saturday afternoon, but the weather wasn't the best so we decided to stay home.  Enter the squirrel, and I let him have his way.  He helped me gather my gray and red fabrics, he even pulled out my 60 deg. ruler!  Yep it was going to happen.

Piecing the triangles was easy peasy, sew three together, press seams open and then sew the sets of three together.  Then applique on the snowman heads, I saved the felt noses for after quilting along with the button eyes.  I didn't want the gray fabric showing through the white so I used a fusible interfacing on the back of the faces.  I didn't use any fusible web then, but next time I might try it in addition to the interfacing.  I used Elmer Glue on the edges of the faces to hold them in place while I blanket stitched around them.

Add a small red border for a pop of color and a different gray for the outside border.  And it was off to the longarm to quilt.  A quick stipple in the center around the heads.  When I quilted the outside border I used a ruler for my straight lines and stitched right off the edge, I like how the lines intersect and give a nice pattern of diamonds in the corners.  I had this pieced and quilted before it was time to make dinner!  

A pretty red print for the backing finished this off nicely.  This piece was one of several yards, 42 yards to be exact that I picked up at our Walmart for only $1 a yard!!  Yes you read that right, I hit the jackpot on Friday morning, As I walked past the fabric department, there was a bin in the main isle.  I should just check it out I said, EEEK $1 a yard, what unheard of!!  The whole bin was from their calico wall they were just clearancing out and getting ready for the new stuff.  SCORE!!  So many great pieces for backings.  I checked to make sure they were of nice quality before I said I'll take what is left on the bolt!  Now to find a place to store them in my already full sewing room.  Guess I better get these fingers off to the sewing room!

A little bit of nature for your enjoyment. Jack in the Pulpit grows wild in our yard. 

These are growing wild in lots of places in our area.  These happen to be by our mailbox.  Gotta love me some purple flowers.  I think they are a type of phlox.   Yesterday we had a nice bike ride on an awesome paved trail that goes through town. Down by the river there are just gobs and gobs of these purple patches with a few white ones thrown in here and there.

Linking with:  Monday Making, Design Wall Monday DrEAMI