No Pic Sunday

I cut out and pieced the front of a Debbie Mum pattern for an appliqued Christmas stocking for Sloanie.  I have all the templates cut and most ironed onto fabric.  Today I have to wash the dog, pick up the house (especially my sewing room) and iron down the fabric on the tiny templates to get the stocking ready to travel with me.  I have to get my shop sample done for my January class when I get back along with finishing the stocking and making a quick tree skirt for the kids before I go to Seattle on the 6th-whew! I love the activity and the handwork,  So thankful I can use my hands and eyes.  Things I take for granted.

Finishes this Month

My DIL wanted me to make a laundry basket to match Sloan's room so I took home the pink one and made the yellow polka dot one yesterday-all French seams and kind of a complicated construction.  Also finally finished THE TREE!  Lastly, I sewed the leather handles on my purse last night-so 3 things done!

Front of bag using pockets from my old Levis

Back of bag

Side showing hardware

I like the design of this purse.  My friend made a pattern for a smaller version which I am going to borrow becaue this is a little large for me as an everyday purse-but it will be perfect for a carryon.

Finished gathering the fabric for Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery scrap quiltalong that starts Nov. 29th.  Had to buy 4, 1/2 yd background pieces for variety-everything else I had in my stash. 3 years ago I didn't have a stash-scary.

Love these colors!

Got to get ready for a day out with my friend, Chris!  have a blessed weekend!

Tomorrow I need to start the  samples for the Color Theory class that I need to name something else or no one will sign up:)

Focus, Focus

BCQ meeting was fun last night-had 2 new attenders and some great sharing.  I did my "tips" demo and I think it went well.  I gave an unabashed commercial for the Color Theory class I will be teaching in late January and had some interest in it.  Today I AM FINISHING THE SMALL PIECE OF BINDING ON THE TREE.  Then I am finishing the laundry basket for my DIL.  It is all cut out and I took the original from her in Oct so need to finish before I get up there-think I can do that today.  IF I do, I will start on Tedi's wedding quilt-whew!  Nice cloudy rainy day-love it!

In this season of Thanksgiving I am thankful for many things: for Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for me, my sweet husband, my conscientious son and his wonderful wife who is like a daughter and who gave us 2 beautiful grandgirls, my church, friends, health, home, food on the table, ability to sew, walk, see and hear. And that is just the beginning.  And think on these things-all things that are good . . .Blessings to you!

Last Minute Fill-in

I was at the Crazy 9 Patch taking a purse making class on Saturday.  Class cost 30.00, handles and hardware cost 27.00.  Thankfully I pulled everything else from my stash.  I broke 5 needles because I used a pair of skinny size 10 levi's that I have been saving for 30 years to get back into. HAHAHAHAHA.  They even had zippers at the ankles-remember those?

only 3/4 finished-don't want this to be a UFO

Used the bottom of the pant leg as a pocket for a water bottle to stand upright-works  beautifully!

I don't use large purses but I always take a carry on bag when I travel-this will be it!  It will have black leather hardware with silver accents and a stiffener in the bottom.

So, back to the Crazy 9 Patch-while I was struggling over this purse, the owner, Martha, said that the demonstration she had lined up for Wednesday night for the Back Country Quilters meeting had cancelled and she wasn't sure what to do.  So, I told her about the Scrap Users System I was using and the binding tips I had gotten from Cynthia England and Sharon Schamber and she crowned me the fill-in demonstrator-so, this is what I came up with:

Bonnie Hunter's Scrap Users System:

2" and 2.5" now have their own drawer and are piled in color groups except for batiks which I have kept in one pile

1", 1.5", 3.5"(light, dark and neutral), 4"(light and dark pile)

5" blocks and 5" long strips for Nickle Quilts

Random strips

2.5" strips: Christmas, warm, cool, and nuetral

I cut off the label strip plus abut 1/2" to use for something sometime:) 

Triangles, diamonds, and bricks for flying geese

one reorganized drawer-pastel brights

Drawer not organized-still work to do!

Binding tips:
Sharon Schamber uses Elmers Glue to glue down her bindings before sewing.  I iron my binding over after sewing it to the right side.  Then I add a thin strip of glue closer to the crease than the edge and then iron it down-voila! A stabilized binding with no pins to draw blood.

I glue opposite sides first then the other 2.  I glue edge of binding 1/16th of an inch over the stitching line

Cynthia England uses the glue down but then added the stitch in the ditch from the front.  For many projects this method works wonderfully.  I have always stitched my bindings by hand, but not everything I make is an heirloom and I need that time for doing other things at night.

Then when finished gluing I turn it over and stitch in the ditch (on left) You can look at my last post to see the backside  of the Celtic table topper

The Rug Mugs above were pulled from my scrap users piles.  The cardinal was from an unused part of a tree skirt panel, the tree made from leftover triangles and the rest from skinny strips.  The strip to the right of the tree was a trimming from a Christmas pillowcase.  It took me all of 45 minutes to put this together including quilting and I am slow.

The back is 4, 4" squares from SUS (Scrap User System) and 1 strip.  The backs of the others were 5"squares and a strip-I like this one better.

Lastly, I am going to share the idea from the Terry Waldron workshop for a pillow back.  This was the dress I wore for 11 years-once a year for graduation when I was a counselor (we wore a cap and gown over it) this dress had the buttons in the perfect place to attach the awkward shawl.  Terry suggested a mans shirt for the back-great idea as buttons are all done-now I just need to make the front:)

Better get to work!!! Blessings to you today!

Finished the tree-well, almost!

I finally got the tree done for Ali, I thought.  I had taken the binding off the quilted piece that the trees are attached to and added a striped border without measuring the dimensions to see if they were square-well, they aren't as you can see, the bottom left is longer than right.  So, today since I have a cold, I am going to correct it.  ARGHHHH!

Some stray threads still attached

On a happier note, i finished my first Christmas present.  I have been going to the same hair dresser for 20 years.  he and his wife have become friends and I will miss them when we move.  Since Bill is Irish, I made him a Celtic Christmas table topper.

This last week I went to a Kim Deihl workshop-what a lovely lady and excellent teacher.  Class was packed.  Since I was teacher's helper that day, I took orders from 14 women for sandwiches and salads at the Subway across the street.  Took me 1 1/2 hours to get orders filled and return proper change-yikes.  Luckily, not all 26 women wanted stuff!

Kim Diehl

A very full class

Some are using the colors of the original

And some are not!

Today:  Redo binding/square up wall hanging, prep for purse class tomorrow, take naps and drink water!

San Diego in November

This rose bush is not visible from my porch

only because I was in need of some flowers for 4 vases did I search the yard

and look what I found-had to bring out DH to see it too

wow

Sometimes we have to really look to find what we need-what a pleasant surprise this was hiding in the corner of the yard

No sewing makes me sad:(

but the things that replaced the sewing were important

helping to make corsages for a friend's daughter's wedding for example.

Sew, I'll post a pick of my in progress tree wall hanging that is almost done for another friend's daughter

All top leaves and tree blanket stitched down

Bottom leaves still to be sewn and blue birds.  I am adding a striped border and need to add a sleeve-Monday will finish it!

No sewing but very grateful

Today was Greg's annual Heart check.  Because he is a heart transplant patient, they do a thorough exam of arteries and veins with a camera that goes up through the groin.  Just typing that freaks me out-he is such a trooper he never complains (except for having to lay flat on his back for 6 hours after the procedure).  He got a clean bill of health-no rejection.  Yay!  We are good for another year.  I will sew tomorrow.

San Diego Memories

Finally got a good picture of  San Diego Memories as it hung at the quilt show:

Home Sweet Home with a country feel by Cheryl Brean

Tiny Treasures from various artists-i love these!

Kathy of Material Obsession is the pattern maker-Dawn Meulke the artist

This was started by Dot Koerner when she was in her 60's now she is 20 years older and just finished it.  Not a point lost!

Don't know the artist but thought this was really nice.

A nice show but glad it is done.  I have 2mos. left as co-president, then one more thing off my list-YES!!!  Two nice things happened this week: One, I won a book giveaway from Pat Sloan-How to Start a Quilting Bee.  I may need that when I move; Two, my quilt was chosen along with 17 others to be showcased in Michele Foster's Aiming 4 Accuracy quilt pattern which is 100 pages long.  There were 106 quilts finished by the deadline so It was nice being chosen.