2010

Happy New Years!
Taking a quick look back at my 2010 flickr sream, as we get ready for 2011

 

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and a few more…

1. <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneervalleygirl/4624916811/”>Watercolors 3 .</a>, 2. <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneervalleygirl/4613685256/”>MT Swap Preview</a>, 3. <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneervalleygirl/4609336389/”>A belated mother’s day present…</a>, 4. <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneervalleygirl/4588427979/”>Midnight – Tablerunner</a>, 5. <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneervalleygirl/4579534011/”>Sunny Spot</a>, 6. <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneervalleygirl/4548984391/”>(back) </a>, 7. <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneervalleygirl/4491792808/”>Stars (or I really need to come up with a name for my quilt)</a>, 8. <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneervalleygirl/4480023425/”>Work in Progress: Tablerunner</a>, 9. <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneervalleygirl/4458179033/”>Birdies </a>, 10. <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneervalleygirl/4436410234/”>Wonky Nine Patch .</a>, 11. <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneervalleygirl/4425469431/”>Finished!</a&gt;, 12. <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneervalleygirl/4341356282/”>Black and White Quilt</a>

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Finally Finished

I started this mini quilt over the summer (apparently without a blog post)… finished the top in August…  mentioned it again in September… and that was as far as I got.

 

Armed with an (early) New Year’s resolution to sew more for myself and less out of obligation, I got back to it and finished it this week.

 

I’m not sure why I waited so long: I love this little quilt. It’s based on City Fair, for City Quilts by Cherry House, and the sun on the birch leaves outside my old office window. (I’ve moved offices since, but that’s another post for another time). By my count, it’s has ten different Kona solids.  I thought about hand quilting the whole thing with perl cotton (I found a pretty, variegated one in just the right mix of greens and yellows), but it was too much, visually. Instead, I did a few accent rows among the machine cross-hatching.

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Happy Boxing Day

Happy Boxing Day, to those in parts of the world that celebrate it, or Happy first day of  Kwanza for that matter. For everyone who celebrated Christmas yesterday, I hope the day was merry. And,whatever you celebrate, that you got all of your sewing, cookie-baking and the rest done in time.  (Personally, I finished handsewing the binding on the last present at about 11pm of Christmas eve…)

 

This pillow actually got done in plenty of time. I showed you the quilting here. When I was a kid, my grandmother challenged me to a First Robin of the Year contest, then let me win for a decade. So for her birthday this fall, I made her a quilt with fussy cut robin blocks, but didn’t get a picture before gifting it. *sigh* Since I had extra fabric,  I made the coordinating pillow for Christmas to complete the set.

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Scrappy Little project

It’s not how it’s supposed to work, but I liked the scrappy project so much that I finished it before the original project.

 

These little aqua rectangles are the ends of some strip piecing that were too short for the squares I needed.  A few extra strips, some borders, some quilting – and a set of coasters I really like.

 

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Quilting Sneak Peak

This is the inside of the front of an quilted pillow Christmas present.  I was trimming in up before I add the backing, and couldn’t resist a few pictures of the rows of quilting on the plain cotton

 

Concentric squares of quilting are kind of a pain on larger projects, but still one of my favorite things.

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I’ll post pictures of the front as soon as I get the pillow finished, and photos taken (tricky, lately, with so little sunlight) I gave away the quilt that this pillow goes with, before I could get a picture of it, so this time I’m determined.

 

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More Christmas Sewing

Another quick Christmas sewing project: simple potholders.

 

I’m glad that we’re seeing modern designs in the Christmas fabric selections, since these potholders are just one fabric per side. This time of year, I appreciate projects like this that are quick (not quite instant) gratification.

Funny, though, I definitely think of them as having a front (the circles and snowflakes) and back (the stripes)

 

 

Whichever side is up, I put a pair in my shop

 

 

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Blue Plate Special…

The short days, and now rain, are interfering with my photo-taking, s0 please forgive the lighting, I did want to post progress.

This is the trial block of cobalt blue dresden plates, destined for a tablerunner for a family member with a newly blue and white kitchen.

Dresden plates have been on my “to make” list for ages. I used this tutorial from Elizabeth Hartman (Oh, Franson) on Sew Mama Sew, which worked well, though I’ll buy a ruler, instead of the template, before I make another.  And I will make another, I’m thinking about a yellow sun for my own bedroom, next.

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Holiday sewing

Typically, I gave myself a too-long list of things to make for Christmas, but I’m making progress and thought I’d show you a bit.

This fall, I made this quilt as a birthday gift:

I saved an extra block to make the coordinating pillow for Christmas:

 

One more off my list: If you’re sewing for winter holidays – how’s your list going?

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Never Ending List: Napkins and Such

Continuing my effort to pass my list of “some day I’ll make that” tutorials off to all of you.

 

I use cloth napkins: they feel  so civilized, and green, and I haven’t had to buy paper ones in years. I have a more than sufficient supply, but that doesn’t stop me from accumulating designs for more, and for napkin rings to go around them.

 

Fringed napkins from Purl Bee

Embroidered napkins from Design*Sponge

 

Reversible Napkin Rings from Craft

Autumn napkin rings from Heather Bailey

 

 

 

Happy crafting – and eating!

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A finish afterall…

A small project finished this weekend afterall:

Holiday potholders with the cute little gnomes from Happy Holiday fabric.

 

 

This adorable fabric had to be the focus fabric of a simple design. (and I got these little guys in blue, too.)

 

A pair of these potholders are  in the shop now.’

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