Waste not, want not…

I was sorting through the various piles in my sewing room, when I found these blocks. They’re extras from this tablerunner I made as a Christmas gift.

I didn’t really have a plan for them, but I had them, and I liked them, so it was a shame to leave them in a pile.

Finally I decided to stitch them up into trivets. I’ll gift them to my mother, once I get those thread tails taken care of.

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Still posting Christmas gift projects…

January 8th, perfect time to post a Christmas present, right?. I showed you a preview of this here, when it was just a trial block on the design wall, but nothing since.

This is the (almost) finished runner. Observant readers will note the binding clips and threaded needle. I took these pictures as I was packing up to travel on Christmas Eve, and finished it that night after everyone else had gone to bed, barely in time to give Christmas morning.

I really like the Dresden plates in the cobalt blue, but I think the rows of  echo quilting are my favorite part:

(I used this Dresden Plate  tutorial from Elizabeth Hartman (Oh, Franson) on Sew Mama Sew)

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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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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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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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A Gift for YoYo’s mama

Yoyo the puppy wasn’t the only one who got a handmade present this weekend. His human got a voile scarf.

I’m a little late to the party, but I LOVE this cotton voile. I made myself one of these scarves a couple weeks ago, and it’s quickly become one of my favorite things. I was already a fan of Valori Wells’ Nest fabric, but the texture of the voile is just gorgeous.

This is also an amazingly easy project for the results – just a few straight seams.

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Yoyo’s Leash

Life has largely overshadowed crafting and blogging , lately. Nothing dramatic, just a busy, busy couple of weeks for me. I did, however, make time for a quick birthday gift for a friend: a patchwork leash for her adorable puppy.

I did manage to make something for the human-half of the duo, too, but haven’t had a chance to take pictures yet.

I just sort of made it up as I went along – a solid strip of fabric on one side, patchwork on the other – but Anna Maria Horner has a tutorial here.

It’s pretty simple construction – but I definitely recommend a heavy duty needle and a walking foot, if like me, you end up using nylon strapping (It’s sturdy, but also thick, slippery and hard to pin)

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Take 2

I have two family birthdays coming up – the Roses quilt is done, so I’m on to the second project.

But this one isn’t a new quilt. I first made this quilt 10 or 11 years ago. It was one of my earliest quilts —  I was a crazy ambitious beginner who didn’t know better than to decide to make a quilt with a million half-square triangles and bias edges, until I was easing seams every which way and cutting off points left and right.  But, it came out alright, all things considered, and was well used.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know enough. at that point, about crafsmanship and quality materials, for it to be particularly durable. So, after 10 years it was showing it’s age badly, and wasn’t in regular use any more. I took it back and took it apart  (it was just tied, and not frequently enough) I threw out the polyester batting, gently washed and repaired the top, added new batting and soft new flannel backing, and am stippling the heck out of it.

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Pretty Quilt, Tired Brain

This quilt is finished. *yay*

I’ll come up with a post with words later, right now my brain is a bit fried (I work at a college, this is the first week of school, all is crazy, I  miss my Labor Day Weekend already) so, here are some pretty pictures.

(my favorite picture)

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