December Goal

I've finished the December Cheddarback blocks. 
There are still a few months to go on this project.
Although we've had some truly challenging blocks in this Sew Along, it's been lots of fun.  

This is part one of my One Monthly Goal for December. I used mono-poly thread to quilt both of my little "goal" quilts so I wouldn't have to change thread colors. Oops--still need to remove some of my chalk markings!

My second goal for December was to get this little one quilted as well. Just a little stitch in the ditch and some piano keys in the border. Done is better than fancy--lol! 

Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE

Happy Holidays!

Here's a little punch needle project from the depths of "The Closet". This hadn't been started when I rediscovered it, but was stretched on a hoop with notes on the colors to use. I added the wavy border for a little whimsy. 

Jayne's hubby made this sweet little hanging frame (one of a set of 2)--perfect for showing off my little mitten snowman.

You may have seen on Instagram that I have gone a little bonkers making gnomes.
These are two of them--I've been trying to do something a little different on each one, and they do kind of take on a life of their own as they are made. 

This frame tree (again made by Jayne's hubby--he made enough for our entire quilt guild!!!) is the perfect setting for a couple gnomes hanging out by the bottle brush tree.
Hope your holiday is happy and safe! 

Planning 2020

I have a few things lined up to work on next year....

I couldn't resist signing up for The Quilt Show's 2020 BOM--Sue Garman's Afternoon Delight.
The Quilt Show used Yarra Valley fabrics  in their model and kits (along with other fabrics) and I just happened to have a bundle of my own. I'm adding other fabrics from my stash as well, and hope to only need to purchase border fabrics for this one.

Next up is Smith Mountain Morning, from Bonnie Hunter's book Scraps and Shirttails II. I've been wanting to make this one for ages.
The last few years I've been participating in Bea and Cecile's Quilt Along's--always fun because there is a theme, but you are free to choose your own project within that theme. In 2020 the theme will be Stars and that is the perfect incentive for me to get started on Smith Mountain Morning. 

Smith Mountain Morning is made with recycled shirts and thanks to donations from friends, I have plenty of blue ones....

....brown, not so much!
Actually, I have no brown shirts, but a few home spun fabrics that will be used.
I see some thrift shop visits in my future! 

Instead of the muslin suggested for the light fabric, I will use this Primitive Gatherings fabric since I have several yards to use up.

Those should keep me busy for a while!

I have several other projects I want to get made next year, but these will be a good start. I'm hoping to get some cutting done ASAP--I have a retreat at the beginning of January and need to have something ready to sew!
Do you have any quilty plans for 2020?

Unfinished Business

I just have a few finishing touches to complete my December goals, but instead of working on that, I have gone off the rails again.

While searching in my storage closet for something else (that I can't remember), I came across a bin of rug hooking and punch needle stuff. Several projects in the bin were at the "almost finished" stage. All that needed to be done to this hooked star was to sew the binding to the back.  Check! 

This little punch needle design just needed a sleeve sewn to the back to fit over the standing photo frame. 

I'm happy to say that I can check this UFO off the list too. 

Then there was this UFO. Again, only the binding needed to be sewn to the back, but I could never bring myself to do it because I hated how it looked. This was the very first rug hooking I had ever done--it was from a kit. I just was never happy with the background--not enough contrast in my opinion. I decided I still wanted to get this one finished, so I pulled out all the background strips.

I left a few outer rows and added one row of blue. I had a small piece of hand dyed off white that I hoped would be enough for the rest of the background.... 

....and happily it was. Another old (really old!) project checked off!
Both the star and the moose were supposed to be pillows, but I am going to use them as mats instead--I definitely don't need anymore pillows.

I still have a few more projects from the bin that I want to finish up and some that I  don't. I had to watch a YouTube video to remind my how the use my needle punch tool, so I will be practicing that tonight--and staying away from that closet.

December Goals

Remember these pincushion projects?
I had been stitching them back in June and July.
Well, I decided I just did not want to make so many pincushions, soooooo....

I put three of them together in a little wall hanging.
I made good use of my scrappy bins of strips and squares -- there's a little making-do going on too. 

I also just finished English Paper Piecing this little quilt from Primitive Gatherings. It's supposed to have a little wool snowman in one corner, but I am kind of liking it the way it is without the applique.

It's my One Monthly Goal for the month of December to get both of these little projects quilted and bound.
Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE

November Goal Accomplished!

The first couple weeks of this month were mostly wasted spent getting over a head cold and also recovering from the double whammy of a flu shot/part two of the Shingrix vaccine. Luckily I had lots of hand stitching to keep my hands occupied. I finished stitching up all the blocks for Aunt Bea's Parlor. I think I will take these to retreat in January and sew up these embroideries into blocks.

This Buttermilk Basin block wasn't quite finished when it was set it aside, so I had to time to get it done as well. 

And this Buttermilk Basin block is finally finished too--yay!
In the previous block I used various matching colors of Valdani threads and on the above block I used only one neutral color thread. What do you think? I've never done it before, but I'm kind of liking the one thread color look.
The best part of all this sitting around stitching--my new electrically heated throw--why didn't I buy one a long time ago??? So cozy!

So finally last weekend I was feeling much better and got my November One Monthly Goal loaded on the HQ16.

Very simple quilting--it went pretty fast. 

The next day I loaded up the little wall hanging that was also part of my goal, and got that finished too.
Tuesday was the Breezy Point sewing get together.  I was able to get most of the binding done there--always fun to do some chatting while binding--lol! 

Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE

November One Monthly Goal

Well, I missed the Halloween deadline to get these pumpkin projects quilted, so for my November One Monthly Goal, I am hoping to get both the wall hanging and the table runner quilted before Thanksgiving. It's still fall, after all! 

I would have had plenty of time for quilting if I hadn't been sidetracked by cute sewing projects I learned about at those retreats last month.

Nancy was making these cute bandana's that fit on a dogs collar. Naturally I had to make one for my pup (okay, I've made three so far).
I'm not sure if Willow is happy about that or not!
You can find the pattern HERE
I used the small size template. Be sure to try it over your dog's collar before sewing the channel-- you can probably guess why I say that--lol!!

Brenda had made an adorable zippered bag from a Pioneer Woman place-mat. Of course, I had to stop at Walmart on the way home from camp and pick up a place-mat to make my own bag.  

 I took pretty deep corners and my bag ended up the perfect size to carry my embroidery project.
Instructions for place-mat bag HERE
These literally take about 10 minutes to make--super easy! 

Linda had brought a tub of decorator fabric so we all could make one of these ruler bags. I waited until I got home so I could use up some old pre-quilted double faced fabric that I've had in my stash (for years!). This bag is just a covered empty bolt cardboard with pockets added on either side and an 18" handle. It's not open at the top, and in fact is closed up at the bottom once the cardboard is inserted. It's very sturdy and perfect for taking those long fragile rulers to class or to just store them in the sewing room. Your local quilt shop will happily give you an empty bolt!  

Instead of packing away the rest of that pre-quilted fabric again, I also made a tote.
Another bin of fabric bites the dust--yay! 

Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE

October Goal Completed!

Whew! I literally put the final stitches in my applique border last night. 

It was so much fun working on the Hospital Sketches BOM.
At first, my plan was to add dark sashings and inner border, but in the end I went with just a simple dark border.
Appliqueing and adding the borders was my October One Monthly Goal.

For the second retreat I attended this month (at my friend Carol's Craft Camp--highly recommended!) I took along lots of blocks to put together. 

In 2013, I participated in a  couple of signature block swaps through Kathleen Tracy's Yahoo chat group. This is the pattern from her book The Civil War Sewing Circle that I planned to use for my block setting.  

Because of the number of blocks I had, I needed to make just 12 Ohio stars for my version. I put together little block kits for the stars so I wouldn't need to haul a lot of fabric to camp. I was able to use every single block from the swap including my own. 

After all that, I worked on my simplest project--the left over pumpkin blocks. This setting used all but one block. I may use the extra block on the back as a label--or perhaps a mug rug? To be determined--!
Then I got a little side-tracked and started playing around with my little scrappy houses, but set them aside to put together my second set of 2013 signature swap blocks. 

As I recall, there were some in the chat group that didn't want to deal with the flying geese in the first block swap. Snowball blocks were offered as an alternative. A lot of us decided to do both swaps. I brought to camp my stash of brown 1.5 inch square scraps and a few pieces of light prints for the sashing. Again, I was determined to use all the blocks, but couldn't fit my own block on the front. It will go on the back for a label. You can probably see that with my sashing, my Snowballs turned into Shoo Fly blocks (an unexpected surprise!), so I will be adding another border to finish off the outside of the quilt into more Shoo Fly's.
Hopefully soon--lol! 

I'm relieved that I managed to finish my One Monthly Goal, but now I have even more unfinished tops that need work. I'm not sure which one will get to be on the top of the pile!

Linking with One Monthly Goal HERE

One Down/One to Go!

I've been back from my first October retreat and after a couple days of recovery, I'm beginning to get ready for my second retreat. 

I put this table runner together before I left for the first quilt camp.
 I have a lot of pumpkin blocks left to use, so I may take them along---if I figure out what to make out of them--lol! 

The first thing I worked on at camp were my Cheddarback blocks.
This was an easy month for this projectl

Panama Pyramids was next on my project list. All 99 blocks are now complete (I'm making a small version). I plan to put these together at home as soon as my design wall gets cleared off. 

And lastly, I made the 84 berries I need for my Hospital Sketches borders.
It was nice to have a few different projects to work on and it feels great that I will now be able to move forward on a few of them. 

 These next photos are just a few of the quilts that others were working on at quilt camp---it's always so inspiring to see what others are doing!

 Enjoy! 

More to come.....!