Cuddle Quilt Winner

Have you ever seen these boxes at the fabric store?  I was fortunate enough to win one at Minnesota Contemporary Quilter's!  How lucky am I?!?

I really have to thank the person who brought this prize.  Minnesota winters can get a little chilly so when I stop to watch tv I always wrap up in a blanket.  This is so soft and cuddly and warm!  I love it!

Half done.

Rows look fairly straight.

Still needs binding but isn't it a great size!

If you need me, I'll be cleaning up fuzz for the next few days.  So worth it!

Have a creative day

Janet

Finished! Well almost...

Just wanted to show the photos of my finished quilt.  Well almost finished, still need to bind the edges and add a label but since I started this in 2012, I'm very excited to be done.

Right now I am rearranging my sewing room.  Trying to make it more user friendly.  I have a new serger and needed a space for it.  I saw a sewing room on YouTube which inspired me to make some changes.  I've been pinning ideas on Pinterest for a week and decided to jump right in and start the charge.  Right now it looks like a sewing explosion happened in my house but once it's finished I think it will all play together nicely.

I've designated these bins for projects in process.  Need to make labels. Some are long term projects, like my Dear Jane quilt.

This quilt is the result of two classes on Craftsy.  One is free, Craftsy Block of the Month 2012 taught by Amy Gibson.  The second I paid for, How to quilt a Sampler taught by Leah Day.  Both were excellent classes.  I have one more sampler quilt to finish so I'm planning to quilt it next while it is fresh in my mind.

Not the best lighting for these but I think you get the idea.

Have a creative day

Janet

Next quilt and new clothes

Beginning to make clothes again.  I used to sew a lot of clothing.  I'm having fun working on something different now and than.  This is going to be a dress for my daughter.

 

I am also working on my next quilt on the longarm.  This is from another Craftsy class.  Well, really from two classes.  The quilt itself is the Craftsy Block of the month 2012.  They added a class taught by Leah Day on how to quilt a sampler and used this quilt for her class.  She actually teaches how to quilt on a traditional sewing machine.  Very good class, I am learning a lot as always, so much to learn and so little time.  I have half of the blocks finished now.  Here are a few of my favorites.

I took a serger class today, it was fun.  This will help finish those seams for my daughter's dress.

Have a creative day

Janet

November is flying by....

I took my time stitching my son's quilt since he already knew I was making it.  Had a lot of fun just doodling on this quilt.  Here are some photos.  The blue and green batik is the back.  I still need to add the binding but that will have to wait until after Thanksgiving and my daughter's birthday.  I'll just let the pictures speak.

I did find a ready made frame for my loon picture at JoAnn Fabric.  I think it looks nice.

Have a creative day

Janet

A week in review

Last week was very busy but I feel like I didn't accomplish much.  Halloween, birthday, election, getting ready for winter, lot's to do but little to show for it.

I did make a head piece for my dog's costume.  The ear holes were too small and made him uncomfortable.

You can see how small they were in this photo.

So I made them a little bigger.

He wore it most of the night and entertained all of our trick or treaters.

My plan was to buy two pumpkins to carve but they were such a deal!

This is what Minnesota looked like when my son was born.  Glad we had nice weather this year.  Snow is coming soon, maybe today!

I did finish binding, adding a hanging sleeve and a label to my flag.  I found my saved burgundy fabric for the binding on my OBW and before I added the new fabric, so that is almost finished too. 

This is my next piecing project.  But, today my machine is going in to be serviced.  The website says their wait time is two to three weeks.  Good thing I have my longarm too or I might go in to sewing withdrawal.

The most important thing I did this last week is vote.  Such an honor and a privilege to live in a country where I can express my opinion at the polls.

Have a Creative Day

Janet

Finishing projects

Too many projects at the almost finished stage!  I guess it's better than too many projects at the just beginning stage, right?

  

This is the quilt I left on my longarm while waiting for more thread.  Yeah, it's quilted!  So, I thought I had saved a piece of the wine colored fabric to use for the binding on the edge of the quilt.  I can't find it anywhere. :(  I know as soon as I finish it with something else I will find that piece, but finish I must.  I made a trip to Quilt Cove to try and find something that might work.  The ladies working at the shop were very helpful.  Here is what we came up with, I had my heart set on the wine color which is not easy to match.

I also bought some backing fabric for my glow in the dark block of the month.  I finished piecing it this last week.  So, I didn't get it completely done for my son's birthday but I will wrap up the top and give it to him today and put it on the longarm tomorrow.  It is all straight lines, squares and rectangles so I need to use curves when I quilt.  Still not quite sure what I will do but hopefully I will be inspired as I put it on the machine.

Here is the fabric I bought at Quilt Cove for the back.

I had to finish the quilt on my longarm so I would be able to quilt my son's quilt.  My flag was finished yesterday.  I bought a pantograph by Patricia Ritter of Urban Elementz to use on the stripes.  I read somewhere this pantograph is often used on Quilts of Valor.  Once I get caught up on my own projects I plan to do some quilts of valor.  The words on it are courage, bravery, honor and valor interspersed with stars.

I am thinking of using this fabric for the binding.  

I didn't make any more of my Dear Jane quilt this week but all in all it was pretty productive.

Have a creative day

Janet

Sew on, and on, and on...

I have been very busy sewing this week.  I'm trying to finish the Craftsy quilt by the end of this month, for a gift.  The second set of blocks were the most challenging.  24 sets of little 1 inch grids!  

What a relief when they were complete and bonus they all measure to the correct size!

These ones seemed like a picnic after the tiny squares.

I decided I wanted to get an idea of what it was going to look like.  It doesn't really fit on my design 'wall' but you get the idea.  This is the first three months.

The next addition was a rail fence that was also pretty easy.  Whew!

Here is my design wall with the rail fence blocks added in.

I skipped a month and did the big blue blocks next.  So now I only have one set of blocks to go before I can start piecing it all together.  Maybe I will be finished by the end of the month.

I did sneak in time to finish 4 more blocks for my Dear Jane quilt.

Have a creative day

Janet

Vacation and Sew it begins!

Last week my husband and I took a little vacation time.  One of the items on my bucket list is to visit every state.  I have been to Missouri before but I'm not sure I have ever stayed in Missouri.  We spent the week in Branson. One of my favorite places was Dogwood Canyon Nature Park.  It was amazingly beautiful.  We road a tram through the Park and it was well worth the time.

I thought I would get a start on my Dear Jane Quilt while riding in the car for about 9 hours each way.  Discovered hand sewing in the car is not my strong suit.  I finished half of one block on the way.  When we came home I ripped out those awful hand stitches and fired up the sewing machine.  I finished the four blocks I had prepared for sewing in the car.  And Sew it begins...this will definitely be a long term project. If you aren't familiar with this quilt here is a link to my Pinterest page of Dear Jane's.  Each finished block is 4".

I made myself a notebook to keep them all in one place as I finish them. (I have a tendency to lose things)  It will be interesting to see how my skills improve as I progress.

None of them are perfect but they are at least the correct finished size, which will make piecing it all together much easier.

My thread for my quilt on the longarm finally arrived just before we left on our trip.  I plan to finish it tomorrow.  My missing fabric for the Craftsy Block of the Month 2014 also came while we were gone.  Bonus!  They sent extra fabric with my bit that was missing.  The missing piece is on top all the rest is a wonderful surprise.  Around forty pieces of beautiful batiks.  You can't beat customer service like that!

I cut out the strips for the next section of this quilt.  

This lesson is complementary colors.

Have a Creative Day

Janet