Lucille the Seal - Block 2 of my North Stars Quilt

I am making good progress on the North Stars Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman.  I finished Lucille the Seal seal a week or so ago.  Isn't she sweet!

My next block will be the Willa the Walrus.   I have it all cut out and if it rains today, I'll start stitching the blocks together.   When I'm done Willa the Walrus, that will make three blocks finished.  I plan to make this a quilt-as-you-go project, so after the first three blocks are done, I'll be machine quilting the blocks.    If I can keep up the pace, I should have this quilt done by earlier than expected... say mid-November.  This will be a fun quilt to display at our Quilt Show in May 2018.   

It's Christmas in July - Presenting JOY Table Runner

Another Disa Designs book, More of My Runners.   Thanks to my friend Linda from whom I borrowed the book.  She made the runner before, and her recommendation was to thicken up the "JOY" word.   So I did.  I love that the red JOY really shows up nice.  My Friday coffee friends helped me decide on the quilting pattern.  Just wavy lines to mimic the evening blustery weather.  They were emphatic that I should not quilt over the JOY, and that I should just quilt around it.  So I did, and I'm very pleased.   In the grey stripe, some continuous holly leaves.    Love it!

 This is the third runner for my sister's new kitchen.  This will look great on my sister's side table this Christmas.

Even though I used white thread to free motion the holly leaves, they are very hard to see.  

Sunflower Table Runner

This fun sunflower runner comes from a Disa Designs book called My Runners.   It was so fun and quick to make.   This runner will be one of three runners that I made for my sister who has a new kitchen with a new farm table.   

A great late summer/fall runner.  

Look closely.....Continuous leaves in the border.  

Improv free motion quilting, my fav,  on

the interior part of the runner.  

Eek! There's Spiders in my Pumpkin Patch

A fun finish this week.  Amy Smart's tutorial for the pumpkins was spot on.   It was fast and easy to make.    This size of this runner is about  15 x 57.   That makes it just a little too long for my dining room table or my coffee table.   So, this one will go to my sister who has a new long farm table.    

I made another runner for me.  It only  has four pumpkins in the pumpkin patch.   I'll quilt it the same way with my freeky spiders.

The free pattern tutorial by Amy Smart can be found here. 

Happy Birthday - to me...

It was my birthday last week.  I had such a fun day... kids, gifts, dinner....

One of the other surprises on my birthday was that Diane, my friend and quilt shop owner, dropped by the house and gave me this awesome North Stars pattern by Elizabeth Hartman for my Birthday.  What a surprise!  I was so excited.  I had seen photos of this on new pattern Instagram from the Quilt Market. 

Well.  I decided I needed a strategy to get it done.  It's a big  piecing project.    First off I need to find and organize fabrics.    My first task is to shop my own stash.    I'm hoping to get at least a third of the 60+ colors.   

After a few sorting and organizing sessions with my stash, I have a good start on selecting fabrics.    After all is said and done, I have all the fabrics to start the reindeer. 

I plan to do one block (or maybe two) a month.     It's been hot out.  It's still hot out.  They are calling for at least 3 or 4 more days of this.   That means we are limiting our time outdoors.  And it means an opportunity to spend time in my sewing room.    I cut the fabrics out and labelled on Friday.  It took  a while and a lot of brain power.    On Saturday and Sunday, I put the 24 inch block together.  It's super sweet!!     Stay tuned for another block next month....

Many thanks Diane!.   It's a wonderful gift to keep me busy until next spring.....

Knitting the Honey Cowl

This weeks finish is called the Honey Cowl.  It is the top of the list of Ravelry cowl projects.  Almost 25,000 of Ravelry's population have made this cowl.  And now, I'm one of them and I now know why.  I loved the rhythmic knitting of this small project.  I think that it was the slip stitch that made it so rhythmic.  I wasn't rushing through it and I'm sad that it's done so quick.   Just easy knitting in the evenings while watching an hour of Netflix last week. I like the narrow, close to the neck fit of the cowl.   I can just feel how comfy it will be when walking on a brisk cold morning.   So, this too will go in my box to be used for a gift.  

There's nothing on my needles now.  I have many projects in my Ravelry Queue, but I'm having a difficult time to chose my next project. Maybe another slip stitch project.   Stay tuned.   

Luggage Tag Link Fixed

I hadn't realized that the link to the Luggage Tag was broken.   It's fixed now.  Thanks to those who commented last week.    See the sidebar, and if its not working again, leave me a comment.    thanks

And I now make my tags with a tag shape.  I explain how I use a template to trace and sew off the corners here.

Here are a few hints for you while they are still fresh in my head from last week. 

• I use very heavy gauge clear vinyl for the window part.    I made a few with a remnant of lighter vinyl, and they were flimsy and I had a harder time to control the vinyl fabric from waving as I sewed over it.   So choose heavy vinyl.
• I now don't worry about having the interfacing in the seam. I cut my interfacing  piece around 3.5" wide and let the interfacing go in the seam.  I find it's quicker to just maintain the 1/4" stitch from the edge of the tag fabric and not worry about stitching very close to the edge of the interfacing.  This also ensures that the interfacing is stitched down and stable and makes turning the tag inside out a breeze.
• Make sure you use a scant 1/4" on your tag tail.  I found that to turn my tube with the straw trick, it was hard to push the straw through if I was just a tad over 1/4".  So now I'm careful to do a scant seam.

 



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Step it Up Knit Shawl II

Knitting in the evenings is something I do when it's cool in our family room.   We watch TV or Netflix and I like to have some handwork on the go.

This week I finished off a nice warm shawl scarf.   I cannot not wear any more shawls myself... I have three that I love on the go, and now my new woven one.   So I think I'll put this one away for a winter gift.

This asymmetrical shawl is knit using the free "Step it up Knit Shawl" pattern on Ravelry.  I love the zig zag edge, and I put picot points on the top edge. 

Luggage Tags for Dance

My little granddaughter Aurora is pretty good at fund-raising for her Dance Troupe..    A few weeks ago, I gave her 20 flower pouches to sell to make money for her team's recent competition.   I was so busy sewing pouches, that I never took a photo.   But they were really cute and very whimsical..

Well, now the current fund-raising project is for a Dance Camp this summer.    And she was so good at selling the pouches, she thinks she can sell some luggage tags to raise funds for this new project.. 

Using the easy luggage tag pattern that Linda H. and I made way back in 2002 or 2003, I had myself a little assembly one going  It's so efficient to do these small projects in batches.    So, I've made 25 tags for her, and will give them to her on Saturday, when we go see the final dance performance of the year in Saint John.

Fun for me, to use some stash for a good cause...

All kinds of fabrics..

All boxed up now and ready for her to sell.  This is my favorite
tag among this batch.

Bargello Runner II

This is my Bargello II.    It was made to e slightly shorter than the one that I  made last week.  I thought I had it all figured out.  While it is shorter, it still needs to be shorter by another inch or two.    Before I layer and quilt, I will take in four of the seams a smidge so that it's just inside the edge of my coffee table.   

More Quick Finishes.

I just love this little Dresden thread catcher.   My friend Diane gave me a sweet pair of kitten scissors... I was using them by my sewing machine to snip threads.   But they kept disappearing.    I thought, I need a better place to keep these cute little scissors.    It wasn't long when I thought of the sweet Dresden thread catcher to replace my old one.    See the little bar that is sewn in to hold the scissors.   I just think it's sweet.

 

Aurora will be done school soon.   For her teacher who has helped her so much this year, I made this screen bag.     Teacher lug stuff every day to and from school.   So I think she'll love to get this as a year end gift from Aurora.  

Seems like everyone locally is making bargello runners.   Well, after seeing some others, I got the urge too.   I pulled these batiks from my stash.   It was a fun and quick project to make and I love the striking pattern.   I have a new coffee table and if this was seven inches shorter, this would have looked great on it.       No problem, I'll make another using slightly smaller strips.       

I love a Scarf

I love to wear a scarf or shawl.   Sometimes it's just a decoration, and sometimes I just need to be a bit warmer.   A scarf does it for me.     

First, this is a beautiful woven scarf made by my niece Michele who lives in the UK. I bought it this winter and love the soft feel of it.   I can't wait to wear it all next fall.

This beautiful wool has been in my stash for a few years.  I purchased it while on a river cruise in Europe.  This scarf was a quick knit.   It's soft color change and the jagged edges just gives this easy shawl so much personality.  It didn't take very long to knit.   It's called the Step it up shawl and can be found on Ravelry here. 

I made this Late Bloomers quilt while in Florida this past winter.   When we came home, I took it to Andrea to freehand quilt it on her longarm.   It's just perfect to replace my winter quilt in the foyer.   Look at the first photo above.   See my Winter Wonderland quilt in the background.   This space is a perfect place for a 60" wide quilt.   I have a fall quilt in the works..  

A Christmas Tree Runner

A cute Christmas whimsical runner in spring colors.   I'm going to make another with green and blue to see if it will be a little more Christmasy.    I love these colors though..  

A Postcard for the CQA Challenge

Are you making a postcard for the Quilt Canada 2018 Challenge?   Here's mine!   I'll be taking it to April's Guild meeting in a few weeks.  This one as well as others made by other guild members will be sent to BC.  They will be used as a charity fundraiser.    Want details, click here.  

An Insert Pouch for the Sew Together Bag

The designer of the Sew Together Bag has made a fun little pouch that fits in perfect between the zippered sections of the bag.  It's called the Prismic Pouch.   She provides the pattern piece here, and the video instruction on youtube here.   It fits perfectly.   I've put  many of my threads and bobbins in it to test the fit.  I love the shape.   It took less than an hour to make.  She calls for woven interfacing, but I used Pellon 911F. Seems to work just fine.   I'll definitely make another for the other messy section.

A Quilty Gift for Fran

Fran is a quilter/sewer who attends the Tuesday afternoon Quilters Social here in the Community where we stay in the winter.   We are about 40 people who belong to the "club".  But at any given Tuesday afternoon social, there is usually only about 15 or 20 who attend...  Well, Fran is turning 90 next week, and the quilters are throwing a surprise birthday party/lunch for her.  There is a large number of people coming out for the party...

So, the question is, what to get a 90 year old accomplished quilter birthday?  I don't know her very well, but I knew that I would definitely make her a little something, but what?    After searching through my small projects, I decided that a fancy needle keep would be the right thing.   No doubt she has one or two already.  But we know that one can always use a few more, especially a fancy one like this. 

So here it is.... and I also made a small home made card for her with her name on it.   I did include three pins on the little internal pin cushion and in the note I made a comment that said, "from my pin cushion to yours".     The little card will look nice on the wrapped wallet with recycled tissue paper.  (thanks Lucy).

Finishing Small Projects!

I have had a few projects on the go and my sewing area is messy.   It was a cool day today, so it's a good day to sew.   Finishing off some projects was #1 goal today.   The results are great.  I have new room on my table to start new projects. 

   

Two wide open bags and a great thread catcher bag that goes under my fabulous pin cushion.    

The Button Makes It!

I'm trying out a new pattern.   Before I invest in some fun collection fabric to make this fun small project, I'll use my own small bag of scrappy stash to make a prototype.    I had everything except a shank style button to top off my new pin cushion.  It's only 4" square and I just love the mini Dresden plate that sits on top.    I had envisioned going to the fabric store to get a button. But while in our community craft room yesterday with some knitting friends, I was shown our crafty "Junk" drawer with all kinds of awesome crafty things..   It was a small gold mine.  It was kind of exciting.  There was buttons, Velcro, doll eyes, needles, elastics, sequins, beads and so much more. 

After finding 5 perfect shank buttons for the pin cushion, I sat and auditioned them on my pin cushion for my knitting friends.  With their help, an antique gold button was chosen.  There was 2 of this button so I took both.    So now, what to do with the other perfect buttons.    Well, it was suggested I make more pin cushions.    And you know, it's not a bad idea.   I just might do that.

  

Quilt Show at Lake Ashton - 2018

I took a few pictures of our 3-hour community quilt show.  What a fun show little show.  We had knitting, crochet, crewel, cross stitch, tote bags, quilts, beaded cross stitch, and stitched cards.  There were many quilts, and I did not get photos of them all.. but I'll show you some of my favorites...

An under the Sea Quilt by Fran (who is 90 years old)

A bookshelf quilt by Carol O. from Quebec 

A to Z by Ewe and Me - by Me :)

Strip Quilt by Fran.  Love this... It's now on my to-do list

The most stunning graduation of yellow to
brown/black by Marilyn B from Toronto. 

Lin from the UK, made the blue fish quilt with the wavy blocks.
Love the texture. 

Beautiful Cross Stitch, cruel and my back stitched Picasso.

This is the Show Stopper.   Beautiful turned applique by Marilyn B from TO.

Detail of hand applique.

Lots of needle works by the Thursday afternoon knitting group.  

See my bunnies.   They were on the Sew What knitting table