Christmas 2017 and More???

being a hobbyist... I work with... stitches..knitted, crocheted, sewn, crossed..  tried embroidery.. (it was very painful.. not only for me but for the supplies... I did learn... a few new not so nice words.. but I learned something...

Much like My Mother in law.. I have many hobbies.. but unlike her I master none.. its all about having fun ... I am trying really hard not to collect any other hobbies....  Hubby goes made trying to keep up with them all..

Today I pulled an old hobby out.. and did some pixel editing..

before:

and after..... The original was a free image online..  I have no claim on it... I just edited to suit the blog that  supply images too..

I have already started knitting for next year.. trying to get ahead of the power curve..  so I don't have as much stress.. Stress is a major trigger for me... Flip out Drama Queen here! haha laughing at myself helps tons.

and tada!!! a quilt..  that is in the works!!!

This is a blanket I am making one of my sons, he picked out all the fabrics with his dad and they planned the whole thing... I just get to do the labor... again???  hmmm...  hahaha!

They had to lay it out on the king size bed.  This will be a graduation gift... even though he graduated this past Jume!... 

Seeing Stars

I decided I would make Stars for the girls this year.   These are from a pattern Holiday Stars  by Poor House Quilt Designs.  I have also made their fold and stitch Wreath and Leaf Topper.   And of course I start having so much fun , I do not know when to stop!


They start out as rectangles, 2.5, 3.25 and 4.25.  There are other sizes, these are just the ones I chose.  You can make six point or eight point stars. All of the rectangles are interfaces with Pellon decor bond.  The front of the star is cut smaller and a 90 degree  piece cut off to form points

 This shows the small (5 inch) and the medium (7 inch) sizes. these are 6 point stars

 Then a facing is added.  I matched the facing to the back fabric.

  These are the large 11 inch size.  I made these 8 point stars.

The front and back are sewn together and turned. You fold them in half length wise and sew then together across the middle, width wise.  This proved to be a problem with my machine.  Each section has around 12 layers of fabric and stabilizer on the seam/folded side.  Multiply that by 3 and the machine balked.  I was getting a presser foot error.  So I improvised. I remembered way back in the stone age, I was taught to grade seams to thin out the bulk.  So I cut the stabilizer out of the seams.
That resolved the issue on the small and medium stars.  I still had to hand tack the large ones together.

They were pretty, but not flashy.  They needed decorations. Sorry this one is blurry.  Now, I can sew almost anything, but I am not a glitzy flashy person. I called in help.  My daughter came up the alley and helped out. It is amazing what buttons and crystals can do!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I told the girls to pick which ones they wanted.  Knowing my girls, I knew they would both pick the same ones.  So I opened my mouth and put my foot in!  I told them that if they both wanted the same one, I could make more.   I only had to remake five.

  I call this pile of scraps Star Dust!

Finished the Mug Rugs

Doug about the sideways pic . My Phone's acting up again . Just wanted to share the finished work . Still make several mistakes but how else can I learn!

Mug Rugs for Karen

The Brother machine and all the noises it makes still scare the daylight out of me...

But I refuse to live in fear... plus I really want these mug rugs for my bestie Karen..

Plus this is proof I'm not just knitting. ..

I couldn't have done this without out Mom!  So freaking blessed I have the best in laws on the planet!

Numb knitting

Today I had 3 soild hours of knitting on the 2nd sock for eldest son Christmas gift.

Also started a giant swatch of a fishermen's rib for a baby blanket. ..this what I call numb knitting. ..where I can knit while relaxing and watching tv...

Socks though the whole reason I started knitting. .. Knitting them keeps me on my toes...

Christmas knitting

I've been knitting up a storm for Christmas. . I made 24 small cardinals and 16 large guys just like in the photo .

Found I needed to cleanse my palette between cardinals and moving on to socks for Christmas.

Seasonal cats

I finished the top of the Jim Shore Seasonal Cats. 

 As you can see, Angel was helping me hold the pieces in place!

This does not show the blocks very well, but it is finished.  Now how to quilt it!

WHat have I been up to?

After the visit to my Son and Daughter in law and the boys (young men) I have not been as busy in the sewing room. 

I finished the top for Colorful Cats.   The blocks are tessellated cats.  Each of the 23 block are 2" X 3".   These were practice blocks.

The quilt is only 13.5 X18.5.   I know I am crazy for working with very small pieces, but I enjoy it!    The pattern is by Loren Wilhelm.

 And here is my top.  The two plain blocks need to have the words stitched and then backed and bound. 

My photographer had to make an appearance, too!


The project I am now working on is a block of the month,  Jim Shore's Seasonal Cats. When I got home from my Out West trip, I had November and December blocks to make. 

Each month, a cat panel came with a different pieced border and enough fabric to back a mini quilt.  Or you could save all of the remaining fabric and make a large quilt.  You were given cutting directions to make the corner blocks.

I have cut and made 28 -  3" stars.  Them I cut 208 - 2" squares. Here are the four corners laid out and ready to sew.  I had to put each corner on a portable surface (cutting mat. large square ruler, block wall)  and these were balanced on a stool so I could get them in the photo!  Again, the photographer is standing on  a red  mat.

I have to cover up these pieces or my little helpers will rearrange them!

WHO, ME?

Today, I will stitch these together.  I will  cut sashing and borders if I have time. 

This evening, we are delivering and setting up a Bernina Q20 (sit down quilter) form the Bernina store  to a customer. 

After Sewing Camp

 We didn't get a chance to get the older grandsons sewing with Mom while she was here.  I did finally get the Brian to sit down to create his own mug rug.

  everything went really well as you can see in the last photo.. but when we went to put the initials and the year.. the stitches the brother made were horrible!  we didn't pick thread with enough contrast either!  not really sure what was wrong.. I will do some troubleshooting later.. this took us from 9am to 4pm to finish.. I am just plum tired now...   Think he is too..   He choose the fabrics, cut them... did all the sewing...  all I did was iron and sit next to him... seems silly I am so tired.. hahaha....zzzzzzz.....

Day four of quilt camp

Today we learned about Free Standing Lace - FLS
My Daughter-in-laws Brother embroidery machine makes very nice stitches.  She slowed it down because we were using silver metallic thread. FLS is stitched on wash away stabilized without any fabric. 

The second eldest grandson was not interested in making a mug rug.  He wanted to etch 4 glasses to replace one he broke.  Using my Cameo Silhouette  and it's software, we created the design and vinyl template.  With his Dad's help. the etchings turned out great!





I put blue fabric in one ant the other is on a red mat.  That was the only way I could get good photos.


My DIL was knitting cardinals for the Christmas tree.  I lost count of hoe many she had completed, but these two are mine.  The left one is smaller that the right and it is smaller than the original  pattern

While all of the grandkids and daughter-in-law were doing their projects , I made her a christmas Fole and stitch wreath.   She chose Christmas colors for hers. That is one of my birds clipped to it. 

I also made the petal shaped wreath.

The Grandsons had ask if there was any way I could make hot mats for the serving bowls. 

I started out with 2 ten inch squares of fabric and insul-bright.  That just fir their soup bowls.

So I made one for each member of the family in their preferred color or novelty print. 

 Then I expanded the suqares.  I made a 12 inch, 14 inch and 2 16 inch bowl mats. 

 

12 inch using two different red fabrics

 14 inch  using two different blues

 the last two are made from 16 inch squares

(authors note: these four days were spread over two weeks and most of out projects were Embroidery instead of quilting)

I had  a very nice visit with my son and his family.   A couple of nights we played games, Farkle and LRC (left right center).  I was amazed in how fast those two weeks flew by.