First WIPs Be Gone for 2016

And now for some diamonds - this has become a WIP as I have now worked on it for 2 months.  I'll give it a number later once I do inventory for 2015.

Little by little this is getting done...

Since it's a New Year - that calls for a giveaway.  Leave me a comment on how you spent New Year's Eve and/or link what you're working on.  You'll get  100 one inch paper pieces to do your own hexies in the coming months.  Good Luck!  Linky below:

An InLinkz Link-up

God's Blessings in the Coming Quilty New Year!

Some of This; Some of That

My last stash report for 2015:  I weeded 7 yards from my stash to give to my Guild's Pay N Take corner.  I used .02 yd of fabric to make hexies for my latest hexagon project.  That brings me to a YTD total of 103.35 yards  de-stashed.  I have exceeded my 100 yard de-stashing goal.  Yeah!

What with the holidays, I didn't get as much done on my hexie project as I hoped, but did manage to make 2 rosettes for the next round. I put together the rosettes first making vertical rows and then attaching the three rows together.  In this instance, they seemed to go together faster than sewing on a noodle of hexies - at least that was my impression.

The other project I was working on was a set of ornaments that I will finish by Dec 30th  for the Holiday luncheon of our old Co-Op group.  We've been meeting monthly for the last 37 years. So I can't miss it.  I'll show them to you later this week.  More hand work that has kept me busy as I convalesce.  I'm linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching. Are you slow stitching?

Despite the hip (which everyday is getting a bit better - Praise God!) we attended 4 festivities - 4 in 4 days that is and a bit tiring- so had a wonderful Christmas and hope you did, too!  Looking forward to visiting you in the coming quilty NEW YEAR - 2016.

Blessings from
Angie in SoCal

The Greatest Gift

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Some of This, Some of That - Invisible Thread Report

Used 1/4 yard to make binding for baby quilt. Yes, I finished the FMQ.  New YTD total is 96.32 yards  de-stashed.  Now to bind it - lol.

Finished my Hexie medallion.  I've been using invisible thread to put these hexies together.  When I first started doing EPP, all the tutorials suggested one use thread closest to the fabric of the shape. But what about when one is putting two disparate colored hexies together? And I just don't have that many different shades of thread.   I didn't like how the thread stood out on those.  I use invisible thread for machine applique. So why not for hand sewing? So I got out my spool of thread and a needle, some hexies and began.  It wasn't the easiest thing to do at first until I discovered some steps:

1. Use Superior Invisible thread - it supple, soft and strong.  The light version will work will fabrics of light and medium values; the smoke with the dark values.

2.  Use a good lamp to backlight your work.  That means it's in front of you not over a shoulder.
The backlighting makes the thread pop into view.



3. Invisible thread tends to curl from how it is wound. Be sure to thread it onto your needle as it came off the spool. You'll have less knots form and can control it better.  Hold the thread and needle up to the light so it is backlighted - a piece of cake to thread that needle. Also a 12 - 16" length of thread to lessen snags formed.

4.  Since the invisible thread is an extra fine polyester monofilament, do 5 turns around the needle to make a knot big enough to not go through the fabric.

5.  Once you've started your stitching on a hexagon pair:

• make your stitches 1/16th apart. 
• use your fingers on your left hand to control the thread.  (of vice-versa if you're a lefty)
• once the needle has gone through, pull the thread away from you laying it over your index finger. (I'm using black thread here so you can see it better)
• Give a tug for a tight stitch. Bring your third finger up and over the thread to have it snug on your index finger
  
• This will keep the thread behind your work and less likely to snag. Also with the invisible thread lying snug on your finger you'll be able to see (or feel) where the next stitch starts. As you see in the photo the needle is just to the right of the black thread.
  

Here's my medallion with the border round done. It now measures 15.75" high and 14" wide.

I'm linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching.  How about you?  Leave me a comment and I'll come see what you're up to.  Remember sewing even for 15 minutes will calm your day.

WIPs Be Gone Week #51

Back to a WIP - #3 exactly.

I'm sewing the remaining 33 flowers I made for this project to background squares.  Little by little...

I'm also halfway done now with the baby quilt I started:

This takes concentration to get the units sewn in the right order.  Had to rip a whole row seam out because I sewed it in the wrong direction.  My quilt design for sewing tips grows. So far

Measure twice, cut once

Label and pin, sew once

I'm sure there'll be more.  What are you up to? Would love to hear about it, whether finished or WIP progress or an old post, or even about what is going on in your life - not necessarily quilty.  Is the season under control at your house?  Share your status in a comment. With Christmas just a week away, no linking here today.  We're all too busy for posting, right?   Merry Christmas!

Some of This, Some of That

Another round has been added to my hexie medallion.

Another .01 used from the stash.  I couldn't find a piece that had teal and gold with a white background so I colored in some of the elements in the black/white fabric to get the effect I wanted. Already found fabric for the next round and that's what I'll be doing tomorrow as I Slow Sunday Stitch.

I've started another baby quilt so that will be another 2.5 yards out for the top.  Feels good to be using the stash again. New YTD total is 96.07 yards  de-stashed.  I only have two more weeks in the year to reach 100 yards.  Better donate some to the local Lutheran church that makes quilt for Africa.

What are you up to?  Why not link to WIPs Be Gone (on previous post - ends Monday, midnight) or leave me a comment.  I love to hear from you.  I can't always comment back, but it's fun going to your blogs and seeing your eye candy.  Try to stitch a few minutes each day to calm the madness of the season.

WIPs Be Gone Week #50

First, Congrats to our winner of last week: Bambi in Sweden.  Send me an email with your address so I can send you your book.


Second, I'm happy to report the Doc says my hip is healing very well.  I"m so glad.  Once I start PT, I hope to graduate to a cane. Woohoo.  And the wonderful thing is that I can machine quilt now for longer than 5 minutes. It's so good to be back behind my Ms Juki. I'm almost finished with this baby quilt on the right!


Can't drive, of course, but that has been an eye opener. My goodness I use to flit around a lot.
And one takes so many things for granted, like putting on socks, making a scrambled egg and all the steps involved, and on and on.  Count your blessings, blog readers.

On my Ms Bernie I have the beginnings of a St. Anne's quilt.  My hope is just getting the top done. Goals have become so much simpler now.
The pile of tops is growing as I'm not sure if I could sandwich one right now as it requires a lot of standing. I sandwich on our dining table and it may take me longer than between breakfast and lunch to do it, so then where would we eat?? Another ponderable.  However, there is still hand stitching to do.  I'm working on my third noodle on my new hexie project.

What WIP am I working on?  Well as you can tell, not one at the moment.  I've still got my Jubilee quilt (WIP #5) on the design wall. Maybe I can get back to it this week.  All I need to do is add the borders once the sashing is done.

What are you up to? Would love to see it, whether finished or WIP progress or an old post, or even about what is going on in your life - not necessarily quilty. Share your goodness. Linky below ends Monday, midnight.  I'm linking to Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? and MUV's Free Motion Mavericks.  How about you?

An InLinkz Link-up

Some of This, Some of That

Used about a .01 yard of fabric on my next round of hexagons - So my new YTD total is 93.56 yards  de-stashed. 

Have been hand stitching and added a round of hexies to my new project:

It's now has a diameter of about 8".  I'm linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching - have some more hexies prepped and ready to sew the next noodle.  I'm also going to link to Judy's Stash Report.

What are you up to?  Leave me a comment and I'll come by.  The hip is progressing. Today I went to an Anointing of the Sick mass. It was good to be out after a month being home.  I was way tired by the time we got home.  It reminded me I have a ways to go to normal.

Blessings.

WIPS Be Gone - A near finish and Giveaway

The binding is half way done and then it will be ready for gifting.  I had hoped to have this done on Nov 13th, but I broke my hip instead.  Oh well.  This will be WIP # 14 added to my WBG page.

What have you been up to?  Would love to see it, whether finished or WIP progress or an old post, or even about what is going on in your life - not necessarily quilty. Share your goodness. Linky below ends Monday, midnight.  I'm linking to Amanda's Finish it Up Friday and Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? with this surely finished tomorrow WIP.  And because this is the season of giving, I have a giveaway this week. It's a mystery book for those who link up. Can be to a blog or photostream.  Here are some hints: posters, applique, Lose.  Good luck!  Any post will do.

An InLinkz Link-up

Update - 12/5/15  = It 's finished!

Applique Tuesday

Another block of WIP #17 done. No more prepped ones.  Will need to try to do the next one. Wish me luck.

Some of This, Some of That Week 49

Not quite ready to machine sew. Can only sit 5 minutes with my bad leg not elevated.   The queen size quilt is too cumbersome to shift around for hand quilting, soI went looking for another hand stitching project. Although I have an embroidery WIP somewhere, I went toward hexies.  I've always wanted to make a scrappy hexagon quilt. However, I have a hard time just pulling out scrap pieces and making hexies and starting to put them together.  Just doesn't work for me.  I need more of a plan.  Karen H help!

So went thru my folders of quilts I'd like to make and found one that may work for this interim project.  I'm still going to use scraps but a more planned effort. I may even pull out a fat quarter or two, although I don't consider them scraps.  Here is the center I came up with:

In the destashing stats, I've used 3 1/4 yards for two baby quilts and 0.1 yard in scraps for these hexies above. What is 0.1 yard?  That's 15 inches. So my new YTD total is 93.55 yards  de-stashed. 

I'm linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching.  Did you get some done this week?  Link up with Kathy so we can all see. Blessings.

WIPs Be Gone Week 48

In looking for some more hand stitching, found my Anna's Garden, WIP #17.

I started this wall hanging about 3 years ago when I knew hardly anything about applique.  I prepped this block a long time ago and spent this last week hand appliqueing.  I learned I used way too much starch when attaching the pieces to the background. It made it hard to whip stitch in the seam fold. What order does one do the pieces?  Does one start on the edge and go inward so it's easier to hold? They had freezer paper behind most of them. Better to take them out as Kerry does at Simple Bird Applique.  Sometimes the least expected color of thread works best with an applique piece. Those gold needles are great for sliding through the fabric.

Any tips you'd like to pass on?  I'd love to read them. Leave me a comment.  I'm linking to Sarah's Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?, Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching, Amanda's Finish it up Friday,  and Lyn's BOMs Away because this block is actually done.  Off to take my evening meds.

WIPs Be Gone #16

This is a little mug rug from last year's Oct retreat.  Kind of a fold and sew patchwork.  You end up with a piece that has folds instead of seams showing - kind of easy because one is always sewing around the edge.  I had only the binding to bring back and be done.  What would have taken me 10 minutes on the machine took me five days in between resting and meds for the broken hip.  Little by little....  And look it has a lime scrap.  Could this qualify for working with lime on the RSC 2015?

What are you up to?  Would love to hear. As this is a hand stitched finish, I'll link up to Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? and Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching .

In Only a Moment

Have I shown you this bag before?  I really can't remember right now. In only a moment it went from grocery bag to walker bag.  Yes, walker bag. I fell and broke my hip in two places.  I was shaking out a pair of DGS Alan's shoes so we could go on a walk, then turned and tripped on the threshold of our patio doors. Alan was right behind me about two feet and in order not to fall on top of him, I twisted to the right and took the full impact of the fall on my hip.

In only a moment the rest of the year has morphed into pain, surgery, coming home to recouperate.  The good news is that I don't have a cast, and the pain is manageable (because of my allergies to most pain meds or opiates - I"m only taking Extra Strength Tylenol).  I've been home from the hospital for about 18 hours and I'm so tired as if I'd work in the coal mines all day.  So I rest 15 minutes and move 15 minutes. LOL - today it took me 30 minutes to brush my teeth.  Needless to say, I won't be doing much driving or sewing as it was my right hip, and it's cumbersome moving in the sewing room (and I Don't want to fall). Prognosis is 3 months - yikes.  Oh well, what must be must be.  I'm hauling out my 26 year old WIP that I am handquilting and will work on that.  Its time has come.

Before I fell, I pulled out this quilt top I found in a container to be WIP #15. It has lime green sashing for the RSC 2015 challenge. Don't really have any lime green scraps even though I like the color.  I don't know if I will get anything done on it, probably not, but we'll see.  It's at least working with the color.

This all happened Friday the 13th, and no, I don't believe all that stuff.  For all those of you who've commented on my quilt show post  and WIPs Be Gone post, thank you.  I'm sure you understand that for a while my time online will be limited and I won't be able to reply very much ( this post has taken most of a day to do what with my limited energy - lol). Be right back - have to walk a bit or I will stiffen up.  But I'd still like to hear from you.  Though you won't notice, I'll be keeping up with you through Bloglovin' and Facebook.

Take care, happy quilting, and watch where you're stepping.

Blessings,

Angie in SoCal

WIPs Be Gone Week 46!

I checked the calendar and there are 53 weeks in 2015 because of when Jan 1st falls in 2016.  Only seven weeks left! Wow - where did the year go?  I've been finally getting down to quilting again and have actually worked on a WIP.  Here is #14:

This is a quilt nine years in the making. In fact I gave these 9 1/2" square to my then almost 4 year old grandson, William, and told him to lay them out in the order he wanted and he did. He even picked out the plaid to use as sashing.  This quilt was going to be for him.  Well, he's 13 now and not really interested in construction vehicles, so I'm giving it to his brother who turned five on Veteran's Day. The day before  Alan (the brother) came into the sewing room ( I thought he was watching Wild Kratts) and said, "I like this quilt. Can I have it?" So , I know he likes it.  I told him I'd have to check with the lady who wanted it made.  He's getting it Saturday at his party.  I just have to do the binding now, and that shouldn't take too long.  This has a Lightning McQueen and Mater flannel backing and flannel as batting.  I've learned a lot since I made this top so long ago - like it would have been better if I had used sashing blocks in the middle so the plaids wouldn't look so out of alignment, and better still if I had cut the side sashing on the lengthwise grain to match the crosswise cut pieces bordering the blocks.   I meandered around the vehicles

in the large blocks. Since I SITD all seams I then just quilted some FMQ in the border.  With two flannesl it's heavier than other quilts. I don't think the flannels will shift. I did prewash them.

I'm also quilting the baby quilt I showed you last week.  I'm using FMQ on that also.

What are you up to? Would love to see it, whether finished or WIP progress or an old post, or even about what is going on in your life - not necessarily quilty. Share your goodness. Linky below ends Monday, midnight.  I'm linking to Amanda's Finish it Up Friday, Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop?,  and Lizzie Lenard's FMQ Mavericks with this surely finished tomorrow WIP.

An InLinkz Link-up

A Trunk Show--

Soma of Whims and Fancies is having a virtual trunk show. What a great idea! There are even prizes besides all the wonderful eye candy one can see.  Here are a few of mine:
First Quilt of Valor:

Quilted by another QOV volunteer.

 First Home of the Brave quilt

 Given to Don Beld to pass on to a soldier's family.

 First commission quilt I made. This was a baby quilt requested by my neighbor.

 First Service Star quilt for a family who at the time had three sons in the Service.

 First BOM quilt.  This was a Beth Ferrier mystery quilt. I made it for my daughter's 35th birthday.  It took me two years.

 First pillow cover I made.  Went to my Mom. She has it on her sofa.

 First cancer patient quilt.  I asked for blocks from my Guild for a fellow quilter. Then I took the blocks and made a top and quilted it. This was the first time I made a different border of my chosing.

You can see more trunk shows by going to Soma's link party here:

 Show and Shares are my favorite part of guild membership, and trunk show are my favorite lectures.  At Soma's I get to go see quilt collections any time I like!  Share with us. I'd love to see your quilts.

Not Exactly WIPs Be Gone

Winding down from our trip.  It's taking me longer to get back to normal.  The first day I slept 11 hours - lol.  Then the next day just dragged myself around the house. Yesterday, I started to unpack.
And WIPs? - Hardly stepped into the sewing room.  Finally, last night I did attach the last two borders to a baby quilt.

This block is called Seesaw Block. I enlarged it to 32" from an 8" block and then added 2" borders to get my 36" square for St. Anne's.  I like it but think the block units too big.  Will just have to do some FMQ on it.  I've decided that next year's blocks will have more pieces just so they won't have such large open spaces in them.

I have a favor to ask.  I'm looking for Quiltmania Issue #106.  It has a house quilt on the cover.  Does anyone have a copy they are willing to part with?  I'll pay $8.50 for it plus $3.50 for shipping. Please email me if you want to sell it.  I can pay you via PayPal. You'll find my email in my profile.

So, what are you up to?  Linky party below to share some of your eye candy.  I need a boost in that department, although I enjoyed going through all the categories of the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Thank you all for your kind comments and praise for my entry.  I was gone so didn't have a chance to reply what with the almost 200 emails I had to wade through when I returned.  I'm linking to Michelle's Let's Make Baby Quilts and others on the sidebar.  Blessings to you all as we start to get ready for the coming Holidays.

An InLinkz Link-up

Some of This, Some of That

I'm back from my trip East to Metuchen, NJ.  What a great time we had.  It was cold (well by my standards - averages of 56-62 most days) and that's cold for me! Our goal was to spend my sister-in-law's birthday with her.  Her four adult kids hosted a great celebratory dinner at an Italian restaurant, Dominics. We were treated to an eight course meal and this beautiful cake:

Those flowers were actually made of icing - they were fabulous and tasted fabulous, too - not sweet and cloying as you sometimes get with that much frosting.  I loved this fabulously decorated chocolate birthday cake.

On the quilty side, I didn't pick up a needle in all the eight days I was gone.  I was going into withdrawls - lol.  I knew better than to take anything because this family group is very talkative and around all the time, so I knew I wouldn't get anything done but talk, eat and sleep. But here's a St. Anne's top I finished just before I left using the RSC 2015 blocks for October.

This will have a brown print as binding - a little unusual for a baby quilt, but I found a darling flannel sorry, no photo) for the back.  I'm linking to some of the linky parties in the sidebar.  Give them a try.  Blessings, friends.

WIPs Be Gone again

What a difference a little sashing makes.  This is WIP # 5.  I'm on vacation so this post will be short and won't have a linky party, but would love to hear from you and hear about your WIP progress or anything else.
Blessings!

Time to vote

Amy's done it again - providing us with a wonderful Blogger's Quilt Festival with hundreds of quilts being shared by You.  And now it's time to vote. Good luck to all!  Here's mine in the small quilt category. Click on the link above to vote for your favorites.

Time for Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Amy's doing it again - providing us with a wonderful online QUILT FESTIVAL with hundreds of quilts being shared by You.  I so look forward to seeing your entries.  Here's mine in the small quilt category:

When I saw Lorna's Elephant Parade's first block, I knew I had to make a baby quilt using it since my God Daughter in Law[who was expecting a baby] is from Thailand, and the elephant is the symbol of the nation.  I got busy finding the right fabrics from my stash. Then I had to wait til I knew if it was going to be a girl or boy before I picked something for the little elephant.  Then I realized that the block made an African elephant

and the Thai elephant is an Asian elephant. Off to do research - the Asian elephant has smaller ears and the female doesn't have tusks.  So I redid the mother elephant block and waited some more. It wasn't til the end of March that we learned there was a good chance it would be a girl. So I remade the baby elephant block.  I put the basic top together.  Now how was I going to incorporate more about Thailand in this quilt?  Here's what I did:

1. There is a lot of vegetation and jungle in Thailand, so I took the 1/2 yard of fabric left from the border, lined the back with fusible interfacing and cut out leaves to extend the motifs into the quilt.

They were ironed on and machine appliqued using invisible thread, a 60/8 needle and Bottom Line thread in the bottom. This took a while.  And Baby Saige arrived while I was doing that step.  Then I decided to quilt a temple into the sky left of the elephant -there are lots of temples in Thailand.  So going back on the NET, found some ruins, made a copy, hung it on a window and traced it onto that golden paper for quilters. 

 I then pinned it in place on the quilt and started outlining it. 

Then I decided to do some letter work and found "welcome" in Thai and did a bit of stencil thread work to write that on the quilt.

I wanted to place the baby's name also, but there just wasn't room. Above is just part of it.  It didn't show up very well, but Waen spotted it right away.  With all the rain Thailand gets in a year, straight lines in the borders seemed just right. More quilting - quilted the mother elephant and surrounding sky using FMQ and a bit of ruler work on her ear.

I was happy with my adapted version of Lorna's elephant quilt. It measured 37" square. And I was only three months late getting it to baby Saige. In case you want to vote for it in the Viewer's Choice competition, you can find it here for nominating now or voting next week.

Have you entered a quilt?  I hope so - off to see your creation there.  Thanks again, Amy, for bringing the show to us!