2 Down 2 to go

It is Sunday. 36 degrees this morning. I thought I lived in Florida. LOL.

Yesterday I was able to complete 2 wallets. I was on a roll making 2 at a time so it was like leaders and enders. One following the other. Everything was going great until....I rounded the lining piece. It is a directional fabric. I should have done it upside down but as with most things your brain looks at it from a logical stand point.  Oh no!  I don't have enough to fix the 2 linings. They became the outside of the wallets. It worked fine, just was not my intent. Live and learn to test panel before trimming.

The cats wallets

This one is my daughters wallet. I made it a few months ago to go with her diaper bag,  box pouch and small purse. 

Back to sewing!

Stash Report  Week 2 - 2018

Fabric used this week: 1 yard

Fabric used to Date:     5 yard

Fabric Added this week: 2 yards

Fabric Added Year to Date: 6 yards

Net Fabric used for 2018: 6 yard

15 Minute Challenge:  
1/7 - 1/13          3 of 7 days
2018 Total          7 of 13 days

Happy Quilting

Aileen in Florida

Repairs

It is Saturday. I have been cutting out fabric kits to make wallets for the guild boutique. Still didn't feel like sewing. So what is a girl to do? Repair a quilt!

This quilt is probably 14 years old. Well loved and well beaten. The poinsettias are falling off. I am being a lazy quilter and just blanket stitching them back down. Hopefully this quilt will last another few years to give me time to make another xmas lap quilt.

The plan for this weekend:

1: finish fixing this quilt.
2: make 4 wallets

Happy Quilting

Aileen in Florida

Martelli, OH MY!!!

January is flying by faster that I imagined it would.

At our Guild Christmas party I ordered a Martelli Table System.  I decided to get an ergonomic system that may help with this daily pain issue. It was an expensive purchase but the show price was much less than buying direct from Martelli and it included many accessories. Here is a article from another person that purchased this same table.

I have many physical ailments, neck, rotator cuff, cervical spine, sciatica and arthritis. Pain meds have been a staple for the past 6 years.  I want to stop taking them so I decided to invested in myself. So far so good. Much less stress on my body. More room to work. The fact that the table height can be adjusted is fantastic.

Cutting fabric is much more comfortable with this wide adjustable table.
I was able to sew with my serger and my Janome just by going from one machine to the other. This made making the Pjs I was working on go faster.

Stash Report  Week 1 - 2018

Fabric used this week: 4 yard

Fabric used to Date:     4 yard

Fabric Added this week: 4 yards

Fabric Added Year to Date: 4 yards

Net Fabric for 2019: 4 yard

15 Minute Challenge:  
1/1 - 1/6            4 of 7 days
2018 Total         4 of 7 days

Happy Sewing

Aileen in Florida

Voice

Happy New Year 

to my family, friends and online friends!

Word of the year.... 

Negative comments were part of my growing up. It did stunt my creative Voice.  I let this happen over and over. I find it hard to trust my voice when I create. Those negative people fly into my head. What would so and so think of this? Yet when I give those people a gift from my heart, they seem to like it but its not what I really wanted to make. I chickened out and use some other makers vision/voice. I tend to get nervous when I use my Voice and create something original. Is it good enough? Will people get what I am trying to say through my art. Then I stop myself, stare at it for days and finally put it away.  I need to trust my own Voice, My own thoughts. 

My word for 2018 is Voice. It really should be the phrase:

Trust My Voice. 

Aileen in Florida

UFO Challenge for 2018

Patchwork Times is running a UFO Challenge. There are no rules. It is just a way to keep track and try and get those UFO out of your closets, from under the bed etc.

I try to do one UFO before I start cutting another quilt project out. Sometimes I am successful, other times... the temptations are so strong that I crumble and start something new. Well, the thing about new projects is it does get you motivated to sew...

UFO's 2018

1. Allietare Quilt. - needs 2 borders, pieced back, sandwich & quilt. 
2. Halloween quilt - backing, sandwich & quilt.
3. Stack and Whack - top, etc
4. Jar Quilt- QAYG. Sashing, backing & batting.
5. Amber/Wes signature quilt. Assemble, back, batting quilt 
6. Wes dragon quilt. Globe and claw. Backing, Sandwich, quilt.
7. Convex illusion. Finish top, sandwich and quilt.
8. Sampler. Finish last block, backing batting quilt.
9. Seattle Skyline Wallhanging. Needle, borders, back sandwich & quilt.
10. Spool Wallhanging. Batting and backing. quilt
11. Lighthouse Wallhanging. Needs lighthouse dome.
12. Ugly pink baby quilt top. Quilt and donate.
13. Accordion Carpenters Wheel.

This is a start. I am sure if I actually took my closet apart I would find a few more. 2 years ago I donated a LOT of UFO's to a church in Canada and to a group that was making quilts for survivors of a fire up in Washington state. It felt good to give away many UFO's I knew I would never finish because I no longer was attracted to them. Some were early experiments in learning new techniques. Other were WWIT, What Was I Thinking!!! 

Happy Quilting, Sewing and Organizing for the New Year!!

Aileen in Florida

Linking up to Patchwork Times

After Christmas

I can't believe it has been 3 days since Christmas.

Everyone like their handmade gifts,

especially...

Time to clean up the old sewing room and get organized.

Happy Cleaning

Aileen in Florida

Book Pillows

Merry Christmas!

 Hope your Holidays are filled with
love and joy.

These are the book pillows for 3 of the Grands. 

I hope they like them.

Time to finish up those last minute gifts!

Happy Holidays

Aileen in Florida

Busy Busy

It has been a very busy few days. Did a bit of sewing with the ladies group on Wednesday.  I am not a hand sewer. It was taking forever to hand sew the binding down. The doggie quilt had to be ready for photographs on Thursday. I finally basted it down. Today I will continue sewing it down the right way. Isn't he cute! This will be in the quilt show in February 2018. In May I will give it to my grandson for his 1st Birthday.

 The pattern is by Stacy Iest Hsu. Its called All Wrapped Up. Scrap buster. I used what I had on hand in 2 1/2 inch strips. I think he needs a bow tie! 

The Christmas party was fun. Many more people than I remember attending  previous years. It was nice to chat with friends over a good meal. We had a Tea Towel exchange. This was my contribution. 

The one I got back is much prettier than the one I made.

Time is running out! Pushing forward to get my handmade gifts done. How are you fairing? Are you ready for the Holiday?

Happy Sewing

Aileen in Florida

Sunday was My Birthday!

Turned 65th! Older than dirt.

Saturday was a crazy sewing day. My 2 grandsons slept over to celebrate with me. We watch TV, laughed and then we got ready for bed. Read books for a while. Late bedtime but we had fun.

My Birthday Morning. Making cards with the boys.

Painting for Grandma's birthday!

Frame made by his mom and dad.

Somewhere I lost a day trying to recover from the sleepover and my birthday.

I made up for it today. I finished 8 pillowcases.

Picture is of pillowcases and dog quilt. Still have to finish binding, sleeve and label by Thursday.

Also 2 Book pillows. Two more to go. I have not put the pillows in yet. They are stashed in a box in the bottom of my closet. Kids stop by all the time and I can't hide stuff as fast as I use to. HA HA!

 Princess fabric. Rest is all that pink.

3 different cat fabrics.

This is the back.

Tomorrow is a new day. Still a ton of things to make but I am getting there at last!

Happy Sewing

Aileen in Florida

SEW SEW

Busy Busy Busy! 

I cut and sewed for 9 hours. My mind is numb now.

I finally put the binding on the doggie quilt. Just have to hand sew. I will make the label and sleeve later this coming week.

I also cut out and sewed 6 pillowcases. Then I cut out the Book pillowcases for 2 of the 4 Grand kids. One is going to be a Creeper from Mine Craft. That one has to wait a few days.

I want to start doing Stash Report! I need to use my stash. I have so much fabric. As I was looking through my stash, there were so many fabrics I don't remember buying or having used.

So this week -------- Added 3/4 yards Fabric
Used this Week ---- 11 yards.

To do list:

1- Make a Tea Towel for Christmas Party
2- Wall hanging for Art Challenge
3- Cut out and sew Creeper Book pillowcase
4- Cut out and sew Kitty Book pillowcase
5- Sew 2 more pillowcases for niece
6- Quilt Wall hanging for sister-in-law
7- Quilt Wall Hanging for niece
8- Print tags

Happy Quilting

Aileen in Florida

Unclutter!

I wanted to get some things cut today. When i actually paused and look around i realized, "What a mess!"  I have to laugh because this is not news. If I am working and I have to get something out of the way, I just fling it on another surface. You all know what I am saying.

There was no surface for me to cut on.   My first thought was open up another folding table. Why not? Well,  it is Christmas season and people show up when you least expect it. It would not be cool if they can't step in your front door because there is no path. SO clean up was in order. I made a spot to cut on my table..... The chaos was still there. So i clean a little more. I needed to clean off the design wall. A lot of failed ideas up there that are slowing me down. Better but not perfect. I can work with this for now.

I am working on cutting out Book pillowcases for the grand kids. 18x18 with a pocket on the front. Time to dig through the fabric bins.

#1 Grandson likes Green. I decided to make him a regular pillow and maybe a book pillow. The book I got him is so heavy that it will probably tear the pocket. It's Rigley's Believe it or Not. He does not like to read books, but he loves this weird stuff.

#2 Grandson also likes green specially the Mine Craft Creeper. This will take more work since I have to cut a few dozen squares to make the face. His book is a Mine Craft's Ender book. Looks like comic book to me but very thick.

#3 Granddaughter LOVES pink. She also loves My Lil Pony. I have a sliver of MLP fabric left from a purse I made her which can be the pocket. I found a Unicorn book. Its not MLP but I is a lovely story.

#4 Grandson (age 2) loves everything #2 has. Thinking blue but will have to check my novelty fabrics. Maybe cats. He loves cats. The book I got for him is a Dr Suess book "Because a little bug went KACHOO!." He laughs his head of when someone sneezes.

Saturday flew

Sometimes the day starts out terrific an ends with a fizzle.
I was intent on sewing today. Many of life's interruptions just came rolling in. When I looked up at the clock it was 3 pm already. 6 hours had disappeared. Sigh.

I finally was ready to quilt the dog quilt. I had intended to try some fancy quilting, but the more I thought about it, the more I talked myself back into my original plan. Just meander. This is for my grandson's 1st birthday in May. It is meant to be dragged, stomped on, soiled, squashed and loved until it is a rag. I want it soft and cuddle worthy. He is 6 months old right now and currently in love with his gauze blanket. It is soft and airy. It is time to square the quilt and put on the binding. I may revisit this quilt with a little more quilting.

Moving on to a pillowcase set with Guardians of the Galaxy fabric. I originally order some Star Wars fabric but alas it was gone. I bought some Zelda fabric for the cuff but its not going to work color wise. The Star Wars would have because the background was taupe beige.  Never fear, I will stick it in the stash and let it marinate! LOL.

Time to start cutting!

Happy Sewing

Aileen in Florida

Christmas Decor and Machine Basting

The kids decorated my Christmas Tree on Thanksgiving. I still have not spread out the ornaments. As is typical with young children, they pick one branch and load it up!

I put up my Tree wall hanging but I have not found the stick I put in the lower part to keep it from curving in from the weight of the tiny ornaments.
I love this little tree. I made 3 of them and supplied the ornaments.
This one is mine.

I finally got a chance to machine baste the doggie quilt. Just as I was finishing a big storm rolled it. Unplugged my machine right away!
I did SID for this one. Next will be the actual free motion quilting.

 I will be working on this all weekend, until it is FINISHED!

Happy Quilting

Aileen in Florida