The Force

A couple of days ago I finished this Christmas gift for the monster.

Taking photos was tricky, since he's always here.

This morning though a dog woke me up early, so I had time to snap some photos.

I did a simple quilting in the ditch.

I like that for some quilts.

This is one of those quilts.

I find free motion, especially if it's tight, distorts the fabric, making it hard to see the print.

 I definitely didn't want that on this quilt since my main focus was the novelty print. 

I am so happy to have this done with plenty of time.

Now I don't have to try to sew in secret. 

That was bumming me out.

Hello Darling

What a pickle I was in trying to take a photo of my finished Hello Darling quilt!
It's been windy as heck here, and the forecast calls for these constant wind for the next several days. 

If I were to wait until the Hubs gets home from work to take a picture, it will be dark out!
 I will have to use artificial light.
That's not good either!

So this is the best I could do.

Thankfully the Monster was willing to help me out with it.

I'm training him early.

I started this quilt back in August.  

Finished the top mid-September.

Basted it a week ago.

I finished this quilt binding after school today.  

It reads Christmas-y. 

I like that.

This line has great stripes, but because of the pattern I thought stripes would look crazy.

I did pick up this pretty aqua stripe for the binding though.

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times....

I love striped bindings!

I am so happy to have another project done!

My 14th for the year.

The sixth of the projects on the LIST.

Of the fifteen remaining projects on my list

Star Wars is getting binding tonight

Blitzen will get started right away

Farm Girl will follow that

Snapshot should be next

then my Calendar BOM

followed by my Kiss Kiss

Simple Abundance will be next

my Paridiso and Terrain will be after all of that

then maybe I will pick up my vintage sheet project

Fresh Air will be sometime after all of that.

then the rest....

No big deal right?

Even though I have only finished six quilts from my original list I did add two additional quilts, with the baby boy quilt for my cousin, and the Star Wars quilt for the Monster.

The next line of fabric I'm allowed to buy comes out in February.

I think I feel good about my restraint so far.

I can do this.

Progress

Tonight I finally stole a couple of hours to get some work done in my sewing room.

I did a simple grid on this quilt.

Tomorrow I plan to run to Fabric City to find a binding print.

Then I totally banged out the quilting on my Hello Darling. 

I have the binding fabric I need for this one.

Maybe tomorrow after school I will get it cut, pieces and attached!

After these two are done I am pulling out my Blitzen!

Feeling the Christmas Pressure

Lately I have been stealing quick moments to sew here and there.  Since I last checked in I have finished the last of my blocks for my Farm Girl Sampler.  

 Hand Mixer

Penny Pig

  And finally, Corn and Tomatoes.  

If this block hadn't been my last, I would have quit this project.  Seriously 94 itty bitty pieces go into this 6.5" block.  It took me days of cutting because I just couldn't stand to cut such small pieces for very long.  And sewing it took me awhile.  I had to take breaks, because I felt cussing and screaming coming on.  

I still have the sashing and setting stones to cut out, but I wanted to set it aside for a minute.

I felt the pressure to get the two tops I had waiting, basted.

So one night after the monster went to bed I got the floor mopped and went to work. 

 My Hello Darling quilt really is beautiful.  

I cannot wait to get it finished.  

I think it will be out on the sofa this Christmas Season to cuddle up with.

 But first I want to get the Monster's Christmas gift done.  

I'm in the thick of quilting it now.  

I need a good stretch of time and motivation.

After these two are quilted I might put the Farm Girl away so I can FINALLY pull out my Blitzen and get it made!  

Slowly.

My sewing room has been getting some use this past week or so.  

I've found time here and there to get in there and work on the Monster's secret Christmas gift.  

I only have two rows left to sew, and then I need to sew the rows together.  

This robe stole some of my sewing time this past weekend.  

The monster wants to be a Jedi for Halloween.  

I thought we could use his karate gi and find some tan pants($6). 

Then the hubs insisted he needed a robe.  

So I made it($24).  

I do not enjoy sewing garments.  

Yesterday after months of busyness my friend Miranda and I finally got together for sewing night.  

 I worked on my calendar blocks.

August

September.

I got a good start on my October block too, hopefully I will finish it up before November!

It feels great to sew again.

Movin' on Up

I haven't been sewing much since the Hubs has returned home.  

It's nice to have him back and we've been doing lots of family things that make me skip sitting down at my machine.  

I did finally finish these new Halloween placemats.  

I'm enjoying them.

Then I was like, "Honey, I think I want my sewing room upstairs." 

And he agreed it would be a good decision. 

So, we moved everything out of the guest room and moved my stuff in.  

I don't have everything set up quite yet, but it's good enough to get some sewing going. 

 I started the Monster's Christmas gift!  

I've been getting a little worried about having enough time to get this secret project done in time.  Hopefully I can skip a few hockey practices so I can sew it up!

For a New Baby Boy

Very recently my cousin Erin had her baby.  She has two sweet girls, and they waited to find out what their third would be.  Because they had two girls already and most of their life is pink, I decided to wait until the baby arrived before sending a quilt.  I hate making gender neutral quilts.  I try my best, but I think they always turn out too boyish for a girl, or too girly for a boy.  I know babies don't care, but it bugs ME. 

So after the baby arrived and he was in fact a boy I was so glad I could make something BLUE.  I started pulling fabrics from my stash.  I started with the pirate and whale prints and picked  fabrics from there.  I had everything in my stash but the light blue solid and the backing.  

While I was grabbing those I noticed Fabric City had some pretty cute flannels.

Since they are moving up north from many years living in the south I thought a blanket might be useful. 

But back to the quilt.  

I decided to use the pattern Lori Holt has in her Farm Girl book.  The Picnic Quilt is large, but assembled in quarters, so I thought I would just make one quarter and it would be baby size!  Plus it was just simple stars.  Easy, but boy cutting gave me a headache!  Between making two different sizes and trying to vary the centers and points and backgrounds it was alotta thinkin! 

I decided on straight line stitching.  I only had this thin painters tape, it was a little thinner than .75".  Boy that took awhile.  And of course I ran out of thread and had to go to HoLo, then I had a pucker I couldn't stand to leave.  

But I do love this little quilt.  

Hopefully this quilt and the blanket will get loved up.