Spring Cleaning

It's finally getting warm here! That's enough for a big HOORAY! I have been in spring cleaning mode for the last week (which mostly means organizing my sewing/crafting stuff) although I also did a few other chores. Monday it's going to be in the 70's and I'm going to clean all the bric-a-brac that accumulated in the mud room and on the deck. We live in a very tiny (1 bedroom) house, so really there isn't that much to do. I did get some sewing time in though. I made some cute storage bags to put stuff in, I'm going to use them for wip's I think. I used different things for the drawtrings since I didn't have any twill tape or matching ribbon. two of the bags have self fabric strings, one has selvages from the fabric used in the bag and the patchwork one has the narrow hem I cut off the thrifted sheet I used for lining them.  I braved the general wet mess of the back of the back yard to get pictures.

The warmer weather has got me thinking of pulling some roving out and getting it dyed and ready to be spun. I tend to do most of my sewing/quilting from October thru March, and then dye/spin/knit through most of the warmer months. I like doing it that way, there's a certain rhythm in following the seasons , and I feel a deeper connection to my maternal ancestors who did a lot of washing/dyeing/and spinning of fleeces in the summer. My 84 year old mom who grew up in rural Newfoundland remembers her mom and grandmother washing fleeces in the spring and then her grandmother spinning them through out the summer on her back porch. She had a walking wheel, and turned out enough yarn for both her and my grandmother to spend the winter months knitting gloves and hats and socks for the family. My grandmother would often dye the yarn and hang the skeins out to dry in the yard. I like to think that I'm carrying on that tradition. Does anyone else have traditions that seem to bring your past ancestors closer? If so, I'd love to hear about them.

Happy Saturday! I'm linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Sweet Little Things

I made a couple of sweet cottage-y looking storage bags yesterday. One was made from this little strawberry print I have had laying around for a long time. The top casing for the drawstring was made from a coordinating print, and I used the selvages from the strawberry print for the drawstrings.

I also made another one all in the same fabric. I picked up this print at the thrift store, thinking I would use it for the back of something. There was almost 2 1/2 yds of it. It makes a cute storage bag, and there's plenty left for other things. Both bags are lined with a thrifted white sheet.

This morning I made this little tea wallet. I used a tutorial from Is It Naptime Yet? The instruction were easy to follow, and although she says use ribbon for the button loop it's pretty clear from the pictures she used some of the outside fabric, which is what I did too. This took less than an hour to make, took very little fabric and makes a nice little gift if you need something quick. Add a nice teacup and an assortment of teabags and you have a great birthday or teachers gift.

Library Tote and Zipper Pouch

This week has been a bit of a slow one. I haven't gotten nearly as much done as I thought I would. I guess some weeks are just like that. I did however finally get this library tote made that had been on my list for a couple of weeks. As soon as my youngest daughter saw it she wanted it. I fussy cut the design a bit so I got the owls in the tree on one side and the tree with the small birds on the other. For the life of me I cannot remember the name of this fabric line. I had to skimp a bit on the rust print which is why the handles are a little shorter than I like.

I also made this little zipper pouch from fabrics that I got from a scrap pack I ordered from Hawthorne Threads. Birds seem to be a recurring theme!

Linking up to Can I Get a Whoop Whoop and Quokka Quilts. Happy Friday!

WIP Wednesday

I have a couple of things I've been working on the last couple of days. I've had the red and white strip quilt in my head for awhile now, so I worked on it a bit Monday and then for an hour yesterday. This will definitely end up as a throw sized. I've got  3 rows finished and strips cut for another 3. I'm assembling the strips in blocks that are trimmed to 6 1/2 inches by 9 1/2 inches, then sewing the blocks into rows that are 6 blocks wide. This picture only shows a bit of the quilt, but I think the idea of what I'm doing shows up pretty well.

I also started crocheting a half moon shawl. The pattern is on the Lion Brand website. This is the second shawl like this that I've made; the yarn is Chaco by Filatura Lanarota that my daughter gave me when I visited her last October. I have 5 balls of it, so there should be plenty to make this. It's 100% wool in a heavy worsted weight and is nice and soft, not itchy at all. 

And just because, here's a couple of pictures of the first shawl I made several years ago. I'm pretty sure this is Hobby Lobby's Icelandic yarn, which gives an idea of how old this shawl is. I've been boycotting Hobby Lobby for a couple of years now. I think I'm going to go a bit longer on the one I'm working on now.

A Finished Quilt

This quilt has been in my UFO's for about 5 years. I made the top, and then let it sit for awhile before I finally quilted it. I wanted to use the same fabric for the binding as I did for the inner border, but I didn't have enough, so it just kind of sat there for a couple of years. I finally took it to the fabric store and picked out a different green for the binding, and then let it sit again for another year before I finally put it on yesterday. I do like it, now it's finished. It's made with a mix of recycled vintage linens and some newer fabrics. I'm calling it Dreaming of Summer, because we had more snow again today, and it's so bright and sunny.

I also have a smaller finish. I finished another pillow for my mom, she liked the first one so much she asked for another.

I've been quilting a little here and there on my little applique quilt. I'm not rushing this, it's very relaxed. I usually quilt in the evening while watching tv. I really, really enjoy the process of hand quilting, this is the second largish quilt I've hand quilted. The first was an Amish inspired crib quilt I quilted many years ago. Hopefully I can work on this pretty consistently and hang it as part of my Christmas decorations this year!

Have a happy Friday everyone! Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict , Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework and Kathy's Quilts: Slow Sunday Stitching

Another Cushion For My Mom

I made another cushion for my mom, using the same fabrics as I used for the first one. I used a Dresden Plate for the second one because I thought it went well with the vintage feel of the blue prints. She really likes this one too. Here it is on her couch. I should have thought to take a picture of the two together. Oh well, maybe later.

I made this little appliqued quilt top a couple of years ago and started hand quilting it on Sunday evening. I'm outline quilting around the motifs, and then doing the back ground of the blocks in a grid. The borders will be quilted with a feather garland.

Linking up to Sherri at A Quilting Life Scrap Monday

Hand Quilting

I really like hand quilting, it's very relaxing, like spinning or knitting. I'm not great at it yet, but I think the quilting on this little mini is passable. It's also not the best picture but I went outside to take it and it is SO COLD! It's 15 x 17 inches and I'm probably going to hang it in my hall.

I'm looking forward to the next hand quilting project I do since I enjoyed the process of this one so much. My daughter wants me to make this quilt to fit her bed. I don't think that's going to happen.

I had another finish this week too. I made this cushion for my mom. She really likes blue and those vintage looking florals and I have tons of blue floral scraps. So this fills the bill. The back is just a light blue solid. When I gave it to her she was very happy and asked me for another one.

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop

Scrappy Tuesday

So I finished quilting this pillow top for my mom. She likes blue a lot. I pieced the strips into 18 1/2" lengths and then sewed them together. The quilting is 1/4" from the edges of the pieces. It's a cute little pillow, it will finish up at 18 inches square. It didn't make a dent in my pile of blue scraps though!

I've been hand quilting my Amish mini and hopefully it will be done by the end of the week. 

Happy Tuesday!

Mittens and an Amish mini

I don't have a quilting finish today, but I have a pair of mittens knit from yarn I dyed and spun last summer. To be honest, I knit the mittens before Christmas thinking that maybe they could be someone's Christmas gift, and then ended up keeping them. This is some of my very favorite yarn, ever. I love the way the colors spun up, so I finally decided that instead of keeping the mittens as an emergency gift I was going to keep them for myself. I don't knit stuff for myself very often, and I needed some mittens anyway. The roving was dyed in the crock pot, and looked like this.

The resultant yarn is a two ply that I spun on a drop spindle.It's a bit of a thick/thin yarn and ended up as a light worsted once it was plied.

And these are the finished mittens. I like the subtlety of the stripes once it was knit. They are very warm!

Yesterday I was leafing through abook of antique Amish quilts and saw this picture;

I'm trying to do little projects to become a better hand quilter, and what better practice piece than an Amish quilt? But I really didn't want a whole quilt in these colorways, so I made a mini that I sewed together yesterday and then started quilting last night. I'm going to quilt the borders in a vine with leaves, and bind it with black like the original. The whole thing measured 15.5" x 17.5" before I started quilting it. The back is the same light maroon as the borders.

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts and Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?.

Scrappy Pillow

It's funny how 2 days can be completely different. Yesterday I was in a creative funk. I have a lot of UFO's I could work on, and there's so much inspiration on the internet, but it was just one of those days where I just wasn't feeling it. I finally sat down with some solid scraps and made this little crazy quilt block inspired by an antique Amish quilt I had seen. Eh, I think it will go into the pile of single blocks in the bottom drawer. I might finish the embroidery first.

This morning, however was a new day, and I seemed to be ready for it! My mom has been asking me for new cushions for her couch for a few months now, so I finally started one. I grabbed a piece of fabric that I had dyed a few years ago and wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. I had sliced a few strips off but still had a piece that was 18 x 20. Mom's couch is a dark gray, and she has a love seat that is dark purple and I though this color would look equally well on either. Then I pieced the patchwork strip and sewed everything together. I really like this, and the only reason I didn't quilt it right away was because I don't have a thread that I like. I guess it means a trip to the fabric store. 

And then, just because I made these: 

Pretty sure this is going to be a mini quilt. After lunch I'm going to go ahead and join the blocks, add batting and a back and finish it up.

I'm linking up to Scraptastic Tuesday

Friday Finishes

I've been busy with other things this week, my mom doesn't drive and there were a couple of days of shepherding her to dr's appts, getting routine lab work, and she had to have her mammogram. My sister drove one day, and we all had lunch which is always fun. A couple of weeks ago I had shown her the case I made for my glasses and she really liked it so I made her one too. I took the picture on the back of my love seat next to the window because the light in here is awful. Still haven't taken down the Christmas lights!

I ordered some zippers from Etsy that came yesterday, and I got one of my zipper pouches finished. I think I need a bit of cream ribbon tied to the zipper pull.

This is the back of it.

I took both of these pictures with the bag propped up on this little cushion which I also made this week:

I'm still not crazy about this cushion. I picked the print out first and then picked out the embroidery pattern and other fabrics. The embroidery is really nice, I used a chain stitch for everything except the stem of the flower and the stamen. I hand quilted it with embroidery floss also. The embroidery pattern is from this book.  Anyway, my mom loves it so it is going to her house. She's been asking me to make her some new throw pillows for awhile now. 

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

Snow! Sunday Stash and Superbowl Party.

We got hit with a nice amount of snow last night, and it's supposed to keep snowing into tomorrow morning. When I woke up there was about 6 inches I'd say, and there's a bit more. It's not snowing really heavily, it just doesn't stop. I'll get out at some point today and take some pictures.

I have some stash pics to share today. The first two are St Patrick's Day fabrics I have had for a long time, and I am going to use at least some of them this year. The first pictures are all smaller pieces, a yard or less. I used some of the back print in a table runner for my mom. I like the middle piece quite a bit, and I hope I can incorporate it into a quilt.

These next 3 pieces are all bigger yardages. The front piece is just over a yard, the back 2 pieces are 3 1/2 yards each. I meant to make shirts out of them and just never did. I really would like to make a quilt out of them, I just don't know what. An Irish Chain is the obvious choice, but I really don't want to make one.

I also ordered a scrap pack from Hawthorne Threads. I had heard that they were really nice, and one evening I was sitting at the computer with a bottle of wine, a credit card and the scrap packs were half off! I bought one in the cool colorway, and I am very pleased with it.

I already cut out and sewed together a couple of pieces for a zipper pouch. I am going to get this quilted today before the Super Bowl.

I made some other fabric purchases the night of the bottle of wine, but I'll share those later!

Speaking of the Super Bowl, today is the big day! We are heading over to our sons to watch it, and hopefully the roads will be clear. It's a pretty big deal for us, and John has been bugging me for a month about what food I am bringing. I finally decided on barbecue sliders and a cheese and chorizo dip. If I were to bet (which I haven't) I would lay my money on the Patriots for this one. I think Tom Brady really wants that ring! And for anyone who hasn't seen this YouTube clip from Jimmy Kimmel, it's funny as hell! 

Wip Zipper Pouch

I embroidered this little bluebird yesterday on a scrap of white on white fabric. I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do with him,  but he worked perfectly when trimmed down to a 2 1/2 inch square.

After thinking about it this morning, I dumped all my crumbs in a big basket. There are a lot of them!

Then I put the little bird down on a piece of 9 x 11 inch piece of batting, and started adding pieces from the crumb basket. Once it was trimmed it looked like this: 

Then I went ahead and made and trimmed a second piece the same size as the first.

Now all I have to do is add a lining and zipper, sew it all together and it will be a cute little zipper pouch!

Linking up to Quilting is More Fun Than Housework Lily's Quilts

Embroidery and Scraps

Seems the embroidery bug has bitten me pretty hard lately. In addition to the red rose Valentines Day pillow, I also finished this one:

I did the hearts in stem (or outline) stitch, and then did the sections of red ribbon in backstitch. I didn't particularly like the backstitch once I had about half of it done, but I didn't want to take it out and do something else so I just left it. 

I did this cute little butterfly for a zipper pouch. I pieced the back and front from pink scraps using quilt as you go, and then went back and quilted in the ditch because I like the way it looks. I haven't got a matching zipper, so this will be put on the side til I get one. I think I'm going to order some on Etsy, it's so much cheaper than buying them at Jo Ann.

Here's a close up of the butterfly:

His little body is a bit crooked, but I don't think he cares!  I'm also thinking of doing a flower of the month embroidered quilt from Martha's Q is for Quilter blog. If I embroidered a block every month, I could get it done and quilted in time for next Christmas. I'll have to play catch up for January's block, but that would be ok.