Wonderful Week of Family and Projects

      I enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with family. The day before I supervised while GDs made pies. They each made their own pie crust from scratch. Mattie made an apple pie with a lovely lattice top.

Lily made a large and mini pumpkin pie. Of course, I had to try a piece of each and both were delicious.

    A couple of days GD Lily sandwiched her first quilt top with my help and started the quilting.

She used the walking foot to echo the horizontal seams. She did a great job. I trimmed it so it is ready for binding which I will sew on so it will be finished the next time I visit.

     About 8 years ago I pieced blocks and planned to make a quilt similar to Bonnie Hunter's “Wild Child” quilt. The blocks have been sitting until I decided to use some for a quilt for a great niece. I added sashing and cornerstones. I have one more row to add and a border. I have more of these blocks so you may see them in another quilt.

    My sister Irene is preparing to move and gave me a jar of buttons to share with someone. I got sucked down a rabbit hole.

After sorting them, I decided to use some to accent my Christmas tree wall-hanging. The buttons are attached with safety pins on the back so they can be easily removed.

I enjoyed a great visit with family last week and made progress on projects for the win.  However, there was no change for my stash report.

Have a great week and enjoy some time for quilting.

Small Projects with Granddaughter

     Last week was a special time with Granddaughter Lily. We did several activities in town and a sewing project. She has a new teddy bear and requested outfits for her. Lily chose fabric from my stash and here she is cutting out part of an outfit.

 

I adapted an old McCalls pattern for large baby doll clothes.   

     

    Her favorite activity was the visit to the zoo. Not only did she enjoy the animals but also special activities there like rock climbing

and the Sky-High Safari (ropes course).

     At the end of the week I found time to make a couple of QOV pillowcases for guild presentations.

I'm fighting a bug so don't feel like doing much but hope to finish some quilting this week.

Stash Report for 2024

        this past week - Used: 2.5 yds Added: 3.5 yds

So far this year -Used: 72.705 yds Added: 34.375 yds

Net decrease 38.33 yds

Have a great week and enjoy some time for quilting.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” - Philippians 4:13

It's a Quilt Top

      I had a special, fun week last week. My older granddaughter Mattie was here for a visit. We helped out at the local soup kitchen on Tuesday morning. Later I had finished piecing all the pinwheel blocks

so in the afternoon we laid out all the bow and pinwheel blocks in rows to get colors where we wanted them. Then she pieced a couple of rows together.

Wednesday we went to church quilt group where she pieced a backing and helped sandwich 3 quilt tops for quilting.

Thursday we did some fun things in town. Friday after Mattie headed home, I finished sewing the quilt center together. Saturday I added the borders and pieced the backing. Here is the finished top.

     I spent several hours Sunday afternoon dealing with scraps on my craft table to clear it so I can sandwich the top and start quilting. This quilt is jumping ahead of those that have been waiting for quilting because it will be a gift. I'm glad Mattie could help sew on it.

Stash Report for 2024

      this past week - Used: 4.14 yds Added: 0 yds

So far this year -Used: 66.875 yds Added: 30.875 yds

            Net decrease 36.0 yds

Have a great week and enjoy some time for quilting.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” - Philippians 4:13

Blog Anniversary and Gingerbread Houses

    Today is the 13^th anniversary for my blog. At the time I started my main interest was to share projects that I was doing with my local quilting students and for myself. I no longer teach as I did; however, I continue to share my skills with my church quilt group of friends. Now my blog is mostly a record of my projects and the crafts I do with and for my granddaughters.

    This past Wednesday my GDs made gingerbread houses which is a holiday tradition for us. They have progressed from just adding candy and icing to decorate to this year both used royal icing to construct their houses as well. I still prebaked the gingerbread pieces. I'm sure they are ready to do that; however, it saves time for me to do the baking ahead. Here are this year's creations.

Mattie's is a Christmas boat house.

        

Lily decorated all 4 sides differently.

       

       

Have a great week whether or not you have time for quilting.

Enjoy this special season! Merry Christmas!

Holiday Activities Take Place

     The busy holiday time is here so I have not spent much time quilting but I didn't expect to this past week. My only goal was to make progress on a UFO and I did that.

    I spent a few days with family and enjoyed GD Lily's school orchestra concert and her school musical.

While visiting I did a little shopping for Christmas gifts and decided to make a couple.  GD Mattie crocheted a pillow for her bedroom 

and would like to do more crochet so I plan to make her a crochet needle holder and fill it with hooks from her great-grandmother. I found a free tutorial online for this one.

      Stash Report for 2023

this past week- Used: 0.5 yds Added: 0 yds

So far this year- Used: 104.67 yds Added: 50 yds

Net decrease 54.67 yds

         With more holiday events between now and Christmas plus more family time, I do not expect to get much quilting done so any progress will be good. I will review my UFO list from January. I didn't finish very many on that list; however, I moved several to be finished tops.

Goal for this week

1. Make progress on a UFO.

Have a great week whether or not you have time for quilting.

Enjoy this special season!

A Finished Top and Weekly Goals

      I'm back this week to my regular sewing/quilting room and have projects that I want to accomplish. Last week of Grandma Camp time was fun and I have some things to share. GDs are sweet young ladies.

How I did on last week's goals:

1. Finish piecing the split nine patch top. Done. Sunday evening I added a simple border and looked for backing. We really want this finished by next Sunday to give as a gift at a wedding shower after church.

2. Work on projects with granddaughters. Done. Many projects were worked on and GD Mattie had a lot of driving practice. Early in the week the girls worked with some discharge paste on black tank tops.

GD Lily sewed the first 6 rows into one piece.

GD Mattie tried repairing a gauze shoulder bag and then added a lining instead. This grandma's heart was happy when she said she had decided she liked sewing again.

They each modeled a dino character out of air dry clay. They need to dry more before painting.

We also had time for baking together.  It was a wonderful week of family time.

Stash Report for 2023 (no change)

this past week- Used: 0 yds Added: 0 yds
So far this year- Used: 64.71 yds Added: 40 yds
Net decrease 24.71 yds

Goals for this week:

1. Quilt the split nine patch

Have a great week and enjoy some time for quilting.

Weekly Goals

     I had a great week with family and granddaughters although not  much time was spent on quilting. Here is how I did on last week's goals.

Goals for this week:

1. Enjoy craft time with granddaughters. Done GD Lily had several days of “Grandma Camp” and craft time. She tie dyed 3 shirts: 2 for herself and one for Father's Day.  Here is one for her.   

She painted a rock for a bookend on her bookshelf.

She sewed some on her quilt top but I did not get a photo of her with it.

She helped me set out petunias and GD Mattie joined us for an afternoon at the pool.

It was a busy, creative, fun week.

2. Piece alternate blocks for UFO Not done because I left the project box at home by accident so instead of that I pulled scraps and pieced crumbs for “made fabric” when I had some time to myself.

3. Piece a charity/ comfort quilt. Not done because I also left this project box at home.

There was no change in my fabric stash. I don't count crumbs used.

Goals for this week:

1. Sandwich “Celtic Fantasy”

2. Make progress on piecing alternate blocks for UFO

3. Make progress on piecing a charity/ comfort quilt.

Have a great week and enjoy some time for quilting.

“When Life gives you scraps, make quilts. “

Holiday Happenings Take Center Stage

      This time of year there are many special events with family, friends and church so that quilting/craft time is limited; but, the special times are being treasured. The past couple of weeks I had a few days with GDs when they decorated their annual gingerbread houses. This year Mattie actually did the construction and had freedom to create some unique houses from parts. She created a dormer and a 2 story house.  Here they are during and after decorating.

    

   

    GDs also drew their annual Christmas squares and I pieced them into placemat tops. I still need to do the quilting.

Besides enjoying time with family my goals were to:

1. Control pile of scrap fabric. Done. I cut up piles of scraps for my scrap user system and created a kit for a charity quilt.

2. Quilt a comfort quilt for church. Not touched. It is still waiting but we do have a pile of finished quilts at church so there is no rush. Instead, I put the binding on a QOV. It might look familiar. I pieced the top and Bonnie from guild quilted it.

Stash fabric used or added:

this past week- Used: 2.375 yd Added: 0 yds
So far this year- 141.75 yds Added: 53.75 yd
Net decrease 88 yds

I have 2 more holiday gatherings this week which take time from quilt projects so my only goal for this week is to add more appliques to Celtic Fantasy.

Hope you are enjoying some special events this holiday season.

Stay safe and healthy while enjoying some time sewing and quilting.

Progress – a little

     Much of last week was spent with GD Lily. She is working on a quilt for herself. If I had cut all the blocks (I missed counted) she would have had them all sewn but instead started sewing rows together. Here she is with the first 2.

    When I got to sew, I pieced blocks for a couple of charity quilts. Then I dug in a box of scraps. I pulled all the orange and yellow and was able to piece these crumb blocks. I would like to do more with other color groups.

   Fun was had Saturday when GD Lily had friends over for a party. Many wore their HP robes.  Here is Lily in hers I finished recently.

Stay safe and healthy while enjoying some time sewing and quilting.

Grandma Camp Week Fun

      This has been a week of progress on many projects; however, no finishes. Most days I have been assisting GD Lily while she sews on her Hufflepuff quilt. So far she has 40 of the triangle units sewn.

This gives an idea of where she is going with her design.

     For this week of Grandma Camp we also spent time on many other fun projects like making balloon animals and such.

I'm linking up with Alycia's Finished (or not) Friday. 

Stay safe and healthy while enjoying some time sewing and quilting.

Goals and Progress

      Several days last week were spent with GDs. One fun thing they did was make and decorate Harry Potter theme cupcakes. Aren't they creative?

I worked on piecing several charity/comfort quilt tops and also the latest Quilting Life BOM (which is at the top).

Progress on my goals

1.  Finish UFOs - The quilting on my “Jewel Box Stars” remained paused.

2. decrease stash fabric-

Stash fabric used or added:

this past week-  Used: 3 yds Added: 0 yds
So far this year- Used: Used: 85.5 yds Added: 17.25 yds

3. make charity/comfort quilts

    My version of “Bursting Forth” is a top. I added extra strips to the sides to give it more width. This was an easy block using the pieces cut with my AccuQuilt dies #13 and 15. I look forward to doing more with them.

    The 3 yard quilt “Stepping Up” is a top with the addition of an extra  ½ yard for a special mitered border. In Debbie Caffrey's Craftsy class “Clever Cuts” she demonstrates using strip sets to create special accent mitered borders. I thought my little 3 yard quilt would be the perfect place to give one a try. Debbie suggests a narrow accent strip. I made mine wider to have less left over fabric from the 1 yard. I have not sewn the last corner so I can share the technique with my quilt group. I look forward to trying some of her other tips.

Goals for this week:

1. finish quilting Jewel Box Stars

2. choose a UFO and make progress
3. quilt a comfort quilt for my church group.

Stay safe and healthy while enjoying some time sewing and quilting.