Crafting..... April finished and WIP

I am most excited to have my sewing machine in shape to actually begin to finish some of the tops I have basted and ready to quilt!  I have about 20 ready to go - and still 5 or so that need to be sandwiched.  But at least I am now finally beginning to finish some of the projects!

First two finished are for my daughter :-)  She loves whites and light neutrals and I have been working on a top for her for a while.  My dreams have been greater than my skill though so the one we've been working on is still in progress.  In the meantime, I did decide that each of my kids will have a quilt from me this year - and if I can't finish the ones I've been dreaming of... then they will get jelly roll quilts!  So- below are TWO... a full size & a bed runner - all white tone on tone:

The full size claimed by one family member

and - the runner quickly claimed as a 'couch quilt'

Success for me :-)

Everything else is a progress photo:

The temperature afghans growing...

Hats for the November charity project:

Mystery hexies :

3 more Sunbonnet Sues (makes 7 of 15 complete)

and 3 more flowers for Grandmother's Flower Garden:

I've worked on several more things.... more English paper piecing mostly.. but will share those next month as I complete some!

Day 214.. Work in Progress.... July 2015

Since I had the little grands for a week.... I've had a hard time getting back into the swing of things.  I had put most of my work away when I knew they were coming... and now I am having a hard time getting projects back into focus.

That said..... I have a whole list of things I can do when I am out of focus :-)  That is one of the blessings of having multiple projects in the works!

First off... I have been behind in my scrap management projects.  I have an ongoing scrap basket on my cutting table that could use a little sorting out..... PLUS all the separate containers of brown, orange and red (that I worked on last week)..... with beginnings of black/white & Christmas.  I'm not sure about what other categories of bins... maybe florals because they are hard to categorize by color.

Anyway - unfocused but ready to work....and still cutting..

at my weekly crafting group, a friend had remembered a quilt I am working on for the boys this Christmas and brought a garbage bag of scraps for me to go through.  SO I started cutting those up and refolding the rest to return to her... more browns and greens and golds....

I used my usual method and returned pieces to her that had been squared up and folded neatly and I gleaned lots of random pieces large and small to work into my projects....

In the midst of the cutting.... I realized there were plenty of half-done projects to complete while I was deciding where to focus....

The black top I added borders to a week or so ago... needed one more set of borders to make it a size I like better.  Adding an additional 6 inch border gave me an additional 11 finished inches all the way around...

And now this top is ready to add to the "square up" pile.

I hemmed a skirt for my granddaughter while I was working a little bit on the hexie flowers....  I had made a simply gathered skirt for her a year ago - and she likes them dragging on the ground.  Well... since last year... she GREW!  Fortunately I had put a large hem in it... and it can still drag :-)  And enough yet for another inch or two letdown.

I finished up the quick Japanese quilt I started a few weeks ago..... learning how to miter corners.   I do like the look - but need a LOT more practice!  I ripped each corner out twice - which is my limit! [unless things are absolutely terrible]  I am more than willing to overlook some flaws in my work as long as I continue to improve.

The mitered corner.....











...and the finished top.   One more for the 'square up' collection...  I am not sure how I will quilt it - but that is another problem for another day!











And one more little thing... started two more lovies for my daughter's project.  I had pledged a lovie blanket for each sponsor she finds (she was up to 8, I think) .. and I think she is almost up to 20 now.....  I will keep my pledge but not my time frame!  I will share those as I do them!

Day 186 WIP Wednesday

I am in a crafting place where I don't have any specific new project going on that is capturing my interest... so am using the time to work on some of those UFOs... unfinished objects.. that are lying around.  And I have a TON of those!

I wanted to work on finishing up some machine quilting.. so this happy garden quilt by Debbie Mumm was first priority.

And... the machine work is complete!  Now this project moves on to the handwork basket for embroidery and embellishment!


Next is piecing something OLD....  a project started around 2008.... before I had any grandchildren.  I had a dream that this would be for my first one.  Ha!  Not so much :-)  Anyway..I did most of the blocks back then and set them aside.  Over the course of this past year - as I have been cleaning out, I located them and finished the blocks.

This past week I cut the sashing and put the top together.  Still a LONG way from finished... at least it can move from the "unassembled blocks" collection... to the "unfinished tops" collection :-)

As I worked on projects, I tend to group them by thread color.  Most of my piecing is done with either white or natural... and I am working in natural this week!  A newer project - started 2015 - is a valentine wall hanging.  Well - the pattern called it a wall hanging but my personal walls need something a good bit smaller!

But I am going to finish it anyway and perhaps drape it over the back of a couch or something.  But for now - the top is completed.  It still needs to be squared up and put in the same pile as the toybox quilt.  This pattern is a log cabin version and from an Eleanor Burns book.  I did make one extra heart so I can still craft a hanging of a size I prefer.  Maybe a thin border and binding from the chocolate if I have enough.  The photo doesn't do it justice.. the neutrals are really subtle and pretty.

Crochet this week is edging for receiving blankets... one of the things my pregnant daughter most enjoys.

I do not enjoy this first part.... putting the base edging on the little thread border of the blanket!  I will share the finished product with you when I finally get these done.

AND.... I ended up with a library shift during the craft club meeting this week so I brought a bag of balls someone gave me and a hook and decided to work on a lap robe for the veterans hospital.   I'd say I'm about halfway through at this point..

More handwork in front of the tv....  I've gotten hooked on hexie flowers!  I always thought they would be so very tedious.... but am finding that I really enjoy them.  And they are small enough I may be able to transport them when I travel.

I will take better pictures later... but here is one of the flowers that I am beginning for what looks to be another years long project!


And, as a finale for this week's crafting, new kitchen curtains!

As a part of the new kitchen reno.. I decided to make new curtains...  I still like the old ones, but they are faded and it is time for a new look!  I found some butterflies that made me smile and have been putting off the project for a month or so...

I only know how to make one kind of curtain... I need to expand my repertoire!  BUT.. be that as it may....  I did get them done this week and they are hanging in my kitchen!

 The old ones, as I said are faded but the fabric is still good.  I am fairly confident that they will end up in my scrap fabric collection and into a project and no one will ever know!  [except you,of course and you won't tell, will you?]

What are you creating this week?

Wednesday Work in Progess July 30

Totally a change up week!

I planned to do my Traditional English Ladies assignment (choosing the fabrics for the next section) and spend the week actually quilting..........

but one of my grandgirls visited so I got on a pillowcase kick...  She and I went to the fabric store and she picked one for herself and helped me pick for her other two cousins...

AND.. I chose some fairy fabric for both little grandgirls who will be having a fairy pajama party with me in a few weeks... and a pirate one for my grandson's pirate birthday party coming up in September.  I'll be working on curtains and some other bedding for that too

and then we decided she needed an afghan for the car when it is cold - and I found some nice fluffy pink in my stash that needed to be used..

..and I FINALLY finished all 4 weeks of a crochet along at String with Style

Using up my stash - I only bought ONE skein of variegated to finish this up.  I have 4 choices in my stash for the final color that will connect them all....  I had one in mind when I started... but am leaning toward another... though all will work!

So - which would you choose?