WIP Wednesday Nov 4, 2015

I know - it's really Friday - not Wednesday....

But it's been a busy week!  And an aggravating one!  One of those weeks when you set out to do some tasks and they go nuts on you....

Like....

I went to sandwich my Japanese lady quilt top....  I laid down the backing, used the spray baste on it.... laid down the batting...... spray baste...... and then carefully laid down the top.   Well - I made a mistake in measuring and the top was larger than both the backing and batting.... ARRGGHHHH......   What that means for me is that now I have a backing and batting that are too small for the top AND tacky with spray glue :-(   Can I recover from this?
Of course!  But I was so aggravated at the time, that I knew I needed to STOP
put my stuff away
and move on....

 (I had a few others to sandwich but decided to move on completely since this didn't go well... I will revisit the sandwich day another time!)

So...... I decided to look for the leftovers from my jelly roll quilt so I could make the binding.  I knew I had put it in a safe place - and you know what that means.   Yep - took me THREE days to locate it!

In the meantime, I busted through my white / off white scraps, cleaning up the collection into sizes I could use.  (when I can't figure out what to do with myself project-wise, I neaten up my scraps).  Weird week... went through my blue scraps again too.

And I had offered to make treat bags for my granddaughter's birthday party with the specialty fabric I found on vacation

I'm not sharing the tutorial for the reversible bag because I found it cumbersome and hard to manage.  And I'm not thrilled with the way they turned out.   That said, they are treat bags for a birthday party and they are in the correct theme so it's all good.  8 reversible (snowman / princess) and 6 unlined snowman.  Not particularly thrilled with the construction of any of them..... which does make me want to try again MY way and see how that goes....  ah... the challenge!  Another day..

The week was a little hectic.  I work as a substitute librarian sometimes and a coworker has been ill and in the hospital - so I've been called in to work a few shifts.  Added to my regular week makes things a little nuts - not bad nuts :-)  But change is always uncomfortable!

Meanwhile, I found the leftovers!

which I will have to rip out the seams and stitch together

and then press into a binding

I do love the way the crazy pile of strips turns into a neat roll of binding :-)  I machine stitched it onto the quilt and now all I need to do is hand stitch it down, put on a label and assess for finishing details.   My handwork basket is growing again!

I finished the last 2 lovies..... which I FORGOT to take a picture of.... more impressive was the overstuffed kitchen trash bag FULL of the 31.  I delivered them to my daughter and she promised to give me a pic of them as she fills the bags for the pediatric patients

And finally, for this week, the birthday gift!  A mermaid tale snuggle.... There are about a million patterns out there now - but when I started this one - this link is what I used.   I do think my granddaughter will love it EXCEPT that it is in fact a blanket - NOT a dress up item.   We might have to finagle some fastenings at the waist to make it more fun....  we shall see

Fortunately all I had to do to finish was the tail....  I have one in progress for my other granddaughter but it is about 2/3 finished.  I put them away when the summer got too hot to work on them - they are heavy and warm!  I was fussing the other day and all I had to do was sew on the tail!

So that's it for this week....  what's in YOUR craft basket?

WIP Wednesday.. 10/7/2015

Works in Progress!!

One of my fave things to share - especially when I am actually doing something :-)

And I AM!

I put these hexie flowers together on my road trip last week

I'm still not sure how I want to put them together - but I am beginning to think with all the variety of greens, I will probably have another round of off white separating them.. I don't know yet :-)  I think I have about 10 flowers finished at this point



Still crocheting away on the 31 little blankies....  I've hit 20 now!  Getting there slowly.....  this is FIVE....  still haven't bought any yarn....

Still working on quilt sandwiches....

This a scrappy wall hanging I pieced while I was finishing up the last set of scrappy blockss I was piecing....   Loving scraps and such an elegant kitty.  Hmm.... will I get it quilted and bound in time to hang it for Halloween?  Of course!  But THIS Halloween.... not so sure...


Have actually quilted and machine stitched the binding on some of the sandwich pile.....

(which, of course, now adds to the handwork pile!)

Two of these need more actual quilting on them... but they are closer to finished!

 And that is that for now.....  still working on finishing up!  Including full bed-size quilts for 4 of my grands....  pieced fronts and backs..... will do a post on those soon!

Happy crafting!

Day 207 - Wednesday WIP

After last week's adventures with my grandchildren, I still haven't gotten back in the swing of things!

I have spent the last few days CUTTING!  Catching up on cutting my stash into usable pieces that work with the scrappy projects I have in progress.  I cut up my browns and my reds and finished up with my purples....  I still need to share the colors as I do them.  I have grand plans to do a post or two on the way I cut up and organize my stash.

I've been cutting scraps for the Christmas quilts I have in progress for 4 of the grands..... will share more on that later.  One side of the girls' quilts is done and I am piecing the back to make a reversible quilt... both sides come with a Book :-)

And for the boys, I am doing a bed-sized quilt that is also a roadway play mat....  All 4 quilts are so scrappy that I will have leftovers and will probably have to make another one or two of each and then figure out what to do with them.  But that is a problem for another day!

I was confident of my receiving blankets but when I asked the question - I found out they are not needed.  So, rather than finish them now... I will put the set away and see what happens next!   If a boy arrives and I need a gift, they will be a cinch to finish up with a little more of a border!

I finished the lap blanket for the VA hospital.  Considering it is what I concocted from a bag of random donated balls of yarn, I think it looks pretty good!

And my daughter and granddaughter are working on a project filling bags for pediatric cancer patients.  They are looking for people to sponsor bags for $20 - and I volunteered to make little lovie blankets for each sponsor.  So far I have to make 8 (and have one done!).  

Needless to say I'm pretty proud of my girls.  The patients will get nice 31 thermal bags filled with goodies!  The lovies will be extra but I like the idea of adding to their project and encouraging them.

That's about all I have to share for this week.  I'll have to see what I can do for next week to be a little more impressive...

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?