Last BOM / last blog post of 2012

Here is the final block of the month for Craftsy's 2012 BOM with Amy.  Next month we will put them together with sashing and whatnot and final month (Dec) we will finish them.  Hopefully Craftsy will do a 2013 BOM as it was a lot of fun!

Life is really busy for me right now with work, home life, crafting, grandbaby being born in a few months. 

If you've wandered to this blog and have been reading, thank you.  I hope when I pick up blogging again, I'll be able to do a nice blog like some of the ones I frequently read.  Alas, I haven't had much time for that either.

Happy Holidays and keep crafting!

October Craftsy BOM

This is the Craftsy BOM #1 for October.  I've started #2 but it isn't as easy as I had hoped.  Will need to finish it soon.

Today,  I used a coupon at Joann's and picked up 5 battings and 13 yards of fabric (one 8 yard piece and a 5 yard piece of black kona) for backings. 

I wanted to can some chicken stew but can't find where I put my Ball Blue Canning book and spent a good part of the day looking for it.  Finally went to the bookstore and found a more recent version of Ball Home Preserving book.

Graduation Quilts Nearly Finished

 Here is the jelly race quilt I did at the Sew-In on the 15th.  It is the last of the 'graduation quilts' I have to do until my youngest nephew (he's about 10 or 11 now) graduates from high school.

Now I have three graduation quilts to finish (quilt, bind, label) along with two wall hangings and then a Christmas wall hanging I'd like to get done for this year but we'll see.  I also have knitting and crochet projects I'd like to get done for the holidays too.

 

 

September Block of the Month

Finally finished my blocks-of-the-month for the Craftsy BOM online class I'm taking.  Curved piecing -- while the blocks are very pretty, the process is not easy.  I am thinking that it will be a while before I attempt these again. 

Applique Top is Done!

I finished the top.  Once I figured out what to do with the applique (it looked a little scary, my thought, with the 'possum' hanging from the tree with her sleeping babies) portion, the rest was easy.


So I decided to remove the possum and her sleeping babies but had to replace it with something as I 'incorporated' the extra tree limb.

 

So below you can see that I added a swing.  Intially it was empty but you could still see a trace of the possum babies (we won't even go into how that happened).  So I tacked a raccoon down and he's happy swinging while the toddlers are sleeping. 

 

Here is the finished top to the wall hanging.  Now I'm going to work on the back putting all the scrap fabrics together.

 

 

Made my own continuous binding too!  Using the following link:

 

http://modernquiltlove.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/how-to-make-continuous-bias-binding/

 

Initially I didn't see how that small piece of fabric would make enough binding for my wall hanging but it made more than enough.  So now, I will also pick up fabric to make my own double fold bias binding in whatever print/color I deem appropriate instead of using pre-made.

 

Now that the top is done, I'm off to a sew-in with some ladies from the Ohio Valley Quilt Guild (Cincinnati).  I've never done this and I'm looking forward to a day of quilting with others who feel the same.  I am bringing a home-made jelly roll to turn into a quilt top for my nephew.  It's the last of the graduation quilts.  How liberating it will feel once they are all machine quilted, bound and off to their new homes.

 

Need to go and finish some things around the house before I need to leave.

 

Happy Stitching!

September Already!

It's hard to believe that September is here all ready!  The year is passing so quickly.  I've no ambition to do anything but 'chilling' just doesn't feel right. 

I played with the pattern for the GD#1's hoodie to make it larger.  She's two and I'd like to make it a little bigger so she can wear it longer.  I dug out my green yarn (I seem to have a few skeins fortunately three are the same dye lot) and did my gauge.  Then I calculated how to make it just a tad bigger.

I have the Possum Patch wall hanging sitting on the sewing machine ready to go.  I made the swing and now need to tack down the words, stitch them down and move on to the border (piecing... yeah!!)

I'm doing a "Sew In" with some women from my quild (Ohio Valley Quilters' Guild in Cincinnati) on the 15th.  I have my material ready in a container to take with me.  DS#2's birthday is the 14th but when you're turning 24, Mom & Dad aren't necessary to celebrate. 

I'm making smothered beef for dinner and need to get the pasta going. 

Hope everyone is enjoying a safe and fun holiday weekend!

Blessings ~~

Applique Wall Hanging

Applique is not my speciality -- I prefer piecing but I promised Sis #1 that I'd make a wall hanging for the learning center she runs. A kit has been purchased through Connecting Threads and now I'm adapting it.  The original plan called for a mom possum with babies to hang from the tree branch which I extended  It didn't work out.  The possum was scary looking to me.  This will be in a toddler room where they are to nap.  So the game plan now is to add a rope swing, move the words "Patch" down along the grass line and then begin piecing the borders.

 



I pinned the tree trunk and the top instead of using adhesive to keep them flat so it's a little poufy.  My sis says that's fine.  Hopefully I can finish the rest so it will look nice.  Once I'm through the applique phase,  I will be a happy quilter. 

Other excitement would be that I'm working on a baby afghan for my oldest son's 2nd child who should be arriving in February sometime.  Mom and baby are doing okay.  The afghan is a shell-type stitch done up in yellow and white.  Very pretty.  I'm thinking of doing a layette set as well.  Then I'd like to do something for the baby's older sister -- saw the cutest hoodie sweater and the directions are on Ravelry. https://www.ravelry.com 

Hubby thinks green would be a nice color for Granddaughter #1.  I'm inclined to agree.

So that's what I've been up to plus assisting DS#2 (dear son #2) and his GF (girlfriend) with lodging logistics.

Blessings!