Tuesday, March 27, 2018

More Rainy Day Sewing

After another week of wet weather, I am beginning to feel like the rest of the snowbound stitchers out there.  The rains have been great and the weeds are busy growing and multiplying outside.  Meanwhile, I have avoided the garden gloves and weed puller and played with some fabrics and thread instead.

The weather has certainly made my temperature quilt more exciting.  The greens and yellows - cooler colors - have been prevalent for much of the month of March.  I can't believe how quickly the year's blocks are growing.




I even had one day where the temperature did not vary more than the three degrees within the color range for the whole day.  The high was 60* and the low was 57*.



Each month Michele and Sherri host the Minis and More Parade on the first day of the month.  A selected pattern is chosen to stitch up for that month and it is always so much fun to see the same pattern sewn in different fabrics and colors.  This month's design was Mini Painted Ladies.  I used some Kaffe Fasset charms for mine.  Instead of a rectangle, I made mine into a square so it can be used as a table topper instead.  This would be a great full sized quilt.





Although I am terrible at remembering to wear an apron, I had a request from my niece for a "retro" apron.  I can remember my grandmother wearing pretty aprons and this reminded me of her.  The bib is removable and reversible.




While looking for something completely different, I came across a cross stitched collar that I made years ago for our daughter for Easter.  I found some great fabric in my stash and made a dress to go with it and gave them to my daughter for one of her girls.  Pardon the dark photos, but it was a gloomy day.





Continuing along the Easter theme here, I recently saw a wonderful paper pieced pattern on IG.  I sewed up one as a gift for a dear friend and then had to make one for our home too.  The piece is title Good Friday and is by Paper Panache.



Our son and his family are coming for Easter so computer time will be lacking.  I wish everyone a blessed Easter.

Linking up with Midweek Makers and Freemotion by the River.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Rainy Day Sewing

Unlike many of you on the "other" coast with all of your snow, we are enjoying some rainy days here.  It has been sorely lacking this year so it makes for pleasant days of settling in for some fun sewing.

While my sister was visiting she convinced me that I should join her in sewing a Postcards From Sweden quilt.  I'm so glad that she did as it is such a happy, colorful quilt.  I'm not sure how I will quilt it yet, but I really love it.  My sister (IG@alaskanquilter) has already started hers so I am excited to see how she likes it.

It's hard to get it all in one pictures, but you can see the gorgeous colors.


While stitching the rows together I had it hanging in front of a window and enjoyed the leaded glass look of it.


This is the background that I have chosen for it....wild and crazy colors too.



Also while she was down, we played a bit with my years old UFO of New York Beauty blocks.  I don't know why I hadn't sewn these together yet because they are some of my favorite sewn blocks.  Instead of the little bits for leaders and enders that I normally sew, I used these blocks.  The result is finally seeing them together.







I think I may do a Bordeaux narrow strip followed by a Flying Geese border to finish it off.

Marsha (IG@quilterinmotion) is our queen bee this month in our Gridster Bee.  This was her choice of blocks for us.  I love the crispness or a red, white and blue color combination.   I did two blocks, but forgot to photograph the other one.  ;-(



I watched a couple of the little ones this week.  Toby loves it when the kids are here because it is attention overload for him.



Life is good!

Linking up with Quilt Fabrication Midweek Makers, and Freemotion by the River,

Sunday, March 4, 2018

Small, Smaller, Smallest Blog Hop




Today is the kickoff day of the Small, Smaller, Smallest Blog Hop hosted by the amazing Carol of Just Let Me Quilt Blog.  I am looking forward to seeing all of the teeny, tiny pieces that will be created for this hop.

I have always enjoyed the challenge of making small pieces in my sewing journey.  It must be that the beginning of my sewing life started by making doll clothing.

For my project, I have selected a paper pieced mini quilt.  The Pineapple pattern has always been one of my favorites and paper piecing makes it so precise and tiny.  The entire piece measures out at 9 1/2 inches and is a completely scrappy project.



For the backing I used just a bunch of small pieces that were in the scrap bin.


If you are interested in trying this pattern, a mini pdf of the three inch block can be found at The Little Mushroom Cap

Another "small" bit of sewing that I completed was this year's 18" doll uniform for the grandchildren's school auction.  This year instead of a full uniform, I did a skort like many of the girls choose to wear.


Other than fabric postcards and mug rugs, another small sewing project that I have done in the past are puzzle pieces.  These are great fun for swapping.


Sewing small pieces is instant gratification.  I am looking forward to seeing what others are creating on a small scale.  I hope you will enjoy them too.  You can find other SMALL bits in these links below.