almost finished to flimsy

Tada! Done with today's sewing with almost a completed flimsy of the January Joined at the Hip button-up. There is supposed to be a snowflake made with wool strips on either side of the wording. I'm not sure what I can substitute. Felt maybe?? The vest is supposed to be embellished with buttons but not till it is quilted!

I will work on the machine applique part tomorrow. While I am it, I plan to do the honors on the "Winter" wall hanging. It has been up waiting for me on the design wall since mid-November and last seen HERE.

That's my plan. It has been fun playing with this project!

It has been a busy day. Because we are expecting rain by week's end I thought it might be a good idea to take down the Christmas decorations. We store the boxes out in the shed so this way there was not tracking in mud or the elements. Why does it always take so much longer to put this out than up? The snowman decorating stuff will remain out and all the wall hangings were switched out. Guess we are all ready for 2011 now!

WIP Weds, wk #52

Ready, set, sew at my house this morning.

Yesterday I pulled fabric for the January Joined at the Hip QOM AKA JATH QOM along with backing and binding for the base and the QOM. You can catch a peek of it in my work area. The pieced sections are all cut out and kitted up as are the appliqued bits.

I am going with a black background though. A search through the plaid and homespun box Monday night yielded no blue stripe to go under the applique word "January". What I did find was two selections in a black that would work. I also have black star fabric in the stash that could be used plus backing options for both the base and the quiltlet. Black, it is then! Shop your stash first, right? I am not seeking to make an exact replica of the picture anyway.

While re-organizing the plaid/homespun box by color groupings the other night, I pulled scraps that would work for the Oxmoor Christmas sampler. I have several courthouse steps and ornaments to foundation piece for it. Also found a square in a square project I had started (wondered where that had gone!) and a pile of cut bricks from a previous donation top. You can call those bricks "seedlings" towards another top, LOL. That box is stuffed to the gills since I came back from a trip to IL with my mom's plaid collection to add to my own. Even though I raided it to make the calendar quiltlets I have barely made a dent in it. The reds and green plaids can used in the Christmas quilt but I definitely should re-visit those two UFOs.

I have been up about an hour and a half now---still schlepping around in my jammies but have pressed both backings and cut binding out for the base unit which I forgot to cut yesterday. As soon as I throw beef stew makings in the crockpot and get dressed I am going to hit the machine. A couple of my FAB buds are off this week so I have company while we work together on our projects.

By New's Year day I will switch gears and pull a project from the UFO drawers. What you do on that day you will do all year long so it has long been a tradition for Wrap Them In Love supporters to sew for Wrap 'Em and commit some of our time and talents to the cause. I was a less active participant this past year, probably a year where I quilted more than I originated again. Seeing as I have been at it since the fall of 99, I was due a little break for personal projects, I would say. I have already established my 2011 goals of emptying out two drawers in new storage unit with UFO/donation project and then a reward. I will put that into practice even if the base and January are NOT finished up or quilted. Hold me to that?

finished to flimsy

Whipped this base for the Joined at the Hip QOM last evening. Not much to it really but this is probably the quickest any Christmas gift got made up. I substituted a different fabric for the center they sent with something from my stash. Seeing as the center will be obscured by the quilt buttoned onto this, I plan to use the kit center from piecing one of monthly/seasonal projects.

It is marked for quilting a basic grid. Last night I toyed with the idea of quilting it up today. That didn't and won't happen. With further thought and a wish to avoid switching out the machines yet again, I will wait till I have the January quiltlet done and do them both at the same time. I had also thought I would pull fabric for the aforementioned quiltlet but that didn't and probably won't happen till tomorrow.

This has just been a rather odd day. I had one of those sleepless nights so slept in later than I planned. When I did get up, I had grocery errands to run. After lunch, DJ and I needed to return a gift but finding a replacement took an extra stop. We also did a "while we are close" stops and the day is just getting away from me. It still feels like today is Sunday..... after the last 3 days feeling like Sunday, LOL. These holidays will throw one for a loop, won't they?

Time to start thinking about supper preparations. I'm guessing it will be a redwork plus TV viewing evening. 2nd part of the two part "Closer" is on.

Have a good evening and thanks for stopping by-------

finished to flimsy

The Pieces from the Heart stitchery cat blocks top that I dis-assembled last weekend is again a top. I sewed a bit yesterday afternoon and evening and finished up this afternoon.

Since it is always good to shop your stash first, the backing fabric is an old Alexander Henry fabric that I have had for years. The selvage reads 1995 if that gives you any idea of just how long, LOL. There is a bit of it left that will probably make its way into a donation quilt at some point. The cat heads are like 4 inches in height lending themselves to something fussy cut. A bit of that creamy sashing fabric is left as well but a big dent was made in both yardages.

What is next, you may ask? I am definitely doing a "reward" project. Well, DJ gave me the money to purchase some Joined at the Hip Button Up BOMs that I have been considering for some time. (I got another fabric type gift that will surface down the line as well.) I have loved doing little monthly projects to decorate our home the last two years. 2011 will be no different. The seasonal ones offered on the website, maybe the cat might be added to my wish list. I ordered the base unit kit mainly to see what color fabrics they used that will blend with future months and the first 3 months patterns. I surely have similar fabrics that I can use my own stash for the quiltlets. I plan to get the base unit done this week, maybe even do the snowman for January. Then I want to make some of the blocks for the Oxmoor Christmas quilt while I am still in a holiday mood.

Thanks for stopping by--------and Happy Boxing Day to those of you who celebrate it.

Merry Christmas y'all!

It is snowing and has been since about 8 this morning. The temps must have been very close to the freezing mark and fluctuating . The ground and bushes were dusted once but it appeared to have melted off at one point but it is covered up now! Almost 5 p.m. and still coming down in big fat flakes.

Now to let you know just how rare this is---our weather guy said that there had not been measurable snow on Christmas day here in central Alabama since the 1800's when they started keeping records of such things. Unbelievable!


I went out to take a few pictures a little bit ago. The gardenia bush branches are getting a little weighted down with the snow. It is that wet heavy kind that is perfect for snowballs or for making a snow ball. I tried to get a picture of the folks across the road who were doing that very thing---the kids were laughing and having a ball out there!


This looks a bit fuzzy but I took out a ruler to see just how much snow has fallen. I poked it into both the yard and several spots on my car---1 inch and counting.

I hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas weekend. DJ and I celebrate ours on Christmas Eve and had our holiday meal at noon. It is quiet here with just the two of us and Skyler. Holidays tend to make me homesick for our families and Illinois but it is just not feasible to be driving back when who knows what kind of weather you would get into between here and there.

If you were fortunate enough to get away to be with family and friends, be safe in your journeys.

WIP Weds, wk #51

Not the best picture but I am quilting my long ago Christmas log cabin. I am not even sure when exactly that this top was made---just that was started after I had been asked to show a class at the tech school in Jacksonville how to piece. I had shared my strip boxes with the class. Sometime in the last 10 yrs anyway, LOL.

I know you don't usually sash these but there was just sooooo much red and green that it needed the gold that I had used at the centers. It is big but with thin batting I have not been struggling with it as much as I thought I might. I was not sure how I wanted to quilt it but it occured to me to just quilt a big star on it with multi-color red and green quilting thread. I've quilting on it for two days and have 12 of the 48 blocks to go.

LOL, you know where to find me--watching movies or Hulu on the computer and finishing up tomorrow. And if you were wondering, this was NOT on my "10n10" list but it will be one less thing atop the bedroom dresser in the coming year.

looking ahead and a finish

Norma asked me over the weekend if I had considered what goals I wanted to reach this next year with regards to the UFOs and such. We were going to try to commit to completing 10n10. Of course, that led to some re-examination of whether those goals were attained or whether they got shoved aside in favor of something new that attracted our attention. How many things are we going to carry over into next year?? Are we even interested in continuing with them or is it time to give them away, make it a smaller project, whatever. Would we be biting off more than we can chew it we call it 11 n 11?

I know how I work and having to list every blessed half done project or kit I have in my possession would depress me no end. I have better luck if I work on the reward system---for example quilt my way thru a stack of some donation quilts and then I get to piece something that I have wanted to do. Similar to a carrot dangling in front of me, LOL.

Because I want to move two of the cut strips bins into the new storage drawers I just got I would like to commit to " sewing my way to space" and empty out two of the UFO drawers to replace them with strips. Each month I think I will pick a project from either the storage drawers or one of the pizza box kits. That seems do-able. I have a good idea of what the "rewards projects" could be. There will always be deadline work (gifts to make, quilt group challenges) There will always be a BOM, either piecing or stitching but I should be able to make this plan work for me.

So what are you looking at above?? My Pieces from the Heart calendar cat blocks (designed by Sandy Gervais) pinned top that has been living first in my bedroom closet and then the armoire top antiquing. I was unhappy with the setting. What was I thinking making it a landscape rather than a portrait set? It will never fit in the hanging space above my bed like this!

I got out the ripper to make it "right" to my mind, anyway. It took me most of yesterday afternoon and evening but it is ready to be re-sewn in a 3 x 4 set. To put the blocks in order by month, I had to take the whole thing apart. I had sewn the blocks in vertical columns with a long piece of sashing between columns which is something I never, ever do. Yeah, it was work but I will be more happy with the quilt for doing it. Sewing in the opposite direction, right?

Saturday and even this morning I was still dinking around with the Oxmoor quilt designs but more of less, trying to patch draw. UGH but I need more practice there. EQ7 has a nice free hand drawing button but I have such problems trying to work with the bezier curves. I feel like a cowboy with a wild lariat with that thing! I have declared myself done, for real this time and will start piecing on it next week. Should be fun to see that sketch come to life. A couple of my pals have some extra time off between Christmas and New Years so no doubt we will spur each other on as we often do.

Now this one you see is a Joined at the Hip pattern that I pieced who remembers exactly when. I quilted it during my last quilting siege in late November. I got the binding finished right after supper. Cross another thing off the 10n10 list. If I decide to do the binding on my Daisy Chain, I can cross something else off my list but I sincerely doubt that will happen tomorrow, LOL. My fingers are not happy with me after a small project let alone a queen sized quilt!

Just looking at the list I posted about a year ago, the specific Dinosaur UFOs I wanted to work on were not touched. My Two of a Kind/Cheap Trick is still half done. One that I wanted to finish quilting is still waiting.

BUT I refuse to beat myself up about that. I still got a lot done this year though less donation quilt work than in past years. Even that is okay as my own stuff has been put off long enough. I had a ball working on the redwork hearts earlier this year. That top is waiting to be pinned but it IS done. I am still working on my Santa redwork too but the main blocks are done and WILL be a flimsy next year sometime! I loved working on my 12 BOM quiltlets too. I made birthday gifts for each of the FABs and participated in two challenge projects, three counting the quilt group one. DJ has a new made by me quilt on his bed (strip twist) and I will have another one soon. (Daisy Chain). I just whipped up that Christmas Patience Corner this month---still needs borders but that will be done at some point.

So one a month will work for me-- 11 in 11 and use the reward system so I don't get bored.

THX for stopping by-----till next time.