A happy week with a surprise

It is finally spring! at least that is what the calendar says, but as for our weather, still winter, but they keep saying that is going to get warmer, temps are supposed to get to plus 4 *C this week , we will see.

I had a good week , busy but good, At work a sewing sister decided to clear out some of her stash of fabric and asked me if I would like some, I said ok....Yes I know I am on a fabric fast, and do not need any more fabric, but could not help myself and said yes,, This was last week and did not think anymore of it, well Monday comes and she says she has a small box for me, she mostly quilts  but has not been sewing much and knows that I have started to quilt, I say thank you and start work. the workday ends and I meet her at her car, ,,, She has a huge box, full of quilting fabric, good thing I had a ride home, no way I could have gotten this home on a city bus!

The box is full of flat quarters most with the tags still on! and a few scraps from her projects, One project was a panel with cats playing, with the binding all ready to go, all as I have to do is find a fabric in my stash for backing and quilt it, I was so happy and touched by her gift to me I have  made her a thank you present, a mug rug using some scraps that were in the box, all brown tones,, made it Monday night and gave it to her Tuesday at work, she loved it!!!

As for what else I have been up too, I made another mug rug, and played with making a few test blocks

 

Test blocks(can you spot my mistake)

work in progress

more test blocks

Cat panel that I love

Well that it all for this week happy sewing to all

 

Busy Busy

Happy st patty's day.
Today is a special day for me, not because it is st Patty's day but it is a date that means allot to me. you see today marks 28 years that my love john and I would have been together, I miss him every day still, hard to believe that it has been 8 years since he passed, cancer is a evil thing and I pray that one day soon there will be a cure.
So what have I been up too, well I have finished 2 quilts, one baby quilt and one lap size

Baby quilt close up

 

I also made 3 receiving blankets and 3 burb cloths and a bib from stash fabric for the gift, The lady who this is for did not get any given to her at her baby shower , which surprised me and her , normally most people get tons of them , but she did not, so I thought I would add some to my present to her. will be giving them to her tomorrow at work, I hope she likes them, will post later and let everyone know how it went.
I also finished the lap quilt

 

I stippled quilted the whole quilt edge to edge and used the leftover bits to piece the back, I really like how it turned out, the stitches are not perfect but are getting better,

Sewing from stash has gotten better, so far this month I have sew up 6 meters and there is still two weeks left to go , so hopefully I will be able to sew up 4 to 5 more
happy sewing to all

1 baby quilt and 1 lap quilt started

Happy daylight savings, spring is getting closer! I had to move all my clocks ahead 1 hour today, I forget how may clocks I have till the power goes out or daylight savings happens,

what I have been up to this week is started a lap quilt and a baby quilt, now normally I would not have two projects on the go at the same time but started the lap quilt and then decided to make a baby quilt for a lady at work who is due in April so time is a ticking on getting it done.
The lap quilt is being made out of stash material and batting , I cut the fabric into 2 and 1/2 inch strips and pieced them and then turned them into blocks, I used this video
 http://quiltingtutorials.com/all/amazing-jelly-roll-quilt-pattern-3-dudes/ form the Missouri star Quilt co, she explains in so much better then I can , so far it has turned out great. She has a lot of good ideas, and I have learned a lot form watching her.

The lap quilt is basted and all that I have to do is quilt and bind it.

 I used the left over scrap fabric to piece the back , as I have seen it on a number of quilts lately and I really like the look, I don't know if this is a new idea but it is new to me,

As for how I am going to quilt it , I am not sure if I am going to stipple it or quilt in the ditch.

 

The baby quilt is also ready to quilt, it is basted and I am just marking the design on it . All the fabric for this quilt is new to the stash, so it doesn't count to my stash reduction but that is ok , I think that the baby it is for will love it.

Well I must get back at it , happy sewing to all , till next week

The UFO Quilt is Done!!!!!!!!!

Happy Sunday.
Today is my girls 30th Birthday!! woow, I cant believe how fast time goes, seems like only yesterday they were babies,, Happy Birthday L and V, hope you have a great day,
As the title of this post says, the quilt is done, thank goodness, it feels great to have it finished and soon it will be off to its new home

I have to say that in making this quilt I learned a lot , and I think my skills have got a little bit better, but they need more work, some of the stitches are not as straight as I like  but in time I home to improve , and they say practice does help..and the new owner knows that this is a practice quilt for me and that there are a few mistakes , but that is ok ,, good thing,, for me and the new owner.

As for my stash sewing for Feb , not so good , only managed to sew 5 meters up from stash, not including quilt top as it was already pieced. For march I hope to get at least 10 meters sewn, we shall see....
happy sewing to all

busy week , but not much sewing

Well it is Sunday again , were did the weekend go,, work week goes way to slow and the weekend just fly by,, oh well, such is life..
Lets sew what is new this week, My daughter called  and told me that she has adopted a puppy, it is a beagle cross, I have not met him yet , but have see a pic , his name is tubs, but that I think will change, the grand kids will have a ball with him that is for sure, puppy's are a lot of work that is for sure but they are worth the work. lots of love and kisses
The work week was well not one of my better ones, but I got though it, hopefully next week will be better,with the way work went I did not get much sewing done on the quilt, but I have made some progress, all the free motion work is done, and I have started quilting the borders, hopefully I will have them done though the week, then all I have to do is make the binding and put it on,  I have decided to use the burgundy backing fabric that I was going to use the first time, enough of it is in good shape to use for the binding, sorry no pic this week camera is in the charger
Happy sewing to all

Ah yes progress is made !

Happy Sunday Feb 17
I am happy to say things are going well at sew little time, Quilt is basted and is being sewn, yay .
The quilting wall worked great, love how much easier it is to baste with 505 spray, it was so much easier than pin basting and so far it has been much easier to sew,
I changed my mind on the backing fabric instead of the burgundy which was in bad shape after all the stitches were removed I am using a light brown /beige that I have had in my stash for way too long , so that is 4 meters used so far this month, the burgundy will be used as muslin fabric before being thrown away, so not much is lost on it.

 

quilt at machine

 

 

stippling

 

I am using free motion quilting to quilt the main part of the quilt with a variegated thread doing a stipple stitch and it is going well , no puckers or skipped stitches which is what made me stop working on this quilt so long ago  
It is hard to see in pics maybe you can see in pic of back

    
I have Monday off , it is a stat holiday here  called family day , so I have a full day to sew , and I will be getting paid for it, how good is that! well that is all for now , going back to the sewing room .
Happy sewing to all

What I have been up to this week

lets see.. we had a large amount of snow happen on Friday well over 30cm here, what a mess, now the temp is going up to the plus side of things and we are going to a get rain on Monday. Wish the weather would make up its mind and just turn to spring!

removing stitches

worked only 4 days this week due to the snow so Friday was a day to putter around , I did manage to finish ripping out all the threads from the quilt and remove all the little bits of thread, what a job that was, but now it is ready to re quilt but first I have to baste it .

which leads me to this project ,, I have made a quilting wall! used Styrofoam insulation board the type that u can get at any hardware store and used a type of clocking that can be removed form the wall with out causing any damage, it is the type use for putting up plastic storm sheeting on windows and is easy removed, I live in a rented apt , so I have to be careful not to damage the wall. And what gave me the idea to do this you may ask,, well I want to spray baste it and i was looking at you tube to see how it is done and saw a  lady who used ceiling tiles to make a quilting wall, she also is the one who spray bastes all her quilts using her wall.

After the wall was up I covered the wall with some fabric  and now it is  ready to go, I used thumb tacks to attach the fabric along the edges of the foam broad,  and will use pins for pinning fabric to the wall, in the pic above I have pinned the quilt top to see how it works, so far so good,.

Well that is all for now happy sewing to all