Sunday, December 29, 2013

Slow Stitching Week

My Slow Stitching has not just been limited to Sunday. I have been working on this ABC Baby Quilt all week since I am on winter break.

Yesterday, I stitched all the stars in the border.

I attached binding this morning and will finish it by hand today.

Next up, I will finish the four embroidery blocks for the summer quilt. It is also my last season to go.


I hope to piece the summer blocks tonight and tomorrow into something like this and pin it for hand quilting. I have a couple of more posts planned for this week, but Google + is being very slow to upload my pictures! I also want to set some quilting goals for 2014 and keep track of my finishes on a sidebar...Guess I will have to figure out how to do that, at least I have another week off!!!


Sunday, December 8, 2013

Thread Organization

I had my hubby install these thread racks last weekend. I bought three of them for $9.99 each at Joann's. I put them under my perle cotton where they are out of the way, but easily accessible as I am working at my sewing machine...

I am storing the matching bobbins on top with the help of skewer pieces.

I buy my thread from Connecting Threads because it works well in my machine, it is 100% cotton, and it fits my budget. I order a couple of times a year when it is on sale. I have quite the rainbow started.



The cubbies on my sewing machine table were where my thread used to reside, but my quilt tops kept getting hooked on the spools and thread was being dragged all over my sewing room. I wish the drawers were on the left side and the thread cubbies were on the right, it seems like a design flaw!
I worked on the final blocks for this sampler I have been working on all year from the joinedatthehip blog. It will be completely together before December 31st, but probably not quilted.
I put the binding on my scarecrow quilt today and finished the hand work today. I hope to get outside to get some good pictures soon, but with a foot of snow outside, it might be a while! Hopefully, I will get some more time in my sewing room this week.


Thursday, December 5, 2013

Sewing Snow Day

As I posted yesterday, today was our first snow day in 20+ years. I grew up in southern California where there were not snow days, but we missed school for major wildfires because schools became evacuation centers... I did not get out of my pajamas with 12 inches of snow outside and 10 degrees for most of the day, I was not going anywhere! I was slightly delayed in getting to my sewing room as my teenager did not get up until 10:30am and I did not want to dare waking her up. So, I worked on handwork until the coast was clear.

I have been working on the Shush I'm Doing the ABC BOW challenge. I confess that I got impatient and just decided to finish the blocks and put it all together. The blocks were simple and went together very quickly.


I added the borders last night since I could stay up late knowing I did not have to go to work today. I used scraps for the blocks and the border fabric came from my stash. All the perle cotton I already had on hand. I will also find a backing in my stash, which means the only thing I purchased to make this quilt is the book. I also bought the book for 50% off from Connecting Threads. (Can I tell you how much I love shopping at Connecting Threads? I love their thread, their fabric, and all the books they price so well!!!)

These pictures are not the best because they were taken inside. I will get better ones when it is all quilted!

I was worried about the blue border fabric being too busy, but I like it!

I used brighter fabrics than were shown in the book, but I think they make the quilt more intriguing. I find myself studying the blocks as it hangs in my sewing room.

I plan on hand quilting the fabric surrounding the embroideries with a neutral perle cotton. I think some primitive stars will be cute in the blue border.

If it wasn't so cold in my garage right now, I would get out there and pin it now, but I think I will wait until tomorrow when I get home from work and am not wearing pajamas and it should be warmer.

The puppy block is my favorite and I embroidered in colors the same as our youngest dog and the perpetual puppy (she is over 3 years old now!), Bella. Unlike Bella, this embroidered puppy behaves! I do not have a baby in mind yet for this quilt, but I will just add it to my stock of baby quilts ready to gift.

This afternoon, I also made these Kindle pouches for my niece and nephew for Christmas. They are getting Kindle Fires from their parents and I said I would make these. I also put Kindle gift cards in them.

My elf, the teenager, is wrapping them as I type.Space fabric was requested since I could not find any Harry Potter fabric. I followed Kelly over at My Quilt Infatuation's fabulous tutorial.


I whipped up these blocks this morning. They are the final two blocks for the Country Threads BOM Sampler. I got an email from Country Threads today saying they are working on the putting them all together instructions and hopefully, I will have the top together before January 1st!

I think my first snow day ever was really productive! I also washed all the flannel sheets and remade the beds. Cooked dinner in the crock pot, we are having Swedish meatballs thanks to a recipe from Pinterest. (I cannot believe I actually had all the ingredients on hand!) Plus, I traced some more embroideries to work on tonight as hubby and I watch the Thursday night NFL game on our new 60 inch flat screen (it was a very early Xmas and anniversary present). I hope we get another snow day sooner than the 20+ years since the last one!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Snow Day!

This is what it looks like out my front door this afternoon! We did have school today and it was a treacherous drive in, but the drive home was worse. Before I even made it home, I got a phone call that tomorrow is a snow day! You would think that we get snow days here in Colorado every year and most school districts do, but not ours. There has not been a snow day in over 20 years, so this is a very special occasion. I guess 10 inches today and more expected, plus icy conditions warranted our snow day tomorrow.

You can see my plowed driveway. We have a very large, circlular driveway and my poor hubby spent 3 hours plowing it today. I was able to pull my car straight into the garage where it will remain until I am forced to return to work. I am defrosting some ground meat right now and am planning to make a large pot of chili as my hubby requested for dinner. And of course I will be spending my luxurious snow day in my sewing room and not getting out of my pajamas--I think that's how all quilters should spend a snow day!!!! Stay warm and cozy!

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Advent Calendar

Lots of bloggers were sharing the advent calendars they were making in November, so I thought I would share mine. 

I made this advent calendar probably 10+ years ago. It was one of my first wool felt projects.

The design is by Jo Ann Mullaly. I love how it is primitive with some fun embellishments.


The patches each represent a day and you turn them over daily.

I personalized it using our names on the stockings.

I like the variety of patches with Santas, snowmen, trees, angels, and stockings.

I had to shop around for quite awhile to find all the buttons.

I have been really busy with my quilting this weekend and plan on getting outside to take some pictures of my progress.

What are you up to?