FNSI Recap

 

It was sort of a last minute thing to take part in Friday Night Sew In. I was staying in that night but hadn't decided what I should work on. I'm not sure why, but I decided to make a pin cushion! I always wanted a good sized pin cushion to leave near my sewing machine. I have one of those magnetic blocks that holds my pins but I always tend to leave it behind when I sit down at the sewing machine. I felt Friday was the perfect night to make one! I used 3 inch batik squares. I used similar fabrics for the back. It was quick and functional to have around!

 

I also had made 4 labels that had to be sewn onto my finished quilts. I've been so negligent to hand applique these on. I make them on my sewing machine. I use stabilizer which I cut out when the embroidery is done. I iron the label onto freezer paper and baste. I hand applique and take the freezer paper out towards the end of hand stitching. It doesn't take long and it's nice to keep track of when a particular quilt was completed. Now, I feel as though my quilts are really done!

Thanks to Heidi for the great idea of staying in and sewing! It gave me a great opportunity to get a few things done!

Next Project

 

Even though I just finished the Twister quilt, I have to keep moving onto the next project! I pin basted the Puzzle Box quilt I made awhile ago. I really love how this top turned out. It's probably the most modern quilt I've ever made. I haven't chosen any sort of quilt pattern yet. I'm looking through books and looking at quilts on line. Something is sure to pop out at me. I have a few ideas but nothing for sure yet. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any ideas.

 

Here's the backing. I'm not sure how well the picture came out. It's black with multi-colored dots. It's actually from a Peanuts fabric line. I thought it would be neat to have straight lines on the front of the quilt while there were circles on the back.

I'm working the next two days and then we're scheduled to have another snow storm! Third weekend in a row! It should be over by Sunday evening. I'm getting really tired of all these storms. It's getting old real fast!

Enjoy your weekend!!

Twister is done!

 

I finished sewing down the binding on my Twister last night! So happy it's done! I'm quite happy with my quilting and thrilled to have a finished quilt. I plan on getting my label done today. I make labels using my sewing machine. The alphabet is quite pretty and makes a nice label. I just print out my name and the year. It's amazing how easy it is to forget just what year a quilt was made. It seems like you just finished something and it's really been 3 years, or more!

 

This is just a close up of the curls I quilted in this narrow border. It was only 1.5 inches wide. It's hard to find a design to fit such a small area. The curls were fun to make and quite easy. My husband says this quilt is his favorite so far. I wonder if that means he's claiming it?!

I have plenty left to do. I'm on the final block of Dresden plates. I can't wait to make that into a quilt top! I went to a quilt shop yesterday and think I've found the fabric for the sashing and borders. However, I was there on a President's Day special. You could buy 20 fat quarters for $20. If you knew the trivia question, you could get another free fat quarter! The question was who was the tallest American president. I guess Lincoln or Lyndon Johnson would have won since their heights were practically the same. So, I got 21 fat quarters for $20! It was such fun. The store was packed with quilters clutching huge piles of fat quarters. You had to buy all 20 or else pay regular price.

My Works in Progress consists of my Dresden plates and 3 quilt tops that need to be quilted. I also have my hexagon project that I pick up from time to time. I have no knitting projects going right now. I do believe I'm making progress! Slowly but surely!

Lazuli Shawl

My shawl is finished! When I started this project, I don't think I realized just how large it was going to be. It's 84 inches across along the top and about 43 inches down the spine. The pattern was easy to memorize but I had to mark my rows and count my stitches. The rows became so long and it would have been very easy to miss a yarn over. I counted a lot!! I used 100% baby alpaca yarn from Knitpicks. The color is midnight black but it has tones of blue in it. It's really pretty when the light hits it.

 

I had some help along the way! Lily walked around on it while it was being blocked. I think she just wanted to make sure it was laying nice and flat. It's hard to see in this picture, but the shawl is pinned to the carpet along all three edges.

 

I got the pattern from this magazine. If you like knitting lace, this magazine is wonderful! It's from England and packed with patterns. It's quite expensive but JoAnn's carries it and it's usually 10% off.

I'm also pleased to say that I'm hand sewing the binding on my Twister quilt! Thanks to the storm, I'll have 2 finishes this week! It's amazing how much you can get done when you're snowbound and not working! I'll post a picture when that binding is all done.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Snowbound!

Thank you, blizzard! I had to stay home yesterday due to the storm and never lost electricity. So what could I do? I quilted and worked on my projects! I finished quilting the blue border on my Twister quilt as you can see above! I wish I had made my clamshells/headbands a little larger but this border was such an odd shape. It wasn't very large to fill. I think my allover meandering background is showing through. I love the texture it gives and am happy with it. My husband said he likes it too so I guess it's good!

I'll be quilting that red border next. I'm practicing a scroll pattern. I have to be careful since the quilting will really show up against that dark red fabric.

I also finished knitting my lace shawl. Pictures will follow. It's soaking right now and still has to be blocked. I'm finishing up my Dresden plate blocks. I'm on the eleventh block so I only have one more left! I feel like I'm finally catching up on these unfinished projects.

We really did get over 2 feet of snow. I didn't really believe it when I heard the forecast. I will leave you with this picture of my husband snow blowing the driveway!

It took him 4 hours to snow blow the driveway, clean off the deck and shovel off the steps. I stayed in and quilted! I did cook him lunch!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blizzard!

I'm sure many of you have heard about the blizzard making it's way to the Northeast. The weather people are having a field day! I'm in the area that should get about 2 feet of snow. I'm not sure I really believe them. We all know how many times they've been wrong! I did work today but am off until next week. I really lucked out! I got sick of all the talk about the snow, so today I found something that reminded me of spring. Years ago, I had made a table runner using fabric from my kitchen curtains. It's made up solely of yo-yos. I found it and it's now sitting on my kitchen table. It's just a little reminder of what's coming sometime after this awful snowstorm!

I've also been practicing a couple of different FMQ patterns that I might be using on my Twister quilt. This one sample above is the open headband. It reminds me of the jester hat we learned last year in the FMQ Challenge.

This second pattern is cucumber vine from Leah Day's beautiful patterns. I like them both but I'm

leaning towards the open headband. I'm more comfortable with it since I've used it before. I know many suggestions were for feathers but I really don't think I'm good enough to do that many feathers in an area that will be so visible.

I'm just trying to fill the blue area outside the twisters. I think the texture will be really pretty to see.

I hope to be back after the blizzard! Hope everyone affected by the blizzard stays safe! Be careful!

 

 

 

 

Another Quilt Top!!

I felt as though I was making some really good progress. My shawl is almost done. Each row is over 400 stitches so it takes me a long time to just finish one row, but I'm getting there. I'm almost at the border. My Twister quilt should be done soon. The borders I have left shouldn't take me too much time. That's almost 2 items off my list. However, I finally took notice of this quilt top which I've had hanging around my sewing room for awhile. It's called Pinwheels and Posies and was a block of the month created by Beth Ferrier. A friend worked on it with me. Wonder what happened to hers??  It has lots of applique and I was unsure how to quilt it. I feel I have more ideas and techniques and hope to machine quilt it soon. I even have a backing I bought for it years ago.

Here's a close up of the center. It reminds me of spring. The colors are light and breezy. It makes me look forward to summer and warmer temperatures. The quilt was supposed to have plain borders but I added my own spin to it. I used graph paper to figure it out. I felt it would act like a fence around a garden of flowers.

So, I add one more project to my list. This quilt top is too pretty not to finish! The new projects I want to start will just have to wait a little longer.