Design Wall Monday - January 30

My design wall is getting some colorful pieced blocks for the January Quilts of Valor QAL from
Patchwork Times.  Judy gave us the cutting instructions, and I couldn't stop after I cut them, so I started putting some together.  Hope I've got it right - the full instructions are still coming.  This is a really fun project - I'm having a hard time quitting working on this when I need to!

The rest of the blocks are all cut and in their little piles waiting to be sewn.  Do you think I could get by with calling in sick to work tomorrow?

Full House Done!

This year I decided to participate in the A Year of Schnibbles - at least for January!  Here's my version of Tiny Town made with the Full House pattern.  Mine is a pillow, and is done, done, done!  YAY!  This was a fun little project, and it feels great to get something done start to finish, all in the same week.

I decided to have it open in the back and put buttons so that I could store it without the pillow form.  The back took nearly as long as the front.  It used the leftover layer cake fabric from the Wrapped in Paisley Quilt kit,  so that part was easy.   After I had it pieced, I decided to add the button strip.  Then I took it off to quilt the back (duh).  Then I put it back on.  Then I made the buttonholes.  I never sew clothes, so I had to learn how to make buttonholes with my machine.  That was a very steep (almost vertical) learning curve LOL.  Every time I started a buttonhole, the machine would sew for a bit, and then just stop moving.   Finally figured out that part of the buttonholer moves out of the back of the machine and was hitting the cabinet, which I couldn't see because the fabric was on top of all that.  Once I took the machine out of the cabinet, it was clear sailing after that.

This is the back.  I wanted to use some buttons out of my grandmother's button box.  I wonder what these were on - there were seven of them, and they are nearly 1 1/2" each.  I'd love to see the dress these adorned! 

So, this will be my entry into the Schnibbles parade for January.  Feels good to have this done, and I really like it.  Now I just need to get the quilt it goes with quilted, and I'll be ready for Christmas!

 

Design Wall Monday - January 23

Here's what's on my design table tonight - my version of the Full House pillow.  Mary at Quilt Hollow posted about hers yesterday, and motivated me to finally get going on mine.  This really is going together pretty quickly, although now that I look at the picture I don't like that light-colored door, so I guess I have some unsewing to do!  Mine is going to be a pillow to match the Wrapped In Paisley quilt, which is pieced but not quilted.  These were leftovers from the layer cake I used for that. 

It was a productive weekend around here.  This project has been nagging at me for quite a while, so it's finally done:

These are Amish-style mug wraps.  Our guild has an invitational dinner every other May, and this year our theme is Amish quilts, so the committee decided that the door prizes would be mug wraps, made in Amish colors.  Each of us has to make 8, so here are mine, DONE!  At least until the next meeting, when we decide we don't have anywhere near 200, and each of us has to make another dozen LOL.  The invitational is always a lot of fun, but it sure is a lot of work.  We also make two quilts - one to raffle, and one for a big door prize. 

And I got my January Christmas Through the Year done - a poinsettia wool candle mat:

My first two fabrics for the Quilts of Valor QAL are picked and ready to go.  I'm looking forward to this project, and it started today.  There's still time to join in on Judy's website if you want to do this.  I doubt I'll be able to keep up, but I'm going to give it a try.

So, once the Full House pillow is pieced and off the table, I'll start on my flying geese for this.  These projects make the winter go by a little faster for me!

Design Wall Monday - January 16

Time to finish the Primitive Gatherings Block of the Week from last summer!  The blocks are put together, and I'm busy stitching the cornerstones.  I decided to use a purple border rather than the piano key border the store used.  I cut all my piano keys and made the borders, but my fabrics were just too busy for this quilt, so I decided to go with simple borders.  Now I need to find a use for all those piano key borders I made!  Anyone have any ideas for me?

These were being worked on during the Packer games lately.  I thought I'd have a couple more weeks to work on these, but I guess not, after that game yesterday!  There were a lot of unhappy cheesehead fans at work today.

I'm still plugging along with my Orca Bay blocks.  The Ohio Stars are done, so I'm ready to start putting together the center of the quilt.  It's going to be one busy quilt!

I had a couple finishes this week - the Primitive Gatherings free Christmas kit for pincushions.  I ended up with two of these kits, so made one for me and one for my secret pal.   I couldn't decide whether to put 2011 or 2012 on them, so did one each way!  Do you date them when you start them or finish them?  They are filled with crushed walnut shells - I really like the way they sit on a shelf with the shells in them.

We finally got about 4" of snow last week, so it's winter here.  It's really late for us, but that's fine with me.  I'm ready for spring already, although the cold weather is good for staying inside and working on my projects!

Design Wall Monday - January 9

Orca Bay Progress

My design wall is currently all on the cutting table, but progress is being made!  Orca Bay is slowly coming together.  This quilt has some intensive piecing.  (In case Bonnie is reading, I'm not whining, just stating a fact! LOL)  The red string blocks are all sewn to the Birds in the Air blocks.  I'm about 7 steps behind everyone else, but seeing all the finished quilts in blogland is very inspirational!  I hope to have lots more progress to show next Monday.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Resolution #1:  Blog at least once a month!  I definitely get the Bad Blogger Award this month.  I just realized I haven't blogged since Halloween.  Guess I missed Thanksgiving and Christmas entirely.  We did all the correct activities - I just didn't plan ahead enough to take pictures and blog about it.   I think we'll just start with some New Year's Plans!

My first plan is to participate in Patchwork Times' 2012 UFO Challenge.  The list of 12 UFOs is listed in my sidebar.  I'm really looking forward to Judy's challenge, and am working diligently on Item #5 for January.  It's a wool project and not quilting, so I hope that's not cheating!

I also joined the Orca Bay bandwagon (a little late).  Progress is being made, but it won't be done anytime soon.  There is a lot of piecing in this one!  This is the first time I've done one of Quiltville's mysteries, and it's been fun, but there just aren't enough hours in a day for everything.  I had never done string piecing before, so that was fun to learn.  This whole quilt is being made from stash fabrics, and it doesn't appear to have made a dent, so maybe a few more scrap quilts would be in order for 2012! 

This bunny table mat is finally finished!  Maybe I should say it's for THIS Easter and it's already finished.  The picture at the top of the post is my December banner from Primitive Gathering's Banner of the Month.  My goal is to get each month's banner done before I get the next one - we'll see how that goes!

We've had great weather this winter - warmer than normal and no snow.  Lots of Wisconsinites complain about the lack of snow, but I've really been enjoying it.  It would be OK to get one big snowfall so we could all ski and snowshoe, but I'm really fine with no snow, too! 

Time to get back to working on UFO #5!