January Is Almost Gone!

Time is flying! I have been sewing, organizing and working on a whole bunch of different things! I made this baby doll quilt for my granddaughter, Brynn who will be 1 on Friday! We have had  a rough start as mommy is her favorite person and she never want to be away from her. We finally have made our peace and now she is happy to have me watch her!

I have not sewn a garment in a very, very long time. It wasn't bad but I need some work on my buttonholes. This is the geranium dress which is a pretty, basic traditional looking dress. I can't wait to see her running around in them this summer. She started walking at the end of 9 months, so she is a pro! It's so funny to see such a little munchkin running around.

This has been languishing long enough in my sewing room. I finished the binding and it will be in the Downingtown Library auction this spring.

I always have a book going. Sometimes even a really bad book. My pick for book club was a bomb! So bad I am not even telling you the title! This book Trials of the Earth was a wonderful easy read. It may not be for everyone but I enjoyed it for the simplicity.

If it's January it must be time to organize and clean out! My guild is having a silent auction in March and it was a good time to do it. My husband built me some new shelves for my closet and I was able to really organize things much more efficiently.

Here's the other side with my scraps, interfacing and fusibles in their individual containers.

I love this heavy duty shelving that I bought years ago. Wood shelves have a tendency to sway under the weight of the fabric and these do not get dusty. I bundled up many, many, many pieces of fabric for the sale. Now I can see what I have in there!

As you can see it is all ready to go! I love the feeling of getting rid of things I no longer need/want and giving them to others that will love them.

I also cleaned out my scrap basket and cut out some pieces for an ongoing quilt. I want to become more efficient of making use of my scraps.

My Go Cutter turned these into a usable pile that will make a perfect scrap quilt.

Here is the beginnings of the quilt. I am sewing the half square triangles together and then sewing them without paying attention to which way they are going. I want them random and may throw in some squares.

The good thing about cleaning out is finding projects you started. I made all these stars at last year's getaway. I am trying to decide if I want to finish as I originally intended or go another way....
On the left you can also see the progress of my temperature quilt. I am excited to start on February!

The arcs were from a workshop I took with Sara Bond. Her techniques and patterns are wonderful!

The getaway is right around the corner so now it is time to go make a mess in my nice clean room!

Kelly

Quiet Winter Day

My painting hours have fallen by the wayside with all the power sewing I have been doing. I needed to send this to someone who requested a painting. I am excited for her to receive it. It does feel spring like!

My husband is a huge fan of candy. I found these adorable bags at Michael's. I think the kids would like them too.

I have been working on these churn dashes like it is my job! The cutting is the most tedious part, they sew up pretty fast.

Now that's a pile of blocks! Thirty six to be exact. I have 3 blocks that are 2/3 done, I can't count!

Now for the red ones. I only have to make 18 of them......
Snow tomorrow, maybe I will get them done!

Kelly

Cool Tools

How cute is this fabric? It is by Cotton and Steel. I am participating in a swap. We are to make a One Hour Basket and fill it up with some goodies. We are swapping with the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild. It really did only take an hour except I was taking pictures and I do a bit more pressing than it says in the directions.

This fabric is like a heavy linen and perfect for this project.

 This is like a linen cotton which was the first time I have used this in a project. It worked well!

To make the handles was pretty easy overall.

I bought this heat proof ruler just for this reason. I can never get those edges even and looking nice.

Look how nice and perfect they look!

It made it super easy to fold over, press and stitch.

Here is another come in handy kind of tool. A pressing stick for small areas that are hard to get the iron into so you can get crisp seams.

 Look how nice and flat that seam is, yeah!!

I also have a whole bunch of churn dashes to make before March. I do a few every day so it is not so overwheming.

I cut my strips in half which added to my workload but definitely are more accurate. It was worth the extra time. So they were 20" lengths instead of 40".

I am getting ready to do something I haven't done in a very, very long time! So far so good!

Kelly

Tuesday Sewing

So we can kind of say this was a commission! My daughter asked me to make this for my granddaughter's 1st birthday that is in less than a month. It is the biggest project I have tried and I learned lots of lessons.
I am going to frame it and they will hang it in her bedroom.

The annual Fun With Barb swap is in full swing. This year we are making 6" churn dashes. I think I am going to change the background though everyone else said they liked it. I want it a bit more quiet. The swap is full but you can go to Barb's blog for directions and sew on your own or do it with some friends.

Temperature Quilt update----It is the first day of the year that it will be above freezing! Yeah! Though I am waiting for the roads to melt from the freezing rain we had yesterday to go out and do some errands.
While I don't love today's combination I think in the end they will all go together just fine.

I am cutting off and sewing all the corners from the flying geese. Who knows it could become a quilt!

Kelly

Snowballs!

It is snowing and freezing here today. I love scrap quilts and have lots of scraps so I have decided to work on using some of them up.

So in honor of all the snow today I made some snowballs. They really are cute and will be a fun and easy project to make here and there.

I struggle with contrast. I have had this Color Tool for a long time. The red thing is called a Ruby Beholder. You look through it to see if you have enough contrast and it will jump out at you or blend in if you don't. It is very helpful!

I promise I am not going to show this every day but I am loving it so far. Not the weather but the colors. As you can see there is a white goose for the snow today.
One of the things I want to do this year is not complain about things that I have no control over like the  weather, people or circumstances. Yes it's cold and no I don't want to leave the house. Every season has it's good and bad points. I feel like winter is a time to hibernate (a bit) and work or create things inside. Reading is another great time for winter along with sewing. Too often complaining becomes a habit before you know it. A good one to break!

Kelly

January Cold

My swap quilt is almost complete. I have to take out the papers, which is not fun but this is small so it won't take too long. I am not sure how I will quilt it. Any suggestions?

Have you heard of Temperature Quilts? You make a block a day of your choosing that reflects the high and low temperatures for the day. A lot of quilts I found were with flying geese blocks and it's a favorite of mine so I went with that one. You also can have the geese flying down for below freezing and upward for above freezing!

Here are my two for the past two days. I need to get one done for today too. I am going to put white in them for the days it snows (tomorrow!). Probably in the goose spot.

The Christmas decorations were all put away on New Year's Eve! I was a very happy girl on New year's day. I did keep my deer out as they look kind of wintery.

I love having my many, many, many pincushions out. They are in a little corner of my kitchen with the 2 clear toy candy pieces left from Christmas.

We had a few trees fall in our woods over the summer. My husband is not only a very skilled carpenter but can climb trees too! He has started milling and drying out the wood to make things He made me a cutting board out of our very own black walnut and maple trees! It is in the process of being oiled but soon I will be able to use it!

Just like summer, winter is another time for reading. THERE JUST IS NOT ENOUGH TIME! I cannot do books on tape I don't have the attention span and I enjoy holding a book.
I am really itching to read the Trials of the Earth. Are you on Goodreads? They have lots of good ideas if you are looking for something to read.

I always get too many but at least they are from the library and essentially they are free! The added bonus is if one is not that great you have others to choose from right at your fingertips.
I picked The Light on the Water for our book club in February. It is a bit tedious and the main character is whiny to me.
Hope you all on the east coast have a pot of soup on and your woollies!

Kelly