Christmas Sewing

I wasn’t planning on doing any Christmas sewing this year, but then I saw the Have Yourself a Quilty Little Christmas Instagram Sew Along that Lori Holt at Bee in My Bonnet was hosting. In particular I saw the gingerbread man from the Instagram Sew Along that Lori Hold at Bee in My Bonnet was hosting. Some of the patterns that she was using were from her book (that neither I nor my local library have) and some she was posting on Instagram. Luckily for me, the gingerbread man was one she posted on Instagram. I dug into my stash, pulled out some brown and some white and started quilting. I started with one to see if it was even feasible/going to work well - and, much to my delight, it did. So I sewed another two, and then sewed them in a row.

Pre-sewing

Next I was faced with the problem of finding little buttons for my lovely little men. It took me 4 different stores (and lots of patience amongst all the Christmas shoppers), but eventually I found some - not until after considering ripping them off a piece of clothing of mine (or someone I passed on the street). I picked out ones that I thought would work nicely and got to work sewing them on (we are now on Dec. 23 and I was going to be on my way home the next day - so needed to be done).

I found a Christmasy fabric for the backing, and a nice tan and red plaid for the binding, and went to town quilting it. I machine quilted it - and that was a big huge step for me.

(Side note: I recently participated in a large number of the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day contests, and some of them asked a quilting/sewing goal for next (now this) year. I had written that I wanted to learn how to machine quilt. I am a born and raised hand quilter. My gramma has done some machine quilting, but my mom and I have always stuck to hand quilting. I had fiddled around on a scrap sandwich before and had done one tiny mug-rug type thing, but that was only after reading a couple of things online, and only doing stitch in the ditch.)

 I did some loop-de-loops in the border, and some pebbles in between the gingerbread men. I didn’t take note of the tension at first, so the border is not so great on the back, but I fixed it for the pebbles and it seemed to be better. I couldn’t really see where I was going with the pebbles between the foot and the white thread on a white background, but it turned out pretty well.

Not so great stitching on the back

 I whipped up a binding and got it stitched on and mostly bound that night. I only had to finish up a little bit in the morning (I thought I was going to have to hide in a room at my parents house and work on it since it was a present for my mom - but I managed to get it done in time).

Overall I am very happy with how it turned out and how quickly it came together. I would enjoy trying more of Lori Holt’s patterns.

Behind on Blogging

I’ve gotten behind on my blogging again (surprise). I finished a couple things recently that I just forgot to photograph. I also have some really old photos of things I’ve made that I’ve just never posted. I’m going to look back at the blog and compare it to my pictures and see what I could post that I haven’t yet. Hopefully I’ll get caught up on that in the next little while.

One thing that I did finish recently and managed to take pictures of was another self-binding receiving blanket. I used this tutorial again from Shannon Fabrics. I couldn’t remember the measurements that I had used for my first one that I was so happy with, so I picked new ones - I wasn’t as happy with the final dimensions/proportions, but it turned out fine. Looking back I see I wrote down the first dimension - apparently I didn’t remember that I did that either.

This time around I used minky for the middle section. I had never used minky before, but I had heard that it can be hard to work with so I did some googling. Some of the things I read that I took into consideration included the fact that minky does not need to be washed first because it won’t shrink, minky gets fluffs all over your workspace (and floor, and pants, etc.), and minky doesn’t always feed nicely through your machine so use a walking foot, or make sure it is on the bottom with your feed dogs (what I did).

I made this blanket for a coworker to give her godson. The parameters/directions I was given were monsters and blue. I think I did a good job meeting the criteria.

Again, I was really happy with how it turned out and have already bought more flannel to make another one.

Shop Hop Continued

Postcards from Muskoka at Thimbles and Things

Each store had their own completed version of the quilt. They generally used the same colours for things, but would use different fabrics. We enjoyed comparing all the different versions. The blocks we looked at the most for the comparison were the campfire and the northern lights (not seaweed like I originally thought).

After leaving Orillia, we headed to Barrie. Our first stop was Simcoe Sew & Quilt. This store was how I heard about the shop hop. I found it when I was out for lunch one time in Barrie, and I have been back a number of times. They had the most gorgeous blue fabric they used for their water, but they were out when we got there. There kits did give enough to complete the tree block (which is one of my favourites).

Northern lights and tree blocks with
two blues, a green, and a brown fabric

The second stop in Barrie was at Elite Quilting. This was a lovely little long arm studio. They had a small selection of fabric - along with some delicious chocolate chip cookies. 

Campfire block

Brown(with gold), yellow/red, red, and blue fabric

Our last stop was at Country Concessions in Cookstown. This store was quite surprising. I wouldn't have guessed based on it's name, or small town location, that it would be so large, but it had a huge amount of fabric and supplies. The quilt designer was here showing her quilts and giving demonstrations. This was a good spot to end our journey. Unfortunately, it was so popular they had run out of kits. We put our names in and are expecting a package in the mail. This was also my favourite block, so I'm really excited to get the kit. I will post a picture whenever it arrives.

It was a lovely day with some beautiful scenery, good food, and great company. We'll have to see what the quilt looks like for next year's shop hop.

Shop Hop in Muskoka

This past weekend, my friend and I drove up to Muskoka to participate in a shop hop that was taking place. There were 6 different quilt stores participating and at each one you could get the pattern for one or two of the blocks, and you could also purchase a kit of fabric to help you make your block.

The quilt pattern was designed by Joni Newman of Quirks and Quilts. Here is what her original version looked like:

Image taken from Quirks and Quilts blog

I love the look of stained glass quilts, which is why I decided it would be worth the drive (plus I've always thought it would be fun to do a shop hop - and this one was doable in a day).

We drove to Barrie on Friday night so that we could get an early start on the day. We were up bright an early on Saturday morning, and after some breakfast were on our way. We could not have picked a better time of year to do the drive - the trees were absolutely magnificent.

Our first stop was 3 Gals and a Quilt Shop in Huntsville. Huntsville is a lovely town if you have never been - it's downtown core is right on the water and it is surrounded by beautiful scenery. We arrived just after the store opened (as did a large number of other people). After looking around for a bit, we got our patterns and kits and moved on.

Loon and Beach blocks along with orange and brown batiks

We had some car troubles (that's a different story), but managed to sort them out and made our way to The Muskoka Quilting Co. in Bracebridge. Bracebridge was also celebrating Colour Fest while we were in town, but we managed to avoid all the street closures. They had just run out of kits when we got there, but they managed to get some more whipped up in no time.

Cabin block along with green, brown, and black batiks

Our third stop was at Thimbles and Things in Orillia. Don't worry, we made sure to stop at Webers for a burger on the way. This was a lovely quilt shop - mostly in the middle of nowhere, but very spacious with lots of fabric and some great looking projects. I wish I lived closer. Instead of just a package of fabric, the kit included an insulated lunch bag, a water bottle, a piece of chocolate, a pen, and some fabric. They also had delicious samples of Fraktals chocolate (which I highly recommend).

Muskoka chairs block with red and blue fabrics

The red fabric was really cool - it went from a really
dark red at the top to a light pink at the bottom

That seems like a good spot to stop this post. I will write about the other three stops another time.

Visuals

I thought I'd finally hook my camera up to my computer again and show you those projects I'm working on (or rather have been working on).

This first project (like my other Project Linus quilts so far) started out from these two shoe boxes full of squares. They used to be more organized than this, but they have had 3 quilts worth of digging to mess them up. This time I pulled out the stack of denim I had and the plaids and came up with this:

The other project I finished (though I shouldn't take much credit for it since it was mostly finished when it came to me) was a flannel scrap braided quilt.

I got it in this state: 

And made it into this:

I managed to get most of the seams lined up. However, with the number of biases I was working with, it may not lay exactly flat.

Now I just have to let my lovely quilter know they are ready.

Plans

We often talk about how many projects we have on the go at once. Right now I have two that are in the middle of being hand quilted, one I just finished piecing that needs a back so it can go off to be machine quilted, and one that is in the middle of being pieced. But what about projects that we've bought the fabric for and just haven't had time to start? Or what about the ones that have been percolating in our minds for a while, but we're just waiting for the right time or the right fabric to get started? Or how about that project you started years ago but it has since been relegated to the back of a closet somewhere and you've either completely given up on it or completely forgotten about it?

I've been thinking recently about some of those projects that are just a faint idea in my mind. Will they ever even see the light of day? Will some of them just forever remain projects in my mind? Will I start them, with the best of intentions, but never get around to finishing them?

A large portion of my fabric stash has come from people who are no longer sewing for whatever reason. It's my favourite way to obtain new material. But usually it's also a way to obtain other people's unfinished projects. The two quilt tops I'm working on right now are two such projects. And as I sit and work on things that other people have chosen and cut and sometimes even stitched, I wonder what their plans were for the project. Did they start it with someone specific in mind? How long ago did this project get started (sometimes you can tell based on fabric choices)? What were their intentions for the project? Have I put it together even remotely close to the original plan or vision? Would the original person like what I've done with their project?

I've mentioned this before, but one of the things I like to do with the partially finished projects I receive is to complete them (in my own way) and donate them to Project Linus. I like to think the starter of the project would be happy with how it was finished (regardless of their original intentions).

I don't really have a point to this post. Just a few early morning thoughts I wanted to share.

Another One

After the success of the first blanket I made, I decided to make another one. But this time I did things a little differently. All the sewing was the same, but this time I had the new baby's older sister come over to help with the project. She is 11, and has a little sewing experience. She did a great job. I mostly guided, she did all the hard work.

We had a very fun polka dot print this time for the back of the blanket, and Hailey chose a fun stitch for the top stitch.