Stamped Placemat (singular!)

When I was home in September, my mom showed me some placemats that she'd bought years ago at a craft sale and said she'd not been able to find anything similar since (hint, hint!).  They were made out of a cheater print so I immediately thought of the Stamped yardage I'd won in a giveaway at the Long Thread few months ago.

I cut them out early (like in October!) and thought hand quilting them would make a nice relaxing project while watching TV or waiting at the kids activities.  Ha!  There clearly hasn't been enough TV watching and when my kids have been busy, I've busy too -- grocery shopping, Christmas shopping, running errands.

My dad was here on the weekend so I madly finished one that he could take home for Christmas.  His comment was that I might get the others finished in time for next Christmas.  Haha, Dad!  I hope not but now that they are definitely not going to be done in time for this Christmas despite my best intentions that might prove to the be case.  I need deadlines!  But not unrealistic deadlines as I don't work well under pressure.

MoMo + Linen Quilt finished

I started this quilt over a year ago and finally finished it (well, almost -- I still need to tidy up the stray thread and add a label).  It's amazing to me that I could work on it for so long and still love it.  I think it's the combination of the linen with the prints + the really simple design (adapted from Fresh Quilting by Malka Dubrawsky).  The prints are momo freebird and the sashing is linen.  I handstitched swirls in each of the squares and outlined some of the squares in red.

The back and binding are from It's a Hoot with a piece of ivory because I wanted to be able to see some of the swirls.

My kitty seems to like it, too.  Maybe my Dad wont get this after all!

School Quilt

This week my eldest will be completing her last year of a three-year Montessori program so I volunteered to make a quilt with artwork from the "graduating" class. 

I ironed a square of fabric to a piece of freezer paper and sent it home with each child along with a set of Pentel Fabric Pastel Sticks.  I asked the kids to draw whatever they wanted and send it back to me.  The sashing is Kona Coal ordered from the Fabric Depot, the binding is a made up of scraps, mostly from this quilt.  I embroidered the year on the bottom (I had visions of re-creating the school logo in applique but seeing as I only just finished this, I'm glad I scrapped that idea!)

The kids will present it to the director of the school tonight!

I have a sneaking suspicion that one of the kids did not do their own artwork.  Very uncharitable of me, I know.  Can you spot the one I'm talking about??

Handstitching

I've started handstiching this quilt.  I love the red embroidery thread around the squares; I plan to do that randomly throughout the quilt but I'm not sure about the red swirl inside.  I went to the quilt shop expecting to buy something that would blend but there was nothing that would blend with all the squares (duh) so I came away with red.  The salesperson said after it's complete and washed you wont even notice it's red.  It's not the same handquilting thread that I've bought in the past -- it's machine thread, which I'm "conditioning" with thread heaven -- and it's quite thin.  (I'm sure there must be some technical name but I don't know what it is).  It will blend with more than half the blocks so I think I'll continue it and hope that my handstitching improves with time.  (Maybe I should start with the ones it blends with?!)

Quilt top finished

I adapted the blocks from the sewing machine cover in Fresh Quilting to make this quilt.  I love love love how it turned out and am looking forward to quilting it and am going to do it by hand.  The blocks are 5" squares of momo freebird and the sashing is 2 1/2" strips of linen.

This summer when she was machine quiting my pinwheel quilt, my aunt told me that I should always lock my seams.  At the time I had no idea what she was talking about but when I was piecing this quilt it all became clear.  What a difference that makes when you're trying to line things up! 

New quilt

I started a new lap quilt for my dad.  I thought the combination of MoMo Freebird and linen would be perfect but my husband says it's too girly.  When I protested that it wasn't just flowers and butterflies, there were polka dots, too, he just rolled his eyes at me.  I'm adapting the pattern for the sewing machine cover in Fresh Quilting but am still not sure how big to make it . . .

Still don't like it but it's finally finished!

A friend of mine offered to teach me to quilt pretty much exactly two years ago.  I was, of course, overly ambitious and instead of sticking with the baby quilt size, decided to make a twin size quilt. 
When I got the top pieced together, I hated the brown sashing but decided to soldier on.  I got two thirds of the way through handquilting but I just couldn't bring myself to finish.  I noticed more and cut off points with each block I quilted and didn't like the sashing any better. 

Every time I would start a new project, my husband would shake his head and ask when I was going to finish the quilt.  I kept putting him off but finally I said I wasn't ever going to finish.  His response "so what do you do with it now? cut it up?"  I scoffed at him but decided he was right -- I cut off the three (four?) rows I hadn't yet quilted and bound the rest (add "quilt from the centre" to the things I learned after the fact).  I still don't like it but it's done!

Far Far Away 2 quilt - almost finished

I am almost finished the quilt for my new neice.  My husband just laughs at me because I thought I would get it finished before I went to visit at the beginning of November -- now I'm thinking it may get there in time for Christmas!  I machine stitched about 1/8 of an inch away from each seam and then handstitched around each picture.  The binding is linen and is handstitched.

Far Far Away 2 quilt

This top has been finished for a couple of weeks but I'm really not sure what to back it with or how to quilt it.  I'd better decide soon though as I haven't got much time to finish it before my trip!

K's quilt top finished!

and I love it!  It's not perfect by any means (don't look too closely at my mitred corners) but I love how the colours and the white turned out.  And it looks great with her new wall colour and the Ikea rug we picked up on the weekend.  I'm very excited to finally be decorating K's room.  I realized if I want to choose what goes in, I had to do it quick!  K takes after J and has a mind of her own!