Updated an older post - Christmas Stockings (teachers and otherwise)

Hey - lookie here - I updated the Christmas Stocking post with teacher's stockings and a link to how to make strip quilted stockings. Never to early to start making this year's batch!

Getting Smurfier!

The Smurfs quilt is almost done. All the fabric's been cut and every day, I've done a little something.

Patchwork - done.

Backing - done.

Machine "quilting" - done.

Binding made - done.

Binding applied - working on it! I suck at quilt binding. I have to do it by hand because I can't get the hang of doing it by machine. 

I should have the binding done in another couple days. It will take a while.

Sewing may not be on the top of the priority list here soon. I'm going to be traveling in May, so I want to work really hard in April to get my knee up to snuff so I can walk as much as I want to. That's a lofty goal, but I can make it at least halfway to there, I'm sure! I definitely will continue to hand sew the hexagon quilt (it's going to take a year to finish) and will start a small project to take with me on the plane in May. It might be a small Cathedral Window again. I have one almost done using M&M fabric that is doll sized.

I also have two ideas for items to make and sell. More about them as the ideas develop. Wouldn't it be great to make my whole 'paycheck' with sewing and Amazon, Etsy, and eBay? Well yes, it would!

Smurf day!

Twas Smurf day in the sewing room. I know, it's supposed to be Friday and I should be planning the weekend. But I am not. I am relaxing after having cut and sewn and Smurf'd my way through the day.

I cut the remainder of the 5" squares for the Smurf quilt. That didn't take long, but I used an "I spy" technique so that I could utilize the fabric in the best way possible and get a good image on each square.

I also cut out a little girl's twirl dress using the Smurf fabric. I will be putting a white Peter Pan collar on it and using some white decorative ribbon to fem it up. I have to get that fabric and the zipper for the back, but other than that, it's cut and ready to sew.

With the remaining pieces on the floor, I cut bias strips and made the binding for the Smurf quilt.

Okay, so I did cut a few denim squares and it wasn't 100% Smurf fabric day, but it almost was! Happy Smurf Day!

Working on unfinished projects!

Recently, I spent some time cleaning my sewing area and during that time, I organized my unfinished projects in such a way that I'm able to get to them and work on them easily. I don't have oodles of things to complete, but I do want to get them done. As I was sewing today, I thought of several more projects to begin! It's never-ending, isn't it?

Today, I pulled out a lap quilt I started - Smurfs! I use junk jeans for a lot of things. One of the items in my box of fun things to finish is a Smurf lap quilt. I'm using 5" squares of Smurfs fabric (a vintage sheet I purchased on eBay) alternating with recycled denim. It's a nice look! I put together three rows today and attached them one to the other, for a total of four. The end result will be nine rows by eight squares, and the binding will be smurf fabric that I will piece together from bits of the sheet. I am backing this particular lap quilt with minkie that I have which was purchased for another project and not used. It will make for a wonderfully soft backing and warm too! I like to use fleece when I can with denim quilts because the denim is so heavy that it's often difficult to work with a traditional backing and batting.

It felt great getting this one to about the halfway stage. I'll be making at least one more row tomorrow and then it's time to cut more squares. Before I know it, my unfinished projects box will be empty!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

And

a

Happy

St. 

Patrick's 

Day

to you and yours!

Cleaning!

I took a day off from sewing and decided it was time to clean up all my sewing project mess. Every time I make something, I have a pile of fabric scraps, thread, and sundry other items on my sewing table. Recently, I've made Valentine's Day hearts for my tree, placemats for sale, and did some mending. That left behind fabric with hearts and flowers in various shades of red, the backing fabric and the strip quilting fabrics for the placemats, and the things I haven't mended yet.

It's amazing how much stuff you can collect! As I cleaned and organized, I also went through my spare buttons (some purchased wholesale for sale on line and which have seemed to collect en mass in a box under my sewing machine table) and project containers. I have containers with placemat projects in various states of completion; another one with potholder patterns, fabrics, and partially completed items; containers with like fabrics in shades of brown, rainbow Michael Miller Krystal fabrics; containers with batting and bags of polyfil next to those; and oh gosh, containers of all sorts of stuff. Even just talking about it makes me tired!

I had a couple pair of jeans that needed to be taken apart, so go that done and put the resultant fabric in its container along with the pockets. I might use them someday, right?

I "found" my container that I take with me to the theater to do mending on costumes and restocked that, putting away older items in the container that I may never use again. And next to this was a small metal container that I use for hand sewing items. So that's where all my hand sewing needles "went!" And under another pile of fabric was my bobbin winder. Darn, been wondering where that was. I also learned that the small screwdriver that goes with my trusty Bernina isn't in its container; I'll find that on the floor someday when I bend down to find a button that falls.

Overall, it was a great adventure in sewing land. I now have things all tidied up and ready to mess up once more. What's next?

St. Patrick's Day is coming!

Just a quick reminder that St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner.

I have my tree decorated and have some placemats planned to make (but not even close to made!). I'm using a strip quilted method to make shamrocks to applique onto denim patchwork placemats. I'll post photos as I get them started.

I know that everyone is Irish on SPD, but I really am. Or at least my father was. Will I drink a green beer? Probably not, but I will definitely enjoy my tree. I have some green stone ornaments to come, but other than that, it's about done for this season!

Are you sewing for St. Patrick's Day?

A couple of things

The artwork is changing, in case you haven't noticed. I've hired a kickass graphic artist to do a professional piece rather than the artwork I had one. Even the first iteration that you see here today is better than anything I could have ever done. She's going to work on it some more, so keep an eye out.

The second thing is that I'm resting my hands today. I've been sewing like a demon lately and today, my hands said "no mas, no mas!"  Therefore, today, I don't touch the thread. I don't touch the needle. I leave the hexagon quilt right where it is, in its own little bag, waiting for a time when my hands aren't on strike.

I did do some machine sewing yesterday to sort of make up for what I knew were soon-to-be sore hands. I sort of always know.

Tomorrow, I sew.