24 March 2015

Little Finishes

I have a coworker. She is the sweetest thing in the world. She has left me. She is off gallivanting around having a wonderful time at a retreat with Jo Morton. I wish her the best of times but....that means I have to teach my classes and her classes. This mean I have a very long Saturday. I will be doing Jo's club, then lunch (yay) , Pomegranate Lane, Loyal Union Sampler, and finally my Mystery.

Luckily I love all of the ladies who are pretty much going to be with be all day. There are a couple that leave and of course a couple of more that come in. It just depends on the classes they are in.

So I had to get some samples done. Well I could have just borrowed Deb's but what the heck right.


Burgoyne Star.  I was going to make it into a pillow but it was a little big for me. I finished this in one day, including the quilting and the binding.
As I was putting the last stitches in the binding I did notice that 2 of my blocks were wrong. Oh well what can you do. This will go on a table somewhere. I do plan on making this block into a big quilt eventually.
Antiquity - No matter how I try I always get the fabrics out of order and they end up next to each other. I even sewed these together web-style, which I hate, and it still didn't help.

Baby- T - this one was done for about 5 months. I just had to sew the binding down. I finally finished it. 


I love the fact that I do get things done. Just not as much as I would like of course. 

Michelle



22 March 2015

A Few Little Goodies

I made some quick little give aways for the students in my class. They are so fun to make and I really wish I had more time. I would make tons.

This was a leftover part of a block that I saved. I think it is too cute. I just wished I had stuffed it a little bit more.

Thread catchers and 2 more little left over block pin cushions. The thread catcher's come from Crazy Mom Quilts pattern. They are super easy and quick to make.

Have a wonderful day.

Michelle


21 March 2015

Loyal Union Sampler - update

I am really behind on posting about this one. I am really loving the quilt but at the same time I can not wait to be done. We have been working on this since last August and these blocks are not always easy. I have to rows left to do and I am hoping to be finished by the middle of April. Way ahead of schedule but not soon enough. One row a month gets kind of tiring after awhile.



Once the last 2 rows are on there will be a small muslin border. My outer border will be piano keys. I have been cutting strips off of every fabric I have used but I might have to go back and cut more. I don't think I will have enough. But hey it is progress.

20 March 2015

Thumbwork

I have decide that all of my applique (starch and press) and my wool applique is going to be known as "thumb work". I can only do so much of it at once because it kills my thumbs. I have 3 BOM that use some time of thumb work and it is kicking my tush.

I finished my first month of Austin Bluebird. To be honest this is just a kit I bought but I love it and really, really want to work on it. Since I am doing that my Mistletoe Lane has been pushed back a little bit. Honestly, after all of the prep-work on that baby I may not want to work on it every again there are a ton of little pieces. It took me over 4 hours last Sunday to get everything done and I still had to take some creative licensing. Oh well, it is ready to sew down now.

I have since put the borders on. I took it to work to display so I will have to get a picture there to show you.

Pomegranate Lane - Wool on cotton. Block 1 finished. Only 4 more just like that to go.

Close up of the center.

I really do love this block and the quilt will be awesome. There are 4 more blocks just like this one and then 4 pieced blocks and then 4 borders (with loads of applique) and then the cornerstones which  I think will be the easiest applique of all. 

The thread we are using is an Aurifil 28 weight and I just love it, kind of like I love my staples (save that story for another day). It glides like butter.

I did start out blanket stitching but I am a weird blanket stitcher and I am also really slow at it. I also pull my stitches to darn tight and then the thread rolls up on the wool and I can't stand that. I just can't seem to loosen up. Anyway, to make a long story short - hahaha - I switched to a whip stitch (Kim Diel does it on her quilts) and I love it. It is quick, uses less thread, and looks almost the same as the blanket stitch. Of course it doesn't have the outline on the bottom of the stitch but I just LOVE it.

It did take me over a month to do this puppy, which isn't good when you are trying to keep up with the teacher. Who by the way only has maybe one block left to do - take that back she has probably already moved on to the borders and has all the pieced blocks done as well.  All the nerve.

I will have pictures of Mistletoe Lane with my next thumb work update. I hope. Off to applique some stars down (not my favorite shape for sure) and maybe get some knitting in.

Michelle

On The Needles 3/20/15

I finished my first Loopy Academy a couple of weeks ago but I am just now getting around to posting.

I did the stripes first mainly because I hadn't really decided on the other 2 projects I wanted to do.
I used Cascade Ultra Pima cotton which I hated the way it felt at first but now I really like it.

It was my first time doing stripes they are not too bad. I still need to block it a little and get a much better picture. This is the back side. I think it rolls up a little more than I would like so I am really hoping the blocking will help that.

I have to really get busy to finish the other two projects. I have been doing a lot of applique and wool applique so I haven't really had much time to knit. Must change that soon.

Check out other goodies over at Judy's.

Michelle