TGIF

I am almost caught up with the Celtic Solstice mystery, which is awesome because part #4 is being posted today!
I watched some QuiltCam on Wednesday night and sewed many of the step #3 blocks on my Sweet Baby Jayne sewing machine. There is so much stuff sitting around for Christmas that it was hard to find a surface to put the machine on! I just pushed the wrapping paper to the side, set up my little Singer, and started sewing. Can't wait to see what the next step is!

Mid Month UFO Report

Well, the month is more than half over, and I have not accomplished much on my December UFO. My goal is to finish my Civil War Sampler quilt before the end of the year, and still it is just a pile of blocks! However, I did purchase a wonderful border fabric which is on the left of the photo, and I am going to run that strong vertical print all around the outside.  

I am thinking about layout options. Does this quilt want sashing? Cornerstones? Vertical rows of blocks? I haven't made a decision yet, so I can't start to sew.  
But I am doubly motivated to finish this quilt because Barbara Brackman is indeed starting another sampler project next year called Threads of Memory about the underground railroad. Of course I will start that project, and it will only be one block a month which is more manageable than a block a week. 
I have almost two weeks left in the year to finish this Civil War quilt. 
I'm sure I can do it. 
Christmas, I'm not so sure about!! 
To see more Mid Month UFO Reports, hop over to a Lovely Year of Finishes link up.

Celtic Solstice Mystery Update - Step #2

Step #2 of Celtic Solstice is finished at Kathy's Quilts!

The chevrons were so fun to sew. The units were time consuming but not difficult if you pay attention, which I didn't always do.
This is a great layout... I can envision a whole quilt made from just these units alone.





Here are 100 chevrons!
In little piles and then transferred for storage in a spinach box with all the units from part #1.

And now... on to part #3.

Pinwheels...how much fun can one quilter stand?!?!
I am cutting 2" strips with the Easy Angle ruler. These fabrics look pretty together but I am a little worried about the lack of contrast in the blocks. We shall see how it goes. It's a mystery!
Tonight at 9 pm is QuiltCam so guess what I'll be sewing?!?  You can see more mystery quilt link ups over at Quiltville.

A New Sewing Machine

I got a brand new sewing machine, all the way from England! My friend just got back from a "trip across the pond" and she brought me this souvenir.
I love it!
I am having a hard time sewing with it... since it's a candle, and made of wax!



And to give you a perspective on how small it is, here's a picture of me holding it. 
Isn't it adorable?!?! 
What a fun gift for a quilter!


And speaking of sewing related fun, while I was sick last week I enjoyed watching the video called "The Birth of a Sewing Machine in 1934" (just click on the title to view). It's a long video (about 70 minutes) but I was sick, so what else did I have to do but lay around and watch videos?! It is vintage footage of the Singer factory in 1934. There is no sound at all with this video but it was fascinating to me. I loved seeing the 1934 workforce arriving to work at the factory all dressed up!
There were so many times while watching the footage when I said to myself "that does not look safe"!  There were work stations and set ups where workers could easily be burned, or maimed, or get a needle in their eye. And so many possibilities for repetitive stress injury! They worked so hard at this factory to make these classic sewing machines. And to make the needles for the sewing machines (at a rate of 18,000 needles made per hour!)
The complex machinery used to make sewing machines, even back then, just blows my mind. Watching this video made me appreciate my 1901 Singer treadle even more! 

Design Wall Monday

On my design wall is a finished quilt top!    Last week I had the blocks on the wall and when I transferred them to the sewing machine, I somehow mixed up a row and ended up with a leftover block. Some eagle-eye blog readers spotted which block it was, and made the construction process much easier.
The pattern is called "Countdown to Christmas" and is from Temecula Quilt Co.
I really like how it turned out and hope to be able to finish the quilting by Christmas. Hop over to Patchwork Times to see more design wall postings.

Slow Sunday Stitching - Thank you!

I just love Sundays! 
Not only because it is now my practice to make time to rest and do some relaxing hand stitching, but also because of the Slow Sunday Stitching link up party. Thank you to each blogger who links up with the Slow Sunday Stitching party, and to each person who takes the time to comment and encourage our slow stitching friends. As the links appear throughout the day, it is almost like a little Christmas to see the wonderful projects being stitched and to be inspired by the words and stitches of other creative souls. Last week was a great lineup of projects to enjoy! We had some binding, applique, cross stitch, embroidery, crochet, hand quilting, crazy quilting, english paper piecing, and some block piecing by hand... what more could a hand stitcher ask for?!?! 
I would also like to say thank you to Connie over at Freemotion by the River for making the link up button for me, and thank you to Angela over at SoScrappy for the instructions on how to get the magical code to link it up. If you are not a blogger, you would be amazed at how many steps it takes to host a weekly linky blog post, and it really does "take a village"! Thank you to everyone! 

This is sounding like an Academy Award speech (cue the music!) and I didn't even win an award! I  just want to acknowledge those who have been so generous with their help along the way.
Okay...back to Slow Sunday Stitching. I will be working on my Accidental Quilt, aka "Up, Up and Away".  I machine stitched the binding to the front of the quilt, and today I will be hand stitching it down on the back of the quilt. 

I found the perfect fabric for the binding - Marmalade by Bonnie and Camille. 

A little pack of Marmalade squares that was gifted to me at February's quilt camp started this project in the first place, so I was happy to find some yardage for the binding. I will be finishing the stitching on this binding today!
What are you hand stitching? Share your project in the links below... can't wait to see what you're working on today!

Crappy Saturday

Yep... it's a crappy Saturday.
Woke up to brown water coming out of the tap due to a broken water main. Okay, no shower this morning.
The weather was cold and snowy... about minus 12 or so. So the furnace decided to break down. Okay, no shower AND no heat.
I was on call for work, and had to go in before the furnace repair man came. You can imagine what a sight I was going to work today! 
That's okay... at least it was warm there!

So no sewing today.
Just work and shoveling snow.
I did make a big pot of vegetable soup... peppers, celery, spinach, squash, onions, zucchini, and sweet potatoes.  Best part of my day! 
Meal supervision provided by Rudolph.

Celtic Solstice Mystery Clue Day!

I  have been working on step #2 of Celtic Solstice mystery, but putzing along slowly due to feeling under the weather. Here are all my pieces cut, counted and ready to go. I debated using my Angler tool to piece these blocks, but decided to spend my resting time drawing lines instead.

I enjoy the meditative process of drawing the diagonal sewing line, which ensures accuracy. And I found that if I draw a second line 3/8" away from the diagonal line, I get a bonus half square triangle block that measures exactly 1.5"... yippee! You know how I love these little blocks!

Here are all the pieces just waiting for me to sew. You can see that I made one wrong unit, and then sewed one the correct way. Now I know what not to do! How long do you think it might take to sew 99 more of them??!
I think I will postpone peeking at step #3 until I finish step #2 - maybe!

Quilt Label

I finished my version of Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay mystery last month. But a quilt isn't really finished until it has a label, right?!?

Inspired by a beautiful label I saw on the Votes For Women blog using selvages, I made a label with some of my quilt's fabric selvages. I just took a piece of fabric, sewed selvages on all 4 sides, turned the edges under and appliqued it to the quilt back.

Here you can see the scrappy backing I made for this quilt using up the leftover blocks and fabrics. And the new label in the corner announces that the quilt is now truly finished! 
So now I can mark is down on the UFO list on my right side bar as DONE!

Still Feeling Grinchy!

My daughter brought home this hilarious Grinch Tree. I adore it, and all things Grinchy! I am feeling rather Grinchy about being sick, especially at this time of year when there is so much to be done/enjoyed. But I am "on the mend".(see how I tossed in a sewing word to describe my condition??! LOL)
I am also feeling quite Grinchy about this thread problem. I think I left the spool in the bottom of my quilting bag and now it is a total mess. Does anyone have a solution to these kinds of unravelling spools of hand quilting thread?? 
Speaking of the Grinch, I think it's time to get the Grinch quilt out to decorate the design wall again! No progress has occurred since last year :(

Treadling on Tuesday

It's Tuesday and I'm not treadling. I'm still feeling sick and I'm getting very Grinchy about all the sewing time I am missing out on. There are only two more sleeps until the next mystery clue comes out, and I haven't even finished the cutting for the previous step yet.

But even though I am not treadling, I love watching the Grinch treadle! 
Yes... the Grinch does his sewing on a treadle machine! And he makes his dog Max power the treadle while he sews!

I wonder if I could do that with my new Granddog Max?!? Maybe I could bribe him with treats to get him to help me treadle? Not likely. His work ethic leaves a lot to be desired! LOL

And did you know that the Grinch actually sewed his own Santa suit without a pattern! A brilliant and creative sewer!

Design Wall Monday - Temecula Mystery

I had been sewing like a fiend last week, until I succumbed to a stomach flu that kept me in bed (and the bathroom - too much information?!) a lot of the weekend.  I was able to finish all the blocks for the Countdown to Christmas mystery from Temecula quilts.  Several of the blocks went missing for a while - they were in a "very safe place", which I couldn't remember! But I finally found them in my "Baby Jayne" case and my interest was renewed in the project.

Here is the finished layout as it was on my design wall on the weekend, with a grand total of 80 blocks - 8 blocks across and 10 blocks down.
L O V E this quilt!
It is Christmasy but doesn't have any actual Christmas fabrics in it. I wasn't sure about the light coloured squares and debated taking them out, and I might tea dye it a bit when the quilt is finished. But for now, I am really happy with it.
I was very careful taking the blocks off the design wall and pinning them in order to sew the rows together. 



But look what happened... I found one block on the floor. I don't have any extras, so that means one is missing from the layout. UGH!  I think I will put this project away for awhile!
To see more design walls hop over to Patchwork Times.

Slow Stitching Sunday

I am making some good progress on my "Accidental Quilt". 

I have finished quilting all the lines in the triangle blocks and am working my way around the outside of the quilt. Soon it will be binding time and I have picked out the perfect fabric! I am trying not to rush and enjoy the process... I remind myself that the anticipation is the best part! I might actually finish the hand quilting today depending on how much stitching time I get! So exciting!

I basted a scrap piece of fabric around the outside of the quilt to give me more fabric to put in the hoop (a great suggestion from Slow Sunday Stitching comments) and it is really helping me to get better stitches. I took a photo of my threads so I can remember what I used on this quilt. I like this thread and bought it on sale at Joann's in the US. Do you have the same bad habit as I do of sticking pins into the top of the spool? 
Hope you are able to enjoy some relaxing hand stitching today... treat yourself!
We would love to see what you are hand stitching this week. You can share your project below linking to your blogpost or Flickr page.

Scrappy Saturday

I was quite busy this week sewing the step #1 mystery blocks, but did do a bit of work to finish up 9 brown and black double nine patch blocks for my Omigosh quilt. There is no focus colour for the December Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so we are working on finishing up blocks and projects from this past year. 
These 5" blocks each have 49 little pieces... they are harder to sew than they look! I am putting this project back into it's tin until next year so I can work on some Christmas projects and step #2 of the mystery.
Hop over to SoScrappy to see more Rainbow Scrap projects.

T.G.I.F.

It's Friday!
You know what that means. Step #2 of Celtic Solstice is released today. 
I'm ready! I finished sewing the last of the 200 TriRecs blocks last night, and have pinned them in sets of 10.

They are being stored in a recycled spinach container. I look forward to filling this container with lots more mystery blocks over the next couple of weeks. 
What are we sewing next?!? You can check it out at Quiltville.

December's UFO Goal - Civil War quilt

I really shouldn't take on a big UFO project for the busy

month of December, but I'm going to. I really want to finish my Civil War sampler quilt. 
Why? 

Because I love sampler quilts and have a few more sampler quilts that I would love to finish before Barbara Brackman or another quilt designer offers us another sampler project I can't refuse!
I started this quilt in 2011 as a 2 colour blue and white quilt and almost bailed on it because I was bored. But I found some great brown fabrics in Vermont that breathed some new life into the blocks and I was hooked again.



Today this project is a pile of blocks. I hope to get them into a finished quilt top by the end of the month/year.
Is it doable?!?
I have all the fabric I need, including some unique Civil War specialty fabrics that I have found over the years. 

Look at these historic reproduction fabrics...
they are going to be part of the backing.








To see more December UFO goals, hop over to A Lovely Year of Finishes.

Celtic Solstice

I have been working away on step #1 of Celtic Solstice, which are Tri Recs blocks. This is such a fantastic ruler, one I have used a lot over the years, and these blocks are fun to sew. It was the perfect unit to kick off the mystery adventure! So far I've made about 60 of each coloured blocks. 

Pink is my "orange" fabric and the light coloured triangles are my "neutral" fabrics. You can read more about my fabric choices by clicking here.

I watched all of the videos that Bonnie posted with the first step, and they were great. You always pick up tips to make things easier when you see how other quilters sew. I even enjoyed watching the Inklingo video and could see a lot of possibilities with this program. I am using the rulers for this project because I have them and they work great.

I am loving my fabrics so far, and even though I have no idea how it all will turn out, these blocks are making me happy! I have about 35 more blocks to sew of both colours, which I will work on during QuiltCam on Wednesday night. So I will be ready for step #2 on Friday.
To see more quilters progress on step #1, hop over to the Quiltville link up.

Design Wall Monday - Countdown to Christmas

I have been having lots of fun with the Countdown to Christmas mystery. I was hoping to finish this mystery before Bonnie's new Celtic Solstice took over my life started, but these little blocks took a lot longer than I had thought they would. 

Here they are on my design wall. The pattern calls for 20 of the blocks with a star and a 4 patch, so I am ready to go on to the next step, which is the last step and it is gorgeous! 
I can't wait to get all my blocks together and see how my version is going to turn out.
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Slow Stitching Sunday - Pumpkin Seeds

Happy Slow Stitching Sunday! 
The first order of business is to announce the winner of the 100 blocks magazine draw. The winner is...
commenter #22 which is Maureen, who is listed as "no reply" blogger, so I can't contact you Maureen. Send me an email and I can get your magazine sent out to you.
Now onto my slow stitching project for today...
One of my projects for the Scrappy Rainbow Challenge that I started in August is pumpkin seed blocks.  These blocks started as a way to practice my hand applique stitching and I am encouraged that I can see improvement with each finished block. 

These are the blocks I have finished. My goal is to make this a true charm quilt with each seed and each background fabric used only once in the quilt.

These are my two favorite pumpkin seed making tools.

1) I am using the "Leaves Galore" ruler to trace the seed shapes, and it works perfectly. 

2) And I am using the Bohin mechanical chalk pencil to draw the sewing lines. The chalk has never broken on my pencil, it makes a clear line that is erasable, and the point is always sharp.  This week I had to change the chalk and couldn't remember how to do it. I was thinking it is "mechanical" so there must be something to push or twist, some kind of mechanism to figure out. But nope! As with many  things in life, it's really easy if you know the trick. 

And this pencil is totally "old school"... no magic required. 

This is how to put in the refill...

*pull the white eraser off the top of the pencil 

*stick the refill down into the pencil

*push the white eraser back into the top of the pencil.

*repeatedly push the top of the eraser to get the chalk to come down into the writing position.

Easy peasy. 

What a great product!

Today I hope to finish some brown pumpkin seeds to add to this collection. Did you notice the Thanksgiving block with the fussy cut turkey (top right block)?!?

This week I felt like starting a few green blocks to get into the Christmas spirit. Just look at that pointy point! I think I might be ready to move on to some more challenging shapes!
But this is still a really fun scrappy project, so I will continue making more blocks until I get tired of them. 

What are you stitching by hand this week? Are you making any gifts to give at Christmas? Share your project with us by linking up your blog post below.

Scrappy Saturday - Brown

The colour this month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is brown. I sewed up some scraps into brown blocks but didn't make as much progress as I had hoped. Here are my brown spool blocks so far. 
I did do a lot of machine quilting on two quilts with lots of brown... does that count?! One was for a friend (see her brown quilt here) and one was my UFO of the month, which is completely done, done, and DONE! 
Hop over to SoScrappy to see what other folks are sewing with their brown scraps.