2018 Review

Once again I don't know where the time has gone. I keep intending to post but I guess life gets in the way. Grab something to drink and take a look. There are a bunch of pictures.

I went on three retreats this year and that helped with my completions. It's always fun to spend time with good friends and get to sew with no interruptions.

Last year I finished quite a few projects. Jennifer and I were driving to Evansville and she made a list for me (I was driving) and I am pleased with what I finished.

My neighbor's daughter graduated from high school and asked me to make some pillows from t-shirts that she had collected over the years. I had enough shirts to make four pillows. Pictures are below.

I made a quilt for my great-nephew - he loves monster trucks and I was able to find a panel that worked perfectly. I also made a quilt for my great-niece which she loves. They were both here last weekend and brought them with them.

Here is my table runner that I finally quilted and put a faced binding on it. I also made the Halloween table runner on retreat. That was fun. I finished assembling a few other tops but haven't gotten them quilted or bound yet so they will show up on a future post.

I also bought an embroidery machine a while back and have had fun with it. I made coasters using the new cork. They turned out really well.

My daughter and I made a bunch of cell phone wallets as thank yous for her service team. My grandaughter also wanted one for herself and her best friend.

Working with the cork is fun. Here is a small bag I made on retreat. Also I made luggage tags and needle cases.

I also finished a few crossstitch projects. I am in a stitch group that meets every Wednesday - another chance to stitch without interruption.

I also finished some knitting projects but not as many as I hoped. They will show up on another post.

Well, it's time to wind this up. I enjoyed looking at my accomplishments this year. I hope you did too.

A Few Other Projects

Making the commission quilts took time away from my own projects but I did get a few things done. Here are some quilting, knitting and stitching projects from last year:

Actually I think I finished another project or two (and I did complete the socks) but forgot to take pictures.

I guess I was busy. The Girl Scout pillowcase was made to go with the Girl Scout quilt that Jennifer and I made for one of the girls in our Girl Scout Troop who has breast cancer. We hoped that it would bring her some comfort.

Now I am working on a graduation quilt. I finished the blocks at our retreat a year ago and put them aside since I had "plenty" of time to finish it. Well, guess what!?!?!?!  I have to get my act together and get it done.

Catching Up

The last time I posted I showed pictures of the huge pile of clothes from which I was going to make five quilts. Well, believe it or not, I got them all done. I had a hard time starting as a lot of the clothes were really nice and would have been great donations to "Dress for Success" or a women's shelter. I finally got passed that and started cutting. I cut up the pieces for all five to make sure that I had an even distribution of fabrics in all of the quilts. I made the cornerstones from the clothes too. Here are pictures of the finished quilts:

Since she had some specific selections for each quilts you can see that they are not identical.

I asked for pictures that I could incorporate in the labels. Luckily I was able to match each label to the correct quilt.  Here is a group picture of the labels:

Due to a miscount I ended up with some extra blocks so I made a pillow for the lady who ordered the quilts:

She was surprised and very appreciative. I heard from her mother-in-law that everyone opened their quilts at the same time and there were lots of tears.  I am glad that I was able to so this for the family.

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Late last year a friend in my stitch group told me that her new daughter-in-law wanted to have a quilt made from her sister's clothes.  She asked if I would be interested.  I thought "Sure, what's one quilt?"

Her daughter-in-law and I talked on the phone and arranged for a convenient time for them to come over, talk about the quilt and bring the clothes to be incorporated in it.

A couple of weeks ago Sherri, her husband and her MIL came over with the clothes:

I was surprised at the quantity (ignore the red underneath the clothes - they are covering a queen-sized bed - hope we don't have any visitors any time soon!).  I was even more surprised when we talked and she explained that she wanted five (5) quilts not the one I thought.  I swallowed and said okay. We talked about the setting and some specific inclusions in some of them.  I gave her the estimate for one quilt and she said it was what she expected and gave me the green light.

I immediately started to look for sashing fabric (Kona Snow) and backing fabrics.  Here are my choices:

As you can see from all the clothes there is quite a variety of fabrics.  I bought a chunk of fusible interfacing that will help to stabilize the knits, rayons and loosely woven fabrics.

I have started to cut - cottons first - they are the quickest and I don't have to stabilize them.  I have a few ideas about how I will lay out the different quilts - two are for guys and I don't want to make them too fussy. I will take advantage of the cold weather we are having right now to get some more cutting done - I really don't need to go to a quilt store right now.  

I'll keep you posted on my progress.  The one good thing - there is no looming deadline.  She said she would like a couple for Christmas.  I plan to have them all done by then.

Stay warm and quilt on!

Carol

Where have I been?

I can't believe that another year has flown by.  I got a lot accomplished and have great hopes for this year.

I made a bunch of gifts this year and they were all appreciated.  This post will have a lot of pictures so grab a drink and sit back and enjoy.

My niece loves anything Paris so when I saw this fabric I knew I had to use it somehow. Then I saw the placemats and I was off (no more than usual!!). I also found the Paris fabric for the pillowcase at Lolly's when we were in Shipshewanna for our annual retreat. You can't see it but the black and white narrow fabric is all french words (don't ask me what they mean)! I also found some Paris cocktail and luncheon napkins at Sur La Table (boy can I get into trouble at that store) to round out the package.

My other niece has a dachshund who is a ton of fun.  I will post two pictures - I made the red one last year for her and this year I made the Halloweenies.  Wait until you see next year's!!!

I have a good friend I travel with to quilt shows and just for fun.  We are both knitters as well as quilters so when I saw this pattern I knew that I had to make it for her.  The best part was when I looked in my stash and found this fabric for the frame.  I couldn't believe how perfect it was.  When I bought it I had no plans for it but now I am very happy that I had it.

I belong to a stitch group that meets every Wednesday.  I really enjoy stitching too so am glad to have that time every week.  One of the gals in the group brought in one of these finished candles and I fell in love with it.  I decided to make one for everyone in my bee as well as my nieces, my travelling friend and my best friend who lives in Houston.  The stitching didn't take long at all and the finishing wasn't too bad.  I am learning a lot about finishing (following "The Twisted Stitcher" blog - great tutorials) and have been doing it with Jen.  I didn't get a picture of all of the candles but these are certainly representative.

I went back to Bath and Body Works the other day to pick up more candles (they are a steal after Christmas) only to find that the candles they had this year did not have lids on them.  It is kind of hard to finish these without the lids so I will just keep my fingers crossed that they will have lids on the jars next year.

I have really started knitting again since I moved from Houston to Indianapolis (it helps that it gets a bit cooler here - it is ~9 degrees today and is going way down in the negative numbers tonight!!).  I made this scarf/shawl for my best friend who lives in Houston.  I know that I can't make her anything too heavy but this one is perfect.  I used circular needles and Araucania Huasco DK yarn which is so soft and worked up wonderfully. It didn't take very long and I was really pleased with the result.  It will definitely stay on my list of potential gifts. I love the detail on the edge and the neck.  It was a different bind off than I had done before but it was fun.

My daughter-in-law likes just about anything I make for her.  The Valentine wall hanging was for her birthday (it was in March and I took it to her when I went at Thanksgiving - she is very patient!!).  We were at a quilt show near their home in Maryland and she saw a great quilt hangar/shelf that she fell in love with.  She ordered it and my son hung it up and now she displays her seasonal quilts on it. This year for Christmas I gave her this cute little winter one.

One thing I finished this year really pleased me.  I made this vase when I made in Houston (we have been in Indiana for 11 1/2 years) but never got around to putting on the final coat of glaze.  I bought the glaze a couple of years ago and it sat on my table gathering dust.  I finally broke down and glazed it and took it in to be fired.  Here is the finished result - as I said I am pleased with it.

Well I think I have taken up enough of your time.  As I was uploading the pictures I saw a few more things that I finished this year but I will save them for another post.  I also have three Pay-It-Forwards to make and hope to get them done soon.

I am off to the Girl Scout cookie rally tonight - I am taking care of the judging.  The principals of the girls' schools are invited to come and taste the creation that the girls make from cookies and then we award ribbons for the top three.  The girls love it and we keep the principals supplied with lots of water.

Happy New Year!  Hoping you have a healthy, happy and productive year.