all Directions

Today is a day when I want to get lots of things done. Which is good because I have lots of projects on the go.

Every so often I get that feeling that I need to cut down the number of things I'm working on. That means that I have to finish some things off. Well a lot of these projects are work-related ha ha.  Having the shop lets me rationalize making all sorts of things, just to see what they will  look like. That way I can display them at the store and other people who have been wondering the same thing, will know what they look like and then be able to decide if they want to make them or not.

So today, this is some progress I have made…

Okay well not technically this morning but last night I got the findings also non-to this beautiful starburst quilt. I talked about it sometime ago, and it's made almost all from art gallery fabrics. I just love it. It's been washed and dried in the dryer so it's all wrinkled and thick.

I sewed on the binding by machine to my little stars table runner  sewn from primitive gatherings fabrics. Now I just have to hand stitch the binding to the back.

I finished the 42 blocks for my propellor quilt!

And ever since this little booklet on monograms Arrived last week I've been itching to monogram something.  I decided that my love of decorated tea towels would be a good collection to add to, And so I'm going to monogram this striped tea towel with dark olive coloured thread. 

Finally, for those of you who like Crosstitch I thought I would let you know that I am still progressing on my counted cross stitch alphabets sampler and have only eight letters left to do

That's the Thursday morning Roundup of things I'm working on today. Do you think I might have attention deficit disorder?

WIP wednesday

I'm making progress.. yesterday I quilted the little baby quilt size of the new pattern I wrote called "Fallingwater".  This morning I finished sewing on the binding, so that's all done!

 I put minkee fleece on the back, which makes it really soft for a little person.  The quilting is all straight lines using a walking foot.

 I'm also ready to add another round to this quilt, which has no name yet. 

 the next round will be the grey and the coral colored squares again,

 I'm adding sections as I go, so that the quilting will be more manageable.

 I'm tempted to make it up in another colorway...

I'm coming along on cutting down the number of works in progress that I have.  Partly this is by finishing some projects, but mostly it's by giving away some projects to the Serendipity group.  I'd like to have fewer things sitting on my shelves and more things out in the world being used.
Do you give away a lot of your quilts? If so, to who? 
This is the link to the Needle and Thread Network WIP round-up  here.

 It is number 80 this week!  
Thanks for visiting!

"Ongoing Projects"

Every so often I think about listing the projects that I have in progress.  A daunting task indeed.  Up until now I was quite afraid of what I might discover if I tried this. 

However, in the past couple of weeks, as I tided up my sewing room, I found that I was making a stack of fabrics and quilt tops, and blocks to pass on to Serendipity (our Guild's group that makes things to give away).  This made me wonder just what I did have on my shelves left to work on. 

Also, I read Carly's post about making an inventory of her fabrics.  While this was both shocking and awesome, it did inspire confidence that I could indeed inventory my ufo's (unfinished objects).
Last night I photographed what I had on my shelves, and this morning I have made a list of what there is.  Granted, I did forget to take photos of a few things, but I did list them. 

At the end of this, I find I have 30 projects on my list, which is what it is.  I don't pretend that I will finish all of these, and I'll probably pass some of them on at a later date, but it does feel good to have them listed now.  More in control of it all, somehow.  Also, I have a list of photos, mostly that I can refer to, rather than having to physically look through my shelves and baskets. ( they are on the new page, above, called Ongoing Projects) 

Also, I have a new basket of stuff to pass on to Serendipity!

Applique!!

 This morning I just started in on my applique like a crazy person,

 I have only 7 blocks from the Art to Heart Saturday Surprise blocks from last year, since I also made this pieced quilt using some of the blocks:

At the Show and Tell in September I fell in love with this quilt by Kathy.  Yes, I know that we've used this setting before, but not with those skinny little frames around each block!  Yay Kathy.  I loved the effect of them floating in that light colored background.

So, that's what sparked my plan for my quilt-- I've put a little frame around each of the blocks, and I'll use a lot of white background, on which I will applique a lot of birds and leaves.  (Fusible!)
Definitely fusible, because just yesterday I finished the needle-turn applique on this project:

 Big, isn't it!  Not just the photo....
Actually, the dresden plate blocks are mostly pieced, but I did hand-stitch them to the background.  I love that I was able to use a lot of my Westminster prints that I had collected over the past few years, as well as a lot of American Jane fabrics which I love!

 These blocks with the arcs are pieced:

 However, these blocks were all hand applique:

 The designs are by Sue Spargo, ( yes, we do still have some of her books at the store!)

 Her quilts are usually a melange of cottons, wools, applique, beads and embroidery that make them really rich texturally.  I don't plan to add any wool to this one, but I am contemplating some embroidery.  We'll see.  Right now I have set it aside in order to work on the other project. 

 Whatever you choose to work on this weekend, I hope you have fun with it too!

Store News:
this is sort of an afterthought, and directed at those of you who like to know what's arriving and happening at the shop--
We got in a collection called Aviary, by Nancy Gere for Windham.  There are 14 fabrics in grey, white and black,  you can see them all here,

Plus, we have a new quilt kit! Val sewed it from a pattern called Sweet Pea,

but in beautiful soft greys, yellow and ivory,

These are some from a new collection called Taza, and I brought a whole bunch of them with me to Savannah to play with, because I just love them.  Not sure yet what to do with them though.
(Oh yes, we got in about 12 more colors of Kona Cotton, so don't forget to print off the coupon (below) and use it before Friday to get 25% off of them)
Again, have a great stitchy weekend!

WIP wednesday

 I have quite a small stash of fabrics here.  that is, aside from a tall pile of 1930's fabrics.  I was quite enthusiastic about them this autumn, and might have done a few too many things with them, because now I seem to want to do some sewing with quite different styles of fabrics. 
I noticed this block above, on a flickr thread of photos, here, it was from a quilter called Setsuko Inagawa. I think they are calling it "Japanese X and plus".  I had just done it from memory, and going back to the photos now, i see that I simplified it a bit in the shadings.  I am liking how they are turning out, however, and hopefully I'll sew some more of them today.  They are going to finish at 7-1/2" square. 

Another thing that I started based on a photo I saw, was this set of little raw edge applique flowers.   I have actually sewn a pieced border strip around them, but have stopped working on them because I don't know what to do with them next.  I have thought of several possibilities, but none really make me feel excited.  I think I need to get a bit more of the beige colored linen, since I have no more of it.  It might be nice to use larger pieces of it in the setting of the blocks.  (I know, I just want to go shopping!)

 

@Bernie, Hi there, it's nice you want to try some applique, and I hope you enjoy it,  this here, is a post where I mention how I do applique, but others might have some other tips or techniques that they like to use, hope you get lots of time to sew this year!