Lots of little things

This week was eaten up by lots of little projects, mostly for other people.

• I transferred 11 patches from one boy scout shirt to another.  Pure tedium.  I hate using invisible thread almost as much as I hate sewing things onto sleeves.  Put the two together and  - UGH!
• I hand embroidered a recipient's name onto a quilt her grandmother made her.  Fun, but fiddly.  I prefer to do hand embroidery BEFORE a project is finished, sandwiched and quilted.  I had to be careful to make sure I only went through the top layer of the quilt, not all the way to the back.  I turned out really nice, but, of course, I forgot to take a photo.
• I made some tooth fairy pillows for my nephew since he has his first ever loose tooth.  They chose the brown one, so I guess I'll sell the green one since all my other tooth fairy pillows have sold out.

Tooth Fairy Pillow

Back of Tooth Fairy Pillow where tooth/money goes

They chose this one for my nephew

I wonder how much teeth will cost in their household.

However, some of my finishes were for ME!  I finally wove in the ends of my Isadora Cowl - I've worn it twice already this week; it is so warm and cozy!

We all know by now that my favorite color is orange, right?

I sewed together these orphan pinwheel blocks that were in a bag of donated fabric.  Now what to do with them?

It currently measures 16" x 22".

Do they want to be a mini/doll quilt?  This is about the right size for an American Girl doll, right?  Or are they the start of an Orphan Quilt since I somehow lost the Orphan quilt I finished in July 2010.  I don't even have photos of it anymore.  :(

I have some other little things to get done before heading back to work on Tuesday.

• The person I knit the Little Avery Sweater for, along with a matching hat, has now asked for another hat for a friend.  I'll try to get that done today and in the mail tomorrow.
• Next week's project with the after school program kids is an apron.  We've done some full aprons in the past, so part of me wants to make half aprons.  Anyone have a half apron pattern that they love?  I hope to whip up a sample on Monday.
• And just because no weekend is complete for me without some quality reading time, I want to finish my current cozy (A Novel Time To Die - A Black Cat Bookshop mystery) and spend some more time with Claire and Jamie in Dragonfly in Amber (the second of the Outlander series).  Last weekend I read The Cat, The Sneak and The Secret, the latest of the Cats in Trouble mysteries.  If you like cozies and you haven't read those, the protagonist is a quilter - BONUS!

Well, and then there's that holiday sneaking up on me, the one for which I have done NO creating, NO decorating and NO shopping.  I need to get on the ball!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, y'all!

One hundred and fifty-three

153 - That's how many quilt blocks arrived in the mail yesterday.  112 were the disappearing 4 patch, and 41 more were donated 16-patches.  I also received backing material and additional money for batting.  You guys are amazing!  We are going to make so many people warmer this winter!

Donald was excited to help with all the packages that were left outside our mailbox in this plastic bag . Even more blocks were in envelopes INSIDE my mailbox.  Wow!  I'm sure the mail carrier is curious about what is going on!

112 12.5" disappearing 4-patches covers A LOT of floor space! I use this spot in the basement to sandwich large quilts. 

I'm excited to make some other donation quilts with these donated blocks. 

Thank you, Nancy B, Patricia C, Becki W, Carol J, Sharon V, Barbara H, Robin B, Carol C, (unknown first name) Reiner, Barbara A, Charmaine T, (unknown first name) Thomsen, Terri J, Pat M, Susan L, Barbara W, Beth S, and Marilyn P!  You are on my ever-growing list of HEROES!

I managed to sew together most of one top last night.  I had hoped to do more, but my husband's team had a scrimmage and we went out to support him.  Of course, I went to THE WRONG UNIVERSITY!  What a bonehead!  Luckily, the two universities are only about 20 minutes apart.  While watching the game , I made some progress embroidering my mini.  For a tiny quilt, it sure is taking me longer than expected!

I wonder what today's mail call will look like?

Proud!

I know that pride is a sin, but gosh, sometimes I just can't help it!

I received a number of packages in the mail yesterday with quilt blocks for the Hurricane Sandy Relief quilts, plus received PayPal donations for batting.  In one of the packages was a little note on this paper:

Yup, I'm PROUD to be a quilter, too!  You guys are awesome!  Look at the 28 beautiful blocks that came in just yesterday from NC, SC (2), DC, AZ, CA, and CT!

28 blocks received 11/5 - thanks, Sheila, Liz, Linda, Nancy, Debbie, Lisa, and Elaine! 

I was tempted to add them to the 17 I've made and start sewing them into a quilt (just 42 blocks  needed for a 72" x 84" twin sized quilt), but I decided to wait until I get the mail today so I'll have more variety and options.

I've added a new element to my blog - see over there on the top right?  MY HEROES!  I doubt I'll have a chance to email everyone who sends donated blocks and fabrics and whatnot, but I am going to take a group photo of all blocks received in a given day and give a shout out in that post, plus I am going to keep a running list over there under My Heroes.  I know you guys don't do it for recognition, but you deserve recognition nonetheless.  You are my heroes!  A reader who is sending blocks shared with me this quote that seemed so appropriate for what we are doing together:

"When we cast our bread upon the waters, we can presume that someone downstream whose face we will never know will benefit from our action, as we who are downstream from another will profit from that grantor's gift." ~ Maya Angelou~

I hope to get one top assembled tonight before I hunker down in front of the TV to see who wins the election.  I know that is going to stress me out, so I have my hand sewing project picked out and ready to work on to soothe my nerves.  Remember this little cutie that I started a while back before my Quilter's ADD kicked in again?

My version of a mini I saw on Julie's blog last month 

I hope to finish the embroidery and buttons so I can sandwich it and start the hand quilting the next time I am sitting somewhere with nothing for my hands to do.  What do YOU do to keep yourself sane and calm during times of stress?

Can you tell I'm done traveling?

Three posts in three consecutive days?  It is a lot easier to do when I sleep in my own bed at night and actually have time to sit and stitch.  I'm not caught up READING blogs yet, but I'll get there.  If you haven't heard from me in a while, just wait - I just haven't gotten to you yet.

I was asked to come in to teach a karate class yesterday afternoon, and while I was glad to help out, Tuesday is usually my "go straight home after work and don't leave until Wednesday" day.  I was determined to sit outside and stitch on my mini for an hour or so, enjoying the autumn sun and warmth, before heading back to town.  But when I got ready to sew, I discovered that I hadn't brought my mini home with me!  I had taken it to work, thinking I'd stitch a bit at lunch time, but of course, I didn't have the time.  I came back in this morning to find it sitting in my window waiting for me.

Yeah, lots of my kids' handiwork in my office

Not to be thwarted, I pulled out my new border stencil that I just bought in West Virginia last week, and marked the borders of my Orange Creamsicle Quilt.  I'll be honest, I've never marked a border with a stencil before, and I was dreading it.  I usually just do something simple that doesn't require marking, like stitching in the ditch or echo quilting, but this quilt has enough straight lines, I wanted some curves.  I was nervous about making it all fit neatly, but I decided to leave a space in the middle of the top and bottom borders for a butterfly stencil that I got from a friend, and on the long sides, I was able to shrink one of the curves to make the stencil fit, and now that I've marked it, I have to really look to see which one is different.  Not so bad, after all.

Then, as I watched the debate (with my boys, who asked if they could stay up late to watch...not sure where that came from, but OK), I quilted.  I try to always quilt when I am watching politics.  I need something to help relax me because the spin and the half-truths and the accusations and the pandering really stress me out.  Bah!

No political talk on here today.  Instead, I'll leave you with a photo I took yesterday afternoon.  I was looking for Jason to remind him to get started on his homework, but he had already started.  In a tree.  I LOVE MY KIDS!

Sidetracked!

I was cruising blogs yesterday morning, and came across a Pine Burr quilt block on the Nifty Quilts blog, Nifty Quilts.  Inspired, I rushed downstairs in my pajamas to start making one right away.

I got down there to discover that I hadn't yet unpacked the car from my booth, and hadn't yet cleaned up from the frenetic activity of preparing for the booth, so I had to put my enthusiasm for that block on the back burner while I unpacked and straightened up.  Honestly, it is nicer working in there when I don't have to move piles of stuff to get to the ironing board or the cutting table.

While cleaning, I came across a package of fabric scraps that I tried giving away earlier this year, but I never heard back from the person who won.

Determined to do SOMETHING with that fabric other than put it back into my stash, I whipped up a little top that used all of the yellow, all of the blue, and nearly all of the green dancing pigs. (I did put the green dot back into my stash.) It measures about 24" square, so now I just want to find a border fabric and finish it off as a baby or doll quilt.

I also realized that the fabric I wanted to use for the Pine Burr block hadn't been washed yet, so I threw that in the machine, and went upstairs to shower, eat and visit more blogs while I waited for my fabric to be ready.  And came across a cute little mini on Joe Tulips Quilts.

Back down to the sewing room I went, not to make a Pine Burr block, but to whip up this little mini.

Right now it measures about 9"x 13" without the outer border. There will be an embroidered vine with leaves around the outside and in the two background columns and hopefully some tiny button flowers.

The outside borders aren't sewn on yet, but I'll do that this evening and start the embroidery.  How cute and easy and fun!  I have a feeling I'll probably make another, too!

But first, this evening, I AM going to make a Pine Burr block.  Hold me to it!  Come back tomorrow to see how I did.

Finally, according to Random Number Generator (I don't know how to do the screen shots so you can see which number is chosen...if you want to let me know how, I'll be forever grateful), the winner of my last giveaway with the fabrics I bought in West Virginia (to which I added a half yard of a neutral from my last shop, making it a total of 1.5 yards of fabric goodness) is commenter #2 - Julie of My Quilt Diary!  I'm very happy to send this fabric to her as she is always helping me out with scouting ideas for my boys.  Send me your address, Julie, and I'll send this to you.  I've never sent anything to Japan before.  Fun times!  Seems like many of my giveaways are won by people outside the US.  My last winner was in Canada.  I guess I have international appeal...  :)

Enjoy your Monday, everyone!  I know I plan to!

One star, one orphan and 3 experiments

How I love an opportunity to sew just one block and feel like I've accomplished something! When I stumbled across the JUST ONE STAR challenge at Moda, supporting the Quilts of Valor Program, I knew I had found something I wanted to participate in. Here's my block - quick and easy:

But there were some itty bitty bonus triangles left over when I made the block. Rather than throw them away, I thought I'd see if they were big enough to make something with. This little baby Monkey Wrench measures 2" unfinished.

Very cute, but so much work! (much like real babies, I guess) I love the look of minature quilts, but seriously, it is as much work as a big quilt, but without the functionality. This little baby will not be getting any siblings. I suppose he'll find his way into an orphan quilt one day - right now he's hanging out on one of the design walls with all the other orphans.

While I enjoyed making the star and the monkey wrench blocks, they are all made of just two fabrics. Those who know me know, that just isn't enough! I need more variety, some scrappiness! So, as my leader and ender while I worked on these, I played around with some of my 1.5" squares since they have long since overflown their tin and are puddling around and making a mess of themselves. A four-patch of one color, surrounded by a border of another color, and floating in some 4.5" squares cut on the diagonal, a size that I have realized I pretty much never use and should probably eliminate from my stash management system. I'd need to make more of these 6.5" blocks before I decide if I'll actually pursue a top with these blocks, but for now, fun, fun, fun!

Hmmm, maybe they could be border blocks for something...

Anyway, it is raining cats and dogs outside today, which is perfectly fine with me; no guilt at all about staying inside today, reading (Jacobs Ladder by Lizbie Brown), stitching and sipping a warm beverage. Enjoy your Sunday!