Dabbling

I  am ADDICTED to making these mini Christmas stocking gift card holders for my ETSY shop.  I love using up little bits of batting and scraps of holiday fabrics.

In between times, I am sewing up some blocks for the Carolina Hurricane Quilts Project coordinated by Carole at From My Carolina Home.  I sent her some blocks back when she was collecting for the California Fire Quilts, so this was a no-brainer for me to get involved again.  I hope you will, too.  The big blocks go together quite quickly, especially since I already have pre-cut scrap squares.

I'm headed to a conference in PA for the next two days, so I will be knitting, not quilting.  I'm hoping to finish a Christmas present while away from home, or at least make significant progress.  I'm only planning to make a few gifts this year; the rest I am trying to buy from local artisans or on ETSY.  Do you have a favorite ETSY shop to buy gifts or a go-to gift that you like to make?  I'm always looking for ideas...

I'm linking up with Monday Making and Oh Scrap!

NOVEMBER!!

In my world (college advising), October is commonly referred to as Suck-tober.  Crass, I know, but whoa, what a crazy, exhausting month!  Today is the deadline for seniors to apply Early Action or Early Decision to most colleges, so tomorrow, things start to slow down to a trot instead of this full-on gallop we've been experiencing all month.  YAY!

To me, that means picking up the guitar again, reading for pleasure (I have a backlog of new-to-me cozy mysteries waiting for me) and SEWING!!  Tonight, in between panicked emails from the kids who didn't listen to me about getting things done early and are just now finalizing essays before submitting applications tonight, I am whipping up a couple of mini Christmas stockings.  They usually sell well in my ETSY shop, and those that don't sell, I use to give gifts to friends and family.  They are the perfect size to hold a gift card, but I've also filled them with candy, lottery tickets, money, any little thing.

When I got online tonight, I found that Bonnie Hunter has announced this year's mystery quilt!  ACK!  I guess I should get back to finishing LAST year's quilt; I had fun working on it last year, and want to do it again this year.  I have 18 more blocks to put together before I can start assembling the quilt.

Another donation quilt started

A number of student groups that I work with had a Block Party tonight.  Since I had to be there anyway, I set up some sewing machines, brought some precut fabric, and helped anyone who wanted to make blocks for another Community Quilt.  This one will be donated to Quilts Beyond Borders.  Most of the students had never sewn before, but they made great progress!

Same pattern for my last Community Quilt Project - Arkansas Crossroads

(I swear some girls sewed, too.  But since I live in a boys dorm, I know a lot more of the boys on campus than the girls, and they are great sports about trying new things.)

Guilty quilting

I had so much fun getting back to sewing yesterday that I snuck in some sewing today, too!  Gonna have to double up on the recommendation letters tomorrow to make up for the time I spent sewing today, but it was worth it!

I revisited my On Ringo Lake quilt - I only had 31 blocks pieced, so I assembled another block today.

18 to go!

Meanwhile, I got to looking at my Leaders & Enders Challenge on the design wall

and decided it needed sashing and cornerstones.

I like it!  I'll let that marinate on my wall for a while.

And, I made two travel tissue covers for a co-worker who will be going to her grandmother's funeral on Tuesday.  Just wanted her to know I was thinking of her.

When asked, she first indicated a blue that she liked, and then said red, so I made her one of each color.  Only the blue one has tissues in it, though.

I'm hoping I can find a few moments to sew regularly this week, but most likely, it won't be until next weekend, if I am staying on schedule and doing the work I should be doing.

I'm linking up with Oh, Scrap and Monday Making.

Catching up!

As a college advisor, the fall is a super busy time.  I realized today that I hadn't worked on my temperature quilt at all during September, so I carved out some time for myself to sew this evening.  I'm happy to state that I'm all caught up through today!

And since my design wall is currently empty, I put up my what I have so far for my Leaders & Enders Challenge, Jewel Box Stars, designed by Bonnie Hunter.  Fun and scrappy!

I probably won't get another chance to sew again until next weekend, but today's sewing marathon will see me through.

Flutterby Flimsy!!

This past week was a blur - I traveled to Salt Lake City for a conference while operating in a DayQuil and NyQuil induced haze.  Storm related delays in connecting cities gave me time to complete my third POCC sock, finally giving me a matching pair,

They are the same size!  Yay!  I had already made two of these socks, but they were completely different sizes because I did the gusset wrong on Sock #2.  That's what you get when you work out of your crowded head instead of from a pattern, I guess.

but the highlight of my week was finishing my Flutterby flimsy!  I love it! 

Based on pattern by Jen Kingwell, final size 86.5" x 98.5"

It is on its way to a long arm quilter and then off to join other donated items in a silent auction to benefit Project Horizon, an organization that assists victims of domestic abuse.

It is letter writing time for me as a College Advisor, and I am woefully behind.  I'm afraid I won't have much time for sewing in the coming month, but I'm going to do my best to find moments here and there to create.

I'm linking up with Monday Making and Oh Scrap!

Plodding along

I've been plodding along with my Flutterby quilt, staying focused by keeping my eye on the calendar and the silent raffle that is coming up for which this queen sized quilt will be one of the offerings.  My goal is to have the top completed by Saturday, as I'm headed to Salt Lake City for a conference next week.  I know I can do it!  I've completed all 168 blocks, and sewed them all into 42 blocks of 4.  I love the variety in every single block.

I've begun sewing them into ever larger chunks.  The pieced borders are already constructed and ready to be added.

I happily realized that Frances O'Roark Dowell's quilt podcast, Friendship Album 1933, is back with new installments as of September 7, so I got caught up with that while sewing.

https://quiltfiction.com/

I'm excited to share the seven Orphan UFOs that I have up for grabs through Cynthia's Quilty Orphan Adoption Event.  If you want to throw your name into the ring for any of them, visit my previous post - I'm drawing names tonight (Tuesday, September 18).

Stay safe and dry, everyone!

I'm linking up with Oh Scrap.