Last Minute Mary

My mom used to always call either me or my sister Last Minute Mary. We generally work best under pressure, and getting ready for Christmas is no exception.  I'm working on a quick beret for someone on my gift list.  This is called Brambles, from Knitty.com Deep Fall 2010. Loving the pattern so far!   (also enjoying blogging from my phone!)

Little Project, Big Goal

My sweet niece has asked for Barbie clothes for Christmas, so I'm making time for some knitting.  I found the cutest little suitcase to put them in and I'm hoping to get it filled with lots of cute outfits from Knits for Barbie by Nicky Epstein.

Skinny little yarn, skinny little needles, skinny little swatch looking thing that will soon become a dress!

Stockings for Kids Charity Event

Have you been to Purple Panda Quilts blog? She's one of the quilters in my circle for do. Good Stitches and she does beautiful work! You can tell she also has a really good heart, because she works with foster kids.  This fall, she's organizing a Stockings for Kids drive - all the info is on that link there.  She's hoping to get 50 stockings, and I'm hoping she gets even more!  There will even be prizes, donated by some great fabric shops.
She's got a tutorial on her blog for a cute stocking that will hold alot of goodies, and I'm going to try one soon.  Her instructions look easy to follow, which is great for some of us 'advanced beginners.'  You'll want to follow her blog too, because there will be a free stocking tutorial every Tuesday from now until the end of the drive.  Stockings are due by December 1st.

Hop on over to her blog to learn more, and get then sewing!  There is a flickr group too, so you can see everyone's work.

September do Good Stitches Blocks

Do you ever think the end of the month sneaks up on you?  That happened to me in September with my do. Good Stitches blocks.  The lovely Bijou Lovely was our hostess this month, and this was her inspiration for our color scheme.

 

Great color combo!  Orange, a plum purple, grey and white.  She requested square in a square blocks with random sizing and a white border.  I finally finished on Monday, an embarassing 3 days into October. 

These were fun to pull together.  Kind of unplanned but with a goal in mind.  I started in the center and built my way to the outside with what was available in my stash.  Looking at the other photos in our Flickr group, I think this will be a great quilt!

Pumpkin Patch

I've finished my pumpkin patch of blocks for the second HGTV swap that I joined this summer.  Our assignment was to create 9 blocks with a decent sized pumpkin and a fun background.  I started off trying to use a log cabin background using what I had at hand, but I decided it was too busy.  They pumpkins just didn't stand out as much as I would have liked.  So I switched to a simple cream on cream background and a plump appliqued pumpkin.  I used blanket stitch around the edge of the pumpkins, but I did needle turn on the colored stripes that are supposed to give a little depth and interest.

The autumn leaves fabric is full of rich color and I wish I'd stashed more of it.  After the attempted log cabin blocks, I didn't have enough to sash all nine blocks, so I found another lovely fall colored print.  Oranges and rusts and golden yellows.  Here's my pumpkin patch full of pumpkin blocks!

The fabrics used for the pumpkins are from Connecting Threads.  Its the first time I had ordered from them, and I've been pleased with the quality. Their thread is quite nice too and oh the colors!  do Good Stitches blocks are up next!

Red and White Swap Blocks

I wanted to show you my bounty of Red & White swap blocks!  Aren't they marvelous?  Every one did such a lovely job and I am so tickled.

I haven't decided if I should stick with the 9 blocks and make a wall hanging, or if I should make a few more and create something larger.  Four more blocks would make a bigger quilt, and could be placed in the four corners.

Not all Those Who Wander are Lost - Some are Just Learning to Quilt

This is my second attempt at free motion quilting.  The first time I dropped the feed dogs and changed the foot, and it was quite the work of art.  (Insert sarcastic sneer here.)  Kind of looked like a baby using a crayon for the first time.  Scary!  This time, I did nothing different with the machine - I just fed the quilt sandwich under the needle and went to town.

It was easier than I expected, although this is by no means perfect.  Its a wide meandering, so its not technically stippling.  Wiiiiiiiide meandering, dare I say wandering!  My stitches are not even lengths, and some of the curves are a little pointy, but I think its ok for a beginner.   You can see the quilting itself better if you click on the photo to enlarge it.  I still can't manage to achieve the same quality of photos in blogland as I can in the photo editing software. 

You can see the quilting better on the backside of course.  Its a small quilt, about 18 x 25, made with a set of disappearing 9 patch blocks.  I had intended to get more of the fabric & make it larger, but they were out of stock.  Its a cute size that could be used as a doll quilt, or perhaps as a doggie quilt?  There are a couple of places in the house that Katie will go to during thunderstorms, but those spots are just hardwood floor.  I thought maybe having a little rug to lay on would make her more comfortable.  We'll see later this week for sure, because there are storms in the forecast.

The front is fun!  I messed up one of the big 9 patches, but I did not catch my mistake until it was too late, so this is a little scrappier than a thoughtfully planned disappearing nine patch! 

Any advice for a beginner?