Catching Up

This is going to be a pretty long post since it has been a while (almost half a year) since my last one. It doesn’t seem to me that I’ve gotten much done quilt-wise, but it may look like it once everything is bundled together in one place.

Frist of all, I have been making a Quilt of Valor every month and sending them up to my dear friends, the Georgia Belles, to be quilted and gifted to an appreciated veteran.  There is a double benefit for me from making Quilts for veterans. The best thing of course, is having the opportunity to show my appreciation for those who served in the armed forces and helped to keep America safe.  Secondly, it is a practical way to experiment with different quilt patterns and techniques.  I enjoy trying new things and am learning so much with each one I make.

Falling Stars

This is the QOV for July. The pattern is called ‘Falling Stars’ and is in the Spring issue of Easy Quilts.

Summertime Stars

I made this one for August from a pattern called ‘Summertime Stars” in Quaint Quilts to Love by Joanna Figueroa & Lisa Quan.

This is the one I made for September. At the moment, I can’t remember what magazine I saw this one in, but I remember it was an old one — from the 90s.

And this is for October. I made it up using my favorite block, Mary’s Triangles from Sally Schnider’s book, Triangle Tricks. I’ve made several quilts with this block and it is so versatile.

A couple of months ago, the Community Service group of my local guild, Seaside Piecemakers, asked for patriotic lap quilts for a local hospice organization. Since I had a few patriotic panels on hand, I decided to make them up into lap quilts. Here they are.

I turned these three in and was gifted with four more little panels to make into even more lap quilts.  Here they are (before the quilting and binding. Apparently, I didn’t take a picture of them finished):

These were fun to make and fast – corner blocks and side borders around the panel and the quilt is all done. These were small enough that I could quilt them myself on my little Vikiing. Notice the Mary’s Triangles in the corners. I sure like adding them to quilts.

Folded Fabric Stars

These are my folded fabric stars. I learned this technique from Diana Whitson at a Sunstitchers meeting in June. I liked it so much that when we went back to Chattanooga to get the last of our stored stuff, I showed Karen D. and Sharon G. how to make them and they shared the technique with the Chattanooga Quilt Guild. I thought I would make one or two, but I keep getting ideas for different color combinations and decide to do ‘just one more.’ Thus this fifth one:

One more star

(and I am considering a few more color ways, so I don’t think I am done yet.)

Over the last few months, I also managed to get some knitting done. I finally finished the teal pair and two more pairs after that.  I have been knitting in the evenings while watching TV.

Teal Sox

Red & Purple Sox

Blue Sox

This makes 24 pairs of socks that I have knitted. I think I am ready for winter now — LOL!

Twin baby quilts

I made these baby quit tops for my sister. She has a co-worker who recently had twin granddaughters, and I happened to have a couple ABC panels on hand that seemed girly, so I pieced the tops for her. She will take care of the quilting and finishing.

 

Well, I believe that has us all caught up. I left out any pictures of the studio although it has changed a lot since the last update on that. I am hoping to get the room all neatened up for fresh pictures, but I am having so much fun sewing in here that there seems to always be a mess of one sort or another.

Happy Day!

 

 

 

Checking In

Well, we have been in Florida now for about six months and in our house for about five, and I am beginning to feel like this is home. I suspect finally getting a washer and dryer helped with that feeling.  It is so nice to do my own laundry again and not have to take it out to the laundromat.

here are the new lovelies, happily nestled in their own little niche. And look at what we (‘we’ in this case means Raymond) had to do to vent the dryer! I don’t know how the previous owners did laundry as there was no vent for a dryer anywhere in the garage.  This setup is a little funky looking, but as long as it works I love it.

I happened across a Quilting Arts episode (1210) on Create TV this week and saw two projects that seemed interesting — quick fabric flowers and a scrappy trip around the world block. That same day, I tried making the flower before I forgot how and here is my attempt.  I like it. I can see this being a cute addition to a purse or pillow or even a baby quilt. The one in the clip used ombre fabric and the first one I found was this brown to tan. It still looks like a flower.  It was as easy to make as it looked in the video.

And here is the scrappy trip block. The original pattern is on Bonnie Hunter’s website,  quiltville.com.  I had seen it there but thought making all those little squares looked like a lot of work. Well after seeing the video on Quilting Arts, I found out it is a fun and quick little block to make. I am so tempted to cut up all my fat quarters into strips and start making more of these blocks.

Because the blocks are so busy, I think if I used the same color in the center (I decided to go with white) the blocks would have a little bit of order.

Sock it to me

Next, I am pleased to show a finished sock. I have been knitting on this one for over a year!  The yarn is wool, silk and a little nylon. It feels very soft. I started the second one right away but who knows how long it will take to finish!  Don’t you love the color!

Studio Update

This week, we got a piece of pegboard and some 1″ x 2″s for the legs and frame and Raymond put them together to hold my rulers and rotary cutters. This one is bigger than the last one and I love it.  Here are some shots of the studio showing the new pegboard.

I moved the furniture around again as you can see. 

The pegboard as well as the design wall just lean there against the wall. I love that I can move them around without leaving marks on the walls.  The only exception with that will be my next design wall which will be made of insulation sheets covered in flannel. They will be secured to the wall. Maybe next month I will get around to that.

And here is the pegboard with all my rulers arranged on it right by the cutting table.  I love it!  Now I better get in there and sew something.

Where did January go?

(note: when I look at this post, instead of photos I see little squares with an X in them. I hope this is some temporary blip on my computer and not in the actual post. Let me know if you can’t see any of the photos). My sister gave me this lovely lace heart and I decided it would be perfect as a pillow for the guest bedroom. The red paisley fabric matches the duvet and it looks very nice sitting on the bed.

This is a UFO I was given. Some of the rail fence blocks were together, others needed assembled. If you look close, you can see the spot where I got the rails going backwards, but  I think it turned out pretty nice anyway and will make a cheerful cuddle quilt for some lucky  boy or girl.

I have seen on a few other quilter’s blogs that they save up all the spools they empty during the year and then count them up to get an idea of how busy they have been.  I thought I would give it a try. Here are the 25 spools I used up in 2013.  I wonder how many I will use this year?

I joined an artist trading card swap group and here are the cards I got for January. The theme was ‘bears’ and mine is there in the middle. It says “Love bears all things.” All the cards were very cute and each one is totally different. I love seeing how other gals interpret the themes so uniquly.

Here is another pair of short socks. They are very warm, especially when worn over another pair of socks.

This little cuddle quilt was a panel. I just stitched along the lines and gave it to Project Linus at the January meeting.

This is one section of a quilt I am making. It is queen sized and I decided to try the quilt-as-you-go method to finish it. What you do is quilt the middle of each section, leaving the edges un-stitched. then you join the sections and quilt the bits between them. This is the first quilted section. Two more to go.  Zeena is checking it out.

Here are some string blocks I made from patriotic fabric strips. They will end up in two or three different quilts.

What I Did in December

 

2013 is coming to an end in a few days.  I must say I am going to miss it.  I had so much fun with friends and family this year, so many blessing came my way.  At the same time, I am looking forward to 2014 – doesn’t it feel like it may just be the best year yet?   Here is the final round-up for December.  Thanks for reading my blog. I hope 2014 is your best year yet too! See you next year.

Pizza Box Blocks

Here are the pizza box blocks I mad this month.  The one on the left is the practice one from my fabric and the one on the right is Gayle T’s.  flying geese units were required this time, and there are eight in each block, although you have to look a little to find them.   This was a fun block that I got out of one of the Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks issues.

In January we all show our final blocks and the pizza boxes go back to their original owner.  I am excited to see all the blocks in my pizza box, but at the same time I don’t want this swap to end.

Artist Trading Card Swap

A new feature here is the group of ATCs that I got from a swap I joined.  ATC is short for artist’s trading card, which is a little 3.5″ x 2.5″ work of art that can be made from any combination of fabric, paper, paint, stamping, etc.   Veronica has been hosting a monthly swap for a few years now (you can find out more by clicking on her blog which is listed on the side).  The theme was black or white and I couldn’t decide so I went with shades of gray instead, just like I do in real life (just a few shades though — I don’t think I could handle 50).  Mine is the one in the middle. I just love every one and am looking forward to taking part in a lot of these swaps.

Socks

Knitting is an interesting activity. I find it a peaceful  and love that I can relax for a while with my yarn and needles now and then.  Socks and gloves seem to be just the right size project for me — one day I may try another sweater, but for now I am enjoying socks. I still can’t believe I finally learned how to use double pointed needles. And it is so neat to have something useful once I am finished!

Here are the short socks I made with the rainbow yarn.  They are nice and warm.  This heavier yarn knits up a lot faster than skinny sock yarn — that’s for sure!

There was a lot of yarn left after the socks so I made a couple of pairs of fingerless gloves.  I love this rainbow yarn.

Cotton Socks

I finished another pair of socks, this time with cotton yarn.  I had to use smaller needles to get them to the same size as the other socks, and I haven’t worn them yet so I can’t say if I like them or not.  The cotton is quite soft and if they can keep their shape, I think they will be very nice.  I got the yarn when Sew Bee It closed and thought it was sock yarn.  I usually make dish cloths out of cotton yarn, but this seemed too nice for dish cloths. I hope they work since I have another skein of the same yarn.

Hexies

I finished my two-color spiral hexie project. It is only about a foot across and fits perfectly on that little table.  using just two colors sure is dramatic.

BQ2

Here is the beginning of a new quilt. The pattern is BQ2 from Maple Island Quilts. I have had the pattern for a while and decided it will be just right for this busy print (those bright blue strips are actually dark teal).  It will be queen sized and is made up of 30 of these 18″ blocks.  Amazingly, it only took a couple of days to sew all 30 blocks together.  Now I am pondering the possibility of trying one of the quilt-as-you-go techniques to quilt it.

Quilts of Valor

I made it to a Quilts of Valor meeting at Fran’s house in December and stitched on various projects that she has in progress. Then I brought home a stack of blocks and fabric to use to finish the quilt top. Someone else will do the quilting.  It was fun to put together. And I had enough fabric left for the presentation case too.  Here they both are.

November Accomplishments

Well, it doesn’t seem like I got much done in November.  Here is the finished spiral hexie heart quilt:

It measures about 30″ at the widest point. We are planning on hanging it on the wall as soon as we figure out how.  I have already started on another one with only three fabrics which should show the spiral and the hearts much better.

One I made a batch of mug rugs to give to some of my quilting friends. A mug rug is a little coaster that is big enough to set your cup or glass on one side and have room to put a cookie or little snack on the other side. Snacks are so important to quilters, you know!

I found a panel with a bunch of sayings about ‘friends’ and used them as the focal of the rugs. I spent a while trying to plan coordinating fabrics and finally settled on a bundle of 2.5″ strips that I got at the new quilt shop, Spool I knew they would all go together.  I marked a hexagonal shape around the sayings and then did some log cabin rounds till they were a good mug rug size.

I wrapped them and then randomly chose which one to give to which friend. It was a fun project, and I am sure I will make more.

I finished a pair of socks, I think this is the 20th or 21st pair. Wow!  These are more house slippers than socks because they are made with a worsted weight acrylic yarn which makes them heavier and thicker than socks. This brand is called ‘unforgettable.’ I gave them to my sister. There was almost enough left to make a second pair with short cuffs but I had to get another skein to finish them. I love these vivid colors. I gave this pair to my sister.

I was telling a friend about the bibs I use to make for my grandmother and my mother-in-law out of dish towels, and decided to see if I could remember how before I tried to explain the pattern to her.  I use to call them ‘blouse savers’ when I made them for my mother in law. She liked to look her best all the time and these helped.

I am nearly done with ‘Pushing Up Spring,’ a block of the month I started two or three years ago. I love these bright colors too. There are sixteen blocks in all and this is block thirteen. Three more to go. Wow!

I worked on a few other things, but this is all that got finished.

PS: as you can see, I changed the look of my blog again. See that pesky little linky thing that shows up there on the left? I put that in a few years ago when I was in a block of the month and it only ever showed up half way and at the bottom of the page. Now I wan’t to remove it and can’t figure out how. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Happy Day!

What Happened to the Merry Month of May?

These first few pictures are from April. I finished the 12th Pushing Up Spring Block. Here it is:

and here are all the blocks to date:

Only four more to go! I think I can see the light at the end of this tunnel.

At the Frogpond Retreat we had a day of shopping and I wandered into a rug store and bought this lovely rug. It fits perfectly on the landing and looks really nice.

I also won one of the drawings at the retreat and brought all these beautiful fat quarters home.

SOCKS Here is a new pair of socks. They are made with Lion brand “I Love this Yarn”  worsted weight yarn and are so soft and warm. I am sure they will keep my tosies toastie in cold weather.

PIZZA BOX CHALLENGE Here is the pizza box block I made for Cindye V. for April. She put in a lot of florals and wanted a garden theme and I thought this would work.  The key ingredient in this month’s block was to have a nine patch block. I made nine posies.

My first thougth for Cindye’s block was to make hexagon flowers with the different florals she had, but after starting a test block in my fabrics realized that it would take too long to be done in time.  So I switched to the above block and made one for each of us.  I finished the test hexie block so here is a picture of that followed by a picture of all my test blocks so far. I am enjoying this challenge quite a lot.

With the hexie block, I have two blocks for myself this month.

I guess the next post will have to fill you in with happenings in May.

Catching Up Again

I don’t know where the time goes, but I find myself behind again. Here is a cuddle quilt I started at the February meeting of Chattanooga Quilt Guild.  I didn’t get it finished that day, but managed to turn it in at the March meeting.

 

For no reason at all, my sister sent us this beautiful wall sculpture of ginkgo leaves. I have always loved ginkgos because the leaves are so unusual.  Doesn’t it look great above the TV?  I have the best sister in the world!

 

I finished another pair of socks early this month — the fifteenth pair since I learned how to knit them. I think this is the fifth pair that is mostly pink. Hmmm, do I detect a trend?

 

I got another block done on Pushing Up Spring:

This is block  #11; only five more to go! This is going to be such a bright happy quilt.

 

Here are some pictures of a sewing caddy especially for applique projects. My friend, Vicky K., came up with the design and was kind enough to explain how she did it so I could make one of my own. It is very a very handy way to carry a project with you and have everything you need at hand.  Here it is all ready to go:

Here it is out of the container and ready to stitch. There are pegs to hold eight spools of thread, a pin cushion to hold needles, and special spots to hold scissors and a needle threader so you don’t have to dig around to find them. I also like that I can put any scraps of thread or  fabric in the bottom of the container to dispose of at home so I won’t leave any mess behind. There is even room to store the folded up block inside the container either under or on top of the caddy.  I love this. Thanks Vicky!

 

Here are my pizza box blocks for March. The red one is the practice one and the other one is for Denise H.  The requirement for this block was to have a four patch.

 

Here are Sandi S. and Sharon G.  at my house a couple weeks ago. We had a great visit as usual and shared a ton of ideas. I love having quilting friends over. This is actually the second time Sharon and Sandi came over since the studio moved downstairs, but I didn’t think to take a picture before now.  Vicky K. came over once too and we had a lovely time.

 

In honor of the Irish holiday this month, I made some quilted mats to go on our TV trays. I used some of the crumb blocks that I made a while back and just sewed them together till they were the right size. Then I did a little straight line quilting and finished the edges.  My plan is to have different mats for the different seasons and holidays. The fabric on the back of these two is a snowy woodland scene that will be great for the winter months. For February, I used our Valentine place mats, but they are smaller that the tray tops. I like this size much better.

 

More knitting ahead: After I finished the beige tweedy socks that I tried as an experiment with knitting worsted weight yarn, Raymond expressed an interest in having a pair like them. I searched around and found a pattern that I though might work on Ravelry.com called ‘sasquatch slipper socks.” They are made using two strands of worsted weight yarn together so you can imagine how thick and warm they are.  Since the yarn is so much bigger, these socks knitted up a lot faster, and Raymond is happy with the result. I took a picture of mine and his together so you can get an idea of the difference in size.

 

Are you still with me?  What a long post this has become. Well, hang in for a little longer and I promise not to take up too much more of your time.

 

My chosen UFO to have finished for the March guild meeting is one I started several years ago and set aside and forgot.  I got the idea from Scraps by Judy Martin.  The quilt she made is called Newport Beach and is with lots of bright fabrics on a white background with a darker fabric that give the impression of dimension.  I decided to use up some of my brown fabrics. The basic blocks start with a three-inch square of brown fabric that look like this:

In Judy’s quilt the different colors are scattered around randomly and my original idea was to do that too.  When I dug out the blocks to start working on them for the UFO finish, I decided that I might like it better if the same fabrics were set together, and decided to make nine patches of the smaller blocks with a narrow sashing between to emphasize the shadow. I got a lot of blocks done but not in time for the March meeting.  Since then though I have assembled twenty-five blocks. Here they are all together:

Each shade of brown with its nine sections ends up around 14″ square. I haven’t sewn the larger blocks together yet. Pretty cool, eh?  The next idea I have is to separate the blocks with a 2″ sashing. Today, I made a few just to see how they look. I think the space between will add a nice contrast to the busy blocks.  Raymond likes them all scrunched together better, so I am giving some more thought to it before I decide which way to go.  My plan is to make this big enough for the master bed which is king sized, and I want us both to like it. Which do you prefer?

I don’t think I will have this done in time for the April meeting either.

 

The other day, I dug out this map of the world panel and made a quick quilt out of it for Project Linus. I probably should have added borders, but then it would have been too  big for the bit of batting I had for it and I would have had to wait to get to the store for more.  It is big enough for a kid as it is, and ‘finished is better than perfect.’

 

Finally, I though I should show you the latest addition to my fancy desk. We added two shelves to the center part that provide a lot more space to store this and that.  I have still been sorting and re-arranging things, but this is the only new thing.

That’s all for now. Happy Day!

Mid February

Well, I let a couple of weeks go by without a note from me. That means this will be a busy post what with all the catching up. Here we go. . .

Easy Street

First up is step four of Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt Easy Street.  I skipped step three for the moment until I get around to getting a couple of special rulers to make those blocks.

Modern Challenge

Here is a challenge block I made for the Modern Quilt Guild using Madrona Road fabrics. As you can probably tell it is supposed to be a variation on a log cabin block.  Well, this is a rather wonky log cabin, but I kind of like it anyway.

Pizza Box Challenge

We are doing a pizza box challenge at Chattanooga Quilt Guild this year. Each participant put six coordinating fabrics (1 yard each) in a pizza box that will be exchanged every month so that by the end of the year we will have enough blocks made by different people to put into a quit. Our challenge coordinator, Lauren, made up a clever murder mystery to go with the monthly exchange.  The clue for the first block  indicated that the block had to  include a square.

That seemed simple enough. I decided to make a practice block before cutting into anyone’s good fabric and since I had more of the fabrics I sent in my pizza box, I use that to make the first one. My fabrics are mostly red and green and I hope to have a Christmas quilt when the challenge is done. This is paper pieced and from Vol. 1 of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks. This block is called, “Happiness in a Block.” I like the name and was happy that it came out to the right size.  The block on the left is from my fabrics and the one on the right is the good one, and I think the second one has better contrast than the first, although I like both of them.

We exchanged boxes again at the February meeting, so after next month’s meeting, I will show you the next one. We got to see all the blocks made before the exchange and it was very exciting. I love this challenge.

More Socks

If I am counting correctly, this is my fourteenth pair of socks since I learned how to knit them a couple of years ago. Wow! I can hardly believe that.  And I have started another pair already. There is something comforting about sitting and knitting, and it makes watching TV feel a little less wasteful.

Sweet Surprises

Week before last, Raymond came home with a couple very cool things and totally surprised me. He had been on his way home from the store and just happened to be driving by a house where they were taking things out to the side of the road. He stopped and talked with the couple and found out that they were moving and couldn’t take everything they had and were setting a few things out for people to take — for free! He had stopped when he saw this cute jewelry cabinet thinking that I could probably find something to put in it.  Wow! This is one of those things that I have secretly coveted for years.  Not particularly for jewelry, but gosh, can’t you just see all those little drawers filled with sewing things? I can. And it’s almost like new. The finish is beautiful, the drawers are lined with dusty rose velvety stuff. Wow!  What a wonderful husband he is.

While chatting with the couple about their upcoming move and all, he mentioned that the only thing that would make the surprise even more perfect was if they were also getting rid of a treadle sewing machine. He was not sure at all why he even said that, but it turns out they did and he got it!

I have been talking about getting one of these for years. My friend Willa has started a treadle collection, and several quilters whose blogs I read love them. They like the  straight stitches they get with a treadle, and the idea that they work when the electricity is down is cool too.  This little  beauty has seen some use, but I think we can get it up and running with a little TLC. It belonged to the woman’s great-grandmother. It came with a belt and one extra foot that I think is some kind of  narrow hemmer. The hand crank turns smoothly, which is a good sign. According to the serial number this was probably made in  1914, which makes it 99 years old. How cool is that! Right after I got it, I sent an email to the Singer Company asking if they had any information on this one and today I got a message back from them. It is a model 127  and was manufactured on August 6, 1914 in Elizabeth, NJ., and I downloaded a free manual from their website. Isn’t that cool!

Studio

On the studio re-do front, I got the file cabinet cleaned out (who needs all those tax return papers anyway) and slid under my desk.  I have some piles of files to go through and put back in the drawers, but there will be plenty of room for my quilting files too.  One day we may get around to painting it white to match everything else, but for now this is fine.

Cuddle Quilts

We had a cuddle quilt workshop at Chattanooga Quilt Guild last Wednesday. The plan was to use three coordinating fabrics to make three different quilts with a nine-patch technique.  I am not sure I like the fabrics I used, but here they are anyway. The print has different colored letter of the alphabet on it. These are just tops — I still have to quilt them.

Birds of a Feather

I also made more progress on my Birds of a Feather quilt. I cut and sewed the borders on.  The next step is to applique some vines all around the center part and add  some leaves. The original quilt has more birds in the border, but I don’t know if I will do that with mine.  I am thinking of making the vine from one of my darker reds so the green leaves will contrast a little.  Seems to me that would look better than all green on the border.

Pushing Up Spring

Here is a blast from the past – Pushing Up Spring – an online block of the month that I started working on a couple of years ago. I dug it out to look at the other day and decided to stitch on a few blocks.  I’ve finished three more just in the last few days.  If you remember, there are sixteen all together so the finish line is in sight. I love these bright colors.

Pot Holders

Finally, I also made a few more pot holders. These are lemon ones.  maybe I will end up with sets that I can use as gifts. I know I don’t need this many.

Hopefully, I will write to you again next week.  Happy stitching!

Happy New Year

I had planned (not exactly a resolution, but an attempt at regularity) to make a post at least once a week on Sundays. Well as you can see, yesterday came and went and no post.

Trouble is that I have no pictures to show. I haven’t completed anything yet this year. My time has been occupied the last week or so in moving my sewing studio from the little bedroom to the den downstairs. It is not going to be a quick process, but there will be a lot more room for all mu quilty stuff.

This is the kind of puzzle I love working on: figuring out what goes where and how all the bins and drawers and shelves can be arranged in some kind of balance while still being accessable. It would be a lot easier if I didn’t have this big pool table to work around, but even with it there is more room than upstairs. If you know of anyone wanting to buy a pooltable, this one is for sale.

I am nearly finished knitting a pair of socks and should have a picture of that for you next week. And I might even have this new studio shaped up enough for a few pics.

Now for November and December

I realize this is a lot to put in one post, but I want to get caught up before next year begins, which is only a few hours away now.

In November, I finished the scrappy Xmas quilt. I am not sure why, but I love looking at all those odd blocks. They just make me smile.  Now that Christmas is over, I don’t even want to put it away! I may just keep it out all year.

My sister came over for a few days at Thanksgiving and brought this quilt she was making for a friend’s baby. It’s partly made with minkee and she has more minkee for the backing. I have never worked with that fabric and it seems a bit fiddly.  I helped her with the butterfly applique. I am looking forward to seeing it finished.

Here is the cutest pin cushion that my friend Vicky made for me for my birthday. I love it!

and here is a darling little change purse I got from my friend Sharon.

Here are some stockings I got finished to turn in at the December Crazy Quilters Guild. We always make stockings for charity.

I decided to join in on Bonnie Hunter’s mystery quilt called Easy Street. I don’t think I can keep up with everyone else but I will get it finished eventually. Here are the fabrics I pulled for it.  Gray, black-on-white prints, purples, teals and limey greens. I am very curious to see how it will turn out. For more information, go to

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/easy-street-mystery.html

The first step is to make four patches out of the gray and black-on-white prints.  The gray I had the most of may not be dark enough to contrast with the other fabrics, but I didn’t realize that till this step was done.  I can live with it.

Here is our little Christmas tree and the paper pieced mariners compass quilt I made earlier this year.

These look like ornamets, but they are big enough to serve as placemats. I gave a few sets away as gifts and kept a couple that we used during the holiday. They were fun to make and turned out pretty cute.

Next is the UFO for December.  I started this one several years ago and all it needed was quilting which I finally  managed to  get around to. I think this will go in the dining room on the wall. Seems like an appropriate place.  I was so anxious to get the binding on when the quilting was done that I forgot to add a hanging sleeve, so still have that to finish.

This is the last pair of socks finished this year. I think they were the third or fourth pair that I started, but when I was burying the yarn ends after finishing the first one, I accidentally snipped a hole in it. You can see the irregular spot on the cuff of the top one in the pictue. It was also my first attempt at darning and I must admit, I am ‘darned’ proud of it. Once I fixed that little hole, I was ready to make the second one.

These socks are from the same pattern that I have made all my socks from so far – the same one I learned from, but they are the first I ever tried with worsted weight yarn. I like the bulky look and feel of them and have worn them a couple times already. They are nice to wear around the house and fit in my crocs to go outside.  I think I will make some more socks with the thicker yarn. They sure stitch up  a lot faster!

Next, are the flying geese for step two of Easy Street.   I used my favorite method to make them – the purple geese are sewn in one seam and are somewhat dimensional.

Here are some of the four patches fro step one. That one print has a cream background instead of white, and I hope that doesn’t cause too much trouble with the overall look of the quilt.  I tried to use a lot of different prints and have had to trade fabrics with my friend Sharon to increase the variety.

Here are all the four patches. Wow that is a lot of them. It fills up half my design wall.

That’s all the pictures, all the finishes and starts for 2012. In 2013, I plan on getting more organized and to finish a lot more projects.  I also hope to post more regularly.

Thanks for visiting my blog. I wish you the best of luck, fun, peace, love and happiness in the coming year. Oh and lots of creative productivity! Happy New Year!  God bless you.