Way behind....

Well, not doing so good with my posting every day thing. Anyhow, here's a pic for today. No new pics, so this one is old.



This is a precious little person with a row by row quilt I took part in several years ago. A group of us decided to do a row by row quilt project. We each made one row and sent it on to someone else, they added a row and sent it to the next person, etc. We all had a row to do every month and our quilts had 12 or so rows when they came home, one by each participant. I took this pic to show the group the row I had done and this precious little person insisted on being in the pic with his cars. Is that a sweet face, or what? He's much bigger now, and still very sweet.

I've actually finished all of the first wave of Sunbonnet Sue blocks and even got them all stitched together! Woohoo! The back of the blocks needs to be stitched down and it needs a binding. I need floor space to do that and I can't keep my lovely assistant off of it if it's on the floor, so I haven't gotten that done yet. I was going to do it today while she slept, but I was so tired I slept with her! Maybe this weekend.

Guess what I did today!

Wrong! I sewed a dress. Yes, I did! While my lovely assistant took a nap. And I have pics to prove it. I drafted a pattern, cut it out, stitched it up, and little miss sleepy slept through the whole thing. It's reversible, too! No pics of the other side, sorry. Here's the lovely assistant (who just woke up) checking it out.




Nice and roomy for busy little people.


And the back.


It's not really a dress, it's a reversible pinafore. See how it criss-crosses in the back? I used this tut. No buttons, zippers, etc. I've been wanting to make some of these to put over onesies (or, just to wear by themselves!) all summer and am just now getting around to it. It doesn't go with the onesie she has on in the pic, but that's OK. This was just a try-on session. It does look good all alone - we modeled it for daddy when he came home. He thinks it needs pockets. I'll add that to the next one. And maybe something interesting like eyelet on the collar..... maybe some ricrac peeking out of the seams..... maybe I can make one out of an old quilt top..... hmmm.....

I managed to get this done in spite of all the usual catastrophes that plague any project of mine including:

getting stuck with pins (I hate pins..... but I didn't burn myself with the iron this time!)
having to hunt down matching thread (found some!)
thread breaking - but my bobbin didn't run out!
forgetting to add seam allowance to my pattern (yes, I really 'do' have a degree in home ec)
machine tension going all weird. Does this happen to everyone? Or just me? Doesn't matter which machine I use, what I'm doing, etc, etc. Maybe I just live in the weird tension zone? Anyway, I overcame!!!

I'm really, really proud of getting this done. I can never seem to get anything done! It feels really good to have accomplished this, start to finish.

Things that the perfection police will notice:

I was sewing and not cleaning house.
That topstitching is a little wonky...
Oh my giggles, is that basket FULL of lonely socks???

More tomorrow!

Christmas teddy bear

Look! It's my post and it isn't midnight! Amazing, I know.


Here's a teddy bear quilt I made a few years ago for one of the kids for Christmas. It is flannel and has raggy edges and was fun to make and even more fun to have and use. This was a McCall's pattern, I think?

That's me with the quilt.




More tomorrow.

Giveaway quilt

Now I know why I don't post much. It's tough!!! Less whining, more posting...

Here's a quilt I made for the principal of my kid's elementary school. She is a wonderful lady and was a great principal and we miss her! I stitched muslin people - boys and girls - onto scrap rectangles. This was a secret quilt. The art teacher at school had all the kids decorate a block during art class. We used fabric markers and the kids could color, draw, whatever they wanted. Fabric kids filled the front and back of this quilt! I thought it turned out really well and the principal loved it.


More tomorrow!

A UFO and one of my favorites

This a rescue quilt. I love finding pieces of things others have started and finishing them. I bought these 9 patches at a garage sale. The ladies there said that they had belonged to their aunt who had died of breast cancer. When she was really sick she couldn't do much, but she could sew and so she stitched up these gingham 9 patches. Some were machine sewn, some were hand pieced, the pieces and the squares were not even at all, the corners don't match - but I love them! I squared/evened them up as best I could and had an end roll of butterfly fabric that I used for the sashing. I quilted the 9 patches 1/4 inch from the seams and then quilted colorful paths for the butterflies, all by hand. You can't see it in this pic, but there are prairie points around the edge. The back of this quilt is a cotton sheet. I do not recommend this for hand quilting! It makes it very hard work! I also didn't baste especially well and there are lots of puckers in the back. I still love this quilt and I hope that if the original owner of these squares could see what I've done she would like it and be happy. I sure am happy to have her squares and to have been able to finish them for her.




This is just a really big mess right now, but one of these days it will be a king size quilt for my bed. I bought a ridiculous number of block kits from Hancock's when our local store went out of business. I've sold a ton on ebay, given a ton away and still have a ton left! (If you'd like some let me know - I'll make you a deal!) I've been strip piecing fabric from the kits to make a kind of strippy quilt with them. I'm torn about how to quilt it. I had planned to work on my machine quilting, but I go back and forth. My big issue right now is batting. I had planned to quilt this in strips or panels, but I don't want to cut big pieces of batting. I guess that's unavoidable. Anyhow, this mess is in the basement - I mean studio - and I'm working on it. Actually, I'm waiting to sell enough quilt kits on ebay to have enough money to have the sewing machine man come visit my 201. The tension is wonky and I can't seem to get it working right. It's my quilting machine, so I can't start quilting on this mess till it's better.

So that's todays post! More tomorrow!

Missed a post! Drat!!

OK, this posting every day thing is a booger! I missed yesterday. I get a little slack - it was the first day of school and we are at four (that's 3 plus 1) schools this year. So far so good!

Here's a quilt I made a few years ago for a wonderful person who was leaving our church. These are some of my lovely assistants with the quilt. All these little people are now much bigger!



Another shot of the quilt. I had everyone at church who wanted to sign/color/draw on a square.


A few close ups of some of the more colorful/artistic squares.



My husband did this one. Our church is surrounded by these angels. It's really cool!

So, there's a post for today. More tomorrow!

Studio pics

Getting a jump on my daily post here! These are pics of my 'studio', also known as the basement. Here's one of my thread holders. That's my baby sister (who isn't a baby anymore, but I love this pic!) and a few of my favorite toys.



This is the sewing machine I use the most. It's a Singer 201 and I love it! Very nice.

Another one of my favorite machines, a 401 - or 501???? I can't remember!!! This one zigzags, so it gets a lot of use as well.

A shot of some shelves with all my stuff on it. This isn't the fabric shelf, pics of that may come later. This is just stuff - beads, notions, machine parts, baskets (I love baskets....), and other stuff that I think might come in handy some time.

This is my work table. It's an old tilting table and it's terrific!! I made an ironing pad to lay on top and I have a big cutting board that lays on top, too. It's pretty clean in this shot, usually there's way more stuff on it. I have a problem with stuff - can you tell?

More tomorrow!

I'm here!!!

Ack!!! Today is almost over and I haven't posted yet!

Really quick - more Sue's! These are block at a time Sue's, they are almost finished and soon they will be one big quilt.

To post or not to post...... that is the question....

So I've been thinking that since I haven't taken pictures of what I'm doing and I haven't really had time to do much of anything that I didn't have any reason to post. Pfffft! I have tons of pics of stuff I am working on or have done in the past or want to do in the future. I can post about that! It's a good thing to have those pics up and a good thing to get those thoughts out. So now my goal is to post every day for the rest of this month about whatever projects I already have pics of. I might even get around to new pics of current stuff. Don't hold your breath.

Today's dealio is Sunbonnet Sue. I love Sue! She is just so sweet! And there are so many of her! I like stuff easy, so I focus on simple Sues. Here are some that have inspired me and/or that I would like to make some time.

A dresden Sue! Found another pattern similar to this one recently. One of these days I may do some. Would be a fun scrap user upper.


I like this one cuz of the baby. I love babies! Will definately put this one into production sometime.



Just some simple Sue patterns that appeal to me. I like basic shapes and fewer pieces. You would think that would lend itself to very little variation, but I find the subtle differences fascinating! Maybe I'll make a Sue Sampler.....

Check out this bulbous Sue at klein meisje quilts.

And here are some more super simple Sues that I found in an ooooollllldddd "Quilt" magazine, circa 1980. OK, maybe just sorta old.

Can you see Sue up in the top picture? There was no pattern for her in the mag, just this pic. I'll have to put my artistic skills (or lack thereof.....) to work and come up with a pattern for her. She's so cute!

Tomorrow will be Sue's in progress at the knottypine underground.