Progress on Quilty Stitches

Today I finished block #8 of the Quilty Stitches, and now I am done with half of the project. It is nice to have this little embroidery to work on from time to time, and I am looking forward to finishing it and get to hang it up on my wall. But, the process of making it is so pleasant, so I want to keep the process going quite a long time, yet.

My Coffee Koozie

This week a lot of these have appeared in Blog Land. The tutorial comes from Fat Quarter Shop.

I made my own version in fall colors, as shown above. The Koozie protects your fingers from the hot liquid, and also makes the tumbler look nicer and more personal.

You only need 12 squares of 2 1/2", backing and batting, and in addition some elastic and a button. Use the template included in the pattern.

This is a quick project to make, half an hour is all that is needed.

Here is the result, a lovely Coffee Koozie appropriate for the season!

There is even some coffee bean fabric on it.

Happy Quilting!

What is the Grinch doing here?

I wonder if it will be revealed next month?

August Goal for ALYoF accomplished

Early this month I stated my goal for August, to turn the lovely fabrics into a table runner. I was inspired by a picture from a magazine, I can't remember which, now. Anyway, I used my artistic freedom and came up with this design:

I have named it 'Running Pine', and the dimensions are 57" x 12.5". If you click on the pictures you can see more details. The quilting is simple, straight lines in light blue/grey thread.

I backed it with a grey/black fabric with a leaf design, The binding is the same black fabric as in the top. That worked very well, it keeps a strict design and a masculine look, in my opinion.

Quilt Inventory Summer 2014

This is a nice stack of quilts made by me, staying at my vacation house. There are a few others hanging on the walls, but these are the bed/lap quilts that are portable.

The one covering the bed is Easy Street, and then at the bottom of the stack is Celtic Solstice, both mystery quilts designed by Bonnie Hunter.

Number two and three from the bottom of the stack are the twin quilts belonging to my sons.

The second from the top is the newest addition to the house: Summer Slice Scrap Buster Quilt.

At the very top is one of the first quilts I brought to the house, Summer Dream.

I hope to finish the binding of a table runner before I have to head for home, but that runner will travel home with me.


Happy Quilting!

Summer Progress

This is summer vacation, and I am not doing a lot when it comes to stitching and quilting, but I achieve some.

Like the Quilty Stitches, where the fourth block has now appeared, the Flying Geese. There are 16 different colors in the geese. I am trying to use DMC threads I already have, and not buying new ones. But, I had to get some white since I need to fill in the background around the blocks. I am filling in the white one row at a time to keep up with the background color. The next block is Lori Holt's barn. I participated in her 'Barn Along' a year or two ago, and it will be great to make a miniature barn in cross stitches!

I have also made good progress on my ALYoF goal for August. Today I finished piecing the top, and since it is a long, but skinny runner, 12.5" x 57" it did not take long to pin baste it.

Now I just have to decide how to quilt it. Any suggestions?

Let's see it it will travel home with me in this state, or as a complete project.

I will soon have to start thinking about September's secret project...

2014 Aurifil August block

This month's block is designed by Michele Foster from Quilting Gallery. The Button Block gives a bold statement, and was fun to make.

A project in-between

As many other bloggers, I have started an embroidery project this summer, organized and designed by Little Miss Shabby . It is called Quilty Stitches, and is the most adorable cross stitch embroidery, ever. I started a little late, but needed to have a little project to take with me on a long flight this summer.

Here are my first three blocks. Each block measures approximately 1 2/3" square. There will be 16 blocks all together. The next one is a flying geese block, I am looking forward to that!

I am using DMC thread from several earlier projects, this will be a colorful piece of work. I am using white for the background and the sashing, and that brings out the best from each block.

It is great to take out this hand embroidery when we sit out in the shade in the morning drinking coffee. Daylight is the best to get all these tiny little stitches to look good.

Apart from embroidering, I am also soon finished with cutting all the pieces for my table runner mentioned in my previous POST . I'll be back with more updates.

In the mean time: Happy Quilting!

Linked up to Linky Tuesday.

ALYoF: August Goal

My goal for August is to turn these sweet fabrics into a modern table runner. I hope to start the cutting process soon.

Summer Slice Scrap Buster Quilt completed!

At the last day of July I finished stitching the binding of this 'scrap buster' quilt. The blocks were pieced during the early days of the month, and then the heat arrived... I pieced the backing and got DS2 to help me pin baste it, and then it was put away. Who wants to machine quilt this big a quilt in close to 90 deg F temperature weather in a house with no air conditioning? It was packed down and came with me on vacation to my sewing machine #2. Here the outside temperatures have been relatively low for the season, so the AC has not been used very much.

Back to the quilting: Since the design is kind of busy, I chose to quilt it with straight lines. I didn't want to quilt it to heavily, because I want it to be soft and comfortable.

The back is made of an IKEA duvet cover, with a pieced accent stripe.

The design of the quilt top is from Cluck Cluck SEW .

Quilt details:
Size: 57" x 71"
Design: Summer Slice
Number of fabrics in the quilt top: 82

The next project is in the line, and I hope to be starting cutting during the weekend. More on that tomorrow.

Happy Quilting!


Linked up to Fabric Frenzy Friday and Link A Finish Friday .