ALYoF: October Goal

After completing the September goal, I was kind of wondering what my goal for October would be. I had two choices: a table runner that I just started cutting pieces for, and the Quilt Along that I joined last fall, Modern Trees by Christa Quilts .

Honestly, it is early October, and I better do the quilting on this piece to get it ready by Christmas! Sorry about the wrinkled state of the quilt in the picture above, it has been stacked away since early this year. The last time I worked on this quilt was in January when I free-motion quilted the trees, posted HERE.

I have postponed doing the quilting out of fear that I won't be doing a good enough job. But, now I have decided to jump in with both feet and practice, practice, practice! There's a lot of negative space to fill in, but I know I will be able to do an OK job.



Quilting this piece will be a challenge for me, but also a good experience in FMQ. I have to get more confident in  free motion quilting, and the only way to do this is by practicing! On the way I will use Christa's helpful hints to get this quilt completed.

Mug Rug for Swap + Giveaway winner!

I have joined a Mug Rug Swap over at Quilting Gallery, and here is my first finish:

The swap is called 'Neighbors &Friends live here', and the mug rugs are designed by the Stitching Cow. I have yet to make another one before sending them off to Australia.

Now for the winner of the giveaway I had in the Rush Hour blog hop: Congratulations BarbCarol, I have sent you an email.

Autumn Charity Quilt finished

It took me a little bit over a week to finish this charity quilt in between a busy schedule at work and home. The quilt consists of big panels, mainly. It will be donated to the children's ward at my local hospital as soon as possible.

The 4 barn panels are very detailed, if you click on the picture you can see all the creatures that inhibit the farms. I framed the barns with dark blue solid. The animal panels were not the same size, so there I had to add different stripes of blues. 

I would say this is a quilt for a little boy, with all the farm animals and the blur color. The details will occupy the little kid for hours, and many a story or fairy tale may arise from the farm pictures. I guess this quilt can take the mind off the illness for a while and give good comfort.

I pieced the back of the quilt with more blues and two other panels of garden equipment and city houses. In the middle there is a long stripe of text that I saved when I cut the barn panels apart. That one shows better off at the next picture.

I had to have the photo shoot out in our back yard this afternoon, to show off are apple tree which is loaded with big apples. It has been a good season this year, with hot weather during summer.

Here you can see the text stripe that I saved for the back of the quilt.

I did an all-over stipple for the quilting, and after a cycle in the washer and dryer, the quilt is nice and cuddly. The size is approximately 40" x 60", that's a good size for a little kid. The binding is made of a fall leaf fabric, which completes the quilt.

This completes my 7th charity quilt for the hospital, and I hope I have given the kids some joy and comfort during their time of serious illness.

September goal for ALYoF completed

If you remember my goal for this month: September goal , you can now see that it is accomplished.

Here is the result:

A close-up of my square cow:

You can read more about it in my Rush Hour blog post HERE, I also have a giveaway that will close by the end of September.

It is time for the Rush Hour! + Giveaway

September is here, temperature is dropping, leaves are starting to fall off trees, and it is about time for a new Blog Hop!  Thanks to Mdm Samm for being the mastermind behind these blog hops, and thanks to Carol for keeping us in order and being the cheerleader for the Rush Hour blog hop.

August – September is generally a busy time for me at work, but I just could not resist joining this hop, and the name of it is perfectly fitting: Rush Hour is such a busy time! We were challenged to use only red, white, black and grey fabric for our projects in the hop. A few purchases were needed this summer, but except from that I have used fabric from my stash.

So, what would I create for this blog hop? My small laptop needs protection, so it was off to look for good ideas in cyberspace. The simple things are often the best, and I found a pattern for a laptop sleeve designed by Elizabeth Hartman, over at Sew Mama, Sew. The pattern is ingenious, in my opinion, because it can easily be adjusted to fit any laptop size using Elizabeth’s formula.

I designed  the outside of the sleeve using scraps in the designated colors, framed in black fabric with tiny stars. The sashing gives an exclusive touch to the sleeve. The sleeve is lined with batting and a light grey solid on the inside, for maximum protection. The simple Velcro closure makes it easy to take laptop in and out.

About the same time I had made the laptop sleeve, Fat Quarter Shop came out with a tutorial for a Coffee Koozie, and I just had to make one in matching colors.

My little tableau at the café table is very fitting for a quick coffee break before the early morning Rush Hour. Notice the black and white patchwork jacket over the chair, I am sorry to say I didn’t make it myself. It is made of real patchwork, though, not just printed fabric.

I even had room for the Grinch on the back of the sleeve; see him peeping out!

My last project for the blog hop is an attempt of making a landscape background using 2½” squares in the designated colors. The red sun is my very first attempt in curved piecing. I had to have my square cow with me, since she has joined me in my two previous blog hops: Think Ruffles and A Perfect Picnic. 

This time she is dressed in appropriate pin-stripes, but she became a little bit “wild” and used red stockings and had the tail braided in red and white. The picket fence, made of white silk ribbon, keeps the cow enclosed. Once she is released from the pen, she will be off for the Rush Hour!

I had great expectations of making one more project for this hop, but, time didn’t permit it. I have this great pattern that will look fantastic in red, white, black and grey, That will have to wait until another time.

Make sure you visit the other participants in the blog hop today:

Tuesday, September 23

Just Let Me Quilt

I piece 2-Mary

Marjorie’s Busy Corner

Quilt in a not-Shell  <--- that's me

The Slow Quilter

The Blended Blog

Quilting Bias

The full schedule for the blog hop is HERE.

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!       Giveaway is over, winner has been chosen.

It was so fun making the Coffee Koozie, so I had to make another one. This time it is in appropriate fall colors. Together with two fat quarters, this will be the the prize for one lucky winner. One fabric features fall leaves, and the other has plenty of tiny Christmas trees all over (let’s face it, Christmas is right around the corner)!

Leave me a comment on this post, and you will be entered in the giveaway.

Random Number generator will help me pick the winner at the end of the blog hop, and I will announce the name at October 1. Make sure you have a valid email address I can use to contact you.

The giveaway is open to everybody, I will send the prize anywhere in the world!

Work in progress and Blog Hop next week!

There has not been much time for sewing lately, but now, after having finished the secret projects for the Rush Hour blog hop I finally had time to sit down and create something else. I chose to start on a charity quilt for the Children's Ward at my local hospital.

The fabric I have for the quilt includes among other items these cute panels of barns and farm animals. The panels are quite big and I want to keep them as they are and build the other fabrics around them. I think this will be a pretty fast quilt to finish. I know it will make a little child very happy!
Next week I will be joining the Rush Hour blog hop, the schedule is HERE . My day is on the first day of the hop, so please visit me on Tuesday; there will be a giveaway, too! Now I have to continue piecing blocks for my charity quilt, it is so much fun sewing again!