Handmade Holiday Gifts — Maria Shell

Earlier this month, my blog friend Maria Shell, asked if I would share Christmas projects I had made.  I was inspired by her to write a little more and sent her two links.  

Maria has showcased many quilters / artists work on her blog today.  I am humbled that she has chosen my projects and blog to be featured. Fun to be in with people like Heather Kojan too!  

Check out Maria Shell’s Handmade Holiday Gifts posts -https://talesofastitcher.com/2016/12/22/handmade-holiday-gifts/ 

Enjoy and Merry Christmas/Happy Chanukah 

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My review no thanks to helper monkeys

Good morning fellow bloggers….Seems that WordPress wants to share my stats with you Via “helper monkeys”   … Well…I’m no monkey, but  I think I did a decent job a couple of days ago; writing about my projects for the last year. (Blog post was 2014 was a very busy year). (It was a photo journey of the year)

I do find the stats interesting but not as interesting as my own photo’s etc.  But, I will share a couple of things more, as I am a number cruncher.  Before I do, I want to know what are your OPINIONS on this “forced round-up” ?  Are you playing along?  I’d like to know.  I think there will be a lot of “THE SAME” in the posts if every one using WordPress acts like a Monkey and shares the post.  Facebook is doing something similar.

So; here are my stats; as I see them:

1. this is post # 201; I get a lot of “traffic” when I publicize on Facebook and Google + .  Most traffic has been when I have done a link – up with Bonnie Hunter – aka Quiltville.blogspot.com   .
2. Another stat — 1345 spam comments — Thanks WordPress for filtering them out!
3. Another Stat – 155 followers through WordPress and 199 through Facebook.  Do you “publicize” you blog through other social media sites or look at other blogs on blogspot or google plus?
4. And my final Stat – I had a busy year with Quilt guild meetings; Quilt bee gatherings; a 3 day quilt retreat at the beach; and 2 – 3 day sit & sew retreats (no overnight) with ladies from 3 sewing bees; numerous classes with the guild; 4 bus trips to quilt shows, one trip on my own with a friend to a quilt show.  Each gathering produced projects and learning opportunities; and lots of shopping on the bus trips to quilt shows. Spent a dollar or two on fabric and notions.
5. My “best buys” of the year have been at Superior Thread during quilt shows.  I need to make my own THREAD CHART before I go on another trip, so I know what I have (Going to take my hubby’s example and make a spread sheet & keep it on the smart phone).  I like Aurifil, but I LOVE Superior Threads and I like the deals you can get at the shows.
6. And somewhere in the midst of it all; I have organized and made a mess and re-organized; and shared my space on 2 occasions with my friends in the Material Girls Quilt bee. I might have sewn a little too.

Wishing you a happy healthy and fulfilling year in 2015;  of creativity, while you sew, knit, crochet, cook, photograph or travel, sing, work, mother, and live.  I keep thinking of a word for 2015 and I believe that word is “use”.  I am going to try to USE what I have before buying more. (Note…in my world, that means really using that scrap storage system I started & blogged about last January!)

I leave you with a photo the latest improvement in the sewing room  studio…… (Maria in Alaska reminds me that quilting is an ARTISTIC endeavor; so I will henceforth have a studio instead of a room! That is as close to be an artist as I will ever get!)

MORE POWER! 12 outlet power strip just above the desktop.

 

Window on the world

I ventured out to the quilt room above the garage today for a little sewing.  Thought I would share my Window on the World view:

You can really see the trees and snow with the blinds up. Great light coming in today, even with the snow.

I put those garden flags in the windo last year before I had the blinds.  Working up here at night was a bit like a fish bowl.  Now that the blinds are installed, I have raised the flags to the top half of the window and my view is less “obstructed”.

I’ve been busy with other things the last few days!  I received a wonderful gift in the mail from my blog friend Avis! Her blog is called Sewing beside the Sea ( http://wordpress.com/read/blog/id/57115310/)  She has been busy making these wonderful patterns from left over bits of crochet thread.  When I  commented on them, I said they remind me of the “spool doilies” for Vintage sewing machines. You know; instead of the red felt circle, a sweet handmade crochet circle.  Well; don’t you know, she was inspired, and she gifted me 6 of them.

Doesn’t the old girl look nice?   Its fun to see her looking so pretty (Really must name these machines!). Avis sent me a lovely note; and told me to feel free to share them!!  Since I only have 3 vintage machines; I have 3 left to share!  I would love to share them with you, if you comment back and tell me what kind of vintage machine you would adorn with these beauties.  These come all the way from Avis in Whitburn Swudeyland England!  So; do let me know if you would be interested in receiving one or more of her lovely creations.

I mentioned I have been busy; well, I haven’t sewn a stitch since last Wednesday night, when I posted about my Summer in the Park project.  I went to the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton Roads VA on Friday (via bus trip with the guild). Had a blast with over 30 other guild members.   Whose quilt did I see ?  Maria Shell’s “Under the Big Top”….I knew whose it was as soon as I saw it hanging there.  Fun to see a quilt you know by a fellow blogger!! I will share some of the photo’s.  I did a couple of close ups on the one-block wonder, and if you look at it alone, not in the gallery, you will see the amazing stitching.  The thread painters are amazing!!

Under the Big top 29 x 35 – Maria Shell. Love her work and recognized it immediately! 🙂

B.J. Hibiscus Prelude 74×74 by Sylvia Snyder, Hurlock MD.

Twisted Ribbon 67×60 by Joanne Howe Delavan Wisconsin. I think the name comes from the twisted ribbon on the borders. Love the use of the cubes in the One block wonder quilt.

Love the heavy thread work on this block on Joanne Howes Twisted Ribbon Quilt.

check out the thread work in Joanne Howe’s blocks. I love the way she added the texture to this hexagon.

The cubes on Twisted ribbon were well done. Do you see the ribbon coming from the cube?

Jingle Bells – 66 x 74; by Kathy McNeil, Tulalip WA. The threadwork in this quilt is stunning up close; and the quilt feels alive when you stand back 15 feet.

I spent a lot of time looking at this quilt, made of servicemen/women uniform fabric, and photo’s of the family members who were in the Armed Forces. Wonderful tribute quilt.
labeled Proud 2 Serve: My Family’s Military Legacy – 77x 78; Bobbie Moore Newport News VA

Hope you enjoy those photos.   I was in contact with Maria after the show via email, and she asked me if I would post “close up photo’s” of my Summer in the Park blocks.  I made 5 distinct blocks; some of them are combinations of fabrics that are in other blocks.  Because of that, laying them out was a bit tricky, but I am pleased with the overall result.  I have to join the 6 blocks left on the wall into a row and add to my quilt, then I will be on to the process of borders.  The gallery shows 5 blocks, and each row had 1 repeat, since I needed 6 in the row, and my brain could not wrap around making up a 6th block.  The fabrics are a bit “dizzy” to look at, but I love them, with the peak of yellow/gold in all of them.  I have decided I have the WRONG yellow fabric for my inner border, but will dig through my boxes of stash to see what I can come up with before going out to buy MORE fabric. (Note….I went to JoAnn’s on Saturday, and did not buy ANY fabric…just some rotary blades…and at the quilt show, I only brought home 5 fat quarters…)

I am ready to get to work on my T-Shirt Memorial Quilt, now that all my products have arrived. Still waiting on the sashing fabric….grrr…ordering on line is a PAIN  sometimes.   While at the quilt show I did pick up more stabilizer, so I won’t come up short!

Time to sew! Spent an hour in the quilt room blogging…so…stay warm where ever you are, and please….let me know if one of those sweet doilies is meant for you.

production line

Had fun yesterday “making fabric” for Artful Oven Mitts.  Got 4 finished.   Had some left from the previous day all ready to go, so they are pinned and ready for quilting.

Pinned to the “quilt sandwich”; traced around the edges with a wide red SHARPIE marker.

Feeling Opposite…This is really just 1 mitt! All layered up with extra cotton along with that shiny foiled batting you need for an oven mitt . Needs the pattern traced, then the paper comes off and the pins go along the outside edges and get ready for the fun of quilting.

So fun digging in the scrap bins and taking all sorts of shapes and pieces and “making” fabric! These little bits will get squared up and more bits attached. (Going to have two color waves going tho!)

Threw a touch of red in for fun! I grabbed the blue green bin and started to put pieces together. Realized I had some rather LARGE bits (6×6 or 8×8) pieces in the mix. this whole piece is about 25×50. Think before I start drawing mitts on, I might take my rotary cutter and SLICE through some of those big green and blue blocks and make them smaller; rotate them around; wedge something else in andd stitch again. I like the looke of the smaller pieces on the finished Artful Oven Mitts.

Go check out Maria’s blog http://talesofastitcher.com/2013/11/10/artful-oven-mitts/ for details on how to make these wonderful oven mitts.  She messaged me yesterday and indicated she STILL has patterns to give away.    Follow her instructions too….I should NOT have cut my mitts before quilting; just marked them with a sharpie.  I did the first one cutting it out then quilting; did 3 using her method; then the last one, which is PINNED in the photos above, I cut apart after pinning the pattern to it.  Going to go back; trace my outline; QUILT; then trim to the proper shape.  I am also going to modify the bottom cuff  just a smidge to make it easier to get it over the open arm of my machine.  If I add 1 ” it will be so much easier for me to get the binding on the cuff! (That means I need to add 1″ to the binding…can’t forget that part!

I need to get another package of Insul Bright today before I go any further!  You are in for a real visual treat when you check out Maria’s little army of MITTS!

Enjoy

1 year, 500 likes, Artful Mitts and Mystery Quilt

A milestone I believe….a year of blogging and 500 likes within the same few days. Amazing the world you reach when you just start typing.  I’m grateful for the connections over the last year!   I am amazed at who reads my blog; surprised that there are bloggers with thousands of followers who took the time to pop in and comment, and inspired by  all the blogs I read.  Thank goodness for the READER function on WordPress and for BLOGLOVIN.  Both give me a way to keep up.

I got to meet, in person, at IQF – Houston – one of the bloggers who I follow – Maria Shell .  She was in the CRAFTSY booth, giving lessons. Her blog today talks about what she was sharing at Houston! http://talesofastitcher.com/2013/12/05/ruler-made-stripes/comment-page-1/#comment-1933

Just the other day, I received a pattern in the mail from Maria.  She offered a pattern on her 100th post and I got one!!! What great effort she made sharing a gift with 100 people who commented on her post.  The pattern is highlighted here: http://talesofastitcher.com/2013/11/10/artful-oven-mitts/

I was “between projects” and have baskets of scraps, so I thought I would give her pattern a try. I picked up some Insul Bright batting (1 yard) on Monday after my quilt guild meeting; and have “made” some fabric!!  The Insul Bright batting was available at MARES BEARS Quilt Shop in Lewes DE by the yard.  I bought 1 yard to see how this worked out.  I have 4 Artful Oven Mitts in progress!  I almost emptied one of my scrap baskets!  It was fun putting together the odd bits & pieces to “make” a large piece of fabric.

Making fabric for Artful  Oven Mitts

I have a dozen bolts of decorator fabric that is quite heavy, so used it for the “inside”.  I also added an extra layer of cotton batting (from the batting scrap box). My “fabric sandwich” consists of the patchwork pieces I put together – about 20″ x 50″; a layer of Insul Bright, a layerof cotton batting; and a piece of decorator cotton fabric.  In the photo above, I have it all layered and pinned together and have started quilting it.  (Before this photo, I did one Artful Oven Mitt as a test project).  I was able to cut 3 mitts (6 pieces) from this larger 20 x 50 piece that I quilted.  (Note to self – wind a few bobbins before starting!)  I had so much fun picking scraps from my baskets; making small groups and then squaring and joining with other small groups.  It is really wonky and fun. I actually took my ruler and SLASHED through some of the small group pieces that had bigger pieces, so I could “rearrange” in a way that suited me.  I wish now I had taken LOTS of pictures.  My mitts are nearly complete; just need to stitched the binding down on 3 of them; and will do  did that this morning; and then finish this blog post with all 4 MITTS standing tall!

I think thought this afternoon, I might just run back to the quilt store – Serendipity in Dagsboro DE to pick up some more INSUL BRIGHT.  I see myself making quite a few of these, and really emptying out the baskets.  Changed my mind and “made” some more fabric.  Had enough INSUL BRIGHT left to do 1 more MITT.   Will be moving out of the pastels to the reds blues and greens next!  (My hubby said these ones I made are nice for ladies, but what about the men who cook!)  Wishing I had Maria’s long arm to do the quilting, but did have some fun with FREE MOTION quilting. (Again – note to self; put on the quilt gloves when FMQ!)    Another yard of batting will get me 4 more mitts…and that is an easy goal for a one day project. I have a few friends to give a Christmas gift to, that I think these will do nicely!   My thanks to MARIA SHELL for her pattern and inspiring blog.

Speaking of Long Arms – have you entered APQS Great Longarm Giveaway?  http://apqs.com/longarm-giveaway/    I have tried to enter every day (missed a few) since August.  Contest ends next week!

On another note; I have a project to begin soon.  Anybody doing Bonnie Hunter – Quiltville Mystery Challenge – Celtic Solstice ??

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/celtic-solstice-mystery.html

I have my paint swatches; and some of my  fabric in neat little piles all over the place; just waiting on my “TRI-REC” rulers to come in the mail TODAY (hoping for tomorrow)!!!  Clue 1 came out last Friday; and Clue 2 came out today!  I think I am going to do the “small” version!  I won’t start unil later in the month; after Clue 3 comes out.  I have a little trip to take next week, and can’t take it with me.  I plan to do some starching of fabric before I begin anyway, so even without the rulers, I can get ready.  Love to hear if you are participating in the mystery.

Off to sew and take some pictures.  Happy stitching.