Our Christmas Gift

This is Christmas Nativity Stained Glass Window Hanger from Sweet Pea Machine Embroidery. It is 6 x 10 inches.  I was fortunate to make it with fabrics in my stash.  It is a combination of cottons and batiks.  The blocks are fairly easy to make but putting it together is another challenge.  It has been gifted.
 

Chain Links

 Chain Links is from Stunning 3-D Quilts by Ruth Ann Berry.  My grandson chose this quilt for his University of Kansas graduation.  The quilt is quite long.  It has over 1000 pieces that had to be ironed open.  It was very easy to choose the wrong hue of a color and then have to remake most of the column.  But it is beautiful and worth the time for my grand!

I belong to a long-time sewing group that fills Samaritan's Purse's Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes. Last year we tie-dyed shirts for the boxes.  This year I am trying some other designs for our dyeing event.  The heart shirt will be one choice.  I think it is the essence of our effort.

Noah's Ark Quilt

 This is a panel that I have had sewn for several years.  I found a cute Noah's ark flannel backing at the local quilt shop that was a perfect match for this quilt.  Then I used Bubbles from Designs by Juju for the quilting. It is an end-to-end design.  My embroidery machine is a 10 needle Babylock.  The new big magnetic frame from Brother is perfect for end-to-end designs. I am very pleased with the final project!

Eyeglass Cases

These are eyeglass cases that I made with my serger today.  The pattern comes from a book by Georgie Melot titled Ready Set Serge.  The book contains quick and easy projects you can make in minutes with the serger.  You can also make these with a regular machine.  You can make one in less than 10 minutes once you know the steps.  I am making them to put into the shoeboxes that are sent to Samaritan's Purse.
 

 The is the Nativity Table Runner from Designs by Juju. The original was really a table runner and I wanted to make a version that would look nice hung on a wall.  Juju designs are always beautiful and wonderfully digitized.

Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes

 Monday was the first big step in the transportation of this year's shoeboxes to their final destination.  My church and my sewing group worked to provide 260 shoeboxes this year.  The boxes are heading to Denver to a Samaritan's Purse processing center and then they will head to children across the world.  The boxes are the first step in learning that Jesus loves each and everyone of us.  The child also has the opportunity to know Jesus as their savior.  God's blessing on each and every box.

Peach Sunrise

 Peach Sunrise is my latest quilt.  I saw the grouping of fat quarters at Cotton Pickins Shop in Washington. I had previously made a quilt with their Seaside Serenity Kit and thought the Peaches and Blush fat quarter group would make a great quilt.  I used a rail fence pattern for the quilt.  In the meantime I had purchased a new magnetic hoop to use with my 10 needle embroidery machine.  So the top is quilted with Feathers 2 end-to-end embroidery pattern from Designs by Juju. I like this quilt and enjoyed the entire process of making it.

 A quilt with a story! I sometimes do work for others and had just completed a pillow for a client.  She brought her dil with her when she picked up the pillow.  Her dil said that she had blocks from a old trunk of her granny.  I told her, "You can make a quilt from the blocks."  She did not hear the pronoun and brought the blocks and finishing fabrics to me a couple of weeks later.  I gave her with I thought to be an excessive price to make two quilts.  "Okay," she said.  I have to say that the blocks were ugly and many sizes.  Some of the fabric was extremely fragile.  But look what happens!  The quilt turned out to be beautiful!  I will tell you what she says when she picks up the quilts.

Seaside Serenity

This is Seaside Serenity.  It is a quilt kit that I immediately fell in love with the colors when I saw it at Cotton Pickin's Quilt shop in Washington State.  I don't usually purchase kits but this one shouted at me.  I knew that I was going to try end-to-end embroidery design from JuJu.  This is the  Swirls 1 design. I basted the top, batting, and backing together with 505 spray (lightly sprayed). I recently purchased a magnetic hoop from Mighty Hoops to make the hooping quicker. I started in the middle of the quilt on one side and continued across to the other edge.  The last hooping on the edge was about five inches so when the design went off the edge I would stop the design and forward to another section that stitched on the quilt.  This quilt took some time and patience as there is probably 60 hoopings.  I just wanted to prove to myself that I could really quilt my own quilts. Someone is going to receive a nice Christmas present!
 

Two Years of Work

 This is two years of thread ends that were saved in a quart mason jar as I changed colors on my Babylock 10 needle embroidery machine.  The new thread is tied to the old thread and pulled through before threading the needle. I have no special end result for this thread, I just was tired of finding it on my sewing room floor.  But it is a pretty reminder of the work that the machine has completed.

Tie Dye Time

Last week several friends met at my house to tie-dye white t-shirts and bandanas for the Operation Christmas Child boxes.  These are just a few of the bright results. It was lots of fun and was a great way to spend a few hours. 

Blue Ridge Beautiful

It sometimes seems that a quilt will never be finished.  I started this quilt in 2010 when I attended a class from Bonnie Hunter at the local quilt guild.  All of the fabrics were collected and stuffed away.  This year I decided that several plastic cartons needed to be emptied and this was one of them.  The quilt is from Adventures with Leaders & Enders and called Blue Ridge Beauty. There is only one block in the quilt. When I started to make the blocks again--four of the first six blocks were incorrectly sewn.  So I had to check the picture in the book each time to make sure the colors were in the right position. This was my March Covid quilt--just stay home and sew. Finally finished the top in April.  So glad to have it quilted and ready for gifting.

Making Progress

Several years ago when my granddaughter enrolled again in college I decided to make her a bookcase quilt for graduation.  Later, on one of my Paducah adventures I found a pattern by Crimson Tate titled Personal Library Quilt.  I purchased the kit with a great pattern.  When I started it a few weeks ago, the fabric did not tickle my fancy and I started to dig out bits and pieces of my accumulation.  Most of the "books" are made with left-over binding and small pieces of fat quarters that I have. I asked my GD for book titles and so she gave me two pages of possibilities.  I added "titles" of places she has been and other important events with my embroidery machine.  It is not yet finished because I want to ask her about other items and events she wants added to the quilt.  I love looking at it and I think she will love it too.

P.S.  My grand came over today to help me with the top row.  She loves her quilt and helped me with some Russian titles to put on "her" row. She especially loved all of the different fabrics and then chose the border fabric.  I should have it finished soon and then take it to the quilter on Tuesday.  

Tiny Backpack

It is impossible to tell a granddaughter that you can't make what she wants!!?? So after thinking for a couple of weeks about making a backpack for a teddy bear without knowing the size or any other bits of information and finally using Google to learn more, I had a plan. Stephanie at ManySmallFriends.com had a free online pattern that looked much like I wanted to make. I made the backpack from lightweight patterned denim.She used unique hardware and leather or homemade fabric straps.  My straps are two layers of black marine vinyl with velcro closures. The finished size is about 4" x 5.5". It was very easy to make but I was glad to have Stephanie's photo-packed instructions.  I know some little one will love this backpack.

Dog Softie #1

I am very happy with my first stuffed dog softie.  The design is from Designs by Juju. 
He is only a day old and already has his eyes open! What a super dog...
The design has been waiting for a couple of weeks as I finished a long project.  The dog is made entirely in the embroidery hoop.  The five hoopings include one for the arms, the legs, the ears, the bandana, and the main body.  After the embroidery machine stitches the dog together, the dog is trimmed, turned right side out, stuffed, and the opening closed by hand stitching. Juju includes very detailed instructions with photos so each step is explained fully.  My dog is made with fleece and cotton fabric. It is always fun to complete one of her designs.

Blue Ridge Beauty is 10 years old!

This Blue Ridge Beauty quilt has been under construction since May 2010 when Bonnie Hunter was the instructor for the Kaw Valley Quilter's Guild in Lawrence, Kansas. I gathered all the fabics and started the quilt in the workshop but never worked on it again until March.  Then came the coronavirus and the need for many face masks and I was interrupted.  So a couple of weeks ago I began the quilt in earnest and with the goal of completing the quilt top. It really isn't quite finished as I still need to stitch the borders.  But the hard part is finished.  The quilt is made with 168 blocks.  The surprising thing is that it is the exact same block made 168 times with lights and darks. It was so simple and so complex because the blocks had exact placement of the lights and darks.  Making the first six blocks seemed like a snap until I looked closely to see that four of them were not correct. This really was a test of perseverance.  More to come after the quilter does her magic.

April Output

These are a few of the 150+ face masks that I have stitched since April 2, 2020. I have made several patterns and several sizes. Most of the masks have been made from a pattern of a fellow quilter. I have not purchased any fabric or thread. The only purchases I have made are for black elastic and white elastic.  I started using 1/4" bias tape for the ties until I exhausted that supply and found it too time intensive to make my own.  I read that some were using t-shirt ties.  I tried that and found that t-shirt ties are soft and strong.  I cut 3/4 inch strips across a t-shirt and then pulled them until they stopped stretching.  The fabric rolled together from both sides and it great to stitch through. The masks have gone to a local nurse, local store employees, family and friends, and a small company. Hopefully this crisis will be over soon.  Thanks to all of the people who continue to work and are put in harm's way.  Please stay safe and use your mask.  

A Favorite Reading Pillow

One of my friends asked me to make a reading pillow for her grandson.  She wanted a super-hero.  I have had the wording for some time from Designs by Juju (Reading Word Art #1) and the boy design was found at Sew Fun Fonts.  Together they make a perfect design. I think I will have to make another one.

John Deer Ditigitizing Webinar

I have had the opportunity to be part of John Deer's Digitizing Made Easy Webinar.  John Deer is known as the guru of digitizing and I have always wanted to take a class from him.  I read about his initial effort to develop an on-line class and signed up a couple of months ago.  The class has three active webinars through facebook or Zoom.  Then there are online step-by-step lessons that teach  running stitches, satin stitches, and fill stitches.  Each lesson builds on the previous one.  I would watch the lesson to get the overall view and then complete the lesson in the software while repeating the lesson again and stop it step-by-step. It has taken hours to complete each lesson to my personal satisfaction and then to complete it again without referring to the lesson. Hatch has graciously made their software available for 30 days to complete the lessons.  My lessons have been a bit easier because I have a large monitor that my grandson suggested a couple of years ago.  It is much easier for my old eyes. My photos are two of the projects that I completed for the class. John gives many tips, digitizing theory, encouragement, and responses to questions. If you have the desire to learn more about digitizing, this is the class for you.