Gift Giving is In The Bag

My daughter had a special request for a Christmas present -- a grocery sack.  I make excellent grocery sacks and couldn't turn down her one request:

The red/yellow one was for my nephew's wife and the brown one was for my daughter.  They were both pleased.

This is a very pattern published by the Quilt Basket.

Bonnie Hunter Mystery -- Allietare progress!

I'm sewing in every spare moment  Sadly I have few spare moments and was only able to finish the next set of blocks in my Allietare quilt, Bonnie Hunter's most recent mystery quilt:

I can't wait to get to work on the setting triangles.  I want this quilt finished and ON MY BED!  Maybe I'll find some spare moments in February?

A Cutie Block of the Month

I love Cutie patterns and I cannot lie!  I have designed 10 of them but I'm a huge fan of the ones that  my friends have designed, too.

I'm tickled to be working on the Cutie Block of the Month -- Inez's Walk Around the Block -- for many reasons.  One is this great card:

Since I forget why I walked into the kitchen (every. single. time), I know that I'll forget which fabrics are which on a quilt I will work on monthly.  I love that they knew this about me and prepared for it ahead of time!

I chose black, gray, white, and a hint of gold (Go, Steelers!) for my quilt fabrics.  I finished my first block:

 

Now I can proudly box this up until February.  

Whatever shall I do with myself until it's time to make block #2?  Maybe I'll start Pat Sloan's quilt and the Craftsy 2016 quilt?  What other ones should I work on?

If you have finished any block of the month quilts and need help with the quilting, check out my Craftsy class:

Click HERE for $20 off this online class.

Squared Away

I have designed ten Cutie Patterns* so far, and I don't have a favorite.  I do, however, have a pattern that I have made more times than any other:  Squared Away.

This was my first published Cutie Pattern.  I've made this quilt more times than my Scarves to Share pattern and I can make a scarf in an hour!

I've used white background, gray background, and cream backgrounds in my Squared Away quilts.  What color background should I try next?  Maybe black?
_____
*A Cutie Pattern is designed to use a Cutie Pack (16 fat-eighths of fabric).

Square Dance!

Do you remember when I asked you to guess which quilt I would make from my new BLOCK magazine?

I chose Square Dance (congratulations Paula Reid -- you guessed correctly) and the blocks look great so far:

All of the blocks will have the same star print in the center because, for some unknown reason, I had about 50 5-inch squares cut from this fabric and taking up space in my 5-inch square bucket.  I then pulled a bunch of golden browns out of my 2 1/2" strip bucket and used some white yardage.

I am having so much fun piecing this quilt!  What fabric should I use next?  Pat Sloan's Sweet Life fabrics?  Or maybe some Tula Pink fabrics?

Waiting for Me

Today I am traveling home from my first trip of 2016, meetings with Handi Quilter in Salt Lake City.  This is the happiest place on earth!

Before I left home, I changed my Christmas quilt for a winter quilt:

I took a red-eye out of Salt Lake last night and should get home some time this afternoon.

I can't wait to dive under this quilt!

Gift of the Month Club

Gift-giving can be difficult and sometimes creativity is required.

I enrolled one of my gift recipients in the "Placemats of the Month Club."  I gave this set for Christmas and will send another set monthly throughout 2016:

I made these placemats from some placemat forms I found while I was cleaning my sewing room in December.  I fused Christmas fabrics to each side and then machine bound them with bias binding.  This was not even close to my favorite technique and I won't make these again, but the recipient loved them!

Bonnie Hunter Mystery -- Week 6

I enjoyed last week when I was caught up on Bonnie's Allietare clues.  Since I'm currently in Salt Lake City for a week of meetings, my quilting time is non-existent.  Before I left home, however, I was able to make some progress toward finishing the Week 6 homework.

I have 30 of these blocks completed:

If you look closely, you'll see that the center of this block is made with (upside down) Peeps fabric.  It's how I roll.

I'm sure many quilters have already finished their Allietare quilts.  Check out their progress HERE.

I'll resume my piecing when I get home.  I am resolved not to let this year's mystery quilt become a UFO!

A Touch of Gold

I'm in a hotel room this week and brought a few quilts to bind.  Will I ever have a moment without quilts to bind?  As I was sitting, binding and watching Pride and Prejudice for the eleventy-hundredth time, I was petting my quilt and loving the Midas Touch FabuLux thread used in the quilting:

This thread is a blend of three shades of gold and tan.  I knew that the FabuLux thread line needed a good golden blending thread and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!  It is blending beautifully with the scrappy squares, the yellow setting triangles, the black inner border, and the gray print border.  I love when a thread suprises me and works even better than expected.

I hope to post "where to buy FabuLux thread" news soon!  Sadly, my December illness delayed my plans for a few weeks but I'm nearly ready to spill the beans!

Block of the Month Quilts

Like many of you, I worked and worked all year on my Craftsy BOM designed by Jinny Beyer.  I finished it (WooHoo!) and then filmed a Craftsy class on how to custom quilt a quilt.

I recently got my quilt back from Craftsy and I love it more than ever!  Doesn't it look great in my guest room?

Did you start any Block of the Month quilts last year?  Did you finish all of them?

If you need guidance on how to quilt any of your finished BOMs, follow this link to take $20 off my Craftsy class.

Are you starting any new Block of the Month quilts for 2016?  I am planning on starting (and finishing!) three of them.  If you know of any, please don't share them with me.  I can't say no to a Block of the Month quilt!

My Latest Cutie Pattern -- Scarves to Share

Do you need a quick gift?  Or a quick pick-me-up for yourself as the days are short and dark and cold?  Let me recommend my latest Cutie Pattern -- Scarves to Share:

I love this pattern for so many reasons:

1.  It is my 10th Cutie pattern
2.  It is economical and I'm a super-frugal gal (only uses 8 fat eighth cuts per scarf)
3.  It is great for gift-giving and I love giving gifts!
4.  It is an easy accessory to make and wear
5.  I finally can wear a scarf without it falling off!
6.  I can make one from each of my favorite fabric collections and I already have quite a collection, including Minions

My scarf has a secret:



And yes, I filmed that while recovering from the random lung infection that plagued me for most of December.   I was thrilled to not cough even once during the very short video!

I think my next scarf will be made from Sun Print fabrics.  Or maybe Asuka.  Oh wait... I've been saving that Hello Kitty fabric!  Stay tuned for more Scarves to Share.

Scraps Happen

I had plans.  Really, I did.  I had plans to finish a bunch of quilts before I started any new ones.  I had plans to get my house a bit cleaner before I left for my first trip of the year.  I had plans to organize my sewing room a bit more.  I had plans ... and then this happened:

I got my latest issue of Missouri Star's BLOCK magazine in the mail.  I saw a quilt in there that I absolutely loved and said "Hey, I think I can make that from my scraps!"  I looked in my box of five-inch squares and found 50-ish squares that were black with gold stars.  Then I looked in my 2 1/2-inch strip box and pulled out a bunch of golden brown strips.  I always have yards and yards of white on hand so I was set with backgrounds.

I pieced up a few of these blocks, just to satisfy my "starting a new quilt" craving.  I intend to use this project as my leader/ender project and stitch up some blocks in between finishing other quilts.

Do you subscribe to BLOCK?  Can you guess which quilt I'm making?  Has anything like this ever happened to you?

December Bookshelf

If one of your New Year's Resolutions is to read more, check out the books that I read in December.  I read less than I usually do, but I was sick for most of the month.  The books that I did read were pretty awesome, though:

Make Me by Lee Child
I waited and waited to get this book out of the library.  Jack Reacher books (not the movie --- ewww -- Tome Cruise is NOT JACK REACHER!!!) are my guilty pleasure.  This book hit some darker notes but was another enjoyable novel that let me escape reality for a while.  This series is not great literature, but it is full of action.

Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson
This is another book that I waited and waited for at the library.  It was a good week at the library when they both came in!  I listened to this one while quilting and had several laugh out loud moments which just made my cat look at me like I'm weird.  I listen to books through headphones, so as far as Kermit was concerned I was laughing at the voices in my head.  I had trouble finishing this book, though.  I think the language and irreverance got to me after the inital amusement.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
I'm making a run through the Harry Potter books and am enjoying quilting to Jim Dale's narration.  This book is always hard to get rhrough because (spoiler alert) it's when things begin to get quite dark.

Ties That Bind by Marie Bostwick
What a joy this book was.  Marie is a quilter and writes books that feature quilters, but this is a story about family and conflict and love and adoption and marriage.  It was read by two of my favorite narrators.  I listened to this while under the weather and this was great medicine!

Psycho by Robert Bloch
This is the short, yet freaky book that inspired the movie Psycho.  And the Psycho remake.  And the Bates Motel series.  I can't believe I never read this before and the book was good enough to make everyone afraid of the shower.  Forever.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling
I'm continuing my read-thru of the Harry Potter books.  This is a tough one; evil is winning and it makes me sad.  I can't wait to get to the happy-ish ending.  The books are so enjoyable that I listen to the books, even when they make me sad.

Since I've been sick, I've been watching a lot of shows on my computer rather than listening to books while quilting.

Netflix:  I've been watching White Collar.  Bryce Larkin is fun in this show.  Why haven't I watched it before?

Amazon Prime: I've been watching The Man in the High Castle.  I discovered this show on a TV commercial playing above a bar in a restaurant while I was picking up a take-out order on my last teaching trip of the year.  Yes, I saw a TV commercial about an internet-only show.  Weird, right?  I am ashamed to admit that I've never read the book.  The series is fantastic, so far.  I have a suspicion that things are about to go off the rails.  Don't spoil it for me!

A Manly Quilt

Happy New Year!  Can you think of a better way to start the year than with a quilt?

Do you ever have quilt leftovers so pretty that you need to make something else out of them?  I just experienced it and this happened:

This pattern is called Ebb and Flow and it was in McCall's Quilting May/June 2015.  If you plan to make this, please be aware that there's a mistake in the pattern.  The correction is HERE.

I made this quilt for my uncle.  I've wanted to make him a quilt for years and knew it had to be in the colors of the Pittsburgh Steelers.  This is a quilter's interpretation of black & gold.

I wanted to keep the quilting simple so I just quilted wiggly lines:

I used Mellow Yellow, one of my new FabuLux threads from WonderFil.

The fabric was from BG Modern Ink from Moda, and I used them in my Bull's Eye Cutie pattern sample:

Have you finished a quilt this year yet?  (teehee).  Do you plan to quilt today?

Bonnie Hunter Mystery -- week 5

Are you sitting down?  Brace yourselves, because I am completely caught up on Allietare!  It's amazing what strong antibiotics can do to improve one's quilting productivity.  I keep walking around saying, "Hey, I'm not coughing anymore!" and "Wow, is that oxygen in my blood?"  Yeah, I was sick and getting used to it.  How sad!

So here's my version of this week's homework:

I loved seeing everyone else's progress HERE.

Are you playing along?  I can't wait for this week's clue when I will, once again, be behind.  I'll have another great excuse though, because I fly out on Monday morning and my 42 days at home will come to an end.  I wish I hadn't been sick, but otherwise I had a fabulous time at home.

One of my largest projects for my time at home was "Clean and organize the sewing space."  I am not sure anyone can ever say they are done with that job, but I have made mountains of progress.  I have found countless UFOs, many of them Bonnie Hunter patterns.  I have shown Grand Illusion, Roll Roll Cotton Boll, Tobacco Road, and Lazy Sunday.  I now add to that list -- Cathedral Stars!

I started this quilt when Bonnie was teaching at a guild event and my friend took me to her workshop for my birthday present -- three and a half years ago.

So, I have six in-progress Bonnie Hunter quilts at the start of 2016.  How many of can I finish before the end of 2016?  How many more will I find buried in my sewing room?  How many more will I start?  

Word of the Year

The fabulous Pat Sloan got me thinking about my 2016 Word of the Year when she reminded me that her 2015 Word of the Year was FINISH.  That was a good word, wasn't it?  She comes up with some great ones.  My 2015 Word of the Year was UNSUBSCRIBE.  I did a lot of unsubscribing last year and I'm happier for what I've excluded.   This year's word is a continuation of last year's word.  I've chosen:

WHY?

I plan to spend 2016 re-examining everything and asking "why?" about each possession, commitment, relationship, and habit.  If I have a good reason for it, it can stay in my life.  If I don't have a good reason for it, I'll need to make a change.

• "Why do I need to keep clothes that don't make me feel fabulous?" 
•  I don't; they are being given away.
• "Why do I need to attend a community meeting that I don't add any value to and that doesn't make me happy?" 
• I don't; I've let them know I'll no longer be involved.
• "Why am I living with a dodgy phone charging cord when it makes my life miserable?"  
• I don't; I'm ordering a new one.
• "Why do I look at my phone first thing in the morning?" 
• That is a more difficult why and I'm still working on it.
• "Why would I want to go to the Tokyo Quilt Festival in January?"  
• Why not?????

What is your 2016 Word of the Year?  And why did you choose it?

Bonnie Hunter Mystery part 4

Continuing to state the obvious, I am behind on Bonnie Hunter's Allietare mystery quilt.  My progress so far...

Step one:  complete!
Step two:  complete!
Step three: complete!
Step four:

I need to make 29 more sets of these.

Others have made much more progress than I have and you can look at all the lovely pieces HERE.

I have made no progress on:
Grand Illusion
Roll, Roll Cotton Boll
Tobacco Road

I'm mostly over being sick but decided to spend any energy I found this week on being festive instead of quilting, but I did find another incomplete Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt -- Lazy Sunday:

I am home for 8 more days before my 2016 travel season begins.  There is next to no chance that I will finish any of these before I leave, but at least I know waht I will need to work on when I'm home for a few minutes between trips next year!

Tough Choices

As I'm recovering from whatever lung ailment has been plaguing me for over two weeks, I realize the importance of pushing fluids.

Do you think I have enough suitable beverage containers?

Update:  I am officially a huge fan of antibiotics and have resumed my love affair with breathing and sleeping after a few days of medication.  I got my Christmas present early!

Fourteen Days

I am home for a stretch and trying to make the most of it.  Imagine my shock when I looked at a calendar today and discovered that I only have another 14 days left at home before my 2016 travel season starts.

Sniff.

I wasn't actually sad about the travel starting; I am actually sick and have been for the last 16 days.

It's totally not fair that 16 of my precious days at home have been spent on being sick.  I'm tired of coughing.  I'm tired of not sleeping.  I'm just tired.  Yesterday, I got some powerful drugs and I'm just now starting to believe that I might live.  My husband is hopeful that he might get a good night sleep again sometime, too!

The good news:  I have hope that I'll be healthy by Christmas!

Home for the Holidays

She's Home!  My baby is home!

I recently received a box containing Petal Power, my runner that was published in Generation Q Magazine!

Doesn't she look pretty in my kitchen?  I wonder how long I can keep the magazine open on the table...

Did you get this issue of Generation Q Magazine?

You can subscribe HERE.