Friday, November 21, 2014

TGIFF: Quick 'N Easy Potholders


I needed a quick break from working on my Garden Party quilt, so I whipped up a couple of really quick and easy potholders for Christmas gifts for co-workers :)


I was searching for a pattern for something that wouldn't take too long, would be relatively inexpensive, and creative to do for the gal's at work.  Countless websites later, I finally found the Quilt Expressions blog and fell in love with their tutorial for some potholder gifts.

Armed with coupons, I headed off to JoAnn's last Saturday and rummaged around the last remaining bits of Christmas fabric they had.... they were pretty picked clean!  Grabbed some pairs of fabric and a couple of yards of Insul-Bright, and I was on my merry way.

Before I could get started though, I was kinda forced into cleaning up my craft room.  Had a bit of an avalanche of shopping bags that were piled up in the corer of materials for gifts as well as some additions to my stash.  Took about 2 hours, but I got it all organized and put away.



I ended up re-folding all the fabric from JoAnn's before attempting to put it away.  I really loathe when they fold up the cuts, especially when I'm waited on by this young guy that works there.  He practically just rolls it up in a ball and shoves it in a bag :-(  Drives me NUTS!  Especially when now it's extremely wrinkled and not only needs to be re-folded, but also pressed even before I'm ready to use it.  Ah well, it's done and my room is back to being all nice and organized :-)

Without further ado, I give you the first of many (17 total) Christmas pot holders....


Christmas Potholders details:
I did as the tutorial instructed and attached the binding to the back and then pulled over to the front and machine quilted it together.  I'm not quite sure how I feel about that.  One one hand, it would be much easier to do and 10x quicker, but I'm not liking the way it looks when finished.  Thankfully, I've got a million more to make, so room for more trial and error.

Hope everyone is having a fabulous Friday!




Linking back to Finish It Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts , TGIFF at What a Hoot!, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Link-A-Finish Friday at Richard & Tanya Quilts




Thursday, November 20, 2014

Decisions, Decisions

Well, the Garden Party quilt is well underway. After 2 hours of playing with the layout last Friday night, I think I finally got it!

Attempt #1 - REALLY not liking it yet
I guess I didn't plan this one out properly and I REALLY struggled with how to get it evenly balanced between lights and darks. 5 tries later... I found one I thought worked so I just bit the bullet and went with it. 

Attempt #5 - Went with it and it's all pieced and ready to go
Got the "inner quilt" done and added the borders.  So... funny story...

When I was getting it all laid out Friday night, I realized I was short quite a few cornerstones and like 21 posts! Couldn't figure if I couldn't count or if the directions had the wrong numbers on it. Anywho, got it all pieced together and couldn't for the life of me figure out why I was 5" bigger in each direction than it was supposed to be. Yea, I added extra sashing and cornerstones around the WHOLE quilt when it was supposed to be just on the inside (does that make sense?). Added the first white border before I figured it out. I just rolled with it, adjusting the pieced border accordingly. Instead of adding a 2 1/2" white border around the whole thing, I cut it down to 1 1/2" instead... Too much white.

After all the mishaps with this quilt, I was so thankful to get the top done and this baby basted on Sunday :-)


I've spent the past few nights working on the quilting, and I'm planning on getting it wrapped up this weekend, permitting nothing comes up ;-)

I also managed to get a finished project done this week, so make sure to check back tomorrow and check it out!

Hope everyone is having a terrific Thursday!

I Quilt @ Pretty BobbinsMy Quilt Infatuation


Linking back to Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation and I Quilt Thursdays at Pretty Bobbins.




Friday, November 14, 2014

Finish Friday: Busy Little Christmas Elf


Brace yourselves... this is gonna be another long one!!!  Two big projects to share, plus a little one for fun.  I've been a busy little Christmas elf lately... so I've got plenty to share :D

1. Downton Abbey Yellow Brick Road Quilt


This one is a Christmas gift for my grandma.  I had originally intended on giving it to her back when she was here in Ohio and in the nursing home, but she went home too fast and I didn't have a chance to finish it in time.  I actually got the top done way back at the beginning of September and started the FMQ on it.  It ended up taking a bit of a back seat to a couple of impromptu projects, but then I finally cracked down and finished it!  It's actually been done for a while, I just haven't had the chance (or decent weather outside) lately to get it photographed.  Without further ado... here are the details for this one:

Downton Abbey Yellow Brick Road Quilt Details:
This was the first project I've ever done FMQ on!  I think that's why it took a bit longer to do.  FMQ is more time consuming, plus I was so scared I was going to mess it up that I kept putting off working on it.  Sucked it up and did it.  Done, washed, and ready to wrap!

Easy Jelly Roll Quilt in 6 Sizes

 
Along with the layer cake I bought way back when, on one of my first orders from Missouri Star, that I used on the Lattice Quilt, I picked up this jelly roll to do a quilt for Aunt #2 for Christmas.   I picked a real simple pattern for this one... for a couple of reasons.  1) I don't have much time so I couldn't make it too fancy or I'd never finish it, and 2) my aunt isn't a "flashy" kinda gal.  This pattern and fabric fit the bill perfectly!  

This really IS an easy jelly roll quilt!  once the strips were sewn together and then cut down into blocks, the top only took 3 evenings after work to complete!  No border and just straight-line, echo stitch quilting made this one a really quick, yet pretty quilt.


Easy Jelly Roll Quilt in 6 Sizes (Lap Size):
All-in-all, it's been a very productive couple of weeks!  So happy to be able to check TWO gifts off the Christmas list.  4 down.... 5 to go!  Fortunately, 4 of the last 5 are rag quilts and shouldn't take too long... especially when I can recruit Hubby into helping me with snipping the seams :D

Oh, and I finished up a quick little project too!


I made a cute little Elf hat for my niece, Miss L.  I made the 12-24 month size, but it seems awfully big!  I may make another one in the 0-6 month size and see how that one looks.  If this one is too big, I can always give it to Hubby's DJ-ing partner's 8 year-old daughter :D

Lil' Elf Hat details:
This came out so stinking cute (plus I have a ton of yarn leftover) that I'm putting these on "the list" for the rest of "our kids" for Christmas next year! The Clover Pom-Pom makers are AWESOME and made making the pom-pom for the hat so quick and easy!  There are a ton of YouTube videos showing how to use them, and instead of just wrapping one color, I used all three at the same time.  Made a really cute, mulit-colored one :D

Well, that's it for my Friday!  Busy, busy, busy... and getting busier by the day!  Hope everyone has a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend!



Linking back to Finish It Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts , TGIFF at Quilt Matters, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Link-A-Finish Friday at Richard & Tanya Quilts

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

WIP Wednesday: Garden Party

So glad to be able to share with you a WIP this week!  I've been busy, chugging along on my Christmas gifts, but for whatever reason I keep forgetting to take photos, blog, etc.  I'm sorry :(  I hope you don't think I've been neglecting you! 

I wrapped up Christmas gift #4 last week (#3 of 3 going to family in PA) and couldn't wait to get started on the next one.  I found this gorgeous line over at Missouri Star and it just had Hubby's grandma's name written all over it!


The line is Lagoon by Paintbrush Studio.  I just fell in love with it!  I've also had the Garden Party quilt on my "bucket list" of patterns I want to do, so I decided to pair this fabric with that pattern, and VOILA!  Christmas gift for Gram!

Instead of 3 charm packs like the pattern calls for, I got a layer cake (a Daily Deal over on Missouri Star I think).  Just cut the 10" layer cake into 5" charms :) For the solids, I got some Bella Solids - White Bleached yardage for the sashing and borders.  240 - 1 1/2" squares to cut... and that was just for the main blocks.  Add to that another 96 needed for the border.... that was A LOT of cutting!  Lol

Sorry about the crummy lighting!  I've got lousy light in my craft room, especially after dark... so it's kinda hard to get decent pictures.
Spent the night on Sunday getting all the blocks "snowballed," and then the past couple of nights getting them trimmed and pressed.  Couldn't wait to see how it was going to look, so I quickly put together one of the blocks.  LOVE IT!!!  I really can't wait to get this one done and ready to go under the tree for Christmas :D


Sew Fresh Quilts


Linking back to Freshly Pieced's WIP Wednesday and Sew Fresh Quilts' Let's Bee Social



Monday, November 10, 2014

Make-A-List Monday: 11/10/14



Crikey!  October completely got away from me, and it seems like November is too!  I've been productive, just haven't had the chance to write it all down.  Lol.  Thought with there being only 44 DAYS until Christmas... I really needed to put my To-Do list together to help me stay on track so I can get everything done.


The list is a "comprehensive" one, including EVERYTHING that I need to do... not just Christmas.  The saddest part of this is that about 98% of the projects on this list have been completely shopped for... just need to get done.  That's a LOT of stash!!! 

I managed to get one more of the Christmas gifts checked off the list this weekend, but there are still 5 left that are "Must Do's."  Need to keep to my "schedule" I put together and get stuff done. 

Anywho.... here's my Make-A-List Monday for this week....

  • Blog posts of finished projects - Got pictures taken over the weekend, just need to write everything up for ya'll :-)  Look for these posts later this week!
  • FINISH editing of wedding photos  - I desperately need to finish the editing on the photos from a wedding I shot in July!  I've got them about 95% done, with all the important portraits done... just have to finish up the pre-wedding photos and some of the reception photos and they'll be done.  The bride was happy with what I've given her so far, so these last few are just extras... but I need to get this project off my plate!
  • Continue working on the Garden Party Quilt - I started working on this one over the past week or so, getting everything cut and the squares snowballed.  I'm hoping to get all the 4-patch blocks done this week so by the weekend I can start assembling the top.
I'm keeping it simple this week, mainly so that it's not so overwhelming that I fall behind so quickly.  If I can get more done, I will... but for now this is a start.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and have a wonderful week to come!