Quilting is in my Blood

To-Do for the week of Nov 22nd-28th:

1. Finish the three sets of coasters. √Done
2. Finish my wonky star pillow cover. √Done
3. Finish five Sew Tiny ornaments to send off the Monday after Thanksgiving. √Done

To-Do #1

I did indeed finish hand-stitching three sets of coasters over the holiday weekend which was definitely time consuming but enjoyable as I finished listening to A Trick of the Light which is the seventh book in Louise Penny’s Gamache series–this one was centered on the art world, and I learned a new word, chiaroscuro, which is defined as a treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting and also quilting IMHO! I first tried to machine stitch the binding on both sides of the coasters for my brother and sister-in-law, and I tried to talk myself into believing they were good enough, but really I wasn’t happy with them and ended up cutting off the binding and starting again with 5” squares rather than the original 5.5” squares. And I am much happier with them! I used some of the same fabrics that I used in the Christmas North Stars quilt that I made for Bill and Sharon last year.

For my friend Mary’s sister Kathy, we also made a set of coasters that coordinated with the Merrily Christmas quilt we gave Kathy two years ago.

For Mary’s sister, Debra, we made a set of two-sided coasters (the gold pine trees are the back sides) that coordinated with the Snowy Forest quilt we gave Debra two years ago.

To-Do #2

I finished my Wonky Star pillow and shared about it in this post.

To-Do #3

And here are the five Sew Tiny pine tree ornaments. The middle one on the second row shows how I labeled these ornaments by using colored ink on an inkjet fabric sheet, then cut to size, and sewn to the backing fabric:

To-Do for the week of Nov 29th-Dec 5th:

1. Write my Dec 2022 One Monthly Goal post.
2. Cut and glue one inch Kaleidoscope fabric swatches used for my Lumen quilt in my 2022 planner in preparation for the #2023PlanningParty hosted by Quilting Jetgirl. I’ve been participating in Yvonne’s annual planning parties for the past several years, and I really enjoy the opportunity to recap my past year’s Quilting & Stitching goals and to plan for the following year.
3. Finish another four Sew Tiny pine tree ornaments to send off next Monday.

Linking up to Texas Quilt Gal: To-Do Tuesday.

To-Do for the week of Nov 15th-21st:

1. Work on more paper-pieced trees to make into coasters. √Done
2. Work on embellishing the simple pine trees I shared in last week’s post to be made in Sew Tiny Ornaments. √Done
3. Work on a small Sashiko project. √Done

To-Do #1

I made more progress paper-piecing trees to go with Christmas quilts I’ve gifted in the last couple years. I ended up increasing the borders on the trees in the first row after I took the photo, so they could be comparable in size with the animal “backs” in the second row. Row 3 and 4 are for my brother and sister-in-law with the fourth row the designated backs of the coasters that will hold up fairly well to my brother’s coffee spills! I also used a splotchier snow fabric for the trees that will also (hopefully) be more stain-forgiving than the pristine snow fabric in the first row for coasters for my friend Mary’s sister, Kathy, whose OCD-tendencies will most likely prevent major spillage! I have actually quilted all the coasters (minimal quilting per usual!), and I plan to bind the coasters this coming week.

To-Do #2

Here are two of the Sew Tiny simple pine trees that I have embellished that are ready to be sewn into ornaments.

To-Do #3

And here is a Sashiko cats square that I’m thinking I will make the center of a small pillow for a gift for a friend who was born on Christmas Day.

To-Do for the week of Nov 22nd-28th:

1. Finish the three sets of coasters.
2. Finish my wonky star pillow cover.
3. Finish five Sew Tiny ornaments to send off the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Linking up to Texas Quilt Gal: To-Do Tuesday.

To-Do for the week of Nov 8th-14th:

1. Work on some paper-pieced trees to make into coasters. √Done
2. Work on a label for my 2022 New Mexico temperature quilt to be printed by Spoonflower. √Done
3. Work on some more Sew Tiny Christmas ornaments. √Done

To-Do #1

I’m making coasters to go with some Christmas quilts I gifted in the last couple years. The middle square will be made into a Sew Tiny Ornament.

To-Do #2

I did mock-up a label for my New Mexico temperature quilt that has 3/8″ squares of all the Kona colors included in my quilt that represent the different temperature ranges and sent a photo to Spoonflower and had them print up an 8″ swatch that I plan to cut down to about 4.5″ square. I was impressed with their turn-around time. I received the swatch below six days after I uploaded the photo and placed my order. With tax it cost me $6.83 for this custom label that I will border on the top and right sides with the left and bottom sides sewn inside my binding. The bordered sides will be hand-stitched down. My only complaint is that I had glued the Kona squares on a piece of white copy paper, but it looks light grey rather than white. But it will work for this project since the backing for the quilt is charcoal minky fabric.

To-Do #3

Here are three more Sew Tiny pine trees that still need to borders sewn on them before I make into ornaments.

To-Do for the week of Nov 15th-21st:

1. Work on more paper-pieced trees to make into coasters.
2. Work on embellishing the simple pine trees I shared in last week’s post to be made in Sew Tiny Ornaments.
3. Work on a small Sashiko project.

Linking up to Texas Quilt Gal: To-Do Tuesday.

To-Do for the week of Nov 1st-7th:

1. Share my Nov 2022 One Monthly Goal post. √Done
2. Do a little more stitching on my Sashiko Daisy pouch project. √Done
3. Start working on some Sew Tiny Christmas ornaments. √Done

To-Do #1

For my November 2022 One Monthly Goal, I am going to make a wonky star pillow cover to go with the Northern Stars Wonky Star quilt I made last year. Read about details here. Below is 12.5 unfinished wonky star that still needs borders to be made into a 16″ pillow cover. I’m debating what I’ll use for borders, perhaps another Ombré Fairy Dust fabric or maybe some of the darker leftover Stonehenge Gradations Ombré in Graphite fabric (the lighter fabric was used for the background of the wonky star).

To-Do #2

I finished stitching the panel for my Sashiko Daisy Pouch. This is my favorite sashiko project ever, but I am putting it aside while I continue to work on small Christmas projects and my 2022 temperature quilts. I hope to get the pouch finished early next year.

To-Do #3

Speaking of small Christmas projects, last year I participated in the Sew Tiny Ornament Sew-Along on Instagram hosted by Kitty Wilkin (@nightquilter). I shared about finishing two Sew Tiny Pine Tree Ornaments on this post. Well, I’ve started five more pine trees that I will embellish in the next few weeks and then make into ornaments.

To-Do for the week of Nov 8th-15th:

1. Work on some paper-pieced trees to make into coasters.
2. Work on a label for my 2022 New Mexico temperature quilt to be printed by Spoonflower.
3. Work on some more Sew Tiny Christmas ornaments.

Linking up to Texas Quilt Gal: To-Do Tuesday.

To-Do for the week of Oct 25th-31st:

1. Take a couple outside photos of my Lumen quilt if weather permits.√Done
2. Write my Oct 2022 OMG Finish post. √Done
3. Do a little more stitching on my Sashiko Daisy pouch project. √Done

To-Do #1

On Saturday I took a few photos of my Lumen quilt hanging outside on the curtain rod attached to our shed. Here’s the pic of front which benefited from the sun just starting to rise above the horizon. I love how vibrant the Alison Glass Kaleidoscope colors look on the charcoal background.

The wide backing fabric for the back of Lumen is Aurora Borealis from Backside Fabrics. I snapped the pic of the back about 10 minutes later than the front when the sun was starting to shine.

And here’s a close-up of the back of Lumen:

I’m so pleased with my finished Lumen quilt which measures 60″ square. As a reminder, Lumen was quilted by Rebecca@Rebecca Grace Quilting. The quilting design is called Celestial Spark Clam, and the variegated thread is Great Barrier Reef. For more close-ups of Lumen, please see my weekly post from last week here which really shows off the pretty variegated thread. And some of you may remember that I made another version of Lumen in 2019 for my stepdaughter, and even back then, I knew it was likely I’d make my own Lumen quilt to keep. If you are interested in reading about my first Lumen quilt, please see this post. 

To-Do #2

Below are the flying geese units for my three temperature quilts for July-September sewn into columns which were sewn together to complete the third quarter for each state. Read my Oct 2022 One Monthly Goal Finish post for more information about this project. New Mexico is the left, California in the middle, and Washington on the right:

To-Do #3

I made some progress doing some stitching on my Sashiko Daisy Pouch, but I’ll wait to take another photo until I finish the stitching.

To-Do for the week of Nov 1st-7th:

1. Share my Nov 2022 One Monthly Goal post.
2. Do a little more stitching on my Sashiko Daisy pouch project.
3. Start working on some Sew Tiny Christmas ornaments.

Linking up to Texas Quilt Gal: To-Do Tuesday.

To-Do for the week of Oct 18th-24th:

1. Take photos of my Lumen quilt. √Done
2. Sew flying geese units into columns for September for NM, CA, and WA. √Done
3. Do a little more stitching on my Sashiko Daisy pouch project. √Done

To-Do #1

The weather did not allow me to get outside to take any pics of my finished Lumen quilt, so I took a few inside on my bed. I love how Rebecca’s quilting complements the minimal piecing. The quilting design we chose is called Celestial Spark Clam, and the variegated thread is Great Barrier Reef.

And here’s one more lovely shot taken by Rebecca before she sent Lumen back to me:

To-Do #2

Here are the flying geese sewn together for September for New Mexico, California, and Washington. Notice that my step-daughter in a Bay Area city in California experienced the highest temperature in September as represented by Kona Coral. In the photo below I forgot to sew Kona Charcoal rectangles at the end of the columns since September does not have 31 days.

To-Do #3

I am two-thirds done with the sashiko stitching on my Daisy drawstring pouch from BeBe Bold. In the photo below, I have completed one set of the diagonal lines of stitching, and I’m really liking how it is looking:

To-Do for the week of Oct 25th-Oct 31st:

1. Take a couple outside photos of my Lumen quilt if weather permits.
2. Write my Oct 2022 OMG Finish post.
3. Do a little more stitching on my Sashiko Daisy pouch project.

Linking up to Texas Quilt Gal: To-Do Tuesday.