To-Do for the week of Dec 7th-13th:

1.  Make progress on my Cardinal mini quilt. √Done
2. Start working on a simple pink tote bag with a not-so-simple paper-pieced star on one side. √Done
3. Start working on a Sew Tiny Christmas ornament. √Done

To-Do #1

I did finish my Cardinal block (pattern by DuringQuietTime on Etsy) and rather than turning it into a mini quilt this year (because I just don’t have time!), I sewed side and top/bottom borders on it and decided to wrap it around an 11″ by 14″ piece of art canvas using duct tape to secure it to the back. Lee Heinrich wrote a great post awhile back called How to Wrap Fabric Around a Frame. I opted not to use staples because I don’t want to put holes in the border fabric around the cardinal. Down the road, I will either make it into a mini quilt or I will pay to have it professionally stretched around canvas by my local art store, but for now I have a temporary solution that I will be able to enjoy this holiday season. I ended up using both the new Kona Cardinal fabric I ordered online as well as the Kona Chinese Red fabric in my stash. I love the background fabric, but I don’t remember any info about it. I’ve named this cardinal, Jackie’s Cardinal, in honor of my sister, who loved watching cardinals out her kitchen window.

To-Do #2

I made a VERY pink tote bag for Tasia at work who loves the color pink (much more than me, LOL). I drew her name for our gift exchange and thought it would be fun to make a tote to hold the little gifts I got for Tasia. I really like the Elemental Tote pattern by Jeni Baker but decided to make it a little more interesting by paper-piecing an inset star. I used the 8″ Shining Star pattern by JoeJuneandMae. Even though I’m generally not a big fan of the color pink, I do like how this tote bag turned out. I got the lovely print fabric from Bernie@NeedleandFoot’s Etsy shop. It is Clothworks Romance by Sue Zipkin. This print has a little red in with all the pink which adds some much needed visual complexity.

To-Do #3

I did the very tiny paper piecing for one pine tree ornament. The block measures 1.25″ square and will be 2.75″ with borders sewn on the block. All the inspiration and instructions come from the free Sew Tiny Ornament Sew-Along hosted by Kitty@nightquilter on Instagram. I pinned my teeny tiny pine tree block on a small design board with several cute felt ornaments–none made by me, but I may try making some felt ornaments next year.

To-Do for the week of Dec 14th-20th:

1. Finish my Sew Tiny Pine Tree ornament.
2. Make another pine tree block for a Sew Tiny Christmas ornament and add a little embroidery embellishment.
3. Work on my 2022 Planning Party post.

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

 To-Do for the week of Nov 30th-Dec 6th:

1.  Finish my Turquoise and Grey Sashiko squares and make them into a set of five coasters for my stepdaughter, Alisha. √Done
2. Finish my Black and Gold Sashiko squares and make them into a set of five coasters for my stepson, Drew √Done
3. Write my December 2021 One Monthly Goal post.√Done

To-Do #1

The finishing instructions in the Sashiko coasters kits I’ve seen so far suggest that the Sashiko square be placed right sides against another piece of Sashiko fabric and stitched around the perimeter leaving a gap of 2-3″ to be turned right-side out and slip-stitched closed. I like a more finished look as well as coasters that have more substance to them, so I used a piece of batting between the Sashiko square and the backing fabric and chose to bind these 4.5″ square coasters with a contrasting solid fabric, using the mini binding tutorial from Twiggy and Opal. Don’t be surprised to see more variegated turquoise on grey Sashiko fabric coasters in 2022. I think I might need to a set to keep!

To-Do #2

I also finished the Sashiko coasters for my stepson, Drew, using black binding fabric. They measure about 4″ x 4.5″. These dark, masculine-looking coasters aren’t exactly to my taste, but I really like how they look with these simple wood Christmas ornaments, and hopefully Drew will like them.

To-Do #3

This past week I wrote my December 2021 One Monthly Goal post about making a Cardinal Mini Quilt. The good news is my Kona Cardinal fabric arrived on Saturday.

Bonus:

I wrote a post on Friday about my Christmas North Stars quilt which is my November 2021 Favorite Finish:

To-Do for the week of Dec 7th-13th:

1. Make progress on my Cardinal mini quilt.
2. Start working on a Sew Tiny Christmas ornament. Have you seen the free Sew Tiny Ornament Sew-Along hosted by Kitty@nightquilter on Instagram? I definitely want to make one of the tiny Christmas trees with a little embroidery embellishment.
3. Start working on a simple pink tote bag with a not-so-simple paper-pieced star on one side.

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

 To-Do for the week of Nov 23rd-30th:

1. Finish my Reindeer mini quilt and write my November 2021 OMG finish post. √Done
2. Finish my Christmas Present Dresser Runner. √Done
3. Work on a squirrel project that I started a few days ago. √Done

To-Do #1

I finished my Reindeer mini quilt and wrote about it here.

To-Do #2

I finished the Christmas Present dresser runner and on Sunday decorated a table-size metal Christmas tree with the runner underneath and a Christmas Baubles mini quilt behind it. It definitely looks festive but also busy (which is usually not my style, but I make an exception for Christmas because of all the fond memories associated with the various ornaments).

To-Do #3

And for my squirrel project (for anyone not familiar with squirrel in the context of quilting, it is a project that one had not planned on making but all of a sudden jumped to the top of the to-do list), over the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I finished two Little Llama mini quilts (pattern by Elizabeth Hartman), each measuring 15.5″ x 20″ that I took to my office yesterday. The ugly tan paint on the wall isn’t the best backdrop for photographing them, but they still make me smile every time I look at them. I named them after my parents. The first one with the turquoise Christmas Carols background is Cleo, and the second with the red background is Jack.

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

1. Finish my Turquoise and Grey Sashiko squares and make them into a set of five coasters for my stepdaughter, Alisha.
2. Finish my Black and Gold Sashiko squares and make them into a set of five coasters for my stepson, Drew.
3. Write my December 2021 OMG post.

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

 To-Do for the week of Nov 16th-22nd:

1. Bind my Northern Lights Wonky Stars quilt. √Done
2. Work on my Christmas Present Dresser Runner. √Done
3. Work on my Reindeer mini quilt. √Done
4. Restitch the first Sashiko square with the speckled gold background with black thread that I stitched initially with variegated maroon thread, and stitch the dashed box box around the fourth Sashiko square. √Done

To-Do #1

I did finish my Northern Lights Wonky Stars quilt that measures 36.5″ x 55″. It will go on the lounger in the living room. I love how the Primitive Stars quilting with variegated thread done by Melissa at Sew Shabby Quilting mimics the wonky stars.

To-Do #2

I finished the Christmas Present Dresser Runner flimsy and plan to take a photo of it once it is quilted and bound, hopefully in the coming week.

To-Do #3

I also made a little progress on my Reindeer mini quilt and also plan to take a photo of it after it is quilted and bound. Again I hope to get it done this week.

To-Do #4

I stitched the dashed box box around the fourth Sashiko square (top square below) and restitched the first Sashiko square with the speckled gold background with black thread that I stitched initially with variegated maroon thread (bottom square below). I plan to get these finished in early December.

To-Do for the week of Nov 23rd-30th:

1. Finish my Reindeer mini quilt and write my OMG finish post.
2. Finish my Christmas Present Dresser Runner.
3. Work on a squirrel project that I started a few days ago. More to be revealed next week!

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

 To-Do for the week of Nov 9th-15th:

1. Bind the I Spy quilt for a special child in my life who will turn one in December. √Done
2. Start another quick project for my Christmas decor this year. √Done
3. Stitch a fifth Sashiko square with the speckled gold background with black thread. √ Almost Done
4. Spend some time figuring out how I’m going to quilt my Reindeer mini quilt. √Done

To-Do #1

I did finish the I Spy quilt for the special child in my life who will turn one in December (her parents are not comfortable with any kind of specific online reference to her, so I’m respecting their wishes). For info on the pattern, please see this post. Below are the inaugural photos using the mounted curtain rod on the shed. I like the back (second pic) almost as much as the quilt front that features the Robert Kaufman A to Z Animals panel. Melissa at Sew Shabby Quilting did her usual lovely job quilting this toddler quilt (41″ x 46″) using the Splash quilting motif.

To-Do #2

I am making a runner for my dresser using the Christmas Present Table Runner pattern by Primrose Cottages on Etsy. Below are the five Christmas Present blocks.

To-Do #3

Here is the fifth coaster almost done with black floss on the gold speckled background. I still need to stitch the dashed box around the design in the middle.

To-Do #4

After pondering for a couple weeks how I wanted to quilt my Reindeer mini, I started simply by quilting mostly straight lines on the outside borders slightly varying the distance between lines. Then I got a little more adventurous, and I hope to share a finished mini next week or at least an in-progress photo.

To-Do for the week of Nov 16th-22nd:

1. Bind my Northern Lights Wonky Stars quilt.
2. Work on my Christmas Present Dresser Runner.
3. Work on my Reindeer mini quilt.
4. Restitch the first Sashiko square with the speckled gold background with black thread that I stitched initially with variegated maroon thread, and stitch the dashed box box around the fourth Sashiko square.

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

 To-Do for the week of Nov 2nd-8th:

1. Bind my North Stars quilt for my sister-in-law, Sharon. √Done
2. Work on my Wolf Abstractions Project. √Done
3. Stitch another Sashiko square with the speckled gold background with black thread. √Done

To-Do #1

I did get my Christmas North Stars quilt done which is primarily for my sister-in-law, Sharon, but it’s also my brother, Bill’s Christmas present. We recently had our shed repainted, so I thought the quilt would look nice against the bright terracotta background. You will probably see more shed-as-backdrop photos as I bought a black curtain rod that extends up to 120 inches that has been mounted at the top of the shed to be able to more easily photograph quilts outside. I’m going to write a blog post later this month that shows some close-ups of Christmas North Stars and the minky backing.

To-Do #2

I also finished the Wolf quilt top quilt that measures 60″ x 65″ for my friend, Laura’s 50th birthday in January using Violet Craft’s Wolf Abstractions pattern. I mailed it off to Rebecca@Rebecca Grace Quilting yesterday for her to work her quilting magic on it. This is the first time I’ve sent a quilt top to Rebecca, and I’m really excited to collaborate with her. Below are a couple photos of the finished quilt top. In the first one, the wolf’s face looks wider because of the angle of the camera shot. The second pic was just a quick snap that shows most of the wolf and more accurately depicts the shape of the wolf’s head and the background grey fabric (Kona Grizzly). I promise to take much better photos when the quilt is finished!

When emailing Rebecca this past week about the progress of my Wolf Abstractions quilt top, she asked me to share a little more about what I meant when I said that I use a basting stitch to help align paper-pieced units or sections that are being sewn together that have odd angles. I use the largest stitch length on my sewing machine which is 5.0 (first photo below), and I fold up the seam allowance to check to see if the pieces appear aligned (second photo). Sometimes the edges align just fine but two seams in the middle aren’t meeting quite right, so I take out the basting stitches and shift things over and sew again which can mean that now one of the edges is a little off. I then decide if I can live with it, and if I can, I sew the seam with my normal paper-piecing stitch of 1.6 and sometimes trim a little from the edge to even it up. A downside of sewing both a 5.0 stitch and a 1.6 stitch on the same seam is little pieces of paper can get stuck between those stitches which I sometimes have to pull out with tweezers and sometimes I leave the itty bitty paper fragments alone.

I’ve gotten much better and faster at sewing together the sections of paper-pieced projects, but it can still stress me out! For me, it’s a task I do when I’m fresh in the morning and have no interruptions. One other tip I can share to make sewing paper pieced sections together easier is to tear out the papers of the inner units that no longer have a seam edge. It reduces the weight and bulk of sewing sections together, which was particularly helpful with this ginormous wolf! Three years ago I wrote a post about paper piecing tips (linked here) that may also be of interest.

To-Do #3

Here is a third coaster done with black floss on the gold speckled background.

To-Do for the week of Nov 9th-15th:

1. Bind the I Spy quilt for a special child in my life who will turn one in December.
2. Start another quick project for my Christmas decor this year.
3. Stitch a fourth Sashiko square with the speckled gold background with black thread.
4. Spend some time figuring out how I’m going to quilt my Reindeer mini quilt.

Linking up with Texas Quilt Gal: To-Do Tuesday

Something is wonky with this post. Basically it is repeated in some kind of Edit mode. I tried to fix it, but it became clear after a few minutes that it wasn’t going to be a quick fix. I’ll probably email Word Press sometime soon to see if they can help me out. Now onto more Wolf paper piecing!

 To-Do for the week of Oct 26th-Nov 1st:

1. Work on my Wolf Abstractions project. √Done
2. Stitch a Sashiko square with the speckled gold background with black thread. √Done
3. Write my November 2021 One Monthly Goal post. √Done

To-Do #1

I’ve made some good headway on my Wolf Abstractions project. Overall it’s going well, but I’m glad I’m using basting stitches to first join the pieces together because quite a few have had to be ripped out (or “unsewed” LOL) and re-positioned before trying again.

To-Do #2

Here is a simple Sashiko pattern that looks nice with the black floss.

To-Do #3

 I took a short break from doing large-scale paper piecing and made the reindeer below this past week using significantly smaller paper piecing. You can read more about it in my November 2021 One Monthly Goal post here.

To-Do for the week of Nov 2nd-8th:

1. Bind my North Stars quilt for my sister-in-law, Sharon.
2. Work on my Wolf Abstractions project.
3. Stitch another Sashiko square with the speckled gold background with black thread.

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

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To-Do Tuesday 116 Weekly Progress Update

 To-Do for the week of Oct 26th-Nov 1st:

1. Work on my Wolf Abstractions project. √Done
2. Stitch a Sashiko square with the speckled gold background with black thread. √Done
3. Write my November 2021 One Monthly Goal post. √Done

To-Do #1

I’ve made some good headway on my Wolf Abstractions project. Overall it’s going well, but I’m glad I’m using basting stitches to first join the pieces together because quite a few have had to be ripped out (or “unsewed” LOL) and re-positioned before trying again.

To-Do #2

Here is a simple Sashiko pattern that looks nice with the black floss.

To-Do #3

 I took a short break from doing large-scale paper piecing and made the reindeer below this past week using significantly smaller paper piecing. You can read more about it in my November 2021 One Monthly Goal post here.

To-Do for the week of Nov 2nd-8th:

1. Bind my North Stars quilt for my sister-in-law, Sharon.
2. Work on my Wolf Abstractions project.
3. Stitch another Sashiko square with the speckled gold background with black thread.

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