Quilting is in my Blood

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky Party hosted by my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us.

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

1. Make progress on my Cat and Birds quilt top. √ Done
2. Finish binding another sunflower placemat or two. √ Done
3. Stitch my last (for now) Rainbow Sashiko square that I will be sewing into a small table topper after the first of the year.
4. Write my  2021 Planning Party post for the linky party hosted by Yvonne@ Quilting Jetgirl. √ Done

To-Do #1

I have made more progress on my Cat and Birds project. From Mitzie@Jittery Wings , I downloaded the free Sparrow Quilt pattern and paper-pieced the smallest sparrows using purple, blue, and teal Kona solids. I cut the sparrows into 3.5” squares rather than the shape on the template. I rotated the squares to a diamond shape so the sparrows were angled at 45 degrees, and I then sewed setting corner triangles onto the diamonds to make them into 5 inch squares.

To-Do #2

I finished binding two more Sunflower placemats this past week. I’ll wait to take a photo of any more until they are all finished. The table runner is also done, so I just have three more placemats to finish for my friend, Amanda’s housewarming gift.

To-Do #3

For my 8th rainbow Sashiko square, I drew a 1/2” by 1” grid on a blank indigo square using my favorite Clover Fine Marking Pen which took a little getting used to since the line it draws does not immediately show up but within a minute the line is clearly visible but just as important it is easily removed with a little water. Then I drew diagonal lines across the rectangles which became my stitching lines and when I was done I erased the 1/2” by 1” grid using a wetted pieced of cloth. I’ll take a photo of the grid next time. I apologize for the awful photo below. The square is on a piece of white paper, and I took the photo at my office. I didn’t think the lighting was so bad, but indeed it was!

To-Do #4

I always enjoy writing a goal-setting post for the coming year related to what I want to accomplish with my quilting hobby. This year I included stitching in my goals as I plan to continue doing Sashiko as well as participating in Wise Craft Handmade’s 2021 Snowflake Embroidery Block of the Month. See my 2021 Quilting/Stitching Goals post for more info about my 2021 goals.

To-Do for the week of Dec 22nd-Dec 28th

1. Finish my Cat and Birds quilt top and write my December 2020 OMG Finish post.
2. Finish binding another sunflower placemat or two.
3. Make a 9th Rainbow Sashiko square (I decided I could fit one more square into my schedule since they’re pretty quick and so much dang fun to stitch!)

Linking up to Home Sewn By Us: To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky #72.

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky Party hosted by my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us.

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

1. Make progress on my Cat and Birds quilt top. √ Done
2. Make the binding for my friend, Amanda’s sunflower placemats and table runner. √ Done
3. Make a lined drawstring bag using the pattern by Jeni@In Color Order. Nope

To-Do #1

This week I have focused on sewing borders around the eight hummingbird small panels that I’m using in the quilt top for Kristen’s baby. I haven’t gotten them all finished because I had to order some more Kona Dark Violet for the inner borders and Kona Regal for the outer borders. Below is one of the finished Hummingbird blocks:

To-Do #2

About a week ago I received the Sunflowers Placemats/Table Runner “Quilt” back from Sew Shabby Quilting for my friend, Amanda, and I started binding the placemats over the weekend. Below is one finished placemat:

To-Do #3

When Jeni Baker at In Color Order announced that she was going to host a Lined Drawstring Bag Sew-Along, I really wanted to join in especially since I have had the pattern for a few years. But I really have too much going on right now, and the paper gift bags I have on hand are fine for gift-giving this year, but hopefully I will make some next year. I even purchased her Lined Drawstring Expansion pattern that has some cool options like a drawstring backpack and adding a paper-pieced component. If you are interested in making one of Jeni’s lined drawstring bags, the original pattern and the expansion pattern are both reasonably priced in her shop, and she has generously made a Video Tutorial to accompany the pattern.

Bonus

I finished my seventh rainbow Sashiko square this past week. The pattern is called Asagao which I first saw in the Alison Glass July 2020 Stitch Club Journal. Because this pattern was initially really confusing to me (it’d definitely be easier with three distinct thread colors), I wanted some more detailed instructions and found this Tutorial by A Threaded Needle. This square is fraying terribly. I’ll put some Fray Check on it and sew close to the line around the block which is supposed to wash out.

To-Do for the week of Dec 15th-Dec 21st

1. Make more progress on the Cat and Birds quilt top.
2. Finish binding another sunflower placemat or two.
3. Stitch my last (for now) Rainbow Sashiko square that I will be sewing into a small table topper after the first of the year.
4. Write my  2021 Planning Party post for the linky party hosted by Yvonne@ Quilting Jetgirl.

Linking up to Home Sewn By Us: To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky #71.

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky Party hosted by my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us.

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

1. Write my December 2020 One Monthly Goal post and make progress on that project. √ Done
2. Stitch a sixth rainbow Sashiko square. √ Done

To-Do #1

I am working on a new project that I’m very excited about. My friend, Kristen, is expecting a baby this Spring, and when I told her that I wanted to make a quilt for her baby girl, she requested one with cats and birds in teal and purple colors. In the design that my friend, Mary, and I came up with, there will only be one cat on the front of the quilt, but the quilt back will feature a large cat panel.  I belong to Kristy Lea@QuietPlay’s  2020 Pattern Club, and one pattern I’ve been wanting to make is her Geometric Cat. I made a fabric collage of the cat that I shared about in my December 2020 OMG post that featured many purple and teal colors along with blues to transition between the teal and purple. Below is the finished Geometric Cat block that measures 9 3/4” by 10”, but it will be 15” square when I finish sewing borders around it. It will be featured in the center of the quilt top. This was the easiest time I had sewing sections together, and I attribute that primarily to Kristy’s excellent pattern designing.

To-Do #2

I finished my sixth rainbow Sashiko square which was Star Crossed by Blair Stocker (It is also known as the rice stitch). This Sashiko square may be my favorite so far. I especially like how the not-totally-uniform stitches actually add interest to this square.

To-Do for the week of Dec 8th-Dec 14th

1. Make more progress on the Cat and Birds quilt top.
2. Make the binding for my friend, Amanda’s sunflower placemats and table runner.
3. Make a lined drawstring bag using the pattern by Jeni@In Color Order. 

Linking up to Home Sewn By Us: To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky #70.

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky Party hosted by my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us. Since Roseanne has opened the linky party a day early and my post is written, I’m posting today and then hopefully I can post about my December OMG tomorrow.

To-Do for the week of Nov 24th-Nov 30th:

1. Sew my Color Jolt quilt top together. √ Done
2. Write my Nov 2020 OMG Finish post. √ Done
3. Stitch another modern Sashiko square. √ Done

To-Do #1

From completion of the last Color Jolt block to the completion of the quilt top, it just took me four days to get ‘er done! I did deviate slightly from the pattern instructions from sizing up the length and width of my paper-pieced sections to opting to take the paper off prior to sewing the sashing strips on the blocks. I like the stained glass look of the teal blue sashing against most of the blocks (with the blocks that have more blue/green in them, it is more subdued), and I think it’s very likely that I will make another version the Color Jolt Quilt again in the future.

To-Do #2

Here is a link to my November 2020 OMG Finish post with all of the blocks on my design wall.

To-Do #3

I hope everyone isn’t getting sick of my rainbow Sashiko squares! I’m planning to keep stitching one per week unless I’m up to my eyeballs hand-stitching down binding 🙂 I tried something new this week which mostly worked for me. Awhile back I downloaded Sashiko coaster patterns from Blair at Wise Craft Handmade. She has generously shared two sets of free patterns along with links to her You Tube Sashiko stitching series which I found very useful when I first tried Sashiko. They can be found Here and Here. I decided that I wanted to stitch her Fundo (Scale Weights) pattern and used a regular ball point pen on top of the pattern placed over Olympus light blue carbon paper to trace the design on some plain indigo Sashiko fabric. Some of the lines were hard to see, so I went over a few with my Clover fine white marking pen. Here’s is my Fundo rainbow Sashiko square: 

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

1. Write my December 2020 One Monthly Goal post and make progress on that project. It’s really fun and colorful!
2. Stitch a sixth rainbow Sashiko square.

Linking up to Home Sewn By Us: To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky #69.

I am joining the weekly To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky Party hosted by my friend, Roseanne, at Home Sewn By Us.

To-Do for the week of Nov 17th-Nov 23rd:

1. Make more Color Jolt blocks. √ Done
2. Take a photo of several of the placemats and table runner before sending them to my brother and sister-in-law as 50th wedding anniversary gift. √ Done
3. Stitch another modern Sashiko square. √ Done

To-Do #1

I got all the Color Jolt blocks done. Here’s is a pic of several of them:

To-Do #2

I did take a pic of the placemats and table runner on the conference table at work which is the second pic below and which shows the reverse side of the placemats. However the first photo is the one I like the best which is one taken by the happy recipients. The package arrived Saturday evening, and we FaceTimed with them while they opened the box. It was a lot of fun!

To-Do #3

Here’s the fourth rainbow Sashiko square: 

To-Do for the week of Nov 24th-Nov 30th

1. Sew my Color Jolt quilt top together.
2. Write my Nov 2020 OMG Finish post.
3. Stitch a fifth Sashiko square.

Linking up to Home Sewn By Us: To-Do Tuesday Weekly Progress Update Linky #68.