Oh my gosh, it’s been so long since I posted that I don’t even know where to start so let’s just jump into Project Quilting. My first week was a big swing and a miss so this week I simplified things a bit. The theme was Scads of Plaid and my friend, Dawn, had a spare kit for this plaid. I did toss out the really anemic tan-ish color and replaced it with a floral that’s probably been in my stash for 20 years. I have to admit, that I’m wishing I had time to do the really colorful version I was considering. However, it’s my third finish for the year and I’m taking that as a win.
Also, I’ve added a little cow cat to my life. (More on that later.) Angus McMoo is taking his role as quilter’s assistant very seriously and is on the alert for opportunities to help.
Be sure to check out all the great projects at Persimmon Dreams this week. As always, I appreciate Trish and Kim’s work to put this all together.
I’m looking forward to showing you the rest of what I’ve been up to soon!
The virtual cookie exchange is one I look forward to. I like the opportunity to push myself into trying to convert another holiday recipe to a gluten-free version. This time, I decided to try making my younger daughter’s favorite…snickerdoodles! When I started looking at gluten-free recipes, I was surprised to see they didn’t call for cream of tarter. In my opinion, half the charm of a snickerdoodle is that slightly tart taste that lingers on your tongue. So, I went back to my 1980’s Betty Crocker Cookbook and I just subbed in the Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 flour for the regular…just to see what happened. The first tray was slightly underbaked resulting in a very pancake-looking cookie. The second tray was much better. I’ll definitely try these again but maybe with a little chilling of the dough to see if I can increase the rise on the cookie.
You can see the difference between the first and second tray.
Now, I will be very honest and share that I’ve been a little lackluster in the sew-jo department lately. But in early November, I started working on some Christmas quilts. First, I pieced together this quick little quilt top using a couple of charm packs from a quilter’s garage sale and a free pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop. I added an extra border so it came out just a bit bigger. I can hardly wait to get this one on the frame and add from fun quilting!
Next up, I finished this quilt top from blocks I purchased at an estate sale. Both of these finish about 60×60, perfect for curling up under and watching a favorite movie.
The next one was a little too big for a good photo but this one finishes about 74×74. The red fabric was part of a dress I made for my now-grown daughter when we took her to her first nutcracker when she was 3. The lattice squares were leftovers and small pieces. There are lots more leftover squares and I’m already planning the next quilt to use them up.
It’s been a goal of mine for years to have a Christmas quit for each bed in the house. Generally, on the first of December, I get the Christmas china out and use it for the whole month. I want to do the same with the quilts on the beds. This one is for me! In the meantime, I’ve got another project on the design wall and can’t wait to see how it comes out!
Many thanks to Carol over at Just Let Me Quilt and all the talented quilters in this hop. Be sure to stop by and see all the holiday wonderfulness.
Whatever holiday you celebrate, I wish you the very best and hope that you will embrace the light during the dark of the winter and that joy will find you every day!
By the pricking of my thumbs, someone disorganized this way comes…yep, me! I signed up months ago and then the date slipped by. Through some weirdness, I hadn’t heard updates and well, life happens. Unfortunately, I’ve been having a little too much outside the sewing room life and not enough inside. So, in an apolgy for my tardiness, here’s a quick look at my Halloween’s past. The first three are ones done a by friend and I only did the quilting.
Again, my apologies. Please hop by the other wonderful (and better organized bloggers) and I promise that when you hop back for the cookie exchange I’ll have something new and tasty for you!
So, honestly, my birthstone had always been a bit of a disappointment. Peridot always looked to me like Emerald’s anemic cousin….no rich color, sometimes a little yellowish, lacking definition. However, peridot as a stone is very different than the lovely spring green in fabric.
Believe it or not, I actually had pulled this bee fabric out for a quilt that I didn’t end up with enough time for. I coupled it with a yellow my youngest gave me as a gift (my family really knows me!) I used my favorite go- to baby quilt pattern and here it is…I think it’s the bee’s knees!
I used one of my favorite all-over designs and quilted it on my Qu’nique 21 Pro using a very pale yellow thread.
Thanks again to Kim and Trish for a chance to play along!
This week’s challenge was to use three traditional blocks in our piece. I really struggled to find an idea that sounded fun. I didn’t really need another heart quilt but I just kept looking at a pile of leftovers from the chandelier quilt.
Eventually, I turned a quick sketch into this 30×30 wall hanging. Because, it turns out, I did really need one more heart wall hanging! I challenged myself to explore more about my QCT software. In this one small quilt, I practiced borders, triangles, placement of blocks and more.
There are four blocks in this quilt….flying geese, hourglass, pinwheel and, of course, a heart block.
And now, it’s off to bed, I don’t want to admit how late I’m up!
This week’s challenge was Ombre. I actually just used ombres in two recent quilts so I was wracking my brain for something to feel fresh and new. Instead, I went for an old favorite, the Chandalier pattern. It’s perfect for ombre because the strip piecing gives you nearly perfect matches between the larger and smaller squares. This quilt only used two fabrics, a white and an ombre.
My Ombre Chandalier measures about 64×64.
I also pieced the back from the same ombre and centered the quilt for a fun effect.
I’m coming in right under the wire this week and I’m excited to finish!
As I write this, my PQ16.1 project is humming along on the longarm. This week’s theme is mythical creatures and I had the perfect project-in-waiting. This would be quick, too, a panel, a couple simple borders….well, not quite!
I decided to add feet from a Riley Blake free pattern that was part of the Legends fabric line. Just a couple, surely those 1″ pieces wouldn’t take too long? Two feet became four which became 7. Then the trees for the other borders. And the “nice lap quilt” grew to 68×76. I was barely going to squeak this one out until I realized that my tablet on my longarm had not charged.
Despite not finishing in time, I feel good about this “someday” project becoming a “This week” project. My recipient is going to love this and I love that it’s going to be done!
My company is closed for the week between Christmas and New Years. With no travel plans, I treated myself to a quilter’s stay-cation and focused on my own pile of unfinished tops. I quilted 7 tops, bound 1 that was already quilted and bound 5 of the 7 that I quilted.
Then, this weekend, I finished a top for a friend.
I also recreated this little PQ Challenge quilt from last year. So, I guess that’s another finish. I’ve decided to start my year from the day after Christmas since I can’t really remember which one I finished which day.
So, my stats so far this year are:
7 finishes of my own (6 UFO’s, 1 new)
1 quilting for someone else.
As of right now, I have four quilts waiting for binding but it’s the kickoff week for Project Quilting so I’ll be creating my “mythical creature” quilt this week. Maybe I can squeak out a binding and finish 2 more this week!
Oh, the feels! For years, I’ve loved playing along with the blog hops and the lovely Carol and Joan are hanging up their cat herding hats. I’ve had blog hops to push me to try new things, finish projects, and enjoyed so much inspiration and connection. I so appreciate all these ladies have done to make the quilting world a cozier, more intimate space. However, both will be continuing their wonderful projects like the Scared Silly Boo Along. Make sure you are connected to the Cackling Stitches Facebook group. As for me, I’m going to try to be a more faithful updater. I have an updated sewing space and lots of UFO’s…so stay tuned.
In the meantime, back to the subject at hand. I love the Virtual Christmas Cookie exchange because it gives me an excuse to try a new recipe. I can’t have gluten or nuts so sometimes baking is trickier. This year, I’ve had lemon on the brain so I went searching for a really nice lemon cookie. I found this recipe for a lemon crinkle cookie over at The Loopy Whisk and, wow! Just wow! These may be my newest favorite cookie. (They were so good that I had to send them away in self defense…LOL.) The light lemon flavor makes such a nice contrast to heavier sweets.
In celebration of the season, I took the opportunity to finally bind this Christmas quilt. My dear friend, Margot, suggested that I could use the back of the couch as a revolving quilt display and here it is on the back of the couch. With Milo, of course, office holder-down-of-quilts-on-the-couch.
Be sure to hop over to all the other talented quilters who have been playing along. There’s a huge amount of talent in this group. And a very special thank you to Carol from Just Let Me Quilt. You are a star!
Over the years, I’ve had such fun playing along with the various blog hops. Times change and the time had come that the lovely Joan at MooseStash Quilting has decided to retire from cat herding (I mean blog hop hostessing.) So, of course I wanted to play along one last time. Gnomes are as cute as can be but I’ve never actually made one. I found this adorable free tutorial at Sew She Can! With his kitchen-patterned hat, this must be a baking gnome!
I originally planned to make a pillow but I’m kind of enamored of the little guy and I’m wondering if he needs a little more space to move around….and maybe a tree, or two…a little cabin in the woods. I think He’ll hang out on the design wall a litle longer until I decide what to do.
In the meantime, hop on along to the other bloggers and see what they’re bringing home for the holidays! And come back to visit…there’s a virtual cookie exchange coming and I haven’t even shared about my recent trip to South Korea!
Words & Stitches 
