Monday, December 30, 2013

My December project for A Lovely Year of Finishes is finished...

December has been a very busy month...had a few stressful days but it always seems to work out.

...I did get my  December project completed for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

I am happy with my quillow.  I am calling it Sunny Days on the Farm.  
I started quilting about 13 years ago...but I was making quillows about 20 years ago, long before I could call myself a quilter...I love the new look of my quillow...it actually looks like a quilt...with binding.  Twenty years ago I would take a print fabric 1.5 yards long x wof and place it right sides together with a plain backing on top of a piece of batting....stitch around the four sides leave an opening to pull the fabric through to the right side...slip stitch the opening closed and sew 1/2" around the outside edges of the so-called quilt.  I would then center the pocket section to the top of the quilt and attach it to the quilt by stitching the top edge of the pocket to the quilt and then stitch the side edges of the pocket and continue stitching the quilt part to the bottom of the quilt...really there was not much stitching to the quilt...only 2 straight lines of stitching to secure the pocket and the print to the solid back...for some reason I always used a plain fabric for the back.
I had originally paired this farm print with a chocolate brown backing...20 years later I changed the backing to a Kona solid, Raffia...how our tastes change.

Shanna from Fibers of All Sorts and 
Melissa from Sew Bittersweet Designs are getting ready to host 
A Lovely Year of Finishes 2014.
I started in October 2013 and finished 3 UFO's
I am joining in again and hope to finish 12 UFO's in 2014...
join in and finish your projects!!

I had a lot of new finishes in December too...many were Christmas gifts...sorry no pictures.  I made 8 Tammy bags, knit 4 scarves, and I have some redwork finishes that I will be shipping to Robin at Bird Brain Design...soon...and with any luck at all they will be hanging in the Road to California Quilt Show January 23 - 26, 2014.  I made a Santa quilt and love it even with the quilting through the embroidery!!  I have a little peek for you...some day I will try quilting without a pantograph...
 ..here is a peek of the back, quilted with snowflakes
I also finished 2 message boards...


I have 2 more projects with dead lines that will keep me busy this week along with family returning for a visit on Tuesday...and I must not forget, I also have a dentist appointment tomorrow!!  

We've had lots of family visiting for Christmas.  My Dsister, DBIL, Dniece and her Dhubby were visiting since Friday, they left mid afternoon today to head back to Canada...they arrived just as our 2 sons and their families were packing up the cars to head back to Canada.  The Winter Classic outdoor hockey game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs is on New Years day and our youngest son, DDIL and the 3 grandones are coming back as the boys got tickets for the game...Santa was very good to them...they are about to freeze their butts...they are sooooo excited.  

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday
sharing it with family and friends...

hugs


Saturday, December 7, 2013

December Goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes...

I have sEw many UFO's...what will it be???  Today is the last day to sign up...I've decided it will be a quillow I started about 20 years ago.  The pocket was sewn but not quilted and the quilt, batting and backing have been pinned for a long time.  They must be good pins, they haven't rusted.  OK here is the quillow pocket before I decided to unstitch it...why you ask?

I've decided I didn't like the fabric I had originally picked for the backing.  It was a poly cotton blend...remember it was from about 20 years ago.  I  have unstitched the pocket and found a better backing which is 100% cotton.  I will also be changing the batting...I don't like that polyester batting...I'm off to join the linky party before they close the doors to get into the party.  

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!!  I've also been busy working on my Redwork Challenge projects.  I have finished 8 of the Santa's from this pattern.  Sorry no pictures yet...

'Here Comes Santa' pattern by Bird Brain Designs

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Happy stitching,