Just stitching...

Tonight while I worked third shift, I took some time to work on a stitchery project. This is "The Joy of Christmas", designed by Gail Pan.  I bought this pattern at the Vermont Quilt Festival last year, and I'm finally getting around to stitching it.  Hopefully I'll have it done soon since its a fairly small and simple project.

I've just downloaded the blogger app for my phone, so far it seems easy to use.  Maybe this will make it easier for me to blog. Fingers crossed... 

February 26

Last night, we had our monthly guild meeting.   We had a man who makes wooden quilting accessories and he talked about the things he makes (quilt racks, ladders, stilettos, seam ripper handles, custom tables for machines) and he sold some of his items, and his wife showed us some of her gorgeous applique quilts.   It wasn't the most exciting meeting in the world, but I never complain when I get to see a trunk show.

I showed the quilt you see in the picture as part of Show & Tell.  I just finished this quilt over the weekend.  I had it mostly finished back before Christmas, but I got sidetracked for a while by other projects.   It is my standard crumb blocks sewn together as a four patch and framed.   This quilt  measures about 60" square and will be going to the Pediatric Oncology Clinic.

Okay, so I've been a very lazy blogger lately.   I have done some quilting projects recently, and I'm going to start sharing things here again (I know I always say that, but this time I mean it!).  If you want more up to date pictures, the best place to see them is on Instagram, you can follow me there if you'd like I'm @Traceyquilts overthere.

This quilt is "Peppermint Sticks" by Terry Atkinson, I can't remember which book it was in.  It's a UFO from about 4 or 5 years ago and I finally quilted and bound it.  This will be going to Wrap A Smile.

Please cross your fingers that I will be able to find this quilt tops and four (or five) other missing quilt tops.  A couple weeks ago, I put this top and the other tops (along with their backings and bindings) in a bag to bring home from the cabin so that I could baste them here at home where I have a tile floor.   In the two weeks since then, we've been sick, had a crazy dance recital week and been otherwise very busy, so I didn't get to basting the tops.  I've spend the last several days tearing both houses apart looking for the bag of these tops&backings, and I can't find them ANYWHERE.  I'm absolutely sick over it.   Included were this quilt (from one of Gayle Bongs books), a scrappy four patch quilt that is going to be a gift for a friend, a pinwheel top destined to be donated, and a twin bed size trip around the world quilt for my son.  There may have also been another donation top in the bag, I'm not sure.   I'm starting to worry than in my recent decluttering I might have thrown them out or something...or maybe I put them in a 'safe place that I won't forget' LOL.   I'm feeling sort of sick to my stomach over this right now.

Pillowcase dresses

My guild's latest community service project is making pillowcase dresses for an organization called Dress A Girl Around The World.  The dresses are simple to make using the pattern found on the organizations webpage, but there are also lots of other cute tutorials out there in blogland for those who like to make something slightly different.  I purchased a beautiful shower curtain (it came from Target, according to the care label) at Goodwill and upcycled that fabric into three pillowcase dresses.  Instead of using purchased bias tape, I chose a fabric from my stash and made my own bias tape.  

These went together very quickly and they were easy to do, even for the non-garment sewer that I am.  I will definitely be making more of these in the near future.

A baby quilt

We have a new baby in my family!  It's a big reason to celebrate, because there hasn't been a baby since my son was born 10 years ago.  Of course now it's time for a new generation to be having the children.  This time, it is my cousin Michael, who has a new baby boy born in February.  The baby's name is Michael Jr.   A couple of weeks ago, we had a "welcome baby" party instead of a shower.  

I made a set of burp cloths with some neat fabrics that I purchased at Joann.  You can find the tutorial here .  I did not add the ribbon as shown in the tutorial because I wanted these to be 'guy friendly' so that Dad would be happy using them.  Basically, you add a fabric rectangle to a prefolded purchased diaper.

 Of course I also had to make a quilt for the baby!  It had to be something hip and modern as well as guy friendly.  It also had to be simple and fast to make because I wanted it finished before the party, and only had a couple of weeks to get it done.  I saw a picture of this quilt on Pinterest, and followed the link to an Etsy shop.  The gal's blog indicated that she was planning to write a tutorial, but it hadn't been posted yet, so I just looked at her picture and guessed.  I have no idea how mine compares size wise with hers, but this ended up being about 54X60".  Kind of big for a baby quilt, but it will be useful for years (hopefully he'll wear it out before he outgrows it!).  Overall, I'm very pleased with how it came out, but I do wish that I took a little more time to add more quilting.  I get a chance to try again though, I've got a plan to make another almost identical quilt out of the leftover fabrics from this one.  I'll share that when I finish (within the next few weeks I plan to get it done).  I'm sorry for such a lousy picture...it was very overcast the morning I finished the quilt, and I couldn't wait to get a better picture because the party was that afternoon!

Next time, I'll share the pillowcase dresses that I recently made.   I might even have more finished by then to show!

Hot Pads and challenge quilts

Today I'm sharing the pictures of some hot pads that I recently made.   I'm tired of small pot holders and hot pads that don't protect my hands or the counter, so I fixed that problem by using two layers of insul-brite and I made them BIG (10" square).  They worked really well, and I used up some scrappy crumb blocks in the process.  I decided to use these as a practice for a new method: finishing the binding completely by machine.  I sewed the binding onto the back and turned it to the front and machine stitched it down instead of by hand.  It worked out okay, not great, but not too bad.  I definitely need to practice it some more.

At the same time I made these guys, I made a table mat for my kitchen counter peninsula.  It is sized for the counter and covers it completely, something like 24X60.  I'll have to get a picture of it for another post.  It works nicely because I can put the mat on the counter than put all the hot dishes/pans right on it without worrying about the counter getting damaged, thanks to the insul-brite inside.

In the meantime, I'm still working on the challenge quilt for my guild.  It's due on the 28th, so I have to really get myself in gear and work hard this weekend.  All I can say at this point is that the challenge fabric is UGLY, and I am cutting it pretty small so it won't look too bad, and using one of Bonnie Hunter's patterns.

Flat Stanley

Look who has come to visit me.....

Yes, that's right, Flat Stanley is here for a visit!  We took him to Vermont for the weekend so that he could see some snow (afterall, he came here from Georgia, and wanted to know what all the fuss was about).  However, there's no snow in CT, so we brought him to Vermont to see some.  He got a little chilly after being out in the snow, so I decided that I would teach him how to quilt. 

He had a lot of fun helping me play with fabric, and together we made this quilt for him to take back to Georgia with him.  I still need to finish the binding, but I think that Flat Stanley will be very happy to share his quilt with the first grade class in Georgia.

Since I did that, I didn't have much time to work on my guild challenge quilt (must be completed by our meeting on Feb. 28th!) but I did finally choose fabrics and a pattern.  At least I think so, I still keep changing my mind.  I'm sure I'll be sewing furiously this week and next to finish on time.  The ugly bamboo looking fabric is the challenge fabric.  You might notice if you look carefully that I used a lot of these fabrics in Flat Stanley's quilt.

Back...

e with me and won't let me post pictures. What fun is blogging without pictures?? Now I have a new computer, so hopefully (fingers crossed) things are going to work better for me. If not, I'm going to look to move my blog somewhere else, like TypePad or something. But I'd really rather not do that.

Anyway, I stitched a bunch in January, trying to get rid of some UFOs. I was somewhat successful. In fact, I finished a bunch of projects that had been lying around just waiting for binding. So here they are:

These are both flannel rag quilts for the local NICU. They measure approx:25X35. They are so cute, but while I am making them I keep saying "Never again". Then I finish them and say...well, maybe I'll make some more soon...

I don't understand why I can't post a picture. When I try to click on the picture icon, I jsut get the little hand cursor (like wait, wait) and nothing ever happens. The box to pick your picture never comes up. ARGGGHHHHHHH I'm frustrated. Whats the point of blogging if I can never publish a picture?

A Scrappy Quilt

Last month, I went on my annual retreat with a group of friends. Typically, we have a class, but I usually do not participate in the class, instead I just work on my own projects, and this year was no exception. I worked on the Fun With Bricks quilt designed by Bonnie Hunter which I started at the retreat last year. Last year I made the top center, and decided that it needed a pieced border. This year was rather non-quilty for me, so it never got done. I was determined to get a pieced border on it this year at retreat, and I am thrilled to say I was successful. It took me as long to make the border as it did to make the center. It might be a long time before I make another quilt with a pieced border, but this was definitely worth the effort. This quilt is about 75"X98" or something like that. Now that I am looking at it, I am not that thrilled with the red cornerstones. I'm thinking that might change them to half square triangles. We will see. It's also going to get a narrow-ish (maybe 2" finished) border of the light fabric around the edge, only because the thought of putting the binding on and worrying about all those points is giving me the willies.

I am having trouble uploading the picture. I will continue to try. Sigh. This is part of why I haven't blogged in so long, I'm pretty frustrated with blogger and the difficulties I've had with it.

Heritage Quilters of Wallingford
present
An Evening With Bonnie Hunter
"Scrap User's System"
Lecture and Trunk Show


also offered will be book sales and signing
and sales of fat quarter bundles and scrap bags
Friday April 8, 2011 7PM
doors open at 6:15PM

Northeast Utilities Auditorium

107 Selden St (at Berlin Tpke)
Newington, CT


Tickets $5 (payable by check)to
"Heritage Quilters of Wallingford"
include self-addressed stamped envelope and
mail to:
Sharon Burch , 119 David Drive Meriden, CT 06450
Ticket info: (203)238-7784 or pgburch@hotmail.compgburch@hotmail.com

Classes will be held at
First Congregational Church, 62 Colony St., Meriden, CT

Fri. April 8 "Star Struck" 9am to 3pm
Sat. April 9 "Playing with Jacks" 9am to 3pm

both patterns may be seen on Bonnie's website at: www.quiltville.com

for class info and availability:
Tracey Brown (203)499-8644 or scrapquilter@gmail.com

These are two other recent projects that I never blogged about. The candle mat is from a swap I did in November for the Quilting Gallery. The bag I made for a Holiday Tote Bag Swap.

The one Christmas project I made for myself was a little bonbon that holds candies. The pattern is from Hatched and Patched, and Carol sent me the pattern. I was pleased with how it came out, just don't look too closely at the applique. I obviously need to work on my applique skills.

SSCS Swap

Sorry I'm so late posting this, we went away for the holiday week and I spent the entire vacation sick in bed with strep throat. :-( After a good strong round of antibiotics, I'm finally feeling well again.

Firstly, I sent my SSCS swap package off to Australia. I sent to Lynn I sent her this ornament:

and this wall hanging (I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your pictures, Lynn, I can't find my own!)

I had a beautiful package under my tree from Laila in Norway. I had not one but two gorgeous heart ornaments to hang on my tree


and two gorgeous table runners for my living/dining room. A rectangular one for my dining table, and a square one for on my coffee table. I am such a lucky girl, these are really gorgeous and very festive, but appropriate to leave them out until Valentines Day! Oh, and there was a yummy Norwegian chocolate bar too!



Thank you Laila for the gorgeous gifts! And Thanks to Chookyblue for organizing a great swap!

the blocks I made for a community service quilt which will be presented to a family living with HIV/AIDS on World AIDS Week in December.

a little something to pass the time while I am at Gymnastics class....excuse any mess on the blog..I am learning to blog from my cell phone!

a little something to pass the time while my son is at gymnastics class...

Back to the blogosphere

Hello! Oh my...I never expected my blogging break to be so long. I'm not even going to get into all the stuff about why I haven't blogged for so long. Let's just say too much real life and too much farmville! I've barely quilted or stitched for all these months. I have worked a lot of hours at the group home, and because that really hasn't been working out great for my family, I've recently switched from a regularly scheduled position at the group home to a per diem subbing position! YAY.

My daughter started high school last week, and that is a HUGE change of pace for her and for the rest of us as well. After years of homeschooling, we are definitely not used to the rigid school calendar and waking up at 6am! So far she is doing well and quite happy. My son is still being homeschooled this year.

As to the crafty stuff, I haven't done all that much. I am working on another Downey Quilt for Quilts for Kids. It just needs a binding and then I can mail it off to them. This is the second one of them I have done. Downey Fabric Softener Company will send you ALL the fabric for a lap size quilt in a four patch pattern if you agree to make the quilt and send it back to them. They also ask that you send at least one additional quilt along with it. I did one back around March/April and am ready to send this one hopefully next week.

I've done some stitching. I finally finished a set of teddy bear blocks that I've been working on sporadically for about 5 years. I've done several parts of other projects, but no real finishes.

This weekend I need to go into my UFO pile and find a largish top to quilt and bind quickly for a childhood friend who is in a very low spot in her life right now. I need to get her a quilt FAST. When I talked to her on Facebook the other day I asked if there is anything I can do to help her, and she asked me if I could find her a stuffed animal or a doll so she had someone to hug at night. It nearly broke my heart, and all I could think was that she needs a quilt. So I need to work on that immediately.

I'm sorry that this post is pictureless. I am on a different laptop that has no memory card slot and I can't get pictures onto it without hubby's help. And as usual, he is working himself to death and doesn't have time. I am hoping to figure it out soon. I'm trying to figure out if I can get pictures here another way out of my phone (I need to experiment, but I think I can email the picture to myself from my phone and then upload it, but I"m not positive).

To get myself back in the blogging and crafting groove, I've signed up for two swaps. First I signed up for Donna's Christmas Swap and a 3-2-1 Totebag Swap hosted by Paula. I've got a few ideas for each brewing in my head and should be going with it soon.

I promise I'll post regularly now!

Happy Sewing!

SSCS Swap

My package from my Secret Santa in Chookyblue's swap is sitting under my tree. I received my gift from Miriam in Australia. My gorgeous ornaments are on my tree
Miriam also included this beautiful cross stitched card
My other gifts are under the tree, waiting for Christmas morning. I hope I can wait that long...its sooo tempting to open them early! Thank you Miriam!!
I sent to Valerie. I hope she likes what I sent to her as much as I liked it! I think I'm going to need to make one of what I made her for myself!