Moira: Progress being made

Finished the front to the T-shirt quilt this morning.  Am thankful to have this much finished on the quilt.  Next up is finding the yellow headed quilt pins that I need to take and pin it together with so I can get the quilting started.  

Still aiming to have it all finished by the middle of March...hopefully I'll be able to hold to that schedule with all that is coming up at school, medical issues and the new PT job that I've got.

Next up are the four pillows that I need to get done for the same customer and more scrub tops for my very patient, long-time customer.  Need to get at leas 6 more done before I ship a batch to her and want them done before the middle of March as well if I can manage it.

 And for a change of pace - I bordered a couple of orphan blocks with black to bring them up to 9.5" square.   These will be mug rugs and I'm debating on whether to leave them as is, or to add on a section to one side on each of them to make them rectangular.   The original blocks were from patterns published by the now defunct Foundation Piecer and had been two of 12 stained glass patterns.   I used hand-dyed fabrics in them and love how they turned out......but they were a pain to make and very tedious.   And taking out the tissue paper I used as a foundation was a real pain.     These will most likely be put up for sale when finished or may end up as gifts, time will tell.

And finally, when I woke up at 3:30 am on Monday I started a new quilt and got half of it together this morning. There are three more rows each of the novelty prints and the sashing.   Will finish most likely with a double border of white on the inside and some other color on the outside (not sure what yet).   The sashing is made from the leftover strips sets from the t-shirt quilt with solid cornerstones.  The prints are from some novelty prints that I'd cut up yrs ago to set in swatch sets.   Am thinking I'll write this one up as a pattern.  

Moira - Mug Rugs, T-Shirts, and Travels

Finished off three more mug rugs / snack mats over the weekend to use as Christmas gifts.    All gifts are now made.   Just a couple of gift cards to buy once I get to Phoenix this week and I'm done with with getting gifts together.   Woohoo......   Will just need to shop for gift bags and tissue once I'm there so I can package things up for giving.








Two of the mug rugs started with sections of pre-printed panels made by Block Party Studios that I've had for years.  Had the best of intentions to use them when I bought them, but just now finally getting around to actually doing something with at least part of them.

Scraps were used to set the panel in the green snack mat into the left side log cabin block.  Everything else in the mats were orphan blocks.    Nope, I'm not seeing much of a dent in my orphans yet.....lol.   But at least a few of them are being used up.



















The one with the hearts was an orphan block that someone sent me.  I had to finish the stitching around two of the hearts.   Loved the colors and like how it turned out in this.






Boxes of t-shirts arrived this past week as well.  Twas fun carrying the biggest box of shirts over the icy parking lots and up the stairs into my apt.  At least I'll have a box big enough to ship the quilt home in.  =)  This will be the first big project I start on when I get home from my Christmas travels.


Shirts are all for the Phily Flyers hockey team - I'm gonna be seeing bright orange and black in my sleep.....lol.   Also on the books to go with the quilt are a possible 5-6 pillows out of the extra shirts that he sent with the 70 for the double-sided quilt.
Lots of fun coming up for me.











One more project that needs to be completed the first of the year is making a new quilted cover for one of the pillows that I use on my bed.  The pillow inside was made by my maternal grandmother many years ago.   She used scraps of the old poly-double knit from clothes that she made for herself to make it and stuffed it with shredded foam.   I use the pillow to help get the elevation that I need when sleeping, but that dratted double knit is rough to sleep on.   It'll last forever and a day though...lol.  

The cover I made for it way back when I was in high school though is another story.   I used what was available at the time which was poly-cotton.   And guess I can't complain too much about how well it lasted because it had to be close to 40 yrs ago when I made it.    However it is now totally falling apart and needs to be replaced by a new cover.

Haven't decided what kind of pattern i'm going to make for it at this point.   Had thought about using orphan blocks, but don't have anything in there that strikes my fancy.   Might go digging thru the tote with the sets of quilt blocks to see what i've got in there that I could use for it.   Or may design something totally new for it.   It's not like I don't have any fabric that could be used for it....lol.

This will be my last post for the year because I'm headed out for warmer climates this week as i travel for Christmas to Phoenix to see my parents and friends.     See you all after the first of the year!

Running late today.....

Been an interesting week+ now.....lots going on with school and the two jobs.   But what really through a unexpected hiccup into everything was me ending up in the hospital for almost 2 days thanks to a flair up of my clotting disorder.   I will say though that now that I'm out I'm feeling better than I have in the past 6 plus months.   So i'm a happy camper just not looking forward to the bills coming in.

I did manage to get a three tops finished or almost finished this past week.   The London top is now waiting for a border.  Need it to tell me what it wants on that.

The other two tops started with orphan blocks and will be donated to Sunshine Quilts.   Quilts through Sunshine get donated to kids around the world.

The center block of the blue quilt was one that had been given to me and was a funky size, and a funky blue for that matter.   Turning it on point was the only thing that I could think to in order to use it because matching the blue was a pain.

The border and focus fabric in the alternate blocks of the last quilt were leftovers from some of the many scrubs that I've made the last several year.

Two projects coming up next - a quilt top for American Hero quilts.   And I need to get to work drafting a pattern for a pair of felted wool slippers that I need to get made for a late Christmas present.  I know what I want to do, but now to actually put my mind to it and make the pattern.   Will make one for me first and then the real pattern for my friends husband.

Moira - Progress on several projects made

Lots of progress on multiple projects this week thanks to snow days and multitasking during the DE training classes (what can I say, I never was one who could sit still and just listen to anything....).

First up was making more blocks on my London tea towel quilt and starting to sew already made ones together.  I added in three blocks total, two made with wonderful London themed fabric scraps that a blog reader in London sent me.   These were with the Guards that stand outside the palace.   And I made a double decker bus for the third block.   The 'sign' on the side of it was from another bit of the London fabric I was given.

I've still got a block or two to add in yet but am pondering how I want to make them.   One for sure that I'll is the Red London phone call box.....I've got a redwork pattern for one, but I'm thinking I'll draw one up for applique instead.  There will be other fill in type blocks as well with more of my colored fabrics that I bought in London to add bits of color in the quilt because it seems like there is just too much of the background tones, especially in the center of the quilt.

Next up to be worked on this week was a tablerunner made from an orphan block someone had passed on to me several years ago.   A gal I've met through one of my best friends loves all of the tablerunners that I've given my friend.   And my friend had asked if I would consider making her one.    I found this topiary block while looking for something else in my orphan blocks and thought it would make a cute tablerunner if length was added to it.   Tried adding green to it, but the green used in the topiary itself is a really different grey-green.  Finally ended up adding the separate block at the top with the border between because I couldn't find a background fabric that looked right up next to the block.   But with the border there this one was good,  Birds were added to tie everything together.  

I'll quilt this one on my Kenmore and will just do stitch in the ditch for it.

The final project that I made progress on is a little wallhanging made from a CQ orphan block I was given several yrs ago.  I've bordered it and have done a bit of machine quilting around the border to hold it all down.   And then some hand quilting to tack the block itself down.   Not real happy with how poofy a couple of the patches are, so I'll do a bit more hand quilting in them to help tack them down a bit more.  Binding will be a mottled print that I've used for the backing that combines the darker 2-3 pinks in the block.     Also need to add in a hanging sleeve.

I've called this one "A Garden for Iris".   It will be donated to an art auction that is being held in March to raise funds for research into the metabolic disease that the grand-daughter of a good quilting friend is fighting.  My hope is to get this in the mail next week sometime because the auction is in March.

Tomorrow I head off to the ENT to see what is the next step for the treatment of the sinus infection.....then come home for class at night.....such fun....

Moira - Ugh............

.........So in spite of myself and planning on being on time with my post, I didn't make it.     I don't often get sick, but when I do I make a "good" job of it.   The last 3 weeks has been spent dealing with one thing after another and I'm still trying to fight off a very nasty case of bronchitis.  =P    thankfully I'm starting to feel better.  Not sure I could have gotten much worse than what I was a few days ago when I ended up in urgent care.

Thankfully I am starting to feel better and even starting to be able to get some sleep at night.   Have been able to get some brainless sewing done.   For several years I've had stuff prepped to make tote bags and and baby bibs, but they ended up being set aside and not finished up.    Last weekend I dug some of them out and finished up 5 tote bags, a hanging kitchen towel and a few baby bibs.   Tonite I finished up one more tote and another baby bib.   Both of the last two items used an orphan block so that makes it even better.  =)   Bibs started with wash clothes that I added ties and/or decorations of some sort to.

Bibs are a baby shower gift for a co-worker at the store where I work part-time.   Haven't decided if the totes will be listed for sale or given as gifts.

Moira - Not much stitching going on

I'm down to 4 weeks of school left, and only 3 of that is "usable" because of dead days and other things going on.   So life is crazy with all that I've got going on at the moment.   Not a lot of sewing happening as a result.  

All I managed to get done this week was a couple of pincushions made from orphan blocks.   But I guess that is better than nothing !   At least one of these babies will be heading off to a new home as a result of a giveaway I'm hosting on my blog (I'd posted a question asking about types of projects that people preferred here............).