Monday, December 29, 2014

Dreaded Applique is done!

After much delay I have finished the appliqué for the yellow and blue quilt. I still have to trim the thread tails and cut the squares into triangles. I am considering drawing faces on the children with permanent marker. I know there will not be embroidered faces.  


I decided to just straight stitch around the fabric. I had to pick out the zigzag stitches from one of the boys because it looked terrible. I just don't have the patience to zigzag around this many curves.


The original design was flowers, leaves, berries, and vines. There was no way I was going to do that much appliqué. I thought the children were a better fit for me since I have spent so much time with children. Tomorrow I hope to get the borders and all the sections sewn together and maybe get it basted and ready to quilt on my sewing machine. This one is going on my bed when it is finished. The last of my unfinished quilts.

Monday, December 22, 2014

2014 in Review

In random order, here are some sewing projects and travel photos from 2014.


Memory squares made at MRA Leadership in July were made into this quilt I call "Woven Words".


This cutie turned 2 in May. He loves the movie Cars and had a visit from neighborhood firemen and the fire truck at his birthday party.
 

I started the year with some quilt finishes. The giant log cabin was for a nephew.


My first Saturday sampler was finished after about 10 years. 
This is half of it. The other half was donated to a raffle at school.



I took a class in July on accidental landscapes. 


Most of the family came together for Thanksgiving at mom's house. At 89 mom was happy to have all of us bring the food while she enjoyed visiting with grandkids. Kim surprised us with her announcement that she has been accepted to Ole Miss. A sad day for all of us Mississippi State grads. ;-)


In June we toured Rome and Florence. This was one of our favorite places outside of Rome.
I bought fabric in Rome and have made 2 scarves from some of the fabric.


TESOL was in Portland, Oregon in March. We took a memorable food tour in the pouring rain.
We rode the bus to a neat fabric shop where I bought several bits and pieces that have made their way into small projects like zipper bags and cozies.


Zipper bags appeared several times this year. A fun, quick sewing project.

This year I made 3 qwillows, 3 pillowcases, lots of coffee cozies, and cell phone covers.


Most fun was making a Mrs. Claus outfit and reading Christmas stories to kids at church and school. 
I am waiting for a quilt to be returned from the long arm quilter and I hope to finish one WIP over the break.  2014-a great year!

Friday, December 19, 2014

Mrs. Claus visits my school with small gifts



Mrs. Claus met these Christmas trees in the hall as she went around reading stories to the good (and bad) little boys and girls. The kids wore their pajamas for a fun half day of school before Christmas break. They loved my costume. Some of my students didn't recognize me. So funny!


I made these cell phone covers in about 2 hours yesterday. I got the idea to leave out one side seam and that made them lots quicker to cut out and sew. After school today I bought more bargain buttons and elastic hair bands. All ready to make more coffee cozies and phone covers.


Still avoiding applique!
Linking up with Crazymomquilts.


Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Small Finishes

Not much sewing time lately. Last weekend was busy with choir programs and outings with children from church. 

About a week ago I saw the cutest phone cover online and managed to find time to cut out and stitch up some. Especially useful since I finally bought a new phone.

The coffee cozy is made from one slice from a batik layer cake. 

The pieced phone covers make use of very small bits of fabric-one and a half inch pieces.


The fronts of the phone covers with button closing above.

The backs are below.

The batik phone cover uses two slices of layer cake fabric. It is very quick to make even adding free motion quilting.


The best find of the week? The buttons. I went to the big fabric store looking for buttons. Found some Art Deco style that I really liked marked down to $2 for two. Had to have them even at a dollar per button. Surprise! They were only 40 cents for two. What a great deal. I had to go back and get more at that price. Look for more coffee cozies and phone covers so I can use my bargain buttons.