Last post for 2019

This will be my last post for 2019. The week end will be busy with our church choir program and party. I will check on mom tomorrow and take her to a doctor's appointment Monday.

Then we will drive to Memphis for Christmas with Ava and her parents.

Which brings me to this bit of sewing.

First, I didn't make the baby doll outfit below.

I bought it for Ava's baby doll hoping I could figure out the size for her clothes since I don't have the doll.

I heard that Ava wants diapers for her babies. It's too cold for a baby to wear only a diaper, so I made a shirt to go with the diaper. The velcro fasteners haven't been sewn on yet.

These were made from scraps left over from flannel blankets I have made over the years.

I made my own pattern for the items above but I found a free pattern online for the baby bunting below. It was for a larger doll but I was able to resize the pattern to fit her 12 inch doll.

Here is the set for one baby doll.

Ava's favorite color is pink.

Here is the pink set.

The fabric used for this bunting was left over from a jacket I made Ava.

I wonder if she will notice that it is the same.

Here is the pink set.

We will fly to NYC to see Liam and David after Christmas and stay through New Year's Day.

When we get back I am scheduled for surgery after being diagnosed with cancer.

If you are reading this before January 7, 2020, please pray for me, my husband, and the medical team.

Looking forward to more sewing in 2020.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Ava's Grinch Dress

When you ask a three year old "what kind of dress do you want for Christmas?", be ready for anything. Ava wanted a pink Grinch dress but Grinch fabric isn't made in pink. Her mom found a Grinch print and paired it with a dark red polka dot.

Changes were made to the McCalls pattern - straight sleeves instead of puff sleeves.

That involved redrawing the armhole to use a sleeve from another pattern.

The dress is lined top and skirt. To save time I top-stitched the bodice lining instead of hand stitching.

The original dress called for a zipper and even though I have about 20 zippers, none worked with the print. I changed the pattern again from zipper to button placket. I thought the lime green buttons accented the Grinch.

I used thicker thread to make a guide for the sash.

Back view with sash. Buttons are even in this photo.

Sending off to Miss Ava today. Can't wait to see how it looks on her.

Merry Grinchmas!

What really happened was...

Well, in my last post I had lots of projects that I predicted would be next up on my sewing agenda.

But my head cold got worse and I didn't feel like doing anything.

This is what really happened since my last post.

I cut out all the pieces to the felt mitten Christmas ornaments, so I would be ready to go with some hand sewing at the next Allison Wells quilt group. 

I had forgotten about a hair appointment and couldn't go to quilt group last Tuesday.

I started sewing these while I watched TV.

Three out of six are finished.

Christmas tree with wonky star

Red nosed reindeer

Little red car with a Christmas tree

 These three have the cuffs attached. I hope to finish them as I watch TV next week. 
Then I will have to decide who gets each one as we will not put up a tree this year.
Have a great week!

Predicting some finishes

Last week at Jackson Quilters I was given a little stack of mini charm squares and a pattern.

It was so easy that I made it in a couple of days.

The plan is to practice hand quilting on it.

The finished size will be about 12" X 12".

Previously I thought about hand quilting Scrap Dance Minuet but then changed my mind.

I have to add the borders and that will make it a lap size quilt.

I bought cream minky dots for the back because most folks like snuggly lap quilts.

I will machine quilt it.

There was a trunk show at Southern Needle yarn shop and I could not resist buying this variegated yarn. I took the free pattern for a small scarf. Now I have to practice knitting.

Not sure if I have shared these finished projects here.

Sorry if they are repeats.

Reversible 'I Love Paris' apron for a silent auction in a couple of weeks.

Green side-

Other side-

Quick tulle skirt for little miss. And she helped!

Sassy little Christmas apron for the silent auction.

That's all for now. Have a great week!

Three fat quarter challenge sewing

Yesterday we finally gave our secret sewing to our quilty friends at Jackson Quilters. Our president gave us a challenge to bring 3 fat quarters in a paper bag and trade with another member. We had several months to work on our secret sewing and bring the results to give back to the original quilter.

The bag I was given had 3 yellow fat quarters. I made 6 small items with the fabric and added some of my fabric to the mix. I forgot to take photos of the finished items.

The yellow fabric below was the starting point. I added the small rose bud print and the purple to make a half square triangle mini quilt.

The idea for this diamond cathedral pincushion came from

one of my favorite blogs: arabesque-scissors.com from a post on July 16, 2019.

Find it here.

I added the reds above to make a pincushion.

Spinning seams below.

I used the yellow on the back.

Pincushion was filled with crushed walnut shells.

The items that follow are examples of the things I made but not the actual ones.

Imagine them with yellow fabric.

A great needlebook tutorial can be found at nanacompany.typepad.com and was posted October 25, 2011. Find it here. I don't know if it is the first one I saw and copied but it is very good. I didn't hand stitch my version but used the general dimensions and materials.

The quilted sunglasses case directions are found at frommycarolinahome.com blog and the post was September 18, 2017. Find it here. I made these for my students at the end of the year. I keep ear buds and connection wires for my phone and tablet in my case.

The best mini tissue instructions are found on funwithbarbandmary.blogspot.com, kleenex cover. Find it here.

I can't find the date but Barb's directions are very close to what I do when I make this item.

Turning Triangles Mini Quilt idea came from weallsew.com blog from August 1, 2018.

Find it here. 

My wide open pouch is based on a post on noodle-head.com from June 25, 2012. 

Find it here. 

I use the directions but change the outside fabric and on the one above I added a strap.

Well, I hope that helps anyone who is interested in making small items from 3 fat quarters.

NYC Shop Hop

Just returned from visiting our grandsons in NYC.

I didn’t do any sewing but did arrange to visit a couple of fabric shops.

 I found this advent calendar at Gotham Quilts. I have made 2 different advent calendars and gave them away. This one I will keep for my house.

Also at Gotham Quilts I bought a Jen Kingwell kit with directions and fabric to make Small World.

I look forward to learning some new things as I work on it. Gotham Quilts has NYC fabric, too.

Fat quarters of 4 New York and/or sewing themed fabrics came home with me.

I found the Virginia Finley Wolfe shop on the 8th floor of a very nice building.

The shop is very small and only open a few hours a day. The clerk was friendly.

I bought one of VFW's books, some solid fat quarters, and three half yards of some of her fabric.

I have chosen one of the small quilts in the book and think the fabric will be just right.

Lots of partial seams in her blocks. I'm pretty good with partial seams and look forward to trying some new block designs.

That's about it for my NYC shop hop.

Scrap Dance Minuet Mystery

Some months ago I downloaded the Scrap Dance Minuet Mystery quilt from My Carolina Home.

I planned to make the lap size quilt after I finished Good Fortune.

I have cut fabric and sewn the basic blocks and now I'm ready to finish the blocks.

I used a light green instead of white for the background fabric.

The centers will be one of these five fabrics.

One block is the easy one above with no triangles.

The other block has 8 flying geese. I made the flying geese according to the directions but they all have to be trimmed to the correct size. I'll do them later. Only 48 to trim for the lap quilt.

Can you guess what the tulle and elastic ribbon is for?

I hope to finish a dress-up tutu for Miss A in the next few weeks.

It is almost a no-sew project.

  

Before I share this to the Peacock Party I have to add my favorite flower that is just now blooming, Spider lily. They are about two weeks late blooming this year. I love the way they pop up in unexpected places.

Have a good week!

Janice

Quilting, sewing, knitting mixed

This week was filled with a mix of needle work.

I worked on secret sewing for our president's challenge.

The little cathedral diamond below was fun to make.

More photos after the challenge is delivered.

I started the hand quilting on Good Fortune.

There are 60+ blocks to hand quilt.

I finished 12 this week.

Looking for more green and yellow thread because I'm sure I will run out before I finish.

I learned how to knit in a different way that fits my left-hand brain better.

Now I am inspired to knit more.

I can knit continental style and purl Norwegian style.

I bought a package of mixed wool fabrics for future wool applique, too.

Hope you have a great week end!

Small finish & partial finish

Last week I got new sunglasses, so I had to make a sleeve to keep them safe when I'm not wearing them. I used flannel inside and some cute multilingual greetings outside.

I found a pattern of sorts online but just used the basic dimensions and did my own thing.

Quick finish.

Now to the partial finish.

I have been working on machine quilting Good Fortune.

Two sides were a little short on batting and two sides had too much.

I machine basted the outside border to hold the batting in place.

Then I pinned in some pieces to fill in the missing batting and basted it in place.

Below is the basic quilting I did in the ditch around the blocks and borders.

I changed the top thread to a variegated blue to quilt the final border.

I needed to hold the batting in place so I quilted two straight lines an inch apart. The blue tape is helping me keep the stitching at the right place.

The blue thread matches better than the cream in the final border. (My Opinion)

I had just enough of one of the cream fabrics to make all of the binding. To keep it straight while I sewed it on, I wound it around a plastic tumbler. 

The white corner triangle will be my label when I finish.

And here it is with the binding finished. The binding and the next-to-last border is the same fabric.

The label is ready. You can see the quilting here.

I plan to hand quilt the centers of the blocks.

I think the yellow on the red-orange blocks.

My idea is to sew a yellow circle or swirl in the center that will look like the center of a flower.

  

I plan to hand quilt one of these greens on the blue-green blocks.

Again, the plan is to quilt with green thread in the cream spaces and make it more leaf-like.

Monday is quilt meeting but I won't share this yet.

Have a great week end.