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.

Machine quilting in progress

All I have accomplished this week is get my Good Fortune quilt pin basted. 

I worked on pinning it Tuesday but it had some problems. So I took out the pins and took it 

to church where I could spread it out on three long tables. 

Much better the second time.

Little dress finished

The photos came up in reverse order, so here is the back of the green and white sailor dress.

This was the last dress I made for the birthday girl.

Here is the dress with the reversible moppet hat.

I liked this pattern except for the tiny sleeves.

These are all the patterns I used with the matching outfits.

The pattern on the left only takes half a yard of two different fabrics!

I put in the zipper of the pink bicycle dress twice. 

In the future I will use buttons for little dresses even if I have to alter the pattern.

And which dress did she want to wear first? The PINK one of course.

She had a fun garden party at the Memphis Botanical Gardens with all her little friends. 

Next up, finishing the Good Fortune quilt and secret sewing.

What's new with you?

Birthday sewing

Heavy photo overload today.

I have finished two dresses, a hat, and a princess castle play set for the birthday girl.

I have one more dress cut out and should be able to finish it this week end.

First, look at the cute buttons. These are recycled from a dress.

I only bought a half yard of the mouse fabric and it was just enough.

The lining is cute print of little houses, sooo I'm calling this 'Mouse House' dress.

I think it can be worn as a summer dress or a top with leggings and knit shirt.

Next, a reversible hat that matches the bicycle dress. 

Little girl picked the fabric and the dress pattern.

I bought some sweet lace for the ruffle.

And here is the princess castle play set.

I bought the panel to make this when little girl was a baby.

The longer I waited to make it, the more I was afraid to construct it.

The photos are in scrambled order. 

Inside the castle there is a bed for the princess and a wardrobe for her clothes.

The princess and her clothes are backed with flannel.

There is a many step process to finish these items.

Below you can see some untrimmed gowns and hat.

Here is the princess, her friend the frog and her gowns next to the play set.

She has quite a selection of things to wear.

Here she is tucked into bed with her frog prince!

Showing the flannel on the back of a hat.

I used this flannel as lining in a jacket I made little girl.

Wonder if she will recognize it?

Another view.

Here is the front of the castle.

Another

The back

I signed this side in permanent ink with the date to document who made it and when.

This was a fun break from quilting.

What are you working on?