New Patterns

After making the two wall hangings, I decided to pick up a few new patterns to try out. The Ginger Snaps ones I purchased from JenKari Arts on Facebook.  She gives her Facebook friends a discount otherwise you can pick them up at a quilt store.  The two others I purchased online. I saw on someone else's blog that they were making 15 pairs of those slippers! I thought they were cute and grabbed the pattern. I'm sure I won't be making any for Christmas but I will give it a try next year. Need to buy some foam and non slip material first.  I keep collecting toothbrush rug patterns because eventually I will make one! I love the look of braided rugs and this method cuts out the part where you have to sew all the braids together. I can never seem to get mine the right tension and then they fall apart in the wash :(

OK, now I have to get off the computer and actually accomplish some sewing. I think I will start with the stockings I need to make.

First wallhangings

I never thought I would be one of those quilters who made wall hangings. I admit to not really being into the whole decorating thing unless it is for holidays. Then I won this little kit and it all changed lol.

This kit came with everything needed to make the wall hanging including the hand dyed buttons and the pumpkin hanger. I love the fall leaves on the back.

I did all the stitching by hand and used it as the quilting also. I only quilted through the front and the batting though because I didn't want all those threads showing on the back.

 

I like how the grapes are a bunch of buttons.

Then I went to JoAnn's and they had this kit on sale. I needed something for a swap and thought this would be perfect.  The directions had me confused but since it is only log cabins I just winged it as usual.

I love the blues they had for this kit. Once again I did the quilting just through the batting and the front. I did some free motion quilting in the flower and stem. If this ends up being washed the edges of the flowers and leaves will fray but I think that will add to the dimension. I used a dark blue sheet for the back. The kit had white muslim but my blocks came out larger than theirs which made the backing material too small. That's OK since I didn't really like it anyways. I've never used muslim before and I don't think I really care for it in quilts.

Both of these have hanging sleeves on the back. It was the first time I have made sleeves before. Not too hard I guess.

Have you tried something new today?

Beautiful weather for a Picnic

I finished the last few inches of the binding this morning. Finished just in time once again. I added an extra black border after the brights. I wanted it a bit bigger plus I think the black helps "end" the quilt. Without it the quilt just didn't look finished.

Once again there is a slight breeze blowing when I went outside to take the picture. Never fails. It is beautiful outside though. A nice day for a picnic. Too bad there is school and work.

This is the first time I tried this kind of piecing on the back. I had a bunch of left over pieces of the brights from piecing the border on the front and decided to add it to the back like other bloggers have done.  I like it and it wasn't very hard to do either. It gives the back a nice touch I think. Sure is hard to get a good pic of it though.

Here is an inside picture. This looks a bit better. I did some wandering quilting in the larger black areas only.

This quilt was a fun one to work on. I didn't learn any new techniques this month but I did learn patience and perseverance. I also learned the value of a good seam ripper lol.

Advent Calendars

These Winnie the Pooh advent calendars are from panels. I made 2 more this year so that all 4 of our Connecticut grandkids have matching advent calendars. My stepdaughter is a Pooh fanatic and also likes all the kids to get exactly the same thing. All matchy matchy like. It took me awhile to find 2 more panels on ebay. I'm glad I started looking early or I might have been in trouble.  They received these in the mail before Thanksgiving so they are all set for December 1st.

I didn't finish everything from my vacation to do list, but I did get the important stuff done.  I'm OK with that. The rest will get done when it gets done.