More Eyeglass Cases

These will be on sale at the bazaar.

Eyeglass Cases

I have been practicing this eyeglass case pattern so I can make some for the church bazaar. 

New skills I have learned with this project, cutting binding on the bias and yoyos.  

This is a great project to practice free motion quilting. 

Church Bazaar Items

I offered to make 10 table runners for the church bazaar in October for the church to sell at its table.  They asked for five fall and five Christmas runners.  I ended up making an extra Christmas table runner because a friend saw one of them and mentioned that it was their favorite so I pulled it out as her Christmas gift.

I still need to sew on the buttons or yoyos or whatever embellishment I decide on, but that won't take long and I still have several weeks before the bazaar.

Shadowbox Quilt

I bought a Shadowbox quilt kit at the Dallas Quilt Show back in 2010.  I finally got around to piecing the top after a miscut that required a fabric substitution.  I had not planned on keeping this quilt for myself, but after someone very dear to my heart laid out the final fabric layout on my design board, this will become one of my all time favorite quilts and will stay with me.

I have purchased the backing, and once the church bazaar is over I hope to be able to sandwich and quilt this project.

Next Project ~ Stonehenge Table Runner

I started hand quilting a new table runner for my foyer today.  It is a Stonehenge panel that Loni bought me when we were in Austin last year.  I plan to outline the design by hand and doing some fill in quilting on the machine.

Stonehenge Panel Table Runner

Fall Table Runner Completed July 8, 2012

I finally finished my fall table runner that I have had in queue since 2009.  I machine pieced it, but it has been completely hand quilted.

I had a lot of fun quilting the two birds on the table runner. 

Quilting the wheat gave me great joy, especially after I figured out a rhythm to the stitching. 

At used dark brown for the first pumpkin stitching, but quickly ripped it out and used black.

DONE! And yeah! it held up in the wash.

It still needs ironing, but since it will be stored until the fall, that can wait.

A close up of the leaves.  I swear it they were reproducing the entire time I was quilting.

Credit/Gift Card Wallets

Someone gave me a fabric credit card holder and I made a couple up based on that design.  I am thinking of making a few up for our church bazaar in October as a donation to the church booth.  Maybe someone would buy them.

This was a birthday gift for a friend so hand quilted the top flap.

I took the picture before I added the Velcro to the pink one.

Fall Table Runner

I am determined to finish this table runner by the end of July. I am hand quilting it and I do believe for every leaf I quilt, five more appear on the fabric.

That was Challenging

I spent this morning helping a friend work on a t-shirt quilt she is making for her son's graduation in May. 

It was an interesting challenge as she does not know how to sew, knows nothing about quilting, and yet dove right in after watching a few tutorials on YouTube.  She is making a king sized quilt and the blocks are not the same size and she is not using sashing to help make the rows even.  She has one t-shirt she wanted to be the focal point and it was not set in correctly.  Her seam sizes are quite varied, and thank goodness for that because I would not have been able to correct the issue with the focal point if she hadn't had extra fabric in the seams.  

 

I helped her rip out a few seams and then we had to lay it out flat while I tried to figure out how we could get the block in without puckers.  With some creative folding I was able to get the block in and then I whipped stitched it in place on top and placed three new seams in for her.  It corrected the issue with the block. I was so glad I was able to find a solution. I think it will be a great looking quilt when she is done, but she will have to spend a great deal of time cutting the excess fabric from the seams.

After getting the focal block in I showed her how to join borders and a few other tips before she headed back to her house.

She just called all excited to say that I showed her more in our time together than she had learned up to now and by using my tips had made great progress this afternoon.  I am so glad I could help her.

When she has the top done, I told her I would help her sandwich and get it ready for quilting.  

I have already given her tips on how to quilt it and have it ready in time for graduation.

It was great being able to help a new quilter.  I think I will be seeing her a lot in the future as she has 7 more quilts to make.  

I think the most valuable thing I taught her was about JoAnn's and the coupons you could use there. 

Learning New Skills

I have been taking embroidery classes at my church on Monday nights.  

I have to say I am not a huge fan of embroidery, but the skills I have learned in these classes have already come in handy for a project I had in queue.

I bought this placemat kit back when my friend bought her new house and they were supposed to be her house warming gift, but you know life gets in the way sometimes, or the universe knew I needed new skills before I tried to make the placemats.  

My original plan was to machine applique the nose and eyes, but I ended up doing the snowman face all by hand embroidery.  

It looks like she will get her housewarming gift before she has been in the house a year, at least that is the new goal.