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.

Christmas Pillowcases

This is for my youngest, it matches his Turtle Quilt I hand quilted.  This pillowcase would not have been possible if my friend Laurie had not given me the extra fabric that I needed when she found it.

My oldest son loves games and collects dice. I have had this fabric for years, but could never find just the right coordinating fabric.  Finally found some black on black that works.

Mina and Stan's pillowcases to match the quilt I gave them last year.

This pillowcase is not a set because I just used up fabric I had left from Loni's cat quilt.

Some of my Christmas Table Toppers in Use

Christmas Gifts Being Made

Small Christmas Topper