Christmas Gifts, Baby Gifts, Birthday Gifts

It's been a little while since I've been here, but there is good reason for that.  The biggest news of course is that Eagle1 is coming home for Christmas pretty soon, so the boys and I have been full throttle getting everything decorated just so and planning all of the things we would like to do while he is home.  Of course, there is also Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, school, chores, school concerts and now wrestling.  I'm one tired puppy!  Not so tired that I don't make time for little handmade goodies for my darling nieces in Houston. 

The two oldest are building up their beauty supply arsenal in preparation for the teen years.  Nothing wrong with helping them out a little, right?  Especially when there is a free pattern out there to make this super easy and adorable little cosmetic bag!  Their pattern calls for 1.5" strips, but I had a jelly roll from JoAnn Fabrics with all of these bright colored flowers so I substituted 5-2.5" strips for the 10 the recipe called for.  My youngest helped to pick out the matching buttons for his favorite cousins presents.  :) 

Let's see...I've finished up a couple of other things, too. There was the Americana baby afghan and little bitty matching hat for the family of a soldier under Eagle1's command.  They had a beautiful baby girl right before Thanksgiving.  Sadly, Dad didn't make it home in time for the birth, but he did get to come a few days later for the Thanksgiving holiday. 

Can't forget the new kitchen curtains!  Three valances and a pair of panels to match.  Yes, the Christmas bug bit me early and hard this year.  I love plaid, especially Christmas plaid!  The great thing about these though, is that they go so well with everything we already have in the house during the rest of the year that if I don't feel like taking them down after winter, I don't have to! 

Then, there are the hexi's.  They are fun to mess with but I'm not very good at them.  I do okay up until the part where I have to sew them all together.  I don't care for the look of the thread showing on the front.  Sorry if that sounds snobbish, but I'm just kind of particular that way.  I found a tutorial showing how to sew them together without placing them right sides together and whipstitching the edges but my silly hands cramp up really bad trying to hold them that way.  When that failed, I bought a spool of translucent nylon thread and went back to the old way of piecing them.  This is my first time sewing with "fishing line" and it's kind of a pain in the butt.  It doesn't show through to the front though, so I'll make do with it...for now. 

This set...well, it's for me.  :)  Eagle1 picked out a beautiful new coat for my birthday a few weeks ago.  Before it even arrived at the door,  I had these made!  Tomorrow I get to try them all on.  Today is my last day of being able to officially claim being a "30-something".  It will be a bittersweet day because the one person  I wanted to spend it with is protecting our freedom overseas...again.  There is much more to share, but it can wait for another day.  This week will be a busy one, but if I can sneak off to the sewing room in between "Hey Mom's", you betcha I'll be there. 

Merry Christmas to all and the very best of New Year's wishes.  If you can talk Old Man Winter into sending us some snow for Christmas, please do!   We're running late on the white stuff this year. 



Bite The Bullet

So, today I bit the bullet. 

I listed not just one, but 4 of my handmade items on Etsy.  My stomach is in a knot.  I don't know if I've priced them too high or not high enough.  I don't even know if I've done this right, because two of my items aren't even viewable, whether you search for them by name or just in general.   Maybe the Etsy staff has to review each submission before it's actually posted?  I know that sooner or later I'll be an old hand at all of this and laugh at this blog entry, but right now I can't find the humor. 

Along with the Flutterby Butterfly quilt above, I listed this little Granny Square baby afghan.  With the extra yarn, I made two matching little baby hats. 

I'm running out of space in the sewing room, so I've decided to share some of my goodies.  The yarn stash is the first to go, since technically I'm not supposed to be doing crochet anymore.  (Carpal tunnel=ouch!)  While I was digging and sorting, I found these little dish rags.  I have a closet full of them because these are my "taste testers", to see if I actually like a stitch before I go whole hog into a big project. 

Then there is the super soft pastel baby afghan.  I love pastels!  Hopefully, someone else out there loves them, too!  :)  I'd really love to put a little more money in the piggy bank towards my quilting frame.  Wish me luck and stop by SugarTreeStitching on Etsy if you get a few minutes.  I sure hope my butteflies fly away soon! 

Happy Sewing~Happy Friday!

11 Sept 2011 Update- The Flutterby Butterfly quilt sold yesterday afternoon!  I'm stunned that it sold so quickly and very happy that someone out in the big wide world liked my work enough to buy it.  Thank you to the sweet lady in Tennessee.  I hope you love your new quilt as much as I loved making it! 

Homespun Rag Quilt

The Rag Quilt is done!  My hand is sore from all of the seam snipping because I didn't buy a pair of rag shears, but that's okay.  I've washed it twice to get the ragging effect going but I'm thinking about 3-4 more times might really get it where I would like it to be.  Not today though.  There are clothes and bed linens to wash that take precedence.  Boo! :(   LOL! 

I'm really happy I got this done before Eagle1 comes home on leave.  He still has no idea. hehe  I'm going to make a couple of throw pillows and find a couple of colorful pillow cases to match.  Maybe when we get a little extra money I can buy a few charm packs to make valances or curtains with.  One of these days I hope to have a real log bed frame and some matching dressers, but that's a dream for another day. 

This is Ranger.  She's my Quality Assurance checker for all things quilted.  She does a very good job! 

Now, it's time to clean up all of the strands of fabric from all over the house.  I'm sure when Ranger gets done with her inspection she will help me.  :) 

Happy Quilting to all!

A Little of This and A Little of That

Tonight I reached the halfway point on the homespun rag quilt.  No new pictures to share though, sorry.  :(  It's turning out to be very pretty!  I have to say that even with all of the bright colors, making a rag quilt is just plain boring now that I've learned how to piece more intricate blocks.  I do love the "rustic/home" feel of a rag quilt but the process is just blah.  I'm really dreading all of the seam snipping time I have yet to put into this one. 

We spent a couple of hours at the fairground park today and I was able to piece together several more blocks for the charm quilt.  I'm loving that quilt more and more with each stitch.  It's just so random sewing all of the colors together without concern for anything other than the blocks lining up straight.  I'm really have a great time with it!

The advent calendars for the boys are coming along slowly, too.  I work on the pockets for those while we are at swim practice during the week.  Wednesday I finished another set of pockets and picked up the December embroidery towel just for something different.  Sometimes I wish I could stay focused on just one project but then again, I'm the type of person who, if I get bored with something, I have to re-direct my attention to regain my motivation or else I'll get sloppy and do a poor job just to be done with it.  It's good to know your limitations.  :) 

The results of the County Fair quilt judging are in and...I didn't stand a chance!  Honestly, there are some seriously talented folks in Lewis County!  Granted, I'm up against not only the Amish and Mennonite ladies, but also the native Northern New York women who have been handed down the art of quilting from so many generations that even they have lost count.  I am a little upset that they didn't make more of an effort to display some of the smaller quilts better (most were merely folded in half and draped over a dowel).  Most quilts, mine included, have the fancy needlework more towards the center of the quilt, not along the edges.  When they are folded in half and "hung to dry", only a quarter of the quilt is on display, which seems pointless to me.  All in all, it was an interesting experience but I don't know if I will submit another quilt for judging at the next fair.  Maybe when I have more experience...

Happy Stitching to all!

Hand Piecing the Charm Quilt-Week 1

The charm quilt has been slow going but I have made a little progress this past week. I still have a bit more embroidery to do on some of the blocks but I think I'll tackle those as I come across them so that I can take a mini break from hand piecing all of those little squares. The blocks in each row are sewn together in this picture but the rows are not, so they won't necessarily be in this order when it's all said and done.

Part of the reason for not making much progress is this little thingamabob.   This is the nameplate for the Minky Monster.  It's made out of minky, too.  Now that we aren't hitting 99 degrees with 85% humidity anymore I'll have to drag this behemoth out of its cave and finish it up. 

Now for the surprise stuff.  A few posts ago I made mention of the homespun fabric I used to make the needle case.  Well, what I didn't say was what I was doing with the rest of the homespun.  :)  This is my first experience with this type of material but I am truly in love with everything about it.  I bought these from Jubilee Homespun about 3 months ago and I'm so happy I did.  Their fabrics are fabulous! 

Rag quilts aren't my favorite type of quilt by far, but when I saw what they did with these fabrics it inspired me, you know, the little butterflies of happiness that float around when you find something you love love love! 

I added several blocks of denim from my boys' old jeans to the mix and even appliqued butterflies, flowers and hearts to some of them.  There is a hand embroidered name block for each person in our family, as well. 

The blocks are 7" square, so finished they will measure out to 6" as each seam allowance is 1/2" for the ragging.  The rows count out to 17 w X 15 l which will be the perfect size for our king size bed.  So far, I've sewn four rows together and it looks fantastic!  The best part about all of this is my husband has no idea I'm making it so it will be a complete surprise to him when he comes home for mid-tour leave in the fall!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll have enough left over to make a couple of throw pillows with the leftovers but if not, I will just buy a little more.  Yes, it is really that good! 

This one is so big that I couldn't find floor space in the house to lay out the blocks so I had to wrestle with the wind and design it in the backyard.  Thankfully, I just mowed not too long ago! 

Overall, it's been a busy week or two, especially since my oldest was away at summer camp.   We're back to normal now, or as normal as we can be with Daddy being away. 

Happy stitching to all!

Stone Soup Charm Quilt

Back on 27 February 2011, I created a Facebook page called "The Stone Soup Charm Quilt Project" and invited a handful of my friends and family to help me create a unique quilt using more than 1,700 different pieces of fabric.   On the 9th of March I mailed out packets containing registry cards, instructions and ziploc bags.  The idea was to have each person send back a 3" x 3" or larger piece of fabric along with the pre-printed card containing their name, birthdate, hometown and current city/state of residence.  As this is basically a "Friendship" quilt, I thought it would be interesting and fun to include a little information about who helped to create the quilt to whomever winds up with it later on. 

The group grew to a whole whopping 18 members, 10 of whom sent back the packets with their registry cards.  Quite honestly, I am a bit disappointed that I couldn't encourage more of my friends and family to participate, especially since this quilt feels more and more like a lifetime achievement project than anything and I really wanted them to be a part of it.  I've never been much of a salesman, so maybe I should have tried harder.  (I don't like to be pushy.) 

So now, here it is, 9 July 2011 and I have officially completed collecting all 1,757 pieces I need to begin hand piecing this quilt together.  The design is my own, simple but hopefully unique.  I spent 9 hours today sorting and checking to make sure that there are not any matching pieces.  (A true charm quilt doesn't have any two pieces of the same print or color or in some cases, only one set that matches, which turns the quilt into a hide and seek game.)  I decided to cut two matching pieces from one of my old maternity night gowns to use as the one and only matching set.  The nightgown is the one item of clothing I own that I used through both of my pregnanies and the many months of nursing with my two boys.
 

My husband has mailed a piece of his Army uniform, a multi-cam print from Afghanistan, to be the centerpiece of the quilt.   His unit patches, along with those of my active duty and prior service friends, will be sewn to the back of the quilt above or below their names.  The name of each person who sent in a piece of fabric for the quilt top will also be embroidered into the quilt backing.  I'm not sure yet what I will use for the backing and binding, but sometimes you just have to get the feel of something before you can decide how best to finish it.  Right now, I'm kind of leaning towards a red binding in 30's reproduction, but time will tell.  The backing will have be light colored with a small scale almost neutral print so as not to distract from the names and patches that will be sewn to it.  I've decided not to buy anything at all for the backing until I come across something I'm head over heels in love with.  Yeah, that will take a while to find!  

I have a ton of scraps from all of these little pieces, two full buckets to be exact!  Maybe a postage stamp quilt and yet another scrap quilt or two are in my future.  :)  



Un-quilting the Minky Monster

Nine days of hand quilting can be undone in less than an hour.  Did you know that?  No?  Neither did I, until yesterday.  My brilliant idea of hand quilting the ginormous minky monster wasn't such a great one after all.  While researching how to work with minky I read that tying was the best way to secure the layers.  This quilt is so large and heavy though that tying just didn't seem like it would be strong enough, so I decided to quilt it instead.  The center block turned out beautifully!  It took forever but it gave me the motivation to move on to the next block just below it. 

That's where I ran into the trouble.  :(

I'm not sure exactly why, but the more I quilted, the more distorted the block became.  It puckered, it twisted, it bulged.  It was just plain ugly.  I stared at it, pulled at it, wished for it lay flat and pretty, but in the end it was just a lumpy mess.  To be honest, if this quilt was for me, I would have rolled it in a ball and buried it deep in the depths of the UFO black hole.  I can't though.  Not this time.  This one is bought and mostly paid for by someone else, so another day of sunlight it shall see. 

The hardest part of ripping stitches out of minky is simply finding the stitches.  Once you pop one you can gently tug the layers apart and pull the stitches a few at a time.  Then it's hunt and peck for the next stitch using the tail of thread you just yanked loose. 

I wanted to cry, more and more with each unsewn stitch.  So, now I'm just angry that I've lost all of those days of work only to have to tie the damn quilt after all.  That's what I get for not taking the advice of someone more experienced than myself.

A Year In Stitches

Several months ago while shopping in Joann's, I saw the cutest little iron-on transfers for each month of the year.  I'm a sucker for little needlwork projects that I can slide into my handbag as I'm running out the door, so along with a package of flour sack towels, I headed to the checkout lane.  I embroidered the one for May first because it seemed to have the least complicated pattern and I figured, if I'm going to mess up I would rather do it on something small.  It came out very pretty though and I'll have to pull it out of the kitchen drawer later on for it's mugshot. 

Having a bit more confidence, I fixed up the August, October and December towels and into the ziploc baggie they went.  October was kind of bland in my opinion, but then I'm not one who cares for white-on-white for craft projects.  August was fun for all of the bright colors and my new friend Liz suggested using Mint Chocolate Chip for the ice cream.  Very cute idea!  I haven't started December yet, but just a few minutes ago I ordered a few more packages of towels so that I can complete the whole years' worth of stitching.  The great thing about the flour sack towels is that I cut them in half lengthwise and sewed on a new hem for each.  The towels are 33" x 38" out of the package, which is just too big for my needs.  They aren't really expensive at about $7 for two, but if I can conserve/recycle a bit I'm all for it!

Embroidered Needle Case

No matter where I go, you can pretty much bet that I'm going to have some small needle work project packed away in either my handbag or a quilted tote.

I just can't sit still and look at a magazine in a waiting room or people watch, even though there are some pretty interesting characters out and about these days.  I'd rather have busy hands and a creative mind working away than to do anything else.  
A few months ago I emptied out a cinnamon shaker making the boys some toast, so I washed out the shaker thinking it would make a nifty sewing needle case. It worked okay for a while, but I got tired of having to empty out the whole jar just to find the right size needle for the project I was working on. My fingers don't quite work as well as they used to and those little needles can be the devil to get up when you have them scattered all over.

Well, a few nights ago I was reading up on quilting ideas and ran across a cute little sewing needle case someone had made. Very simple to make if you don't have alot of time to invest in it. 

Needing a break from the 300 lb. Minky Monster, (okay, I'm exaggerating...it's only 200!), I spent the late hours of last night and part of this afternoon embroidering a little sugar tree onto a piece of the boys old blue jeans. I hacked a small bit of homespun (shhh! can't talk about the homespun yet...it's a surprise!) off to make the binding and dug through the fabric shelves for some bright pretty yellow, reddish pink and green fabrics to match. The binding gave me a bit of trouble for some reason, maybe because I'm not used to working with homespun, but it did come out okay otherwise.    I drew the tree by hand with a pencil and just embroidered the leaves wherever I thought they would look nice.  The whole thing is just a little lopsided but that's okay, too.  I like it all the same.

Progress on the Minky Monster

So, we've made it to the halfway-pieced, sewing the blocks together part of the quilt making process for the aptly named "Minky Monster". The first vertical row is finished to include borders and the open seams are pinned flat to make life easier when it comes time to make the quilt sandwich. I was able to stitch about half of the second vertical row together today in between, "Hey Mom's!", but that was about it. After tomorrow I should have the rest of the week to really sink my teeth into this one.

I was really hoping to be able to tie this quilt because the Lt. is so anxious and happy to get it that I didn't want to keep him waiting for too long. The more I work with it though, I'm just not convinced that tying is going to be the best method. After I get the sandwich made, this quilt will weigh right at about 25 lbs. Yes, you read that right. 25! No matter what else happens with this quilt, when this one is complete I'm going to have some well toned arms!

Minky Bullseye

A few weeks ago I wrote that one of Eagle1's buddies downrange was drafting his own quilt pattern. He chose a black, red and white color scheme in a bullseye pattern using Minky fabric. Drawing up a scale pattern along with cutting diagram and shopping list took little time at all. Finding a decent price on 17 yards of Minky was a different story.

It's all here though, and in less than a week, too! So, I spent today washing and drying, then trying my hand at the dreaded stretchy, slippery, super soft, oh-so-cuddly mountain on my cutting table. Thankfully, I did a bunch of research before the box of goodies even arrived, and I have to say I'm so very grateful to everyone who posted tips and tricks for working with this stuff. So far, the hardest part is getting all of the nap to flow in the same direction so that it doesn't look sloppy. (We won't talk about the 10 different times I had to vacuum the sewing room because of the "minky snow" left from cutting!) It's coming along though and at a quicker pace than I expected. Even with all of the horror stories I've read, I'll say that I haven't experienced any of them...yet. By far, my favorite thing about Minky, besides the feel of it!, is that with a 1/2" seam allowance you don't have to mess with trying to press seams. They just naturally fall to either side and the only thing you have to worry about is making sure they stay that way when you piece the blocks together so that they stay flat. Quilting without a hot iron. Who'd have thought?

He's DEAD!

Bin Laden is dead! 

A heartfelt salute to all of our military personnel on the ground for a job well done. 

Super Scrappy Quilted Curtains

The old scrap basket, okay I'll be honest, baskets, were overflowing so I got creative. Two hours of sorting later, I had two piles (mountains) separated on the cutting table.

Feeling a hint of spring in the air, I decided to use the lighter colors to make window curtains for the sewing room. I lost some of my motivation after 8 straight hours of piecing these little bits and pieces, so decided to scrap the curtain idea and went with valances instead.

Still tedious, but worth the effort. They really brighten up the sunroom and I'm thinking that some white muslin panels appliqued with matching flowers will complete the sets. Valances first though...  Six more windows to go!

Stop by Sugar Tree Stitching Handmade for weekly updates, recipes and free patterns!

Looks like the Rooster quilt was a hit with the guys in Afghanistan. Big Chief wrote this morning to say that one of his soldiers is interested in having a crib, a toddler and a lap quilt made as gifts for his family here in the states. Do I have to say how I excited I was to hear this? Happy dance! :) Then, just a bit later he tells me that one of the lieutenants in his shop was drawing up a pattern for his own custom quilt that he would like me to make for him!

So now I feel a bit overwhelmed. First, I have never sold one of my quilts...ever. It's not that I don't think they would sell, it's that I don't know what price to put on them. I don't want to charge too much, but at the same time I can't see parting with something that is so much a part of me for a pittance. It's really odd because normally when I make a quilt, I just give it as a gift and the happy thank you I get in return is better than any amount of money. Maybe it's because I know that if I sell a quilt it will be critiqued more closely than one I would give as a gift and I'm afraid of having my feelings hurt. I wonder if anyone else has problems putting a pricetag on their work.

The Great White Rooster

"The Great White Rooster"

This is a two ft. by four ft. hand quilted throw rug made out of my boys old blue jeans and fabric remnants from the charm quilt I'm currently working on. My husband asked for something to place next to his cot in Afghanistan so that he wouldn't have to wake up to the feel of gritty sand on his feet when he gets up every morning. This quilt marked a couple of firsts for me as I've never made a quilt that was meant to be walked on nor have I worked with blue jean material before. Quilting with perle cotton was also a new experience and I found that I quite liked the look of the stitches when I was done. It will be interesting to see what this poor thing looks like after a year in Afghanistan.

Catching Up

It's been a little while since I've written, so here's a quick update of the past few months. This is my friend Heather's quilt, all finished up and ready for mailing.






Now, remember the scrap quilt I mentioned earlier? The one where I thought it would be a neat idea to sew a whole bunch of odds and ends together willy-nilly just to see what would happen? Well, this is what happened. :)





This is Fiesta's block. She was my Blue Heeler (Australian Cattle Dog). We had her for 14 years before she passed away from cancer on 31 December 2009.






Kadi never did come home, but she will always be a part of our family. I miss her and my Fiesta every day.








Jesse is our male Blue Heeler. Even though he is all grown up I believe he will always have the heart of a puppy. Ranger is the newest member of our clan. I found Ranger on the local Humane Society website while checking to see if maybe someone had turned in Kadi. I'll post a real picture of these guys later on.

Bumblebee is our old orphan kitty. She adopted us back in 2003 when we lived in Louisiana. Someone shot her in the head with a BB gun and dropped her alongside the road. To this day, she still has the pellet because it is too risky for the vet to remove it. Petey is our pain in the butt Yorkie dog. Jesse has always been our oldest son's dog and his little brother felt he should have a doggie of his own to make it fair. So along comes Pete in a Craigslist ad and he was just too cute to resist. For such a little dog he sure can be a handful!

While I was researching scrap quilt blocks, I happened across some pictures of old fashioned redwork embroidery. Thinking it would be fun to try something new, I found a coloring book page online of this basket of apples, traced it out on a leftover piece of cream muslin from Heather's quilt backing and started stitching. There are a few mistakes here and there (Shhh!) but overall it came out good enough to be part of the Duncan Family scrap quilt.

The boys like to spend time in the "woman cave" with me on occassion so I take the opportunity to teach them a little something if they stand still long enough. Both of them thought redwork was pretty nifty, so they gave it a try. They each picked something that they really love to embroider. As this was the summer of fishing and the first time Jake had been out on our little john boat with his Dad, it didn't surprise me a bit when he went searching for a picture of a boat.

Kennedy chose pizza as his favorite thing, but he got a little tired of sewing towards the end, so I just left the stitching "as-is" for his block because I wanted the work to be his alone.