A Stitch In Time: 2011 Wrap-Up

Seventy percent of success in life is showing up. –Woody Allen

For the past two years, I've been keeping an index of all the projects I finish during each year. It has been fun to look back to see how much I've accomplished in one year. I humbly submit my 2011 finishes.

One Hired Machine Quilting & Binding Job

One Halloween Costume, Two Pieces {skirt & cloak}

Two Fleece Baby Blankets

Three Abbey Bags

Four Church Bags

Four Table Runners

Five Adult Bibs

Six Aprons {one reversible}

Eight Quilts

Twelve Quilted Notebook Covers

Fifteen Fabric Postcards

Eighteen Fancy Pillowcases

In case you lost count, that is 80 finishes, and I enjoyed every one of them. I hope that 2012 is as productive!

Glad of Heart

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. –Washington Irving

I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas and that you all got everything on your wish list. I've had a very nice few days. I got the last of my Christmas sewing done Saturday afternoong and then headed to my family's party. We ate and exchanged gifts and visited and had a wonderful time. Sunday morning we went to church with my mom, dad, two of my sisters and their families. My sister, my twin-ten-years-younger, played her violin with the choir. She did such a beautiful job and I was so glad I got to go. We finished Christmas off with a relaxing afternoon at home, with the Little Bugs bouncing from gift to gift to gift, enjoying playing with them.

This is my last Christmas table runner.

It is a bit busy, but I absolutely love how it turned out. I quilted each of the hearts a little bit differently. This is the center heart.

Here is the heart on the left

And this is the heart on the right. I love these patchy hearts and am definitely going to use them again.

Here's a closer look at the quilting in the borders. I had so much fun putting this runner together.

I was going to post this on Saturday, but just ran out of time. Getting to the party seemed more important than blogging. So, I hope you'll indulge me in one more Christmas song. I think it is my new all-time favorite.


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More Pillowcases for Christmas

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. –Charles Dickens

I've got eight more Christmas pillowcases finished! I really liked this green dotted fabric so I made a total of four; three here and one I finished earlier.

These stripey pillowcases make me so happy! The fabric is Quilter's Showcase from JoAnn's and it is a really nice weight and a really great price. I happened to catch them on a 50% off sale, so that made the price even better!

And these pink pillowcases are SO cute!

Click on the button below for instructions to make your own pillowcases.

Fancy Pillowcase PDF
I'm really excited about getting closer to being finished! Hooray! The wrapping will begin shortly, and here's a little something to help with the holiday spirit while we all finish things up.



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Sunday Squares

Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then smile and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven’s making. –Leigh Hunt

I love how this table runner came out.

I used Charlie Scott's Sunday Squares tutorial, adjusting it from a 32"x 32" wall-hanging to table runner size.

I decided to go with the white between the center squares and the sawtooth border. I think that the green binding is just the right touch.

I gave this table runner to Mr. Bug's parents at his family party tonight. I kind of wanted to keep it. But Mr. Bug's mom really liked it, so I'm glad it went to a good home.

And here's a fun holiday song if you need a little background music at your family Christmas party.


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Pillowcases for Christmas

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love! –Hamilton Wright Mabie

I've got five pillowcases done! I started with the ones we're giving away the soonest. Mr. Bug's family party is coming up and this tweet pillowcase is for the cousin exchange. I love the little birds.

Here's another one for the cousin exchange on Mr. Bug's side. I really liked this fabric for boys, so there will be four total like this.

One of these is for LadyBug and one is for my brother. LadyBug happened to see the stacks of cut pillowcases and asked who each one was for. I kind of fibbed about some of them {I told her I lost my list, which isn't entirely untrue. I lost the original and then made a new one} to throw her off the scent. I was a little bit pleased when she said, those fabrics are cool. I want a pillowcase out of them.

And this one is Grasshopper's. He's my Little Boy Blue, so I hope that the red turquoise stripes aren't too obtrusive for him. I did my kids' pillowcases in the first batch to get them out of the way. With them hidden away, I'm hoping they will be less likely to figure out that I made pillowcases for them too.

These pillowcases are fast and fun to put together. Click on the button below for instructions.

Fancy Pillowcase PDF

And here's a little Christmas music to sew by. I love the song and the girls who put the video together did a cute job.


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Apron № 109: Roses in Winter

A good friend is a connection to life — a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world. –Lois Wyse

My co-worker and office-mate, Sherri, had a birthday today. Over the past year we've become good friends and I knew that I wanted to make an apron for her for her birthday. As I got to know Sherri, I discovered that her favorite color is green. I knew I had the perfect fabric for her apron. I'd bought it a little over two years ago intending to use it for an apron for another friend, but changed my mind and did something else for that particular person. I loved putting it together and I think this is one of my favorite of all the aprons I have made. The colors are so pretty together. It is such a sweet feminine apron. I'm pretty sure that Sherri loved it as much as I did.

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Poultry in Motion: Le Chanticleer

The rooster may crow but the hen delivers the goods. –Unknown

I went to Google Translate to find out what Le Chanticleer means. I thought that it might be a particular breed of chicken which would make a nice title or subtitle for this table runner.

I translated it from French to English. Guess what the translation was? The Chanticleer.

Then I tried translating it from French to Portuguese and came up with galo doméstico, which means domestic rooster. Clearly, I was absent the day they read Reynard the Fox in school.

I don't know. Poultry in Motion: Domestic Rooster just doesn't have the same panache as Poultry in Motion: Le Chanticleer.

Perhaps I'll leave the subtitle off. After all, it's only a table runner.

The quilting: About three quilts ago, I got tired of using a walking foot for straight lines and stitch-in-the ditch. Two quilts ago, I decided to do the ditch work with my free-motion foot on. It wasn't the worst ditch work ever. So, I gave it a shot with the last project I quilted, and it was pretty OK. This quilt is also 100% free-motion and the straight lines aren't too bad if I do say so myself. Hooray for another Christmas gift exchange table runner finished!

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Finished: Sudoku Quilt

Thoughts lead on to purposes; purposes go forth in action; actions form habits; habits decide character; and character fixes our destiny. –Tryon Edwards

This quilt was so fun to make! A shout out to P. for the inspiration and to Sarah for sharing the pattern! I'm pretty sure there will be another one in my future.

To quilt this, I marked diagonally through each square and then quilted a series of arcs around the X's I'd marked. It was a lot of fun.

Mathematically, this quilt is awesome. The outer border is 8", exactly double the nine-patch squares, and it divides evenly by 8 as well, so I marked it in 8" squares, drew X's through them and quilted the same arcs as I did in the nine-patches. And with all that stripey goodness, I couldn't resist a bit of stripey bias binding.

I quilted my favorite swirls into the sashing. They are hard to see from the front because the thread is the same color as the sashing, so here's a view from the back.

Here's a shot of the whole quilt. So much fun and so quick to put together!

Read more about this quilt:
Beginnings
Fabric Selection
Sudoku Quilt Group
Finished Quilt Top

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