I finished my first Christmas quilt today. It's so colorful!
At our Tollway Tatters meeting Saturday, we were reminiscing about things we used to do. Tatting Tea Tuesday came up. Does anyone else in Tatland remember doing this? I'm not much of a tea drinker, but I do enjoy tatting!
I'm currently working on a snowflake pattern. This is a test tat for a pattern that I think is beautiful. Unfortunately, I have made many mistakes. I misread the pattern the first time, so my snowflake didn't look quite as it should. I've scrapped two other attempts, because I've made mistakes and shredded the thread trying to fix them. This time, I'm taking it slowly!
I will share more info on this pattern in a future post. First, I need to tat it correctly!
Yesterday was mostly a prep day for my Christmas quilt. I joined strips of fabric for sashing, cleaned my machine, and started sewing on the first long strip. My ironing board had become a storage table for future projects, and I needed to clean it off so that I can work on the final steps of my Christmas quilt. It looks like I'm going to be making quilts for quite a while. Beautiful fabrics are my weakness!
I had a sewing first yesterday. I lost the tip of my needle! I've broken plenty of needles while sewing, but I have never completely lost the tip. I never did find it, but my machine is now nice and clean, and all of the stray snips of thread have been cleaned up.
With all of the activity during the day, I just wanted to relax after dinner. Luckily, my Gryffindor scarf doesn't take much brain power. I think I'm about 2/3 of the way through the yarn. It's nice to be productive without having to concentrate too much!
Tollway Tatters met on Saturday. I think there were eleven of us. I worked on a snowflake that I'm test tatting. With all the conversation, I messed up on the last round. I'm still trying to undo my mess!
While I've really been enjoying using the pot holder technique for my quilts, I decided to try something different for this quilt. This is from Easy Sashing – Quilt as You Go! by Nancy Roelfsema. After watching Nancy's YouTube video, I knew this could be a good method for me to use.
I only have one strip completed, but I think this could be my new go-to method of joining blocks. The quilt will be reversible. I consider the four-patch blocks to be the front of the quilt, with the red and white blocks on the back. I'm not sure about the dark green sashing. I'll be able to tell better once the quilt is finished.
If I have time, I will bake another Christmas quilt with the same backing, red sashing, and blocks made from jelly roll strips.
For now, it's time to get ready for Tollway Tatters!
Last night I sat down in my chair, ready to write my blog post, when I became distracted by a book, New Techniques for Machine Quilting and Assembly – Block by Block by Beth Donaldson. The more I read about quilt-as-you-go techniques, the more fascinated I become!
I have simply forgotten to blog for almost a week. The end of the day comes, and I put up my feet and forget about everything!
I have been busy working on my Christmas quilt. There are only four blocks left to quilt, something I should be able to finish tomorrow. I'm considering a different way of joining the blocks together. Watching YouTube videos sure opens up lots of possibilities!
My Gryffindor scarf is growing. It sure is nice to have something to work on that doesn't take a lot of brain power!
After some sorting and reorganizing of my craft corner, I managed to quilt a couple of more blocks. I now have five finished and one half finished.
Mom had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, so no more crafting was done until after dinner.
I recently ordered Harry Potter Self-Striping Scarf Yarn from Michigan Fine Yarns. The pattern is super simple, and I'm sure that my Harry-Potter-loving grandchildren will snap these right up. This color combo is Gryffindor, and the yarn is by Sirdar. It's the perfect project for knitting without thinking!
Yesterday morning I sorted the backing fabrics for my Christmas quilt. I was pleasantly surprised to see so much variety, with two pieces of each fabric. I have enough to back two Christmas throws!
The week of the play is always busy, and this time was no exception.
I did manage to put together my four patch blocks for my Christmas quilt, but that was the extent of my crafting this week.
Wednesday, I helped out with dress rehearsal. Thursday, I had to take my sewing machine in for repairs. Friday, I had a lot to catch up on around the house.
Saturday and Sunday, the middle school students performed Disney's Descendants. They did a fantastic job, and I'm glad everything went well. Now, I can get back to a more normal routine!
Since I finished my patchwork jacket on Sunday, I felt free to start a new project... a Christmas quilt! I had purchased some fat quarters at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago, so I decided to work with them. Unfortunately, I only had enough to make 28 blocks. I need 30 blocks for the quilt I'd like to make.
Luckily, I had some Christmas fabric upstairs just waiting to be used. So, tomorrow I will cut out the remaining squares I need for my project. It shouldn't take long. I only need to cut nine 5.5" squares. The square you see on top will not be used. I just pieced together some scraps. I'll use it for something, but not this quilt.
Tomorrow will be a busy day. The middle school production of Descendants is this weekend. Daughter Carol asked if I would be willing to work with the boys in charge of the spotlights at practice tomorrow. It's nice to be needed, so I said yes!
This afternoon I worked on strips for the back of my patchwork jacket. Right after I took this photo I realized that I need to add one more piece to each strip. That will be a task for tomorrow!
Before heading off to school this morning, I managed to fit in a little tatting time. This is another Curds & Whey bookmark that I started a long time ago, but I have no idea how long ago! I'm pretty sure this is size 40 thread, but I don't know what color it is.
Today was bread baking day. I love fresh baked bread!
Yesterday was pretty busy, so I didn't sit down to do any crafting until after dinner. I decided it was time to start my Vanilla Sweater from The Wooly Thistle. I've had the kit for four years, so I figured I was long overdue for knitting it. I'm off to a good start!
This afternoon I sewed the second front panel for my jacket. I'll need to do some more piecing before I can start the back. My project is taking much longer than I anticipated, mainly because I keep getting distracted by other things!
One more bookmark is finished from my stash of UFOs. I'm not sure what this thread is, but I know it's not Lizbeth. It's kind of fuzzy, which made it a little more difficult to close the rings. My bookmark stash is growing!
The middle school production of Descendants is coming up soon, October 17 and 18. Daughter Carol (aka Madame Director) asked if I could do some costume alterations today. Luckily, they were fairly easy and it only took me about an hour.
Daughter Joanne and I have been discussing Christmas quilts. We have fabric chosen. Now will come the hard part... deciding which pattern to use!
Angela and I managed to do quite a bit of reorganization yesterday, and while working I found a bag with unfinished bookmarks. So, today I finished tatting bookmarks!
This one is in size 20 hand-dyed thread "Sky and Field". I'm pretty sure it's one of Marilee Rockley's threads. The tag looks like her hand writing.
I think this one might be size 20 Lizbeth #127 Butterfly Breeze. I'm not positive, because I only had the thread on the shuttle, no ball.
Yesterday was a great mail day! These two beauties are from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design.
I also received Martha Ess's two latest books. I'm eager to get started!
I am so happy with this quilt! Actually, I finished it Thursday evening right before heading off to bed, but I forgot to post yesterday.
Today will be organizing day. Angela and I are making great progress upstairs, but there is still a lot that I would like to sort through before the holidays. I think my family will be very surprised to find fewer craft items taking up space!
Another week seems to be getting away from me, and I don't have much to show in the way of crafting. I did manage to finish one front of my patchwork jacket. I took a different approach and pieced the section before sewing it on. I'm not sure which approach is better, but this was definitely an easier way to align the pieces.
I realized I didn't have enough of this jelly roll fabric to finish the jacket, so I ordered another. If I like the way the jacket fits, I plan to hand quilt, embroider, and/or add embellishments after it's finished. If I don't like the way it fits, I will donate it... I think!
This was a very busy weekend, but lots of fun. My sister and brother were both here for the weekend. We had lots of fun reminiscing, laughing, and eating good food... maybe a little too much food!
I did take time to attend our Tollway Tatters meeting Saturday morning. We spent quite a bit of time trying to track down a vintage edging pattern. Although we did not find what we were looking for, we did enjoy the search.
It's true. I checked my blog. It has taken me eight weeks to successfully tat Robin Perfetti's Criss Cross pattern from Four Dozen Tatted Bookmarks.
Now that I have completed it, I can't believe it took me so long. The problem? I was looking at the wrong spot on the diagram, so I didn't realize that when I reached the bottom portion of the bookmark I should have had one more pattern repeat on the second side than I had on the first side.
When did I come to this realization? It was right before I headed off to bed Tuesday evening. Of course, it took me all day Wednesday to un-tat my precious hand-dyed thread (size 20m Hakelgarn, Buttercup, from LadyShuttleMaker). I was able to finish the bookmark in about an hour this morning.
Yes, I have made myself a note so that when I tat this beautiful pattern again, I will not have the same problem!
I can now move on to the next bookmark!
Today I finished binding all of the blocks for my quilt. Now I can concentrate on joining them together and finishing up the quilt.
I survived my wasp sting and finger slices. Now all I have is some very small rough patches of skin, which are healing nicely thanks to some lavender salve that daughter Joanne gave me this summer. I did manage to get some crafting done, I just didn't take the time to post.
I now have four strips of my quilt sewn together. I hope to finish up the final two strips this week.
Angela came over on Saturday to help me do some organizing upstairs. The art students are definitely going to have some fun with craft items that I no longer need!
