Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone.   Best wishes for a happy and safe holiday season for you and your families.

Santa brought me a quarter inch foot for my backup sewing machine.  Nothing can stop me now!  We have just opened Christmas eve presents (new PJs of course).  Finished listening to this version of the night before Christmas and sent the kids off to bed.  They are pretty excited.  

Twas the Day Before Christmas

I am absolutely terrified of messing up my Midget Block quilt with the machine quilting part, but I am giving it a shot.  I keep comparing myself to fabulous machine quilters whose work I drool over on a regular basis.  There is Judi over at Greenfairy Quilts.  Then there is Leah Day at Free Motion Quilting.  Even Natalia and Kathleen at Piece and Quilt.   Guess what, my quilt won't look that good.  They are professionals and I am just a regular person.  I'm OK with that.  Still, I a sitting here hoping I don't mess things up with the quilting.

 So, two blocks in, going slow, and hoping for the best.

I'm doing a small meander, you might even call it a stipple, in the background. Trying not to do too much in the blocks themselves.  Just a bit of echo quilting to add a bit of dimension.  So two blocks down, Just 119 left to go.  

Border Patrol

 I just finished putting the borders on the Midget Block Quilt!!!!!!!  Hard to believe it took me almost a year to figure out 2 inch squares and background strips.  It measures 80 by 86 inches now, which seems like a nice size.  I'm not telling you because you need to know, I'm telling myself because I don't have anything that will work for a backing.  I'm going to load the top on the frame anyway though, before it gets wrinkled, and I'll want to know later how big to make the backing fabric.  This one will be an experiment in machine quilting.  The little Dear Jane tried to be machine quilted and failed.  I'm hoping this little guy will do better and then I will be up for the BIG Rainbow Jane.

I laid the quilt out in the family room so that I could go up to the bridge on the second story to get a good photo.  There is Ryan walking around the quilt and Kurt's Christmas stocking poking out on the other side.  Getting decent pictures is complicated around here!
Speaking of complicated, the quilting room (guest bedroom) is getting a good clean out to make room for a bit of machine quilting time.  I wonder if there is still time tonight to pop out for a suitable backing fabric?  Maybe not.
Today we celebrated the first official day of vacation with trips to the grocery store and the dentist.  Exciting stuff, right?  Nothing on the agenda for tomorrow though, other than Christmas eve of course.  Maybe I'll be able to sneak away for another Dear Jane block or two?  Maybe.  

Design Wall Monday

I was making a list of finished quilts for the year.  Try as I might, I still only came up with five full finished quilts for the year.  Just 5?  Could that be right.  What have I been doing with my time?  Then I remembered.  These little guys have taken up a bit of my sewing time in the last year.  Yup, worth every minute.

It has been almost a year since I officially began working on Dear Jane.  Just 11 more center blocks left to go!  I'm still playing with the triangles.  They might take a bit more time.  There is a pink block on the top row that is bugging me, I might remake that one.  In general though, I'm pretty happy with the way things are coming together so far.  

It was so odd waking up on a Monday and not going to work.  I could get used to this.  

Big Decision

This top has been sewn together and waiting patiently for almost a year.  I was sure I would get to it this summer.  I almost did.  The summer went another way though, and when the school year started, well, that was that.

I wasn't quite sure what to do with the borders.  I'm never sure what to do with the borders.  During the sewing, I had saved a two inch square of each fabric and that was supposed to be part of it somehow.  I kept trying to make it complicated though and time passed.  While catching up on blogs during ScrapHappy Saturday, I stumbled upon this quilt, over at Quilting on the Crescent.  Perfect.  Just the inspiration I needed!  I just finished adding a two inch border of background all the way around and am sewing together all of the two inch squares.  I'll add another plain border outside that and it will be just what this quilt needs.  

Slow Stitching Sunday

 After trimming up all the Rainbow Janes so far and getting them up on the wall yesterday, I noticed that a few of the melons and star points extended into the seam allowance.  Not wanting the same thing to happen again, I marked the cutting line and sewing line before placing the melons on this little guy.  He is J8 and is called Anna's Anchor.  Sewing down the little melons sound like a great way to spend a few minutes today.

I've been chipping away at the hand quilting on the blue Dear Jane this week.  Just 22 more blocks remain of the 48 in this very small Baby Jane.  I'm thinking a nice rope will look good for the border.  Are you planning a few quiet minutes of handwork during this hectic holiday season?  Head over to Kathy Quilts to see what other hand work is in the works.  

Dear Jane Progress

Having spent the morning climbing up and down a ladder to get my Dear Jane blocks up on the design wall, I am seriously pondering NOT doing the triangles.  They are about 25% done, but I'm just not sure they are worth the effort.  Not doing them would allow me to use a wider sashing for the blocks and spread them out a bit to give them some space to breath.  A simpler border treatment might allow the center blocks to shine.  Then again, maybe I am just feeling lazy and see a possible light at the end of the tunnel?  If I skip the triangles, will I always feel that I cheated and took the easy way out? Opinions please.  Triangles or no triangles?

ScrapHappy Saturday - Winter Wind Down

It is the first day of winter vacation and I have two weeks to officially sew myself silly!  I have officially given up on getting my sewing machine back anytime soon and ordered a quarter inch foot for Anna's machine.  It is a simplicity surplus school machine, but it makes a fine stitch.  If I can just get the quarter inch seem working well I'll be good to go.

 So last night I dug through my brown scraps and found some pieces big enough to turn into two inch strips for the solstice step three.  Bonnie's  (Hunter) orange is my brown and I think I found plenty leftover from when I did her Smith Mountain quilt.

 Then I kept working on the crumb blocks for Bonny's (mother in law this time) anniversary quilt.

 Then, after I was all tuckered out from that, I settled in to watch Sing-off with the girls while enjoying a bit of hand quilting on the blue Dear Jane.  I am making nice progress after several evenings in a row. Consistency is the  key to so many things.

And her it is Saturday morning and I am ready to draw the lucky winner for this beautiful bundle of hand dyed fabric from Vicki Welsh  at Field Trips in Fiber.  Drumroll please.   Thanks to the random number generator at Random.org, the winner is.....Carla at A Few of My Favorite things.  Congratulations Carla.  Please send me your snail mail via e-mail and I will hop off to the post office to send out your rainbow fabric bundle.  I do think they will make your pickle dish blocks sparkle.  Happy sewing.  

After all of that, I almost forgot to post a link-up for ScrapHappy Saturday.  Lots of finishing up is happening about now.  I hope you are finding a few minutes of peace and calm in this busy holiday season to enjoy the calm and quiet of a bit of fabric and thread.  Use misterlinky to share your progress or even plans for the new year.  It is just around the corner!

Making More Lists

Just 13 more center blocks for Dear Jane.  Not bad almost one year in.  If I had a proper machine I could finish them off likety split.  

Thought for the Year?

Last year I saw people choosing a word for the new year.  What a nice way to simplify the idea of resolutions.  I gave it a lot of thought and finally decided on perseverance for myself.  I knew the new schedule at work would be trying and cause a big shift in how I had to do things. It has done that and more, but I have gotten through it without too many upsets.

So as the next year starts I was thinking of a new word while doing a little hand quilting on Jane.  I went looking for some decorative word art and found this quote that spoke to me.  I will still search for the right word, but this thought will stay with me.

It isn't too late to join the giveaway.  Two more days until the winner is drawn.  Just follow the hyperlink and leave me a comment.  I will draw first thing on Saturday.