Second Kit Finished

I can't even remember getting this kit.   It's been "resting" with quite a few friends in a huge bin.  This little wall hanging really brought home that I need way more practice with raw edge applique.  Don't ask me to colour between the lines!

The quilt does hang straight and even.  You wouldn't know it from the photo.  Guess I need more practice taking pictures as well.

Now on to the quilt kit challenge

All the quilt tops are now finished!  What next?  Quilt kits!   Over the years I've acquired a number of quilt kits.  Some simple, some not.  This past weekend I broke out one and got it done.

This is a raw edge applique quilt.  Because of my vision issues, I had difficulty stitching down the edges of all these little pieces.  I just could not see the edge and would totally miss stitching down most of the points.  Out came the Crayola Washable Markers.  I traced the edges that needed to be stitched down.  After the quilting and binding was finished, with fingers crossed, the quilt was tossed into the washer and dryer.  Would the dark blue markers wash out?  Yes! 

A few points were still missed, but feathers and leaves do not lay flat, so that just adds to the quilt....right?

Now to decide which kit is opened next.   A cat quilt perhaps?

Quilt tops are now quilts

During a clean up of my sewing room, I came across a number of quilt tops in need of time on the quilting frame.   Some of these were quite well aged.

Last year I finally quilted the roman tile bed quilt.  That was years in the making.  I got carried away making the blocks and the top would have covered a king size bed with a twin bed beside it.  I removed a number of rows, quilted the queen sized quilt and it's on the bed.  But what to do with the left over blocks?

Here's the queen size:

And here's what I made with the left over blocks:

The quilt was finished several weeks ago.  Now for the rest of the "found" tops.

A little four patch to practice quilting:

There were a lot of HST's left over, so they were cut down to the same size and this baby quilt is the result:

 Wish I could remember where the pattern is for this one.  I'd like to make another:

I posted photos of my stash and asked the hearts2hands to pick the fabric and the border to put around the centre of this quilt.  There is a border a month.  This was back in 2016 if I remember correctly.  It's finally finished!  

 A close up of the quilting for this one.  So mindless and fun!  I had a big stupid grin on my face the whole time I was quilting it!

 Another quilt from left over blocks (orphan blocks). 

This is a very scrappy quilt.  When I ran out of white on white, I cut up an old bed sheet my Mom had given me.  It works and there's fabric out of my stash.

A simple 9 patch for quilting practice.  A good baby quilt size.

All Caught Up

There has been a lot of quilting/sewing happening.  Here's a few photos and descriptions. 

We've all seen the bowl cozies - soup bowl size.  These are serving bowl size.  So much easier to pass around hot food without worrying about passing around the pot holder as well.

 I found this little wall hanging top at the bottom of pile of fabric.  Time to get it quilted and on the wall for Christmas. 

 This panel was given to me and I had no idea what to do with it.  So there it sat for a long time.  It's been quilted and gifted.  Done!

I think DS was teasing when he said he wanted a Disney Christmas quilt.  But I took the challenge.  No Fab Five character prints at the fabric store.  So I pulled out the embroidery machine and did a whole lot of embroidery.  It was ready before December!

Next post will be of all the quilt tops forgotten about and recently re-discovered.
They are all finished!

Tote for Sew Handy Machine and using a garmet rack when sewing

A while back I posted a photo of my little Sew Handy (made in 1955).  The original box is in terrible condition so she has a new tote bag for storage.

There are dividers to keep the clamp from scratching the machine as well as another divider to keep the manuals secure.

On one of the quilting groups I was asked how I use garment racks to help when quilting or binding larger quilts.   This system takes a huge weight off the shoulders and back.  It also keeps the quilt from veering off at an angle due to the weight of the fabric.

It really does work well!

Been a long, long time

No posts for how long?  How did that happen?  Life gets in the way.  My main excuse has been difficulty with my vision.   The eyes are co-operating better today so I'm going to post a few photos.

The first set of photos is not anything I made, but a gift I received at the volunteer sewing Christmas part.  An embroidered towel that has temperature/measurement conversions as well as cooking temperatures.  Thanks Jean for this towel.  What a lot of work:

Our volunteer sewing group is still making lots of fidget quilts for dementia patients.  Here's a couple of recent ones:

Hopefully I remember to post a lot more photos in the near future. 

A "New" Sewing Machine!

Wow, it hasn't been a month since the last post.  Who knows, maybe the posts will go up more frequently for the next while. 

My dentist should be able to retire soon.  I've had two crowns in the past month.  Actually the second one is still a temporary, with the permanent one next week.  Anyone wondering why I'm not buying fabric?  (Besides having a huge stash already.)

Between appointments I was able to get into the sewing room a bit.  Four fidget quilt tops are ready to take to volunteer sewing come September.  Now I have no excuse not to get working on DS's Christmas quilt.  It's on the frame, ready to be quilted.  I'm just too chicken to get started!  This top will not be easy to quilt.

Here are the four little fidget quilts:

Each quilt top has a block with a zipper, pockets, embroidery, either tatting or some other textured item and ribbon loops.  One even has a bow and a baby sock.

DH must have got tired of my checking all the garage sales we stopped at for a toy Singer sewing machine.  It's the thrill of the chase, you know.  Anyway, he decided to surprise me by buying one on eBay.  The 1955 Singer Sew Handy 20 arrived yesterday.  She is in great condition, complete with the original manual and table clamp.  A very nice stitch!

The cardboard box is in very rough shape.  I know I'll get yelled at by the "experts" but I plan on doing something with the box to keep the artwork preserved.  But the box will be destroyed.

I'll post a better photo once she is set up properly.