One Monthy Goal for March

 Well I have tons of different quilts that I need to finish or at least start when I've gathered everything up in a neat little package, but for two weeks I'm working full time at the start of the month.  So I'm hoping to do the following...

Here are the three I'm looking at completing:

The bird pattern is from SewFresh, an Ontario quilter and pattern designer.  I'm looking at the larger one for my aunt for her larger living room table, where the cat will live on it  lol.  She uses the sew and flip method which I really like.

Look at that material, the colors are so vibrant.  They're from another quilt I made 20 years ago, so this will get her done, and get that material finished.  The background will be gray, like the picture.  The rest is all scraps, and I love using all of my scraps.

Another one I want to complete is the pods you see here.  I got the pattern off of Etsy.  I've made 4 of them already, and sent them out as gifts and christmas gifts.  It's quick and easy.  

Here's a better shot of the pattern by Pen and Paper on Etsy.  I already made the snake as a surprise for my husband when we came back from a trip to Scottsdale Arizona.  And he loves it.  Sorry about the terrible picture.  I'm doing the cacti and then in the corner the snake again.

Here's my material, all left overs but not the backing, which looks like sand.  It's the same material I used for the pattern.  It's half cut out, so I need to finish that and then sew it, and the designer uses stitch and flip as well, my favorite way to make a quilt.

Here's the pillow that I was talking about.  And the material that's brown is my background for the quilt I am making.  I'm going to use it as a hanging quilt to match the pillow.  I'm excited about it but unsure if I have the time to do these.  The one that's definite for this month is the cacti one, that's the goal, the others are bonuses.  This is my plan.

Joining up with One Monthly Goal at Stories at the Sewing Room, with others.  Hoping this will motivate me to finish a few quilts this month.  Wish me luck.  :)

Changes - swap exchange, quilting gift, and changing my quilting room....

A lots has been happening.  I'm still subbing, and that means I'm still working as a substitute teacher for a little extra cash, but I'm also traveling.  First the traveling.    I've been to Palm Springs a week ago and it was amazing.  We had wind storms, then a rain storm, then gorgeous days while Vancouver was pouring rain and with some snow....  So I lucked out.

Second thing is the mini quilt swap from the Modern Quilt Guild online.  I did a great switch with Michelle Cuomo from Ontario.  She did such a beautiful job. 

The colors are fantastic, the stitching so well done.  Where there's a blank there is some stitching that completes the circles in different colors.  The rules were it had to be smaller than 25" and if you want you can see mine.  Mine is on the left.  I received the one on the right.

Here's a better picture of the one I made

Here is one of my February finishes as well.  A late Christmas table topper.

 

The final thing is the Round Robin club online that I joined two months ago.  I always wanted to make another medallion quilt but never really got around to it until now.  The info is below and it shows the people who are involved.  

• January 13:   Center Block Reveal.
• January 20: 1^st Round:   Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
• January 27: 2^nd Round: Anja @ Anja Quilts 
• February 3: 3^rd Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail 
• February 10: 4^th Round: Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts – Link up below!
• February 17: 5^th Round: Brenda @ Songbird Designs
• February 24: 6^th Round: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
• March 24:  Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs!

here's my center one, which was 25" for the start.  

You'll have to wait until the next entry to see the entire finished quilt.  I'm really laughing here because I said I would not join other quilt a longs, and since then I've joined two of them, so really I have to stop.

Finally, this is my February finish.  It's a wedding gift for a nephew in Utah for May, and I'm happy to have finished it early.  Here's some pictures

I still need to add the veil for the bride.  I'm cutting a piece from my wedding dress that's been sitting in my closet and moving for years now.  I also have to add the label for the back saying the year and who the quilt is from for the wedding.  I'm so excited for them to see it.  I loved that background material, it really is talking to me.  The front is a light purple, very very light.  It softens the quilt which is good.  I'm behind the quilt so you can imagine how big it is.  The dark blue of the comber bun and the wedding accessories really makes it all come together.

And last but not least, the cause of my shoulder injury, and the reason I have to give quilting a rest for a while because of my sore arm and shoulder.  My room.  I went over everything.  I purchased that armoire and filled it with tons of things.  I loved tons of things, packed it in the armoire, sorted things, and now it's a little more organized.  

I am way behind in the medallion quilt, but it will come soon.  I need to do three more rows, one is the cabin style, so that will take time.  I'll cut everything tomorrow so I can sew it in March, and that will be my quilt for March.  I'm working for the next two weeks straight so I'll be doing some of it at night and for the weekends.  So wish me luck, I'll need it.

December’s Finish and Holy Hanna Banana!!!

 Finally got my “Be My Neighbor “ by Moda done and I am floored, the picture doesn’t do it justice.  There are a number of places that give the pattern out for FREE!  That’s right, free.  It makes a twin size easily.

Got to tell you, this is definitely a double size quilt, and while quilting this baby (yes I quilted it myself) And this is the "Holy Hanna Banana" part!!!  I damage my shoulder.  Been doing physio for 3 weeks because I stretched my tendons and muscles moving this around on my home sewing machine.  That will teach me  lol.  But I love this one.  I used bamboo for the batting, my favorite because it takes my temperature, and I don't seem to ever get cold or hot in quilts that I use it with.  Excellent for hot flashes!

Then there was the table that needed a quick table top.  Found this on Sew Fresh, a wonderful designer from Ontario.  The blog seems to have ended but the tutorials and free sew a longs are still there.  The one below is in the tutorials.  I also did the Harry Potter Quilt A Long which was absolutely wonder!!!!!  Any fans out there?  I gave mine to a huge fan an I added a sashing of 2 1/2 inches to make it a queen size.  That girl is crazy about it!!!

I also did some painting, did some cards late, but could not mail them because of the postal strike, so I added them to gifts as another gift....  I hope the people loved them.  I made 5 more but didn't want to put them up because the people I gave them to follow this blog.

Next painting project?  Well it's going to be a big one because I joined the 100 day Challenge...  Yes, and I'm quite happy about it.  There is a section for not paying, but you can do it alone.  If you're curious about it there was a FAQ frequently asked question page that I've attached here for you here.

I am not sure about my project but I do want to learn about Pencil crayon drawing and water coloring mixing and I do have two classes that I've purchased and HAVE NOT started (I purchased them 2 years ago) so this gives me the incentive to start.

I'm not waiting until February, I've started two days ago.  I'm alternating between the two of them.  I've done a color wheel of the color pencils, and am now currently learning to mix colors with pencil crayons.  Wish me luck, every day for 10 minutes  lol....  I'll try.  Here's a couple of pictures that I want to try..

Pictures from Tofino.  Take care and have a great day.

Joining a modern swap.

 Got my info, got my partner, got my swap fairy, and ready to go.  Been looking at fabric (great to have an excuse to look at fabric in shops again), and some designs.  Starting to get plenty of ideas for a 24 by 24 wall hanging modern look.  Excited.  Looking at mute pastel colors, something I don’t typically work with, so I need to tone myself down.  I love trying new things.

As for my WIPs in process, been continuing to clean and finish some stuff.  I have more blocks done for the  neighborhood quilt, just 3 left.  I also have completed a Canadian Eagle Quilt pillow that you’ll see later when I can get pictures up, and another square for my winter quilt.  But I’m away right now in Manitoba, and working a full week when I get back.  I’ll have to wait for sewing the first of December.  Take care all.

WIPs be gone....

 It always makes me laugh the different acronyms for sewing, computers, texting, etc. 

• FQ: Fat Quarter (a piece of fabric measuring about 18 by 22 inches)
• SID: Stitching in the Ditch (quilting along the seam line)
• UFO: Unfinished Object (a project that is not completed)
• BOM: Block of the Month (a subscription service that provides a new quilt block pattern every month)
• B2B: Border to Border (a quilting design that covers the entire quilt top)
• EPP: English Paper Piecing (a method of hand-sewing fabric pieces around paper templates)
• FART: Fabric Acquisition Road Trip (a trip to buy more fabric)
• HSY Haven’t Started Yet\
• HD Project Half Done (does that makes my title, Judie Bellingham PHD.)
• MGBTQ Must Get Back To Quilting
• QAL quilt a long (I'm part of so many of them)
• WIVSP Work in Very Slow Progress
• TOAD Trashed Object Abandoned in Disgust
• USO Unstarted Object  - so many of these, all the material collected and not cut....
• STASH Special Treasures All Secretly Hidden.  Now that I cleaned up the storage and my room, my husband knows exactly how much I have so there's no longer a need to hide anything.
• SABLE Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Expectancy.  Name a quilter that doesn't have this .  LOL (that means laugh out loud).
• FART Fabric Acquisition Road Trip ( Both my husband and I have forbidden me to buy more fabric!)
• TGIF Thank God It’s Friday is the usual acronym but quilters like Thank God It’s Finished.
• WWIT What Was I Thinking?  A couple of patterns like this.  One was a covid one that I'll never do now.
• And finally WOMBAT Wast of Material, Batting and Time (Have a few of these!!!).

 I can never keep them straight, and add new ones all the times.   I have always been part of the OMG (one more gone) club, and now the WIPs (work in progress) one.  The WIP is part of  Leanne at Devoted Quilter.  It's for October and November only and my list is made, with quite a few of them on it.  So it's not one more thing (OMT) to my list, it's a challenge for two months, and so far for October I've completed a lot.  

• 3 pillow for the sofa
• 1 small pod
• catching up on "In my neighborhood" and
• addition to a quilt that was too small.

I also with the cleaning have found at least 6 more small projects that need to be completed and a couple of quilts to fix into larger quilts.  I'm on my way.  These are in no particular order:

1. one large pod
2. house row by row
3. bees row by row
4. 2 pillows for bed
5. 1 pillow cover for the bench for Christmas
6. wool jacket
7. brown Swade pants
8. black pants already cut out.
9. applique tea cozy
10. black and white table top
11. two pillow covers for the sofa
12. complete the In My Neighborhood BOM
13. catch up with the Cozy Holidays QAL
14. Add addition to the fall quilt to make it into a queen size quilt.

I plan on having a couple of these done tonight since my husband is watching hockey tonight.  Have a great day sewing...

Another day of creativity or it still cleaning?

 I've been finding so many little projects that I've barely started but I've packaged up to get it done later.  There are so many of them!!!  Did I mention that I found another 23 Row by Rows????  Good grief, I've made a queen with them, and two laptops with them.  That's crazy!!!  But now I'm getting a few of them done.  

Two more blocks with the Block of the month Neighborhood quilt I want to finish for November.

I loved this material so much I really loved it for this pillow.

A great small pod for storaging things.  Love the material of this as well.

I think that's enough for a day of sewing.  Don't you?  My room is getting cleaner and cleaner, it's just going to take time.

Have a great day sewing like I did.

Creativity and organization

 Been working a number of things but one of them is cleaning out my storage and it’s finally done… and I discovered some quilts.

I did this one in 2013, 10 years ago.  It’s hard to believe.  It’s a BOM from Debbie Mumm but the web site is gone.    But I loved it so I create it for my hubby.  It's back home now instead of in a plastic bucket.  Hubby washed it and good as new.  It's mostly gold tones with browns and blues.  Very warm color but now I'm up to about 12 quilts to cuddle with and that's too much.  The back is an American print since the quilt is American, lol!!!  You can see the picture of some of the buckets of stuff that I got rid of.  I gave 3 buckets of wool fabric to the school that I use to work at.  Kids don't have to buy any material anymore, the school has to supply the supplies.....  boy has life changed since I was in high school

This next one was a gift to a good friend of mine who passed away from cancer.  When she passed she asked her mom to give it back to me because when we were doing the Row by Rows about 10 years ago we came across the block of the month in one of the quilt places we visited.  The price of each month was rediculously low, and she was pushing me to get it, just pushing me.  I told her I had enough quilts but no, she wanted me to do it, so I said fine, but I was giving it to her when it's done.  When I finally had it completed as a joke I said to her when you pass away I want it back because it was so beautiful.  She  remembered that, and asked for me to get it back.  I was in my storage underneath the stairs when I was cleaning that up the same time as my storage locker that I was paying for and out it came as well.  I don't look at it and cry now, it's more sentimental then anything, and it makes me smile to think of that story.  Here is it.

                                                       Notice the little tea bag above this.

Sorry that it's so dark, can't seem to fix it up without losing the colors bug still so worth it.

the colors are just stunning, the design, so fun.  The material really made it.  I used a wandering stitch for quilting as well as stitch in the ditch.  Zig zag on the applique.  It's such a beautiful quilt.  Two great finds.

This month was also a time of painting with a few new ones.  This is one of my practice sessions.

I also one day this week went crazy and made 3 different things for a book club coming up.  I froze most of it.  It's Christmas Cranberry cake (it's really excellent and easy to make), Apple Caramel Dump Cake (OMG it's good) and the final is a zucchini loaf.  Sorry lost the recipe on this one.  See below:

But the most creativity for me is from sewing....  I'm pleased with what I did this week but it's keeping up with a new BOM that I signed up for that's killing me.  Two a week, paper piece.  They're beautiful but hard to do.  Here's what I did this week.  I have about 8 completed.  it's from Apples and Beavers called Cozy Holidays Sampler QAL! 

The above picture is a better picture of the green background.  The one below was too bright.

I made the bottom pillow for a friend who has a dog like this.  It took about 3 days to complete.  The pattern is from Sew Fresh Quilts.

The pattern below I finished this month (two 2 months to get it all done) for a friend who is going to retire this final school year.  She's a Vice Principal and she's ready to go.  She's also a rather tall lady so this quilt was 68" by 72".  The white sections on the top and bottom were larger than the sides.  I used all scraps and it really turns out great.  Want to see the pattern?  Go to Suzie Quilts to see it and all her other super fun patterns.    the backing was nice and bright with flowers to offset the modernistic version of this quilt.

I had so much fun doing this quilt, really, I'm thinking of making one for myself.  The pattern comes in queen size for my bed.  I quilted it all with stitch in the ditch and then straight lines around the last row, all around until I came to the edge.  It gave it an edgy vibe (pun intended).

OK, that's it, that's enough for one month, including all the work and finishing three books.  I need to go and rest.  Take care, have a good week.

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