Able to Sew!!! Yeah!!!

Well, it's been a pretty bad week, I had not one but two severe allergy attacks, which completely knocked me sideways.  You ready to give me sympathy???  I'm allergic to chocolate.  Yes, you read it right, I'm allergic to chocolate.  It use to only give me a headache, but now it closes my throat, makes it hard to breath, and even gives me a headache, and makes me dizzy.  Not a pretty thing to see.  

I left work on Tuesday because it was that bad, the Home Ec. Department at school cooked with chocolate powder and it went everywhere, the powder, even up the stairs to the second level which is where I'm at.  I walked through the powder, not realizing there was chocolate in the air, and my voice started to change, my throat started to swell, eyes watering and itchy, the whole thing, and it was too late to take my allergy pills (which use to work and help).  First aid came to help, the doors to the Home Ec. rooms were closed, and the vents for the area were turned on to clear the air.  

I took one day off because quite frankly, anyone who has gone through a sever attack knows, you feel really funny and off for about five days, but I was willing to go in on Thursday to see what the heck was going on in my classroom, and low and behold, I got a second attack, throat closing, eyes watering, etc.  So a couple of allergy pills took some of it away, but sick again.

I did go in on Friday, and it wasn't so bad, but here it is Sunday, and still feeling strange.  My husband told me to take it easy and do some sewing, and that's exactly what I did all Saturday afternoon.  And here are the results:

 The Splendid Sampler - 6 of them.

# 80, 78, 77, 74 and 73 (not shown in that order0.

My Favorite one.

The least favorite one - hate my color choices.  Need to redo.

So far there has been 83 blocks.  I think I have about 30 done.  Need to step it up  :)

Here are some quilts for premie babies.  My guild does a number of them every year.  My contribution for this year.  I promised to give me more, and I've only done two this year.  Here will be two more.

Love the pirate theme.  The pattern is by Camille Roskelley.  It's 36" x 36"

It's from the book "Simply Retro".  This pattern was so simple and so quick.  So if you need a Christmas gift, this is the one.

Finally, another block for my Midnight Garden BOM.  I'm more than 1/2 way through it.

Loving the wool colors.  What do you think?

And this is something I did about two weeks ago for a friend who requested one of my boxes.  I love making them but they do take a lot of time.  This one is lined with plastic so it's tougher than most.

Not the best job with the edging, but it was so thick, it was really hard.  Next time I do it by hand.

That's it my relaxing day of sewing.  Next time, quilting those two baby quilts and making a quilt for my hairdresser for Christmas.  Take care

A bag too? Why not???

OK, at Elm Street Quilts they are also doing a bag link up.  Why not?  It would be for Christmas and I have tons of 1/2 finished blocks to complete.  Soooooo, after my thread art class, if I finish it, I'll have some flowers that can be put on a bag like Correen Zerr made.  I have nothing for the start except for these:

And I'll put them on a bag as applique.  How it ends up will be a surprise to us both dear readers  :) 

Thread Art Class and Update of my Challenge.

Been all day to a quilting lesson from a wonderful woman, Correen Zerr.  She presented how to do Thread Art, and my goodness there was a lot of learning.

Check out her web site at http://www.coreenzerr.com/ .  I learned so much, tread art, making three dimensional objects, using stabilizer (yes believe it or not I never used it before), printing on material, and so much more.  Correen would teach you something, then off you go for an hour or two for sewing and trying the technique, then something else new, then an hour or two to work on it. She has wonderful timing, and is a fantastic teacher.  She knows how to encourage without ordering her pupils what to do.  She gives freedom as an individual to do what you want but she encourages you to challenge yourself and that's what I did, I tried things I never did before thanks to Correen.

See my work below, I amazed myself as well.

On fabric and stabilizer.  Love the colours.

On dissolving background so it will become a 3D addition.

top on is Correen's, bottom one is mine.
Great for Christmas gifts on bags.  Love doing the thread art,
it's relaxing.

Thanks Correen for teaching me so much.

I  thought I would also update my "All the People's Quilt 2016 UFO Challenge".  I'm very happy how most of this is happening.  Wasn't very happy a couple of months ago.  But November's month is #9 and I'm already done that one!!!  So I'm very happy with what's going on here.

Project	Status Before	Status Afterward
1)  Pixilated Sunflower I created	All cut out and sewn, needs to be quilted.	April- Still quilting but now I've started the petals and this one is really going to be quilted beyond control!
2)  Birds on a wire from Quilt Mania	Have a birds cut out, and some of the small quilts.  Need to continue to put them on and quilt entire thing.	January - FINISH at the start of March - and it's fantastic.  See 2016 quilts tab above for a picture.
3)  Midnight Garden	All material there but haven’t cut anything	March - Well, I now have 6 blocks completed, and 6 to go.  I am almost finished 1 more (the pansies) and have the rose all cut out
4)  Garden that’s applique and wool – block of the month	All material is there but nothings been sewn or quilted.	July - Next year is another year  :) .
5)  Blue stars	Two stars made, need to come up with idea to bind	February - Have the design.  Need to complete but not on any of my lists.
6)  Houses – block of the month	All material is there,	August - Next year is another year for this one too!
7)  Block Lotto quilt - scraps	Missing 10 blocks – last two months, needs to be put together and quilted	OCTOBER - Working on this one right now.  I'm quilting it, so it should be done by the end of this month.
8)  Green strip quilt	Quilts entirely made except for a side edge to make it a queen size quilt.  Need to put on sashing then quilt it all	May was to be #7 but this one was done instead.  At least one more off the list.   FINISH
9)  Lily quilt - all flowers	All completed.  Even sold.  Need to quilt it.	NOVEMBER - FINISH - Look at this link.  It turned out really well.
10)  two more quilts from the book PreCut Primers – authors Me and My Sister Designs.	These use small little precuts to create.	JUNE - Have Grade 1 and grade 3, not grade 2 so it's completed.  FINISH
11) Modern quilt - quilt as you go...	New technique learned.	FINISH - see what the green and red quilt looks like.
12)  Chic Pattern	using a precut of 10 inch squares.  Easy - looks great.	SEPTEMBER.  Have everything ready to start.  On my list for the last quarter of quilts to complete.  Am DEFINITELY getting this one done soon.  Love the pattern.

One monthly Goal has moved!!

Patty at Elm Street Quilts is doing it now!!!  It's still the same, and she'll be doing it for the rest of 2016 and next year as well.  Yeah!!!!!  Another year of it, because it does help me!!!  Buy thanks to Heidi at Red Letter Quilts for doing it all this time!  It's a big job and you did a fantastic job at it as well.

OK, was too busy last month to submit anything but I'm doing it now.  So much to choose from, so I'll make it easy on me.  Been working on this one, starting to piece it together, it's my block Lotto quilt that is 2 (yes two) years old.  Need to get my UFO's down, because I keep on starting new ones, and I have one I want to start for Christmas for my cousin.  Here's what it looks like now, not sewn together, just placed, but we'll see if that's how it ends up.  Really modern right?  Made it with as many wild colour material that I could find in my stash, then brought it all together with that cool colour green.  Good luck to me!  Have fun everyone.

Weekend results after a storm.

This weekend I finished some UFO's that are more than two years old and I couldn't be happier.  This quilt was started with Aurifil.  This quilt is queen size.  By the way there is a 2016 Aurifil Designer of the Month BOM going on right now if you want to join that for a new quilt.

Quilted all the center piece, made it look 3D.

Look at the quilting.  It's all over.

I also created some pillow cases for the bed.  They match the inside of the quilt.  I'm so proud  :)

And finally a couple more Splendid Sampler blocks (which are only 6 and half inches in size).  That makes over 25 so far.  I'm really enjoying choosing which ones I want to complete because I'm behind so many so I don't need to keep up.  Two appliques and one paper piece.  I enjoy the paper piecing.

Finally, I have finished my aunts place mats to go with the the table runner.  So everything is doing very well.

4th Quarter Fun!!!!

Well the 4th quarter is the last quarter, and this one goes into Christmas.  I'm hooking this up to Leanne at "She Can Quilt" for the 2016 Finish A Long.

I have a couple of quilts that I need to make for gifts, but I also have a number of quilts that I want to complete because after this year, they'll be over 3 years old, and that just doesn't sit well with me.  Remember, I am a fabricaholic....

So what are my goals?  There are many, some that I did not finish the last quarter, some that I have all the material for, and it's just sitting there, and some BOM's that really need to be done, so I can start new ones..  I'm still going to do the BOM's of this year, listed below:

• Midnight Garden (6 done, goal the last to do and then finish the quilt before Christmas)
• Splendid Samplar - goal another 20 blocks.  That will make 40 six inch blocks, possibly enough to make a lap quilt.  
• The Canadian Mystery Quilt by Shania Sunga Designs.  Will have 3 or 4 more by the end and ready to do the final put together.
• Row by Row Water series - 2015.  Want to do 10 of them.  Two of them will be for gifts for this Christmas.
• Row by Row Home Series - 2016.  Want to do 5 of them as well.
• Craftsy Row by Row 2016 - Amish quilt.  It's started 2 months ago, so I need to catch up.  Looking at 5 sections to catch up with.

So the other big goal is to finish some of my blocks of the month quilts that I have started two years ago and need to end.  There are many of them and some have been on my list before, but this time I'll get them all done.

Here's the list of them, diagrams of where I am at, and other quilts that I would like to finish as eel.

I want to add a tree to the side of this quilt.  I call it Canada Parks, and there is just green on the right side, so I think a large tree running the full length of it would look fantastic.  For my guild's quilt show.
A quilt that I started with the tin club, but not enough was made as well there is some wool on it, so I would like to finish this one for Christmas.  It's squares, then corner squares, with a wool circle in the middle.   No picture
Vice Versa Block of the Month from 2014.  Have the straight lines to complete and one more block.  Will just need to quilt it.
As usual, the sunflower quilt. It's completed but this time I need to finish the quilting on it.  I started this a year and a half ago.  It will be one of my entries for my guild's show this summer.
I would like to do two more of these blocks.  I have two done.  So at the end that will be four.
From the Quilting guild, my star quilt.  I started this one two years ago, and it was suppose to be completed for that guild time, but I'll get it done for this one.
Complete 5 more blocks and finish the Lottery Block of the month from 2014
Snow Quilt - it's a row by row as well, and was a BOM.  Have all the material and some cut.	See my link on the side
Finish Quilting my BOM that I made with Amy Gibson, but the free styling quilting course from Craftsy is taught by Leah Day.  I've been at this one for about two years now.
Parisian Patches with some applique that I'm going to add.  Some of it is cut, but it's been sitting in a baggy just waiting to be completed.
Like everyone else I have a snowball quilt - similar to the picture on the side but with different material, that I have gathered up.  All old fashion, browns and blues.  It's a christmas gift for one of the secretaries.  Been sitting on this one as well for about
This is one of my Quilty Boxes.  I love them, they're like a secret gift every month.  The problem is that with everything else I have going, this is one more added to the pile, so I have included one on this list, because I want to make these, and give them away as gifts for Christmas.  That's the plan.

Some to START

I've realized that I don't like finishing everything, that I need to start some goals of starting quilts that I wanted to start for a while.  Some of these quilts I have everything for them, the material, the pattern, etc and I had this for quite a while.  They're all bagged up, material, pattern and everything, but I need to start.  Having these bagged items is the same as having UFOs, they're taking up space and are overwhelming.

Modern Quilt from Quilt Magazine
You and Me Quilt by Sew Chic.  I have all the material but I have not started it at all.  This one is new for me.  But I got all the material and such last summer, so it's a 2015 quilt.
This one is a gift for a friend.  It uses 2 1/2 inch strips, and it makes something similar to the picture on the right but it's in greens and browns.  Very earthy.  I have an idea exactly who it's for, a gift for Christmas.
It's big, its beautiful, and it looks fun.  This one is from McCall's Quick Quilts - October/November 2013 by Susan Guzman, and i've been dyeing to make it.  I have the material for the flowers, all Chinese material, I just need a matching background, then I'm off to the races.
I need to make 7 of these for Christmas gifts for the office staff and my department.  That's a lot but it doesn't take that much fabric.  one day of total usage (yeah sure   :)  What will happen?
I need to make a 25" by 25" block that is "Canadian" and has the colours red and yellow in it.    Looking at using the book Fying Colors by Gail Garber to design something with flying geese to canada.  It's appropriate.	Jackson
Have the material, the pattern, and more to make this quilt into a laptop. Design by Shania Sunga Designs Excited to play with it.  Looking at adding some other geese in it.  We'll see.  Hoping to put this one in the Quilt Show as well.
The other matching one.  This one is called Freedom by Shania Sunga Designs.  She's the same person doing the BOM Canadian Mystery Quilt.
I have all these rolls just sitting there.  So this pattern is from a Craftsy class and I would love to make this one or it's partner that has driesdons in it.
Finally for me.  Another pixel one.  Either this one or the star trek quilt.  Both I have a fabric for but did not start.  I was making the Star Trek one for the Canadian theme of my guild, after all Star Trek is Canadian.  But this one is faster.  So we'll see.

That's it.  And that's a lot.  I'm hoping that I won't pick up anything else new, but continue to follow this list.

3rd Quarter Update.

I had quite the list to do this 3rd period of quilting.  I've been extremely busy doing them and more.  Here are the ones that I said I would do and the finish products, side by side.

Quilting to complete

Art Deco by Siobhan Roger - COMPLETED

Garden Tea Party by the Quilting Company - Completed

    

Aurifil 2014 BOM - I call it the Secret Garden. - not completed. I added to the quilt to make it into a queen.  Did some quilting on the top, but still need to quilt the added pieces.  Doing "Quilting as you go" to this one.  NOT COMPLETED

My Sunflower Pattern that I made while learning Pixelation from a Craftsy class last year.  Darn it!!!.  I did do some quilting, all the dark quilting, but now I'm on the lighter brown.  This one will take forever!!!  NOT COMPLETED

Quilts to Make

Changing the 1st Grade Quilt by Me and My Sister Designs to a lap quilt - DONE

    

Celebrate Spring Panel Piece to be completed in the first month - I put the top together but need to quilt it.

Tulips by MH Designs - another one just sitting there.  Got this one done and on my table.  Only did four to fit my small living room table, but looks great.

  

Bowls for my mother.  NOT PART OF MY GOALS

 

BOM

• Splendid Sampler by Pat Sloan and a number of bloggers.  I had about 20 to catch up with, would of been happy with 10 in this quarter, and I think I've met my goal - 21 in total.  Look at these below but there are more now, since I set the goal (every 4 days a new one comes up).

• Canadian Mystery Quilt - Thought I would have 4 to do by the end of this quarter.  Have 3 done so far, so I'm pleased.  Was away for the last one and one was cancelled due to other blocks being given out.

DONE

And continuing on with the Midnight Garden BOM .  Wanted to do one a month and I've made it.  Four of them done. DONE

 

 

• And of course the Row by Row from last year.  Want to complete 15 this term, and get that USA  queen Row by Row quilt done.  I've already started the 2016 collection.  But did not meet my goal.  NOT DONE.

I painted the above myself, but the bottom is a christmas gift to my aunt.  With two placemats as well

The pattern above is from downtown Seattle - Undercover Quilts. - Wonderful quilt block to make - it's from the 2016 row by row entitled "Home"

EXTRAS (as usual:) Completed

Two new dish towels - pattern by Meags and me "birdie" . Material L's Modern 2015 Spring

Great background material

Front of pillow

Free pattern Spock by Vanda Chittenden found on Fandom in Stitches.



Crazy but pleased with all I have done.  Linking up with the  2016 Finish-A-Long