Project of Doom, Continued

I'm still working on my Project of Doom quilt, but at a slower pace than I was earlier this year.  Here's the latest block:

 

Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean and Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century

 

Grand Illusion, Step 5

Bonnie took pity on us and gave us another easy step this week.  We've been gone since Christmas, and my first chance to work on this was yesterday afternoon. 

As expected, I ran out of pink (my constant fabric) on this step had to substitute another pink that is very close in color but has no pattern.  Bonnie Hunter quilts are usually so busy, it won't really matter.  I'm also very low on turquoise. 

To see more mystery quilt progress::  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-5.html

Last Stash Report of 2014

Well, I didn't use more than I added this year, but for all intents and purposes, I broke even.  I did cheat a little by buying some fabric online this week.  I won't get it until next week, so I don't have to report it until the new year.


Used This Week:  3.75 yards                                                    
Used Year to Date: 79.375 yards 
Added this week:  0 yards 
Added year to date: 81.875 yards
 Net Added:  2.5  yards

To see more stash reports:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2014/12/28/fabric-report-week-52-2014/

Christmas Quilts

I've only made two Christmas quilts so far.  This one is a retro Santa quilt.  The pattern is Voila! by Swirly Girls Design.
This was a super simple pattern to do and went together quickly.  I made this about a year and a half after I started quilting.

I hope you can see the Christmas trees in the quilting.

My other Christmas quilt was made of a Crazy Eight jelly roll that I won.  I bought more of the line after Christmas when it was on sale.  I'm still using pieces of it in my scrap quilts.  I had to make this quilt long and narrow to suit my husband.  He complains if his nap quilt isn't long enough to wrap around his feet and still come up to his neck.

I've done a lot more Christmas cross stitching than quilting.  Here are our stockings:

We bought kits for our stockings right after we were married in September, 30 years ago.  I told my husband there was no way I could get them both done for Christmas that year, so he stitched his own!  His mom was a cross stitcher, so he knew the drill.  His stitches are as neat as mine.

This is my first son's stocking.  It  had lots of confetti stitching and was quite a challenge for me to stitch.  I think it is a beautiful scene, but  he always wanted one like ours with teddy bears.

This is our second son's stocking.  It reminds me of a Dickens novel.

The Believe stocking is our third son's.  It took forever to do all that solid stitching, and it wasn't done until his third Christmas. 

My MIL stitched us a tree skirt several years ago.  Until we got our beagle, we actually used it.  I am afraid the dog will chew on it, though, so I haven't used it in 5 years.

Linking up with Bonnie:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/12/a-very-merry-happy-holiday-linky-party.html

http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/2017/12/christmas-quilt-show_17.html?utm_source=bloglovin.com&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:

One More Quilt

I completed this quilt top about 5 years ago in a class on color.  The goal of this class was to step out of our usual color palette.  I think this quilt looks preppy:  pink and green.

 

This quilt is 62"x69".  It is a gift for a college friend who has been having some health issues.  The back is peacock pinwale corduroy. 

 It reminds me of my college years at William and Mary (1980-1984).  Lots of the Greek girls wore  bright florals in pink and green.  That is, when they weren't wearing plaid skits and clogs.  ( I spent hours in the chemistry lab, so my  college wardrobe was old, holey jeans, T-shirts and sneakers.)

Linking up with Sarah:  http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/2014/12/can-i-get-whoop-whoop-successful.html
and http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2014/12/quiet-christmas-quilt-top.html

Grand Illusion, Step 4

I'm happy to report that I completed Step 4 last Friday.  It was a relatively easy step, which I appreciate this time of year!  I won't be working on Step 5 until at least Dec. 30 because of Christmas.

 

Linking up with Bonnie:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-4.html

Stash Report and Snap Bags

I made a couple of  little snap bags for Christmas gift cards holders this week.

 

Then I looked through a bag of scraps a friend had given me and made a snap bag for her out of some her orphan blocks.  She will get it back for Christmas, but I need to think of something small to put into the bag too.

 

 

 

 There are many tutorials online for snap bags that use metal measuring tapes as closures. The hardest part of making these little bags is cutting the metal measuring tape.  I bought a new one to cut up, but last night my DH told me he had just thrown away an old one! The first snap bag I made didn't turn out big enough, even for a gift card!  I will probably take that one apart and salvage the fabric.

Used This Week:  0.25 yards                                                    
Used Year to Date: 75.625 yards 
Added this week:  0 yards 
Added year to date: 81.875 yards
 Net Added:  6.25  yards

To see more stash reports:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2014/12/21/fabric-report-week-51-2014/

Wild and Goosey

I have bags of quilting crumbs, strings and trash scraps, little bits most people would throw away.  I have wanted to use some of them for a while now but hadn't found the right project.  Last week I came across Wild and Goosey on Angela's blog and fell in love with it.

http://moderndiary.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-past-and-presents.html

Yesterday I started making Wild and Goosey blocks.  They are paper pieced and take a while to do, but they are so cute!

 

This will have to be a long term project.  I'll need to make many of them before I have enough for a quilt!

Grand Illusion, Step 3

I haven't completed GI step 3 yet, but I have 240 partial units made. They should be finished by the time the next clue comes out on Friday.

We were out of town this weekend for a soccer tournament, so I didn't have much time to sew.  The weather was a pleasant surprise.  Saturday night's game was pretty cold, but it was almost 60 Sunday morning.  Warmer than I would have expected for a December tournament! 

Linking up with Bonnie:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-3.html

Stash Report

I planned to use only my stash for Bonnie Hunter's new mystery.  You know where this is going already, right?  Well I didn't have enough orange, or rather, I had enough orange but not enough variety in orange for a scrap quilt.   So I went by an LQS and solved that problem. A couple of the pieces are from April Rosenthal's new line BEST.DAY.EVER!  I like the bright colors in this line of fabric.

 I'm thinking about maybe making a quilt for a little girl out of this line because my brother and his partner may be adopting again!  The child they adopted last year has a brother and half sister who are coming up for adoption, and the agency asked if they would be interested in the other two kids.  Nothing is set in stone yet, and we'll know more in January.  But if they do adopt, both kids will need welcome to the family quilts!

Used This Week:  0 yards                                                    
Used Year to Date: 75.375 yards 
Added this week: 1.75 yards 
Added year to date: 81.875 yards
 Net Added:  6.5 yards

We are out of town, so I have no new quilt pictures to share, but I try to post a new pictures with every post, so here's my first amaryllis to bloom.  It is super short, just about 12 inches tall.  I've never had good luck with amaryllis bulbs, so I'm happy to see it bloom.

 

To see more stash reports:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2014/12/14/stash-report-week-50-2014/

Sewing Space

In less than two hours, I got 80% of the mess in my sewing space cleaned up.  It's not all organized, but scraps are all picked up, trash thrown away and the floor is vacuumed.

 

My sewing machine is in the corner of our bedroom, so out of respect for my husband, I try and keep things reasonably neat.  Once in a while it gets out of control, but he never complains. 

 

I'm ready to sew now!

Need to Clean

I am a messy quilter.  I pull fabric out and don't put it back.  I drop paper all over the floor when I'm tearing it off of a paper pieced block.  I miss the trash can when I'm trimming dog ears.  Right now my sewing space is out of control.  I've been meaning to clean it up for a couple of weeks now but haven't gotten around to it yet.  If I show you my mess, I'll have more incentive to get it cleaned up.

 

Today I lost my second seam ripper in there.  I need to clean it up!!!

Grand Illusion, Step 2

I finished Step 2 of Grand Illusion today.

Bonnie gave 3 different methods for making these units, but I decided to use Deb Tucker's (Studio 180) Corner Pop tool instead.  The ruler is pricey, but, for me, the accuracy makes it worth the price. I don't mind sliver trimming if that will help my accuracy.  http://www.studio180design.net/videos/?id=32

I've made several Bonnie Hunter patterns with that same unit, and my accuracy was never very good before.  I can't say that all my units are perfect now, but they are much better than they used to be. I believe the only way I could get better accuracy would be to paper piece them.

Linking up  with Mystery Monday:   http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-2.html

Stash Report

Are you tired of seeing pillowcases yet?  I made three more last week.  The Great Pumpkin pillowcase is a Christmas gift for a friend's mom who loves Peanuts.  We spend Christmas Eve with our friend's extended family, and give small gifts to her parents. 

 

The baseball ones are for my squeaky wheel sister who has been dropping big hints that she would like homemade pillowcases.  She lives within walking distance of the National's baseball field and sees as many games as she can, so I think she will like them.

Used This Week:  3.875 yards                                                    
Used Year to Date: 75.375 yards 
Added this week: 2.0 yards 
Added year to date: 80.125 yards
 Net Added:  4.75 yards

Project of Doom Toad Block

I finished the embroidery on another POD block.  Both times I've made Trevor the Toad, I've had a hard time getting everything to match up correctly.  The second time was easier than the first, but I still had issues.  I am not entirely happy with this block, but I'm not making the darn toad again!  This time I am not happy with the contrast between the dark back legs of the toad and the background fabric.

 

 

 

I decided to outline the back legs to make them stand out a little more.  That helps but doesn't entirely fix the problem. 

 

 

 

Here's Trevor the way he appeared in my first POD quilt.

 

 

The most exciting quilting news of the week is that I have finished piecing all 30 blocks for the body of the bookcase.

 

 

There are still 10 blocks that need titles, and I will be making more blocks for the items that are on the top of the bookcase.

 

 

Grand Illusion, Step One

I got step one of Grand Illusion done this morning.  I wasn't sure until I started cutting what colors I would use.  So far, they are Bonnie's colors but in different places.  The pink is consistent in this step, but I won't have enough of it for the whole quilt. The goal is to use my stash only.

 

To see more Grand Illusion Quilts:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-1.html

Stash Report

I have fabric used to report this week because I made pillowcases.  And then I went out today and bought more fabric for more pillowcases.  Tis the season, I guess!

Used This Week:  3.625 yards                                                    
Used Year to Date: 71.5 yards 
Added this week: 2.625 yards 
Added year to date: 78.125 yards
 Net Added:  6.625yards

Christmas Pillowcases

I finished 3 pillowcases today.   The farm one is for my nephew.  The Grinch one will be used to wrap a Christmas gift.

 

The third one I'd already used to wrap a gift before I remembered to take a picture.  It is not really Christmassy, but my BIL loves comic books, so it is perfect for him.

 

You can see the cuff and band in this picture.  I used safety pins to hold the whole thing together. 

 

 

Stash Report

I bought fabric this week to make two pillowcases that I'm going to use to wrap Christmas gifts in.  They need to be done by Thanksgiving because we always send our Christmas gifts home with my sisters, so the gifts will be there Christmas day, even if we aren't.  Most of my siblings split the holidays between my parents and their in-laws.

Used This Week:  0 yards                                                    
Used Year to Date: 67.875 yards 
Added this week: 2.5 yards 
Added year to date: 75.5 yards
 Net Added:  7.625 yards

Thanksgiving is usually the big holiday when we all get together at my house.  This year will be different because my dad broke his hip and had surgery last week.  My mom plans to stay home this year, and one of my sisters will stay with her.  My brother's FIL had eye surgery recently and can't travel, so his family will stay home with him.  There will still be about 40 people here for Thanksgiving, though.

I haven't done much sewing this week because I spent the week Christmas shopping and wrapping.  Two of my boys have birthdays the first week of December, so I did some birthday shopping too.  I did get one more POD block embroidered.

 

From Egg to Inferno, a Dragon Keeper's Guide; The Tales of Beedle the Bard and Defensive Magical Theory.

I recently learned that there is going to be a POD quilt along starting in January.  I've gone back and forth over this:  do I really need another Project of Doom quilt?  Not now, but maybe some day.  Wouldn't it be great to have the blocks already pieced when I do need one?  Surely, one of my future grandchildren will be a Harry Potter fan.  So I think I'm going to plan on making another.  All I'll need to get is background fabric.

To see more stash reports:  http://www.patchworktimes.com/2014/11/23/stash-report-week-47-2014/

Carolina Christmas Progress

My only goal for Carolina Christmas this year was to get the borders pieced.

After that was accomplished, I wanted to put it all away and pull it out next November. But Monday morning I decided to sew for just one hour more on CC.  I ended up sewing for 2 hours and got 12 blocks together.

Today I worked another couple of hours and got the last 12 together.  I think I've earned a break from this quilt for  a while. 

 

Linking up with Jo:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/22604/

A Late Stash Report

We had  company this weekend, so I didn't spend a lot of time on the computer.  My friend and I hit two quilt shops while she was here, and I made a small purchase:  fabric for a pillow case for my nephew.

Used This Week:  0 yards                                                    
Used Year to Date: 67.875 yards
Added this week: 1.375 yards  
Added year to date: 73.0 yards
 Net Added:  5.125 yards

While my friend was here, I pulled out all my unquilted tops to show her. I have a lot of them.  My friend told her husband I have 'at least 50', but I think it is more like 15.  We should have counted them!

Last night I finished the embroidery on another POD block.

 

Holidays With Hags, Magical Drafts and Potions, Moste Potente Potions, Wanderings With Werewolves, Encyclopedia of Toadstools, Armando Dippet: Master or Moron?

 

This is not one of the Fandom in Stitches blocks but my own very simple design. I needed a block to fill in a space in the quilt because I am not putting the witch's hat on the bookshelf.  I may put it on the top of the shelves, but I haven't decided for sure yet.

Fall in My Yard

Most of the trees in our woods have turned color now.

 

The prettiest trees in my yard are the crape myrtles.  They turn orange or red in the fall. The leaves are small enough that they don't have to be raked up.  My husband just runs them over with the lawn mover and mulches them into the grass. To me crape myrtles are the perfect tree:  beautiful all four seasons.  I love their flowers in the summer, and I love their bare trunks in the winter.

There aren't many flowers now in my yard, but one camellia bush is blooming.

 

Something that looks odd to me in the woods is the way the small trees catch the pine needles that fall.  We have big pine trees in our yard, and the needles that fall and get caught on the small trees remind me of icicles.

 

 

 

Another thing I love about the fall is the seed pods.  I'm not sure what kind of plant this is.  It sort of looks like a cross between a lily and  an iris.  It probably came from my sister's garden originally.