Playing with Scraps

Last night was the August edition of the Friday Nite Sew-In that is hosted by Heidi from Handmade by Heidi and Bobbie from Crafty Vegas Mom. I decided that I wanted to make something from my scraps stash and this mug rug fit the bill. I found this pattern at Bejeweled Quilts by Barb. It was perfect for my morning tea on the deck this morning.

FNSI for August.....

The Friday Night Sew In for August is coming up this Friday the 19th. Want to sign-up? Just click on the button in the right sidebar. Hope you join us!

Late to the party.....

Last night was the FNSI for July. It was just too darn hot to use the iron or even sit at the sewing machine. I started to embroider this panel last Saturday for the cuff of a pillowcase that I plan on making for my mom for Christmas. I worked on the rose leaves and started the butterfly while sitting in front of a fan and watching some T.V.

July FNSI

July FNSI is happening this Friday! What to work on? I have too many projects started and I really need to focus and finish something. Stay tuned to see which UFO I pull out to make some progess on and maybe even finish.

Making More Progress

Earlier this week I finally finished basting this quilt and was able to start machine quilting it. I was hoping to be able to put it on the quilt frame but it is too wide for the space I have so I am using my dining room table. I couldn't decide how I wanted to quilt this so I decided to a straight stitch across the width of the quilt and maybe try a little free motion quilting in the borders. Hearts and loops maybe, we shall see.

I can only work on this a little bit at a time because I am finding it quite heavy so I hope it will serve the purpose of a weighted blanket. I think I may use some of the left over strips of plaid for the binding. Anyone have any ideas?

Making Progress

June's Friday Nite Sew-In is fast approaching! June 17th is the date and I can't wait. I have been making progress on my son's quilt. I hope to have it basted so I can start the quilting Friday night. Wish me luck!

Another Start...

As some of you may know I have a 20 year old autistic son who sometimes has trouble sleeping. When he is up at night he enjoys bouncing on an exercise ball. The only problem with this is he has ripped every pair of pajama bottoms he owns.

His school teachers have told me that he seems to like deep pressure. That means he seems to settle down when he feels pressure on his body, something like a big hug. I decided to make him a weighted blanket. To purchase one it is very expensive so I am going to re-purpose his pj bottoms for this project. I found a Scrappy Trips Around the World block at Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville and thought this would be a perfect pattern for this quilt. For this quilt I am going to make 24 blocks using 2.5 inch strips from his pj bottoms and solid/tone on tone 2.5 inch strips from the scraps I just finished cutting and sorting. I am going to back it with denim from jeans that I have been saving. This isn't the way some weighted blankets are made but I hope this will be heavy enough for my son and it will be machine washable as well.

These blocks are the four I made last night. With the other blocks I have been working on that brings my total to 16 leaving only 8 more to make before I can assemble the quilt top.

FNSI results--a little late

Friday night was the April edition of the Friday Nite Sew-In. The weekend was a little busy so I didn't get this posted until now. I sat in front of the television and worked on the quilt I started for my youngest son about 3 years. I have been hand quilting this quilt and I really love the look of it but my stitching isn't very straight sometimes so I end up pulling out almost as many stictches as I am putting in. No wonder it is taking me so long to get it finished! The batteries died in my camera so I had to use this older picture because I am now working on the block next to the one in the picture.

Friday Nite Sew-In

The April Friday Nite Sew-In is happening this Friday the 18th. After all the planning and organizing for the vow renewal ceremony and party for my husband's and my 25th anniversary I am looking forward to getting back to my sewing machine!

Friday Nite Results

My husband and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary in a few weeks. To celebrate we are going to renew our wedding vows. My niece is a very good photographer and she will be taking pictures of the event. The venue we are using is a little plain so to add some colour to the pictures I made these drapes for a backdrop. Now on to the rest of the details!

Friday Nite Sew-In

The Friday Nite Sew-In for March is happening on the 18th of March. Not sure what I will be working on yet. I started out this year with the thought of finishing off my UFO's but I get so distracted lately. I start one project that leads to another and then the first one gets left behind. As the saying goes, sew many projects, sew little time!

Free Motion Practice

Last week I decided to organize my scraps and in doing so I found this UFO that I don't remember making or even why I made it. It is the perfect size for a table topper. I decided to make mug rugs to match and finish these off to use on the patio table this summer. I also decided that this would be a good way to practice my free motion machine quilting.

When I layered the top with the batting and backing I found that the sides were not straight so I ripped out all the borders and did a quilt and flip quilt as you go method to reattach them. This way it was basted and my seams were corrected at the same time.

On to the machine quilting! I have not done much free motion quilting so this turned out pretty bad. I am not to bothered because it is only a practice piece and I will be using it outside.

I noticed that the bobbin thread was showing through the top. I loosened the top thread tension but it didn't seem to make any difference. Does anyone have any advice how to prevent this?

I also progress on the four mug rugs to go with the table topper. I didn't have any of the original check fabric left from the topper but I did find this smaller check that looks good. I haven't used my scraps very much but I hate to throw anything away so it felt good to use all scraps for these.

Friday Nite Sew-In

Tonight is the night! February's Friday Nite Sew-In is happening tonight. I am looking forward to practicing my free motion quilting or should I work on some hand quilting? Not sure yet but this is the type of fibre fix I am looking for. What will you be working on?

Friday Nite Sew-In

January's Friday Nite Sew-In is happening tomorrow night. Today I finally made some progress with my free motion quilting by making a "sew slip" by using this tutorial from Jill at The Quilt Rat. I think for my project for the sew-in I will practice my free motion quilting. I signed up for the free motion quilt along (see side bar for link) from Christina over at A Few Scraps but I am a terrible procrastinator and haven't done much with it. I am hopeing to make some progress tomorrow night.

Friday Night Sew-In

Heidi from Handmade by Heidi and her friend Bobbi from Crafty Vegas Mom are hosting 2 Friday Nite Sew-Ins for December. The first one is on the 10th and the second is on the 17th. Hope to work on some of the Christmas sewing. I wonder if baking counts?

Friday Nite Sew-In Results

I haven't blogged in almost a month and now 2 posts in 2 days. The reason for this is one, we had to reformat our computer and I had to reload some of the programs I had on it and just didn't take the time to do it and two, I was concentrating on finishing the I Spy quilts (see previous post). For the Sew-In last night I made the labels for the quilts but didn't get them stitched on yet as my fingers are a bit sore from sewing the binding down earlier in the day.

After I finished the labels I decided to continue working on the child's hat that I started knitting last week.

Friday Nite Sew-In

Sometimes I can't believe how quickly time goes by. November's Friday Nite Sew-In is happening on the 19th. I really look forward to these Sew-In's because I usually get a lot accomplished. I think this would be a good chance to work on some Christmas gifts. To sign up for this fun evening visit Heidi at Handmade By Heidi.

Friday Nite Sew-In Results

I have been working on this afghan for a few years now off and on. Last night I was able to crochet some of the rows together. When it is finished it will have ten stripes. I usually work on it this time of year in hopes to get it finished in time to display it for that Christmas. Maybe this year??

October's Friday Nite Sew-In

October's Friday Nite Sew-In is happening on October 15th. Click on the link if you want to join in. I do look forward to this because it is time I set aside to sew. I am hoping to make some progress on my great nieces quilts.

Friday Nite Sew-In Results

I didn't get a lot done this time around. I made a Quick Strippie quilt top from Mary Quilts with the intend to use it with the free motion quilt along. My best friend was over for a visit yesterday and saw it, she liked it enough that she would like to have it. I decided to quilt it on my frame. I spent last night loading it into the frame and started quilting it. My thread kept breaking so before I got frustrated I walked away to try again later.