SAL Update 1.8

Christina30 Comments

Our first SAL update for the new year! I’m feeling pretty good about this one! I’m almost done with a page from this cross stitch pattern and as you can see someone else has made an appearance 🙂 Also, check out this wonderful thread catcher my mom made me! It’s fantastic for not only holding onto all those little snippets, but for minding my thread in use too. When mom told me she was making me one, I told her, “Good, my husband keeps finding the pile next to the couch!“

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We are happy to announce 2 new members to our group! Man, we are growing fast!!

Welcome Linda and Catherine! We all have such a wonderful time stitching on different and exciting projects, I know you’ll enjoy being part of the group 🙂

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, LucyAnn, Kate, Jess, Sue, Constanze, Debbierose, Susan, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Helen, Steph, Wendy, Linda, Catherine

Click on the group member links above to see all the great projects that are stitching up in 2017!

I’m almost done with my cloth napkins and tea towels in the sewing room too. That’s one goal I’m so close to marking off the list! Hope to post on those soon 🙂 Stay warm!

Reflecting on 2016 and Looking Onward

Christina16 Comments

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope everyone had a joyous and safe new year’s celebration! I spent the evening baking cookies with family and toasting to the new year with champagne. We didn’t quite make it to midnight, but the sentiment was still there 🙂 As I approached the last week of December I felt that I had not completed many of the goals I had planned for 2016. I always feel this way at the end of a year, but once I look back and reflect on the creations I made and the busyness of every day life for us this year, I’m feeling more content with how 2016 turned out.

Here’s what I completed in 2016:

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I had 3 commissions and lots of baby showers 😀 Aside from quilts, we also completed the sewing/guest room for which I made curtains and learned how to use the rolled hem foot. Now these are just the completed works you see in the slide show. I also started many new projects and worked on some old projects, which brings me to my 2017 goals.

For 2017, I have decided to make this year the year of UFOs! Time to get my list of projects shortened. My goal is to finished the oldest of UFOs and work towards the newest. I will NOT start any new projects, UNLESS it’s a commission or a baby shower and I can whip up a whole cloth baby blanket. Hold me to this guys! No ifs, and, or buts! ha-ha

Here’s what I have so far…this is just a few from my list that I want to work on first:

  1. Commissioned Quilt Project
  2. Batik Quilt – this top is probably almost 3 years old.
  3. TBT Quilt
  4. x and + Quilt
  5. Sunburst Quilt for wall hanging
  6. Cloth napkins and Kitchen tea towels – newest of ufo’s, but it’s a Need.
  7. Projects with mom
    1. Hand Sewing Project Bag (I NEED this for my x-stitch projects)
    2. Esmie Top (my first apparel project)
  8. Winnie the Pooh cross-stitch

There’s definitely more to this! On my written to-do list, I have about 18 projects! Luckily, I have these organized in my lovely new planner ❤

planner-to-do-listplanner-january

I will also continue working on the garden and our home. Husband and I have a list going for our House goals as well. I also hope to blog about the garden more as this fell behind in 2016.

Much to look forward to! I better go get started 😀

Elephant Baby Quilt

Christina6 Comments

As mentioned before, there were a couple of whole cloth baby quilts that I made last month. I showed you the butterfly quilt a couple of weeks ago and I’m happy to now show you the second, an elephant baby quilt. This blanket was probably the quickest quilt I’ve ever made! I had learned about a cousin’s baby shower a little late for quilting comfort, so I decided a whole cloth might be completed in time. The weekend before the shower I purchased the fabric, cut, basted, and quilted….a day before the shower I was able to bind and wash it 🙂 whew!

The shower/nursery theme is elephants with grey and pink colorways and that’s exactly what I found on my fabric search. The cotton top is a repeating print of a mom and baby elephant. The flannel back is a very soft pink. While shopping, I was torn between 3-4 different shades of pink, but finally decided on the softest hue. The diagonal quilting was totally free hand, no measuring or marking! I did my best to stay in between the traveling elephants. For the binding I found a tone on tone grey floral print, which paired nicely. I didn’t realize that this was a wide fabric as it was wrapped nicely on a normal sized bolt. To my discovery when I got home, it was 109″W! I bought a 1/2 yard and only needed to cut 2 strips 😀 Left overs in my stash for more binding!

Forgot to photograph before putting in the wash and dry. You get to see the comfy crinkle effect!

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While mom-to-be received many blankets for her winter baby, this one definitely stands apart from the rest! Plus, you can never have too many blankies ❤