A Quilty Finish

Debbie at A Quilter’s Table nudged, those of us who participated in the Postcard QAL, ever so politely, to link up for a finish. I’m so glad she did as it was the very thing I needed to give this fun little quilt project priority. Today I pin-basted, free motion quilted, then bound this little quilt. It was fun, and so nice to have a quilty finish!

Check out her blog on Monday to see other quilts in this QAL in a linkup!

I’ve been busy and creative lately, but haven’t done very much quilting. Hence my lull here. Did you want to see my other pursuits? You tell me. Here are some recent photos I’ve taken.

I’ve been knitting.

I’ve been cooking, and doing all sorts. Oh, and yes, I do have a big ‘ol day job, so I don’t do a ton of sitting around, but I’ve never known if I should share my other creative activities on what is clearly a blog about quilting. So here you are, a bit of both.

Thanks for stopping by, and may your spool be endless!

-Letty

Bugs and Bags

Tomorrow I’m back at work after a lovely, long summer of sewing and relaxation. My husband says that in the summer I turn into a ‘one woman sweatshop’! I guess it’s true because I just love to make things. I go into my sewing room, put on the Netflix (I’m watching Last Tango in Halifax right now), and I’m in my happy place.

I’ve made a ton of bags this summer, finally finishing up one I am totally excited about. It’s the Everything in its Place bag by Annie which was from the same Craftsy Class called Sew Sturdy Travel Organizers that I took and made my travel organizer bag in. Her instructions are wonderful, but of course some of it was a bit challenging.

Here are photos of my finish. I’ve already piled it full of tidbits that I need for a Sue Spargo pincushion class I’m taking at a local quilt shop, with two of three of my best, lovely stitchy friends, Janet and Anita.

In keeping with my sweatshop fever, I saw something I’d never seen before just this morning. It’s a German fad called a Leseknochen (which I am daringly translating as neck pillow). I found a template and tutorial here on Sew4Home, and whipped on up immediately! I put some fusible fleece in mine because I’m a bit princess and the pea about lumps, but none of the tutorials I saw did…

Unless I find something I MUST sew this afternoon or evening, I believe that concludes my summer of sewing. Bugs? Well I don’t want to horrify my regular readers with all the pics I’ve taken this summer, but if you want to see what I’m talking about you can check out my flickr pages for spiders. Let’s just say I have had my absolute fill of bugs, even though I know I still have a few bags on my to do list! Next one will likely be the Beetle Bag. My other lovely, stitchy friend Inger and I are going to team up on this I think.

May your spool be endless!

-Letty

P.S. I love comments, and always answer them via individual email 🙂

Farmy Quilt Show

Saturday I had the happy experience of going to the Buggy Barn outdoor quilt show in Reardan, Washington. Amidst the difficulties, sorrows, and concerns of real life, a trip to this show is like a tonic. It was colorful and wonderful in all ways. My girlfriend Inger and I snapped dozens of photos for future reference, and made some fun basket (and need I say fabric) purchases.

Favorite quilt? This one, with amazing wool applique.

Second runner up for fabulous was this one. Don’t you just love the label!?

 

The only thing that didn’t go right was the plan to meet up with my Flickr pal Moni. Guess my phone coverage was less than adequate there. A shame, but we’ll try again.

The drive to and from this show was beautiful too. In case you haven’t noticed on my Flickr site, I’m in love with Washington State.

I think this may be my favorite show of all just because of the setting. You should go next time if you can!

You can see more pictures of the quilt show in my video here: https://flic.kr/p/oUuE16

May your spool be endless,

-Letty

Quilty Travelling Plans

Yay, I have somewhere to go!  I’m off next weekend to the Buggy Barn Quilt Show in Reardan Washington.  Today I finished my Sew Sturdy Travel Organizer, so I’ll be going in style!  Can I just say how much I LOVE Craftsy!

 

Meet me at the show!  May your spool be endless,

-Letty

Tinker Tote Confessions

Okay, well no one is going to accuse me of being prideful today.  I’m going to tell you the embarrassing truth about my Tinker Tote.  Yes, it came out cute, and I actually love it, but it isn’t supposed to be that shape at all.  I printed up the pattern which was VERY clearly marked with a fold line on one side, and when making the bag I put the fold on the other side!  Then I made my lining with the fold where it was supposed to be.  Now I have a finished bag and a finished lining that don’t fit together at all.  I was scratching my head and got so frustrated I had to walk away for a minute.  When I calmed down I finally tweaked to what had happened.  The outer bag looked so good I didn’t even notice that it was high in the middle and low on the outsides.  That’s not right! Google Tinker Tote and see all the zillions of pictures from people who did it right!

The lining was correct, low in the middle and high on the outsides.  No wonder they didn’t fit together!  Okay – so the obvious solution, since I’d already put on my hand painted linen flap, and used all my favorite fabric scraps, was to make another lining the wrong way – copying the mistake I’d made with the outer bag.  I did this.  It gave me an opportunity to use Tara Rebman’s (who does a marvelous job as the Craftsy instructor and pattern designer.  Don’t let my silliness lead you to any other conclusion!) method of putting in a zippered pocket a second time.  What a pleasure that is.  I got the class for $19 on sale, and that method alone was well worth the price!

I do love it, but I’m making another the correct way – except I have printed the pattern out at 70% so it will be a lot smaller, and I’ll leave out the stiff stuff.  So there you go – I’m a “dork burger” as my sisters called me, but I did still managed to get a pretty darned cute bag out of the process!

May your spool be endless,

-Letty

 

 

Linking up!

 

Fally Finish

While I’m still very much in summer mode, the autumn is approaching. I’m trying not to ignore the beautiful natural signals that it’s on its way. There are beautiful golden and brown leaves that are beginning to decorate my lawn, and the shadows in the morning look a bit different.

Great timing for me since I just put the final stitches on my Fig Tree & Co. spools quilt. While I seldom make quilts from kits anymore, I saw this one, and it was love; I had to make it!

Next up is a Tinker Tote. This is a pattern in a class on Craftsy called Quilt as you Go Patchwork Bags. I can’t wait!

May your spool be endless.

-Letty

Now I Just Need Somewhere to Go

Lots of fun making this bag over the last few days.  My lovely girlfriend Pam and I did it together via Skype sewing play-dates.  We’ve done this for all kinds of activities since we love to be creative together.   So fun!  Pattern by Studio Cherie.

House Block ‘Fail’

The other morning I got it in my head to make some little houses.  I messed around in EQ7 designing some that fit what I had in mind and printed out the block.  Then I went to my stash and miraculously found the identical colors of fabric that I wanted.  This was meant to be! -or not… I made a couple of blocks and felt pretty good about them, but then I decided to FMQ (this is shorthand for free motion quilt) them and… I don’t know… I don’t think I did that great  a job, and suddenly they didn’t look a bit like what I had in mind originally.  And then, my muse flew away!  So, I guess I have a couple of mug rugs?  Eh it was fun for a bit.  I love just exercising my creating bursts and whether they turn into ‘winners’ or not, well, the joy of making was still there!

May your spool be endless,

-Letty

 

 

 

Summer – Ready, Set, Sew!

Well I may have spoken a bit too soon about getting my mojo back. But it’s hard to say since I was working away at my, very distracting real job. But now I’m on summer break, and I’m already living in my sewing room!

Yesterday I put together a top for the Post Card Quilt Along being hosted by Debbie at A Quilter’s Table. This is a blog I’ve loved forever. It was such fun to pull fabrics and just play crazy artiste’. I have learned that for me, it is the color and value that mean everything with fabrics, rarely the print itself is more important.

I also managed to finish the quilting and bind the little mystery quilt that my local guild was doing. We’ll be showing them off next week and I can’t wait to see what others did. My inspiration for the straight line quilting (not that I haven’t used it before) came from a fun Craftsy class that I bought. I think she does a great job of teaching it – but I sew on a Bernina, and if I didn’t, I might not be quite as happy with her technique since it relies a lot on the Bernina style of walking foot.

I’ve got a pile of UFOs that I’m determined to diminish this summer – but I won’t cheat myself of the joy of a new project here and there.  What are you planning for your summer sewing?

May your spool be endless,

-Letty

Mojo Meter Rising

My quilting mojo has been at a low. Now I’m not saying this is all bad. I’ve been knitting, learning lots of new software stuff, and generally being creative, but I have barely taken a stitch until this week. Finally, I got my momentum up by participating a tiny bit in the Patch Pack Mini QAL that is being hosted by Quarter Inch Mark. These tiny blocks are so quick to make that they are really, really fun, and I highly recommend them for anyone who is having a lull like mine.   My good friend Mimi’sdarlins invited me – I adore her projects. Just check out how her Vintage QAL quilt is coming along!

Of course last you heard from me before this stitching malaise, I was having a bit of a battle… the angel won I think because although I started a new project (the Triangle QAL – just could not resist!), I did use my stash. Here is a progress pic.

Finally, I’ve actually completed a little project. My local guild is finishing a four-part mystery quilt. Here is my finished version. It looks huge in some pics, but don’t let that fool you. Here is my hubby helping out, and you can see how small it is, around 40 inches square.

How is your sewing mojo meter reading? If low, seriously make a couple of the little Patch Pack Mini’s!

I nearly forgot to say that I’ve won a giveaway this week!!! Hee hee – The wonderful Connecting Threads folks drew my name to win a fabric bundle and a book!  More details to come.

May your spool be endless!

-Letty