Monday Making

I finally found time to see what scrappy goodness was stuffed into the back of my car while at the Hall of Fame Picnic.  Some of these items were from the family of one of our inductees that passed last Fall and I am honored to have some of her love of quilting.

Another inductee doing some de-stashing asked me if I was still taking scraps.  I told her to share first with her guild and friends and I would take the smallest bits and uglies.  She stuffed this box!!

The first thing I do when I receive goodies like this is pull the largest pieces out first - makes those piles go down.  I noticed a lot of reds in almost every bag, box, and tote.  I use very little red other than a bit of 'pop' to some projects.   I have the theory of if you can't use it in two years - pass it on.  There is so much that I would never use it up as pop pieces over two years.  OH - I have a plan for these.

I have been debating over which 'color' to use with Kevin's two color quilt along mystery (button on the side bar).  I have a LOT of blue, but I've made so many blue quilts.  And then I thought blacks/greys, but I've made a lot of black quilts lately.  BAM - I'm going to use up the reds.

First I dumped my 1.5" barrel (you can chose what size square you want) and pulled all my reds  and made a lot of 4-patches.  Those shared reds are now being put into strattas to make up the 184 four-patches needed.  And there are so many twosies and so many singles.  It will be fun to have a quilt made from so many quilters' shared bits. 

The heat wave has broken - a good day to spend with my treasures and machine humming away.

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon

You Scream - I Scream

With most everyone still in a heat wave, this is the perfect excuse to enoy some ice cream today.  Although I think I could go for a Root Beer Float instead of a cone.

I would like to remind you that the Christmas in July Hop is still in progress.  I am going to ask you to go directly to SARAH's to see what she is so graciously offering and to lend her some much needed support.  She puts a lot of work into hosting various HOPS and EVENTS and I feel very badly that some people have not followed thru with their commitments during this HOP.

Since she's had a few MIAs, I would like to offer a couple of past posts/tutorials for some quick projects:

ANGEL ORNAMENTS

EASY SANTAS

Stay safe, stay cool, keep stitching - and have some ice cream

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Still Christmas in July

Remember that the Hop organized by the Amazing Sarah is still going on.  A lot of great projects, patterns, and tutorials have already been offered.  And don't forget there is that give away:

A fat quarter bundle of Wintertide by Figo Fabrics.  Lots of ways to enter with each host blog having the entry form as well as Sarah has it each day.   AND be nice and leave every one a comment as a lot of work went into this Hop.  Here is the list of the first six days:

Sunday, July 14th

L’Fair Quilts

Vrooman’s Quilts

Monday, July 15th

Sea of Estrogen

Tuesday, July 16th

Days Filled With Joy

The Colorful Fabriholic

Wednesday, July 17th

Pampered Pettit

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

Thursday, July 18th

Kathy’s Kwilts and More

Selina Quilts

Friday, July 19th

The Quilted Snail

My Mom is back home, so I am being kept busy.

I am finishing up the quilting on this sweet baby quilt  made by one of Mom's stitching buddies.  You can look closer - cute 1930's sailboat print.

Even Bella has calmed down.  She still wants to be close to me, so I set up stacked totes next to the quilting table and put my old 'house sweater" on top.  She stays off the commission quilt, is close to me, and certainly - relaxed. 

Sewingly Yours,

Sharon

Christmas in July

                                         

I was so happy when SARAH put the call out for interested hosts for the Christmas in July Blog Hop.  I've participated each year and it was a push to make a project that has been saved for years.

This is my inspiration to make an Advent Tree for my grandchildren.

I confess that I don't own the pattern, but mathed out my own plan.  I planned the center size and then figured how many patches I would need for the borders.  I don't particularly like to work with seasonal fabric, but this is simply some scrappy Christmas print reds with a white snowflake print background - that I can handle.  Strattas became twosies and twosies became 4-patches that then became borders.

Pulled some homespuns for the tree trunk and the limbs.  Add some fusible and then cut to the sizes I needed.

I just folded the ends and did a rough rounding cut.  This helped to loosen the fusable paper to make for easy removal.

Hey, I even put another border on!  You all know how I hate borders.  This pretty much used up that white snowflake fabric that has sat so long.  Now the original pattern I liked with the stockings and was thinking homespun would be cute, but this is for my grands and not me.

This is fun stuff to play with - Bosal.  It comes plain, fusible on one side, or fusible on both sides.  I had some scraps left (fusible both sides) from cutting out kits for a class I am teaching later this month - time to use them up.

I pulled the tote with the Christmas fabrics knowing I had baggies filled with cut down scraps in different sizes.  I went thru the 3.5" and 4.5" baggies and pulled out some prints I thought would work nicely for this next step.  And my neat pile of Bosal 3.5" squares cut from those scraps.

I like to use household items for templates when I can and that silver tin lid was the perfect size I needed and traced a circle on a square.  Simply press the Bosal between two squares, cut out, and then finish the edges with a zig-zag stitch - easy peasy.  A long sharp needle and some skinny ribbon made for quick hanging loops.

  

Next the some of the button boxes came out and I was looking for shank buttons.  You noticed I said 'some' - there are lots more.

Ooops - have to quilt and bind before I can add those buttons.  I was happy to use up that tree fabric for the backing and that was the last of my favorite stripe for bindings.

The buttons are all added and with the shanks it will make for easier hanging for small fingers.

As you can see, I didn't add the star.  This reminds me of my great Grandmother's feather tree and she never put a star on it.  I didn't number anything as I want the grands to enjoy their own creativity by being able to put any ornament chosen for the day where they want.  Since they have dietary allegies I didn't make pockets for candies, but you could (the stockies could be stuffed) so I plan on packaging each ornament with a little gift.  A little surprise each day. 

A close up of some of the 'ornaments'.  A very easy and quick project - and I have a start on the season!  I hope this encourages you to take that step outside of the box and go with the flow.  Imagine it and create it.

I have a give away as well, be sure to leave a comment on my blog post and that I have a way to contact you - shipping in the US only.  (will pull the winner on July 27th) This is 'Winter Tidings' w/ Timeless Treasures.  Some pretty metalic for your next project that might just be inspired by one of the hosts during this hop.

SARAH has found a wonderful company to sponsor a HOP give away:

A Fat Quarter bundle of 'Wintertide' by ' by FIGO.  She will have the entry form each day on her blog as well as each host for the day.  So many chance to win this lovely fabric.  *be sure you hit the submit button on the form or it won't process*

  

Merry Christmas in July,
Sewingly Yours,
Sharon