Finally have a finish

Yes, I finally have a finished project! Yeah!!

Seems like so long ago, (beginning of March) I decided to use up this fabric. It looks wonderful in my son's bedroom and he doesn't have rug so ... let's make a rug.

At the end of March, it was still in the quilting stage.

April showed up and I buckled down to finish this one. It got all quilted in the first week. Then what?

Do I add borders?

Which one? The darker blue? The lighter blue?

I didn't like it. Both of them. It made the project look like a baby quilt lying on the floor. So I had to think really hard about this and then, it dawn on me. Buttonhole stitches.

Just like I did for the rag rug in the playroom. I know that the sides will fray for awhile but that's okay. The ends won't fray that much because I added a little something to make it look even more like a carpet.

Not too bad, right? Well at least, his toes will be warmer when he gets out of bed. :^)

Here's a picture of the  back so you can see the quilting.

It's suppose to be waves like a small river but you can only see them from the back. Which looks like muddy water lol.

Anywho! On to some more fun stuff.

I want to show you what I got in a little squishy envelope about two weeks ago. I was the lucky winner in a draw Julie (JulieKQuilts) had on her blog.

A beautiful batik FQ in my favorite colour (ah! Somebody knows me well!) It will be added to the package of batiks I won from Ellen (Little Jewel Quilts) last year. Soon I will be able to make a beautiful batik quilt. :^D

Julie also sent me a little charm. Oh! But the smallest and CUTEST charm I have EVER seen.

Thimble and scissors to show size of the charm which is only ONE inch. Precious! Thank you so much, Julie. I am thrilled to get one of these. The charm is hand made by Julie (another Julie) at Me and My Stitches. She has an incredible talent.

And now for the linky party:

WIPs Be Gone
Can I get a Whoop Whoop?
OMG


Hope to see you there too.

Until next time ...

;^)

Sunny Day, Purple Month and OMG

As promised, I took pictures of my latest finish, My Secret Garden, today as it was finally a sunny day.

After a lot of hard work, (for me anyway),  here's my first finish of 2016.

Hexie flowers; some are appliqued and some are machine quilted in the middle squares.

The back is a patchwork of old fabric from the stash of fabric for garments. Again, did some pajamas for the boys with those cars fabrics waaaaaayyyyy back when.

I used white thread for the hexie flowers and gray for the leaves. Not easy to photograph, not easy to see.  Maybe from the back it would show better?

Not much better. Sorry!

Some I am really proud of, others .... well if we learn by our mistakes, I must study this quilt very closely as  I think I just quilted an entire book on what NOT to do lol.


Anywho!! Let's look towards the future and to the new colour for the month of March: Purple!

Peace and Plenty dressed in Purple. Cute, right? I think purple is a camera-shy kind of colour because it always looks faded when I photograph it, or else it turns blue!!

Talking of blue, here it is with its new companion.

LOL. There's the big red guy again. I think if there's only one M&M buddies per  block, they would be able to steal the show from the colours. At least, that's what I hope for.




And for the month of March, my One Monthly Goal will be to turn this beautiful fabric

into a rug for my oldest son's bedroom. I haven't started this project as I am not sure what kind of rug I can do with this. But since it has been waiting for a long time, I think I should stop thinking about it and just do it! You can probably tell by the picture that this fabric is not the usual cotton. It is much thicker, almost upholstery kind of fabric.  (Hurry girl, only three more weekends in March!!)


Right, and I have many 3 inches blocks to do for the 365 Challenge.  Ok, so I better get back to the sewing machine!


Linking with SoScrappy for the RSC2016.
Linking with Red Letter Quilts for OMG.  Hope to see you there too. 

Until next time ...

;^)

This and That on Thursday

This

is done!  Well, until I go back to work and start piecing little diamonds together again, there is nothing more I can add to the Quilt of the Century.  I've attached all the diamonds that were made. So for now, it is done.


That

is finished!! Oh how my thumbs hurt! I am a lefty and living in a right handed world, we (left handed) tend to be ambidextrous and I can cut with both hands.  Therefore both thumbs can't stand the scissors anymore. (Too bad one needs both hands to quilt cause I would learn how to sew two different project simultaneously in a jiffy! Ha! ha! ) But it looks very nice and I like it. I am glad I've tried a new technique and worked with a different medium. This was outside my comfort zone and it will stay a unique child. I shook that quilt as if a rag (ha! ha!) before washing it and it still left a big mess in the washing machine. Named Off Road, it finishes at 54 X 33. (I admire people who do this kind of quilt all the time. Bravo!)


This

is half way done. Another one I am pleased with.  Not perfect but pretty good for a first try if I may blow my own horn. I'll try to finish it before the weekend. Wonder what hubby would think if he were to find out I'm not very good at driving in the ditch... yet!

That

is probably what I'll be working on since the Quilt of the Century is on pause.  I have done this one 2 or 3 years ago in a rush.  The Realtor agent have asked that we put away all personal pictures when selling our home. So my bedroom became very ... plain (not to say naked ... that would be inappropriate!!).

This

was my inspiration. I don't know where this beauty came from.  All I remember is seeing it on Lori's Humble Quilts blog one day and i fell in love.  It went straight to my to-do list and I did do it... well, a little of it.  

I've simply called it Antique Inspiration because that's all I know.  I certainly didn't want to call it something that would remind me of the for sale sign and I don't know the name of the block, so Antique Inspiration it is. I love how each block is different and yet all are the same pattern.  I love that kind of quilts. I did some hand quilting in the negative space but didn't do the blocks because I ran out of time.  So now I will take the time and finish this one properly.  How does one quilt after binding? The same way or is there something I should know before I start? Would it be best if I remove the binding first? I think I will just do a 45 angle line in the square and  around the block too but nothing in the HSTs. Hmmm maybe.

That's that for this Thursday. 

Until next time ... SM ;^)LE ... that is appropriate!

Edited to add the link to Hexies Weekend with Angie at A Quilting Reader's Garden as it is NOT only for hexies projects but really any sewing project at all.  You're welcome to join us. 

Sharing on Sunday

 After my decision of turning the jean quilt into a rug, I decided to change it a little bit. I've removed a few rows and added them the other way to make a long narrow rectangle.  It will sit better in front of the couch with these measurements.

No border and no binding on this one. I am finishing it with buttonhole stitches in red.

The back side is all the same golden flannel that my sister gave me a long time ago.  I've used it just a little bit in the crumb quilt because it is not a nice flannel.  It is stiff. You know the white on white fabrics that are not nice; they feel stiff and painted on? Well, this flannel reminds me of that. It's not soft and the little print feels painted on.  But it is perfect for this project as it will be against the floor and I'm sure the floor won't mind. :^)

Does removing basting threads from little hexies count as Slow (reverse) Stitching Sunday?  I do need to remove some paper pieces from this quilt. Hope to do some of it today but I do have a lineup of more interesting thing to do.

As the day progress and temperature rises, I will move from my "outside" favorite sewing room to my "basement" sewing room and thread a few kilometers on Take 21. 

This quilt is really progressing slowly. I have a feeling it won't be ready for his birthday.  Oh well, that's life and it's okay. 

I am also machine quilting for the first time and what a wrestling match it is!! Didn't expect that, silly me!! 

"Where I come from" aka the crumb quilt is under the needle, getting stitched in the ditch. I did 7 lines of quilting last night and this morning, my right side is in pain. I am a lefty and to work a big quilt made of flannel (front and back) through a little Janome took a lot out of my right hand, arm, shoulder, upper back, neck, you get the picture, which are not really used to this kind of workout. I am sure many of you can relate. I will survive and laugh about it one day... just not now. 

Hope you enjoy your Sunday as much as I will do mine.  I'm hopping to Kathy's place to check out what wonderful projects are being worked on today. It's my Sunday's indulgence. 

Until next time ... SMiLE ... it's painless. 

Saturday updates

Still sitting at my favorite place with a coffee, enjoying some sewing and cutting some hexies. Awwwhh! I love slow mornings. The children are up and watching Wolverine on TV and I am very content to ignore them for a little while.  Laundry is on the clothesline already so I grant myself a few stitching minutes. :^)
Even with the umbrella open, you can tell by the shadows that the sun is already high but not very strong.  It is still looking through the haze that has moved in our region lately.  Thought the rain would have gotten rid of it but no! It's still here, like earwigs!!

Onto another note, I have received a lot of comments saying it is okay to take a vacation from a project and it is also okay to even start a new project before the first one is completed.  Oh I hear you and I have been a two timer a lot of times. But for some mysterious reason, I just can't let the Quilt of the Century go... to far on the shelf.  It is not my priority # 1 right now but it is still close by my side. 

I did start a new project. Oh boy! I was tricked into this one!!  A coworker of mine asked me if I was interested in the legs part of the jeans her daughters had cut off. Before I even had a chance to think it through, my mouth said yes!  What? Wait! Since when do you take decision? That's not your job! So I came home with a bag full of cut off jeans.  Searched the Internet for jeans quilts and found waaaayyy too many. So I did my own version.

It is jeans and flannel. It went together so fast.  Very enjoyable little project.  It is not "fringed" yet and it might not be completed done either.  I think I would like one more row.  It will be use as a rug in front of the couch in the playroom. This is really outside my box so it is called "Off Road" which I thought I would never do. Ha! That'll teach me to be so sure of myself. ha! ha! ha! ha!

Until next time ... SMiLE... it zips the mouth from speaking to fast.