Christmas pocket wallhanging

Ta da!   I say well almost because I want to put two tabs on the back of the quilt but I forget where on the web I saw a tutorial for them!  Does anyone know where I can find directions?

And here is my latest jar…such a nice one, old-fashioned:

New jar

And just because this is my blog:

Hubby, working on the beadboard

We are putting up beadboard on this side of the livingroom and along the long wall opposiet hubby.  I can’t wait for it all to be done.  But here is my hubby scaring me…it is a long drop… Doesn’t the beadboard look nice?

Well, off to put the binding on two wallhangings that have been sitting around my sewing room for ages…one Christmassy and one kind of. Finish my WIPs that are staring at me.

Here is what I am quilting…I had already put the bind on but didn’t finish it because…procrastination:

Christmas soldier

Santa pocket wallhanging

So this is the mini wallhanging.  I am in the midst of putting on the binding, red and then will put some tabs on the back to hang somewhere.

Thank you to those who complimented my last posting content.

As for the Supreme Slider, I like it! There is absolutely no friction.  I played around with the quilting under the pocket and had trouble with my grasp so I put these on:

Quilting gloves (not)

I think that they are some sort of medical gloves.  My husband works for a medical supply company and these were some samples.  He brought them home thinking that I could do something with the …I wore them with the white on the palm side of my hands.  They really helped me move my material around.  So, in the final analysis, I enjoyed my experience and am ready to prepare a lap quilt, well, almost  for some more practice!

Thanks for the yo-yo compliments.  I made them up for a Christmas workshop, thinking that they would be too mundane, but the guild ladies liked them and they are easy to make and fun to make!

Well, off to finish the binding.

I have to quilt it and then put the pocket on the front.  I am using a new toy called the Supreme Slider.  I ordered it from Leah Day.  She is my machine quilting mentor.  Check out her site!  She puts up videos almost everyday, all about machine quilting.

Here is the slider:

Supreme Slider

And the piece that I was practicing on, with verrrrrrrrrrrrry bad tension…but fixed that!

Here are some of my neat tools for applique:

Applique pressing mats

The bottom white mat is for a cookie sheet but works wonders and is see through for the pattern.  The coloured ones are from the Dollarama (costs $2) and they work great.  And the pure white one is a real applique pressing mat.  Not to get crackin’ (actually, I already have but can’t show).

And here are two yo-yo ornaments I made for a guild workshop:

yo-yo ornaments

I used a button at the bottom and beads between the yo-yos.  Cute.

Off to finish the wallhanging!

Messy basics

To this:

Organized basics

I was tired of my basics being so difficult to get at etc and came across these plastic bins at the local Dollarama and the rest is history:)…rolled and sorted and tidy.  Now to look at the tin situation.

Applique motifs

Now they might look like much, but each flower has about 6 pieces.  I really like the technique and will continue to practice it.  I am going to make all kinds of flowers to practice with.  The next step is to use the sewing machine and quilt around and in the flowers and that will be a process in creativity.  I  then did the leaves, but last night the teacher had an applique pressing mat that is made of teflon. I don’t have one and ordered one today , but I thought of a kitchen tool that I have, a non-stick silicone baking mat, so I tried it out and it is heat resistant.  It worked for one process but I am going to make another flower and see if  the whole process works.  Because I’m not sure if my kitchen mat has teflon in it I will be careful….I will continue to experiment.

Make do pressing mat

I am going to machine quilt my christmas wallhanging tonight and hope to finish it soon.

…on my Christmas wall hanging:

Christmas wallhanging

The berries are handstitched and now I just have to make the santa pocket.  I’m really not liking the colours but I am going to finish it to see how it turns out.

Look at what I made this afternoon!

Finger pin cushion

It’s a pin cushion for your finger!  I got it from Don’t Look Now blog.  It takes exactly 15 minutes, so easy and so cute and so practical, especially for applique!  The material that it is sitting on is a 14/20 quilted piece that I have prepared for a workshop.  The piece took at least 2 hours to quilt.  I love to roll my fingers over it.  I am heading out for my first ever workshop since I got sick in August.  I am so looking forward to it. I still can’t drive but someone is taking me and I hope to learn something new.  It is a workshop for a kind of applique.

Well, off to supper and then out the door, hoping my husband doesn’t forget me!

Finished

So this step of the renovations are finished.  The next MAJOR step is the railing and stairs, more dust and debris.  The house is coming into its own for 2010.

I don’t know why, but I feel very unrelaxed and since I heard a Christmas commercial and then came upon this pattern in my sewing room reorganization:

Christmas card pockets

It’s this pattern from Suzanne’s  Art House.  I am making a Santa one and so last night I took out all my Christmas fabric and chose the colours and started cutting and then continued on this morning.  The pattern really caters to strip piecing but it is also giving me the chance to try out the Angler 2, which I bought last year and have yet to use it.  I have to make 36 diaganols on blocks…errr…double that.

Angler 2 in action

My first few were terrible but I am happy with it and it is so much easier than marking and struggling to see the stitching line .  You may notice that I put it on upside down …however it is symmetrical so I don’t think that is causing me any problems.  Of course I have to test out the new sewing arrangement and I think that I have got the perfect sewing triangle setup that is working like a charm:

Sewing triangle

Cutting to sewing to ironing or Cutting to ironing to sewing but all in a triangle with enough space not to be always bumping into everything.  Well, back to angling

I keep trying to get pictures of more than one bluejay.  Here are two and here are three…

There are for sure 5 regular bluejays so far a few “mesonges”(I have to find the English word) , one woodpecker and a chipmunk.  More wildlife to come as winter starts.  Nature and creativity goes together…the simplicities of life.

As for the bay window, it is almost here.  I will post it in the next posting because right now there is just a huge hole in the wall letting all the cold air in .  All the other windows and doors have been changed and I feel like I’m living in a brand new house, light and airy! Just amazing!

Yes, it is October 22nd and it looks like December 22nd.  There is quite a bit of snow on the ground.  We waited for over an hour with the this window open; do you like the cedar?  We may cut it down…or its twin over on the other side…Sheila, does the Scot travel with chainsaw ? But it was well worth it:

The man is coming back tomorrow to do the finishing.  The finishing will be similar to this:

New Patio door

Just so modern!  And here is the new door and side window:

Side door and window

And one of the windows in my sewing room:

1 sewing room window

The house has even more light than ever!

As I was getting ready for the windows I had to declutter so I moved my material which was under a window and put in a shelf in my closet….my sewing room was this way:

Decluttering

I got rid of five garbage bags of stuff….four went to the second-hand shop, and one for garbage.  I have a lot more to go but I made decisions and just stormed ahead.  My sewing room is looking less cluttered though and I’m finding a place for everything.  I don’t know about any of you who read my blog, but my problem is, that if I don’t see what I have I don’t use it.  How do we organize so that it doesn’t look cluttered!  I use baskets and then forget what is in the baskets .

In the midst of sorting I found a bag of these:

Envelopes with secret codes

Some have colours and some have numbers and here is what was in the envelopes:

100% wool

There are two kinds, Patons Beehive Tapestry Wool and Orchidee brand.  What a nice little find.  I vaguely remember where they come from, dumpster diving days …long story.

And here they are now:

New use for jar

Kindergarten Story time apron

I made this at least 20 years ago!  It is the front side of an apron that I made for myself to use in my Kindergarten class.  I was a Pre K/Kindergarten teacher and I used this for Story Time.  The kids loved it!  I used to put my little notes in the pockets and if you look closely, you can see ‘L’il Mr. Greeny.’  He would come out and sit with a child who needed him; the talkative child, the sad child etc….The idea came for this apron from the backside of the apron:

Vinyl side of apron

I received this promotional apron which was perfect for messy crafts and then decided to construct the Story Time side.  I made two more of these aprons for my each of my sons’ Kindergarten teachers.  They were much appreciated by the teachers because each son chose the designs and helped with the whole creative process, even doing a bit of blanket stitch.  I remember the teachers calling my house to thank me for the apron.  I wonder if they still have them …a nice idea for our teachers of our future.

Stitchery roll-up

…and here is what is inside…

Inside Stitchery roll

It is called a “Supply Case” by Stacy Schlyer and it took me a while to make it because I procrastinated with the binding, always the finishings…but I am getting better.  So now I am going to prepare my package for next week and send this out to the USA.  I have already received all my nice gifts, I was so spoiled!

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