Friday Night Sew-In?

 Last night was Friday Night Sew-In. As I was beginning to come down with a sinus cold, I wasn't really in the mood to sew, but since we had some of snow this week, I knew I needed to do something.

 I finished the first mitten for my husband. He says the thumb is a little short but he'll wear them. Now to start the second one.

Then I was almost finished my second market bag, but decided I didn't like the pattern, took it all apart and wrapped the yarn back up.

Not a very productive night but hopefully I will feel better soon and I'll be able to get something done.
Go check out what everyone else did last night. Thanks again Heidi for hosting.

When the power goes out...

 ... you can get a lot of hand work done. Making good progress on the first mitten for my husband. The right side is on the inside so it will look nicer than this when finished.

I also started this market bag this morning. We had no power for roughly 4 hours today after a major wind storm last night. No damage to our property but at least one tree came down in the main park and there were several big branches down (I went for a walk this morning to the library). Since this bag is working up quickly, my plan is to gift Christmas gifts in them this year - just one per family and will probably hold the moms gift.

Finishes, in Progress and a Great Deal

 Two quick finishes from this weekend. These are gifts so you aren't going to get a full view. On the left is a washcloth and on the right is a tie. The tie was very quick and interesting. Think I will be making more washcloths in the future (quick and easy). I'd make more ties if more people I know wore them. Although, my husband says he would wear one if I made him one. We'll see.

 Third pair of socks done! There is debate in our house whether this yarn is purple and brown or blue and brown. I say blue and brown, the boys in the house say purple and brown (they both admit that close up they see a little blue).

 Don't you love the pattern the yarn makes?

 This is my favourite spot on every sock, the heel gusset. It's the hardest part but it feels and looks awesome.

 Instead of casting on a fourth pair of socks, I have started a pair of mittens for my husband. When he casually mentioned that the only gloves he wears were made by an ex-girlfriend  and maybe I could make him another pair, I found a pattern, bought some yarn and cast them on. Hopefully they will be done by the end of the month.

Making progress on a sweater for myself. I am about halfway done the back.

I've done a lot of tracing lately.

No. Seriously. A LOT of tracing.

 Here they are cut out and ironed onto the first fabric. I had an idea for something to sell in my etsy shop. Doesn't the pile of holiday fabric in the corner look wonderfully disorganized? I must be creating something cool with a mess that big. (there's more on the floor that I didn't take a picture of).

 Ended up at the Goodwill store yesterday trying to find gloves for my little guy. Didn't find any gloves but did find a bag of flannel fabric for $9.99. One piece of the above is a fat quarter, 2 are half yards and 2 are full yards.

 These were in the bag too. 2 are half yards, one is a yard and the other is 2 cuts equaling 1 1/2 yards. My guess is that someone bought the fabrics for a specific project and then decided not to (who hasn't done that).The green fabric at the bottom isn't flannel and is cut up a bit. Still a great deal.

 Oh, this set of coasters were in the bag too. They were a nice surprise when I took the fabric out of the bag once I got home. They don't really fit in our house but I think they may find themselves under the tree in a different house next month. There was a fifth coaster that didn't really match so I gave it to my daughter.

Also found this ribbon. The three on top are velvet on one side. The ric rac (second from the bottom) is red and white with gold glitter. Got each roll for between .49 and .99 cents. All in all a pretty good visit to Goodwill. Although we are still in search for those gloves (couldn't even find any at Wal-mart). Hopefully the snow will wait til we find some.

Tutorials!

Allison at Cluck. Cluck. Sew. has started a FREE Quilting Tutorials page. You can link up your own tutorials and take a look at what has already been posted (there are already over 50!). Go take a look and enjoy!

Some fabric and a few small finishes

 My mom sent a couple fat quarters along with some Halloween treats a couple weeks ago. First was this beautiful bird fabric.

 Cardinal. We don't have cardinals in Idaho. I miss them.

She also sent along this Care Bear fabric.

 Which I have since made into 2 tissue holders/wallets. One will go in my daughter's stocking, the other will go to a niece.

 I also finished my first Barbie outfit. I used some left over sock yarn.

 Shirt, skirt and scarf. The first 2 have snaps on the back. I think I will have to make some more since they were relatively easy and quick to make. Nieces might be getting some of these too. Going to try a dress and a jacket next.

 Made myself a little purse. My sister had made me a similar bag for my birthday a couple years ago but I've used it almost everyday since and it needs to be replaced. I made this bag out of some charm squares to try the quilting you can see on the bag. I eventually did the quilting on a baby quilt and decided the practice piece was nice enough to keep. (The charm squares became the lining instead of the outside of the quilt since they very light fabrics, and I didn't want to worry about it looking dirty in a week)

My son likes all the different stitches my sewing machine has and thought I should do something different on the handle. This was his pick and I really like it. I've used the purse a few times and all has gone well. Not as big as the one my sister made me but it gets the job done.

Getting ready for the holidays or what I am really doing with my time

How can anything get done at this table? It can't. This is what my quilt table looked like by the end of this weekend. I've been working on knitting projects and  my quilt table became a catch all. 

It took a few hours Monday night and a little bit of Tuesday morning to get it looking like this again. Reorganized for the holidays. The gigantic pile of scraps that was sitting on the edge of my table finally got sorted and put in their respective bins. 

 Here are 4 quilts waiting for binding or to be quilted. The white shelf was also cleaned up. You can see my yellow basket has moved to a new space and my iron found a new home too. I also went through all the patterns I have bookmarked or printed off and decided what I am going to TRY and make for gifts this year. The selected few were then divided into gifts that need to get done by the beginning of December and mailed to family in Canada. The rest are gifts for the kids or myself (like another pair of socks - I'm almost done my third pair!) which will wait until the other gifts are done and shipped.

 Here are quilt tops waiting to be basted and then quilted. Most of these are for etsy. So did all this reorganization pay off?

 Yes! This quilt got bound on Wednesday. I did additional quilting to it on Tuesday. I had only done stitch in the ditch and I knew it needed more but wasn't sure what to do. Once I finally decided the quilt table was too messy. Nice to have it done.

 I quilted this last night and put the binding on this morning. Both should be in the etsy store by tonight.

 I love the back of the second one. 

And here is what I have really been doing with my time...

 Have you been enjoying the festival as much as I am? I think I am about 1/4 of the way through (there are over 500!). Thanks to everyone who has looked and commented on my quilt. I enjoyed spending time under the quilt this week while watching some tv and reading. It's super comfy.

 And if the Blogger's Quilt Festival isn't enough to keep you busy, head over to Sew, Mama, Sew for the fourth Handmade Holidays .Each day, for the month of November, they post tutorials, great buys and the chance to win some great prices. Check it out.

Mark your calendars and line up your projects. Friday, November 19th is the next Friday Night Sew-in (or FNSI). I hope to participate again. How about you?

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I've been sitting back and enjoying looking and reading about all the quilts in the Bloggers Quilt Festival. I finally decided to include a quilt as well. Here is my very first quilt made in the fall of 2004. Thank you Amy for organizing such an amazing way of supporting each other and exposing ourselves to different ways of quilting and the many stories of why we quilt.

 A bargello, picked because it looks more complicated than it actually is. It was suppose to be a gift for a friend but I liked it too much and kept it. I can't remember where I got the pattern from (a library book but not sure which one). The pattern was for a wall hanging but I repeated half of the pattern and doubled the length, so it could be used on a bed. It measures roughly 58 x 76 inches.

 I still have some of these fabrics in my stash. I can remember taking my then 2 year old daughter shopping for these fabrics. She sat in the cart with her container of cheerios while I walked up and down picking fabrics and deciding what colours I wanted.

 Border is pretty tame. I used extra fabric from the top and some of what I had in my little stash to cut squares. Blues around the top and greens around the bottom were suppose to increase the mountain feeling I got from the quilt. I always thought it looked like a mountain range, with the purple fabric where the earth touched the sky.

 I still love the tree fabric that is at the bottom. I cherish every little scrap I have of it. Piano key border was added when I thought it needed to be a little bit longer.

 The "sky".

 As for quilting... straight lines that weren't very straight. I used fusible batting for this quilt and haven't used it since. I should try again though since I assume any issues I had were as a beginner quilter.

In celebration of posting this quilt I got the quilt off the quilt rack and put it on the back of the couch so it can be used as the temperature drops. I can't wait to snuggle under it. Luckily its big enough for more than one.

Go take a look at all the other amazing quilts in the festival. They are worth the hours you will spend sitting on your butt. Thanks again Amy for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.