Day 15 - Earliest Sewing Memory

It seems like sewing has always been such a natural part of my life that I don't really have a distinct first sewing memory - Mom always made clothes for me and my brother and sister, and I just naturally followed in her footsteps.  I remember sewing clothes for my Barbies and other dolls.  I have a very vivid memory of walking home from grade school thinking about an dress I wanted to make for one of my Dawn dolls. I must have been around 11 or 12 then. I remember making a quilt for my bed in High School. 

I remember making a quilt in my high school years.  Mom and I bought an assortment of fabric from Sears.  It was a simple brick pattern, and instead of quilting it, we layered two layers of batting and tied it with either yarn or embroidery floss.  I remember the fabrics were all kinds of colors - some of them were my mom's scraps from dresses I wore.  I remember one blue and red fabric that was one of my favorite dresses.  I wish I still had that quilt!  So many memories.

Always true!

Day 14 - Show Us Your Fabric

This could be an interesting assignment, I have fabric in a lot of places!  I have baskets in my small closet with most of my stash:

This is mostly smaller pieces, half yards or less.  I pull out of these baskets to make blocks for various purposes, but haven't made a quilt out of this closet for a while. 

The big closet is a little more organized at this point.  I've taken down the curtains because they just kept getting in the way.  I have my larger fabric pieces, Island Batik fabric and UFO bins in this area.  I also have some kits up on the high shelf that I would love to get going on this year! 

I have a couple of these storage units with fabric for projects like tote bags and journal covers, finished tops, and fabric sets for future projects that aren't even UFO's yet!  I've also got a bucket of scraps to sort, bins of strips and strings, plus a few drawers with pre-cuts.  I keep trying to cut down the amount I've collected, but every time I try to get rid of some of it I think to myself  "I still love this and I really want to use it someday!"  It's a struggle for sure!  I guess my best bet is just to keep working at sewing it all up.  At least it's a happy struggle :)

Day Thirteen - Least Favorite Color

Today was a fun day, my Bunco group met today and we had a great time eating, playing and laughing together.  It was extra great for me because I didn't have to host in December like I usually do!  I get to host in January instead, so I'll be keeping an eye out for some great gifts during the post Christmas sales. 

When I got home in the afternoon I did some decorating around the house, got a bookshelf cleared off and stored away, then finished quilting that teal circle quilt that I was working on yesterday.   I also got the binding on, so cross that one off my list.  I love the way the circles pop up from the background, just the effect I was going for!

So...the prompt for the 31 day Blog writing challenge today is least favorite color.  I had to think about this for a bit, but I guess I'll have to say Brown.  Brown is good in its place, but I much prefer most other colors.  Of course, now that I say that I have to think of all the lovely projects I've made with brown...  I guess I'm not good with least favorites either!

Day 12 - Favorite Color

I can't dodge this favorite, it's very easy for me to say that my favorite color is definitely blue!  I've made a lot of  blue quilts, including this one:

And this one:

And another one!

Another miniature in blue:

And of course, Dear Jane!

I'm enjoying working on the customer quilt I am quilting right now - after all, teal is blue, right?

Hopefully I'll be finished with this one tomorrow!  Almost done with all my "work" for the month, then the rest of the month will be all play and fun - I keep telling myself, anyway.

Time to get the Christmas decorations up, I'm late this month, but that's ok, I'll just leave them up a little extra afterwards.  I even have blue decorations for my front room, including this lovely feathered star quilt that was a round robin.  I love the pretty border I found with the trees and church - so perfect! 

Now, just sing a little bit of  "Blue Christmas" and we'll all be in the mood!  Yes indeed, it's easy to see that my favorite color is blue.

Day 11 - Most Impactful Class

Today was a good day of sewing, made some more of those Santa ornaments, added a binding for a customer, plus basted and started quilting the last customer quilt of the year!  While I was doing some of this I was on hold with the post office, starting a claim for a late delivery on an international package.  51 minutes!  Needless to say, I spent a couple minutes to do the survey at the end and told them, they really need more options on their menu.  It only took a few minutes to get help once I got to the right department.

A word of warning regarding rolling your binding on a long tube like a paper towel.  Can you see how the edge of this binding is rippling?  I ended up re-pressing it and it was fine, but I don't think I would have been happy with it if I hadn't taken that time.

As far as the most impactful class I have taken, I guess I would have to say it was the free motion quilting class I took with Cathy Sandbach.  She really inspired me to try new designs, and to be more confident in my quilting choices.  I do have to say that every class I have taken has inspired me in one way or another.  I've learned great tips, gotten good ideas for working with color, and just had fun working on a project.  I highly encourage everyone to take classes! 

Tomorrow is another good sewing day - I have my list ready and hope to get lots done!

Day 10 - 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge

Wow, has it been 10 days already?  And Christmas is really only 15 days away? Time does fly, doesn't it!  Work was fun today - we got in our first order of Island Batik Stash Builder rolls and I am beyond excited to have them available!  I really wanted to take a few home, but I know that I am too busy to start anything new until after Christmas at least...

The rest of the afternoon was spent making a few Santa Ornaments for an Etsy order.  They are really very fun to make!

Top Five books is the prompt for today, and that's a very difficult one for me since I have a very difficult time choosing favorites!  So here goes:

Quilts!Quilts!!Quilts!!! definitely has a place on my list.  501 Quilt Blocks by Better Homes and Gardens is also a long time favorite with lots of great block ideas.  That Perfect Stitch by Roxanne McElroy was super inspirational for me when I was hand quilting, and Show me How to Machine Quilt by Cathy Sandbach helped me make the leap to free motion quilting.  Art Quilt Workbook is one that I have owned and would love to actually work through someday, it's one of my favorites just to read and look through and think about!  Since that makes 5, my work is done :)

Hope you are keeping up with your holiday sewing and planning.  I'm feeling a little behind, but I just reminded myself that I don't have as busy a schedule this week, so I should be fine!  Tomorrow is a stay at home and sew day, so I should be able to cross some things off my list, I hope. 

Day 9 - 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge

For today, I have a finish to show you!  I've been hard at work to finish this lovely custom order, and I am sooo happy with the results!  This is my Fancy Feathers quilt, supersized up to fit a king size bed.

I think it's pretty spectacular at this size!  These are all the same Island Batik fabrics that I used in my original quilt - thank goodness we had them all at the shop!  

I love the hook swirl quilting on this, and it came out perfectly.  Not one pucker on the back side!

It's big enough for a lovely pillow tuck, too!  It's like a bedspread on my queen size bed, but I think it will be perfect on the king.  It's going to make someone a lovely Christmas present.  Well worth all the work I put into it!  Next on my list are few smaller projects, then getting to work on the Island Batik Ambassador 3D challenge.  Plus the queen size quilt I promise a friend to quilt by Christmas!  

Today's prompt for the 31 day blogging challenge was favorite tip.  Right now that would be that accurate cutting and accurate sewing will give you accurate results.  Take your time, and get the small details right, and the rest will fall into place!

Day 8 - Skills I wish I had

This is an interesting topic to think about...I think most of the skills I wish I had are in areas other than sewing and quilting.  I wish I could paint pretty pictures with watercolors and I wish I had more athletic skills.  The thing is that I know I could probably develop these skills if I wanted to work at it more, but I'm more interested in doing what I already am doing...quilting!

I would never have thought I would have the skill to do this type of quilting when I first started free motion quilting.  But after lots of practice it comes pretty naturally!  That's the great thing about working at learning something new.  It takes some dedication, but eventually you will most likely be able to become somewhat skilled at it.  But wishing won't get you to that point!  So maybe I need to work a bit at those other skills I would like to have instead of just thinking about it.

Kind of like this 31 day Blog Writing Challenge...it's great practice at writing!