Allietare Week 6- The Reveal!

I have been making steady progress on my Allietare Mystery Quilt over the holidays, squeezing in stitching time here and there. Chain piecing mass quantities of clues.....

 

 

Can you tell I am putting off the ironing....I HATE ironing, a necessary evil for a quilter.

 

 

Ironed me up a big box of clue parts.....

 

 

And then surprise, surprise as I was stitching clues on New Year's Eve, Bonnie posted the reveal! You can see it at Allietare Mystery Reveal.

 

Immediately, I had to assemble a couple blocks to see what my Christmas color pathway would look like....

 

I am very happy with the results! Can't wait to get the whole top together!

 

 
 You can see other Allietare shares at the Mystery Monday Link-Up Week Six!

My First Finish of the New Year!

 I had a few hours on New Year's Day to do some sewing. After being sick for a good part of December and hardly sewing anything at all, I had to catch up. This project was intended to be a Christmas gift for my sister. Lucky for me, our "Christmas" was beginning New Year's night, so I had not a minute to spare!

On New Year's,  I always enjoy stitching while live streaming the Philadelphia Mummers Parade String Bands. So with bands a playing, I set to finishing my sister's Mondo Bag using my step-daughter's blinged out machine.

 I had already fused and stitched the panels for the bag, so I just needed to construct the bag.

 Attaching the handles always wigs me out a bit. It feels like an all or nothing commitment to getting them to lay the right way.

 

The "turn" where you find out if it all came together....

 

Top stitching after the turn.

 



 

It turned out great!

 

 

I like to put silly pockets in my bags....this one got two lizard pockets!

 

My sister was happy with her bag, and I have my first finish of the new year on January 1st! Yeah me!!

 

 

I also got a little Instagram time and found my theme for sewing for 2016.... "Sew My Stash!" I plan to follow along and finish some things that are in my stash...things that I really like!! You can follow along "Sew My Stash" at Project Leasa

 

 

2015 Quilty Year in Review

While I was a bad blogger this year, I definitely squeezed in more time for quilting, and that makes me happy.

 

This quilt is one of my favorites, even though it's from a panel and not particularly challenging in any way. I love Halloween décor and find the holiday just a lot of silly fun.

 

 

Did a couple of these witches....again just silly fun!

 

On a September retreat I stitched up a reaaaaallllly long table runner for my Christmas dining room table from a few packs of charm squares and some holly fabric in my stash.

I also pieced a t-shirt quilt for my son

I took a Gelli painting class...out of my usual comfort zone, but fun, fun, fun!!

Finished a wool autumn wall hanging, and worked on a wool BOM UFO from last year. I find wool a nice break from the machine as well as TV watching friendly.

Had lots of fun at many retreats with friends...sewing and eating and laughing. Had new members come and cherished friends move on

 

Participated in several swaps with local groups...this one, "cracker" block was fun.

Our 4th child was accepted to college at William and Mary, had fun taking their various logos and symbols and turning them into a wall-hanging.

 I continue my membership in the Tidewater Quilter's Guild, and took on the role as web mistress in June.

 

 

Dove into some paper piecing, hexies and a Georgetown Circle. As you can see I have a short attention span, it's really a wonder I finish anything!!

 Took a class at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in February....lots of fun learning a new applique technique.

 Tried knitting with a group of friends...dislike. Makes my hands tense, and frankly don't need another craft obsession...hahahaha.

 

Learned how to make Mondo bags. Made several, love the process and the product!

 

Played with Allison Glass fabrics and hearts....

 

Got sucked into the mini block of the month group...made two. This one I really like!

 

Lost my giant roll of freezer paper.....found it with the foil. My husband did not recognize this important quilting item doesn't go in the kitchen! haha

 Snowmen and hearts....can't go wrong there!

 

All in all a full and fun quilting year. I think what I kept in mind the whole year was that I should enjoy the process, rather than focus on the finish all the time. I do finish a lot, but really it is the Zen

of the whole thing that is valuable in my life. I ponder and solve and plan my life while piecing. I relax and share a lot of good times with friends because of quilting. And that is really where it's at. Happy New Year!

Christmas Swap!

Every year, my dear quilty friends at the beach, engage in a gift swap. We select a fabric, place it in a brown bag and then blindly choose a bag. From that fabric the most wonderful gifts are made, I'll show you in a different post. While in past years we swapped Christmas themed fabrics, we decided to do something different this year and swap batiks!

 

This year I chose to stretch myself a bit, by learning English Paper Piecing. This pattern caught my eye and as is typical for me, I did not consider that perhaps a less complex pattern would be a better start for my first EPP!

 

 So the batik I received was the green zig zag on the muted pinky beige background. I auditioned a few pieces of background for the center star and decided on the dark batik. I wish the pictures were more true to the colors.

I started in July......

 

 

And through the late summer it started taking shape! I used the glue basting method which I really liked. It was quick to make the shapes and easy to remove at the end.

 

I started with a beige background on the first ring....but decided to add a pop of violet in there!

 

Another ring done!

 

Definitely a great football watching recliner activity!

 

The back...fearing what will happen when I take the paper off....

 And ta da!!! The finished product! The recipient was quite happy with it and oddly enough I received a nifty set of placemats made with the fabric that I submitted from the same person that I stitched for. Can't wait to see what they come up with for next year's swap. Merry Merry!!