TTMT May 2016 Prizes

Prize selections for TTMT May 2016

BB-8 plus your choice of the following selections:

1.  Yarny Selection:

2. Sewy/Quilty Selection 1:

3. Sewy/Quilty Selection 2:

AND there may be a surprise as well.

New Quilt Top Done

My local quilt guild has a quilt show coming up in 2017.  They have published the guidelines for their quilt challenge for this show.  The quilt has to be black and white with one other color and must incorporate hearts.  After a bit of thought, I decided to make a bookcase wall-hanging and here it is:

I've named it "Black and White and Read All Over."  I have also incorporated several music note fabrics because that makes this little project represent 3 of my favorite things:  sewing, reading and music.

Now to sandwich, quilt and bind.  After the show, it will be given to my niece Melissa, a teacher.

Finished and given to Melissa.  Here is the finished quilt.

2015 Project of Doom Quilt Top Complete

I am so happy to have completed my PoD quilt top.  Now I need to find a long-arm quilter to put it all together!

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I am a little bit obsessed (maybe more than a little) with Harry Potter and a lot obsessed with paper piecing so this was a perfect combination.  The free block patterns can be found at Fandominstitches.com or sewhooked.com.  All of the blocks except for the broom were designed by Jennifer Ofenstein, paper-piecing pattern designer extraordinaire.

I also finished a small wall-hanging quilt top that I plan to quilt myself.  I won't be showing it until after the Heart of the Triad Quilt show in 2017 because I plan to enter it in their quilt challenge.  The challenge is to make a black and white quilt with one other color.  It has to have hearts in it as well.  It took me a while to decide what I wanted to make, but I'm really happy with the result.

I have been working slowly but steadily on getting my sewing room organized.  I've got the pegboard on the wall next to my sewing machine better organized.  I bought a thread rack that holds 120 spools of thread and ran out of pegs.  Oops!  I think I need to get another one for just embroidery thread, but it won't have to be quite so large.

So that's what I've been up to lately.

Spring Cleaning/Organizing

First off, I just want to say that my new embroidery works beautifully.  However, the operator has a thing or two to learn.  I have so far made one patch for my ham radio operator hubby.  It is his call and we sewed it to a cap.  Here it is:

As you can see, it is a bit wavy so next time I'll use a sturdier fabric and stabilizer.

Next, I have been busy busy busy trying to wrangle my fabric into some sort of organization.  My sewing room looked like a tornado had blown through.  It had gotten so bad that I didn't even want to go in there to sew; I was afraid I'd trip over something.  Now, after working on it for several days, it just looks like a whirlwind hit it. I still have a way to go, but I'm making headway.  My fabric cabinet has been cleaned out, fabric sorted, and everything put back in a somewhat neat and, for me anyway, understandable order.  Here's the cabinet now:

The sliver of stuff you see on top is junk we have stored up there that have nothing to do with sewing. I can't reach up there anyway.  Here's a breakdown of what is in there: 

Top shelf:  2 wire baskets holding 2 1/2" strips, 4 wire baskets holding fat quarters (sorted by color)
Second shelf:  On the left is tan/brown and black/white yardage; on the right in the blue baskets are 10" squares on the bottom and 5" squares on top.  There are a few fat quarter bundles in there too simply because they wouldn't fit in the wire baskets on top.  Next to them are the green/aqua yardage.
Third shelf:  Yellow/orange/gold yardage and red/pink yardage on the left; purples and blues on the right.
Bottom:  The shoebox sized storage bins hold my little bits of fabric to be used for paper piecing (sorted by color of course. On the right are multi-colored print yardage and wide backing fabric.

Now I need to tackle the closet!!!!