So Much Done, So Much More to Do

 My Janome is back and sewing just fine. I've been FMQ on the Viking Murder Mystery quilt. I just finished quilting the center of the quilt this morning, so now it's just quilting around the outside edges left! There is still a lot of area left to quilt, but the major wrestling of the quilt is over.

I finished the last two grandkid Christmas gifts this week, so all the grands gifts are finished and wrapped. I still have adult gifts to finish, and a couple still to start, but progress is happening. 

I am sidetracking my Christmas projects a bit. I promised DD#2 a huge hot pad to put on her kitchen island, and and although she's lived in the house three years, I still haven't delivered. I want to make a double sided topper, with Thanksgiving on one side and Christmas on the other. I think I made the center of the Thanksgiving side two years ago, and I cut the borders but never sewed them on. I had several ideas for the Christmas side, but never pieced any of them, so the project just sat. DD#2 is hosting Thanksgiving this year, and with Thanksgiving being a little later, and me actually having Christmas well in hand, I decided no more procrastinating (or proCRAFTinating) on this. 

I sewed the border on the Thanksgiving side, and instead of any of the ideas I had been debating for the Christmas side, I opted to bust a couple charm packs I had in stash instead.

It's not fancy, but the charm packs had some really fun Christmas gnome fabrics, and decided to let the fabrics speak for themselves. Now I've just got to layer it, baste it and quilt it, and I've got some black and white gingham ready to bind it with, which I think will look good with both sides. My large hot pad I used two layers of wool batting on, on this one I'm going to use one layer of cotton batting with a layer of Insulbrite. I don't have enough wool batting scraps to do this one with wool, and although I think two layers of cotton batting would work just fine, I have some Insulbrite so I'll use it. The main goal is to be able to put this on any surface and cover it will hot serving dishes and not damage the surface of whatever it's on. I don't know about you, but before I made a huge hot pad, I was always running out of potholders to protect surfaces when hosting for a crowd. I usually ended up getting the last couple things out of the oven with towels, and then not having a safe place to put the last of the casserole dishes. Having one large hot pad that everything goes on works much better for me. The last couple times DD#2 hosted, she borrowed my hot pad, which is the wrong size for her needs. When I'm hosting, I set the food on top of the washer and dryer, which are in my kitchen. So my large hot pad is a huge rectangle. DD#2 has a kitchen island, and this big square will fit nicely to one side of her kitchen sink. With Thanksgiving falling late this year, I think I should be able to get it done with time to spare. This is not a surprise, so I can show it on the blog without a risk of a surprise being ruined. 

If any of you are sewing for Christmas, I hope you are making headway on your list too. it's a busy time of year for everyone! 

A Matter of Perspective

 Since my last blog post my Janome broke AGAIN! It's in the shop, but I can pick it up next week. Without my M7 no FMQ is happening right now. I could quilt on my Bernina with no problems, but I'm using the Bernina for making Christmas gifts and I don't want to keep switching projects on it. I'm waiting on a few items to finish up some Christmas gifts and those items have been delayed. I could be discouraged, but I'm not.  

That's the bad news, what's the good news? I've finished all but two of the grandkids gifts for Christmas. Aside from a few stocking stuffers, I am done Christmas shopping, and I've even got it all wrapped! I do have some gifts to make for adults, and although none of those are finished, I am making progress on those. 

Several of my adult kids are getting gift cards for Christmas. Two of my kids moved to new houses this year, and every time you buy a house, there's always some things you want to change. I figured gift cards to home improvement stores was the way to go for them. Another one of my kids is also getting a gift card. I don't mind giving gift cards, and often, I think gift cards or cash is the way to go. The thing is, I agree with all the gift card haters that it's impersonal. That's why I always try to give a small gift with a gift card, even their favorite candy bar can be a personal option. Since I'm trying to make a lot of the gifts both this year and next year, I'm trying to make some small gifts to go with the gift cards. 

I don't know about you, but I love watching YouTube videos about quick gifts to sew. There are SO many ideas out there, to help you come up with quick-to-make gifts! A lot of those gifts are smaller, so also require less fabric, and are easier to mail. A lot of wins in there! I also know that where a YouTuber may be using yardage for a project, that doesn't mean a quilter can't used pieced fabric instead. That right there is why I've been having such a fun time this week, when I could have been discouraged. 

I'm really bad about not counting units when I cut out a quilt. I'm rarely cutting it close on fabric, so I don't have to worry about running out of fabric, and I always find ways to use up the extras. Since my FMQ and working on grandkids gifts are on pause, I've been taking the time to look around and find leftovers from some quilts that have been hanging around. Can I work these leftovers into gifts for the adults I need something personal for? Why, yes I can!

I don't want to show too much of the Christmas projects before Christmas, but I can show you one thing I made from leftovers. I grabbed the leftovers from one quilt, and I started laying out the extra units into a table runner, then I realized, I had enough units left to make a baby quilt.  I will need at least one baby quilt next year, and depending on gender, this could be used for that, but I was really happy with how the quilt top came out.

I know that's a pretty wide border, I wanted to get the quilt to 48" square. Once I quilt it with something fun, it will look just fine. The yellow and gold four patches as well as the sunflower fabric, was leftover from a larger quilt. I did have to cut some cream on cream fabric from yardage, and it doesn't match the cream on cream on the four patches. That's one of the reasons I love using tone on tone fabrics, you can usually get away with substitutions without it being obvious. The border fabric is leftover wideback from backing a quilt in my last basting spree, so it was scraps too. Was this the rest of the leftovers? Not quite, I had enough left to make one Christmas gift, with only a couple four patches left. The sunflower fabric is completely gone! 

Another thing I'm sewing up in bulk right now is bonus HST's. I'm a big fan of double sewing when making sew and flip corners, and using all of those bonus HST's in other projects. I had a ridiculous number of bonus HST's around. Yes, they were all neatly stored in containers, and not strewn about everywhere, but how much better would it be if they were sewn into gifts instead of stored in containers??? I use HST's a LOT! I have lots of blocks I like to make with them. I've made sampler quilts with bonus HST's and each block is different I've made one block quilts with blocks set side to side but secondary patterns appear. I've made matching blocks with sashing, I've made pieced borders from bonus HST's, anything you can do with an HST, you can make with a bonus HST, it will just come out smaller than the original. It's all GOOD!

I get in moods to make specific blocks, and right now I'm making lots of nine patches out of bonus HST's. I tend to use bonus HST's in 16 patches, because there are more options for block designs with a 16 patch, but right now I'm into nine patches. Most of the bonus HST's I'm sewing up finish at 1.25", but I'm also sewing up some that finish at 2". The 2" HST's will likely result in a quilt, but the small ones are perfect for smaller gifts. I'm going to keep sewing up these nine patches, then when I'm out of bonus HST's in the colorways I'm trying to bust, I'll figure out which project they'll be used for. I've got enough of some of these I can make a couple projects from them, even if they are tiny. 

Yesterday, I went to a quilt show with my sister, and neither of us bought a thing! I had a list of things I was looking for, and they didn't have any of the patterns I wanted or the thread I was looking for. I didn't let myself do more than glance at the fabric, I have enough fabric, and I don't need anything for a current project. I did try out the Little Rebel machine from Grace. If my Janome keeps acting up, that's the machine that perks my interest most. I'd rather just stick with what I've got, I do like my M7, but having it break twice in six months was discouraging. Of course, it sewed for four years with nary a hiccup so I guess it was due.

When we went out to lunch after the show, I told her that I feel like I've been on a sewing vacation this week. I've been sewing a lot, but without my FMQ the first hour of the day, and then having to wait on supplies for the remaining grandkid gifts, I was really just playing in my sewing room. Sure, I got two quilt tops finished this week, and they are hanging in the quilt closet (sorry, I forgot to take a photo of the other one) , and technically I was still working on Christmas gifts, but I was playing with leftover units, and that really gives me the creative fix I've been needing.

More good news! The sewing machine shop just called, my M7 is done early, and I can pick it up today! They didn't change me any labor since it was just in the shop, and the part it needed was only $32! I can handle that! 

Finish #36 and Christmas Progress

 I know it's Halloween today, but I've never been a Halloween fan. For those of you that love the spooky holiday, I hope you enjoy it!

For me, this week has been all about Christmas! I really love Thanksgiving too, but DD#2 is planning to host Thanksgiving, so it's not really on my radar. I am determined to get the gifts I want to make done for Christmas this year, instead of giving up like I often do. I've made huge progress this week, and I'm now completely done with seven of the grandkids gifts. I've even got some of them wrapped. 

This I don't mind showing on the blog, because the grands are getting these early! I made them all a Christmas pillowcase, and they need them early so they can have a little bit of Christmas decor in their rooms for the holiday season. Next year they'll be getting Christmas pillowcases too, but the fabrics will be reversed, with the candy canes as the main fabric, and the sloths on the cuff! I've already got those done as well. I bought two bolts of Christmas fabrics for about $1 per yard, and I had the red and white stripe in stash. I thought pillowcases were a fun way to use the fabric, and give the grandkids some Christmas cheer in their bedrooms. If you like this idea, check the after Christmas sales and get some fabric at really low prices for next year.

This quilt had been a UFO for way too long. I think I started it in 2017 or maybe 2018. It's now finished and I'm really happy with it. My sister thought I should make one with Christmas fabrics, and it would make a spectacular Christmas quilt. I think this one will hang on my quilt rack in the living room for a bit so I can enjoy it a while before passing it on. 

Next up in the FMQ queue is my Viking murder mystery quilt from last year! I'm going to be taking a year off of mystery quilts, in hopes of finishing up the ones I haven't finished yet, and next year my sewing focus won't be on quilts. Don't get me wrong, I'll still be quilting next year, my FMQ an hour per day will still be the first thing I do each day, and I already have some deadline quilts lined up for next year. The thing is, I have a lot of things I'd like to sew that don't result in a quilt, and that will be a main focus next year. 

And The Last Shall Be First

 When I was figuring Christmas projects, I knew I needed to finish the projects to be mailed earlier, and the local stuff could wait, if needed. Per usual, life happened and that's not the way things worked out. 

Since I've got lots of non-quilting related Christmas gifts to make, I knew I'd be taking a break from piecing for quite a while. I still FMQ an hour per day, as quilting and binding only get done on my Janome, while most non-quilt related projects get done on my Bernina. Christmas is coming up faster than I'd like to think about, so I'm just not piecing at all right now. I do have some smaller quilted projects planned for Christmas, but they aren't my main focus yet. 

Two of my grandsons just asked for Minecraft quilts, when I had just made them both new bed-sized quilts for their last birthdays. I'm not making a new bed-sized quilt every time they ask for one, but I figured I could make them throw-sized quilts for Christmas. They live locally, so I knew if I didn't start them until December, it would be tight, but I'd probably finish in time. 

Life is funny sometimes, and since I've been cutting in the evenings, I decided I'd just go ahead and cut those quilts. Then, since I kept having grandkids for multiple days at a time, with only a couple days between, I couldn't get knee deep in Christmas projects, but I could do a little piecing on those off days.

I had picked an easy pattern for the Minecraft quilts, then, since they were smaller, I snagged the time to baste them, and before I knew it, they were finished!

And that's how the Christmas presents I thought I'd be making last minute, ended up being the first finished! 

The Minecraft quilts are also finishes #34 and #35 for the year. I happen to have five more quilts basted, so can I make my goal of 40 finishes this year??? Two of the basted quilts are king sized, so we'll have to see. I did a quick count in the quilt closet this morning, and I have just over 40 quilt tops hanging in there, but a few of those need borders, so some are not quite finished. I already have a list of deadline quilts for next year started, so I'll be making some quilt tops too, though I have a lot of non-quilt sewing planned for next year. Could I hit 40 finishes two years in a row??? That would be awesome, and definitely help me lower my number of UFO's. DH retires the end of this year though, and I have no idea what that will do to my sewing time. I guess time will tell, but I'm really hoping to hit 40 finishes this year, 10 more weeks left this year for 5 finishes? I think I can!

I did start some of my other Christmas sewing this week. Most of my Christmas sewing I won't be showing on the blog, but I know the grands getting the Minecraft quilts won't see my blog, so those are safely shown. 

Last weekend, DH and I took a drive to Bisbee, AZ, and hit up one of our favorite shops to buy balsamic vinegar. I bought several bottles of balsamic, but we also hit several thrift stores on our way back. DD#2 has me searching for yarn for her, as she's started a crochet business. I did find her some yarn, but I also snagged some fabric, like I needed any more.

One of the thrift shops in Sierra Vista, AZ had at least a dozen bolts of cotton fabric. All of the bolts were at least half full, and each bolt was priced at $20. The bolts were originally 15 yards, and I bought three of them. The two bolts of batiks in the red/orange colorway each have about 8 yards of fabric on them. The bolt of Asian Inspired fabric has about 12 yards. At one point in my life, I likely would have come home with all the bolts. I kept debating if I should buy any of them at all, great price or not. I decided to think about the quilts I have plans to finish in the next 12 months. Since there was quite a bit of yardage on these bolts I could use the fabric for backings. I have at least four quilts, if not five, in a red/orange colorway that need to be basted. Those all need backings, and the two bolts of batiks won't even be enough to back them all, so those were my first choices. I have an Asian Inspired quilt that needs assembling, and it will be king-sized, so that bolt of black? I'll need ten yards of it for the backing on one quilt. I can't even buy the 118" wide backing I'd need for that quilt for $20. 108" wide backing won't be big enough, so it's either the extra wide 118" quilt backing or three lengths of regular quilting cotton sewn with two seams. All of the bolts had really pretty fabrics, and I can't complain about the price. If you saw that deal in a thrift shop, would you have bought any of the bolts, all of them, or only your favorites? I've been trying to be good, but that was too tempting for me to pass completely. 

Christmas is all I've been thinking about lately, trying to make a game plan to get everything done in time for mailing. I'm already thinking about Christmas 2025 too, because next year will be a huge transition year for us. We do have a couple of trips planned, one of them being a bucket list trip, but aside from those trips, we are going to try to keep our expenses way down, so that we aren't stressing on our trips, or having to withdraw more money than we've planned for. I'm feeling pretty comfortable with our plans, and getting excited for the retirement adventure! My stash is really going to come into play for gifts next year! I'm so thankful to have it! 

Finish #33, Comets, and Scrap Processing

 Finish #33 of 2024 is complete! If it looks familiar, there is a good reason for that. Last year, I got a bundle of 20 solid fat quarters in soft rainbow colors. I added 20 floral fat quarters from stash, matching each of the solids as closely as I could. I needed a quilt really quickly for someone on hospice, so I cut all 40 fat quarters into 8.5" strips, 6.5" strips, and 2" strips. I used my large EZ Angle ruler to cut the 8.5" and 6.5" strips into HST's. I used the 8" HST's for the quilt I needed for the woman in hospice. I laid her quilt our just like I did this one, it was just a bit bigger. I finished that quilt in just a couple of days. When it was finished, I made this quilt top from the 6" HST's, but it was put into the quilt closet, because I had no immediate need for it. I cut all the scraps into 2x3.5" pieces and made a simple rail fence quilt, I had just enough to make a baby quilt, which I have already finished. Those three quilts busted all of the 40 fat quarters. 

DH and I went on an evening drive this week, about halfway up the mountain our house faces. We stopped at a rest area that has a great view of the city, and is one of our favorite places to watch the sunset. 

The sunset had a very layered look that night. I didn't alter the color on this photo at all. A sunset wasn't all we were looking for that night though. We were hoping to see Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, a comet that won't come around again in our lifetime. 

I'm not much of a photographer, and these pics were just taken with my iPhone, but I was sure blessed to be able to see it! Sometimes remembering to take the time to wonder at the universe we live in is hard to do, but I'm glad we did take that drive.

I finished processing the fabric scraps I was given, with one exception. I have one small bin with denim scraps I haven't touched yet. Some of these scraps were actually mine, but only the ones I had in bins in the living room for whatever reason. I still have a lot of fabric scraps I need to deal with of my own, but getting these processed into usable sizes was still a win. I've now got three empty bins in my small nine cube storage unit I have in the living room, which is a huge win. One bin is crumbs, and one bin is strings. I don't have another spot for crumbs, but I can empty the string bin into my cube unit downstairs that is all strings. All of these pre-cut sizes have a place to live, and some of them are even put away now. 

I used to feel bad about throwing any scraps away, but the only bits in this bag are too small for me to ever use, and I use some really small stuff! I felt pretty good about tossing this bag of fabric bits, knowing it's that much that I would never use anyway, but now I'm not having to store it. It's funny how freeing it is to understand that an almost full grocery bag of scraps left my house, and it was really down to the unusable. Pre-cutting my scraps works for me, if I'm making a quilt with sizes I keep, I automatically go to my scrap stash first. I often have a quilt in mind when I'm cutting up scraps, but if I don't, I cut to my most often used sizes. 

I'm just starting on my Christmas sewing. I'm making two throw quilts for Christmas, and I've got both quilt tops finished and basted. I started FMQ one of those this morning. As soon as I finish this blog post, I'll be prepping pillowcases to sew up for the grands. Christmas sewing is now my priority, and hopefully I'll get it all done with a minimal amount of stress.