Guild presentation

What was I thinking?!  I volunteered to do a presentation at my guild on "things you still have time to make before Christmas."

Almost all were freebie patterns/idea from either facebook or blogs.  I stayed away from bags or tablerunners since we have done those "to death!"  Plus they always take longer to make than the pattern claims...sort of like the chocolate chip cookie package recipe that says it will make 4 dozen cookies...in what universe!!

Anyway...I digress...so here are a few of the things I showed along with some tips I learned while making them...

First, this super easy pin cuff.  Since I know a lot of you also collect shirts and cut them up a-la-Bonnie you may also feel a bit guilty about tossing the cuffs.  Well, attache a bit of wool and a bit of magnet and you have a pin cuff!  (decorative stitching is optional!)The longest part of this project is waiting for the glue under the magnet to dry!


Next I showed a few of the mug heat cuffs...you can use a shirt cuff for this too.  A men's extra large is perfect for a Dunkin Donut's medium cup!

Wrapping a bit of felted tartan with a safety pin around the office white mug helps keep tabs on your mug - a mug kilt if you may!

More using of recycled shirts...a sewing machine cover.

This one I gave to my friend Tari and she nicely loaned it back for the meeting!  My "cheater" on this was using some of the pre-quilted fabric for the inside which was quick and gave it a lot of body.  Since I had a big box of 2-1/2 inch squares this only took a day to make.

Most of you may have seen this leaf potholder around the internet.  I unfortunately gave the pattern away last night so I don't have the pattern designers name.

 I used a layer of Insul-Bright and a layer of cotton batting.  I do that now when ever I make a potholder or table-runner.  (warning Insul-bright cannot be used in a microwave.)  Again this was a quick project since I have lots of strips around the sewing room and even enough left-over binding for a whole tree of these!

Also showed a pillow made using a vintage quilt block with some new embroidery and hand quilting.

This was a great take-along project. Think I did most of this in the doctor's waiting room!

I did show one bag...this one is made from a pair of men's chinos.

Some in-process name tags...

And then I made a casserole carrier...not a really quick project but can be done in a day.

It just takes a 20-inch quilted square with two short straps and one long one.

Well, back to binding quilts for the show!

list or tower...project managment

So I am a bit late on reviewing my to-do list from last year...there is a reason for that - it barely budged!

A box of scrappy star pieces...in need of a retreat...

It isn't as if I didn't finish quilts last year. I just didn't finish any quilts on that list. Which leads me to wonder if I should keep lists. At points in my life I had lists of lists..So I updated my pitiful progress on the 2011 sidebar. I may or may not post a 2012 one...makes me think of the old conundrum "if a tree falls in the woods and nobody hears does it make any sound?"

One of my 12 cowgirl sampler blocks....5 years on the list

Instead of a list I am trying to motivate myself with the tower of shame. This is a towering pile of plastic boxes containing UFO's. The two piles reach to the ceiling of my sewing-room. I cannot avoid them. I will not put them in the closet because if I don't see them daily they will quickly slip from my mind and I will most certainly start a new project. There is a danger here...if one of these towers tumbles it will not be pretty...but that just gives me more incentive to get going!

Leftover Album blocks UFO...15+ years old...

I do have "rules" for my UFO's...First, it has to be a project. A photo pinned to my dream board is not a project. A pattern in my file cabinet is not a project. A set of vintage blocks given to me by a friend is not a project. It becomes a project when I start cutting fabrics...

Next, if a project has never left the cutting table or design wall it is not a UFO. The little star and applique quilt I am currently reproducing/interpreting most likely will never be a UFO...(btw...this quilt really needs a name)

Current baby quilt project...

So for it to be a UFO it has to be abandoned. Abandonment can be in a box, a bag, wrapped up in fabric or even just slid onto a high shelf or under a bed where is cannot be seen. Abandonment and out of sight are pretty synonymous to me.

Project boxed up after Christmas and now part of the UFO tower...

When does it become delisted as a UFO...when it is finished of course! Once it is abandoned that is the only way out. There are lots of finishes though.

I consider it a UFO finished when it is a completed top. Quilting is a whole new step to the process. I admit to having over 50 tops at this stage. It doesn't bother me.

Another way off of the UFO list is to be totally abandoned. Usually this involves putting it on the give-away table at guild where my UFO can become some-one else's project...a quilter's "mulligan" perhaps. In the past year I have moved almost a dozen UFO's that way...makes space for more "stuff."

Playing on the porch

Woohoo, found a 5 foot snake in the tall ground cover yesterday while walking the yard with the gardener...he jumped and screamed like a teenage girl! Macbeth came to the rescue and stood between us and the snake. The snake was smart and retreated to the other side of the fence. Macbeth was smart enough not to chase him. All good. Now I don't mind snakes but it did give me reason to spend more time on the porch! Maybe that is why the little guy in the photo hangs out here has well....(he is the perfect color for my porch!)The porch - the real reason for today's post. We gave away our deck/porch furniture when we went overseas. I have been shopping around for the past few months and haven't found what I want. What I want is my porch that doesn't look like everyone else's in the neighborhood. I also don't want to spend a fortune...seems like those two plans were at odds.

So I took a page from that home show that only uses stuff you already have (except I allowed myself a $100 to buy paint and repair stuff since we couldn't ship that and so have zilch in the garage....) This has been a lot of fun! I'm using colors I love (I know I do because when I was emptying a box of stuff in the garage I found color chips from 6 years ago that match what I am using now!) And it is color...I am so tired of brown, black and beige I could scream!So what have I done so far...I painted some old wicker chairs lilac (before and after shot above.) I painted a discarded iron table bottom a textured black. I primed a 3 foot by 3 foot piece of wood and broke up lots and lots of chipped china to make a mosaic table top. I found a small canvas "rug" I painted years ago and some tin folk art for the side of the house. Fun no? So far I have spent about $40...couldn't even get a decent chair for that!

I am debating with myself on the china...I definitely want to go with the smaller pieces but do I only want to use the china? It was starting to look a bit girl-y...so I tried tossing in some beer caps and buttons and beach glass....definitely shook it up a bit....I'm going to wait a day before gluing it down to make up my mind. Besides I have to smash some more china (very therapeutic I may add....) Also there are a few pieces that I have to use the nippers on to make sure I don't lose the pattern like on this china mark....Still lots to do but it is way more fun than shopping (who would have ever thought I'd say that!)

The basket quilt came out of it's bath in good shape. There are still a few stains but I'm going to wait and decide how much they bother me. It may do more damage to try and get them out. At least it is clean and smells good! Important in a quilt! Photos later...still a bit damp in spots and is doing its final drying in the dining room....oh and here is a Brownie photo for Dianne....I suspect Brownie was out there hunting the little lizard...oh, dear. Both cats like to hang out around the lavender plant...wonder what it smell like to them?