Dear Jane, Five More Blocks

I have been trying to work on my Dear Jane Quilt every Thursday, but was too busy working on Christmas projects in December so was very glad to be able to work on it yesterday.  I was able to get five blocks made and even started on the sixth because several of them were on the easy side.

G1 was applique which is not my favourite.

G1 closeup.

 G13 also included applique.

G13 closeup.

H1 was easy to piece.

H1 closeup.

H13 was also very easy to piece.

H13 closeup.

I1 was also an easy one to piece.

I1 closeup.

I now have 147 of 169 blocks and 7 of 56 triangles made.  I started this in June of 2018 and I'm still having fun!

Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt Along, Take 4

 As mentioned in a previous post, I am planning on making two more flannel quilts using the Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt Along pattern.  This one will be for my d-i-l's niece.  Check out the cute lama fabric!

Here are the first four corner blocks of the quilt.

The accent fabric, which will become the snowflake, is a perfect match for the hats, scarves and boots the lamas are sporting.  Since there are four different blocks that make up this quilt, can I say that I'm already quarter done this quilt?

First Project of the Year - A Baby Quilt

My father's care giver asked me a few weeks ago if I could make a baby quilt for her niece.  I agreed and showed her some fabric I already had which she liked so that made things easy.  Here's the fabric I showed her.

I don't usually buy panels, but I got this fabric bundle at a yard sale from another quilter who was downsizing.  It was too good a deal to pass up!  There were stars in quite a few of the fabrics so I decided to make some star blocks to make the panel wide enough for a crib quilt.  I fussy cut the centres of the stars and chose various fabrics for the star points so the stars are all different.  Since the sashing on the printed panel was red, I used one of the red fabrics to sash the stars and since the panel had dark blue at the top and bottom, I decided to add a border of blue fabric.  Here is the completed quilt top.

I think it is cute.  Kim wanted more green in the quilt, so I will be looking for a green flannel fabric for the backing and then all that will be left is quilting and binding which I should be able to easily complete within the next week.  I also will be looking for a quilting design including stars.

Happy New Year / Needle / Rotary Cutter Blade / BOM - Mayflower Quilt Guild Scott Flanagan Block of the Month

I decided to start the new sewing year off right with a new needle in my machine plus a good machine cleaning and oiling.  It's amazing how much quieter your sewing machine is when it is well oiled and has a sharp new needle!  I also decided to put in a new rotary cutter blade.  It had been missing a couple of threads all through my December sewing projects.  You don't realize how much harder you are having to press to cut your fabric because it changes so gradually, but once you have a new blade in there you hardly have to press at all!

Since the quilt guild I belong to continues to be unable to meet in person, we are going to do a couple of mystery quilts and a block of the month (BOM).  The first block for the BOM came out today.  First up was choosing the fabrics:  Red, green, purple, blue, gold and a neutral is the colour scheme.  Here are my choices:

The reds are leftovers from various projects.  I don't have quite as much as called for, but can always get some more if required.

The green has been used here and there in various projects and is paler than the colour suggested but I think it will be ok.

The purple is a fabric that was donated to me and has more white in it than I would have chosen if I were buying fabric, but I think it will also be ok.

The blue is also a fabric that was donated to me and I think it's great.

The golds are leftovers from various projects and I may not have quite as much as required, but I can always get more of these too.

The neutral is a very light gray left over from the background of another project.

The first block is a traditional Broken Dishes Block and here's mine.

I think this new sewing year is off to a great start!  Now, because I allowed myself to start a new project, I have to finish an old project.

Snowflake Cushions

I found this beautiful free Snowflake pattern from Kathy Schwartz, a Canadian who blogs at Tamarack Shack and is half the design team behind Highway 10 Designs.  Snazzy Snowflake was originally designed in celebration of Canada's 150th birthday.  I had three pieces of batik fabric which I thought would look great as snowflakes.  I made the snowflake block in the light and medium fabrics and put it on point by adding four triangles to the sides to make it big enough for a cushion.  I used the dark fabric for the back and binding.

I only had a limited amount of fabric since I was working from stash so I made the envelope backing a half inch larger on all sides so I could use it to self bind the cushions.  I sewed the binding down and then sewed another row of stitching in the binding ditch to make the seam stronger since this was the only seam holding the whole thing together.  I didn't quilt the snowflakes.

Here's a picture of one cushion in a rocking chair I am painting teal.  I only have one coat of paint on it so far so you can still see the black paint through it.

While I was making these cushions I was wishing that the contrast between the snowflake fabric and the background fabric was more crisp so the snowflake design was more clear, or maybe it is just because of the mottled prints, but I began thinking of them as snowflakes in a snowstorm!  I gave two to my sister and one to my d-i-l's mother for Christmas.

2 More Gift Bags

Yesterday I showed a picture which included a drawstring giftbag.  I made it for my father's Christmas presents.  He's already given it back to me so that I can fill it up again for next year!

I made the gift box block using this tutorial and pattern from Tiny Orchard Quilts.  I then turned the gift block into a drawstring gift bag based on this tutorial from Jeni Baker of In Color Order.  I fussy cut the ribbons on the gift box block from a striped fabric.

I then made another gift bag but fancied it up a bit by making the bow on the gift bag in 3D.  I followed this Missouri Star Tutorial on making 3D pinwheels but only used two sections instead of four for the bow.

Here's the gift bag I made for my sister's Christmas present.  I added some of the striped fabric around the top of the bag too.

I made my sister's gift bag before I had fully decided what I was making my sister for Christmas, so it was a tight fit, but I managed to get it in there.  It made it more compact for mailing.

It might be better next time to know what size bag is required by making the present first!  You can see a sneak peek of my sister's present behind the gift bag which I'll talk about in my final Christmas sewing post.

Christmas Placemats, Napkins and Table Runner

I made placemats and napkins for my cousin and her spouse.  The napkins were made following this tutorial by Donna Jordan from Jordan Fabrics.  You can see stitching lines on the opened napkin which gives you guidelines on how to fold the napkins.

I made some Christmas Tree blocks and partial blocks following this tutorial by Lori Holt from Bee in my Bonnet and turned them into coordinating placemats.

I also made a placemat for my father who is 92 with some fabric showing vintage toys and decorations.

I also made this table runner based on a quilt pattern again by Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet called Bringing Home the Christmas Tree which can be found in her Vintage Christmas Book.  This picture taken without flash shows the true colours of the runner better.  When I was little, we had a red station wagon, without the wings, but this reminded me of it so I had to make it.

This picture with flash shows the texture of the quilting much better - snowflakes, of course!

This picture shows the runner and a few other Christmas projects from previous years.  I'll blog about the bag in a future post.

Sorry about the dullness of most of these pictures, but we were having rather dull rainy weather when the pictures were taken.