lizzie's quilt, a 40 year finish and farewell

On Sunday night, about a week before Christmas Eve, I decided that I should make my sweet neighbor girl a quilt for her 18th birthday. It was a crazy idea, no doubt, but I forged ahead anyway. I'm not sure that I would recommend making a quilt in such a hurry the week before Christmas ever again, but I'm glad that I managed to pull it off. A deadline is a good thing! I gifted it to her on her birthday, which is on Christmas Eve. She was very surprised and loved it, which made it all worth it. I have heard reports that she's been using it a lot already. Hurray!

I made the label and THEN pieced it into the backing. I loved that method....because as soon as the binding was done, the quilt was done, done, done. Can't beat that! The blocks are 9" finished. Each rail was cut 3 1/2" x 9 1/2". All the top and binding fabric and some of the backing fabric was from my stash. (woohoo!) The quilt finishes about 63" x 81".

And now, for something completely different.....

My husband took some time over Christmas break to finish his Batman latch hook project. He is pretty sure that he got it for Christmas in 1978, making it a 40 year WIP. Hahahahahaha! I love that he actually took time to finish it, although we aren't sure where to put it now. :) He finished it for an honorary finish it up Friday project. Isn't that adorable??? I snapped a pic of him showing my boys how to latch hook, which was beyond precious. I give him 5 gold stars for his finish.

I've been looking back and it's been quite a year! I don't have a ton of accomplishments to highlight, but it's been a good year nonetheless. I did a fair amount of teaching/speaking and I did a decent amount of quilt making. Most importantly, I feel like I was able to be more PRESENT with my family this year than I have been in the past. It isn't always easy, but it's always worth it!

-I completed 14 quilts this year, which feels pretty reasonable. Out of those 14, 8 were primarily from the stash, 4 were primarily from scraps, and 2 used fairly equal amounts of scraps and stash. (The geeky side of me loves to see the breakdown of the finishes in this way. Always interesting!)

-I had a goal to use more stash this year, and I think I accomplished that. Hurray! I also added a lot to the stash, because I'm still living and breathing. Hahahahaha! It's just the way things go!

-I worked on several scrap quilts this year, too, but most of them are pretty intense, so they will take a lot of work to finish. I usually enjoy the process, so it's all good!

-I made the decision to wrap up my business this year, which was HUGE. (You can read more about that here, if you missed the announcement.) It was a very hard decision to make, and I'm sure I'll be dealing with the emotions of that for months to come. Change has always been difficult for me, so I shouldn't be surprised....but here's to the next chapter, whatever it may bring!

This is extremely difficult and very bittersweet, so I'll make it quick and to the point. Thank you for being a part of this amazing ride. It's been unbelievable. I loved being a part of your lives. Thank you for reading. Thank you for your comments. Thank you for all of your support over the years. I'll forever be grateful. For one last time....

Happy Monday to you! xoxox

workshop totes

My friend Jeni hosted a workshop sew along a few weeks ago and I waited until the very last day (in my usual fashion!) to join in. The workshop tote pattern (available here) is straightforward and fun to sew, with a few different options. You can use one fabric, as I did here. You can also use patchwork squares or half-square triangles. (Directions are included in the pattern for all three.) I LOVED making this tote. I gave it to my sister for her birthday a few weeks ago. She plans to use it for her trips to the library with her boys. Hurray for useful gifts!

I have a few workshop totes that I love and use, too. This one was made by my friend Cindy. She used this fun focus fabric for the exterior. (I believe it's called sewing woes by Alexander Henry). It's so funny and perfect for this bag.

She didn't have enough of the focus fabric, so she used some solid colored charm squares to fill in the sides. Isn't that perfect? I love how it turned out and how making do can be a benefit at times.

Here is a half-square triangle version that my friend brianne made for me last summer. I love the black and white paired with the hot pink and orange lining. It's a great combination of her taste and mine. I have used this tote quite a bit and it's holding up quite nicely. It's such a fabulous size for many different uses.

One of my favorite features of this bag is the top stitching on the sides to give the totes structure. Genius! I also love how different each bag looks based on the fabric selection. The possibilities are endless!

retreat gifts, part 2

Thanks so much for sharing your ideas for "happies" in the last post. It was fun to read your comments. I've added a few new ideas to my list!

 

Of course pincushions are the number one on my list of things to make for retreat gifts. I have a few batches of them to share today!

In early August, I attended another annual quilt retreat with some of my quilting friends. I've been a part of that group for a few years now, so I'm finally catching on to each of their personal tastes. (It takes me awhile!) This year I made a paper pieced pineapple pincushion for each of them in colors that I thought they would like. (The pattern is in Plenty of Pincushions, Volume 1, which is available here.) Lots more assembly line sewing, but once I hunkered down, it wasn't so bad.

Each of the pincushions were heavily quilted, so I piggy backed them through my machine during the quilting process and it went pretty quick! Again, I love seeing multiple items grouped all together.  

A few weeks ago I was playing in my sewing room and I came across the scrap vortex blocks that I started on the 100 day project. I didn't do so well on the 100 day challenge, but that's ok! I turned a bunch of the blocks into pincushions in one afternoon. It was nice that the patchwork had already been made! I added a tab to each pincushion to "up" the cuteness factor.

I took these to a retreat that I taught at over the weekend and I let each student pick one of their choice. It's so fun to share things like this with other quilters and to release the pincushions out into the world as little bits of happy. It never gets old!
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Here is a rundown of my pincushion method in a nutshell (no pun intended!):

Each pincushion top is a little bit of patchwork that has been quilted onto a batting scrap. The backings are quilting cotton interfaced with SF 101 for a bit of extra stability. They are filled with crushed walnut shells, which is sold in pet stores as lizard litter. I hand stitch the openings closed with invisible nylon thread, so the stitches aren't visible.

I find that this combination produces a lovely finish for a pincushion. (I think it's safe to say that I've done sufficient testing. Hahaha!)
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Happy Monday to you!

retreat gifts, part 1

Every year at my Gruber's retreat we exchange "happies". This year I made 11 (!!!) zipper pouches to share with my friends. (Included in that total: I made one to keep, plus another one for my friend/neighbor, AND I made one that was an inch too short, due to a cutting error. Hahaha! Although it wasn't funny at the time....)

I also spray painted the handles of these bow scissors, which I purchased at Harbor Freight. (I included a pair in each zip pouch.) I can't take credit for the cute scissor idea...I saw it on Instagram. (I used masking tape to cover the blades, then I used a generous layer of spray primer and a few layers of spray paint on the handles only. Once the paint is completely dry, remove the masking tape. From my experience, glossy paint works better than a matte finish. The glossy paint didn't ding up, but the matte paint did.)

 

The measurements are very similar to my two colored zip pouch pattern (available here). In this version I used one fabric for the outsides (obviously), but I made it slightly oversized and I quilted it. After I quilting, I trimmed the panels down to the correct size. This is a great way to use up batting scraps!  I used a layer of SF101 in addition to the batting, for added structure. I purchased the metal zippers from Zipit on Etsy.

Although assembly line sewing isn't my favorite, it was fun to see all the pouches together and it was fun to share them with my friends!

What are some of your go to gifts to give at retreat? What are some of your favorite things that you've received? (I'm always in the market for new ideas.)

two of a kind

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

I want to start this week by saying that this will be the LAST week of finish it up Friday for the summer. I need to step back and take a breather. Did you know that I started finish it up Friday in October of 2011? That means we've been at this finishing business (with the occasional hiatus during my social media breaks) for almost 7 years. That's CRAZY! Also, that's a LOT of finishes! I'm very much looking forward to the break from finish it up Friday so I can spend more time with my kids this summer. I do plan to keep blogging, if I can find time to sew, that is. :)

 

Speaking of finishes.....I have a PAIR of quilts to share today.

When I was making my epic Heather Ross quilt, I was actually working on two at a time. I made one to keep and one to give to a friend. I'm so glad I did!

Each of the quilts is a twin size, measuring about 67 1/2" x 91". I used my Easy as Pie tutorial (available here), but I expanded it to make a twin size rather than a lap size. I LOVE the simple pattern because it was QUICK and easy to put together and it lets the fabric shine.

The quilts are identical on the front, but the backs are slightly different. I used a mixture of the same two fabrics for the backing, but I alternated the arrangement of the fabrics. I used cotton lawn from Heather's line Sleeping Porch, which I found on clearance, (bonus!) and I knew that they would make beautiful backings. The combo of the orange and cream colors reminds me of an orange creamsicle. It carries out the summertime feeling of the quilts. Also, the lawn is lightweight and DREAMY!!!! It quilted up beautifully.

I quilted them both with loop de loop quilting on the baby lock Tiara that I still have on loan. I used 50 weight Aurifil thread-color 2026-which is a lovely creamy color that blended with all of the fabrics quite nicely.

Normally I don't use a light or white binding for a quilt, but these bright yellow dots were a perfect match to the colors in the quilt. It is smooth and lightweight, so it was a delight to hand stitch down to the back. (Hurray!)

This cute lined fabric (Fine Lines by Michael Miller) works perfectly for labels. You can see the backing fabrics better in this photo, too.

I gifted the quilt to my friend yesterday and I'm happy to say that she LOVED it!!! I also enlisted her to help me take quilt photos after I gave it to her, because I'm nice like that. Hahaha! :) As you can see, it was a little bit breezy down by the lake.

I especially love this photo....it's the epitome of a Minnesota summer. I am soooo pleased that these quilts are done NOW so that they can be enjoyed and used all summer long.

 

That's it for me today! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thank you, as always, for joining me for finish it up Friday!

a very purple quilt-completed

Welcome to finish it up Friday! I'm thrilled that the very purple quilt is complete!

As you may have read, I started this quilt on Monday. I put the last stitches in the binding, added a hand-written label and washed & dried it on Thursday afternoon. I plan to pop in into the mail later today! Time was of the essence, as this is a comfort quilt for a friend's sister, who is currently undergoing cancer treatments. A lot of stitches and prayers went into this quilt.

Once again, I'm amazed at what a little (or a lot) of focus can do! Don't worry....I still fed my family, did laundry, walked my dogs, tended a sick child and kept things going around the house. Oh, and I slept, too. :)

All of the fabric (except the backing) came from my stash. That felt amazing and I was happy to actually USE it, you know?

The backing is a chambray/cross weave fabric by Andover. I found it on clearance at my local quilt shop. (Hurray!) It's super soft and very calm compared to the front. Hahaha! In order to keep the back interesting, I added a strip of patchwork. I'm so glad I did! It was nice to use up some scraps on the back. If I were to use this quilt, I would use the back side up! It's certainly not the first time I've liked the back of the quilt better than the front.

For the binding I used a purple colored fabric that reminds me of grape jelly, but it is actually a Kona called Hibiscus. :) I like the way it frames the quilt.

A few weeks ago, I purchased some labels from the Dutch Label Company. I can't tell you how official I feel now! I really like them. I put off ordering labels for YEARS because I didn't want to make a decision. Now I'm wondering why on earth I waited so long. Silly, but true!

I sewed the label to the back (strategically placed) and then I quilted it. I figured that it would be better to have a little bit of quilting over the label, rather than to have the label sewn through all the layers of the quilt and have an awkward rectangle of straight stitching showing on the front. (I hope that makes sense...it's hard to explain.) I also added a hand written label with the recipient's name, my name, the date and a get well sentiment on it. Label overkill? I hope not!

I free motion quilted it on my Juki with a simple stipple using a light lavender thread. (50 weight Aurifil color 2560)

I didn't keep an exact tally of the hours that I worked on this quilt, but I estimated it was around 18 hours. (That doesn't include the time it took for shopping for the backing.) I think that's pretty reasonable, especially since that time includes hand binding.

It measures approximately 63" x 72".

While I'm still not a huge fan of the color purple, I enjoyed making this quilt and I think that it came together pretty well. I'm praying it brings a lot of warmth, comfort and love.

Now, it's your turn! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thank you for joining me for finish it up Friday. Have a wonderful weekend. xo

scrap and stash projects

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

I've been working on this boxy pouch off and on over the past week or more. I broke up the steps (patchwork, quilting, assembly) over several days, which seemed to work out well. It was time consuming, but I love how it turned out!

I used this tutorial by Pink Stitches and I made the larger size. I was happy to use that pink strap for the handle, which was previously made for a purse, but then I decided not to use it after all. I hung on to it for several years, knowing that I would use it eventually. I'm extremely surprised that I was able to find it when I needed it! Ha!

I used a cheery spring green gingham from my stash for the lining.

I love that I was able to use up so many random scraps in this project! I pieced the patchwork as I did in my Scrap Vortex quilt along. (You can find the tutorial links at the bottom of this page.)

Remember my 101 scrap project challenge? I was looking back at some old blog posts the other day and realized that I fizzled out on that sometime last January. Since I was so close to completing my challenge for the second time, I decided that I needed to resume it. (We will just say that I took a nice long hiatus....ok?) All that to say, this is scrap project #194!

This next zip pouch was a much faster project....

I made this one for my daughter's friend as a belated Christmas gift. My daughter picked out the fabrics and I did the sewing. It looks perfect for a tween girl, doesn't it? (It's good to have some purple in the stash after all, I guess! Who knew? Ha!)

For the lining I used a stripe that compliments the exterior. I used my two color zip pouch pattern (available here), with a few modifications. I used one fabric for the exterior instead of two and I quilted the exterior panels onto a thin cotton batting before assembling the pouch. It adds a little bit of extra structure and texture.

I'm happy to report that my daughter's friend LOVES the pouch and uses it every day at school. Woohoo!

One more project from the stash to share....

I made these cloth napkins for my neighbor's son who just moved into his first house. He was hinting last summer that his mom needed to learn how to make some so he could have a set or two for when he moved to his new place. Well, I remembered that hint and was happy to sew them up for him. He was thrilled. What a great guy! :) I cut 18" squares and hemmed them up. Quick, easy and practical!

 

That's it for me today! Now it's your turn to link up your finishes for the week. Thanks so much for joining me for finish it up Friday! I hope you have a GREAT weekend!

 

a sew together bag for Emily

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

I'm happy to share another finish with you today! I made this sew together bag (pattern here) for my friend Emily as part of a Christmas swap between some good friends.

Emily likes gray, aqua and hexagons, so I combined all of those things in this little bag. I have to admit that this took a lot longer to make than I was anticipating, but she loves it, so it was totally worth it. The hexagons were English Paper Pieced, which means they were basted and then stitched together...all by hand. I did enjoy making the EPP panel and then using it for a bag exterior. I did not enjoy cutting through the hand stitches when I had to trim the panel down. That was nerve wracking! Thankfully I measured right the first time.

This is the second time that I finished the binding by hand on a sew together bag and I'm sold on the neat and tidy results.

If you are attempting to sew this bag, I would highly recommend adding zipper tabs (see this post) as a modification to the pattern. It makes sewing up the sides so much easier. As you can see, I enjoyed selecting a lot of different fabrics for the interior. I have plenty of aqua in the stash to choose from. Hurray!

This is my 7th sew together bag that I've made to date! I have one more to make before I put this pattern on hold again for awhile. They sure do make great gifts!

As a little extra for the swap package, I made Emily this little coffee ornament. You can find the free pattern here. I used coffee beans for a filling, so it has a wonderful coffee aroma. I thought that was pretty fun.

 

Well, that's it for me today! Do you have a finish to share? If so, please link up. Thank you for joining me for finish it up Friday! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

tea pouches

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

I have a small finish today, but it's a finish nonetheless! Considering this crazy time of year, I'll take it! :)

I made these handy fold-up pouches to give to a few of my friends that enjoy drinking tea. They were a fun little project and I can see several more in my sewing future. It's fun to mix and match different fabric combinations. Picking the fabric takes almost as long as sewing them up. I'm not complaining, though...I love playing with fabric!

The pattern is called Handy Fold-Up Pouch and it comes from the book Stitched Sewing Organizers by Aneela Hoey. It's a beautiful book filled with several practical projects that I would love to make someday.

Have you heard of the hot ruler? I used it when I was making this pouch and it's SO handy. My friend Tara gave me this gadget when I was expressing (complaining?) how hard it is to hem pants or dresses accurately. The ruler is heat resistant, so you measure, fold and press the fabric all in one step. It's SLICK! I've used it for hemming, but also for small projects like this.

This is in no way sponsored by Clover or anyone else, it's just a wonderful tool that might make a good gift for you or for a sewing friend. Or both! :)

Of course this pouch would make a super cute mini sewing kit, too! That's kind of what it was designed for. hahaha! I love that you can clip the wonder clips (another great tool!) on the band. I think I might try adding a snap on the flap and use that as an alternate closure. Wouldn't that be cute?

Alright! That's it for me today! I hope you have a finish that you can share. (I know that it's so hard this time of year, because there is a lot of secret sewing going on!) Please link up, and thanks, as always, for joining me for finish it up Friday! Have a great weekend!

a sew together bag for my neighbor

My neighbor had a birthday this week, so I made her a sew together bag. (Pattern is available here.) These bags are NOT a quick project, so one has to choose the recipients carefully. My kids joke that they know I really like someone if I go to the trouble of making one of these as a gift. (They are totally right about that!)

I always struggle with picking out fabrics for a gift. I know what I like, but I have a hard time deviating from that. For this one, though, I knew that she would like something bright and cheery and cute, which is pretty much in my wheelhouse. Hurray for that!

I used 4 different fabrics for the pockets and 3 different fabrics for the pocket linings. What can I say? I like to use as many fabric as I can. Haha! I knew that she likes pink, so that was helpful for determining the pocket fabrics. The rest of the fabric selections were determined by the zippers I had on hand. (True story!)

 

Oh! I should also mention, I added tabs to the zipper ends, which helps immensely in assembly. (I have a post that explains the modifications here.)

Even though it takes more time, I like to make a patchwork panel for the outside and then quilt it. I start with 2 1/2" squares, so they finish at 2". (The side ones and the top ones get trimmed slightly, but it still works!)

I believe that this is my 6th sew together bag that I've made to date. I gave it to my neighbor today and I'm happy to report that she was OVERJOYED with her gift. That makes every stitch worth it!