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!

finish it up Friday, 11/2/12

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

Somehow I managed to finish up a few thread catchers amid my uber crazy week. (I'm not quite sure how, but I'm glad I did.) They will be going to my retreat attendees next week. I love making these! Because I know someone will ask, I am planning on writing up a pattern for these at some point....after life settles down just a bit. (I can't wait.)

This has nothing to do with finish it up Friday, but today is my 6 year blog anniversary. SIX! I can hardly believe it. I've been thinking about it a lot and got mixed feelings about it. I did some reading back in my archives this week. Do you ever do that? Doesn't it feel kind of weird? I've got lots of  thoughts on this subject, but I'll save the rest of my introspection for another day.

Do you have a finish it share? If you do, please link up. Thanks for joining me for finish it up Friday!

finish it up Friday, 6/12/15

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

No finish for me today. Not even a pin cushion! But I'm slowly plugging away on my hand quilting. I'm getting so close to finishing the stars, then just borders and binding. This will be one happy finish when I get there!

I've been teaching at the MN quilt show in Duluth this week and it has been so lovely! The views are gorgeous, the weather has been idyllic and my students have been delightful! I have photos I wanted to share, but due to technical difficulties (ugh) I can't load the photos like I had hoped. (Oh, well!)

Summer is in full swing! I've been trying to figure out what to do with finish it up Friday. I certainly can't post a finish every week (even though I try my hardest!) and I feel weird posting a non-finish on Friday. There is a good chance I just need to get over my issues (ha!) and keep on going. Or we could break for the summer and start back up in the fall. Any thoughts? I'd love to hear what you think! 

Well, it's your turn! Please link up your finishes. Thanks for joining me for finish it up Friday! 

finish it up Friday, 9/11/15

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

I have a lot of little things to share today....

My first project is a simple patchwork dish towel. I've been wanting to try this for quite some time but I never got around to it. I bought the flour sack towel on Monday and here it is, Friday, and it's finished. Woot! That is almost unheard of around here, but I could certainly take more of that!

I pulled a bunch of 2 1/2" squares from the scrap box and sewed them together without overthinking it. (That's always the trick, isn't it?) All the raw edges of the patchwork are turned under and enclosed, so it should wear well. This was my prototype and now that I see how easy they are, I'm certainly planning many more. I think they would make great gifts! This is scrap project #104. (Man, I'm excited to be back at my scrap challenge!)

I whipped up this skinny star pincushion just this morning. I have a bunch of scraps laying around the craft room (shocking, isn't it?) and I had some half-rectangle scraps randomly sitting on a square of linen. It was obvious that they belonged together! After a little bit of playing, this is what I came up with. I LOVE it! It's scrap project #105!

My bowl of pincushions is slowly filling up again, which makes me so happy! Speaking of pincushions....next weekend I will be up in Fargo at Modern Textiles to teach a few free motion quilting classes. The classes are full (sorry), but I will be there on Friday to visit, sew and do a little make and take pincushion with anyone who cares to stop by. No sign up required. If you are in the area, I'd love to see you there! There is more info about the event here.

My friend Brianne visited yesterday and we did some basting and de-threading of quilt tops. Neither are glamorous tasks, but so much more bearable when done in the company of a good friend. She made me this patchwork drawstring bag and I love it so much! I won't be counting it toward my scrappy finishes, but it's so cute I had to share. (There is a tutorial for the bag here, by my friend Jeni.)

 

Alright, I think it's your turn now! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thank you for joining me for finish it up Friday! 

chenille shams

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

My dear friend Tara and her family have been here visiting this week and it's been wonderful! They just left this morning and it was soooo hard to see them go. We squeezed in a little sewing time during the visit, which was delightful. We definitely had to squeeze it in, since we had 5 kids running (and crawling) around. A good time was had by all!

Tara gave me (and more importantly taught me how to use) an invisible zipper foot for my Juki. So, a project that spent a lot of time on the "someday" list got finished this week. Sweet!!! I made simple pillow shams from a chenille bedspread that I got at a garage sale for a dollar. (Or maybe it was free?) I love them so much!!! They are a nice, fresh, summer look for my bed.

edited to add: the quilt on the bed is one I called window panes, which I blogged about here. The tutorial is here, thanks to Ashley. :)

Thanks for all of you who weighed in on the conversation last week about finish it up Friday. The comments helped me! I've decided I will keep things going throughout the summer. I will keep it as FINISH it up Friday, not a work in progress party. (Lee has a WIP Wednesday link up, if you would like to share your in progress photos there.) I will also not expect myself to finish something each week, because that IS just crazy! I'll try to cut myself a little slack. :)

Now it's your turn! Please link up your finishes for the week! Thanks for joining me for finish it up Friday!

a thread catcher, fabric ribbon and mighty lucky, oh my!

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

This week I did a little gift sewing! I made this combination thread catcher/pincushion for a good friend of mine. I always have a hard time picking fabric for others, so I did what I could to mix her likes with a little bit of mine. I think it turned out alright! :)

The pincushion is made from quilting cotton which was fused with Pellon SF 101, (my all time favorite interfacing) and then I filled it with crushed walnut shells. The magnetic strip is handy for holding metal bobbins and hand sewing needles. It's handy to have one of these next to the sewing machine, or on the arm of the couch when hand sewing binding.

I modeled it after the one I finished about 3 years ago! (There is no pattern, I'm sorry to say, but there is a similar one-see this post for photos-in Krista's book Make it, Take it.) I use mine all the time...it's one of my favorite sewing gadgets. I'm happy to report that my friend liked hers, too! This is scrap project # 119!

As I was wrapping up my friend's gifts, I realized that I didn't have any nice wide ribbon, so....fabric to the rescue! I made my own "ribbon" from the red and white ovals good neighbors print. I love how it kind of looks like peppermints! (This fabric really needs to be a Christmas quilt backing!)

It makes pretty good ribbon, wouldn't you say? I LOVE how it turned out!

 

One more thing to share today...have you heard about the Mighty Lucky Quilting Club? It's like a gym membership, but for quilters! It the first of its kind subscription based program where you will receive a different design challenge/instruction each month from 12 different quilters. (The line up is impressive and I'm a little nervous/excited/thrilled to be a part of it!) You can read all about the details of the club here. I'm looking forward to learning and being challenged in a guided format each month! It sounds like a lot more fun than going to the gym, doesn't it? :)

 

As I mentioned last week, I will be picking 2 winners from each Friday post (one from the comments and one from the links) during the month of December. Each winner will have their choice of any 3 PDF patterns from my pattern store. Just a little thank you for joining me for finish it up Friday!

 

Ok, folks! Now it's time to link up your finishes for the week...if you have anything that isn't secret sewing, that is! :) Thanks, as always, for joining me for finish it up Friday! 

finish it up Friday, 12/14/12

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

I'm happy to report that I finished up my drano quilt yesterday. I LOVE THIS QUILT!

 It's big! Measures 69" x 96".

The pattern is a traditional one called steps to the alter. Katy did a quilt along on her blog a few years back, so if you want to make one of your own (and I think you should!) you can find the directions here.

I threw it on my daughter's bed this morning for photos. I think it would be happy living here. (Although I do not think that will happen!)

I love that there is such a variety of scraps in this quilt...good, bad and ugly. It somehow all works wonderfully. I love the black diamond squares that give the eye a place to rest. Kind of.

 I used a simple black and white striped binding to finish it off...

...which ties in the backing quite nicely.

Speaking of the backing...I toiled over what to put on the back. I pieced a whole back out of fat quarters that I had in my stash because I didn't want to buy anything new for this quilt.

I kind of liked it-it felt campy and fun-but it wasn't quite the right match.

So I went back to the drawing board and ended up piecing it with some newly purchased fabric (the red and black) and a bit from my stash (the grey and white). I'm very happy with the outcome.

I quilted it with straight lines using my new Janome horizon. It was so fun! That thing straight line stitches like a dream. No shifting or pulling whatsoever and not a pucker in sight. Woo-hoo! (you can also see more quilting detail in the photo above.)

I'm considering using this quilt for temporary wall art behind my couch. I think it fills up that blank space perfectly. :)

I've heard that these things are addictive. I can testify to that. I'm thinking of starting another...

How about you? Have you a finish to share today? If so, please link up. Thanks for joining me for finish it up Friday! Have a good one!

finish it up Friday, week 8

Welcome to finish it up Friday! I hope that those of you who are working on ambitious Christmas sewing lists are making great strides this week. :)

It's been a BUSY week here. Oh. My. Goodness. I finished a few quilts (yay!), but it's been raining/snowing, dreary and windy, so I haven't taken any photos of the finished goods. All in good time....

But, I do have a VERY exciting finish to share with you today. I am happy/nervous(oh-so-nervous)/excited and scared to death to announce that I've opened up a little shop to sell a few pdf patterns. Well, at this point, it's pattern, singular. (I have big plans to add more as I have a chance.) I can not believe how much work it takes to get the ball rolling. (Accountants, sales tax, pay pal issues, oh my!) No wonder I've been putting it off for so long. But, I've finally taken the plunge and thanks to my finish it up Friday challenge, I'm forgoing sleep in order to go live today. Gotta love a deadline!

My first pattern is for a 20" quilted diamond pillow cover with an envelope closure. You may remember these from last Christmas.

I have a few that live on my bed (that my husband loves to bat/launch/fling off the bed right before crawling in each night).

And here are a few new ones I sewed up using a Divine charm pack by Windham Fabrics. I love that fabric! The pillows were prizes at the Colorado quilt retreat last month. So now one lives in Colorado and the other one lives in Virginia. That makes me smile.

I've made many versions of this pillow and I love them every time! They are fun and easy to finish in a fairly short time. You might even have time to eek out a few for Christmas gifts? Not to add to your list or anything.....

Since everything is brand spankin' new in my shop (I know it shows-I've still got lots of work to do there), please let me know if you have any glitches in the ordering process. I have no idea how this is all gonna go...I'd appreciate any feedback in a gentle form, as I'll be extremely sleep deprived and it won't take much to drive me to tears today. (Ha!)

Now it's your turn! Step right up and link up your finish for the week. Please remember to link to a specific post. Thanks for joining in. Happy Friday!

Malena's quilt finished

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

I pushed hard this week to finish my niece's quilt. Since it was in progress so long, the finish was all the sweeter! (I got about 1000 mosquito bites while trying to photograph it. That was not so sweet.)

I used my Go! baby to cut out the circles, then I appliqued them (without fusible) onto solid gray background squares using a blanket stitch on my Janome. After all the applique was done, the top went together super fast!

I used leftover pieces of fabric from the front (plus a little extra stash fabric) to piece the backing. It's like a big puzzle and it takes awhile, but it's so rewarding to bust the stash in this manner. Plus, it makes the back so interesting! I really love how this one turned out.

I stippled the background and quilted free hand swirls in each circle. (I used Aurifil #2600....it is THE most perfect gray thread ever!) The quilting on this is far from perfect, but I reminded myself over and over to let go of my perfectionist tendencies and just do it!

Binding fabric is from the Wild collection by dear Stella. Isn't it so fun? It matched the colors of the quilt so well and I thought it was a sweet way to finish the quilt.

This is my favorite detail of the entire quilt. That piece of white binding is only about 1 1/4" long. Eeeep! Makes me smile!

The quilt measures about 60" x 75". Hurray for a finish!

 

Thanks for your feedback (last week) about whether or not to run finish it up Friday through the summer. Based on your comments, I plan to keep up with it as much as I can. I love that it helps me stay motivated. I can ALWAYS use the push to get things done. :)

 

Now it's your turn! Please link up your finishes for the week! Thanks, as always, for joining me for finish it up Friday!

friday mash up

Hello, hello! Today's post is going to be a mash up of finish it up Friday AND day 5 of the No Scrap Left Behind blog tour. I hope that you were able to finish more than I managed to this week!

My friend, Erin, of Why Not Sew, is the featured stop on the blog tour today. If you aren't familiar with Erin, you really need to go check out her work. She makes beautiful things and she is as sweet as can be! She is sharing the ADORABLE pillow inspired by the mini nines quilt. I hope you go check it out here and enter her giveaway. Thanks so much for following along with the celebration of the book release. I sure appreciate it!

For finish it up Friday today, I had the grandiose idea that I would make a whole passel of mini nine pincushions. Like, 9 of them. (Are you laughing yet?) Late last night, reality set in, as it always does, and I only got the centers pieced. Those blocks are 2", unfinished. Eventually, they will grow up to be finished pincushions....at least that's the hope. :) Although, if I could figure out a way to piece them into a circle, that would be pretty cute, too!

I did finish one lonely little pincushion and I thought it would be fun to do a giveaway to wrap up the week, since this is a celebration, after all. I will be giving away this pincushion....

....and a bundle of scraps, tailored to your tastes. (That is, within reason and within the constraints of my scrap stash.) If you'd like to win a scrap bundle and the pincushion, please leave a comment in this post. In your post, I'd love to hear about your plans for the weekend. (We will be celebrating my baby girl turning 11! Sniff, sniff!) The giveaway for the scraps and pincushion is for US residents only. However, if you are a resident outside of the US, you are eligible to win a digital copy of my book. I will pick a winner for each, so in your comment, if you could please include if you live in or outside the US, that would be most helpful. Thank you!

edited to add: the giveaway is now closed. thanks to all who entered! the winners are posted here.

If you have a finish to share this week, it's time to link up! Thank you, as always, for joining me for finish it up Friday!

a hat for a friend

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

I wasn't sure what to finish this week....it seems like there is always so much to do and so little time. This hat, which was the closest project to being finished, was a good candidate. I have been procrastinating finishing the top because I was scared that I would mess it up. Turns out it took less than an hour, and it was pretty easy! Once again, I'm thankful for the accountability of finish it up Friday!

Last December, my friend and I went yarn shopping and we saw a knit sample of this hat in the yarn shop. My friend bought the yarn, I bought the pattern and knit it up. It was a delight to make! I'm excited to give it to her. I may even try to get some modeled shots eventually. :)

 

Pattern: Origami Top Hat
Yarn: Shasta Pretty in Pink (purchased from Amazing Threads)
Needle size: 6 and 7, as directed in the pattern
Hat size: I knit the larger size in the pattern

I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out! I would recommend the pattern and the yarn. It was a fun knit!

Oh, I wanted to say thanks for all your input on my binding dilemma! I have a lot to consider. Thanks for your thoughtful comments!

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

5 ways to upcycle a linen jumper

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

The Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild had an upcycle challenge, which was due at the November meeting. The rules were to use 3 different materials that were not originally quilting cotton (fabric off the bolt) and make something from those materials. I thought it was a fun and interesting challenge! Being frugal by nature, I HAD to join in.

I started with a black linen jumper (full length dress) that I wore about 20 years ago. I always figured that I could use the fabric for something....someday. This challenge was just the push I needed to get it done. I had fun repurposing the fabric to make several things!

My first project was to make a leash for our puppy, Lucy. She has a pink collar, so I incorporated a few pops of pink into her leash. I didn't use a pattern, I just made it up on the fly.

Our other puppy, Gigi, has an aqua collar, so she got pops of aqua incorporated into her leash. The hardware came from the shoulder strap of an old purse. I'm glad I saved the hardware because it's heavy duty. I'm thrilled that I finally re-used it! My family was impressed by the new leashes, which was pretty fun! The puppies like to chew on them, so I'd call that a success all around. Ha! 

Since I had so much dress fabric remaining, my next project was a simple two colored zip pouch. I used black linen for the bottom and a fun fabric scrap from Cheryl for the top. (I used this pattern, but added a half inch to the width and a half inch to the zipper length as well.) The outside panels are quilted to batting scraps to add texture and stability. I love how it turned out!

I had a lot of smaller pieces left after making the leashes, so I turned those scraps into a flying geese pincushion. (Pattern is available here.) I like how the bright colors pop against the black, but I don't care for how linty the fabric is after quilting. Oh, well!

I combined a bunch of little low volume scraps with the linen to make a thread catcher. It was quilted as well, mostly by machine, but I added a touch of hand quilting to the top to finish it up. It was a fun one to make, and fairly quick, too! (Pattern is available here, which includes instructions for the patchwork version.)

And the last project, because I wanted to make 5 different things using the black linen, is a key fob wristlet thingy. :) Well, maybe I shouldn't say last project, but last project for today! I still have a little bit of linen leftover and I will probably making a few more things to finish it off. Stay tuned!

Since next week is Thanksgiving, should we have a link up next Friday or not? I'm undecided, so I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'll let you all decide so I don't have to. :)

That's it for me today! I hope you have a finish to share. If so, please link up. Thank you SO much for joining me for finish it up Friday!