New Projects

 I had a great start to November, I finished the Pineapple Cocktail quilt top.

I also finished Zack's stocking that will be hanging in his mother-in-law's house.

It has a sweet lining of fabric with snowflakes.

And I'm well on my way to finishing Kate's stocking.

I finished the last set of Jim Shore Santa cross stitch ornaments in my stash, from 2020.

Perhaps my biggest accomplishment was finally making the blouse in this pattern that I have held onto since the late 1980s. If you are a clothing stitcher...you probably already know that Vogue patterns are known for being the most challenging. Then...pick up a "designer," one and now you're doubling down on difficult!

 

I was drawn to the neckline on this blouse...and I could never bring myself to discard this pattern when cleaning up my stash. 

I made it...30-something years later! 

It was a little on the baggie side and since I prefer not to tuck it in...I added ties to cinch in the back a little. The ties are removeable...they button onto the sides of the blouse. 

Not surprising...I used a batik rayon fabric to make this top. 

I'm giving myself a big gold star! 

Holiday decorating season is approaching!!!

 

You know I will be taking my decorating very seriously! 

I want to mention that sometimes  I get questions related to Bucilla kits on some of my blog posts...sometimes posts from years ago if I showed a particular kit that someone might have done a google search about. Often...these folks are "noreply" commenters since that is the default setting for leaving comments.  It always frustrates me because I cannot get an answer to these folks. I have a public Facebook page and Instagram page, also called, "And Sew Forth." Either one is a great place to get a quick answer from me...or those who follow me and have an answer.

Retreat Mystery Block Turned into Quilts

 I decided to do a posting strictly about the quilt reveals from my retreat group’s mystery block we made last May. We were supposed to come up with a setting for the blocks by our October retreat.

I love when we get a project and each make it our own.

Some ladies completely finished their quilt so I will start with their quilts.

This is Mindy’s and she appliqued two little offset circles in the middle of the stars to give them a spinning look. (Indoor Autumn photos in Alaska just aren’t as vibrant as the real thing!)

Kaye had a focus fabric for the center of the stars. Her quilt had a luscious minky backing making this quilt very snuggly. It is for her grandson.

Kathy added colorful wonky stars in her setting.

Joyce took the cornerstones in her sashing and made them mini snowball blocks to mimic the centers of the stars.

Now for the ladies who got their tops completed but still need to quilt them.

Dawn noticed her star blocks did not all finish to 12 1/2-inches (I had the same issue…as did others).

Her setting solution was to offset her columns of stars. She also did snowball blocks in the border corners to mimic the snowball-looking centers of the stars.

Sandy is known in our group for endless supply of scraps...and she makes a lot of beautiful scrappy quilts. This is another great scrappy look from Sandy's stash.

I'll go last...as I have already shared how I set my blocks on a previous blog post. 

I haven't mentioned the name of this mystery as I hate to ruin it for someone else who might get to do this one. I also have no idea what the final layout in the original mystery is because the gal in our group who led us, only picked the main block for us to make. 

 

We had four ladies who did not get their blocks into a setting. Hopefully they will be inspired to get theirs done by our next retreat in February.

October Retreat and Other Stitchy Happenings

I had a “Material Girls,” retreat last weekend. We have three during the school year and this was our first of the retreat season. 

I had a fully finished quilt, “Northern Wilderness.” This was a 2009 Alaska Shop Hop design. I worked on it periodically with the top getting done while I was in Paris…2014 or 2015. The top spent two months on my quilting frame…I am not a quick machine quilter. Lots of time spent pondering how to quilt each block 

I have an idea of where I would like to hang this quilt…hope it isn’t too big. 

I started my retreat experience by getting the binding machine stitched  on, “Northern Wilderness,” and then finished with hand sewing. I ended every evening at retreat with hand stitching and slept with the quilt on my bed the last night. I need to remember to bring a quilt for my use at retreat. The B & B that hosts our retreat has lovely comforters that I always find too hot about 2 a.m.

My second task got started on the first night…using leftover HSTs from a previous project. I made a top with all green toned batiks  that left me with lots of scraps so of course I had to make little trees. I was going to alternate the blocks with a chain block but after making one of the chain blocks I decided the size of chain overwhelmed the tiny trees. I used all of my HSTs but have lots of squares for the chain blocks.

 So…more pondering on a design readjustment.

Day two I started a new project… a layer cake design. I used a Hoffman Bali Layer Cake, Sandpiper. The pattern is from the book, “Perfect Ten,” and is titled, “French Vanilla. Two other ladies just happened to be making the same pattern at our retreat.

I plan to add a piano key border with a matching set of 2 1/2-inch strips.

I started my last project on the third day, “Pineapple Cocktail,” I had a fat quarter set of tropical designs from Robert Kaufman batiks that I fussy cut for the pineapple bodies. The pineapple leaves are a little tedious to piece but of course the pineapple bodies couldn’t be more simple.

This pattern is a freebie through Anthology fabrics. The designer is Wendy Shepherd…I have made a couple of quilts from her patterns. She has lots of fun designs. Nice to find one as a freebie.

I had a, “Sisters Retreat,” the last week of September. It was three days but only daytime stitching at my local quilt shop, 10 to 5. I spent the whole time working on a big project that mimics a pineapple block. I was too burnt out on it to take it to a second retreat. I will be slowly pecking away on this one.

I finally got around to making a new thread catcher. My old one is easily 20 years old and made with a white fabric…dogs with black hair always manage to rub against my thread catchers. I used a pattern I found on Etsy, “Sew In Style Thread Catcher.” The pincushion velcros to a subway tile that is cover with a layer of batting and fabric. It worked great for me at retreat.

As usual, I have lots of hand stitching projects to work on at home in the evenings. I need to get two stockings made for this Christmas….almost done with Zack’s.

I finished the Bucilla kit of 12 ornaments, “Partridge in a Pear Tree.”

I got one more cross stitch piece for my 12 Days of Christmas cross stitch series, Seven Swans.

I’m thinking this series might not get worked on for a couple of months.

Here’s the latest visitor…I had no idea moose like to eat iris leaves…now I know! I was very behind this fall in getting my perennial beds cleaned up so I did need a little help. 

He really makes my big perennial bed look so small!

This big guy also did a stroll through my garden and ate the leafy tops of my beets. The beets were unharmed and I successfully canned them all.

Thanks for visiting. 

Fall in Alaska

My favorite two weeks of Alaska...Fall.

Photos never capture the radiance of the colors

Below are a pair of moose cows...they are a little tough to see...especially when you are driving.

My rock work area is getting covered in leaves. I won't even attempt to rake leaves or get the leaf blower out until the majority of the leaves have fallen.

Just for my historical perspective I want to make a note about the amount of rain we've received, "Summer of 2022."

In June we broke records for lack of precipitation and high temps. Awesome start to the summer.

Then a day or two after the 4th of July, our weather pattern completely changed.

In July - 18 days of rain.

In August - 27 days of rain

So far in September - 14 days out of 18 days...rain.

And when it rains...it is generally gray outside all day long.

Yesterday's sunny weather was glorious.

Thankfully, my garden has done well. But my big rock landscaping project has been disappointing. I have made decent progress but I sure hate to go through winter with a big pile of rock sitting where a lot of snow usually gets dumped by the fellow who plows our driveway.

I did finally get my quilting mojo back and loaded a top on the frame. I don't know why I had to pick one of the toughest prospects in my pile of quilt tops. I just finished quilting all the areas with cream thread. Now I need to go back and do lots of thread color changes for all the details. This quilt was a shop hop in Alaska many summers ago. Lots of  laser cut, fusible web appliques. Not fun to quilt on at all...but I am very thankful the tension goddess has been good to me so far. (I do have one small area I will need to fix/rip out and redo.)

I did get a top finished. Way back in May, I had a Material Girls retreat and we had a mystery block challenge. I finished my 20 star blocks at retreat. The second part of the challenge was to come up with a setting for the blocks. I am very thrilled with my solution. Our next retreat is October 20 -23.

My setting solution came from one of the oldest patterns in my stash, "Simple Gifts - #403". I bought this at a quilt shop in Colorado Springs when my son was there for a hockey tournament. He was probably 12 years old and is now 31. I remember the shop had a sample of the pattern made in the store. I think I must have looked at this pattern a thousand times over the past 19 years.

Evening stitching projects have been steady. 

The Bucilla ornament kit, "Partridge in a Pear Tree," is quite a challenge.

Number nine had a new technique for me...making curls for the Lady Dancing. Strands of floss were wet down and twisted around a straw to dry. The first attempt went well but the curls relaxed pretty quickly. So I rewet the floss and added hair spray...then twisted on small red coffee straws. Her curls still look great a couple of weeks later. 

And 10 Lords A-Leaping had sooo many details. Only two more ornaments in the set.

I finished the Timberline Santa series from Mill Hill.

Douglas Fir Santa, Scotch Pine Santa and Norway Spruce Santa

It's been a while since Logan and McKinley have been in a post. They were newly groomed in this shot. Hard to believe McKinley is seven years old and Logan is five. 

Lots of canning to pickle beets from my garden is underway. I always get a little anxious the latter half of September...winter is looming...so much to get done!!!

Thanks for stopping by and catching up on my world. 

Happy stitching.

Rainy Days…Projects Galore

It is pretty rare that I buy quilt kits. 

When I do…those kits come to the front of the cue for attention. 

“Flight of Honor,” by Whirligig Designs from Hancocks of Paducah was one such kit. 

I was a little worried when I cut out the kit…sooooo many little pieces. 

The traditional piecing method to make flying geese blocks…yuck. But there was a little wriggle room with the flying geese and I used a Bloc-Loc flying geese ruler to trim the blocks down to size. I bought the ruler for another project. It is very pricey but I think it will get a lot of use. Unfortunately they come in sizes so there isn’t a universal ruler for several block sizes.

What I loved most was the border…and it was so easy to put together.

I also love the way the wonky striped fabric was used in the two star blocks.

The photo below does not do this quilt justice. I just love the simplicity of the design that really uses the line of fabrics to great advantage from Timeless Treasures Tonga Batiks.

I also finished one more, By Annie project. I had just enough scraps of quilted fabrics from one of the bags I made to add another, "Stash and Dash."

I wish I had more time for handwork...so many cross stitch and Bucilla kits I would like to finish before Christmas.

I did get the Jim Shore Santa series from 2021 done. I still have the series from 2020 to start.

But the newest Sandra Cozzolino Santa Series has been moved to the front of my cross stitching list. 

This year the theme is Timberline Santas. This is Scotch Pine Santa.

I finished a few more ornaments in the Bucilla kit, "Partridge in a Pear Tree."

I am still trying to finish one cross stitch ornament every month from the Hearthsewn series, "Twelve Days of Christmas. For years I only made perforated paper kits...I just don't have wall space for cross stitch pictures. Somehow....I always find a way to display cross stitch ornaments. 

One of the outcomes of Covid shutdowns was watching YouTube videos about cross stitch. I have found other options for finishing cloth-based cross stitch and displaying them. Of course figuring out how I want to stitch on fabric has been a journey. I didn't want to use a hoop or frame of any kind. I have been stitching in hand. I tried the sewing method on several of my ornaments in this series but didn't always like how my stitches looked.

With my latest ornament, Six Geese-a-Laying, I dropped the sewing method and learned from a full-coverage stitcher to hold my fabric from the top instead of the side. Such a simple change really helped improve my stitching quality and wasn't fatiguing to my left hand. So happy. Just shows one can always learn something new.

When we have a break in the rain...I'm immediately go outside...trying to peck away at my big landscaping project. I plan to recap my garden season...someday. 

I missed entering any projects in the state fair this year. Of the five quilts I finished in the last year, four were given as gifts and the fifth was a king-size that really didn't warrant a state fair entry. Plus, I'm sleeping under that quilt this summer. 

I was even planning to enter a Bucilla project but the 3D Christmas Tree I finished, which would have been perfect, was just a little too delicate for me to feel good about having others handle it. I like to participate every year because the number of displays has been steadily dropping every year. It makes me so sad! I love looking at all the projects at the state fair...it's the main attraction for me when I go to the fair. 

Thanks for stopping by for my update.