Happy Halloween!

We're expecting the usual hordes of trick-or-treaters tonight, and thus far have only had to replace one bag of candy :)

This adorable witch I bought last year at the Senior Craft Shoppe. Claudette's painting and special additions were too charming to resist!  She needs a name, though...

Design Wall Monday--Jan 14, 2013

There is nothing on my design wall, but still some stitching has taken place.  Mostly quilting.

Mug mats for the craft shoppe quilted with a spiral and some zigzags, ready to be priced and sold.  Maybe I should sell them as a package deal? 

More mug mats for the craft shoppe in the heart mode, all quilted and bound. Since there are no actual Valentine fabrics, I hope these appeal to a broader range of folks who just like hearts.  I work this afternoon at the shoppe so will see if the ones I previously made were selling.  I have many more pieces cut and ready to make more.

Leader-enders from 2.5" squares are turning from twosies to four patches.  I did a rough count and will have about 80 four patches when this pile is sewn.  That will make a nice sized mini quilt, don't you think? See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday--Jan 7, 2013

First DWM of 2013--glad I have something to show for it, and thanks to Judy for continuing this well-loved feature.  On my design surface are a multitude of projects.  I've been sewing a LOT.

The pinwheels from scraps are laid out in tablerunner fashion.  The blocks are about 9 inches and a 4 x 3 block layout was just too small to do anything with.  Pondering if I want to make more blocks to play with or call this done and make it a real tablerunner. 

After dragging my feet for a few days--I needed TWO more HSTs of the red and white to complete the center--and had enough of the cream to do so, thankfully.  It will end up being about 40 inches long, I believe, so will be a table mat more than a runner.  I'll use the red for the borders, end triangles, backing and binding.  DD Elaine will get this and is excited about it. 

More scrap fun with red and green.  These will be mug mats for the Shoppe.  I'll do a stitch and turn on these, and use up some batting scraps in the process. 

More scrappy mug mats for the Shoppe.  Heart block pattern is from About.com.  The green calico I'm using for the backing has been in my stash for ages.  It once covered the walls in my daughters' room.  I've used it in so many quilts and will be happy to see the end of it finally!

Since this photo I quilted these four mug mats and bound them with leftover binding from my scrap bin.  I'll hand stitch them down this afternoon while I work at the Shoppe and put them out for sale.  I have a bunch more already cut in pink, and if popular, will make some in red.  See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday--Oct 15, 2012

On my design surface today are an unburied Halloween UFO and some sales-to-be.

A couple of years in the making, so far.  I think I got stuck on the fabric for the hill beneath my crooked house.  This dark green seems to be doing the trick.  I'll cut a bat out of that black fabric on the right to fly in front of the yellow moon, and fashion a crooked mailbox out of a few of these charm pack scraps (from a Minnick & Simpson line a few years back).   It would be nice to have it ready for the holiday.

Two table runners for the shop.  I'd like to get these finished today so I can take them with me to my shift tomorrow.  See more design walls on Judy's Patchwork Times.

A belated blog shout-out to my dear daddy, who celebrated a big birthday yesterday.  Happy Birthday, Dad!

Sale Sewing

A tablerunner for the Senior Craft Shoppe got quilted and its binding on in time for me to take it to the shop yesterday for my shift.

Bright sunshine washed out the colors a bit.

The walking foot is my best friend for quick and simple quilting!  Certainly the tablerunner could have been more heavily quilted in areas, but I'm overall pleased with how it turned out.

 

Lots of stitch in the ditch on this one too.  Hope someone likes it!  I have another batch of these pink and green block packages from JoAnn's to put together in probably exactly the same way. 

We had a very busy afternoon at the shoppe, lots of shoppers and looky-loos.  The day was tinged with tragedy, however, as I learned that a nighttime fatal car accident had taken one of our fellow crafters, along with her husband, last weekend.  I had three training sessions before starting regular shifts, and one of them was with this 50-something lady, who I enjoyed meeting very much and was looking forward to getting to know better.  We were supposed to work the day's shift together.  Instead, her replacement and I spent time gathering up all her items for sale, combing the store for her jewelry, quilts, purses/totes, and decorated T-shirts, to return to her family.  The accident was so significant, involving three vehicles, that several days later the police department shut down the major intersection at night so they could take digital measurements with special instruments to try to recreate the exact path of the vehicles, their speed, and try to determine if a red light had been run.  I had been reading about it in the paper for the past few days, never dreaming I knew one of the victims, since they did not name them until the article yesterday.  So awful!

What I'm Working On Wednesday

There's a lot going on in my sewing world and I'm getting distracted easily.  But here are a few things needle and thread are changing:

The quilting is complete on the first of the witches quilts.  Lots of stitch in the ditch around all the faces, lips, hats, bands, background, and the borders, whew!  I timed myself on the white background sections and each only took 6-10 minutes to quilt--in a very herky-jerky zig-zaggy filler style.  Happy about that!  Only the binding left to do and I already have the strips cut.  I really want this one to be finished today.

2.5" scrap strips are being turned into small tablerunners for sale at the senior craft shoppe.  This will be bordered with some cream and will end up probably 12 x 26".  I hope purple and pink are popular since another, smaller runner will join this one.

Next, piecing of batting scraps for a larger tablerunner.  The backing is cut and binding choice already figured out.  Simple quilting will be key to getting this out on the sales floor.

More Picnic blocks have been completed while piecing the strips.  Soon the leader-ender box will be empty and I'll need to lay them all out to see what color I need more of.  I'm guessing green, my favorite color :).  What are you working on?

Fluttering

Though I'm mostly unemployed I've been busy, really I have, but it seems to be in a peculiarly fluttering, mostly unproductive way, landing here and there for a moment or two and then acting on whatever else comes to mind.  There have been a few successes, however.

This tablerunner is destined for sale at the Seniors Craft Shoppe.  It is about 18-20" wide and maybe 50something long.  Haven't measured it!

Machine appliqued flowers and leaves and a little designing of my own from some purchased kits.

These clearanced block kits I picked up several years ago when the JoAnn's store in town was closing. I had no idea what I might do with them but they were $4 apiece, included precut pieces, and all the instructions.  The two kits on the left were for much wider sections than the pieced block kits but some MATH and just plain cutting down made them suitable for the tablerunner.  The above kits will be a near twin to the one I've already sewn.  I think they will look better once quilted and bound--that beige is pretty blah but I like the pink and green.

Backing for the larger witches quilt is selected but not yet sewn.

The mail mountain on the back counter has been tamed and is ready to be put in the filing cabinet.  Mail for five people is exhausting to go through but keeping it down to a minimum seems impossible in this household! 

Meanwhile, Grant and I are trying to complete the house painting job we started a couple of months ago. We have three sections left to paint, all with two story height walls in parts.  Today we are working on the hallway between the living room and sewing area.

"The cupboard under the stairs", but no young skinny wizard is in it.  This is where we keep the pet toys/leash, tablecloths, folding chairs, and other flotsam and jetsam.  Yesterday morning when I was about to leave I was surprised to hear a door close, and turned to see that Mini had apparently just exited this cupboard--she had knocked out the flashlight that lives just inside.  I had wondered where she hid sometimes! 

All right, break time is over, back to the painting chore list.