Friday Finish: Mini Log Cabin Pincushion

With scraps from my daughter's log cabin quilt, I sewed this cute mini log cabin block and turned it into a pincushion.  I love everything about pincushions: making, giving, using, displaying, AND receiving them!!

I trimmed some leftover strips to 1" wide; you can see what a difference that half an inch makes when you are working with 13 strips.

The back is super cute too!  I like to use a heavier weight fabric for my pincushion backs so I don't have to line them.  The stuffing is walnut shells.

Linking with Crazy Mom Quilts.  Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Friday Finish: Lego Sewing Machines

This weekend is our annual Gruber's retreat in Minnesota, and I made lego sewing machines to take for my retreat friends.

I have made these little machines before, but at my last Lego store visit I discovered the option of engraving bricks so these machines are personalized.  

Each time I make a batch, I have to change up the "recipe" just a bit because of the brick availability at the time.  These machines are so much fun to make; I should just start ordering the actual parts I want from now on!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.  Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping by,

Friday Finish: Featherweight Bag

Hey and Happy Friday! 

I finished Jeni Baker's Sew Portable Travel Bag, and let me say it travels well on the airplane!  

Not being a bag maker, I was happy the sewing machine bag, as well as the drawstring pouch and tray cover, was not complicated to make.  I cut into my precious Carolyn Friedlander fabrics for this project.  The bag could have been quilted more, but I was in a hurry to finish before my trip.  The picture above shows the featherweight that traveled in the bag, but I should note that I used my Juki to make the bag.

I have wanted a way to carry my featherweight on the plane without having to lift it into the overhead bin (forget checking it in a suitcase), and I seemed to remember this pattern being described as such.  When I went to find the pattern, I did not see it described as being able to fit under an airplane seat, but it does which is awesome.

This was on a Southwest flight; I had more room on the United flight.

I brought my featherweight with me to Montana (via a quick trip to Chicago), and I had no issues going through security (no more than usual...I always give TSA a heads up), carrying the bag through the airport, or fitting the bag and machine under the seat in front of me on the plane.

I can't tell you how happy this makes me.  Soon I will travel to Minnesota for my eighth Gruber's retreat, and I am excited to have a better plan for traveling with my machine.  In the past, I would pack my sewing machine in my carryon bag and carry an oversize tote bag filled with fabric as my personal item to fit under the seat.  Well, you know how much fabric weighs!  Over the years, I have developed a pain in my left shoulder from carrying heavy tote bags and lifting suitcases (usually holding fabric and a sewing machine) in overhead bins.

Recently, I have switched to traveling with a backpack that slides on the handle of my roller carryon bag...nothing on my shoulder and seeking assistance with lifting my bag in the overhead bin.  For this trip with my sewing machine, I replaced the backpack with my Featherweight bag which had room to hold my wallet, iPad, and sweater.  My rolling bag was lighter without a sewing machine so lifted easily in the overhead bin.

On the return trip, my rolling bag had acquired some weight so I checked it in which meant carrying the Featherweight bag on my shoulder through the airport.  The structure of the bag was durable enough for this purpose, and I had no concern carrying the sewing machine around.  It was quite the conversation starter as well while waiting to board ;-)))  The funniest comment I heard was from a quilter's husband who referred to quilt guilds as "covens"!

So those are my tips and experiences when flying with a sewing machine.  What are yours?

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a fabulous weekend!

Friday Finish: One Little and One Big

Happy Friday!!  Today I have a small, quick finish to share and a not so small and quick quilt finish.

 

First up is this cute pincushion made with trimmings from my Chawne Kimber small piecing class at QuiltCon. You know the trimmings are small when the actual block is less than one inch!

I included the pin cushion in our guild raffle basket along with lego sewing machine and other goodies from my sewing room.

Next up is a quilt finish that I have been working on in between other projects and finally completed when I had a specific recipient in mind.

Here are some progress shots.

Using my favorite Aurifil thread (2600 in 50wt) and my longarm, I quilted organic horizontal lines across the quilt.  Every so often, I changed the thread to red, yellow, blue, green, and purple (didn't write down the thread numbers) and quilted a color line.

The backing is a Carrie Bloodstone wide back; the binding is a black graphic from my stash.

This quilt was shipped to its new owner last week...hoping she likes it!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.
Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great stichy weekend!

Friday Finish: Quilts for Pulse

I haven't found the words to describe the Quilts for Pulse project, the impact it has had on our community, our guild, myself, and I am not sure I ever will.  The QFP top that was started at our annual Gruber's retreat has now been quilted and photographed, so it's about time I at least blogged about that.

Nine of us made the retreat this year; each of us made an oversized heart block from Happy Zombie's Love Quilt pattern.  

We each selected a color; you know I don't even remember for sure which color I chose ;-)

Lovely Mary!

 Mary, of course, selected turquoise blue!

Coming up with the block layout was a group effort and was not taken lightly...sure wish I had input from eight others all the time!

Love these girls!!!

The quilt top was finished in July at our retreat.   It sat patiently waiting to be quilted while I helped with other aspects of the QFP project.  Due to the overwhelming generosity of the worldwide community, our Orlando Modern Quilt Guild set about making quilt tops from the incredible number of heart blocks sent in, quilting and binding those tops, photographing each completed quilt, distributing quilts to those affected by the Pulse tragedy,  and writing thank you notes.

As for the quilting, I quilted various patterns in the heart blocks and the phrase "love is love is love" in the negative space.  I didn't mark the letters or lines, preferring to quilt organically as if I were writing those words.  I have messy handwriting ;-)))

Serendipity has been a common theme when discussing QFP with my guild friends.  (One day I hope someone writes all about that.)  When it came to the binding, I was in a hurry and grabbed from my leftover binding collection.  While stitching the binding to the front, I realized the fabric was all from Amy Butler's LOVE fabric collection!  During our Gruber retreat photo with the quilt, Stephanie and I realized we were both wearing our Glamp Stitchalot t-shirts designed by Monica aka Happy Zombie (not planned).  The backing is Amanda Jean's Good Neighbor's fabric line.  Serendipitous, indeed!

photo by Paula Kennedy Photography

Our heart quilt was finished (just) in time to be professionally photographed (thank you Paula Kennedy!) for QuiltCon's Quilt For Pulse exhibit.  After the photo shoot the quilt was gifted to a 911 operator who had to listen to and transcribe all the horrific emergency phone calls from that terrible night.

Our quit label

Quilty friends definitely do rock!  I am so grateful to my retreat friends for helping make this quilt for someone in need and so appreciative of the generosity of the worldwide quilting community that made it possible for the OrlandoMQG to deliver almost 1,800 quilts.

If you will be in Savannah next week for QuiltCon, please stop by the QuiltsforPulse exhibit and see photos of all the quilts made and donated.  There is an official meet up at the exhibit Saturday at 12:30, but at least one member from our guild will be there during all hours of the show.  

Hope I get the chance to say Hi! and Thank You!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

Friday Finish: Circle Play Needle Case

Last week I enjoyed a lovely wool appliqué workshop with Sue Spargo.  She was teaching in nearby Stuart, and several Orlando Modern Quilt Guild members signed up to take her Circle Play Needle Case (which is my finish for this week) class.  It was amazing to get away for a day with friends, and I needed that!

Sue's WIP....obviously not mine ;-)))

The class was hosted by Red Thread Studio and held at Ground Floor Farm.  The weather could not have cooperated any better for such a venue.  The class was held inside (in case you were wondering), but the view to the farm itself was right outside the glass doors where we enjoyed a delicious al fresco lunch.

Sue is an amazing teacher!  Eight different stitches were taught, and Sue spent time with each student making sure we all got it.  I have done some embroidery before, but this was my first time stitching on wool.  I would also say half of the stitches she taught were new to me.

You guessed it...this is MY WIP.

Obligatory group photo

As Sue says, you can keep going, stitching and stitching and stitching....  I found myself doing just that.  You have to call a halt at some point though, right?! 

Here is my finished needle case.  My little case could certainly benefit from a few more stitches, but I am pleased to have a finish.  Not to mention, I can now find my needles!  

Surely I am not the only one that uses a headlamp for hand sewing.

 I changed up the binding from what was in my kit and added a bit of embroidery to the spine.

I am enjoying my hand sewing projects so much that I have neglected my sewing machine.  Finding balance is not my strong suit ;-)))

Ending this post with another lovely Sue Spargo artwork!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.  Hope you had a productive week!

Thanks for stopping by.  Happy stitching,

Friday Finish: 50 Shades ... quilt

Happy Friday!!  Thank you everyone for the warm "Welcome Back" to blogging this week.
I have a recent finish to share, even though it isn't from this week.    This idea for my friend's 50th birthday quilt has been floating in my brain for quite a while now.  The quilt pattern is from Sunday Morning Quilts, and I used 50 (not 48, 49, or 51) different low volume fabrics and sprinkled in some bright, cheerful, and meaningful (to our friendship) prints.

Some of my favorite prints represent our girls' trip to NYC, dinner club, Halloween and Christmas spent together, shopping, happy hour, and our accounting backgrounds.  

I was able to try out quite a few quilting designs on my longarm as I quilted a different design in each row.  Phrases such as "Fabulous Fifty", "Five Perfect Tens", "Happy 50th Birthday" and "peace love and happiness" were quilted in as well as "friendship", "family", "50", "fifty", and "love".

The quilt was backed in a pretty Kaffe Fasset wide back print.  It seemed appropriate to use a print from Amanda Jean's Good Neighbors fabric line for the binding.  I did run short and pieced in a gray text fabric to make up the difference.

It's good to blog again, and it's an excellent feeling to have a quilt finish.  Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilt's finish it up Friday.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Happy stitching,