Halfway To Winter Stitching

Ooops, so I missed the linky update by a couple of days, but I figured I might as well still post, so I am not really linking up to Fairy Face's Winter Stitching List.

Since Christmas I haven't been too motivated by my list as I have had other sewing plans in mind, but hopefully this little update will help me to get back on track. So here goes...

1. finish my woolly christmas tree garland Done!

2. wrap some woolly wreaths, from ChristopherAndTia I had great intentions for these, but couldn't find any ring forms for a reasonable price so they are on hold until next Chritmas... maybe!

3. make a series of felt stockings for the garland, by Dutch Blue I made a single Santa tree decoration for the Brit Bee Secret Santa and made a cotton paw stocking for Shep, but as Christmas is over these are no longer on my priority list.

4. trio of applique and embroidery christmas scenes (when Helen brings some hoops back from China for me to play with) by Pilli Pilli My embroidered Christmas Scenes are predominantly from patterns purchased from Sew Deerly Loved and although the embroidery is nearly finished, but they are not hooped as I was waiting for my hoops to arrive from China with a friend (but they have been home now for about a month and I should do this tonight so that I get a tick!)

5. stay up to date with my Brit Bee (and finish October's this week) I am proud to report that I am completely up to date with the Brit Bee, AND I came up with my month's challenge and posted them out on time and everything!

6. enjoy the local quilting festival on Sunday 23rd, by Lutterworth Piecemakers

Check, it was awesome to see to many quilts in person

7. quilt and bind Numero Uno 100% finished and sitting happily on my spare bed

8. quilt and bind it's twin; Uno Gemelo (sticking with the spanish naming theme for these babies) Ummmm, not so much- I kinda got sidetracked once I had done the first one!

9. quilt and bind my Baby Mystery Mixtape another 100% finished task, this guy was finished and gifted for a beautiful little girl's birthday back in December and I am so so so pleased that it spends most of it's time in her pram :)

           

10. start (and finish the big sister quilt) Yup, yup, yup, also gifted for my Goddaughter's Birthday in November (even though it wasn't finished in time) I saw them at Christmas.

             

11. cushion for Nan of all her grandchildren's handprints Done and gifted!

12. decide what I want for my Bee month and order the fabric Done, and the packages are curently with the other Bee-ers, driving them insane from the sounds of it!

13. finish the embroidery lettering tutorial, over at Needle N Thread I started months ago! Hmmmm, still not so much, I have done the first two words but I had planned on doing some tomorrow while waiting for our new sofas to arrive as I have has to pack my machine away in anticipation! Photos to follow.

and in true list-making tradition, you have to put something on that you can check off immediately...

14. write my winter stitching list Finished before I even published the original post!

Recap:  I can happily report that I have 9 finishes, 3 wips and 2 projects that I will probably never get around to (am I allowed to permanently remove them from my list and call in 11 finished?) Fingers crossed for a finish before the end of March or I am going to look a bit pathetic!

Look who's pieced!

So I planned and planned, and wrote some lists, and planned some more about all the tings I want/ need to do before Christmas (and the inconsiderate people who decided to have their birthdays in December) and, well, it turns out that there might not be enough time to get it all done before Christmas!

With my new found emergency motivation I dragged out Fifi's quilt and got to work, and look who's pieced together now!

I love the pinks and red in this quilt, and whilst there is one or two blocks I would reconsider if I was to repeat it, I think they all work pretty well together.

Last night I also squeezed in time to put together the bindings for Fifi's Nine Patch and for the Mystery Mix Tape,  which now needs to be quilted and bound asap as the recipient was born a week early at the weekend!

and no, I am not showing you my list! Off to do some quilting (and maybe some roasting of extra Christmas presents if I have enough time tonight)

J x

Busy busy busy

I finally sat down and cracked on with my christmas presents this weekend, and I can at last check one off my list... I present to you, the GrandHands Cushion!

It has been sitting in pieces since I last posted about it, but this weekend I finally got around to putting it all together and I can't believe how easy it was- why I have I not made a cushion before?!

I went with option 4, from this post, (omg I can't believe that was november, I have been so lax with this!) and Laura's suggestion of swapping the white and beige hands around and I think the little white hand stands out a bit better this way.

After outlining all the prints with a long running stitch, I traced and backstitched a signiture of each grandchild next to their hand.

A quick panel for the back flap with the date, so we can all marvel at how small Maddie's hands are in a couple of years time, and I was done!

Not only have I finished something, but it was something on my Winter Stitching List too- woohoo!!!

Now just to sit down and plan out all the things that I must absolutely get done before Christmas, time for some finger crossing.

J x

Big Sister in progress

Next on my list of quilts (on my Winter Stitching list anyway) is Fifi's Big Sister quilt. My god daughter is soon to become a big sister for the first time and as she never got her own baby quilt (she is 4 and I have only just finished my first quilt) this is her big sister quilt. It is designed to loosely match the Mystery Mix Tape, but as she is no longer a baby- I didn't a want a typically baby quilt.

As a ballet-loving girly girl, I have gone for a range of pinks and reds, but I am keeping the grey sashing and 6" blocks from the Mix Tape.

Using the mix tape layout of 5 x 6, 6" blocks, I need a total of 30 blocks, 15 of these will be 9 patch combinations (7 of these shown above) and 15 will be single colour blocks; the central single block with have an F monogramed onto it... if I ever complete the embroidery tutorials!

Jx

Too many choices

Today, I started working on a cushion for my nan for her christmas present. I took an outline of each of her grandchildren's hands over the summer and so far I have traced and cut out each handprint, but after laying them out on the cushion cover I am not sure what layout to use.

Option 3 was originally my idea; but I think the middle 2 hands are too similar for this (even though one is 24 and the other 9!!!) and it looks lost in the middle of the cover.

I will be going around the outside of the design with a brown quilting thread to border the prints and will be embroidering their signatures around the outside of the cushion; I anticipate this will be about 1cm deep.

Answers on a postcard please...

I think my new favourite might be option 4, but I would love to hear what you think; answers on a postcard (or in the comments section) please!

J x

An alternate and some present preparations

I don't think I am going to get a chance to get my embroidery hoops before christmas, so I think my christmas embroideries (number 4 on my Winter Stitching List) will instead be a series of sketchy drawings- inspired from around the interwebs on the corner of a series of placemats.

Starting with a strip of christmas patchwork for the height of the mat, each embroidery will sit in a window in the lower right corner of each.

I have been working on them here and there for about a week now and I am slowly getting there- these may be practice stitches or they may be the final thing, I am undecided yet. Most likely I will redo the reindeer as I'm not keen on the thread I used; I much prefer the chunky DMC and especially the Perle.

I hand drew these guys, based on a design by Kerri, they were my favourite to start with and I ran ahead with them before I had the thread I had ordered online, now I really wish I had waited and will probably be redoing these!

Father Christmas used my hand quilting thread so the red stands proud from the cotton, you can also see my little collection of french knots on the right; about half of them are single stitches because it took me ages to figure out what I was doing wrong!

The snowman;

I had also seen these carol singers on pinterest, they are another design from Sew Deerly Loved that I fell in love with, these are the first embroidery I have done that solely uses the correct thread :) So far I am pretty happy with how these guys are turning out.

Trying to make the most of my brown thread I decided I needed a little Christmassy robin to complete the set. 

 I can't wait to get these all finished- but I still need a sixth design, maybe a forest of Pine trees, like the ones in Rainbow Stitches? Any ideas?

Also, although I havent got it started yet, I have got all my bits and pieces ready to make some family photograph coasters for my Mum's christmas present. Hope to get started on these this week too!

J x

Winter Stitching Update #1

1. finish my woolly christmas tree garland (13 down, 7 to go)
                no update to report

2. wrap some woolly wreaths, from ChristopherAndTia
                fail!

3. make a series of felt stockings for the garland, by Dutch Blue
                maybe next week?

4. trio of applique and embroidery christmas scenes (when Helen brings some hoops back from China for me to play with) by Pilli Pilli
                no embroidery yet, but my hoops are on their merry travels to England!

5. stay up to date with my Brit Bee (and finish October's this week)
                woohoo success!!! I finished October's block this morning and it is on it's way to Laura, I will             .              do a post on the blocks after she has received them.

6. enjoy the local quilting festival on Sunday 23rd, by Lutterworth Piecemakers
                check out the post that I did last weekend to see some of the great quilts I saw, it was a lovely             .               exhibition!

7. quilt and bind Numero Uno
                quilting - check, binding - nearly!

8. quilt and bind it's twin; Uno Gemelo (sticking with the spanish naming theme for these babies)
                no chance, must buy more batting

9. quilt and bind my Baby Mystery Mixtape
                ditto

10. start (and finish the big sister quilt)

                nope

11. cushion for Nan of all her grandchildren's handprints

                started, but very little progress.

12. decide what I want for my Bee month and order the fabric

                I think I have decided, been researching like mad this week, but I need to try it out myself              .               before I inflict it on the lovely Bee ladies!

13. finish the embroidery lettering tutorial, over at Needle N Thread I started months ago!

                I'm sure I will get around to this eventually...

14. write my winter stitching list

                another checked item!

so the updated list looks like this;

1. finish my woolly christmas tree garland (13 down, 7 to go)

2. wrap some woolly wreaths, from ChristopherAndTia

3. make a series of felt stockings for the garland, by Dutch Blue

4. trio of applique and embroidery christmas scenes (when Helen brings some hoops back from China for me to play with) by Pilli Pilli

5. stay up to date with my Brit Bee

7. bind Numero Uno

8. quilt and bind it's twin; Uno Gemelo (sticking with the spanish naming theme for these babies)

9. quilt and bind my Baby Mystery Mixtape 

10. start (and finish the big sister quilt)

11. cushion for Nan of all her grandchildren's handprints

12. decide what I want for my Bee month and order the fabric

13. finish the embroidery lettering tutorial, over at Needle N Thread I started months ago!

I thought I had made much more progress than this :( better luck next week!

Jennie x