Thursday thoughts

It's time to decorate for Christmas.

Already!

Good thing I have a quilt to hang up...

Decorations are going to be minimal this year because my house looks like this...

(there's a kitchen remodel going on)

and I'm not up to pulling out more STUFF to add to the confusion!!

;)

This quilt came back from the publisher JUST in time to sling over a chair!

I was so happy to be included in the recent McCall's Quick Quilt

Dec/Jan  2016 edition.

  ;)

My knitting needles have been moving around with me.

Days have been busy!

The scrap quilter in me had to see if I could use a variety of yarns

to complete this little fall vest.

I'm happy I wondered!

Blogger's quilt festival

It's that time again....

Time for a QUILT show hosted by Amy

It's GREAT to travel around the world

virtually...

and ENJOY everyone's quilts!

I'm sharing a quilt I made this year.

One month at a time. 

;)

This little car is my favorite part!

I had some friends join me on this quilt along.

I made one element each month

and shared about how I did it.

Once the red and green quilt top was complete....

I looked around for a backing.

I LOVE....love...love

this happy colorful backing I found!

 I even used it for the binding!

The doors needed to be WELCOMING....

so I quilted

Merry Christmas!

Lots and Lots of swirly snow

makes this quilt extra "special".

Special = LOTS of TIME and THREAD. 

;/

It's wonderful to be READY for 

Christmas this year!

This quilt show gave me 

the kick in the pants I needed

to GET 'er DONE!

:)

Enjoy the quilt show.

I'm entering this one in the

original design category.

Finally

This post will complete my quilt along info.

I'm finally adding the CAR "how to".

Life's demands don't always fit into NICE neat little boxes.

 

:)

Thanks to those of you who waited patiently for this last step!

To begin my car I cut some windows.

 

Windows were cut 2" high and  2plus" wide

Back window on the left is only about 1 1/2" wide.

Window on the right was angle cut.

 

Remember:

I don't do a lot of measuring.

I cut and piece.

I have some FUN!

As I go along I trim to get the edges straight.

The other thing is...

I like to USE UP the scraps

as I go along.

If a SCRAP is CLOSE to the right size...

I USE IT!

I added red strips. (about 1" wide strips)

 

The car doors began here.

green doors are 1 3/4" x 2 1/4" (about)

 

Here are the two pieces together.

I forgot to take a photo of adding the red ROOF

to the car....

and WHITE strips on either side.

;)

I BET you can figure THAT ONE out....right?

 

I added long RED strips the same height as the doors.

Sewed it ALL together and TRIMMED off the back of the car

 at an angle.

Added a WHITE piece behind the car.

I used a CHALK pencil to draw the wheel well areas.

Found a nice LONG WIDE piece of background fabric.

With RIGHT SIDES together....

marked where the wheels are with my chalk pencil

(just a little white mark)

leaving a WIDE piece of background (1 1/2"?)

This LARGE inseam will be needed for appliqueing

my wheel wells.

 

Sewed my car to the background leaving

OPENINGS where the wheels are.

(that's what the little white Chalk marks were for)

Opened it up.

See my WHEEL wells??

cut little slits in the fabric UP TO the chalk mark.

Turned the raw edges in along the curve and pinned.

Made some YO YO wheels.

I will applique the wheel wells and yo yo wheels.

 

Added a TREE to the TOP of the car.

 

VIOLA!!!

 

Confused?

I hope not.

I hope you can PLAY with your fabric

and CREATE a car that is ALL YOUR OWN.

 

This is just a basic outline of how I DID IT.

 

After getting ALL the elements pieced together...

I added some appliqued lines for a "ROAD".....

;)

and...

 a nice checkerboard border using 2" squares.

 

My quilt top is DONE.

D.O.N.E.

It measures 59"x68"

Bigger than I imagined it would be when I began this project.

 

I want to THANK those of you who have been

PLAYING along with ME!

Our progress is over on flickr .

I LOVE seeing all the variations on this quilt!

 

I want to thank Julia Rothman
for allowing me to use her design as a

JUMPING off place!

She inspired me!

 

Happy SEWING!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday Thoughts

'

Love harvesting vegetables from the garden.

This little bunch doesn't overwhelm me.....

But......THESE bunches do!

Last year the grape harvest exceeded my

ENERGY level.

;)

We'll see how this year goes!

 

My husband is trying to help keep the work at BAY

and has dried TWO BATCHES of raisins already!

 

LOVED finishing up the border on this one today!

 

All those 2" squares give this quilt some pizzazz!

 

I wasn't AT ALL sure how big this quilt would get.

It was ALL a work IN PROGRESS.

 

Amazingly enough it's ALMOST a TWIN size!

It'll be SUPER fun to throw this over one of the kid's beds this Christmas!

:)

Yep....

It DOES need to be quilted first!

 

 

This baby sweater, finished last week,

gave me CONFIDENCE I could maybe knit something for MYSELF!

 

I'm THIS far and

STUCK already.

:/

HELP!

Youtube....

HERE I come!

Christmas in JULY

I am SUPER excited about how my Christmas quilt is coming along!

The TOP is almost ALL DONE!

 

Think I'll add a checkerboard/cobblestone border

to finish it OFF!

This traveling car makes me SMILE!

 

(Ignore the pins and strings.)  ;)

 I still need to applique the "road" on.

 

I tilted my snowflakes.

I cut big squares in half.

added the triangles first here....

and then here.

Tilted it JUST a bit

and trimmed.

 

Woo HOO!

I'm going to be READY for Christmas this year!

:)

 

*****

A couple of you are quilting along with me on this one.

The car "HOW TO" is coming!

Just need a few more hours in my day.

LOL!

Snowflake. Quilt along month 6

I finally chose a snowflake design to add to my christmas quilt!

I was inspired by this pillow.

 

I began with four 3" squares, one 1" square

and a strip of red (1")

You also need a strip of white (1") not in the photo

:)

I added red strips to my little white square.

Make them a BIT longer.

Your 3" squares might grow just a little!

Make four diagonal cuts.

First make some red and white joined strips.

No measurements.SORRY.

I eyeballed them as I went.

First I joined a red and white strip...

then I laid it down on top of my 3" square

along that diagonal cut

and I trimmed the ends off...

leaving a generous "tail" to trim later.

 

Insert the strips into your white squares.

TRIM.

Add RED strips in the middle of the TOP two

and the BOTTOM two.

 

Red strips didn't make it into the photo!

:/

here they are.

It should now look like this!

 

You can probably guess what to do next!

LOL!

I made ONE snowflake this morning.

I'll make at least TWO more.

 

Then to decide How to place them!

On point???

Or not???

 

Probably will do a bit of both.

Looking forward to seeing YOUR snowflakes here!

 

I think there will be ONE more step to this quilt

and then....

It'll be time to sandwich and QUILT this thing!

We want it in time for the holidays...right???