Football Stocking Finish

Yesterday after finishing the Christmas Toys Wreath,

I decided to finish the Football stocking I'm making for a friend of the family.

The felt part of the stocking had been stitched and stuffed,

but the stocking itself needed to be made.

I make a sturdy, quilted stocking and attach the felt front to it

to make it functional and durable.

Here is how I construct the stocking....

First I make a quilt sandwich with a fun fabric.

This allows for the inside and outside of the stocking to have a nice finished look.

Once the quilt sandwich is made, I use the felt backing piece

that comes with the kit

as a pattern and cut out two pieces from the

quilt sandwich, adding a 1/4" seam allowance.

 

After cutting out the two pieces,

I sew them together, using a 1/4" seam around the outside edge of the stocking,

leaving the top open.

I then stitch biased binding around that same edge on what will be

the front of the stocking. 

(The side to which the felt piece will be sewn.)

 

After sewing the biased binding around the edge,

I turn it to the back and sew it down.

Then the tab is made and stitched to the upper corner,

after which the biased binding is added to the edge around the

top opening and stitched to the inside of the stocking.

This is the back of the stocking.

 

The felt front is then stitched to the front of the stocking

and Voila!

 

A stocking ready to be filled on Christmas morning!

Another gift has been put away for Christmas!

Woohoo!!

Happy Quilting!

Kit Finish #4

Four kits finished...

TEN to go!

How did I end up with so many kits??

(Don't worry, I have STOPPED looking at the sites where I buy them...

for now! :D)

This one was really fun to make,

but I think I say that with each one I finish.

Go ahead...order a kit!

Just beware...They are ADDICTIVE!!

Happy Stitching!!

Progress on Another Kit

At the beginning of the year I set a goal for myself to finish one

Bucilla felt kit a month.

I've done pretty well and have finished three already this year.

The second kit for March is almost finished.

(I was afraid if I stopped I would not get back into working on them.)

This kit is the "Christmas Toys Wreath."

I only have a few ornaments left to make and will then

attach them to the wreath base.

It's kind of sad that this base will be covered...

I like how it looks like this.

 

These little things are so much fun to make!

 

I'm hoping to have this finished before March ends.

I have started another small quilt from this book.

Five strips of these 1" pieces will be sewn and then sashing will be added

between the strips. 

It is not a quick little quilt to make,

but I am enjoying the process.

Happy Quilting!

A New Book

I haven't bought a new quilt book in a while

(I have too many already!),

but while looking in a LQS I found this one.

There is something about small quilts that just draws me in,

so I had to look at this book....

and then it was purchased and in my bag.

Can you see the pages I've marked already?
I have many dreams of making many small quilts from this book!

The other day I needed something relatively easy

after making the T-shirt quilt and after my problems with the

mystery blocks for my quilt group quilt.

And Applique!

I haven't done any applique in a bit.

So

The fabrics were chosen....

The pattern pieces were traced onto freezer paper...

The sewing and stitching were done...

I need to work on the lower left side a bit, I think!

This applique was so relaxing and fun to do.

Now for the quilting.

Do I hand quilt it or machine quilt it?

Decisions, decisions...

Happy Friday!

VCU Auction Quilt

Yesterday after dealing with the frustration of my mistakes

from Sunday,

I decided to do something easy

and added the borders to the

VCU T-shirt quilt I am making for an auction.

The top is finished!!

Sewing on borders is not my favorite thing to do,

but these weren't  pieced,

so they were pretty mindless to make.

Does a quilt ever "speak" to you

and tell you what it wants to be?

I was planning on making this one the "normal" way...

a rectangle...longer than wider.

However, this one said it was to be wider than longer.

I fought it and tried adding pieces to make it at least square,

but it said no.

So be it.

 

I ordered the backing fabric and will get this quilted

once it arrives.

 

The auction is May 1st.

It will be ready by then!

Happy Quilting!!

One of those days....

We've all had them...

we wonder why we got out of bed

or started something new.

I had one on Sunday.

My plan was to listen to the basketball game on the computer.

(I cannot watch my team play on TV....

I have to be doing something while watching tv of any kind

and I can't knit or stitch AND watch a basketball game at the same time.

Therefore, I listen and then can sew or whatever while the game is being played.

My husband thinks I am crazy, but...)

So...

I had my project planned.

The game was on and I started cutting pieces

for the next set of blocks for the mystery quilt for my quilt group.

The pieces were cut and then sewn together.

As soon as I finished the 60 pieces,

I realized I had sewn the white piece on upside down!

On Every Single One!!

Out came the seam ripper and off they came.

The pieces were sewn on correctly and then the other side was added.

After cutting the other pieces and sewing the block together,

I saw another HUGE error on my part.

These blocks are supposed to go together,

as in BE THE SAME SIZE!

UGH!!

I wasn't paying any attention and made the larger block by mistake.

So....

what to do now?

Do I make the churn dash blocks for the bigger size

or the star blocks for the smaller size?

I did not enjoy making the star blocks 

so the churn dash blocks will probably be made.

However,

these are being put away for another day!

Pay Attention Ramona!!

Happy Quilting!

Working the Puzzle

I've made a few t-shirt quilts over the years

and making them is like putting a puzzle together to me.

After stablizing the t-shirts,

I cut them out and make sure they are in even measurements.

Then the fun begins.

Out comes the graph paper to design the quilt.

The "shirts" are drawn onto the graph paper

and then I play with the sashing measurements to fill in the gaps.

This quilt is more symetrical than I usually make them,

but I'm not using as many t-shirts.

Two of the three sections have been sewn together in this photo.

 

The third section is waiting for one more piece to be cut

and then this one will be sewn together and added to the others.

Making t-shirt quilts is not my favorite thing to do,

but I like the challenge of making the pieces fit together.

I do have a finished pair of socks to share today, too.

Until I posted this photo,

I did not realize that I must have had two different

dye lots of yarn for these socks.

They are quite different from each other,

but once they are on feet...

who cares!!

 

This is the beginning of my next sock.

I'm not wild about the patterning of the yarn,

but will keep working on them to see what happens.

Happy Friday!

Tournie Time!!

I've been absent for the past week

because I was in NYC

watching the

A10 Basketball Championship.

Oh what fun it was!

My Rams did well, but did not win the

Championship game.

It's all good, though, because VCU is going to the Tournie!!

As my daughter says,

"It's the MOST wonderful time of the year!"

I have been asked to make a

VCU T-shirt quilt for an auction to benefit

the Student-athletes at VCU.

Out came the shirts and the cutting began.

I am still playing with the placement of the shirts

and will then start adding borders and sashing.

 

I added a stabilizer to the back of the shirts

and then cut them in even increments.

I use graph paper to help with the cutting of the

sashing and placement of the shirts.

 

This will be fun to work on while listening

or watching basketball.

My bracket is almost filled out.

:)

Happy Quilting!!

One Less Pile

This past weekend I was planning on starting a new project.

As I was getting the fabrics out for this new quilt,

I was moving a pile of blocks from one place to another.

When I opened a cabinet in which to put the blocks,

I stopped myself.

Why not just sew the blocks together,

finish the top

and be done with ONE pile??

These blocks are the bright and fun blocks I made

from a jelly roll and this Missouri Star tutorial.

Onto the design wall they went,

all crooked and everything!

I had sewn the nine inner blocks together and decided to 

play around with the single blocks for some kind of border.

I liked the single blocks around the edge,

and decided that

adding the white sashing in between the inner blocks

and the single outer blocks helped to calm the chaos.

 

These fabrics just make me smile.

Polka dots are my favorite!

I love the hearts the design makes when using the four block parts together

instead of randomly placing them in the design.

 

One pile is gone!

 

But I do have another quilt added to my

"To be quilted" list.

The "to be quilted" quilts are hung up... not in piles on my table!

:)

 

Happy Quilting!!

Another Baby Quilt Top

I have some machine quilting to do!

LOTS of machine quilting to do!

Yesterday I put the last stitches in another baby quilt

and added this one to the list of

"To Be Quilted."

I saw this design on Pinterest and had a jelly roll

that needed to be used.

This went together soooo quickly!

It made a very sweet, feminine baby quilt.

I can't remember what line of fabric this is,

but the prints are pretty.

No border will be added...

just quilt it and bind it.

I have knitting this week, too!

One green spring sock is finished.

There is something about this yarn that I just love.

Maybe it is because it screams Spring to me

and I am SO ready.

The winter scarf I have been using for a couple of years now

is really showing some wear.

I had this yarn in my stash and started a new scarf for myself.

Hopefully it will be done for next winter

since I am hoping THIS winter is almost behind us!

I'm linking to Patchwork Times and
Whoop Whoop today.

Happy Friday all!