The next installment...

... in the Pay it Forward 2011 saga continues!  I've got the top finished for this particular table runner & do not have proper backing fabric.  Grrrr... I wanted to finish this & mail it off to its recipient in Alabama.  Yes, Sarah... this is yours!  I confess to doing some quasi-covert Facebook "research" to see how large (about) your dining room table it... thank you for posting those photos from Thanksgiving~ made my job easier!!!  Hopefully it's sized to look proportionate; not too big & not too small.

The fabric... and the pattern... 

This is a "Jacob's Ladder" block. It's a basic 9-patch. 

Top of the table runner... 

More of a close-up... 

The real trick was how to combine her favorite colors (and her home decor choice) and not have it scream C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S... red & green are tricky like that.  The red fabric has green swirled into it~ which helps minimize the holiday feel.  Either way, hopefully it looks awesome on their dinner table when I get it backed, quilted, & mailed.  

If you're keeping count, of the 5 on the Pay it Forward list... this is the 3rd... and because it's half-way finished... that means I'm exactly half-way done with my 2011 list.  Because I like the giving part of it, for 2012 I decided that I'm going to randomly select 5 of my friends & give them a little surprise.  No advance notice to look for something in the mail; just a random package with a little note inside.  And then it's up to them how they want to pay it forward from there. 

At the turn of the year, a lot of people make "resolutions"... what a silly waste of time! Well, for me it is.  If you want to change~ no time like the present to start.  But, if I were to be twisted into one~ it would be to always make time for my quilting because it gives me such joy... I rarely keep what I make anyway; most find homes elsewhere.  

The 2012 Project List tab has been updated to reflect what I want to accomplish this year~ and what I remembered off the top of my head without looking in the stash.  We'll see how much I finish... and how much gets added to the list as the year progresses!!! 

Happy New Year... and Happy Quilting!!! :o)  

Two down... Three Left...

Got the table runner finished!  I love it when things just fall into place like perfectly connecting puzzle pieces.  Pulled out my left-over stash batting~ first piece I grabbed was all that I needed for the runner & same with the backing fabric.  All that was necessary was to put it all together... which was rather quick, truth be told!  

Trying a different method of binding... Hopefully it works better. 

Pinning isn't normally a favorite, but in this case, it's a necessary evil for this to come out decently.  

Artsy shot of my pinning... 

TA-DA!! All finished...  :o)

And with that~ it's all boxed up, labeled, & ready to ship out; with a little note card inside as well!  Big question remains... who's getting it?! Time will tell.  But for now, it's back to the stash to work on the 3 that remain.  Good times.  I hope that the people who get their goodies like them... :o) 

Happy Quilting!!!

ps: If I see that meme on Facebook again this year... I think I'll pass on posting... 

Tidying up the table...

So, I never put away the fabric from the snowman table runner I finished right before vacation... I know, right?!  Who in their right mind leaves their sewing/quilting table a mess?!  There was plenty of material left for another runner~ and since Winter Break was 48 hours away from when the snowman runner was completed.... on the table it remained waiting for me to tend to it.  

Along with that Pay It Forward 2011 list that's seriously haunting me.

So, in the interest of "tidying" up a smidgen... I decided to make the second runner that I had fabric for.  It's going to go to one of the four peeps left on my list.  And, a quick glance at today's date reveals that I'm sorely lacking in the time department.  (Better late than never, right?! Maybe... Yeah, I know..."10 minute early is on-time, being on-time is late..." ...and we won't even talk about what it is to be truly late...)

So, here's the color scheme I left for myself... distinctly NOT anything Christmas-y in the least.  Blues, teals, yellows, browns... Easter-ish, perhaps?!

So these are the randomly placed squares... I still struggle with "random"... I much prefer order... 

Here's the assembled center portion... in this lighting, it's a bit "surfy" to me... 

Aaahhh... more getting rid of pre-cut left-over 2.5" strips...  

Take that, Points~ You've Been ROUNDED! 

Tomorrow's task(s) include figuring out the batting situation, finding backing fabric (hello, stash!), and... my least favorite task of all... binding.  Got creative on the rounding of the points~ I am most certainly NOT going through that pointy nightmare again.  Had to use a round lid to make a template to follow with the rotary cutter.  Hopefully, this works better.  

So, that's one more off the list complete... only 3 remain.  I have plans for 1 of those 3... and a fabric scheme for a 2nd.  If you do the math, that leaves one wild card project.  (::Insert quasi-evil Simpson's George Burns laugh here::) We'll see what comes of it. 

In the meantime... It's late & my book is calling me to read a bit before bed... I dare say I'm a Kindle convert. I've always loved books & reading (Yes, I'm a nerd like that) and this little device makes it so much easier; especially since I'm a very fast reader. Off to it!

Happy Quilting!!! 

Mystery Project: Revealed

I hope this little project has been delivered to it's intended recipient... if not, I might be ruining the surprise.  Let's hope not; was supposed to be given today.  The back story: our school guidance counselor, somewhere in the middle of moving homes, had all 3 Red & Green Christmas totes~ brim-filled with decorations & memories~ stolen from her shed. Her daughters' hand-made ornaments; gone.  Precious gifts from students; gone.  Every single item that signifies Christmas for her family's home- gone.  Thinking about it makes me ill.  We each have sentimental objects that bring the spirit of the holiday's to our homes, families, and visitors... they may not be worth a single penny, monitarily... but are indeed priceless in every other aspect. She shared with me that she went to Goodwill to pick up some decor to get through this holiday season & then they'll begin to re-built what was taken after. 

Well, our data entry heard of this-- and an email was sent to every single staff member at school, minus her!  The plea was for ornaments... And we all know I don't follow directions very well.  :o)

At first, I thought I'd whip up some pattern of my own creation... right. With not much time left until the start of our "Winter Break"...not such a smooth idea.  Plan B: search through patterns, both on the computer & in the bookcase.  Nothing jumped out at me.  Plan C: lament failure(s) of Plans A & B. Re-group.  Rummage though all Christmas/winter seasonal fabric.  Came up empty-handed.  Now, at this point, I'm thinking that an ornament doesn't sound half-bad.

Enter Plan D: look through kits that are sitting in the closet shelves waiting for attention.  Bonanza!!! Table runner pattern that I got on mad clearance (Connecting Threads~ good stuff.)  There was a choice to make either a fall-themed runner with flower applique, or.. ::cue eyebrows::  ...a snowman.  But, if you follow the directions to a perfect-T... you can make only one.  See 2nd paragraph: I don't follow directions.  There's enough fabric to get 2-- TWO-- runner tops out of it if you work it right.  So, out of the fabric kit, I pulled the red, green, & cream/browns for her snowman.  The (very) provencal yellows & blues are left for another day.

These were the fabrics that I chose... even though they're floral notes, it's still a holiday-esque grouping. 

And this would be the pattern to the kit that I half-followed... cuz that's how I roll... 

And so, with that selected & managed... I was off to the sewing!  Now mind you, I *heart* the triangle-y ends.  (cue sarcasm...)  They're great but they're seriously my least favorite thing in the world to BIND.  We'll get to that part of the story later. 

Here's the center part of the runner-- borders missing! 

With borders! The border fabric I already had cut into 2.5" strips in my stash... leftovers from another project. 

So I assemble the tops & then my aptitude for applique vanishes. Gone. Not in the mood to cut out applique, reverse patterns so that the snowman's face is looking in the other direction. Yada, yada, yada.  And, more to the point, it would take up fabric from the next table runner.  So now we're down to another Plan... and this time I remembered that I had some die-cuts... snowmen & Christmas trees. Thank you Keepsake Quilting! (The trees look like arrows; haven't used any yet. But very cute nonetheless.)  How to position them was my next bridge to cross. Should they face one direction... should they alternate... should I leave them plain or add accessories... Too many choices for 3 simple snowmen!!! 

So this, in the end, is what I decided.  Alternating & plain. If I got all fancy-schmancy, it would take away from the country charm that the fabric already had.  (And yes, it was less work.) I had fabric in the Holiday stash that was a perfect blend into this fabric medley... and I used up a piece of left-over batting. Great mini-stash-buster project. It was also best, IMHO, to keep the quilting to a bare minimum.  Let the fabric speak for itself.  A humble little project that~ thankfully~ stitched itself up fairly quickly! 

Ta-Da! Finished product.  Humble, but festive... :o) 

Now.  A word about binding.  I sincerely stink at this part of the project.  The pre-made bindings are all I've really ever used~ and I even stink at sewing those on.  Perhaps over break I can find some time to devote to self-binding-help uTube videos; preferably ones that avoid hand stitching. Holy time consuming!  If you look closely at the finished product picture, there were places where I had to do & re-do and re-re-do the binding. So.Annoying.  

But, the project is finished... and given away.  And, in doing something like this for a deserving person, my bucket gets filled.  This is why I do what I do & will never charge.  I hope this little runner has a place in their home & reminds them that while some Scroogey-McScrooge tried to steal their Christmas... there are so many more who work for the greater good in humanity.  It may just be in your small little corner of the world... like me... but kindness spreads.  And it's catching. 

Now that I'm on vacation... and all the papers to grade were left at school... my time needs to be devoted to my family & my poor fabric pile.  Two UFO's are gone.  Time to write the projected 2012 Project List!! Yay!!! 

With that... keep your loved ones close... and remember the Real reason for the Season; regardless of what holiday you celebrate.  

Happy Quilting!!! :o) 

Memories of Past Projects

Many years ago (when I still lived in northern Maine), I was a quilting fiend! There was little to do during the winter months except hole up with a good book or an even better quilting pattern; and always a cup of warm tea.  And that's what I did... no husband... no kiddo... just me & my cat & my girlfriends.  Those were the days when I quilted a lot.

My mother recently moved~ this being her first Christmas in the new place~ sent me a photo text message this morning of an old quilt I made & gave to her many years ago.  Not quite sure what it is with cats always needing to be in/on the project... mine does it & so does hers!!! I hadn't seen this quilt since I mailed it to her as an early Christmas present all those years ago.  Wanted to share.

Rufus & the Christmas Quilt

Like every good quilt... there's a story behind their creation.  Several of my co-workers up North got together this one holiday season at a local church & decided to all make a Christmas quilt-- it was a Log Cabin wreath quilt.  Some of us were advanced quilters and others had never picked up a rotary cutter in their lives before!  But all of us were friends & it was a hoot putting them together...much laughter & definitely language that shouldn't have been used in a church was prevalent.  Long story short, one day after our quilting "bee" started, on my desk at school, was a photocopied quilt pattern.  A Log Cabin Christmas tree (see finished product above!).  No note as to who had placed it there~ it randomly appeared!!! I must have spend days trying to figure out who put it there... it couldn't have been someone I worked with; we all had the same hours & nobody fessed up.  It wasn't a student; they didn't have access to a photocopier & this was in the days before the all-in-1-do-it-all-at-home-printers.  Our janitor had put it there~ she had heard all about the quilting "bee" (and was unable to attend due to having the night shift)... and had heard about my newfound appreciation/love of all things Log Cabin... I still have that same photocopied pattern. It's a bit yellowed these days, but still very readable. People who take the time to do good & share with others really stand out to me~ those are the types of people I like to be around & share my time with.  Thank you, Jeanie... I'm sure you have no idea of the impact that photocopy had...

Times change~ people move on... she was sent over to the Elementary school (I was Middle at the time)... and then I left the state altogether.  But there are certain bonds that will always remain~ love & friendship.  This photo brought back those memories... and they're always wonderful ones to re-visit.

On this rainy Sunday, my boys are asleep... and I'm off to decorate the Christmas tree... bake up a storm in the kitchen... and then find some time for my beloved quilting...

May your heart be full today & always!
Happy Quilting!!! :o)