Sister's Choice Quilts

Happy Holidays Everyone

Happy Holidays everyone.  Thank you all so much for reading my blog in 2017.  I have lots of fun ideas for 2018 and hope you will be along for the ride.  I am already itching to get into the sewing room to execute some of the recent ideas for scrap busting that we have been discussing!  It is too busy to sew right now, but the day will come, all too soon, when there will be plenty of hours in the day to pursue our favorite pastime!

Things are definitely gearing up around here, so I thought I had better check in to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah,  and Happy New Year.  My son Ahren has arrived from Dublin, Ireland for ten days, and we have all sorts of family activities planned.  Blogging is going to be sporadic, if at all, for the next couple of weeks.  We will be going in to San Francisco to see the holiday decorations, baking cookies, wrapping gifts, and visiting relatives over the next couple of weeks, and I wanted to be sure you knew I was thinking of you and wishing you all the very happiest of holiday celebrations with your loved ones.

I'll leave you with this image--words cannot express my delight in this child.  She brings a smile to my face every minute of every day.

Eva DIY Christmas Gifts

I can't even tell you the hours Eva and I spent making these little charms.  Two days at least.   I am not sure how we got the idea that we wanted to make little polymer clay charms, but YouTube videos by a sweet Australian girl named Creative Rachy factored into it big time.   

Eva  needed some gift ideas for her parents, uncle, step dad, step mom and step sister.  We started looking on Pinterest, which is a fantastic source of inspiration for just about any DIY project.  We discovered these little charms and were completely hooked.  I ordered the polymer clay, a brand called "Sculpey" and it arrived in two days courtesy of Amazon.  (You can buy a similar product at Joann or Michaels).  We watched endless Creative Rachy videos and chose a few designs we thought were suitable for the folks we needed presents for.

Basically, you form the little figures by hand out of a very stiff clay material, then bake it in your oven at a low temperature for a pretty long time (275 for at least an hour and a half).  You apply a glaze after baking to make a shiny surface, and Bob's your uncle.  We made a Christmas tree, a penguin, two kitty cat presents, two Westies, and Rudolph.

This was a great project for a six year old.  I manipulated the clay into balls or squares or whatever large base shape was required.  The clay is super stiff and hard, and would be difficult for a child to manipulate.  Eva was totally able to handle the tiny bits, as they were smaller and warmed up faster in her little hands for shaping.  She was able to do all the embellishing.  We inserted tiny eye hooks so that the charms could be hung on a little Christmas tree or strung on a ribbon or chain and worn as a necklace.

It was a super fun project, and she is as pleased as Punch to be able to gift such darling little charms to her favorite people.

I made a few of these little pouches and we had a perfect DIY Christmas gift that a kid mostly made and was super proud of.

 

Use It Up

I think my motto for 2018 should be "Use It Up". 

We had a great discussion about saving scraps yesterday, and I thank all of you who weighed in with what size scraps you save. It has really given me something to think about.

Many of us have scrap bins it seems, but not all of us actually dip into that treasure trove of leftover loveliness and make something with those scraps.  Well, how about, we do something to change that?  

I started browsing through some of my quilt books for ideas, and it did not take me long to find a perfect pattern to help me use up that bag full of 2 inch squares I discovered hidden away in a drawer.  This pattern is called "Loose Change" and is in a book by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. (Carrie Nelson) called Miss Rosie's Quilt Collection.  Her pattern calls for 2 1/4" squares and my scraps are all 2".  No matter.  I am making a gazillion nine patch blocks with these 2 inch squares and I will end up with a quilt that looks very much like the one pictured above.  This is going to be one of those quilts that ends up being whatever size it ends up!  

I think in honor of my "Use It Up" theme, this is going to be my first quilt for 2018.

So, did any of you come up with some ideas on how to use up your scraps?  Please share if you did!

Scrap Policy

Katie, a nice reader of this blog, contacted me over the weekend, and raised such an interesting question about scraps.  We'd love to know your "Scrap Policy" and hope you will take the time to comment and share what types of scraps you bother to save.  There are so many amazing quilts that can be made with scraps and I am curious as to what the ideal size is for saving.  Do you bother with tiny pieces?  Or do they end up in the trash bin?  How small is too small? 

I wanted to rummage around in the sewing room a bit and see what sort of scraps I had thought to save from leftover projects, and discovered a zip lock bag packed full of colorful Civil War scrap squares, most around two inches square.  There are a lot of them, and I must have thought I could use them for something. I sure haven't, but now that I see them, the wheels are turning in my brain.

Typically, I personally do not tend to save super small scraps.  If I have a leftover scrap that is 5 or 6 inches square (charm square size), I will keep it if it is a fabric I love.  Otherwise, meh, I will probably toss it.  Bigger scraps, definitely.  I save those in bins according to color.  These range in size from fat quarters, fat eighths, ten inch squares, whatever could be incorporated into a project when I need a certain shade.  For instance, I have been extremely happy on more than one occasion when I have been looking for just the right shade of red and found it in one of my red scrap bins.  Blues and greens are even trickier to match and can be worth saving.

I have color coordinated bins of fabric in my closets, and loads more in tubs in the garage.  The fabrics are folded and easy to access in bins labeled according to fabric theme and color.  I feel that I am an artist, and those fabric scraps are my palette.

I know some folks cut their leftover fabric into strips to use in Log Cabin or other strip style quilts.  Have you ever done that?  It seems like it would take too much time for me, but then I guess you would be all good to go with your strips ready if you made a lot of strip style projects.  I must have done it at least once though.  Look, I found a bag of 1 1/2 inch purple strips I had cut for something.

Speaking of extreme scrap saving, I knew a woman who saved even the tiny dog ear snippets from half square triangles.  I think she may have used them to stuff dog beds or something, but never the less, she never threw them away!  I also remember a gal I used to sew with who saved all her folded corner clippings to make tiny little half square triangle squares!  She would use them to make inner borders of half square triangle squares on some of her quilts.

You should take a rummage around your sewing room and see what hidden scrap treasures you might find.  I discovered an entire basket of scrappy two inch half square triangle squares.  What?  There must be close to a hundred of them.  Evidently I thought those small scraps were worth saving!  I think I need to come up with some projects and use these scraps up, don't you agree?

So, what's in your scrap basket?  Do share!

Round Robin, Gifted

I ended up gifting my little Round Robin table topper to my son in law, the winemaker.  He really seems to appreciate my efforts, and it pleases me to see that he uses the little table toppers and other seasonal quilts I give him.  So, that seemed to be a win/win kind of deal. He said he liked the colors, and since this is a fairly good sized table topper, it will cover the majority of the top of his kitchen table.  And it is super festive, right?

Pattern was Mon Ami, a Schnibbles offering by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.  I made considerable alterations in the number of blocks and ending size of the project.  I used mostly one charm pack of Round Robin by Kathy Schmitz, produced by Moda a few years back.  I think the results turned out pretty cute, and I am glad it could go to an appreciative home. 

Isn't that border adorable?  Yes, must use that in future projects.

Eva is on holiday break from school until early January, so we will be spending a lot of time together.  She came home today from first grade with her nicely wrapped class Christmas gifts for her parents.  It's tricky these days, with kids coming from multiple households.  They mostly have to make at least two gifts, one for Mom and another for Dad.  At any rate, when I picked her up from school, her mom's gift was smashed to pieces.  She was pretty upset, of course, but Nana always has a plan.

I went on to Pinterest with her, and we searched for cute Christmas ornaments kids could make.  Have you all heard of Polymer Clay, specifically Sculpey Clay?  Well, after a quick Amazon Prime order, I think Eva and I are in business.  Just wait to see what we come up with next week!  We will save the day and come up with some adorable replacement ornaments for the fragile ones that were lost this week.   Let's just say, there may be some snowmen ornaments in our future...

Have a great weekend everyone!

Scarlet Stars

Here is another sweet mini quilt designed by Kim Diehl.  This is Scarlet Stars, which was an offering in the Simple Whatnots Club, season 3.  It finishes at around 16 1/2 inches, and will be a terrific addition to the my decor in February.  I was sorting through my Kim Diehl fabric stash and came upon this little project, which I had evidently already cut out some time ago.  There it was, all the pieces cut out and ready to go.  So there was no excuse, I just had to stitch it up.  So cute.

The blocks are cleverly designed to form the little alternate Shoo Fly blocks that surround the center star.  I really love this little project and think it would be gorgeous expanded to a larger size.

I am seriously dragging around the house this week, with a miserable chest cold that has settled in to stay awhile.  I may have turned the corner, as I had a pretty good sleep last night.  It is amazing how those colds can just knock the stuffing out of a person.  I have been good for nothing for the past three days.  

Well, that isn't completely true.  I have gotten most of my gift wrapping done!  Now that is a chore and a half, and I am always glad to see the end of it.  I am a very fast gift wrapper.  I have had a lot of years of gift wrapping experience, and my philosophy is to keep it simple and get it done.  No invisible tape under the edges for me.  No way.  Who has time for that when you have 45 gifts to wrap?  I am good with ribbon, but that is the extent of my embellishment.  

As a matter of fact, I met my husband when I was in college and had a job as the Gift Wrap Girl at a local home decor shop. My future husband was the Delivery Guy.  These were part time jobs while both of us attended college.  He was very persuasive and managed to talk me into going out with him.  Actually, the thing that did the trick in getting my attention, was that he gave me a book of poetry for Christmas.  It just seemed so romantic, there was no turning back.  That was 49 years ago believe it or not.

 

Farmstead Game Board

I have definitely been on a mini quilt kick lately, particularly Kim Diehl mini quilts.  And imagine how excited I was to discover this FREE pattern by her on the Henry Glass Fabric blog!  You can make this sweet little table topper in just a few hours.  It ends up being about 14 1/2" square.  I just used various little scraps I had on hand and just love how it turned out.  I will use this on my kitchen counter as a candle mat.  I love Yankee Candles, and one of their large jarred ones will be so cute in the center of this mat.

The pattern is called Farmstead Game Board.  If you click on the link, it will take you to the Henry Glass blogsite, where you can download the pdf pattern.  

Remember the Kim Diehl Simple What Nots Club?  It has been going strong for 6 seasons!  I found it to be kind of expensive, so I dropped out after about two and half seasons.  But guess what?  Kim is under contract to publish a book of many of her past her Simple What Not patterns!  It is scheduled to be published this Spring I believe.  I will definitely be purchasing that book, as I love her collection of mini quilt patterns.  And if that isn't enough temptation, she is offering Season 7 of the Simple What Nots Club.  Fatquartershop and other retailers do offer membership in the club, and send you a sweet little kit every other month for a year.  

She has a new fabric collection coming out in April called Farmstead Harvest, which features some really pretty small scale plaid fabrics.  In addition her line "Helping Hands", which also has some pretty plaids will come out sometime this month.  Always something new, isn't there?

New House Construction

No, not a real house.  We got Eva a Gingerbread House kit and had a frustrating, but ultimately fun experience building it and getting it decorated.  I picked up the kit Saturday at Joann's for next to nothing (coupon) and we got right to building it when we got home.  Oh my goodness, did we ever have construction issues.  That frosting is just not enough to hold those walls and roof together.  At all.   My son in law told me later that the better kits come with a foundation tray that helps hold the walls in place, but our bargain kit did not have that option.

We would get it all set up and watch it slowly sag apart.  I posted on Facebook about the troubles we were having, and a girlfriend (experienced Noni to six or eight grands) gave me a tip.  She said, forget about using the frosting for holding the walls together.  Get out the glue gun and those walls will hold up and not fall down.  She got sick of the kids crying every time their construction fell apart and figured out how to take care of things.  It worked pretty well!  It isn't as if we are going to eat the thing, so why not use glue to stick it together?

We let it set up all night and then proceeded to get it decorated on Sunday morning.  As you can see, Eva is having a ball with the embellishments.  I just love turning a child loose on a creative project.  She was so satisfied with the results.

I did some fun sewing Friday and Saturday which I will share with you tomorrow.  I have come down with some kind of icky sore throat/laryngitis thing and plan to spend some time resting and reading.

Hope you are all enjoying the wonder of this holiday season!

Friendship Star Blocks

How cute is this little mini quilt?  The measurements at this point are 19" x 28'.  There will be one last narrow border of one of the black prints, but it hasn't arrived yet.  I found someone on Etsy who was selling some of this Kathy Schmitz Round Robin fabric, which has been out since 2014, so that was super lucky.  Final measurement should be somewhere around 24 x 32.   Still not sure where I will put it, as all my surfaces seem to be covered, but where there is a will, there is a way to find room for another little quilt, right?

The pattern was inspired by a Miss Rosie Schnibble pattern called Mon Ami, which I changed up to be rectangular instead of square.

The most recent Moda Blockheads block came out this Wednesday, and as they do each week, the designers are asked a question about their quilting, their style or their methods.  This week's question was "Do you decorate with seasonal quilts?  Are they color themed, or do you use holiday motifs and fabrics?"

I am so interested to hear what you all would respond to that question!  Please leave a comment and tell us what your preference is.

Here's my answer:  In the past, like maybe 15 years ago, I would have made quilts with a holiday themed print.  However, over time,  my tastes have really changed.  Now I prefer a more subtle approach to my holiday quilts, and like to achieve that holiday look with the colors associated with the celebration rather than with fabrics printed with obvious symbols of the holiday.  Now I am not going to turn down a Christmassy fabric that has holly berries or snow flakes on it, but I will probably pass on the Rudolph and Santa head prints. 

Although there is a vintagey collection coming out this spring called "Swell Christmas by Urban Chiks" that I am definitely going to purchase.  And the Santa head theme is clearly present.

So, maybe I am on the fence about holiday motif prints.  I guess it depends.  What do you all think? 

Pretty Much a Perfect Day

Yesterday was pretty much my idea of a perfect day.  I finished up my little friendship blocks, and will sew them together today after I switch out a block or two that I don't like.  There will be a sweet little pieced border on this, and a final outer border.  I am thinking it will be the perfect size for my coffee table when finished.

And then I made bread.  Yes I did.  I wish you could smell my kitchen right now.  I have a bread machine that made the process so simple.  The machine is made by a company called Zojirushi.  It works great every time.

So, I have been quietly resting all week, with my husband away and my decorations all pretty.  The house is silent except for Christmas  carols playing softly in the background, and I have an entire loaf of bread I can eat by myself.  And no more foot pain.

Here is a photo of my upstairs Christmas tree, looking into my sewing room.  I have my three recently finished mini quilts hanging over the railing on the landing.  If you enlarge the photo you can see so many details of the things in the picture.

Hope your week is going as well as mine is!  I am sure adjusting well to not working.  lol