Ideas are floating around my head for Christmas ideas. I was doing an Internet search and I saw this Pinwheel Tree Skirt.



I passed it by as I didn't like the colours or the embroidery on it. I went back to it after thinking about the style for a while. It is fairly easy, closes with buttons, and cute. "How can I use it in my house?" was the question I poised to myself. Here is what the outcome was:

I have these fat quarters that I was going to make into a tree skirt for my blue themed tree:



I will line this skirt in a complimentary blue colour to keep with the theme.


Embroider white snowflakes to each panel (the placement for the embroidery is on the pattern). I am not sure if I will do the snowflakes in ecru or white but am leaning towards the white. I have the design all ready and will make more of them as free standing lace ornaments for the tree.

Picture to follow when I find the snowflakes I made.



The buttons will be chosen at the very end of the project as I am not sure what I want to do. I have an embroidery snowflake from my perpetual calendar that can be put onto the button forms for this. I could use one of the fabrics in the skirt for the button covers.

Picture to follow when I get the one I have finished.

If our daughter likes it, I might make one for her but she will have to choose her fabrics and designs. I do have horse heads I could use on hers. Hmm....maybe this could be a Christmas present for her.



Here is what this morning looks like with the sun coming up. It is our black and white time of the day and it looks spectacular. Temperature this morning is about -31C.

My first UFO's are done and I am thrilled that I got them done in less than a day and a half. They are the runners for the dressers in our bedroom. The quilt for our bed is at the longarm quilters and will be ready by the end of January, 2009.

Here is a picture of the runner:



Here is a picture of the quilt top that is now getting longarm quilted. I really love this quilt as it is very earthy with a punch of blue that DH loves.





I am now working on a western shirt I am making for our daughter. It was part of her Christmas present. At the moment I am embroidering the sleeves. The colours are so rich on the dark brown cotton. She will need to tell me what colours rhinestones she wants on her shirt.

Here is a picture of the embroidery on the shirt sleeves:

I am looking at the unfinished projects (UFO's) I have in my sewing room cluttering up my table top and my mind. So I listed them in an Excel spreadsheet and set a date for when I want them finished.



So what needs doing?
For December:
1. 2 table runners that match the quilt I made (and the quilt goes to the long arm quilter tomorrow).
2. 1 shirt for our daughter that was part of her Christmas gift.



For January:
1. Grocery tote (embroidery done and most of the pieces are cut out.
2. Dish towels, dish cloths, and trivets (3 sets with parts done and the need to do the elastic on the trivets)
3. Lilac western shirt - embroidery is done on the yokes, sleeves need embroidery done on them.
4. Perpetual Calendar - embroidery is done, calendar part is sewn but there is a lot of velcro and buttons to do.
5. Table topper for our daughter. Cut out ready to make. It is a quilting pattern that I have wanted to try out for some time and will probably make it in the table runner size later on.

The socks I made were well received and worn the first day by our daughter. She was thrilled to have wool socks to wear that are in fingering weight yarn. She also loved the 2 pairs that a Hutterite lady made for her and she will wear them in her riding boots. I know that I can knit more socks for her to wear once we are settled in to our new life.




I have our teal/brown queen size quilt ready to be quilted. It has turned out very nicely to say the least. I got the matching table runners made and ready to be quilted for the dressers. I hope I have enough fabric to make the dog a quilt. That will complete the look for our bedroom. I want to make a few little things but need to work on 8 or 9 western shirts for a lady. Only one is being jazzed up; the rest are plain so I can sew them quickly.

Time certainly has flown by and I have sure been busy but not at quilting. We have sold all of our property and we are moving to town until we decide I will retire and then we will go south.

I will be going to another retreat on Nov. 21 in Beaverlodge, AB. During that time I plan on making two table runners for our bedroom and a table topper for our daughter. If I have time, I will make something with some left over fabric.

I also have to take apart my pinecone pieces and get them quilted tightly onto the backing. That will take me a few days during the Christmas holidays.

Table Runner

I spent a Saturday in May at a Quilting Retreat visiting with friends, sewing, and embroidering. I made a beautiful grocery bag that I didn't take a picture of but gave to a good friend. My other start from scratch project was to make a simple table runner using left over fabrics from my stash. I love the print, which has pine cones on it. I have 6" of fabric left to make something else.

This table runner is very simple, squares and fill triangles. I cut it out and made the top in just a couple of hours. I am thrilled with it and have it on a table in my house.


This picture shows the fabric. I used the print in the small squares as I didn't have a lot of that piece of fabric. I did splurge and use some of the print to do the binding with and just love the effect it has on the table runner.


A view of it looking down my cutting table. I will make this table runner again and will buy more of these patterns. They are tiny patterns that make up quickly.

Finishing Friday

I have finished my Convergence wall hanging. I started in on a Finishing Friday, sandwiched it with pins in May 2008 at a quilting retreat, quilted it July 11, 2008 and sewed the binding on July 21, 2008. I have been very slow at making this wall hanging but it is now done and packed away.

Socks

My next pair of socks will be tube socks but I also want to make these socks in a sage green 100% wool knitting worsted.



They should be quick and easy to do and will fit in boots to keep feet nice and warm. I am thinking that they will make a nice gift for someone.

Coffee Mug Covers

I am always looking for a good project to do on my embroidery machine. I downloaded a flower font and wondered what to embroider with it. I found the idea item - Coffee Mug Covers that Ann the Gran put in email advertisement and onto her blog. The instructions can be found here:

http://store.annthegran.com/cs/blogs/sample_weblog/archive/2008/02/09/embroidered-hot-cup-wraps.aspx

My plan is to make a bunch of them for sale with Coffee embroidered onto them. For friends, I will make them with their name on them. So much fun to have this pattern.

I will post pictures when I get them made.

Finishing Friday

I spend the day at Around the Block in Beaverlodge, Alberta on Friday March 14th. They have called Fridays "Finishing Friday". You bring in what you are working on or what you would like to make, your machine, and spend the day sewing. Someone is there to help you and you can shop for what you need as you sew.

My plan on the past Finishing Friday was to make Ricky Tims's Convergence Quilt the size of a large wall hanging for my office. I had bought my fabric in the fall and there it sat until Spring Break. I had the opportunity to go and sew with no home interupptions. It was a wonderful day and I sewed from 9:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. And I got the top done. Fay was wonderful in giving me tips and I like the results so much I may make one for our bedroom out of the scraps left from our quilt (or I will get some of the fabric that is in the store to match).

Here is the fruits of my Friday labour: