A Couple More One Hour Baskets

I made a pair of baskets to give as gifts. Here is the link to the tutorial.

Quilting the exterior does add to the time frame, but they still are pretty quick to make.

Again, I put the handles on the long sides instead of the short side and cut them 11" long instead of 9" long. This time I made the body and lining one piece, instead of two, so that there is no seam in the bottom of the basket. This meant I had to adjust the cut out made for boxing the bottom to allow for the fact that there is a seam on the side but not on the bottom. This also meant that I had to leave the whole for turning in the side seam of the lining. It all worked out just fine. I think things will sit better in the basket with no seam in the bottom.

The Nancy Tote

I showed you one version of this bag already. Click here to see the one I made for me. Below is the one I made for my mom for Christmas.

It is my own pattern so I named it "The Nancy Tote" after my mom.

I got my mom a red insert for her bag.

Alamosa Quilt Company Update:

The painting is done, I hope.

Next, I get to open those boxes!

Very Nice Mouse

I saw this tutorial through Facebook yesterday. I thought it looked like a fun little project. And I have lots of wool felt scraps left over from my needle books.

In between laundry and baking today, I made one.

She's not perfect, but darn cute! Stands about 2.5" tall. These could be ornaments or pin cushions or just cute little stuffed figures.

Guild Christmas Party and AQC Update

Saturday was my guild's December meeting. We did a gift exchange. I took one of the needle books I made. I received this cute pin cushion.

The base measures about 3" and it stands about 4" tall. It's darn cute!

I also received this foot control bed.

Here it is "in action."

Thanks so much Mary Ann. I love it!

Alamosa Quilt Company Update: 

The construction phase is over. Next is painting and cleaning. I hope to get everything painted in the next few days then stay away for a few days to let everything dry really well. I'll take pictures once everything is painted.

On Friday afternoon I received most of my huge Moda order.

UPS delivered 36 boxes on Friday to go with the 10 or so that were delivered earlier in the week. Above is pretty much all fabric. Counting the boxes I received previously containing thread and notions (not shown in the photo above), there are 61 boxes of merchandise waiting to be opened, inventoried and put out on shelves. Probably won't start on that until January.

Metro Medallion :: A Finish

My second finish of the week!

This is my UFO completion for December. It took many hours to quilt but worth the time.

The finished quilt measures 51" by 63". I think it will hang in my dining room after Christmas.

Meet Hazel :: A Finish, Plus AQC Update

I'm calling this one Hazel.

She is the third in my Bohemian Birds series. You can see close up pictures of the first two in my previous post.

Here they are all in a row. The first two were done with cotton fabric and raw-edge fused applique. Then they were embellished with hand stitching, beads and buttons. Hazel was done with wool fabric and hand applique.

Store Update:

Cutting Table in place, top yet to come

Feature fabric shelving display, two old chairs from the attic plus some lumber. The new lumber will be painted turquoise.

Tall fabric wall ready for paint

Short fabric wall ready for paint

Classroom tables and chairs ready to go

These pictures were taken late last week. The cutting table now has a top. I plan to start painting later this week.

A New Hand Project

In 2011 I completed two 10" square bird pieces for my guild challenge. The theme that year was "Birds of a Feather."

This is Freida. She was the first one I did.

I had so much fun doing her that I did a second one, Dot.

Both are fused applique and then hand stitched, beaded and embellished.

I had always planned to do more birds in this series. Since I had to stop working on my UFO of the month while I wait for the thread to arrive I decided to begin a third bird. She doesn't have a name yet.

The wool applique is done. Now the hand embroidery and embellishment begins!

UFO for This Month

I've been doing pretty good at finishing one completed top from my pile each month this year. I chose my Metro Medallion for this month. The link will take you to the finished top post. That was September 2013.

I only have the black areas quilted. I did not have a thread color I was happy with for the rest but I have ordered it and it has shipped. Hopefully it will be here in a few days and I can continue.

I've fallen into the pattern of giving you a store update each Monday. I forgot to take a photo of the whole space when I was there yesterday but I did take a picture of my first shipment from United Notions.

These boxes are filled with notions and pre-cuts for the notion wall and pre-cut wall. I promise to get pictures of the store space this week for you. A lot of progress is being made!

Judy's Quilt Quilted

Yesterday I was able to get Judy's quilt quilted for her. Click here for my first post on this quilt.

I did a simple all-over meander. It's nothing fancy, but is fast and looks good on just about every pattern. Speaking of the pattern, it is from The Big Book of Nickel Quilts by Pat Speth and Charlene Thode. I believe Judy said that this was actually a "bonus quilt" because it is made from the leftovers of another quilt from the book. The dark green fabric along the right hand side in the photo above is the left over of the backing fabric Judy provided.

I'm not sure if Judy wants to bind this herself or if she wants me to do it. For now I will do nothing until I hear from her.

A New Bag

I purchased some bag-in-bag purse organizers with the idea that I would make a purse that they would fit in. Below is what I came up with.

The bag is about 14" wide by 12" tall by 4" deep. It has two exterior pockets but no interior pockets.

I didn't add interior pockets because it is designed to hold this removable purse organizer.

This little organizer has more pockets than I have stuff so I didn't feel the need to add interior pockets to the bag. The idea is that you can easily change bags without leaving something important in the previous bag because your stuff stays in the organizer.