A Finished Top - Which Witch's Boot

We woke up to snow this morning.

I've finally found a good back drop for photographing a black cat - snow! We've never had a cat who would set one toe out in the snow, until now. Crazy cat! She insisted on going out every time one of us went out to sweep the snow from the walk and sidewalk. I guess she feels she needs to supervise.

The forecast was for 1 to 2 inches. We got more than that and it may snow some more tonight and tomorrow morning.

We had 4.5 inches at about 10 am and it snowed until about 1 pm. Probably got about another inch of accumulation. I'm not complaining about the snow. We really need it! The local ski areas will finally be able to open almost a month later than they usually do.

All this snow makes for great sewing weather. Most of my work is done except for calculating final grades and turning them in. Grades aren't due until Tuesday so today I did this.

I let my OCD side out for a bit and cut the jack-o-lantern fabric so that they are all right side up. Good thing I bought extra of this fabric to use on the back because this was not the most efficient use of fabric. I don't care though. I've got lots of fabric! If I don't have enough of the jack-o-lantern fabric for the back I'm sure I have enough of something else or I'll just piece the back with two fabrics.

A Little Bit of "Me" Sewing

All my gifts are sewn and sent off. Time for "me" sewing.

I had a few minutes today while waiting for this and that so I worked on my Which Witch's Boot project.

I was able to turn these piles into eight blocks.

That is as far as I got, but it's better than nothing! I didn't get the center embroidery part out today. I have it safely hanging in a closet to keep it from getting lost or wrinkled. To see a photo of the embroidery part, go here.

Second Pillow

I did get the second pillow finished yesterday.

Here is the pair.

See my previous post for the embroidery pattern information.

Sure is nice to have new pillows! I think I need to make a couple of pillow covers that I can use with these pillow forms for after Christmas. That will have to wait until next week. This week is Finals Week for ASU so I'll be busy doing grades. In addition, I have several other activities to attend which will keep me out of my sewing room for most of the rest of the week.

Snowy Afternoon Sewing

It snowed here yesterday! We need the moisture so badly. No one at my house minded the snowy day. It gave me a chance to do a little sewing.

I turned one of my Reindeer Games blocks into a pillow. The link will take you to a page that contains all the patterns for the Reindeer Games blocks.

I have enough of the red & white fabric to turn another block into a pillow. Might do that today.

What do you think?

I made up this quilt top a week or so ago, but wasn't really happy with the contrast stripe.

Today I made a new contrast stripe by reversing the placement of the two fabrics. So which do you like better?

Slate background with dot accent

Dot background with slate accent

I know which one I prefer. I just pinned the dot background with slate accent contrast stripe over the finished top to cover the original contrast stripe. I'm trying to decide if it is worth ripping out the original contrast stripe to replace it, or should I just leave it. What do you think?

Mini Totes

I've been making lots of gifts lately and decided I needed some cute bags to wrap them in.

The smaller one is this pattern by Happy Zombie. The pattern is a free pattern on the All People Quilt website. You may have to register to see it, but it's free to register. The bigger one is my own adaptation of the smaller one. I just upsized everything by 50%. The pattern for the smaller one calls for ribbon for the handles. I didn't have any ribbon that would go with my fabrics so I made my own handles. I think it would be a lot easier to use the ribbon on this small scale.

Modern French General

The Modern Monday Quilt Along will continue for another few weeks. I plan to wait until the last block is published then finished up the last few all at once. To see Caroll's block please visit Attic Window Quilt Shop.

I've had lots of other sewing to do recently and have been busy at all of my jobs too. I finished French General top late last week.

Modern French General

The pattern is Urban Birthday by Jenny Pedigo. I really like the juxtaposition of a modern pattern done up in traditional style fabrics. It is one of the classes I will be teaching at my LQS over the next few months. You can see samples of the most of the classes we are offering by following this link.