Well, I wish I could blame the lack of a December blog or new web landing on the Web, or gremlins or such; but, it was simply life. Now on with the New Year! You can read about our family News years tradition on the website main page.

Here are some of the things I’ve been working on since my last posting:

 

Kerbals

with Helmets

 

without Helmets

 

 

Fab Five Quilt for class Sample

 

 

Charming Log Cabin class sample

 

 

Robbie the robot

Hot n Spicy Towels and table runner:

 

 

Chicken Towels & Placemats:

 

 

 

Block of the month:

 

Those ½ square triangles give you grief at times? This page may help, with a hearty thanks to Trish Stuart!

Santa's Workshop

What many of our sewing/craft rooms have now become. It has been a very busy month with many items that cannot be shown online because, well, they are Christmas presents.

 I have added a few more un-planned projects, yeah I know-less sleep.

This is a door quilt. mostly Northcott Stonhenge. It has a layer of insulbrite and another of low loft just to catch any condensation. Cold from metal door no longer radiating into front room! The door knob holes were a little tricky. It is attached to the door with Velcro, so I can change as the season/mood suits (unless a miracle occurs, there will not be a Christmas themed one this year)

From a distance it look like a door within a door...uninteded coolness :-)

I like wool, it is very comforting to work with once the weather starts to cool...this one will get is backing after I finish 2 class sample quilts..

I also like to have candle mats made up for last minute gift, and then if I don't need them I get to keep them

Now, back to those class samples...

Wounded Warriors Charity Quilt is DONE!!

Drafted, appliqued, and totally hand quilted, soon to be auctioned (details still in the works) for the benefit of the Wounded Warriors Project:

Avalanche--

Provided by my cats entertaining themselves in the sewing room. So after I am done here I have to go fix it before I get on with 2 mystery quilts. The AQS Modern Mystery Quilt, which I am rather intrigued by. Below are my first ten strips from part one and my half circles for part two. The dark fabric will be joining strips between the semicircles that will be surrounded by the background fabric (yes its all batiks). I am a bit behind maybe I will make up some time today--depends on what I find under the avalanche.

Then prior to these I finished the pumpkin wall hanging below a few days ago. The Cornucopia that was on the same panel is awaiting quilting..but has to wait till I am caught up to my mystery quilts. It is square, but I need to put up some hooks to hold a dowel through the hanging pocket so it will lay flat against the door...but I have to find them first.

I do so love my Command hooks and clips for hanging things!

So now I go off the clean, then cut and sew (iron a bit too)

Happy sewing!

Autumn....

Cool crisp mornings. Coffee seems a tad hotter, it isn't really, it's the chill in the air that makes it seem so. Takes a sweater or sweatshirt to have my morning coffee outside. I love this time of year.

It was also time to put away the red white an blue them for the fall sofa quilt. Put Halloween out too.

I used a panel to make this new pillow for grandchildren play:

Front and back of the pillow that I used to practice machine quilting. Next will be a few new wall hangings to replace the MIA box of wall hangings from last years move. More pictures as they get done.

Sometimes, Life gets in the way...

We all plan things, life, or try. Some of us plan more than others (yeah, me--why I do project management.) In the project planning world we have contingency plans, reserves, "buffers"; in life these are illnesses, family crises, friend crises, personal crises. Under the clock in my sewing room (visible from the sewing machine) is a sign..it reminds me that there are rarely plans that don't need revising.

And a wonderful dear lady- Clare Rice Dreyer- who runs a most wonderful program called -Starting Over Success-set a wonderful self talk that reminds me not to "should" myself. You've got to go through her seminar to fully appreciate the impact of that "simple" act.

That being said I have a pile of stuff cut and staged to sew, and the borders are finally on the Row x Row quilt top. With the wider sashings and extra borders she comes out to 97" x 97" My current, and still in use Christmas quilt is 23 years or so old, so I think she could use a bit of respite with the addition of a helper. Our Christmas quilts are also used as "sick day" quilts, because they are tied and have high loft in them for snuggling (and tent building of course.)

 

The quality control inspector in the back that you can see that was so diligently "helping me lay it out, measure and take pictures is Sushi. The one you can't  see is Lilo-she has run off with the tape measure.... Here they were a few hours ago being angels.

 

 

Sleeping behind dads recliner on their pillow.

 

Hope you are all progressing on your Christmas projects, I am not behind (I planned for the expected delay stuff), but I would sure rather have more done. Might help if I quit adding projects, but that just wouldn't fit in my life right. There are 89 days until Christmas!

 

 

It's National Sewing Month..

...and I have been busy. More Christmas presents. The 5th row on the row x row quilt




There have been a few problems with this pattern. For this row and row 6, I've decided to square up the rectangular blocks, and there will need to be some peicework added to the ends (I don't like chopping a block off).

I have also decided to change fabric "C" to a blue, instead of the small scale white-ish print I originally picked. It is the sashing and border. I will probably add 2 other borders as well, one of Faric "A" and one of Fabric "B", maybe with cornerstones...I will have to wait until after I sash and put the first border on. As I have said many times; the fabric sometimes has a mind of its own.

To the right is my Saturday BOM batik block. There is a cream color in the center nine pathc, the surround border is actually a light blue.  And now I must get back to doing some quilting...or other Christmas project.

How is your Santa's workshop moving along? The Christmas Clock says only 111 days left. Just for sanity sake, at 1/2 an hour a day that is only 55 1/2 hours of sewing ....so if that is all you have, plan accordingly...

 

 

 

 

 

When ya just gotta have it....

So my digital edition of Quilters World came this week, there was a give thanks panel and wall hanging pattern..decided I had to have it and went to my favorite sewing haunt Sierra Sewing. Well we all know what happens when quilters go somewhere there is fabric...The panel I went after:

And below is the rest of the very familiar to most of you story

But do you think I really left it there? I found one more gotta have--really cute, non Santa Advent Calendars are hard to find...soooo





























And remember that Windham Fabrics Wine and Cheese fabric I won and made the wine bag from. Well, below is the Table runner/wall hanging I made from it.
 I don't have to decide until I quilt it, hanging sleeve or no--I will be bound in black as well.




And I have also been working on projects that can't be shown-I am working on Christmas. But I did also get the next row of the row-row quilt done

 

And now I must go get ready for my Saturday Afternoon class...new class set starts today..it is a quilters choice--so I don't know what we are working on till they get there..Love it!

 

Oh and I have TOMATOES and Zucchini galore, some gooseneck and pumpkins coming..and I think I need a new camera....

 

Not as far as hoped

But, coming along. The Windham Fabrics Wine and Cheese fabric wall hanging/table runner is about half pieced. This is done:

I also finished the 2nd set of rows  for the online row-by-row:

and the block for my Saturday Batik Block of the Month:

now back to sewing....

Last nights cutting frenzy

So, as some of you know, I am not a fan of the cutting process. So I tend to cut in bunches, last night was one of those bunches

So in this cutting are: 2 blocks for the Online Block of the Week, 1 block for my Saturday block of the month, 72 "piano keys" for the online row by row quilt, and 2 projects from the Windham Fabrics Wine and Cheese winning. You don't get to know what they are till they are done. :-)

There are 2 items on the cutting table that got finished, but no pics yet--maybe tomorrow. We will see how the sewing goes tonight. I only had an hour and a half last night, maybe tonight a bit longer.

And the projects are growing...

Growing and going! June through November is always busy project time. I have actually started next years Christmas buckets (I arrange my projects in fabric buckets. If it won't fit in the bucket, it has a placeholder in the bucket).

I arrange them in the bucket in the order or the amount of time I estimate they will take, and the scheduled time I have to sew. Yes, like almost everything else in my life I schedule my sewing time. I schedule exercise time, studying, quiet time, dishes, shopping...just about everything.I do leave empty time for the inevitable monkey wrenches that come along. I know from many years of previous experience that I will add projects between whatever I calculate as my start date and thanksgiving, and plan accordingly. After Thanksgiving I will start on the next years holidays and birthdays, Valentines Day being first.

So as I told you in the working the list and adding post, I won the Windham Fabrics Wine and Cheese Contest. Now the anxiously awaited fabrics have arrived. They are SO much more beautiful in person!  They will in fact become a kitchen wall hanging. Them deciding what pattern they wanted to be had been running hamster circles in my brain until about 11:30pm last night. They have now decided and they will get cut tonight.

These are the three additional fabrics I picked for the row-by-row quilt:

This is the first set of rows for the online row-by-row quilt:

And not to be left out, this is block four of the online block of the month quilt:

I will also be cutting Saturdays Batik Block of the Month tonight, and maybe a table runner or two. So there will be more pictures to come.

And quilting continues on the Wounded Warriors Project Quilt.



Briliant colors and Christmas

So I have finished a prayers shawl (already given to and posted by the recipient). It is machine quilted, my grandaughter sitting on my lap as we fed it through the machine for some of it.

The rest of the time she was content to play with her stash, her beads and tape measure  :-)

Below-Finished a Take 5 top for my class to see how fast they can go once you are comfortable with cutting

To the right--Cut 352 of my 370 5" squares. need to dig out two more fabrics so I will have enough.

Then on to Blocks 2 & 3 for Penny's online BOM-Left and below. I have decide to put this one in the guest (grandchildren) room. 

And we have more squash and tomatoes. I am hoping the overcast weather with ripen some more of the tomatoes.

It looks like we have about 12 pumpkins growing...two are bigger than basketballs already..and one that is starting to turn color  :-)

I also asked Accuquilt to make multiple same size circle dies for the GO cutter. They have them for the studio, but I have a GO. Noticed I have quite a few holiday patterns that take yo-yos or other needs for circle. The circle cutter doesn't go under 4"..so I'd really like to feed them through the cutter!

Working the list and adding...

I added more classes. More projects. I am a bit behind, but have allowed some lag time for late  (or not so late) adds, issues, illness--you know all the monkey wrenches that wreck your plan if you haven't allowed for them to happen (yes I am a real project manager..duh)

Besides working on Christmas projects that can't be shared (they have the Internet too); the Wounded Warrior Project Quilt is coming along. I added two new projects-you can see pics at denisebevard.com of the one block I have done for one project, and the stack of fabric I picked to whack for one of the others. Actually, it will be strip cut and then sub cut into 370 (or so) 5" squares.

I won the Windham Fabrics Wine and Cheese Contest, anxiously awaiting the fabrics arrival. I believe it will become a kitchen wall hanging; however, sometimes the fabric has a mind of its own after you hold it for a bit...

And while I thought the Crocodile was done, my granddaughter thought otherwise. I was promptly informed that Crocodile did not have a tongue. And yes, we googled it and crocodiles do in fact, have tongues. So a revision has been made:

The other funny part of the story is that she plays in the sewing room often. She has her won bucket with laces, beads and buttons to string, and yes--her very own fabric stash (yep start 'em early) that is mostly novelty fat quarters. In my (unfortunately overflowing) scrap bag (one of the things I am behind on is cutting and sorting scrap), she found the leftovers from the crocodile construction...you could see the gears turning. Yes, she will be one of those who has her own sewing machine by 5 (the kiddie kind.)

She did sit in my alp this last week and "help" me feed a prayer shawl through the machine quilting process. We both enjoyed the process, crooked spots and all. The recipient will as well.





Recent progress...

I just finished my first block for the online BOW/BOM...finally.

I also made a crocodile (the pattern is actually Alligator by penguin & fish)--an inside joke at our house.

To the top left are my take five block-done--hopefully top finished this weekend.

And a dammit doll waiting for hair....

and yes--post its'--I don't know what I'd do without them!

The prayer shawl is ready to sandwich tomorrow, I don't share photos until after they've been gifted.


The Wounded Warriors quilt is coming along.






These are a few of my students first quilt tops (with their permission)

My Easy 7 Pattern  [copyright Denise Bevard 2012-all rights reserved], is now available in the store and online at Sierra Sewing. It is a 35” X 48” Comfort/Lap Quilt.