February... is Gone ~ Just Gone!

February was just a w-i-l-d month here at the prsd4tim2 household.  It started out at the end of January with that crazy ice storm that invaded the South and produced icicles and even snow. 

Then I went to St. Maarten for a few days to visit daughter #2 in her new digs.  (Which was absolutely wonderful, and a glorious change after all the cold!)


And then I got sick... and nothing happened.

And then I spent  several days running up and down the Gulf Coast depositing and collecting family members from various airports to and from various trips...  and put more than 600 miles on my old van in 4 days - and didn't go anywhere.  But I did have daughter #2 and her brother here together for two days, which was super fun.  We had lunch at the buffet at the IP Resort on the way back from the airport in Gulfport, watched some movies together, and even went to the Pensacola Renaissance Faire and Pirate Festival as a family.  That's Arielle in the petting zoo with a Highland Cow.

But as for what went on in the sewing room, I'm a little befuddled.  I finished the bookshelf quilt.  That was on my list of 14 in 2014.

I made a baby quilt from leftovers.

I made a Newtown Auction pillow...

And matching mug rug.

And finished the Avignon Picnic quilt top...

It got basted, but not quilted yet.  That's some progress on a project that's been sitting almost 4 years, right?

I made Arielle a neutral table runner (at her request)...

And a turtle pinnie similar to the first one I made a month or so ago.

And I made some siggy blocks for a swap.

So, not a stellar month in the quilting arena, but still not entirely devoid of progress.  And it leaves plenty to do in March, right?

Yellow and Purple and Gray - Oh my!

I know I shouldn't complain because I'm sure there are folks in really cold places this February morning that are much worse off than I, but even though it's 60 degrees outside, I'm freezing.  I wasn't really aware of it though until the sun broke through the clouds and warmed me up, and once it went behind the clouds again, I decided I was really cold.   Nothing to do then but grab a sweater and a quilt (heaven knows there is no shortage of quilts around here) and sit down and tell you about my latest project before I manage to get up and start my day.

I decided to try another Newtown Auction pillow this weekend from the tutorial by Let's Eat Grandpa.  This particular one was inspired by a photo on Flickr by This Crafty Fox ~ Tiffany. 

I've tried this technique a couple of times before, and this is my best effort so far.  The first one I threw away....  The second one became a journal cover.

This one didn't turn out too badly.  And they're getting easier.  The technique isn't difficult, but it is deceptively time consuming.  Of course, the trick is to cover all the raw edges, which sometimes isn't as easy as one might think.  Some pieces end up almost entirely covered, so while it looks like you can use teeny scraps, the truth is - not so much.

And for me, at least, it's a fairly messy process as I dig through my scraps.

{The good news is that the pillow was made entirely from scraps, and we all know that makes me feel amazingly THRIFTY = something-for-nothing!}

The palette is so totally NOT me that it was a real challenge.  While there are a lot of yellows in my scraps, not so much with the purple and gray.  And I really had to dig through the stash to find the Sleeping Beauty print from Far Far Away II that I knew was buried there somewhere.  {Note to self:  I really need to do some rearranging in there to make things more accessible.}

And while I was at it, I decided to make a matching mug rug.  This went a lot faster, probably due to its size.

So that was some of my weekend sewing.

Now I'm off to finish a couple of things before my daughter comes to visit tomorrow.  So excited!

Swappy Stuff

If you're looking for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway, enter on this post.

Despite my best intentions, I participated in  a lot of too many swaps this fall.  I just don't seem to be able to resist.  And this time of year?  What was I thinking???  I've been so busy meeting deadlines, I wasn't very good about showing the things I've created, so I'm going to try to fix that, and be better about keeping up my poor blog, all at the same time. I honestly can't remember what order they were in, but...  does it really matter?

I've been wanting to make the Noodlehead divided basket for awhile now, and the Fabric Basket Swap gave me the perfect opportunity.  I dug into my scrap bin and cut 2-1/2 inch squares to make an aqua patchwork body, and lined and trimmed it in my favorite red dot from Robert Kaufman.  My partner was Whitney, who I had earlier in the year for a tote bag swap.

 I played along in the Schnitzel and Boo mini quilt swap on Instagram, and my partner said her favorite time of year was fall, so I decided to create a mini using a reverse Modern Maples block in fall colors.  I really love oranges and browns in the fall, so those were the colors I chose for the mini.  Best of all?  It was made entirely of scraps!

Book Cover Front

The challenge in the Modern Scrappy Bits swap was to make a QAYG (quilt as you go) item for your partner.  I've been doing a lot of QAYG projects this year, and even taught a couple of classes, so I decided to give the Newtown Auction Pillow technique another try, this time as a book cover.  I still haven't mastered it, and I'm amazed at how much fabric it seems to waste, but I was fairly pleased with the results.

Book Cover Back

Best of all was the note I received from my partner when she received it, which really touched my heart...

Oh Wendi-your package is so beautiful-thank you so very much!! I had a terrible day at work 2 days ago and coming home to your package was definitely" brightening"! Everything is perfect- the colors , fabrics, and design. That tutorial has special meaning for me as Newtown is 30 minutes away from my home. I'm a vintage Pyrex collector and have been wanting to catalog my collection-this will be the perfect notebook for it! Thank you, thank you, thank you-you are so talented and thoughtful.....

Of course, I didn't know any of that when I made the book cover, but - well, sometimes you get it right.

And I made some bee blocks...  These were for the 3x6 bee, where you make the same block in 6 different color schemes, selected by each person in the bee.  It's fun to see how color changes can make the same block seem so different.  Notice that the block in the upper left and the lower right are the exact same block, except that in the upper left the background is gray and in the lower right the background is white?  Such a different feel to them, don't you think?  Which one is your favorite?  Today, I'm really liking the aqua solids block in the lower left, but don't hold me to it.  That may change...

And then I'm a member of the Bees Helping Bees group, which helps bee members fill in either with blocks they didn't receive or where they need extras.  This one was a woven ribbons block.

And this floating hearts block was really fun, even if it was mostly gray.  I may have to make a quilt like this soon.

And I've created several of these little Quilted Tool Caddies, and used a couple of them for swaps.

The Flower Sugar one was one of my favorites...

I added a little patchwork pinnie to this one for a pin cushion swap.

And made another from Happy Go Lucky, a lovely aqua Mama Said Sew texty print, and a Denyse Schmidt leaf print.

I didn't get the fabric flower on this one before I took the photo - Duh!  Anyway, you'll just have to imagine it....

And then there was Christmas...

Ornaments... 

(Is it weird to take photos of Christmas ornaments outside in October?)

And this one was really fun!  I think I need to make a few more of these.  On the upside, it was pretty easy...  On the other hand, finding {wool} felt these days is not easy.  I ordered this from an Etsy shop.  No spontaneous crafting here.

And this pillow cover was for my partner in the ECMQG Christmas swap.  I used up some more of my Ruby FE bundle.  I'm amazed at how far a FE bundle can go!

And a little table runner/mini quilt for my partner in the Modernista swap.  Again, the recipient's note brought tears to my eyes

We were in Calcutta, India 28 years ago escorting babies to adoptive families. We attended a church that had a Christmas program and one of the women that sang the song People Need the Lord was named Priya. When we came home we decided to adopt a special needs infant from India and we named her Priya Noel. We were open to any special need and we were assigned a baby girl that is deaf. We didn't know that she was in the orphanage when we were in Calcutta. She just turned 28 years old yesterday. It was a great day to receive your table runner!

This one was possibly the most challenging of all.  This pillow cover was for my partner in the Pillow Talk Holiday Edition Swap.  But my partner doesn't celebrate Christmas, and didn't want traditional Christmas colors.  In fact, her mosaic was exactly opposite of the things I normally make and enjoy.  It took me forever to decide what to do, and in fact, I dropped this baby at the Post Office on my way to the airport for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Whew!  I modified the Triangle Toss design from the pillows I made for the Modernista Swap last summer, added some tree "trunks" to the bottom, and used AMH's Field Study for the triangles, fussy cut to look like decorated trees.  At least I hope so.  I used Kona bone for the background, and Kona coal for the sashing.  Overall, I think it turned out OK, although totally out of my color comfort zone.  Here's what my partner said,

I received my pillow this morning.....I don't know how I missed it in the photostream......it must have just passed me by. It's totally my colour scheme, and completely my style! Thank you very very much. I realise that purple and grey isn't everyone's favourite palette, but it is mine, and I really appreciate that you put the effort into making this something that you were happy with, and that I would love...  Sorry about the challenging colour scheme, but you totally nailed it!!

I guess that's really why I do these swaps....  When I get it right, it's like Christmas morning.

And with that in mind, I wish you

this Christmas season, as we get ready to prepare for to celebrate our Savior's birth.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

Matthew 2:10