Packing Away Christmas

My husband started taking Christmas down yesterday. I on the other hand retreated to the sewing machine and pretended that he wasn’t taking it down. I sure love Christmas and all the Christmas lights and Christmas trees, but I’m ready for what’s next. 

In 38 days our doors open, and we celebrate our grand opening. I am ecstatic… And a little nervous. There’s so much to do, so much stuff to finish, so many new things to learn, and I’m sure there are items that haven’t even made it on the list yet.  I’m ready to tackle it all.

Yesterday while at the machine I finished three more quilts. They were all customer quilts and they were gorgeous. I thoroughly enjoy looking at each customer’s quilt and the different techniques  they use and styles that they have. There’s an endless possibility for every quilt made, and I love seeing what different people bring to the table.

The first quilt one of my sisters made. We settled on a damask pattern and it looks lovely.

The other two quilts for a sweet lady. They were each panel quilts with cute borders for babies. We quilted a meandering, stipple pattern on both of them and it’s just subtle enough that it doesn’t take away from the panel. I love the bright colors of the fun animals and cars on each of these. 

With every quilt we quilt, my to-make list grows. I think I’m set for a lifetime with quilts to make, and I’m sure that list will just keep on growing.  I sure hope I’m not the only one with this problem. How do you keep up with making the quilts you want to make and getting them all done?
I’ve been off work for a long weekend and I have another long weekend coming up, so the quilt shop is high priority. We had another quick trip to IKEA to pick up a few last minute things and will be building those soon. 

We have lists and phone calls to make this week and fabric is almost on its way which is very very exciting. I’ll be sure to share when the first box comes in. 

Our website guy keeps asking me if I’ve done any YouTube videos or live videos on Facebook, but I’m so nervous and I don’t know where to begin with that. I might be adventurous and try some type of video when we unboxed our first box of fabric. Would you be interested in seeing a sneak peek of what we will be offering? 

We love, love all of your ideas and we cannot wait to get our doors open and welcome you into our place. We hope that you’ll share your likes, dislikes, and wants so that we can fully become everything you all are expecting. This is a new path for us and we are beyond thankful to be walking it with such sweet friends. 

We hope you each had a magnificent Christmas, and we look forward to celebrating the New Year soon! 

Now, I guess I better re-focus and help repack some of our Christmas decorations. Here is one last Christmas picture-a quilt I made years ago. I’m sure dragging my feet on getting everything packed away. 

Sew you at the machine, 

•Care

Final WIP Week Of 2016!

Oh my goodness, it is DECEMBER! It is also the first full week of a new month, and you know what that means. It is WIP WEEK!

For those of you new to the blog, the first full week of each month is work-in-progress week also known as WIP Week. It is one week where you try your hardest to not start anything new, and instead drag out a project sitting in your unfinished pile and get to work. It is one week where we hope to mark something off the to-do list. One week. That’s all it is. 

If you are anything like me (someone tell me I’m not alone) you have a closet or box or cubie or hidey-hole full of projects you haven’t finished. Some are one seam away from being finished or one page in a scrapbook or one something away from finishing anything while other projects might take several WIP Weeks to finish up. Set this week aside and avoid starting new things. It doesn’t have to have to be a sewing project. Just something in your life you want marked off the never ending to-do list. 

Working with a group to finish projects is much more enjoyable than dragging through it alone. Share your pictures, tag us, use the hashtag #QHWIPWeek, let us know what you are up to; who knows, I might even show up to help ;).

Not only is this WIP Week, it is the last WIP Week of the year! Have you been avoiding a calendar like I have? This week is the last week to finish up those WIP’s and start new in 2017, or at least finish up your Christmas projects in time to get them under the tree. 

Now, let’s get to work. I will be working away on this little one.  Well, hopefully these two… I’m also hoping to get a couple quilts quilted and on their way.

Here we go!

See you at the machine,

•Care
 

Come Fly Away With Me?

Today is all about borders. It is due time that I stop procrastinating on my border-less quilts. They are so close to finished; it is time they make their move to the done pile. 

First up: Merry, Merry Snowmen. I’ve sewn on the inner border, and I was going to move forward without any green since I was out and unfortunately the quilt shop was also out. Have no fear, I have found a similar fabric and will be using it in place of the original green. I just felt the quilt needed a hint more green to balance out the reds and neutrals.

 

Since I was able to find a green substitute, I will add a skinny green border and then finish off with my favorite- the red with tiny white polka dots. This will also be my binding. Sweet! One quilt down.

 

Up next is my purple and teal quilt. (I still need to figure out a name for this charmer, because purple and teal quilt will not cut it, any suggestions?) I want a small white border to finish off the points, then flying geese pointing outwards.

 

Remember how I had run out of fabric to repair my last block… I am still running low on fabric I used in this quilt. It is time to dig in my stash and hopefully come up with something that will work. If I’m not back in 5 minutes you might want to send in a rescue team. It is pretty scary in there. 

One of these WIP Weeks just might have to be devoted to reorganizing. We can wait until next year to worry about that though.  

3…2…1… I’m off in search of fabric.

Alright friends I have found a few contenders, time to fly away with the geese.

 

After the flying geese border, I will finish it off with a thicker white border and this quilt can join Merry, Merry, Christmas in the DONE pile!

After a week with little sewing, it feels great to mark unfinished quilts, “DONE”. 

See you at the machine,

•Care
 

**If you like the Merry, Merry Snowmen pattern by Bunny Hill Designs, it is available here.**
 
 

Poppies & Pinwheels

I’m working on a few projects going on around the house, but I finished the binding on this little jewel, Poppies & Pinwheels, and thought I would share.

It might have been sprinkling when I had the chance to run down the street and snap these pictures, but there’s no harm in getting a little wet 😉 .  Ever since I started this quilt I imagined this picture and I just could not wait!

 

And lastly, my favorite picture I took while finishing the binding on a road trip..

 

See you at the machine,

•Care

Finish Line

We made it to Saturday; the end of our WIP Challenge.

Did you get your WIP finished? If not, we will have other WIP Challenges.  The point of this challenge was to get your wheels turning, to get your unfinished projects in the forefront of your mind, and to spark an interest in finishing them.  Even if you did not get to finish them; hopefully you will be able to pull them out the next time you have a couple “free” days.  (Do those exist anymore?)

 

I promised pictures today and here they are.  Enjoy!

If you like this pattern check back in the next couple weeks for a tutorial.

Tomorrow is a new day for more projects.  I think I will be binding.

 

See you at the machine,

•Care

 

The J Quilt

Happy Monday!

Since it is Monday, let’s not focus on what needs done but what we have already finished.

Share your favorite finished quilt and a little back story about why you did it, how you came up with the idea (if it was an original design) and anything else.  Struggles and all- let’s keep it real.

Recently I had a friend get engaged.  When I asked what their future living room colors would be and what type of decorations they were going for she said NAVY, CREAM, & MODERN.

Navy, cream, and modern–that is what I had in mind as I started designing their wedding quilt.  I also knew her new last name would start with a “J”.  After spending several weeks looking online, sketching ideas, and crumbling up more than I care to share worth of quilt ideas, I settled on TheJQuilt.  Below is one of the first sketches of this quilt.

I had an idea without a plan. This is typically what happens but I was determined to make this quilt come to life.  At first, I thought I would sew the blue J into each strip.  I had calculated how long each strip needed to be, what portion to be navy (The “J” portion), and how many rows it would take.  The more I looked into this option, the more overwhelming it became.  Trying to plan how I would create the curves into each row and line them all up seemed daunting.  I wanted rows of different thicknesses and as scrappy as I could make it.   With this in mind I kept thinking.

Thankfully, I had just taken an applique class at a local quilt shop.  With the different techniques we had learned in mind, I was leaning towards appliqueing a huge J onto a background of sewn strips.  Was this even possible? Keeping the J straight without causing wrinkles or pulling the fabric in different ways, actually drawing the J out how I wanted and cutting without ruining the fabric, and then pinning and sewing down the J carefully and completely to make sure it was a quilt that could be loved on far into the future—yikes!

 And that my friends is a finished quilt. I hope you enjoyed your Monday. Tomorrow is a new day and another day to sneak in some sewing.

See you at the machine,

•Care