Let it Snow

Hello-I finally got back to my winter project and got it finished. Although looking at it now, I think maybe the snowmen should have some stick arms embroidered in. I added some sequins for ornaments on the tree and for the eyes. I kind of liked adding the embellishments-although I have done some embroidered things I have never added buttons or quilted with big stitches and pearl (perle?) cotton. It was fun! One thing I wish was different is at the top where the letters end, I ran out of the background fabric , so they are "attached" to the border. Oh well.
I still have Santa to finish but I probably won't get back to him for a while, mainly because I'm not sure what to add to him, but I have a couple of other projects to finish up. I would like to put Santa up next holiday season, so I plan to get back to him and finish him up eventually. This has been fun-thank you Tonya for doing this class! It was a fun project!

Whacky baskets

I have gotten distracted from the Winter Quilt by Whacky Baskets.

I put a little explanation on my Blog, tho' I can't imagine anyone in this group needs an explanation once there is a photo!

Sara

http://saras-scraps.blogspot.com

Tonya made me feel guilty...

So I finished the flimsy. :) I sent Scott out to a model show (with really little stuff, not hot girls) so I could work on it today. He's got the camera, so these were taken with my phone. Sorry for the quality.

The border is a dark blue print with gold dots, like stars. Like space... the final frontier...

Here's the face. I'll be putting buttons on for the eyeballs.

Aside: Scott said he didn't get the humour. I said, "Other than vulcan logic precluding believing in the existance of Santa Claus, or trying to imagine Mr. Spock being anything close to jolly?" He still doesn't get it.

It's finished

I took the advice that lots of you kindly gave me and didn't put any borders on the quilt. This decision was made easier by finding a striped fabric that I fell in love with so I used to make a wide binding. Hopefully you can see the quilting if you click on the photo and expand it, though it's just a simple stipple.


I have a huge sense of accomplishment about finishing this quilt. It feels so good to look at it and think *I designed that, I made it and I quilted it*. Sure there are things I would change but I am proud that it is all my one work. I can't thank Tonya enough for giving me the opportunity to challenge myself in this way. And also everyone who has left comments - thank you for the encouragement.

The big question is.... what next?

It seems my quilt was a weather forecast!

Hello out there from Winnipeg, a place where the snow is actually as described above, and we're in the deep freeze temperature-wise. My winter quilt is completed and up on the wall and I'm just a bit sorry it's all done. I had lots of fun working on it, and I really liked quilting those freehand fans. I'm going to quilt them into my next project too. Thanks Tonya for hosting the class and being so gracious with your comments. I'm having fun with making letters, and I think I'm developing a style or a font. And for the rest of you, there's lots of winter left in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, so if your project is still in progress, you've got at least three months more by my calendar.

I'm off to a quilting retreat at the end of the month, and I'm taking this quilt for show and tell and I'm going to direct everyone over to this blog so they can see how great you're all doing.
FYI: this quilt is about 37 inches wide by 28 or so and fits nicely on the wall above my fireplace./Brenda

Heidi - finished with fans

The fans are done, the binding is done, what's left is to fill the hearts, give eyes and noses to the elks and sew the hanging sleeve on ( and then put it away till next Christmas :-)) )

As you can see in the first photo, one heart is filled already, I'm still pondering about how to fill the others. Maybe with question-marks or with 'Yes' and 'No' and 'Maybe' or 'love' and 'joy' and 'bliss ' ??

Toot-toot! I am done!

Fun, fun project! I did finish this before Christmas so that I could share it at my December guild meeting (Which was SO fun, standing in front of a crowd with it upside down and everyone thinking "Mons?? What does that mean?) I am enamored with small quilts right now, I think that it is the finishing thing. It is very intoxicating to get something done and off of the UFO list. I will continue to make quilts this way, it is so funny that trying this class took away a lot of my fear of failure. It also inspired me to make many of my presents this season and kindled a desire to just craft more. I would do another class like this in a heartbeat, and I am so grateful to Tonya for putting this together and to everyone else for their inspiration and ideas. THANKS!!!--now to finish that quilt-swap quilt that I also signed up for....

Back to the drawing board, sort of -Annie

I have all my weird sized blocks from "back in the day" all bordered and recut. I cut them on an angle and like how they look. These are just a few of them. I want to make this lap size so I may need to make more blocks. I'm thinking snowball blocks and maybe some wonky trees and snowflakes.

My letters are the back to the drawing board phase. I've changed my mind on the color of the background for the letters. Good thing I only had two made! Ha, Ha! I have also decided to do all the letters in Capitals partly, well because I am lazy. SO here are two J's. I've written down all the words I am going to do and I am doing all of the letters at one time. The Js are done! Woo Hoo!!

I've got three or four irons in the fire so progress may be slow but I am determined to finish this.

Tonya, if you decide to shut down the blog before I finish I won't be offended!

I have set aside time every day to do a few letters so when I have a whole word done, as Arnold says I'LL BE BACK!~

Fitzy - "Are We There Yet?"

I embroidered, layered, quilted and bound the "Christmas" sign yesterday. That's alot for me to get done in one day! I also cooked 2 meals (which is totally uncharacteristic) so I declare it a GREAT day.

The next sign is to be representative of the state of California. I'll be darned if I can find any city in California that represents Christmas!! The closest is "Angels Camp" and that just doesn't work for dh & I. I may resort to making a city name up, hope the quilt police don't come looking! Let me know if you have any secrets in your pocket, any cities YOU can think of that I may have overlooked in CA? Or how about suggestions for a city name to be "created"?

My background will be dark blue, all pieced together willy-nillie, and the snow at the bottom of the pole will be done the same way. I have in mind a green and white barber pole for the signs to hang on, and a golden ball at the top. I haven't decided if the pole will be pieced, will depend on what I can find for fabric (I'd really rather NOT piece it, lol.) I have some nice folk wooden buttons for the "nails" to hold the signs onto the post.

It's all playing nicely in my mind, just got keep going, stitch-by-stitch!

It's a flimsy

It's been while since I posted progress on my *Joy* quilt. I originally made my words in December but the colours didn't work. I had to order more fabric and then the silly season got in the way. It's only now that I've sat down and worked on it again.


I could use some advice... does it need a border on the top or right to finish it off? Maybe something narrow? Maybe this is just the *traditional* coming out in me - VBG.

I've had so much fun putting this together. Thanks Tonya for the class!!!

Rose Marie-starting to quilt

I'm anxious to get this quilt done and up on my entry wall so that we can enjoy it while winter is still here! :o) This section was first started with hand quilting, but was not happy with the look. Ripped it out and started doing machine stipple quilting and am much happier with it. So, all the words will have the stipple effect all around them.
The snowflake blocks (or as I see them, as figure skaters spinning) are being handquilted with beading in the centers.

It's a start ..... but at least it's being worked on! :o)

Have a great weekend!

Finished at last!

Hooray! My quilt has been hanging on the wall over Christmas and is now full of signatures. (There are so many of them because we have an Open House on Christmas Eve and lots of friends and neighbours come round.) Thank you Tonya for encouraging me to make this quilt, which will be a special reminder of 2007.

Today's post brought to you by the letter O - Annie

Well, I didn't get as far as I would have liked but I did get a couple of o's done for the word Okemo. Here are my o's!

This next picture is what I am working on.

I am going to add four resorts around the center and then the additional ones will be pieced in with the blocks or maybe as part of the border. The blocks you see I made back in 198??? as my first try at quilting. They should measure 6" but some are smaller and some are definitely larger soo I am going to add strips all around and then cut them on an angle so they will look like snowflakes. I have 15 white and 15 blue. I'd like to make this lap size for my son to have at his place which is wherever the snow flies!

My goal is to get two ski resort words done this week. Okemo will be one and maybe Burke since that's a short one! LOL

Heidi - Happy New Year

wishing you a Happy New Year from Germany....

finally coming up for air! Annie

Well I had all good intentions of starting my quilt with all of you but other quilt commitments and a thing called WORK, has kept me from getting any further than my pathetic drawing way back in the beginning of December. I have been on vacation this week and spent some time cleaning up my sewing room. Lo and behold, a project that I started for my son several years ago surfaced. I think it is perfect for Tonya's free piecing. My son is a snowboarder and I had him give me a list of all the places he has gone to snowboard. I am going to start making them into signposts,( I know I "stole" this idea from one of you gals!!) and adding them to the quilt. My plan is to have one of the signs done to show on New Year's Day!! Stay tuned! I'm still here and ready to free piece!!

Progress on Joyeux Noel

Hey all, I got my sewing machine out and worked on my Joyeux Noel quilt. Still not completely sure what to do next, but this is what it looks like right now. The two rows of words are all sewn together, as is the bottom row of trees. I was planning on doing a wee little quilt - I think I overachieved.

I've been really pleased to see the Winter Class quilts that are already finished. How is everybody else doing? Probably just waiting for the new year and everything to settle down again - I hear ya. Hope to see some more posts soon with all your sewing and quilting progress. And Happy New Year!

Sara's second word

OK. My second day and second word. I decided to make it a little smaller as a not so important word. And then it turned out awfully "regular". But it is pinned up , just to see how they both look on more blue background. This technique is an interesting combination of fun and tedium.

If time allows tomorrow I will work on "STAR". I have gotten the idea to try to make the "A" look a little starry. Hmmm. This requires more thought than I have in my cupboard right now. Hope to get the three words done since we are going away for ten days.

Guess I'll go work on packing my suitcase and maybe inspiration will strike by tomorrow morning. Since no one is coming here, my time will be my own, as long as the suitcase is ready for an 8 AM departure on Christmas Day.

Sara

Sara's first word

Working Toward "Follow the Star".

So I started with the "O" because I thought that would be easy. Only after two of those did I realize that the lowercase "L" was the simplest possible! Having only achieved the word "ollo", I could tell I should proceed to "F" But "W" was more work. I did it Tonya's way, wrongly. Then I did it her way correctly. And then I did it the way I thought it should look. Many tries.

Now it is pinned up on the top, which has hung over the head of our bed for more than a year. My husband is in there getting ready for bed, and hasn't noticed it. It is right over HIS pillow!

Not a very visual guy.

Maybe I'll get "the" done tomorrow.

Sara

this is the hanging that I'm trying to replace... I made it in 1998... I can remember I was still stitching the little gold hearts on the day after Christmas...

this is a window in my kitchen... I'm sort of tired of seeing the same thing!!

so I'm working on replacing it... as 'indigo' features a lot in my work at present... I'm using a blue/green colour theme... and Jude was kind enough to send me a tree she made... so I'm planning to include that too...

however... I have a feeling that it maybe Dec 2008 before this 'work of art' is displayed... I'll post photos soon...

...best wishes and happy holidays everyone...

Long Time, No Blog

Well ladies, it truly has turned out to be a "Bah, Humbug" season for me. I went into the hospital on December 3 with a severe reaction to a medication I've been on for years. After 7 days in hospital came 4 weeks in a rehab facility. So much for Christmas. Everyone' s quilts are so lovely. Seeing them has really cheered me up. Diane