Merry (bee-lated) Christmas to the Do-Bees!

I know, I know... you've finally recovered from Christmas and here I am bringing it up again! But I have a good reason! One of my Bees - the Dartmouth Do-Bees - has an annual Christmas get-together. Normally, it's held in December, but for the past two years, we've made things easier on ourselves and pushed it to January. Sorry, I couldn't invite you to out to supper, but I do get to let you in on a couple items that have been in the Quilting Project Protection Program. You never can tell who's out there reading what you put on the internets!

It wouldn't be a party without presents! Each bee member buys or makes a present with a value of roughly 5$. At the get-together, everyone goes home with 8 gifts (9 if they buy one for themselves!) There are often bee themed items, sewing notions, Christmas ornaments, or tasty eats. Practical or frivolous, what you buy is up to you. Here's a selection of some of the past presents that are still in use around my studio. Others have been used up (fabric!) or eaten (chocolate!) ☺

That little silver and aqua thing on a ribbon is a reducing glass made from a door peep hole... clever bee-mate!

This year, I made mini Origami bags from Amy Butler's Style Stitches. It's also the source for the infamous Cosmo Bag I made last summer. I've now made four projects from this book. Mind you, I've made the Origami bags a dozen times! For these little darlings, I cut into my stash of Keep Calm fabric. I love this fabric, but could never quite figure out what to do with it.

I couldn't resist using some Konas (Amethyst, Jade Green, Orange, Caardinal, and Bluejay... I think) as accent colours to make each bag unique.
Also on the unique front, the zippers are a variety of colours! It's fun coming up with different combinations. I can't even decide which one I like best, but the teal and orange ones are definitely in the running.

Fair warning - Amy Butler's patterns are not for the faint of heart. To be truthful, even thought it flies in the face of being prepared, I find it easier not to read them in advance. There are so many steps, but if you follow them, it all turns out in the end!

 They look so lovely together that I almost hate to break them up!
To finish these off, I tucked a in a few Clover Wonderclips. Thanks to Dominique over at The Running Thimble for letting me know that Michaels carries them. Can you say coupon? I knew you could!

This year, in addition to the gift exchange, we did a runner challenge. Everyone got the name of another Bee member in a random drawing and was tasked with making a runner that suited her style. Nerve-wracking, to be sure! I opted for my latest obession - EPP hexies!

I haven't been using many Balis lately, but I think the Bee-mate for whom I made this will like the saturated colours. She loves bright and art-y! I knew I couldn't pull off an art quilt runner, but bright I can do! Some of these Balis traveled all the way from Alaska. I do love buying fabric on vacation!

I thought about quilting it in all directions like I did my needle case, but two directions felt like enough. You can see my whipstitching in this pic, but I'm not concerned. I mean, I'm still learning, right?

And here's the lovely runner made for me by Mrs. G. She's a pretty traditional quilter, but she went outside her comfort zone by making wonky cross blocks for my runner. It was her first ever layer cake purchase and she chose the red to go with the accents in my kitchen/dining room. Thanks, Mrs. G!

And thanks to all my lovely bee ladies for their fun and thoughtful gifts! I know the chocolate won't last, but the memories of our evening out will!

 Good night all!

J

WIP & a snow day!!!

I haven't done a WIP post in a long time... they were starting to feel a bit oppressive when I did them weekly. But this Wednesday, I find myself with some time on my hands. Why, you ask? It's a snow day - an honest to goodness, school cancelled, hang out in your pj's snow day!!!

The WIP I'm most excited about today is probably my blog! I just figured out how to add images with links to my sidebar! I've seen it on lots of other blogs, but couldn't quite get the hang of it. So exciting! Now you can see the Guilds I belong to as well as some on-line fun and shenanigans I'm up to! But the quilting, you say? Yup, there's some stuff going on there too!

This week-end, I started a Christmas-y hexie. When I've got one of these on the go, I can't seem to think about anything else and, of course, I had to sneak in a couple of Konas. It's destined to become a pillow top and I think it's almost there. Maybe just one more row on the top and a few more down the side.

I'm also quilting along with Canoe Ridge Creations (as you can tell from my sidebar!) The quilt top is finished and the backing is washed. Perhaps today I'll get it ironed and ready for layering. See... I wasn't kidding about the snow day! The clothes line was too wet and icy to hang it!
On the week-end, I whipped up a table runner for my Nanny for Christmas. It's layered and ready to quilt once I get my dear little machine back home!
In terms of other projects that have been hanging around for a while, there's my Toes in the Sand quilt. Just four more blocks/beaches and I'll be putting together the top. Obviously, the photo wasn't taken recently! Those poor hostas are under a blanket of the cold white stuff today!

 I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Another first for me... I'm not exactly sure how it will work!

Happy sewing and/or shoveling all!

J

Finish up Friday! - A Hat Trick

hat trick  

Noun

1. Three successes of the same kind, esp. consecutive ones within a limited period.
2. (chiefly in hockey or soccer) The scoring of three goals in a game by one player.

I've not taken up hockey this week, but I did finish three projects. That counts for some consecutive successes!

First up, the on-going HST obsession. You saw a few versions of this one last week, but here's the layout I settled on. Himself says it might be his favourite baby quilt that I've ever made. I couldn't possibly play  favourites! I was dodging raindrops to take this pic... oh, the things I will do for quilting!

Rather than stitch in the ditch, I decided to emphasize the large teal/orange squares formed by the lay-out. I stitched a quarter inch out.

I'm pretty pleased with the binding...  it's one of the orange versions of that Rain fabric I keep blabbing about. And I used up some more of that teal floral for the backing. I bought a pile of it on one of my infamous Marden's trips to use as backing for the spare room qui-vet and it just seems to go on and on

Second up, Paying it Forward! Way back in January,  Ade over at Chezzetcook Modern Quilts offered a little Creative Pay it Forward challenge to her FaceBook friends. The first five people to comment would receive a crafty something in the mail sometime over the course of the year. The catch - you had to make the same offer to your FaceBook friends. I jumped on the opportunity with both feet! And got this little treat in the mail some time ago...

Lucky me, huh?

Only two people took me up on my offer and I've yet to send them anything... until now! Ms. L is a long-time Girl Guide friend from my days at StFX in Antigonish. She posts the most beautiful pics of her outdoor adventures - canoeing, hiking, kayaking - all over Nova Scotia. Honestly, I don't even feel like she needs to pay this gift forward. Her pictures are gift enough for anyone.

This table runner is based on a Flickr pic from Kelby Sews. There wasn't a tutorial, so I made some intelligent guesses and made it up as I went along. The green sections started out as 5 inch squares and the brown corners started as 2½ inch squares.

You're likely shocked by the fabric choices here... I had a pretty lengthy love affair with Balis so my stash is still chock-a-block full with them. This project didn't even make a dent. I'm loving the binding on this one too. It's a fabric I bought in Hawaii to use in my Honu quilt. Happy memories. I know, I know, again with the binding fabrics. For me, they're like the last piece of the puzzle. They have to be just right.

 And thirdly, Dot to Dot! This one is all Q-A's fault. She brought this fabric to a Quilt Therapy session...

... and it haunted me until I made something with it. I swear, I couldn't even put it away in the stash closet. It traveled from my desktop to the ironing board to the bed in my studio and back to the desktop again. I knew it had to be made into something.
And here it is! A Kona-tastic creation!

The quilting frames the small centre squares and breaks up the dot to dot blocks. I didn't anticipate it turning out as nicely as it did. I'm not always so good at visualizing the finished project when it gets to the quilting stage.
If there had been any yardage of the dots, they would have been the clear choice for the backing. Alas, the two original scraps were only 8 by 12 inches. So Konas it was!

In case you were wondering and/or trying to hold your Kona colour card up to the screen to figure out the colours (never done that... really.), the Konas featured here are (from top to bottom): White, Corn Yellow,  Purple, Lilac, Chartreuse, White again, and Orange. The pink used on the front is Bubblegum (I didn't have a scrap of it left for the back!)

This was my last full week of vacation, so I made the most of it. Mere days to go before I'm back in the classroom and quilting gets put on the back burner... but not to fear, loyal readers! I'll still be stitching away when I have the time and sharing it with you!

To get myself back into the school mindset, I made a little zipper pouch for myself! This one's made with 16 inch zippers using this tutorial from Everywhere Orange. So much fun!

I also made a little something for my classroom... you only get a sneaky peaky though.

 

You'll have to come back soon for Tutorial Tuesday if you want to see it!

Okay, everyone! Step away from the computer/tablet/Smart phone and get to some sewing!

J