Saturday, October 25, 2014

Too Busy to be Totally Useless

If I had known this week was going to end up so busy I'd have created this post last weekend and scheduled it to post on the correct day. I didn't know...so I ended up missing the New Moon and I'm late for the Totally Useless Stitch A Long! I know many of you started the Party without me and that's OK!

I'm still cutting squares so my fabric ORTs are piling up and I've stitched a teeny bit to add to my thread ORTs. I decided to snap the photo of my ORTs with a view of my very cluttered desk! I'm a closet packrat and tend to have too many projects going at once...




I got crafty last Saturday and made this little tomato pincushion with a strawberry emery...




That one was so much fun to make I promptly made another one...




Aren't they just adorable? I looked at several tutorials online about how to make them, then just went for it. I was pleased to be able to do an entire craft project from stash! I even had the emery on hand. If you don't have real emery you can just use a fine craft sand. I love creating things!

I know you do too. Tell us...what craft project do you have planned next?


=^..^=

We want to see your ORTs! Leave a comment on this post with a link to your October TUSAL post so we can come visit! If I hold a Totally Useless giveaway your comment will earn you an extra entry.

Wondering what a TUSAL is and why all these people are posting pictures of rubbish? Click here to learn more and join the fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!
xox

Sunday, October 12, 2014

It's A Wrap!

My 1st quilt is done! I'm so proud!


After I finished, I tossed it into the washer and dryer to let it shrink & pucker. That may have been a little scary.


But it came out perfect! It's so snugly and warm. 


Best of all, from start to finish...I made it myself!


This spectacularly crappy photo shows it on a full-size bed. Wow, quilts are harder to photograph than stitching is! 

The quilt turned out approximately 60 x 80 inches after washing. I had the time of my life learning how to do each step. Is it mistake free? Not even close! Seam points don't all match up. There are a couple spots where the inner top pleated while quilting, and the border has some pleats...there is a special way to put on borders but I didn't know that!

If I had to pick a favorite part, it would be sewing on the binding.  From cutting & sewing the binding strips, to creating an invisible join, to hand stitching it closed...I rocked that like nobody's business!

Least favorite, pinning, hands down. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed doing it...I did not like being unable to work on it due to sore fingers and an aching back. I know one can use spray adhesive to sandwich the layers but I am not sure how well that works on large quilts.  


What is that? More squares? 

Indeed, I've started another quilt. This one is going to be giant! I want a bedspread to fit my king-size bed. This will be a charm-style quilt. It can't be a true charm quilt because I don't have enough fabrics to make each square different. (but I am saving one 5 inch square from each fabric I have...maybe one day I will have enough!) Shown here are only a few of my fabrics, I think I have around 70 different ones.

Not to worry, I have been stitching as well as quilting, and I'm close to a finish. Stay tuned!

Thank you for visiting my blog today!
xox