EPP Pentagon Ball

EPP-Pentagon Ball
EPP-Pentagon Ball

I finished my large-ish EPP ball and really like the way it came out.

I fussy cut some favorite fabrics and then spent several hours during Craft Night and some guild meetings basting the fabrics and, then, sewing the ball together.

I used the last bits of my bag of fiberfill to stuff it. Normally I would add some Beanie Baby pellets to the stuff to give the ball some weight. However, I plan to give this ball to a 1 year old and I don’t want her breaking a lamp or giving one of her parents a black eye when she throws it.

I think these balls would be fun for people of any age, though the fun could get out of hand at a family event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Mini Dresden

Mini Dresden Plate
Mini Dresden Plate

We will be doing Dresden Plates in class next week (we are off for Thanksgiving, which gives me more time to prep), so I made a mini Dresden Plate. It is a little different from the tutorial I created before. Mostly it is different because I made the ends of the petals pointy rather than round. I might make a short tutorial talking about making pointy petals. We’ll see.

This Dresden Plate is a little larger than 7 inches in diameter. Petals were relatively easy to make. I sort of used the tutorial on the V& Co website, but really I just looked at the sizes and they type of wedge then did my own thing. It could have gone very wrong, but I got lucky. I am going to use this as an applique on a Sew Together Bag I am making.

More Donation Blocks

I made more donation blocks before I started working on the Charming Donation Top.

I am pretty pleased with the colors. I decided that I would try to use the donation blocks in a quilt top. The guild is still keeping up with making quilts, but moving them between people is harder and giving out packages of blocks isn’t working very well. It is easier for the Community Giving team to provide a quilt to be quilted. We’ll see how this works.

Gift Sew Together Bags

I decided to make some Sew Together Bags as gifts. I know I have whined and complained about making them before, but I was reminded how useful they are when I was using my Embroidery Sew Together Bag for Craft Night. I have a couple of friends for whom I want to make something special and these will also be useful.

I know I should be working on the UCAB! I can’t seem to get myself to do it, but I really need to get it done.

Cutting for STB gifts - November 2020
Cutting for STB gifts – November 2020

I spent the day on Wednesday cutting the pieces. I didn’t get all the way through the fusible nor did I have time to quilt the outside, but I am much farther along than I was before I started.

I didn’t bring the binding fabric, so I have to cut that, but all the other fabric pieces are cut.

Even though it is fiddly, I do want to make a pincushion for each bag. I have added them to all of my Sew Together Bags and I think it is a very useful feature.

Piecing for Sew Together Bag Exterior
Piecing for Sew Together Bag Exterior

One thing I am going to do is to try and embellish the outside. I am going to add a little piecing to the exterior. The pattern, which I have said is basic at best, talks briefly about ’embellishing’ the outside, but doesn’t give specifics. Since I have two Sew Together Bags of my own, I measured the outside of one of them and have an idea of where to place the added piecing. It will look something like the above example.

I read some of my posts again and found that this is a hard project. I have some good advice for myself. I will try to take it. 😉 I know that I will be able to do them relatively quickly.

Charming Donation Top

Yes, I have been working on a lot of donation tops lately. That is how it goes during the piecing of Fabric of the Year quilts. 1) there is a lot of piecing; 2) I have to keep the pieces in order and subtle changes in color are not always obvious in the wrong place until the whole thing is sewn together and 3) I can’t not sew with leaders and enders. Not using leaders and enders just seems wrong. Thus, I have made a few donation quilts.

Charming Donation Top
Charming Donation Top

This donation top is an offshoot of a pattern Peggy modified, the Plus quilt.I made one using our standard postage stamp donation blocks and wasn’t super excited. Someone will like it, but I wanted to modify it.

I wanted to make the top a little bigger, so I used charm squares to make up the plus instead of the blocks. I don’t think it really worked the way I intended. I only gained an inch on each side. That is why I added the borders. Not very modern of me, I know, but someone will like it.

It also went together very quickly. I made the whole thing in a few hours, which is always a bonus.

That Nicey Jane fabric (with the giant dots) was laying around bugging me. I am glad it will go to a good home.

FOTY 2019 Sewing Progress

Despite fighting with my blog technology, it hasn’t really stopped me from sewing. Even if I can’t talk about my project, I still want to make the projects. I am happier when I can talk about the projects, but making them is primary.

Fabric of the Year 2019 - mid-November
Fabric of the Year 2019 – mid-November

As a result, I have been working hard on FOTY 2019.

Even if I have only a few minutes, I have been sewing a few squares together. I have most of the pairs sewn together and will work on sewing the pairs into 4 patches over the weekend.

Pinwheel Donation Top

 I saw a pinwheel quilt. Since I am trying to teach my students about block structure, I showed them this quilt. I was trying to make the point that they  had the skills to make it.

I was amazed when one of them came up with a method of making the quilt that was completely different than what I was thinking. She was thinking QSTs and I was thinking Flying Geese. I was so impressed that she was really thinking about how to make it. It validated that I was getting through.

Pinwheel Donation Quilt
Pinwheel Donation Quilt

I decided to make the quilt her way – using QSTs – to see what I thought. I ended up thinking there too many seams  and think I will try the pattern using Flying Geese. Still! I am just excited that a skill I think is really valuable is getting through.

I made the back also, but don’t think I took a picture and the whole package is off to the Community Quilt chair for quilting, etc.

Candy Dish Progresses

Journey 2 Nebula icon
Journey 2 Nebula icon

I finally made progress on the Journey2Nebula projects. I had started Candy Dish right before the Big Blog Blow-up and then didn’t make much progress. I also haven’t started the last project, Gazebo, which is sad. I really like that project and wanted to do that one most.

Candy Dish Cushion Top
Candy Dish Cushion Top

I still have to trim Candy Dish and make it into a cushion cover, but I finished the piecing over the weekend in between working on FOTY 2019.

Bad Tech Week

Nobody died.

It still has been a difficult couple of weeks in blog world. As you may have noticed, my site has been down. There are a lot of complicated reasons that are boring and not  quilt related. Trust me, you don’t want to know.

The bottomline is that I have to pay  more for hosting, but customer service was so terrible that I was able to negotiate several months for free.

Fortunately, I  have still been sewing. Stay tuned for an update.

Past Gifts for Julie

Friend Julie’s birthday is coming up. It is quickly followed by Christmas. I always enjoy making her a few things. She uses and appreciates (or seems to!) my efforts.

Last year, I made a list of what I had made for her. I am doing it again this year, because the list last year was so much smaller than my memory  said it was. I worked hard at making gifts last year and really beefed up the inventory. I also came across a post that showed a few more items than I could actually find on the blog last year. I knew I wasn’t crazy!

 

 

New Donation Blocks

9 donation blocks
9 donation blocks

While I began sewing FOTY 2019, I used some 2.5 inch squares as leaders and enders.

I realized as I was making them, that there is no rhyme or reason to the color scheme. I don’t have enough of one color to really do anything with the blocks.

The problem is also that making blocks when people can’t get a set at the meeting doesn’t help Peggy with Community Giving.

Looking at them now, I could make another 16 Patch Plus quilt top like I made for Peggy last weekend. I could use the black blocks for the outer legs of the Plus and a red one for the center block. The 16 Patch Plus tops turn out so small, though, and I really prefer making larger quilts.

FOTY 2019 Beginning of Sewing

Fabric of the Year 2019 - sewing start
Fabric of the Year 2019 – sewing start

I arranged the squares for Fabric of the Year 2019 to the point where I felt I could start to sew.

I started in the bottom left hand corner as I thought the dark part was mostly to my liking.

I wasn’t 100% happy with the center and the photo shows that I cleared out all of the Slate Grey squares in the center. I thought it might look better, but I am not sure I will keep it that way.

Candy Dish Started

Journey 2 Nebula icon
Journey 2 Nebula icon

Rock Candy is finished so I am on to Candy Dish. This will be for my youngest niece since the others have gotten their cushion covers.

Candy Dish Cutting
Candy Dish Cutting

Candy Dish** has two ‘patterns’ included in the little fold up pamphlet. In reality, it is one pattern with two color arrangements. I believe the goal for the Journey2Nebula project is to make both pillows, but I am only making one.

I pulled out my pink bins and started going through them to find the pinks that would create the vision of the pillow that was in my mind. I found I have a lot of peachy pinks, which I no longer enjoy. 🙁 I’ll have to figure out a use for them. Another lesson in using fabrics up sooner than years later. I seem to be getting a lot of these lessons recently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

Election Day Reminder

Down the Drain: Finished
Down the Drain: Finished

I made this quilt to represent the rights I thought were in danger in 2016. I think they are in even more danger. The worst part is that most of them reveal that lawmakers are thinking too much about sex when they consider women.

Go Vote and think about what YOU want your future to be like. Don’t consider what others are telling you. You are smart enough to decide for yourself.