Design Wall Monday--November 8, 2010

I finished the quilt I worked on last week.  All that remained when I wrote about it last week was to finish the snowflakes and the hot fix crystals that embellish them.  The smaller of the snowflakes do not have crystals, but I used metallic thread to give them a "fluffy" look.  It's hard to tell in this image:

And, I made a label for it that I still need to sew on.

The tree on the label is paper-pieced, and there is a little star embellishment at the top.  The border is the same fabric from the back of the quilt.  It was some I had on hand, and it seemed perfect for the back of this quilt.

Then I took time to make a few more Christmas presents.  These are pocket hand warmers:

And this is a padded case for my daughter-in-law's iPhone.

This is one of those "Maggie" pouches. The pattern is sort of pentagon shaped, and I made it have right-angles instead of the approximately 100 degree angles at the bottom. I wanted it rectangular instead of diamond-shaped. Also, I wanted to use a magnetic snap, but ended up having to sew a patch on the inside to keep the snap from scratching the iPhone. It took way longer than it should have, but it's finished, and I'm happy with it.

I had tried a different pattern from an internet tutorial.  The pattern told me the dimensions to cut for an iPhone, but when it was finished it was barely large enough to hold business cards.  That was disappointing.  Oh well.  Live and learn.  I guess now I know I have a pattern for a business card holder, although I'm not sure why anyone would want that.

Then, finally, I got back to my regular projects.  I'm so close to having my Spring Sampler finished that I've decided to finish all the blocks and sew it together before I work on anything else.  I have it all up on my design wall, and it's taking up all the space.  I decided it was time to finish it off.  Next time you see it, it will be sewn together.  All the cutting is finished, and I need just one more of the sampler blocks before I can finish the whole thing.

Here is the "Dancing Daffodil":

The "Bloomin Crocus":

And "Crazy for Cosmos":

These are the 10th, 11th, and 12th of 13 blocks total.  I've been working on it for months, and I'm ready to be finished with it.

Now, sadly, my sewing machine goes into the shop for maintenance.  It's working fine, but I've had it for a little over a year now.  I think it should be cleaned, oiled, and adjusted so that it will give me many more years of sewing.  For now, I'll just work on sticking down some appliques and doing some embroidery.  I'm told it will take three days.  I think I'm already in withdrawal.

So now I suppose I'll drown my sorrow by looking at what all of you are doing.