Time for a quick breath...

Time to let my machine rest...

Well I completely missed my usual weekly update, no surprise there it's been mad around here, MAD! MAD! I tell you!  In the space of 2 days (Monday and Tuesday no less) I ended up with 3 quilting jobs, 2 of which I have finished, 1 is a QIP (quilting in progress :D) on my machine and I still need to finish the baby quilt (almost done), make 4 stockings & 5 mug rugs/bread bags for teacher gifts and complete my Dad's quilt.  Where's a partridge in a pear tree when you need one?!

First up is the baby quilt I've been working on, it is done and quilted, just needs to be bound to finish and it's ready to go. I ended up batting with wool since I had a nice large piece left over from my Mom's Giant Granny Panties quilt, nothing like using up what you've got leftover to keep costs down and baby gets a super warm blankie!  I drew the applique parts myself, using a lovely bear drawing I found while searching through clip art as inspiration. The bear was finished with a combination of hand work and machine satin stitch.

The balloons I freehanded, they are a little awkward but not terribly so, I used a rainbow nylon beading thread for the balloon strings and bright red floss for the words. YES! I admit it I can do handwork when the mood strikes me ;)

I also have to admit, I really, really enjoyed doing this little quilt. The biggest bonus was I got to envision it myself instead of trying to meet someone else's idea of what is should be, my Mom asked me to make this and I was a bit worried how she would feel about the end result. Her tastes and ideas are completely opposite of mine and I know she had a definitive idea of what I should do, I appreciate the fact that she trusted my judgement enough to let me do my thing. When I showed her the end result, she was tickled pink! Phew!

Secondly; this was a quick quilting job for a friend, it is one of those stamped cross-stitch tops so this was super simple, all I had to do was follow the lines. I did end up having to do quite a bit of travel stitching so I didn't have to break thread every time I completed a row which was a pain in the behind with white thread on white fabric.  I chose to do a bit of improvisation with the animal figures, echoing some of the white parts where there was no markings, I wasn't comfortable with having more than a hand span of space between quilted areas, I know the cheaper poly batting will shift and move quite a bit and didn't want this quilt to "chunk up", it's cute as a button.

And in third position: I am currently quilting a small lap blanket for Suzanne (my mentor and the reason why I am quilting), this is a gift for a good friend of hers. Mean Jean is one fantastic and hard working lady and I am very pleased she asked me to quilt it, I feel it's an honor to do so and I get to give Jean a small gift without her knowing ;) That's me, I like doing stealth ninja gifting!

I don't know if you can really see the thread color in the picture, it's a lovely blue the mimics the color of the yarn in the patterned fabric and helps tone down all the yellow. The quilting itself is supposed to be butterflies and flowers, though the butterflies look like bees or in the case of one or two, legless stegosaurus' :D

I tried to do double winged butterflies (top view of a butterfly) but I found it was really hard to keep both sides of the wings equal while quilting on my test piece, I just simply don't have the skill to do that yet so I opted for the profile view of a butterfly instead which is why I think they look more like bees than butterflies, it's one of those 'eh.. it works' kind of situations, I am really not going to be a fussbucket about it. I learned my lesson about being to fussy, it just makes things worse!

Fourth up are my stockings:

Two of the four have the tops and backs almost finished, this is just simple and straight forward strip piecing on muslin and fusible fleece and they are really fun to make. I started doing the strip race to see how fast I can get a top done and then realized I was piecing on the wrong side!!!!! Umm.... ooops LOL.

One of these is getting a extra lining!

Honorable Mentions:  I missed getting a picture of the other quilt that I quilted before it got picked up, which is a shame, the lady who made it did a to die for star baby quilt in subtle pastel pinks, greens and yellows. I would have liked a picture on hand just for inspiration, it was just that gorgeous.  /le sigh.

The Dad quilt has had no progress at all, it is still hanging on my clothes line in the basement, I forsee a couple of long nights ahead of me.....

And just because I can..... Cute kitty pictures!

This guy is new to our family, we rescued him at the end of November, I found him outside starving and freezing to death in -25 celcius weather. We've been looking for his original home but haven't had any luck, which apparently doesn't matter since he has decided to stay here and make us his people.  I also broke the #1 rule of found animals... Do NOT name them. His name is Hermes.  My other three men have taken a shine to this little guy (1 husband & two other cats) and I am guessing that even if I wanted find a new home for him, I'd be in some serious trouble :D

He is definitely a character  as you can see, he figures I made that baby quilt specifically for him and was very put out when I shooed him off so I could take a picture of it. I had to shoo him off in between each photo as well!

Wishing you all the best and a Merry Christmas!!

Passionately making fur fly,

Chris.