If I don't finish something soon...

I may just go insane.  Too many UFOs laying about for too dang long. So I finally ripped off the band aide and decided to machine quilt a top I made last year.  I did a bigger format stippling with free motion quilting. It was hard to say the least,  since I have never done something this size before.  It was heavy and it was hot!

Here is what it ended up as.

Update on my stitching roll

I felt like I was making good progress until I hit the centers of the sun flowers. The instructions said I could put as many french knots as I wanted and well I wanted and they take time and lots of floss.





They gave all the more appreciation for the sheep people stitch where the fleece is nothing but french knots...whew what a lot of work.



Tonight I want to start on the bottom section - the instructions call it the "lace".

My adventures in paper piecing

So I have been working a quilt from the She Who Sews panel.  It has 15 squares and I want a square quilt not so oblong.  

So I thought I would add a square to make it more like this.

Which as you can see in the bottom left my start to making a paper pieced square.

Here are some of my experiences with paper piecing...never cut until it is ironed in place, yeas shortening the stitch makes the paper perf better but it becomes harder to undo stitches.  Uses up scraps, makes a bloody mess.

Only to get this kind of sadness

So in the end I will not be using the paper pieced block, but instead will make 15 more blocks to checker board the panels with...

.

As soon as I can I will link to the blog that I used the paper piecing pattern from.  She had some wonderful tutorials and I think maybe I bite off too much for a newbie to paper piecing.

Update on my little stitching roll

Working on this while watching the Olympics...

Pinterest....

I've fell victim to a pin on pinterest and started a new UFO.  Because I don't seem to have enough of them in my life. 

I stumbled on this website and bought this little stitching roll pattern.

So spent about an hour prepping fabric and tracing the design on Saturday while the hubs was at work.


Then on Sunday morning, while I let the hubs sleep in (until 10!) which is crazy at our house where we are usually up and at 'em by 7 am, I worked on coloring in (tinting) the pattern.







I had a the movie "The Bishop's Wife" playing on my ipad while I colored.  Totally great way to start the day!

Last night I started on the stitching but didn't get very far but will keep you posted.

I'm still here,

just haven't been able to get my blog groove going lately.  Keep thinking I need to post and then look fabric!

So here is a quilt I made for my father in law back in Texas.



I did a self binding and hand tied it rather than binding and quilting it...Yes, last minute Christmas gift needed to get done quickly.



Here is a little gem I picked up off of Craig's list. She is a Singer 66 Red Eye from 1923

She is really beautiful and I used a local shop that did a great job in buffing her up.

Last Friday I was able to attend the Road to California show (sadly, my dear friend Karen from SewMuch2Luv got sick and couldn't go with me).

Here is ELEANOR BURNS.  I'm such a paparazzi!



I was hoping she'd throw thread on me like fairy dust.

Here's the wall of Red Work Submissions for the Bird Brain Designs Challenge.



Here is one little item I did end up purchasing but will not get until after I go get my peepers checked at the eye doc next month, from Craft Optics.




Here are some of the quilts on display.







And finally, here is a little something I am working on right now.



Here is one that I have already completed.

After Christmas Sew Along 2014

I am participating in SewMuch2Luv's After Christmas Sew Along again this year.

Here is what I've finished so far this week!

Red Santa cross stitch by Birds of Feather...I've already stitched the Black Santa and will move onto the next one soon.
 

 
I love this set of Santa's and can't wait to finish them all.

I also, have another project I'll take a picture of tonight!

You can see all the participants posts on the Flickr group here.