Tuesday, January 8, 2013

2013 YTD Sewing Projects #1

Over the years IT Prof's parents have given us some beautiful Christmas tree ornaments.  Some of them look like this:
 
 
Unfortunately (and rather reasonably), I hate to polish ornaments.  So, last month IT Prof ordered some anti-tarnish fabric from a company he found on the Internet.  While we were visiting I Prof's mother last week, I started sewing little ornament bags from the fabric.
 

Above is one of the 27 bags we gave IT Prof's mother (with an ornament inside the bag).  I also made 33 more bags to use up all the fabric.  (I figured that if I did not use up all of the fabric then, somehow I would manage to lose the remnant.)  I really got into a rhythm with my machine and made 60 bags total in about five hours.

I'm not going to order more fabric and sew them up until we find out whether the bags actually keep the ornaments from tarnishing.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Last fall I picked up some charity quilt kits at a guild meeting and finally started working on them just before New Year's Eve.

 
I did not make the 25-patch blocks in the quilt top above, but I did square the blocks up.  I did use fabric from my stash to complete the quilt top, however.  Another member of the guild will quilt the top; then I will bind the quilt.  Then I hope whoever receives the quilt loves it.
A new project for our guild in 2013 is donating placemats to a group which delivers meals to senior citizens.  I was given a lot of snowball blocks.  I used them and more fabric from my stash to make fifteen placemat tops.  So far, I have quilted and finished four of the placemats.  I'm not especially fond of the colors used in the blocks I was given, so I am refraining from publishing photos of the placemats.
 
Our guild is also collecting blocks each month to make up into quilts eventually.  January's 9-1/2" x 9-1/2" block is the Barn Door/Monkey Wrench block made up from polka-dotted fabrics.
 
 
As you might guess from the photos above, I made a green block and a purple block.  I tried to be brave and reduce my use of pins in a trade-off with increased speed; I think it worked out without too much noticeable decrease in quality.
 
Last summer when IT Prof and I were in Glenwood Springs, CO, we visited the  Glenwood Sew Fabric and Quilt Shop.  (OK, I was a little more eager to shop there than IT Prof was.)  While we were there, we found some fabric printed with images of dogs.  One of the breeds pictured looked just like our daughter's new pet, so we couldn't resist.
 
 
The shop also had some black pawprint fabric, so I made two reasonably identical quilted (by me) throw pillows.  IT Prof and I are giving the pillows to our daughter for her birthday.
 
 
The Wife's dog looks a lot like the image above, except Diesel Engine (named by a certain train-crazy little boy we know) has one brown eye and one blue eye.  I was really tempted to color the eyes of the dog on the pillows but was afraid that might be a bit too tacky.  Isn't my self-restraint amazing?
 
The photos above cover my 2013 work so far, but I do hope I will end up with more to show you before next December 31st.

No comments:

Post a Comment