A wine caddy

The photo isn't the best (it's a very grey day outside), but I'm excited about the quilted wine caddy/bag we made at Sew Vintage Club last Saturday.  I found some ribbon and a snowflake button to add just a little extra touch.  It's all ready to add a bottle of wine and be a gift for someone at Christmas.

The pattern is in the latest copy of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.(Dec. 20140.  I may have to make another one of these because it was so quick and easy.  No hand stitching at all - except for the button.

Special tools

What kind of tools do you use to turn narrow tubes, such as straps?  My "go to" tool is the hemostat. It lets me reach way down into the tube and grab a section, then pull.  It works really well. But I'm wondering . . . what else is out there that works just as well?

Sometimes I also use the hemostat to pull things like elastic through a casing.  If the casing is long however, I use the safety pin method: attach a large safety pin to the end of the elastic and pull/push it through by feeling for the pin through the casing fabric.

A little weekend sewing

I managed a little sewing this weekend, including 3 HeartStrings blocks.  I thought I only needed 5 more to finish the set, but found that I really need 7 more.

And I'm thinking ahead to the next set of HeartStrings blocks . . . pink centers with black and white strings. I have a ton of black and white fabrics in my stash, and quite a few pinks too.

RSC14 - month 11

This month's RSC14 color is light blue and my blocks are finished. The photo is horrible as they look wrinkled and dull, but that is only because I need a better place to take photos other than my family room floor.

Now, I need to decide on the color for December, because that has been left up to us to decide.  I have some lavender fabrics pulled and some light brown ones, but can't decide if I want another lighter color or something bolder, like coral. We have a good balance of light and dark so far (red/pink, light and dark green, light and dark blue). Decisions, decisions.

English paper pieced ornament

I found a photo online of this cute little Christmas ornament and decided I just had to make one. It's made of hexies, both front and back. I left the card stock shapes inside one ring, and then took them out of the other ring of hexies. All hand stitched and all ready to hang on my tree next month.

New goals for November

November should be a good month for sewing since our warm fall weather is bound to end and that means more indoor time.  Plus my husband will be doing a lot more travel for work, so I'll have some quiet evenings at home.  I'm going to focus on small projects again for now.  Here are my goals for the month of November:

• 3 light blue pig tail blocks for RSC14
• month 3 tasks for Saturday Sampler
• bind a UFO quilt (Wishin' For Spring)
• Round 1 border for our guild Round Robin quilt
• 2 self-binding baby blankets for gifts
• 5 traveling stars blocks
• 3 Heartstrings blocks
• hand quilt another 1/4 of the cats quilt

Looking back at October

October was a great month for sewing even though most everything I did was small.

• 3 brown RSC14 blocks - DONE
• 5 Heartstrings blocks - no 
• complete Sept. Saturday Sampler tasks - DONE
• month #2 blocks for House Warming Party BOM - DONE
• mitten theme table topper (UFO) - DONE & given away
• Halloween table topper (UFO) - DONE
• complete another 1/4 of the hand quilting on Cats - yes!
• bind another UFO - no
• traveling pillows with pockets for the grand-kids (and other kids) for Christmas gifts - 9 are DONE

One of the highlights of October has been receiving the Halloween swap blocks from the swap host Denise.  I sent in 9 blocks (3 sets of 3) and received 9 back.  So, including my own blocks, I now have 12 blocks to make a fun Halloween quilt for next year.  

I also mailed 7 pillowcases to a great donation project in North Carolina.  I still have more to donate somewhere, and lots of stash to keep making them.