My favorite sewing tools

Today is day 4 of the 31 day blog writing challenge hosted by Cheryl at www.muppin.com.

I have a lot of favorite tools.   I would have to say though that my favorite would be my rulers and my rotary cutters and mats.

I can remember when I first started quilting, templates were made from cardboard, traced and cut with scissors.

Can you imagine cutting a quilt with lots of pieces with scissors?   That takes a very long time.

I have 3 cutting mats.  One is 18 x 24".I would really love a bigger one, but this one world for now.   Then I have 2 small ones.  1 is 12x18 and folds.  It is great for traveling and then one is 8 x 11.  This one goes in my backpack so that if I am working on some hand piecing at work and I need to cut something I can.  I picked it up at a going out of business sale for $1.00.

I have a variety of rulers.  When I travel with them, they are wrapped in fabric.  I have had a few break before I realized to wrap them this way.  I keep a couple of small basic ones at work.

I will be back tomorrow with a really fun cookie recipe and will share the Christmas quilt I am working on.   This will be part of the virtual cookie exchange blog hop.  Hope to see you then.

My machines - day 3

Today is day 3 of the 31 day writing challenge hosted by Cheryl Sleboda @ www.muppin.com.   the prompt for us to write about today is our machine.

I have 2 that I use regularly.

My Juki tl98q is the machine I use for all of my quilting.   I do free motion quilting on it and I love it.   I have used it for piecing as well.  I must say I love the speed of this machine.   It is a semi industrial machine and I can do the maintenance on it myself.

My 2nd machine is the Juki 2000dx.   This is the machine that I use for piecing and general sewing.   It has great stitching and is overall a great machine.  I still have to play with it to learn everything there is to know about it.

I absolutely love the Juki machines.  I use the industrial ones at work and I know they are a good brand and are workhorses.

I do have 2 more machines that are not set up right now, but they are 2 really old Kenmore machines.   They are backups in case they are needed, but mostly they are used for when my granddaughters are here for sewing days.

Make a list Monday Dec. 1, 2019

 

Wow. Another week has gone by and Christmas is getting closer.

So lets see what happened last week.

 1.  Fancy Fox quilt - name is on there.  Need to applique it and then quilt and bind.

 2.  Christmas quilt - need to have it quilted by Thursday for a blog hop or at least almost done.
 3.  Churn Dash quilt - no progress

 4.  Frolic - I pulled most of my fabrics.  I started on clue 1 which are 4 patches.

 5.  Pantries cleaned and organized. Done.  As well as other cupboards.

 6.  Tree up - not decorated, but up.

 7.  Thanksgiving Dinner - Done.

 8.  Donation quilt - making progress

 9.  Pajamas - not yet

10. Quilt for my daughter - sandwhiched together.

Now I did take the week off to get things done, but sometimes the best laid plans don't always work.  Monday I had to have an emergency root canal done.  The tooth was infected and I was in pain.  Living off of ibuprofen is not fun.
Then Wednesday I fell when I was getting out of the bathtub which has been hurting like crazy.   It gets hard to move at times.  I also got to spend a day with a grandson while his parents worked.  So, now I need to work on this weeks list.

1.  Christmas quilt - I blog about this on Thursday, So I hope to get it mostly done if not all the way done.

2.  Fancy Fox quilt - the name of the baby is on there and ready for applique.  I would like to gift it this week.

3.  Work on more 4 patches for the frolic mystery hosted by Bonnie Hunter over at www.quiltville.com

4.  Pajamas for Christmas - I need to make 8 pairs of pajamas so I need to get those done.

5. Doll clothes.   I am making doll clothes for the granddaughters for Christmas.

6.  Decorate for Christmas.

7.  Help a son and daughter in law move on Saturday.

 8.  My daughter has asked me to quilt a quilt for her so I need to work on that as well.

With going back to work this week I think this is a good list.   If I can I will get more done.

31 day blogging challenge

I like to blog and share the  things I am doing.   So, I decided I would do the 31st day blog challenge.  This is hosted by Cheryl Sleboda over at www.muppin.com

With this challenge there are prompts each day.   There may be some days that I don't follow the prompt as I have my make a list Monday or I may have a blog hop or a finish that I want to share.

For today, I will follow the prompt and share a bit about myself.

My name is Kathy and I have been sewing since I was about 9 years old.  I started learning through 4-h and went on to take home economic classes in Jr high and high school.  I even took summer home economics. 


My hubby and I got married September 9th 1983.   We have 5 kids, 3 in law kids and 8 grandkids with our 9th due in April.
There have been periods of time that I have not sewn.

When my oldest baby was a few months old, I decided I wanted to sew for him.  And since then I have sewn and quilted more regularly.


There was a local shop that sold knits and they had a contest of making a wardrobe.   I did a group of clothes for my oldest son, but can't find a picture, but I know what patterns I would have used.

I took first place and have seen a lot since then.

Halloween costume 1986

Sailor outfit for my sons first Easter. 1986

I get requests almost daily from the grandkids wanting me to sew for them.

My granddaughters baptism dress

Doll dress for the 18" dolls, like the American girl dolls

Well, that is about it.   I really could go on, but somewhere I need to draw the line.

Be sure to join me tomorrow for my Make a list Monday.   If you want to see what my list last week was, you can read it here https://kathyskwiltsandmore.blogspot.com/2019/11/make-list-monday-week-of-nov-25th-2019.html?m=1

Make a list Monday - week of Nov 25th 2019

It has been a while since I have done the Make a list Monday.   Life got crazy and so dis work, but I find if I make a list I can get things done a whole lot faster.   With Thanksgiving in here I will be stretched for time, but here we go.

This week I want to:

1.  Get my fancy fox quilt done.   I still have a few more blocks to do.

2.  Get this Christmas quilt quilted.  It has been pieced for a while.  I will hopefully be using it in a blog hop next week, so it needs to be done.

3.  Work on this quilt a bit more as it will be featured in a blog hop in January.

4.  Pull my fabrics for the mystery quilt with Bonnie Hunter.  Want to do a fun mystery quilt?  Details are here. www.quiltville.com. 

5.  Need to clean out pantries.   I started this over the weekend and just need to continue.   I also need to clean out my pan cupboard and find a better place for them to go so they are easier to get to.

6.   Get at least my tree up and decorated.  Maybe I can even get my villages up.  Just need to see where they are going.

7.  And of course do Thanksgiving dinner.

8.  If time allows finish quilting this donation quilt.   This is a quilt for the SBB Heartbuilders program through Cotton cuts.

9.  I should get the pajamas cut out for the grandkids.

10.   Oh yeah, my daughter asked me to quilt this quilt for her as a gift.  Hoping to have it quilted by Thursday.

Wow. That is a long list.   I am glad I took this week off of work.  I will still get up at my normal time so I can get started on things early. 

So, what are your plans this week?   I hope you get to quilt this week, if you are a quilter. 

Stitch it and Gift It

I am excited to share a couple of fun items on my blog today for the Stitch it and Gift it blog hop, hosted by Carla at www.createinthesticks.blogspot.com.

There are times you need some quick gifts and I have 2 tutorials for you.

The first one is for an envelope style throw pillow.   The best thing about a gift like this is you can give 1 pillow form and then make different covers for other gifts, such as birthday, mothers day, fathers day, etc. 

So here is the tutorial for a 12" pillow cover.
Materials needed:

1 12x12 fabric square
1 rectangle 16x12
Thread
Rotary cutter
Cutting mat
12" pillow form

The instuctions:

Cut your rectangle so it is 8 x12. Hem one of the 12 inch edges on each piece. Just a narrow hem. This is your backing for the pillow.

Now put these 2 pieces right sides together with the 12 inch square. You will have your back pieces overlapping by 4 inches in the center.

Pin and stitch, using a 1/4" seam allowance all the way around.

Turn the pillow right side out.

Stuff the pillow form inside. You will have a tight fit, but that is okay.

The 2nd gift I like to make when needed is hot pads. 

We can always use those.  The tutorial for this is here https://kathyskwiltsandmore.blogspot.com/2016/03/basic-hot-pad-tutorial-today-i-want-to.html

These are two great gifts that are fun to give. 

Hey, how about a give away?   I like to share with others.  So how about we do 2 giveaways.   Tell me which gift you would prefer and what colors you like.  I will give away 1 pillow cover, you provide the pillow form and 1 set of hot pads.  Sound fun?   Great.  Make sure when you leave a comment that you leave your email so I can contact you.   I will leave this open until Sunday, November 17th at 11:55 pm Mountain time.  U.S. only please.


Also, visit our other bloggers for this blog hop.

Monday, November 11th

Just Let Me Quilt

Selina Quilts

Homespun Hannah's Blog

QuiltFabrication
Domestic Felicity
VroomansQuilts
Karrin's Crazy World
Storied Quilts

Tuesday, November 12th

Life in the Scrapatch

Alycia Quilts

Kaholly

Words & Stitches
Quilt’n Party 
Patchwork Breeze
desertskyquilts

Wednesday, November 13th

MooseStashQuilting

Pampered Pettit
Mary Mack Made Mine
The Quilted Snail
Days Filled With Joy
Melva Loves Scraps

Limeleaves

Thursday, November 14th

Beaquilter

RidgeTopQuilts

Cynthia's Creating Ark
Songbird Designs
Farm Quilter
Kathy's Kwilts and More
Bumbleberry Stitches
Quilt Schmilt

Friday, November 15th

Quilted Delights

Seams To Be Sew
Ms P Designs USA
Just Because Quilts
Inquiring Quilter
Susie’s World
Creatin' in the Sticks

Color challenge November 2019

I am excited to be sharing the November block for the Monthly Color challenge that is hosted by Jen of www.patternsbyjen.blogspot.com.   I appreciate that Jen has let me participate with her as a blogger this year. 

The color for November is Yellow.   Yellow is always a great color to work with as it goes with so many colors.

This block for the month is a quick and easy one to make.  I had forgotten until the night of Oct. 30th, an hour before going to bed and knowing I had to work on Thursday.  So I quickly got it done.

Jen writes her directions very clearly.  They are easy to read and follow.  She also makes sure to tell you which direction to press the seams.  That helps with the nesting of the seams so that they match up.

For the pattern for this months block, please visit Jen at www.patternsbyjen.blogspot.com to get the pattern.  Then, at the end of the month, link up with her to show us what you have done.

I have a tip I would like to share with you for matching seams.  After pressing seams, usually to the dark fabric, match your pieces and put a pin in the seams.  This works great for both hand and machine piecing.

Please join these other bloggers to see what their blocks look like.

www.tuning-my-heart.com
www.quilted-diary.com
joanne-everyonedeservesaquilt.blogspot.com