fabricologist

fabricologist

Monday, November 25, 2019

Pictures Galore

I am keeping very busy here. I did two craft fairs in early November, and then I have been sewing my fingers off ever since. I had some Christmas things to do, and then my usual way too many projects. Let's take a look. In no particular order.
 Sue at #mossandlotus has a great bunch of patterns for Tomte, which is the Swedish word for these cute little gnomes. I bought them last December, but didn't have time to make them. So of course, when she announced a sew along at this busy time of year, I jumped right in. I am having sew much fun.
 And Rachel, of Stitched in Color announced a Dear Dottie sew along, I joined that too. Also, having tons of fun with these blocks. This sew along is also sponsored by Fenceline Fabrics and The Makings of Joy.
 I bought this cute stitching pattern from Cozy Blue Handmade. I reminds me so much of my granddaughter, that I couldn't resist. Just need to buy a hoop to frame it.
 These are a bunch of my curved pieces, stitched and ready to be sewn into blocks.

 These are the grand kids' ornaments, made from the free mini tomte that was included in the pattern bundle I bought.
 This is the #ABC Sprinkles Sampler I bought from Dropcloth Samplers on Instagram. I am stitching it in pink ombre. Another fun project.
 This is my Santa ornament from a pattern at Mmm Crafts. It is the first in her new series The Night Before Christmas. Mrs. Claus is now also out, but I haven't bought that pattern yet. I am going to do 4 more of these Santas for the grand kids for next year.

                    Some blocks for Dear Dottie.

 And then, because there's never enough to do, I started making Dear Dottie blocks in Christmas fabrics too.
Another Tomte


 Messed up the bottom left corner on this one a bit, but, no harm done.
And here is the table topper I made from the Christmas Dear Dottie Blocks. I love it. I am also working on several EPP long term projects because one isn't enough. And I am trying to finish crocheting my Dune Blanket from Lucy, at Attic 24. There's a new one coming out in January, so I hope to get this one finished before then. We'll see.

So all this, and some Christmas gift makes, you can see I have been busy and it's hard to sit down and blog with all this going on. Instagram is much easier, but I don't want to give up this little space.
So until next time, Happy Thanksgiving.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

A Wee Bit of Christmas Prep

I am not one to rush the season. In fact, I hate that. But now that I live 3000 miles away from my sweet grandchildren, I have to do things like making ornaments, much sooner so I can mail them in time. I make the kids an ornament almost every year. Some years I have bought ornaments, when I can find something unique that I like.

Last year, I bought a pattern from Sue at Moss and Lotus. She created a collection of patterns for Tomtes (Christmas gnomes) and I bought the pattern bundle. It was way too late to make any of them in time for Christmas last year, but I pulled them out the other day and got reacquainted with them.
 There was a free bonus pattern for a mini Tomte. It makes the cutest little ornament! It finishes at 2 inches square. I put a bit of batting in it for body and attached a ribbon and Voila!
 I made four of them for the grand kids. They are all the same, except for the fabric on the back, where I wrote the year and my name in Micron pen.
 The nose is a wee little french knot! These were so super simple to whip up using scraps! I plan to tackle the larger Tomtes soon. They will finish at 6 inches square.

The other thing I have done for Christmas is this adorable Santa ornament. The pattern can be found at Mmmcrafts. If you've never seen her stuff, you need to go right now. It will amaze you.

This is the picture from Larissa's pattern. I saw it and fell in love and had to have it. It is the first in a series from The Night Before Christmas ornaments she is creating.
And this is my little Santa ornament. he doesn't have all his accessories here. The pattern is so well written and I found it easy to follow.
 Here he has his accessories. I had such a blast making all these little pieces and then assembling them. I took my time and did it over the course of a week, to give glue time to dry, etc. But I love them so much, I have already decided that this will be the grand kids ornament next year.
My plan is to start now and slowly work on them until they are all done. Each one will be a different color too. I hope you have enjoy this wee bit of early holiday prep. Talk to you soon.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Lavender Quilt

So in my last post, I told you about the Seedlings quilt minis I am making from the panels of the Seedlings Quilt. This is a wonderful new book by Jodi Godfrey from Tales of Cloth. There is one quilt in the book that I just really fell in love with, and I have chosen to make the whole Lavender quilt.

The quilt in the book uses white for these triangles, but I decided to use some low volume fabrics that I had on hand instead.
 For the fabric to represent the flowers, instead of scraps, I decided to use V and Company Ombre Confetti Metallic. I knew I could get a range of pretty color from the ombre and the metallic would add a fun touch.
I also decided, instead of a flat yellow color, to use V and Company Ombre in Honey. I feel like that will give me a bit of variation throughout the quilt.
So I have begun making my blocks for this quilt. I really like the consistency I get with EPP. The larger size pieces are a bit of a challenge for me. I am used to hand stitching my paper pieces, but I found that these larger sizes work better for me if I glue them. So I am.
 I got some blocks done, and laid them out to see how it was looking. I am very happy with my color choices. I know it will take me quite some time to finish this quilt, but I really am enjoying the process so much.
So now, I am off to stitch a bit more on this fun project. If you want to see another colorway of this quilt, Rachel, of Stitched in Color did one in blues and I think, scraps. Go to her blog to see how different and unique hers is.
Talk to you soon.

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Seedlings Mini Quilts

So if you are on Instagram, and you follow Jodi at Tales of Cloth, you know she is doing a Seedlings QAL there. Now, I have the book and I love the book, but I don't really have time to do this QAL right now. So I am working on doing the panels for the Seedlings quilt, but I am doing them as minis.

The first one I did was Caraway. I am very happy with how that one turned out. Some hand quilting and some quilting with Perle cotton.
The next one I completed is Honeysuckle. I love the shape for the leaves and I just made my vine as long as I wanted it to be.
 I decided to just do one vine so the panel would be long and skinny. And I really like it.
I machine quilted it with a fancy vine stitch that my machine does. And then I hand embroidered the name of the quilt block on the side. I have several more of these I want to make until my collection is complete. I am having fun with this, and I can go at whatever pace my time allows.
Have a great afternoon friends.