A small finish and a big makeover

 A while back, between working on the Costa Rica quilt, I got this book out of my library.

I have always been intrigued by these amazing quilts when I have seen them at quilt shows. Susan @QuiltFabrication showed this design on her blog. It was simple enough to do as a table runner and the size was preferable to the one in the book. 

I choose to do small before making a large quilt as they looked complicated.

I choose 3 Kona blues from my stash and Kona silver for the background. 

This method of 3D quilts is made with triangles. You sew each column of triangles together rather than rows. 

Using 3" triangles, this table runner finishes at 15 1/2" x 47 1/2". I straight line quilted 1/4" around each color area ~ simple but effective. 

I used a backing from my stash. 

I think I may make some placemats to go with this table runner. I'm not sure how much of the backing I have left but I'm sure I can find something. 😆

Linking to Finished or Not Friday @Alycia Quilts, Beauty Pageant @Bolttobeauty, and Friday Foto Fun @Poweredbyquilting

But that will happen after this is done!
My sewing room makeover!

This is where I sew.

It is a small room in our basement. It is carpeted with a berber, the same as the family room part of our basement. 

It is chock full of sewing and crafting supplies, fabric, books etc. besides my sewing, cutting and ironing stations.

Amazingly, I usually can locate anything in my room pretty quickly. 

However, carpeting is not the best flooring for a sewing room. I am pretty diligent about picking up dropped pins and needles and I have a rule to always wear shoes in my sewing room but there is an occasional pin that drops without my knowledge. Also, threads and fabric cuttings are difficult to keep cleaned off the floor. 

So...

...this is the current status of my sewing room. We will be laying a laminate flooring down that can easily be swept and washed. 

So where did all the stuff go?

Yikes! That's a lot of stuff but it did give me the opportunity to weed through some things that I no longer want or need (much of it donated to me.)

My sewing machine and ironing station was moved up to a spare bedroom, and my cutting station is the dining room table. I do have a commissioned project that I'm working on. More on that later and an update on our progress.

Just a quick post

Argh! We have had problems with our internet service lately... hate when that happens. I wanted to do a quick post yesterday but again no internet service. Finally they came out today and hopefully fixed our service.  

Anyways...I had a couple of finishes that I wanted to show. The first being this paper pieced picture of a hummingbird. 

It is framed in a 9" x 9" frame.  The paper piecing was a little different because of the curved seams in the wings and tail.  On my first attempt, I used too dark of a turquoise blue and the poor little hummingbird kind of got lost. I am much more pleased with my 2nd go around.

If you remember, a couple post back I showed a table runner kit I bought featuring Hometown by Sweetwater.  I finished set aside some other WIP's to sew this kit. 

 I.am.smitten.

It goes perfectly in my dining room of deep red walls! 

And my favorite part...look closely and you can see my hometown. Here let me help you get a closer look. 

Right under Pittsburgh in the center is Chicago...yep!

It is fun to read all the different 'hometowns.' Have you found yours? 

Did you notice the giant rick rack trim? Too Cute! The pattern is Riff-Raff Runner by Silk Road Creations.  I am now waiting on more material to arrive so I can make matching place mats.  

A few other things are going on here but I can't say yet. So stayed tuned in.

What's been happening?

So have you been wondering where I've been?  

I have been very busy, at work and sewing and the usual Christmas hustle and bustle to get it all done! You ask if I have it all done?  Not even close but I keep taking steps forwards.  

Here are a couple of finishes!

My Perfect Man quilt is finished! He will look perfect with my snowmen collection!

I've knitted/crocheted a couple of these simple head bands. One for my D3, one for my D3's suite mate, and one for myself.  I have one more to go for my D2.

I finally got around to making coordinating place mats to match the table runner that I made here in April 2010.  I used scraps left from the runner and found some deep red fabric to match. I love them!

Can't say too much about this one because it is a gift for someone.  Shhh! It was made from scraps left from a quilt I made years ago!  I have been lovin' using fabric from my scrap bag!

Another gift for someone this Christmas! A wacky Christmas table runner.  Inside each wacky square, I quilted a little present.  This was also made from my scrap bag!

A few more things a happenin' but no pictures yet...Hopefully I'll get a chance to report back on some more finishes!

  Happy Holidays!