ALYOF--December finish

Well, I didn't get a whole lot done.

I got one block done on the baby's sampler.

I finished the top of the Solstice Moda Love mini-quilt.

Thanks for everyone's opinion on Facebook. I really love the red border. I have a whole layer cake of Solstice to use, and some fat eighths I picked up, so I will save the large green prints for those projects...I really want to show them off because of their larger scale, and a mini-project won't do that.

I'm sure I accomplished more, but I just can't think much. It doesn't feel like I have. Post-partum depression stinks; I've been fatigued and depressed this month very badly. Maybe there are lots of people who will gasp and criticize me for being truthful and honest about it in public, but that's my life. Hiding depression doesn't make it get better, anyway. I probably just need to go back to the doctor anyway.

Holiday sandwich

Hi

So I just came up with that--holiday sandwich. Those few days between Christmas, my son's birthday, and New Years!

Christmas was good to us. We had lots for what we needed and wanted. And enough to budget for S.'s and the baby's birthdays, too.

My sewing swag:

Plus, a new pair of machine quilting gloves, and materials to make a design wall! And some random fabric.

Christmas Eve baking cookies with my little guy! Yum!

Gifts from Uncle T.

And now some birthday fun!

S. adores Angry Birds!

Oops, grandma's face didn't make it in the shot!

Uncle T and Uncle J. They love their nephews, and they love their uncles. 

Not much but Merry Christmas

It's Christmas Eve!

I'm not getting much sewing done, but my hubby's on shift and I'm spending time with the kids.

Yesterday, my middle boy helped me make gingerbread men and snowmen, and daddy's favorite butter cookies. After baby woke up, we bundled up, walked to the mailbox, and delivered a few plates of cookies and fudge to neighbors.

We read Polar Express by Chris Van Allsberg this morning. My boys love that story and the movie. I think we'll be watching it, snuggling in quilts together, tonight before bed.

I'm very excited for some of the boys' gifts and to see their faces. I'm all done with Christmas wrapping. I'm also excited for some of the things for quilting that I was able to get for myself!

And I'm working on piecing blocks for the baby's star sampler, and writing a class review for Craftsy.

We can't wait till my hubby gets home from shift in the morning, to celebrate! (Then it will be my turn to work in the evening at the ER.)

I finally found a pine tree block that I like, and can't wait to find time to try it!

I've also been a member of Bonnie Hunter's " Quiltville's Open Studio" Facebook page, and today I was able to join Pat Sloan's "Quilt Along with Pat" Facebook page. It's so fun to share in two huge groups, with thousands of quilters from around the world. So many pictures of Christmas and holiday quilts and trees from all over the world!

Merry Christmas!

Mini Solstice

Finally!

I've finally finished piecing together the mini-charm Moda Love star with Solstice by Kate Spain!

And now, I think it needs a border. But I can't decide what to use.

Solid red?

Either of the green prints from Solstice?

Or frozen grey winter branches ?

Or solid red?

Hmmm.

I know I've been MIA lately....I just get so little done each day, that I don't feel like I have progress to share.

Hubby's been sick, we're both working (he's working two jobs), getting ready for Christmas, dentist appts, and trying to make time for me and my hubby in between.  Hey, we finally got Hunger Games and Catching Fire, so watching those took up two evenings of mini-date, with no sewing for me.

I need to fit in some time to read the Hunger Games series, now that I've seen 2 of the 3 movies. Sometimes movies are so different than their books, that I often prefer to watch movies first. That way, I'm not sitting during the whole movie, waiting for scenes from the book, critiquing dialogue, getting frustrated with stuff that's changed or cut out. I just enjoy the movie.

ALYOF: December Goal

Wow, one week into December already!

I have so much that I want to get done!

It's hard to believe another year is almost over.

So here I goal:

--Piece the baby's stars

--piece together the ModaLove quilt tops with Solstice and Sunnyside.

--I need to conquer the bulk and start quilting the Swoon quilt again. (I doubt that's going to happen this month.)

My Christmas wish list this year:

--a design wall (I want to get foam insulation board and cover it with a Fons and Porter Design Wall fabric)

--an ironing cover for my cutting table --Check! It's on the way.

--maybe an ergonomic rotary cutter

Linking up with ALYOF at SewBittersweetDesigns !

Win win--yay

I'm so excited! I love getting mail.

I won two giveaways during the blog tour for Quiltmaker 100 Blocks Volume 10.

The first was Blue Ribbon Designs block "4 Corners of Happy". Belinda not only included a copy of the magazine, but she sent me her block, patches and appliqué all cut out on her Accuquilt, ready to piece and fuse. Whoopppeee. I've never pieced any quilt pieces that were due cut, before.

The second, is one of the daily giveaways from Quilty Pleasures and QM themselves!

Hand-dyed batiks, Robert Kaufman fat quarters, fall-themed patterns, thread clips, a Handiquilter badge reel, a 100 Blocks Vol 3 mug, and a roll of Quilter's Preview Paper by Quilter's Touch.

Yippee skippy fun goodies!

Thank you!

ALYOF: November Finish

Well, I didn't finish my main goal (piecing the remainder of baby's stars).

But I did have other finishes and progresses.

Finished the 20" Lone Star.
 

Finished the Hope Star, made with bonus HST from the Pieces of a Hope Autism "Hugs n Kisses" quilt.

Yes, baby boy wanted to see the new quilt and colors and what mommy was doing. He's trying to stand up on his own already!

 

I can definitely see the things I would do differently next time:

--Put a narrow white border around the quilt before putting on the last green puzzle-pieces border.

--On the sides, break up the squares of the green word prints into rectangles, so that one rectangle will go underneath the last block (green, block, green, block, green...white lattice sash)

--Probably do that same thing a bit more on the top and bottom too (a green spacer between the blocks and white lattice

Finished the top for the ModaLove Mini-Charm quilt, made with a "Paradiso" by Kate Spain mini-charm pack. It is finishing at about 18" square, after a 1 1/2" border. Pink seems to be the prominent color in Paradiso, so I went with a pink border, and I pulled the FQ of the pink Arcadia print from Daydreams to be the backing.

The original ModaLove star pattern (peeking out from behind the quilt top) is a free pattern by Moda....with which they had a fun blog hop a few months ago. Each designer by the Moda brand chose a collection of theirs to spotlight the pattern. Kate Spain used her "Horizon," Minick and Simpson used "Lexington", etc. The pattern includes instructions for versions in a mini-charm, charm, and layer cake sizes. How cool is that--three patterns in one, and all free!

If you want to make your own Moda Love  quilt, click for the free pattern PDF :

Moda Love

The pattern is a one-block quilt, made of squares and HST units. So once you piece, press and trim the HST units and trim the squares, it goes together rather quickly!

This month, I've been working on Paradiso, another one in Sunnyside charms, and another in Solstice mini-charms.

One thing that I thought that I'd play with, is that the pattern only uses 30 of the 42 charms. I've been designing ways to use the last 12 charms in the quilt. The easiest thing, so far, was to make more HST, cut a few more background squares, and add another ring. That's what I've done with Paradiso: look at the aqua-colored addition in the mini-charm pattern. I have used my Quilt Pro and coloring in a grid on the pattern, to design with. I think I have one more design that I'd like to sketch, too, and trying to decide which ones I like best.

 

I also got another Plumeria cut and basted (for a pillow this time).

I followed the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks Volume 10 blog tour.

Baby boy and I got bad colds and mine turned into a sinus infection (no big surprise, but yay for antibiotics).

Baby boy grew 3 new teeth in November (one popped up today!)

Whew!

Linking up with A Lovely Year of Finishes with  www.SewBittersweetDesigns.com.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dinner made, eaten, cleaned up (pots and pans are left, because hubby promised to wash some), kids in bed. I've got my feet up and I'm catching up on the news of the day.

I'm just going through my mountain of email newsletters about Black Friday sales, to see if there's anything I need and can get for my Christmas. Tee-hee!

Blog hopping with Quiltmaker

Hi!

This week, I'm hopping along on the blog tour with Quiltmaker, for their 10 Volume of 100 Blocks! I've collected all the volumes so far...they are great inspiration and everyone is so talented!

I don't have much energy right now, so sitting in a comfy chair and blog hopping on my phone is easy. Baby and I are both sick with yucky colds.

Today I am grateful for ice cream shakes, soup, hot apple cider and peppermint cocoa, DayQuil and soft quilts to cuddle with.

2-Day Mystery Sale for Supplies at Craftsy

Craftsy is having a Mystery Sale on supplies ! I really enjoy shopping for supplies with Craftsy. They have great prices, fast shipping, and carry lots of products.

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Shop Craftsy's Mystery Markdowns now! Enjoy special savings on popular yarn, fabric and project kits. But act fast because this limited supply won't last! Offer expires at midnight on November 14th, 2014 at 11:59 PM MT. Shop Craftsy's Mystery Markdowns now for surprisingly big savings.

• Click to reveal yarn savings
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I'm thinking of a layer cake for me, or some yardage of Kona solids.......

HST trimming

Hi!

The temperature is hanging just above freezing, the baby is napping, J. and S. are in school. I'm catching up in episodes of Castle and trimming piles of HST from Solstice, Paradiso, and Sunnyside by Kate Spain.

I found a cream-on-cream calico that reminds me of pine needles, to go as background with Solstice.

I'm using bleach white Kona for background with Paradiso.

I'm using a fun medium lavender solid for background with Sunnyside. I think it's perfect purple for Sunnyside, the dark purple in storm clouds right before the rain or snow hits. Or the color of the sky, right at sunset, with the last rays of the sun bouncing off the last of those clouds after the storm.

November goal

Hello November! Wow. 

Main goal:

Piece the rest of the blocks for my baby's star sampler.

Have some fun along the way!

I totally seem to be making lengthy "masterpieces" all the time....I want some fun, easy, quick projects. 

I'm planning on making some mini ModaLove stars from mini-charm packs.

I want to cut into my Solstice layer cake to make a MBS (Moda Bake Shop) Christmas tree.

I'm linking up with Sew Bittersweet Designs.

http://blog.sewbittersweetdesigns.com/?p=5179

Finishing Funk

I seem to be in this funk for the past two weeks, since finishing Plumeria and Daisies.

Have you ever finished a project in such a frantic state, looking forward to its finish for a very long time? And then having a lonely feeling of being let down afterwards when you do finally finish it? It almost seems a bit of a grieving process. And maybe it has been, since Plumeria and Daisies is a hospice quilt. I meant it to be a comfort object to help my family remember Vai and grieve. There are no negative feelings, for me, associated with it...only hope and love and good wishes. I just wish that I'd finished it sooner, so that Vai could have enjoyed it longer before she passed.

Plumeria and Daisies occupied most of my thoughts and quite a bit of my life for the past five months. I guess I've felt kind of physically and emotionally exhausted.

Vai's funeral was last Thursday, a week ago today. I wasn't able to go, because hubby was on shift and I had to juggle the kiddies' schedules myself. I was told that the family displayed the quilt right next to Vai's casket during the viewing and service. Also, that many people commented about the quilt and that is was the perfect setting for her memorial. I'm so overjoyed and humbled, that my work, love, and creativity all worked together so well that other people could see Vai and her beautiful spirit represented so well in the quilt.

Maybe the finishing funk is partially due to not being able to attend the funeral, and have a bit more closure that way.

I have tried to push on, because I have other projects in a stack to finish.

Here's the little Lone Star...just need to whip-stitch the rest of the hanging sleeve onto the back, and whip-stitch my little name label to it. 

I read the "basic quilt making" info in one of  Quiltmaker Magazines, and learned something new: you can attach a hanging sleeve along with the binding. Line up raw edges together, center the sleeve on the back of the quilt, and baste into place. Then apply the binding. After the binding is all applied, whip-stitch the other three sides to the back of the quilt. Cool !  Now my hanging sleeves will be straight and have less puckers.

And here is me prepping the binding for the turn and securing, on the HST star quilt. Finally! I like to sew the binding to the front of the quilt, then press the binding out away from the quilt. It looks a bit more crisp, and the binding more easily turns to the back of the quilt, and the binding seems to be more snug to the quilt when it's pressed out--towards the binding. More pictures later!

I've bought and cut background fabrics for ModaLove projects.

And I've started another Plumeria appliqué.

I love Craftsy!

Craftsy online classes are wonderful. 

They are professional, easy to use, accessible anytime, anyplace, as many times as you want! Once you "purchase" a class, it's yours forever. The instructors are kind, supportive, fun, and good teachers. I love the Craftsy platform, because: you can ask questions, post pictures, post your own projects, answer questions from other students, and get answers back from the instructors and other students.

Craftsy has great supplies for great prices, too.

I enjoy learning with Craftsy so much, I decided to become a Craftsy affiliate. I can review the classes I take here on my blog, and review the wonderful fabrics and supplies they offer, too. They offer a bit of compensation as an affiliate; how cool is that?!

Try them! Here's one of their affiliate links to get us started:

Go to Craftsy=

Join me on Facebook

Hi everyone!

My blog is now on Facebook! I would love it if you followed along with me there.
 

www.facebook.com/CladdaghsandQuilts

And I also have a link to Bloglovin, on the right sidebar, so you can follow me there, too!

Whee! See you there!

Plumeria and Daisies: A Tribute to Vai

I saved this quilt finish and gift presentation for 5 days, because I am entering the quilt in the Blogger's Quilt Festival, which starts today.

http://amyscreativeside.com/2014/10/24/bloggers-quilt-festival-fall-2014-edition/

"Plumeria and Daisies" or "You are in Our Hearts"

Quilt stats:

54x54"

Plumeria appliqué by BarbaraBieraugelDesigns.com

The rest of the quilt designed by me, Rachell Reilly

Thread:

Superior King Tut: Mint Julep 1023, Malachite 989, Alabaster 997

Masterpiece 131 pale green for piecing

Connecting Threads Essential Cotton 21119 Hyacinth purple

Fabric:

Purple Batik, Teal Batik,

Background: Legacy Cotton Solid "Curaçao" (aqua-green)

Kona Cotton: Cypress (medium aqua green) for backing and hanging sleeve

Purple blender from Cranston Village for backing and binding.

I finished this quilt last Saturday, and my neighbor Kira embroidered the label on her Bernina machine on Sunday afternoon. I literally drove straight from her house to the hospital to present the quilt to sweet Vai Malungahu and her parents, my cousin Jessica and her husband Taylor Malungahu. I sat down and sewed the label to the quilt as I spoke with her parents; then her dad, mom and I all tucked Vai into the quilt. She is mostly sedated to control the pain. Vai has been in the hospital for two weeks, for uncontrollable vomiting and pain. Her heart has just been weakening so fast. We all feel blessed that she was strong and courageous for four months longer than the doctors all thought she would. Taylor, her tall Tongan dad, silently cried as he opened the quilt from the gift bag and gave me a big bear hug. That was seriously the best thanks.

(Photos taken Sunday, October 19, 2014)

As I'm writing this post, I learned that Vai passed away this morning, Friday, October 24, 2014. She was just 20 years old.

We are all saddened, but grateful for a loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, who provided a way for families to be sealed together in the temple for time and eternity; so we know we will see her again.

If you haven't been following me lately, here is her story.

She received a heart transplant when she was 9. Soon after, she was adopted by her cousin Taylor and his wife, Jessica, who is my cousin. Vai has struggled this past year with heart valve replacement, received a pacemaker, and been admitted several times. After some serious pain in June, the doctors diagnosed her with heart failure specific to transplant patients, and gave her 6 weeks to live. In July, Vai and her family were able to fly to visit her family in Tonga and New Zealand for the first and last time since Vai came to the United States.

I chose the Hawaiian-style appliqué because Vai is Tongan. I used batiks because it would go so well with her island heritage. She loves Plumeria flowers, and purple and green. I quilted daisies in the borders, because daisies are also her favorite flower. I used one appliqué for the medallion center, and cut another appliqué into four pieces to appliqué in the triangles for a square-in-square effect. (I didn't have time to appliqué a large quilt, and my tendinitis wrists would probably complain too.)

I feel so blessed, every step of the way, in this quilt journey. Barbara Bieraugel gifted me her Plumeria pattern when I commented on her blog, telling her Vai's story. She has been such a great teacher and support to me, with all my questions, and my first experience with needle-turn Hawaiian appliqué.

I had the purple batik in my stash, waiting for something special. I found the perfect aqua solid to match the aqua in the butterfly print in the batik. Kim's Fabric Outlet www.kimsfabric.com had a Thrifty Thursday on her Facebook page, and I found the beautiful teal batik, and the green-aqua daisy-swirl batik for the backing. (I found the purple batik at Fabric Outlet too, last year!)

I found color cards at Superior Threads booth at HMQS, so it was easy to match thread to the quilt. I ordered the King Tut thread from www.SewThankful.com, and Tracy the owner was able to mail them to me in less than 3 days...New Mexico to Utah!  I used the entire spool of Mint Julep for all the echo quilting, using the last bit to sew on the label. I seriously felt like the widow with the last bit of flour, being blessed by Heavenly Father to last and have just enough to finish.

I'm grateful for my neighbor Kira for the quilt label.

I just can't get enough of this quilt. Maybe I took a ton of photos, but it has seriously turned out so beautiful.

Hopefully, this quilt will provide cuddle comfort in Vai's memory for her parents and younger siblings.

Received mug swap

Hi!

I participated in Rapped with Luv's "Give a Mug, Get a Mug" swap. I received my package in the mail yesterday.

I was a little disappointed not to see a note with contact information from my new friend...there was only a name and address from "Melissa" from "Butterfly Kisses Crafts" on the return label on the box.

But what fun goodies!

A beautiful large aqua mug. (Just my style with the cute etched designs, almost like quilting designs)

Apple cider mix!

Pumpkin spice cocoa mix!

Peppermint cocoa mix!

Peppermint Altoids

Peppermint Burt's Bees lip balm

Two yummy mint/eucalyptus hand sanitizers

And cute purple and aqua note card pack

(I'm seeing a definite theme of mint here!)

And Melissa definitely caught my favorite colors of purple and aqua.

Thanks Melissa! Thanks Rapped with Luv for organizing the swap, and for That's Sew You by Jennifer for inviting me to the swap!

Feeling great with Lone Star

Hi there!

I'm feeling pretty good about myself tonight. Over the weekend, I had an awesome quilt finish and gifting that quilt was wonderful and very special; one of the best I've had yet! I'm still putting my post together about it, however, because I'm saving it for Blogger's Quilt Festival that starts this weekend!

But I will let you see what I finished tonight:

The quilting on my Little Lone Star.

I was trying to get the lighting better; that didn't work out very well. I seriously need a design wall.

Anyhoo, this will end up being a wall hanging. It's about 20" square. I love the Patriotic-colored variegated thread: it's King Tut by Superior, called Americana #919. It just makes the star sparkle like fireworks in the night sky!

I've wanted to do my own star with the curved wine-glass quilting inside the diamonds, like I see at a lot of shows. It turned out quite well this time! In the blue backgrounds, squares and triangles, I used a combination Diamond and Lattice design that I put together from taking Angela Walter's' Craftsy class: "Dot-To-Dot Quilting". Again, I was going for the radiating light rays from the star.

This star resulted from trying to enlarge the star from 6" to 12" from my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler quilt....I thought doubling the strip widths for the strip piecing would work, but it didn't. It resulted in approximately an 18" star, not a 12" star. And then I didn't know what size to cut the background triangles and squares! I had to take it to my Quilt-Pro on the computer, pull the star from the Block Library, and tell it what size I wanted for a 18" star so that I could finish this one. The triangles Quilt-Pro told me to cut were too big, so once I set them into the star, I trimmed the whole block.

It was great practice to get the technique down, with strip-piecing, and cutting 45 degree angles. And this block was great to practice quilting, and to test out the thread, to see if I liked the variegated thread for the whole Sylvia's Bridal Sampler quilt.

Then I turned back to the Quilt-Pro and used the cutting chart for the 12" block that it provided. And that worked out just like it needed to; that block is waiting in the stack with the rest of the blocks.

I think it looks great. And now I'll go to bed. Baby has his 9-month checkup tomorrow with vaccines. Oh joy. (How in the heck did 9 months just go by since he was born?!!!!!)

Quilting complete

I now officially declare that the quilting is finished on the plumeria Hawaiian-style appliqué!

I will get better pictures soon. 

I'm preparing the hanging sleeve, and I need to trim the quilt sandwich.

Then let the binding begin!

Vai is in the hospital, barely hanging on to life, according to her mother and grandmother today. She's barely conscious. My heart aches for her and her family.

This quilt's journey is almost finished for me, and I'm anxious to help provide some little comfort to her family with it.

Mug swap

Hi!

Just getting my items together, ready to pack in a box and mail, for the "Give a Mug...Get a Mug" swap by Rapped with Luv.

Two kinds of hot chocolate mix, apple cider mix, Cake in a Mug mix, the mug, and a cute Celtic coaster/mug rug. 

Uh, the mug rug ended up looking like Christmas colors. Oh well-I'm really proud of it!

Almost wordless Wednesday

Backing pieced. Binding prepared.

Oh see, there's daisies in the backing, so there's still daisies that Vai loves, in the quilt !

Off to bed!