do.good.stitches

I cannot believe I started this blog post last week.  Well, today it will be finished! (maybe).

You may have heard that here in South Carolina we had a little rain. yeah.  (like 14.5 inches in my neck of the woods)  My family and I are very fortunate that we had no flooding, loss of power or water during the flood.  Many of our neighbors have not been so fortunate.

The most wonderful thing happened after disaster struck.  The people of the community pulled together and helped one another.  Volunteers of all ages came out to help clean, organize and cook for the community.  It is truly wonderful to witness everyone working together.  There have been times when volunteers have been turned away from one organization and sent to another just because there are so many people wanting to help.

As you may or may not remember this year I joined a group of ladies within do.good.stitiches who sew quilts for charities. Since January of this year the group has chosen some wonderful and creative blocks.  Here are some of the blocks we have made.


April block
Improv quilt block tutorial found here at City House Studios

May
Shoo-fly block variation found here at Generations-Quilt-Patterns

June
Modified X and + block found here at Kbcreative

July and August (I forgot to take a picture of mine) 

 Rectangle Log Cabin Block found here. on Bonjourquilts.

September
Breeze Blossoms Quilt Patterns - Here at Violet Craft

Never has the need for this been more evident.  When people who have lost so much are your friends and neighbors you see first hand the good that comes from just a single quilt block.  One block sewn by 12 caring people, put together into a quilt and given freely can bring warmth and joy to one who has lost it all.

Graduation towels

This past June my oldest graduated from High School.  (How is this possible?) Since he had lots of friends who were also graduating, go figure?, I had quite a few graduation gifts to come up with.  (Because I wasn't busy enough) I decided to dive head first into whipping up some decorative towels for a few of the girls.

I purchased plain white towels from TJMaxx and this beautiful paisley print from Free Spirit Fabrics.

This is  Patient Paisley in Aqua by April Cornell for those of you who wondered.

I followed the pattern I had from Amy Buttler's book In Stitches.  I ended up adapting the pattern just slightly.  The towels I had purchased had a thick band of white on white stitching (see above picture) that wasn't completely covered with the measurements used in the pattern.  I extended the length just enough to make the paisley print the focal point.

I made 4 sets, a hand towel and a bath towel for each girl.  Overall it was a quick and satisfying project which the Girls LOVED.

Beach Bag

This summer I made 2 of these Beach Bags from the Sew4home.com pattern Day at the Beach.

 My siblings and I decided to do a family trip to the beach this summer.  With my son, the oldest grandchild at 18 and my brother's daughter at 16 months it was quite an adventure.  It was the first time we had all been together in several years.  It was wonderful to hang out, talk, have dinner together and let all of the cousins play.  Even the adults did some playing.  My youngest sister's birthday was just the week before this trip.  As a crafty person I knew she would enjoy this beach bag.

I found this cute pattern, Day at the Beach Bag. on  the Sew4home.com website. I used canvas for the top half of the bag as recommended in the pattern.  I didn't have the same fondness for the Cotton & Steel Metallic Canvas so, I chose this cotton and linen blend from  Moda Mixologie in Cosmopolitan ice and Steel blue.

The bag is big enough to fit two or three beach towels in the main compartment.  Sunscreen and a book fit nicely into the front pockets.  And when your not at the beach, it makes a nice hide out for your cats:)

Did you miss me?

Beach Bag

Well, the rumors are true.  I am alive and well. (and still as busy as ever).  According to my calendar I have not written a blog post since March.  Can that be right?  WoW!  Quite a lot has happened since then.

My oldest graduated from High School and is now in College. (how is that possible?). Our beloved exchange student went back to Germany.  Both of the previous two boys were on crutches for different reasons. One school year ended and another began. We went on vacation/family reunion.  My two youngest had pneumonia over the summer, which prompted a host of doctors visits.  Band camp and Summer cross country camp came and went.  We are now back in full school mode and all that it entails.

One thing that didn't change.. I still kept on quilting and crafting.
Here are a few pictures of the things that kept me busy this summer...

Bee Blocks

Coaches Gifts

Beginning quilt class demo

cupcake pincushions

clemson t-shirt quilt

Graduation Quilt

Bee Blocks

Graduation Towels

I will go into more detail on the projects above soon.(plus a few more projects who's photos escape me;)

Memory quilts

I finished up 3 more memory quilts this past week.  I was keeping them under wraps until the owner picked them up.  Here they are....

Lap quilt.

Table runner 1

Table runner 2

Hard to believe all of these used to be items of clothing, isn't it?

Spring flowers

The last several days have been beautiful!  With temperatures in the 80's spring is here (perhaps not here but close).  The trees and shrubs loaded with buds ready to burst.  I have even seen spring flowers.  Many of the early bloomers are out!  Daffodils, phlox and magnolias are blooming, pushing away the gray dreary days.

I am dream of planting our garden and setting out pots of flowers.  Spring is definitely in the air.  I know it is still a bit early for planting and gardening but a girl can hope.  While I wait for that last frost to pass I am crocheting up my own little flower garden.  It is blooming slowly with each little flower.  Much like spring, it seems in no rush to arrive to it's destination. Happy to just bloom each day.

Crocheted Granny African Flower (also known as Paperweight granny) is a quick little crochet I have been quietly working on anytime I have a moment.  I am using a pattern I found on Craftpassion.com.     These cute little flowers of mine still need a white border row, but are pretty just to look at even without.

Thread

While sewing on Tuesday evening I ran out of black thread.  Hey. It happens.  I took out a new spool and threaded my machine.  As I have done every time I end a spool of thread for the past year I tossed the empty spool into a bucket.  Then I paused.

Last January I started a thread bucket.  I wanted to see just how many spools of thread I use over the course of a year. This last empty spool was the first empty spool of 2015.  How many spools did I use up.

Twenty one.  Twenty one spools of thread from 200m to 5000m.  Black, white and every color in-between (although admittedly mostly white).

I started saving spools hoping that this would help me plan ahead and know how much thread to purchase the next time I am out.  Now I know..  I need a lot of thread.