Some More Work On The X-mas Tree Blocks

The last week I kept on working on my x-mas tree quilt. I laid out the blocks and strips to see what the top will look like....... and I must admit, that I already looove it

with each block I got an extra strip of that fabric the block was made from but for the striped blocks they werent enough and I had to use some from my red stash.

the first two rows are sewn together and of course parts of the cats had to be on the picture also  :)

I trimmed the blocks

and finished sewing the blocks together

color I picked for sashing

for my taste the width was too small so I added an extra row on each side before sewing on the sashing.

Wohoooo - I sooooo love it. 

Borders still need to be added - hopefully sometime this week!

Thats What I Got ..........

for going into the sewing room real fast to applique some tree trunks on the x-mas-tree-blocks - real fast

this thread didn´t tear off, the machine had a good grip with the zigzag-stitch (thinking about now - maybe too good - lol) and it looked good.......

....but I havent noticed at all that I accidently appliqued two blocks together......

.... ahhhhhhh well yeah I was wondering once that one seam seemed to be pretty thick when I appliqued over..........but it never came into my mind that I was appliqueing two blocks together  - oh well - seam ripper and I are best friends :)

Oh and btw - all the blocks are finally appliqued, threads sewn-in and stabilizer teared off.

Thread Keeps Tearing Off - Grrrrr!

Do you know those moments when you are all excited to work on a project and it keeps causing you problems? So here - I was all excited about to keep on appliqueing the stars on the x-mas-Tree blocks...

....the first three stars were all good and then it made poof

.... and the thread keeps tearing off.......

and it kept on going like this.

I´ve unthreaded the machine, I cleand the machine with a brush and "Dust-Off" aso. Oh, it made me mad (as more teared off thread I have - as more thread I have to sew in - grrrrr) and I stopped appliqueing. The next evening the same problem.........ahhhhhh..........and many unthreadening and dusting the machine later, I finally figured out that the thread is real sensitiv by going with a faster speed - its not like I pushed the pedal to the ground I would say a normal speed I always use. Oh well but the real slow speed made the thread happy. Hmmm, me on one side too because it stopped tearing off but on the other side it took me forever to get all the stars done.

X-Mas Tree Blocks - Finally Back Out

Those blocks has been put aside right after I received them. They are from a swap with wonderful ladies of Quilter´s last Resort

 

I started appliqueing the trees and signed the name of the lady which made the block.

 

as soon as I laid down some tree appliqued blocks, Bizkit got up from his napping place and headed towards the blocks.

I wanna finish the top before I have to start with the next baby-quilt I have an order for.

My Mini Has Arrived

I´ve joined the New Beginnings Mini Quilt Swap over at quiltinggallery. Its a secret swap - this means the swap partner you mail your mini is not your partner you receive the mini from.

I love to get squishy mail and mine came from Sylvia of Germany

Look at this pretty mini quilt Sylvia made for me

Thank you so much Sylvia for this wonderful mini and the extra you packed up.

Little Privat Swap

with Simona. She came up with the idea that we could swap 2.5" squares since she is working on a PSQ (postage stamp quilt) and I´m still collecting squares for a PSQ.

Since Moritz (fabric/scrap thief) was around - here is just a little peek of those wonderful squares I have received from my precious friend Simona

(the yummieh chocolate didnt survive the following sewing evening - lol)

New Beginnings Quilt Swap

of Quiltinggallery I´ve participated. My swap partner is from Australia and the mini is on its way to her - I hope she likes it.

that was actually the only pic I took of this mini while working on it

... all done front......

..... and back........

Blame me....... I hope my swap partner will forgive me for this crooked label - I just have relized it.

Good Progress This Weekend

Sunday afternoon - good time to spend in my sewing room, even if there were carnival parades everwhere. I rather stayed at home to finish the top of my patriotic quilt out of the Birthday-Block-Swap 2009 at QLR

voilá

 I´m looking forward to layer the sandwich and start quilting.

Since I was done with this top in the afternoon - I started to applique the dinosaur on the toddler quilt - no pics here yet. First I thought I´ll applique some smaller dinosaurs on the border too but I changed my mind and I will quilt them in the border with a brown thread.

New Beginnings Mini Quilt Swap

Couple days ago I thought about that I havent participated a swap at quiltinggallery since quite a while. I might have missed them cuz I havent stopped by regularly - but on accident I stumpled over the button somewhere in blogland. Yaaayyyy  - I´m really looking forward to make a new mini for a participant of this swap. If you are interested too - click the button below

Wallhanging & Deco-Swap

Last Friday Marianne and I had a little quilting bee again. I think its much more fun when friends sit together for some sewing and chatting - sadly Angela couldnt make it this time.

Well, I would say we had a great evening - Marianne was working on her winter quilt......

......the quilt is amazing - Marianne handquilted it and here she is working on her binding

(sorry for the lousy quality of the pic - it took it with my cell phone)

and I have finished my Halloween-wallhanging...... finally!

I´m already looking forward to our next little get together - *hint-hint* :D

*:_*:_*:_*:_*:_*:_*:_*:_*:_*:_*:_*:_*:_*:_*:_*:_*:_*

And I have received my goodies out of the Deco-Swap Sandra has organized in FB.

It turned out that Sandra was my secret swap partner. Look how supercute the little trees are, the gorgous MugRug with my initial on and buttons slide on a wire ring....

Thank you so much Sandra and thank you for having the idea for the swap and organizing it!

Christmas Deco Swap

This swap was organized by Sandra at FB  - THANKS alot for the whole organizing.

And this is what my swap partner Silke will recieve - two Wichtels, a X-mas tree......

..... and this table topper

I so hope Silke will like it. She left a note at the groups wall that her X-mas decoration is kept in red/white. I guess I will find out the next couple of days.......

I Love Squishy Mail

After a whole week hunting down my mail man - he finally delivered the squishy envelope I was expecting - hooray!

 I was participating the X-Mas tree swap at QLR and yesterday I have received the envelope with the swapped blocks - have a look

for each block was a extra strip of fabric added

Aint those blocks super pretty??? Thanks to Tracy for organizing this swap and to all the participants for making such great blocks. All I need is some extra time to turn the blocks into ...... well at least a top in the near future.

Some Little Things

Lately I dont spent as much time as I want to in my sewing room. Last weekend I havent even made on stitch - can you believe this?!? ..... well me neither. At the moment I´m working on some little things like decoration for winter/Christmas

the tree (still needs some working on) belongs to me and the Wichtels are for a swap

aaaannnnd after three years I have finally finished these socks. I call them chemo-socks because I started them while my Mom had her Chemo-treatments and spended the time with her waiting until she was done with her infusion. Like most of the time I make the socks out of wool scraps.

X-Mas-Tree Swap

It was good that I bought alot of red fabrics at my last vacation in the US. Like I have known that I will join a swap at QLR and known that I will use alot of red. Last Thurdays I have finished my blocks - packed them and mailed them off on friday.

To each block belongs a extra strip 2.5" x 8.5"  those will be used for stripped blocks which goes between the x-mas trees. Side note: This will be a pretty big quilt.

I Still Spend Time In My Sewing Room

I just dont find the time to post alot. Fulltime job, working on the chicken coop, taking care of Candy and when its getting late and dark I´ll sneak up into my sewing room

those squares I prepared for my friends wedding

I want the guest to sign them, add a poem, something funny or blessings. A member of QLR gave me the tip to iron on those squares on freezer paper this makes them more stiff and its easier to write on them. Thanks alot for the great tip TMM

30 blocks are done and seam allowance is marked as well - just a help that there is no writing beyond the line

here I continued working on my swap-project - patterns are drawn on fusible

I´m done quilting this toddler quilt and now.......

..... it keeps me busy with sewing in threads