First Saturday Fiber Review

I went to the normal first Saturday fiber review at Fiberology Labs. It's been fun to go to this. She handles it like a club meeting. She talks about all the new stuff coming in and gives us a project for the month. We then have a show and tell of what we did last month and if we finished the project last month. There's also a schedule of what is going to happen for the month with special events and classes. Since she sells both fabric and yarn she does a different session for yarn a couple of weeks into the month. It's gotten so popular she's got to have two sessions for each.

For this month I had the heart coster I made from last month's project. I also had 6 months done on my temperature quilt and almost all my Homely Houseplants done. I have one left and it's ready to frame. We were given a panel fabric as our free fabric sample and a pattern. There were three different patterns of a drawstring bag, apron or placemats. I got the placemats. I'm thinking of using different fabric for the placemats and make a baby quilt out of the panels. I don't know if I will give it to my cousin who is about to have a baby or give it to Project Linus. I need to do it before I decide that.

For tea today I've got one from January. I had taken several photos of different places and teas and I haven't gotten to use them because of not posting enough. There is a new boba tea place near work. It's Tealicious and I love the place. I can get as much sweetener or as little as you like. Also, you can get as much ice as you like. The menu has a lot of choices. They have a few small snacks but mostly focus on the tea.

Sit n Stitch and Homely Houseplants Stitch Along

I've been working on a stitch along by Stitchonomy called Homely Houseplants. It ended a few days ago and I'm almost done. I've just got two more plants to go. I missed the sign up for the free patterns on her page by a day because I didn't get the Facebook notification till the next day. I decided to join her patreon to get into this one and I'm really happy I did.

She had some very pretty and easy designs. I say easy because she doesn't do half stitches or put in the backstitching. So if you don't like either of those then your good to go. I will sometimes add it in depending on if I want to emphasize or smooth out details. She's also supportive of using different colors.

Her next one is colorful critters and the colors in the kits look exciting. I'm not ordering a kit because I have such an enormous selection of floss I'm going to see what I have first. These projects have become my sit and stitch projects. On Tuesdays, I meet a group at the local quilt shop for sit and stitch. A lot of them knit or crochet, but a few of us are doing other types of hand projects.

Sit and stitch inspired me to put an unusual drink as my spotlight. It uses tea to make it, but it's not tea. One of the ladies grew up in the Seattle area and has family in Victoria, British Colombia. She often visited family there and has had the tea blend that the Empress Hotel created. She was talking about one of the shops there she would buy tea from. That reminded me of a recommendation for a fantastic Gin I got at the beginning of February. It was the Empress 1908 Gin. This was also crafted at the hotel. The gin is made with botanicals that include rose petals, Grapefruit peel, purple pea blossoms, and the Empress Hotel's tea blend. I can not tell you how much of love this gin and it's my favorite color in the world, purple. The flowers give it such a vibrant color that even making a gin and tonic does not dull it very much. I hope to one day try the tea.

Antique Quilts

I wanted to share a few antique quilts I found. As I said in my previous post I had visited a vintage shop with a friend of mine in Chattanooga. I had to take photos of a few of the finds from the shop. I thought about adding this to my previous post but it was already a long post. So first is a beautiful collage quilt I found that is clearly not antique but probably only a few years old. It's still a fun quilt for a great price.

Next was a great scrap use idea. The pumpkin was either made of repurposed damaged quilts or made new and as aged several years now. While near this one I found some beautiful vintage cross stitch pieces and notions I didn't photograph.

The last one was a vintage quilt found in a different store. I almost bought this but didn't have it in my budget at the time. Its a fabulous star pattern with small yo-yo's at the edge. You can't see the yo-yo's in the photo but they used it to make scalloped edges.

It's not unusual to find hand made quilts in shops around here. They were usually handmade and passed to family members. If someone didn't have a family to give them to and no one wanted them after the artist passed then they end up in second-hand stores. If you find one under $100 it's a steal no matter how damaged it is.

New notions from old

sample found online

While browsing on Facebook someone had posted about a vintage dish they found and repurposed as a sewing aid. It was a milk glass candy dish that has a laced edge on its lip. The owner turned it into a pincushion and scissors holder. I immediately did some research and found lots of quilters had repurposed these dishes for this purpose. I immediately started looking for one. I found several online in the $30 price range. I wanted to look around and see if I could find one locally for a better price. I told several friends if they found one to let me know.

I put the thread in just for this photo

One of them came through with a larger size dish complete with a lid. He said he found it for $20. I didn't realize how much that was a bargain until after I've found 5 myself in various shops without lids and all much higher in price. Recently I found the smallest one without a lid for $2. I currently use the larger one to hold my sewing machine extras and small scissors. I'm going to make a pin cushion for my smaller one.

Both of my dishes!

2020 Projects!

It's already March and I've not posted anything on what I've been working on. I've been distracted and then at the end of January and the first of February I had a friend visit from out of town. I didn't get anything done while he was here.  So I've had several small projects I finished for February and January.

January I did the first Saturday fiber Review for Fiberology Labs. I didn't have much extra to show for it. I did have the Christmas Tree Table Runner I showed in my last post. I also finished my Winter 2019 cross stitch along with Stitchonomy. It came out so pretty. I'm going to leave it in the wooden frame to hang it. I have started another cross stitch along with her group. It's called Homely Houseplants. She ended that one recently I just have to finish the last few plants on mine. She has a free sign up for her next stitch along Colorful Critters. You have until April 15th to sign up for the free patterns.

February for the Fiber review we got a pattern for a heart coster. I've finished the coster but haven't taken a photo of it yet. It was a small fast project. I'm going to make more for presents later with different fabrics. It's pretty easy all you need is a few charm squares. I will have a photo of the finished one with March's fiber review meeting.

I started a temperature quilt for my father. One of the lady's that meet at our local quilt shop/yarn shop has been doing a temperature scarf as part of The National Park Tempestry Project. This got me researching different types of temperature blankets etc. I don't knit or crochet. I have attempted it in the past and it is just not one of my talents. I do, however, quilt a lot. So I thought I could do one as a present.

January and February temperature quilt for 1954 WIP

My father's birth year was chosen because I haven't done anything specifically for him yet. I thought he would like this type of quilt the most. I did research on the daily highs and lows for the entire year. I had taken the range and assigned fabric colors to equal the temperatures in 5-degree increments. The lower two ranges are in 10-degree increments because of not having data reflecting certain ranges. I cut brown squares to mark where the months change and made 365 half-square triangle blocks. I have been a bit slower on this project then I hoped I would be and only have 5 rows together giving us a snapshot of the first two months of the year.

January Block

February block

Another project I am working on has been a Murder Mystery Quilt along. They are dropping a block a month with a bit of a story. When you post a picture of your block you get a clue to help you figure out the mystery. I've enjoyed this one so far. Seeing everyone else's blocks posted on Instagram has been fun.

This month for tea I'm going to spotlight a tea room I went to in Chattanooga recently. One of the places my friend wanted to go to was Two Ten Jacks in Chattanooga for Ramen. Since it's almost a two-hour drive for us, we decided to do a day trip and hit a few places. We stopped at Chattanooga Mercantile and spent several hours wandering through the store. It was lots of fun. In the building, there is a tea room called Mammie Carlotta's tucked in the back. We stopped for a snack and some tea for a bit before wandering around the shop more.

2019 Quilting Recap

Looking back at what I finished this year, I feel I was very productive. I am very proud of what I accomplished for 2019. I made a top nine photo to post of my creations on Instagram that I was very proud of. I picked specifically only finished projects. I didn't want to include stuff that hasn't been quilted because they feel half done.

Top Nine Projects of 2019

For total projects I finished:

1. A Rose for My Boyfriend
2. Purple Cat convention Bag
3. Tumbler Blocks Baby Quilt
4. Focus Freeway Camera hanging
5. Fruit Salad Quilt
6. Terracotta Greenhouse
7. Double Wedding Ring -wall hanging
8. Lots of Hexie Tags and nerdy coasters
9. 2019 Row By Row- Taste the Experience
10. Berry Box table runner
11. Candy Block and 9 Patch Christmas potholders
12. Christmas Tree Table Runner and Star mug rug - this I just finished yesterday!

Happy New Year! I can't wait to begin the project list for next year.

December Recap

I forgot to take photos of the 9 patch potholders.

I had a busy month of making for Christmas. First Saturday's Fiber Review at the Fiberology lab I was able to show off my candy block potholder and mug rug, as well as a square Christmas potholder I had made. I had a pack of mini charms that was from a Christmas collection a few years ago. I don't even remember how I got the pack now, but I decided it was the best time to use them up. I made a 9 patch block for the front and a pocket for the back. By the end of the month, I had made 15 potholders total with the candy blocks and the Christmas 9 patches. I gave them out to family, friends, and co-workers for Christmas. I also gave away two table toppers I had made and a small quilt. Tis the season for giving and I enjoyed sharing my hard work.

I also worked a bit on a snowflake cross stitch along from Stitchonomy. I admit I haven't' finished that one, but I did have fun while I could work on it. I also still have the pattern to work on later. Cross stitching is one of my hobby's I don't do very often.

Another project I started working on was a block in a block quilt. It's not got a name yet. I've run out of my background fabric, so I'm waiting to get some more before I take a photo. It's got a bright turquoise solid fabric I got from Joann's as my background. Last time I went on black Friday the fabric line it came from was on sale, but they didn't have any of that color left. Once I finish it, I plan on writing a pattern for it. I think it came out beautifully, but I may be biased since I created it.

Speaking of Black Friday, I mostly hit fabric stores. I got some solids on sale at Joann's and my local quilt shop had a progressive sale going on. I picked up a panel and two accent fabrics from the same line. I also stopped at Ulta and picked up a few beauty steals. Most of those went into Christmas presents for the family. I only kept the blush and the mascara from the picture to the right.

Overall the month was fun and busy. I got to spend lots of quality time with the family and give several of them handcrafted goodies.

I'm going to break from my tea routine for this post and bring out the Spirits. My cousin was in town and we toured some distilleries in Sevierville and Pigeon Forge. I picked up some flavored moonshine and a spiced Christmas wine. I had the wine on Christmas day with my cousin and her family. The moonshine came from two distilleries. From Ole Smokey in the Island area of Pigeon Forge, I picked up a Chocolate Chili moonshine. It was part of the last batch, so they didn't have any open for tasting anymore. From Tennessee Legend Distillery I got a Fiery Mango Margarita Moonshine. It's a nice spicy-sweet blend that is worth drinking as shots. The wine was from Mountain Valley Winery. It's a limited edition Winterfest red. The winery is part of a wine trail, that I suggest visiting if you get a chance. When you visit all the wineries, you get a free glass.