Finishing up with February

It's time to tally up my progress in February's "Drop and Give Me Twenty" challenge, but before I do, here is one last project I finished this month:

Even though the Christmas season is long past, I have continued to use the mug rug that I made with Christmas fabrics so it was time to create something new.  I looked around my sewing room and found this little 5 inch square of sashiko quilting:

I created this little sample at a quilt guild meeting last fall when we had a speaker who taught us all about sashiko, and we all got a kit to try it out.  By the end of the meeting I had this little flower done.  I thought it would make a great little mug rug with a little quilting and binding.

I layered it with thin batting and a piece of blue and white fabric, then outline quilted around the flower shape:

Then I trimmed away just the batting:

Next I trimmed the backing fabric to an even one inch all around, and used the iron to press a half inch fold:

I turned the folded backing up onto the front of the mug rug and sewed along the edge:

When I reached the corners, I first folded in the corners at a 45 degree angle:

When the last side was folded and sewn, I had a new little mug rug!

The best part was when I took it to the kitchen and realized that my mugs were a perfect match!

It was a  complete coincidence that I have navy and white mugs with little 5 pointed flowers on them!

Being the last day of February, it is time to look back and the month and see how I did in the "Drop and Give Me Twenty" challenge.  My goal was to sew at least 20 minutes every day in February.  I started off great and logged in well over the 20 minutes a day for the first half of the month, but then I got side-lined with a miserable cold that turned into bronchitis so I did little to no sewing during the last part of the month and turned to knitting instead.

On the plus side, 20 minutes a day for 28 days is equal to 9 hours and 20 minutes, which I most definitely achieved this month, but only because I was an overachiever at the beginning.  Also on the plus side, I reached my original commitment goal which was to start and complete the first 5 steps of my guild's Mystery BOM and I made that happen.

In addition, this month I also:

•  resurrected a project from 2009  and re-purposed it into a Quilt for Kids donation, and a table runner
• dug out a miniature cheater quilt  and got it quilted and bound
• turned an orphan sashiko sample into a mug rug.
• finished knitting a prayer shawl, and almost finished crocheting a second one.

What I didn't get to do was spend one of the weeks in February practicing/playing with Free Motion Quilting.  I just didn't feel healthy enough to immerse myself in that.

It has been great fun to visit the Facebook page for the "Drop and Give Me 20" challenge and to be inspired by all the progress being made by the other 50-plus participants.  Overall, I'm going to call it a success.
Thank you, Beth Helfter for being our hostess/cheerleader.  I look forward to next year.

Finish It February

My local quilt shop had a Super Bowl sale, so I did what any quilter would do and supported my local shop.  I picked up a few fat quarters for $1.00 a piece, but I had the most fun going through her three large boxes of scraps.  The first fabric that caught my eye was a Tasha Tudor inspired print with this adorable little bird on it:

I think it's a wren.

The same fabric also had these sweet rabbits.

Rabbits this cute must surely be called "bunnies".

What's a woodland print without a wise owl?

Before I knew it, I was searching the  scrap fabrics to find coordinates for the woodland print.  I ended up with these:

The large piece of fabric on the right is one yard from a bolt that was on sale for $4.00/yard.   My head is already brewing with ideas for how to use this feminine collection, but it will have to wait for now.  My motto  for this month is "Finish it" February, not "Start Something from Sale Fabric" February.

I took the "Drop and Give me Twenty" pledge to do something sewing related for 20 minutes a day in February. Other than washing and ironing the above fabrics,  that hasn't happened.  (Don't you just hate it when real life  gets in the way of crafting?)  I have managed to knit for at least 20 minutes every day, so that counts as  progress, right?

My bottom line goal for February is to finish the sweater I am knitting, and to finish at least one quilt (including sewing down the binding) so that when our guild show rolls around this Fall I will have at least one thing ready to contribute.  Anything beyond that is icing on the cake.

A big snowstorm is coming our way this weekend, so hopefully I will make up for lost time.

Progress

At long last there is forward progress to report on the sweater I am knitting.  I successfully reshaped the cap of the sleeve from long and narrow, to short and fat.

The sleeve on the left is the original sleeve that resulted from following the pattern.  On the right is my own version with shaping that I hope will better fit the armhole.

Now I just have to rip out about 8 inches on the sleeve on the left, (down to where the sleeve cap shaping begins), and re-knit to match the other.  Then I will have a front, a back and two sleeves ready for the next step which is to figure out how to sew them together, and then pick up stitches for a collar.

My son might just get to wear this sweater this very winter!!!
(Shhh!  Don't tell him I said that!!!)

Over in the far left of the photo are two UFO's that I hope to complete during the upcoming "Drop and Give Me Twenty" challenge.  The purple and green is a card trick quilt that is basted and ready for quilting.  The bit of brown fabric on top of the green and purple is a basket quilt that needs some rehab to give it flat borders.

Hope to get lots finished this February!

Drop and Give Me Twenty

"Twenty what?", you ask.

Twenty minutes of sewing for every day in February. 

Beth Helfter of EvaPaige Quilt Design, and who blogs at Quilting Hottie Haven is sponsoring a month long challenge to help finish up our UFO's by committing to just 20 (or more) minutes a day for every day in February.  She's calling it "Drop and Give Me Twenty" or "DaGMT" for short.



I have some UFO's that I would like to see go from "almost finished" to "finished".   For example,  I can think of 2 table runners that just need to have the bindings sewn on.  This seemed like it might be just the challenge I need.

I'm joining up with Beth and several other quilters who are taking the same pledge:

I, Auntie Em, am joining Quilting Hottie Haven's second annual DaGMT event, and pledge to quilt for 20 minutes  every day of the month of February, 2013. In doing so I hope to have some projects finished and off the UFO list, (and I'd like to  thank Beth Helfter  for coming up with this concept and inspiring me to join).

 





Beth has rounded up some sponsors who are offering prizes for this event.  If you wish to learn more about the challenge,  and to link up with the other participants, click here.