Sallie Tomato Smith Pattern Review

Hi everyone! I had not planned to post this until after the new year. Here is the details.

I purchased the Smith project back at the beginning of Nov. I think I got it for around $43, which all of this adds up and thought it was an incredible deal because it was normally $65 if I recall. Here it is linked to her website so you can see the kit for yourself.

First mistake, at the time I ordered this, I did not know there was an option to go without thread/stabilizer. That was completely on me. Second mistake, normally when you order a kit from Sallie Tomato, the pattern is included. Guess what, the pattern was NOT included, it was not available to purchased JUST the pattern. You had to sign up for the New Years Eve thing which included the pattern. This cost $14 (normally her patterns are $9.99). I was so bummed because thirdly, this did not ship until after Thanksgiving and my plan was to sew this during my Thanksgiving break. Again, I did not read the fine print.

The kit arrived either very late Nov, or very early Dec as described. Went through the kit and was a little bummed because that is when I realized the pattern was an additional charge (not through their website but a completely different website). I procrastinated on purchasing the pattern as long as I could. A couple of days ago, I purchased and have the PDF of the pattern.

I have learned from a couple of previous makes, to make sure to read through the whole pattern before starting. And the big thing with these patterns is to NOT CUT from your kit. Yup, that’s right, DO NOT CUT ANYTHING FROM YOUR KIT, or you may regret it later. I have learned to draw out the shape dimensions out on the back of the faux leather. Then when you have everything fitting on the project piece, you can then proceed to cut.

When I proceed to draw this out, I realized that instead of Sallie Tomato giving us the piece of faux leather in all one piece, they gave it to us in two pieces, it was odd and threw me off. But it all worked out.

There were a couple of spots (not sure if it was a quality control thing or what) that when I sewed it stretched. A bit disappointed for this make. Predominately the darker faux leather stretched. It was not my machine, if it were, it would have done it to all. Again it only did it in one spot. And then on the lighter faux leather, it stretched funny on one of the project pockets and went wonky. Again, this stretched weird while stitching, which made it become wonky for visual effect. Still works but, I was not impressed. (my previous sallie tomato pattern the barbara bag, did this stretch thing on the handle and I cannot use the carry handle (wth)).

The pattern was very well written. One thing I did not like, it did not tell you in your suggested notions to get two sided tape (for the zipper). This ended up being called out in the pattern to use, but not actually called out on the requirements page. I guess if you have skills you don’t need it?

Here is all of my left overs.

For what ever reason, they gave us an 11 inch by 50+ inch of foam. The piece called out in the pattern was 7 by 11ish if I recall. The rest of this my hard earned money paid for but had no use.

Those pieces of faux leather leftovers I was somewhat surprised by the efficiency of probably the most expensive part of the kit. And because I purchased the kit with thread and tear away stabilizer, those were completely left overs. I did use one spool in the pack.

I have been viewing lots of Sallie Tomato unboxings this past month and this company was in PROPAGANDA mode for themselves. These two pieces of paper were also in the box. I thought one was for the actual pattern/new years eve party. It sort of is, but basically it is a link so you can purchase the pattern at an inflated rate. And then we get to their 2022 ticket gimmick. So, when I first received the kit, I went to the website and was shocked that there was nothing there for the smith pattern. Went back today to see who won the ticket draw and it refered me to instagram. Totally sucks for some one who does not do instagram, so I am fondly calling this a gimmick.

Here are my pieces ready for me to get out the big machine to go through oodles of layers. My featherweight did a really good job up to this point. I knew I had to call the big guns with the janome. Notice the left card pocket is wonky. No, it was not cut wonky, it sewed wonky!!! Notice also there was some kind of stretch thing going on when I sewed the zipper. Incidentally, this is showing the zipper pull and I attached a thing a ma bob charm I am going to call it that was in the kit. The bulk up of the large zipper pull and this thing will not allow the bag to fold closed evenly, so I ditched the charm. A little something else that was a waste of my hard earned money in this kit ( I am going to refer to that charm as floof, has no point, but is shiny).

Here is the front cover of the Smith pattern.

So I put some tatting shuttles, and a couple small balls of thread and a booklet and doily to see how this would act when closed up.

As you can see the bulk of the items gives this a less than smooth appearance which, is my main beef with this whole project. If you look at the one pictures it is all nice and flat. There is no stability in this and therefore will never lay flat unless it is empty. I had originally bought this for my tablet. I am afraid to carry my tablet in this. Too flimsy.

The right side still lays pretty flat, but not the zippered pocket side.

Could I make this again? I have a whole hyde of leather. The leather is way thicker than these pieces. But I don’t have a leather machine and would make construction of this very hard to do by hand.

So, if I am the Siskel and Ebert of sewing land, I am going to give this 2 thumbs down. The summary of why, it is just too flimsy with these thin materials. The make is definitely two thumbs down with maybe the pattern getting a thumbs up for being correct and well written, but because of the tape not called out and the kit coming without the pattern and then with multiple pieces of the same faux leather where it was not all one piece (I am now thinking they did this for shipping reasons). Very disappointed. This was a waste of $43 and another waste of $14. I do not recommend making this, or using it. I do not recommend the pattern. Unless you have all of this stuff in your stash, this would be a mistake in my opinion. I will probably be going on youtube to vent. Stay tuned to my channel for me to discuss this where my audience is a little larger. Sorry Jess from Sallie Tomato, you are way to caught up in marketing propaganda and cannot see past yourself on how wrong all of this is.

And thank you for reading my blog!

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Last week of 2022

Well, I have had a recap of the year, and set goals for the year. I feel whatever I get accomplished now is above and beyond this year and next.

I did set goals for this past week. I Will be crossing the last off the list as this posts.

Goals for the past week were:

• Finish sewing the red flags to the outer white and blue portion of the cog
• Determine the fill in points left on that outer red, white, and blue cog
• Make #Sewcialites2 quilt block of the week
• Make a video of quilting hacks and tips for the sewing machine

I have picked the red stripe to fill in the unused diamonds, and the same white for the remaining triangles on the stars. And Because I started this on the laptop, and am finishing on the ipad, I cannot figure out how to do a strike through, grrrr.

I snapped this photo before I got it done. The hustle and bustle of the week left me wondering if I would have time later for a photo op. Oh and a new design wall is up, lol!

And this cog after the last round will be about 24 inches. This has outgrown the art bin container I have been using. So the last squirrel of 2022 happened. I made a bag for storage so it will not get wrinkled and messed up. I hunted my stash for some pretty fabrics, and did not settle on pretty. I used a 90s navy blue ornate stripe, with another red print I had a gob of. I wanted it to be a zippered pouch, but could not find my zipper tape!

Usable, not the prettiest, but workable.

The side with the pink, is a shower curtain with a binding on the edge, for the big cog to slip into. I made two pockets for the other side for the pattern, all the paper pieces, and the book. This will keep the dust from settling on my project regardless of how much time passes.

And last Friday I watched Sew Beccas Live on youtube, and won her giveaway! Check that video out here for the replay.

And speaking of youtube, today Sean, the Guy Who Sews on youtube had a wonderful coming together of many content creators showing their favorite quilts, with the quilt story, and I was lucky enough to be chosen for this colab! Curious about my quilt? Curious about all the quilts? Make sure you watch the video, this video was a joy to watch.

The icons show the order of story. At the end you can vote for your favorites. Wonder, beautiful quilts with lovely stories!

So here are my winnings from Sew Becca’s Friday night live.

A beautiful pile of nice size scraps, and a home made slap bracelet for pins and wonderclips. If you are interested in owning one of these, this was given to Sew Becca from Jamie the maker. Here is her details for her etsy shop.

And after watching Coriander Quilts last Saturday decided to prep for a quilt along. This week I sorted through my 2 1/2 inch squares picked out what colorway direction I wanted to go. And then vigorously prepped and cut 800 plus 2 1/2 inch squares. That took a couple of days. Here is my boxful, and in the coming week will prep the background and one continuous print.

Colors are turquoise, white, off white, yellow, pink, red, with a white background, and a solid turquoise. Going controlled scrappy.

Not setting any goals for the week. It is officially family time. Merry Christmas! And thank you for reading my blog!

2023 Goal Musings

I have found the last couple of years, what helped me most in keeping on track with my projects, is to have a plan or goal in place. I mean, it is obvious as a quilter the goal is the finish. But at the same time we have all these great intentions, dreaming of the finish before we even begin, that it becomes harder to stay on track because you have the majority of work in front of you staring you in the face. I speak for myself when I say their are things with my hobby that are not my favorite part of getting to the finish.

Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

In previous years, I have really not set a specific goal for myself or for the blog because I did not really need it. After blogging for several years now and going down so many rabbit holes I might as well be called Thumper, you start to accumulate wealth. What I mean by that is, I have started mastering my craft and really have a gob of knowledge (the wealth). I have also have accumulated a wealth of material things for the hobby. And, I have many stops and starts with all things that seem to be shiny and grab my attention and make me lose focus.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Do I really lose focus? No, not really, but I try to keep my blog posts fresh. That means switching gears every week. And that makes finishing anything almost impossible. So my musings for the upcoming year are to have a plan and to stick with it.

This year I am linking up with Quilting JetGirl for the 2023 planning party. I definitely need and plan and I definitely need to stick to the plan!

I sat down and my stash and projects had a little heart to heart conversation. I managed a two page list of To-Do’s for the upcoming year. (Note to self: Switching gears is bad! And leaves this gal very over whelmed. The over whelming feeling, becomes procrastination, and so DO NOT START something else!)

The 2023 list of do’s and don’ts

• Watching youtube videos will NOT plant seeds and make my stash grow, nor will it make me switch gears into another project.
  • If I see something I like, I will write it on a list for later after I complete my current lists. It does not matter if it is a handy new notion, fabric line, quilt along, or project. It will be written down for later reference when I can attend to it with my full attention.
• I am deeming 2023 with a zero tolerance of spending, and therefore everything will come from the stash
  • After inventorying part of my list, I realized I was shopping for stuff that I did not need (more on that in a moment)

Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

The 2023 plan:

• Quilts to Quilt
  • I have had a bumper crop of cotton pieces made into tops. These are all on my list to finish before the end of 2023. I have one more that is not pictured because it was such a squirrel. The gray quilt is missing. And the saddest part of this, the Jack’s Chain Cycles quilt has been waiting to be quilted since Jan of 2022.

I had been browsing for backings for all of these, and put my big girl pants on and dug through the stash. Guess what, I can make a sacrifice. I can select a backing in the stash that may not be perfect, but it will certainly get me to my finish.

Quilt backings to sew:

• The dragon scales quilt has backing already loaded on to the longarm, so nothing to sew for that one—yay!
• Tessellating Tabbies, I have had a bolt of purple solid I have had in my stash for more than 15 years. I thrifted it from somewhere. It is the perfect backing for the pocket book. It is the right color for the quilt as a whole.
• Jack’s Chain Cycles, the backing was purchased for this when the fabric line by Sandy Gervais was still new and fresh, and matches the front perfectly.
• The latest 9 patch, I dug and could not really find anything I like, so I am settling for a brown batik I have on the bolt. Not perfect, but this is a scrappy quilt, so finished is better than perfect.
• #ScrappyChurnDashQAL I fussed over this. Nothing in my stash will do this one justice, so I am making a huge sacrifice and will be piecing a backing of two different blues. Again, not perfect, but again, I want it completed.
• Kaffe Fasset disappearing 9 patch is EXTREMELY loud fabric and I wanted to carry that on the back as well, but am settling for some burgundy solid. Is it perfect? No. Does it match the fabric colors, YES!
• My large Gray crumb quilt (not pictured) is still on the shelf waiting for the backing mate. Will I spend money on this? NO! Absolutely not. I guess another goal will be to figure out the backing for that one

And for those of you who like the #ScrappyChurnDashQAL sampler quilt above, I desinged this and have all the free patterns for the blocks (its free!) Click this link and it will take you to fabric requirements and a link to each quilt block instructions.

Now after backings, is bindings:

• Each of the quilts above will need binding made and stitched to the quilt. I have a selected those bindings? Not yet and will probably wait for the quilt to be quilted before I make those selections, but I have two more to add to that list that I failed to binding this year:

The fools gold mystery above has been done since December of last year. And the embroidery flowers quilt has been quilted since July. Need to bind these two.

New environment:

• New ironing board cover, re-cover my ironing board (so much starch has been applied to the muslin, it crunches like wood when I set the iron down. The moisture no longer soaks in and just beads on the surface)
• New design wall
  • So I can check this one off the list. And a story comes with. I believe I purchased that design wall in 2021 in the fall, maybe around Sept/Oct. As I have been snapping pictures, I noticed dust accumulation at the top edge. So I took it down and read up on how to hand wash felt. And the more I read, the more I realized what was on my felt was not dust, it was MOLD! Yup, my house is doing something. My children are constantly sick. I am pretty sure we all are being affected by this. And for those of you who live in a nice cozy house, will never understand what is it is like to live in a house that has no insulation. When the house temperature is warmer in the inside that the outside, condensation occurs. I have not been in my attic, but know I have a very thin layer of cellulose insulation. When warm air hits cold air, it forms condensation. Long story short, the design wall was taken down, the walls were washed, and a flannel print was hung in its place. Flannel I can wash in the machine. The flannel print is not desirable, but I am using from my stash and do NOT want to spend money when I have something that will work.
• Buy a different house. Waiting, for all of the markets to crash. Yes, it is going to happen. The safest place for your money right now is probably not real estate. But all the things are adding up on this house, especially the health toll, it is time to find something a little larger and safer for the family.

And then all the UFOs

Five of the 6 of these UFOs need to proceed!

• Spinning 9 patch I have used up all the green fabric so I am uncertain how to proceed with this one, but it needs to move along!
• Pillowcase lace needs to be affixed to the pillowcase and this UFO will be complete
• The scrappy strings quilt has much sewn, but needs more strings!
• The scrappy hearts and baskets I got stalled on and will get this one finished into a top atleast this year!
• Fanciful flight has lingered in my UFO pile for too many years. This deserves to become a top!
• I have deemed EPP La Passacaglia to be worked on at least once a month. This is a long term hand sewing project that could take me years anyway, so I will reamain focused and work on this monthly.

And this long term UFO of more than 5 years is still stalled. I am not going to make a goal for it, but I am hoping that a solution comes along, because it deserves to be finished. I ran out of white sashing. Even if I come across fabric that I think will work I am not going to buy it. I will leave this languish one more year until my zero budget is lifted and I can go find the right Kona white (I think…this will involved going to the quilt store to match it in the sunlight)

Donate quilts

• I have sewn a patriotic quilt which no one at the house has shown interest in. Need to see about donating that one to the QOV foundation.

• Find other local charitable foundations that will accept some quilts that have never been used. (I can’t keep them all and am running out of room).

I am working on being better organized and as time passes, this is becoming easier for me as organization is a habit. My scrap management system is working for me so I will continue forth what I am doing, but at the same time I will always be looking to improve, without spending money!

Planned makes for 2023:

• To help with organization, I plan on making a very large project bag to house my rosettes for La Passacaglia. This will end up a future post with other organizing tips I have learned along the way with interesting tool finds that help for EPP.
• Deconstructing a grocery bag and remaking from my materials with blog post to boot.
• Bob Ross cloth stretched over a canvas to make it look like I own a Bob Ross painting to hang on my wall.
• Committing to only 1 sew along. I will be sewing along with Corriander Quilts/Corey Yoder in making the Scrappy Irish Chain pattern by Jessica Finchman.
  • I have inventoried my 2 1/2 inch squares and eliminated certain colors I do not want in this triple irish chain quilt. I have cut some pieces and need about 300 more to go to make this scrappy like I want. This sew along starts in January on her blog. Again, not purchasing anything for this, using what I have and prepping for an easy sew next year.

I hope I can keep on track! Wish me well! And don’t forget to check out the linky party at Quilting JetGirl! And thank you for reading my blog!

Prairie Points ~ Tutorial

Back in July while attending our local quilt hop with all the wonderful demonstrations, Linda gave a demo on prairie points. I have seen prairie points on quilts, but never actually thought I could incorporate anything into my quilts. (I did see a precious baby quilt with pinwheels that were 3D using prairie points. The quilt was purposely quilted leaving the 3D pinwheels independent from the quilting. And this baby quilt, everyone who attended the baby shower wrote little messages to the baby under the prairie points. A magnificent idea for those of you sewing for a babe new to the world.) Other than this quilt, I had never really seen prairie points used much.

After Linda’s demo, my brain got to thinking, how can I acheive something really different with these 3D triangles. It just so happens that once again there are expecting parents at work, and the father loves Dragons. It was then obvious what it would be, a quilt of dragon scales. Here is my progress so far.

Above are continuous prairie points, which I will give instructions how to do this. But let’s start simple for this for you to understand what a prairie point is and how to make it.

For a single prairie point (I have decided all my prairie points for this quilt are 3 inches, so I have doubled that number to get my cut size), grab a scrap of fabric that is larger than 6 inches. (NOTE: what ever your desired size is, let’s say you want a 2 inch prairie point, because we are folding this to get to that dimension, you will double that number and that is the size square you will use) You will need to press this fabric and use starch because that assists when making the point maintain it’s shape.

Now you will just take a corner and move it across to the other corner and press. We are halfway done.

Press it in half again taking the longest side corners and bringing them together.

This is the finished product, ready for stitching into a seam for a 3D pinwheel or whatever you decide. And because of how this is all neatly folded, there is only one raw edge, and that will be your stitching edge. I usually baste this edge on my machine to keep the traingle flap from opening if I know I am not going to use it right away.

Now that you understand the concept, lets move to the next layer of difficulty. Lets do continuous prairie points. And now for a little bit of math. What ever size prairie point you want you will need to multiply that number by 4. So for this instance, I want my finished prairie point to be 3 inches, so I will be cutting a strip of fabric that is 12 inches.

Before you cut your WOF (width of fabric) strip, make sure you starch and iron your cloth. Here I have cut my strip.

Make sure after you have cut your WOF 12 inch strip, remove the crease. This is where the fabric is folded and put on the bolt. You want a nice starched 12 inch strip with no wrinkles or creases. And now you will press this strip in have the long ways.

This has created a 12 inch strip of fabric with a crease down the middle. The crease down the middle is for later and a guide. After pressing open your 12 inch strip.

Remove the selvedge from one end.

Measuring from the missing selvedge edge, using a ruler and rotary cutter, or a ruler and marking device and scissors, measure 6 inches from the raw edge and mark/cut a line up to the fold. (If you accidentally cut past the pressed center line, that is ok.) You will then take your ruler 6 inches from that cut and mark/cut another line up to the center fold line. Repeat this process until you run out of 6 inch capability.

When you get to the end, you will have a remainder piece smaller than 6 inches. Cut that rectangle out by making a cut at the folded center line, up to the last 6 inch cut you made.

Now, we will turn the fabric and repeat this process. But the first cut will need to be staggar. So your first cut you will measure in half the distance of your cuts from the previous size. Again since we are cutting at 6 inches, we will need to move the ruler in to the 3 inches and make the first cut.

After that first 3 inches is removed, you will proceed to measure in at 6 inches and make your mark/cuts up to the center fold line. Repeat this all the way down the strip. Again, if you get to the very end and have less than a 6 inch cut, you will just remove that oddball piece. Now, is where it begins to all make sense.

You will now need to move your strip to a pressing surface. And it doesn’t really matter the sequence of what corner you pick, chose a corner and bring it in to the center fold and press. I find it less fiddly to press what ever is closest to my iron. You could sequence this all the way down the top side and then iron the bottom side, that really doesn’t matter. You will press these into connected triangles all the way down the strip on both the top and bottom of the fold.

Now you will bring your point of your triangle in again and press. Repeat for the top and bottom of your strip. All of your raw edges are now at the center of the strip, ready to be folded over once more to complete your continuous prairie point strip.

Now you will fold your prairie points to hide the raw edges. Taking the top triangles and folding on the very first crease we made. Press all the way down the strip. I find using my wonder clips (or the nock off wonder clips) helps hold these in place when moving to the sewing machine. The only raw edges that are present folded in this manner, is at the first half of the first and last triangle. Again, I like to baste my continuous prairie points, because they will flip flop on you. You can also fold half of these with raw edges showing and then press for a different affect of how the points over lap one another.

These continuous prairie points accomplish many things, first, it uses a gob of fabric! Second it makes a lovely 3D effect. And lastly you can overlap these and make a quilt full of dragon scales and have fun with your new learned motif!

Have you ever used prairie points? If you have, where did you use them? Now that I think about it, I have seen towels using this method. Handmade towels make nice last minute gifts and I only mention

So, back to blog business. Last week I stated some goals. I want to keep on track and accountable, so the next part is mainly for me. Also, when I set goals, that part is for you. That way you know what may or may not happen LOL.

Goals from last week:

• Sew more of the blue and white round on large cog for La Passacaglia
• Film, Edit, And write tutorial on continuous prairie points. (Make video of the continuous prairie point quilt)
• Snap photos of continuous prairie point quilt on the longarm.
• Make #Sewcialites2 quilt block of the week

I have made the video, and that video is waiting for this post to go live. Be looking for the continuous prairie point video on my channel this weekend. And on the large La Passacaglia cog, the white and blue outer round is NOT stitched to the rest of the cog. I want to stitch all of the outer round before attaching because it is easier to work with in small portion.

Goals for the upcoming week:

• Finish sewing the red flags to the outer white and blue portion of the cog
• Determine the fill in points left on that outer red, white, and blue cog
• Make #Sewcialites2 quilt block of the week
• Make a video of quilting hacks and tips for the sewing machine

I have gained many subscribers in the last couple of months. I would like to thank each and every one of you who visits this blog, reads my content, and subscribes. You make it worth my while to continue putting out info. Thank you to my veteran readers as well. There are a handful of you who have been with me for 8 years while I blog. Hugs to all!

And thank you for reading my blog.

ScrapHappy Dec 2022 Edition

My goodness time flies! The year is nearing completion. So I have decided to recap my ScrapHappy accomplishments this year. Let’s start with January photos and move chronologically. But first some blog business. Here are a list of other ScrapHappy content creators for your viewing pleasure. Make sure to check them all out, such great scrap variety!

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, 
Jill, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol,
Preeti, Debbierose, Nóilin and Viv

January consisted of making placemats for those in hospice care. These placemats were for “last meals” so to speak where the family and loved ones would gather for a meal surrounding their extremely I’ll loved one. A bit of color and happiness for a very hard time.

February was about working UFOs. La Passacaglia in the first photo was worked on and then stalled. I got stuck with the patriotic theme I was going for, so I only added the gold chevron. And in the right photo Jack’S Chain Cycles finally became a top. And it is still waiting to be quilted! February also consisted of a free pattern to print off or download. If you are interested in a free heart or basket pattern download these pdfs. Both of these are charm pack/precut friendly patterns.

charmed basketsDownload

Charming Hearts PatternDownload

March consisted of a scrappy lap sized quilt reveal from the fools gold QAL. I still need to bind this one too! I made a gob of zippered keychains. And started working on a memory quilt for expecting parents. The memory quilt was a bunch of polyester and poly blend clothing that was rather nightmarish for this maker.

April I managed to get my largest to date scrappiest project of a lifetime quilted. I also quilted the fools gold top, and released instructions for a free friendship star pattern. If you are interested in that scrap enthusiasts, click the pdf below to download and print.

Friendship star free patternDownload

In may I was tatting some pillowcase lace. And started making some feathered stars. Those blocks were the hardest blocks in my entire life. I made 4 and turned those into a baby quilt. I also got to complete the 60 degree stars quilt. This was a fun custom quilting job and also this was the quilt loaded when my long arm tension spring broke!

June was busy busy in the scrap dept. I started a blue baby quilt and managed to get a whole top done that month! I also custom quilted a Dresden stack and wack for my mom. This was a gob of effort, and turned out beautifully! I made a chicken pincushion with some more scraps. I am using this pin cushion and every time I stick a pin in that ole girl, I feel I am performing some kind of wicked voodoo on a chicken, who starts looking like a hedgehog with a beak! And I started piecing some cows for another scrappy baby quilt.

In July I started playing around with EQ8 which is a software program to visually make a quilt or design a quilt. The #ScrappyChurnDashQAL was born. I also completely pieced The #embroideryflowers quilt. That used a gob of scraps relatively fast using the interfacing grid. I still need to bind that one! And I sewed some more blocks to go with the cow baby quilt. The tractor trailer was deleted from the quilt because I would not get it to balance with the rest of the design.

In August I got my tatting shuttles back out and started tatting again, that has stalled. I also made a small cathedral window block. This is on my bucket list for a full size one day. I also made a sewing caddy. I won a ribbon for my 365 Quilt block challenge quilt. I made a quilt top from my subscription box service and quilted it up. And I finished the scrappy cows baby quilt. I implemented some chenille techniques on that and it turned out adorable!

I made a tote bag before my quilt along started in September. I am using this everyday and this is working for me!

And a huge succubus of time was making these blocks for this top. Those of you who are visiting for all the free patterns, I have all linked on one page. Click on here for those details. The pattern writing, filming, and blog posting slowed me way down.

During #ScrappyChurnDashQAL I made 4 other ScrapHappy tops. And I started putting my scraps towards #sewcialites2 quilt along.

And here we are back to the present. A good thing to remember this month. Today is a gift, that is why it is called the present!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Each week as the patterns post for #sewcialites2 I sew them up. This gallery of photos shows 2 more. I also tatted up some snowflakes with some thread I thrifted earlier this year. I am also dabbling in prairie points using my scraps. That quilt will be coming to this blog soon! One of those pictures you can see some scrap squares that were once odd bits, that transformed using my accuquilt cutter. And while I had out the accuquilt, I decided to play around with the schoolhouse die. That has made my list of things to carry forth into a quilt! And, lastly, talk about full circle, La Passcaglia quilt cogs are back out with the next round defined. Popsicles fussy cut from a fat quarter. Hey, it works! And as you can see I also prematurely started another cog.

My goal this past year was to finish some ufos and to use my scraps. I am truly ScrapHappy because I did both! Thank you everyone for your support with your comments, likes, subscription, and quilting along with me. I am content as I can be because you are here being the wind in my sails. Thank you for reading my blog!

Good News Times 2

Today is a marvelous day! I visited with the Guy Who Sews on his live podcast. If you missed it, you can check it out here!

And because the #ScrappyChurnDashQAL is now not front and center (I cannot claim it is done until the binding is on), I am revisiting a UFO that I have had a bit and for those of you who follow me have seen part of this before.

According to my photo upload journal here, the last time I worked on this was in Feb of this year. I was kind of stuck on how to take the cog on the left to the next round of fabric. Enough dust had settled and some fabric has been added to the stash in these 10 months so I got this out and tried to figure out the next.

And for those of you who don’t know this, I did a youtube tutorial on how to use sharpie on your acrylic templates so you can fussy cut accurately everytime. Please have another go or view this to refresh your EPP skills.

Since the left cog was sort of patriotic, I revisited all of my blues, reds, and whites. I would put of sample swatch of fabric behind and just could not figure out what to do. So I started another cog. I wanted hearts in this one, so I sewed a bunch of these pieces together to look like hearts. And while digging into the fabrics for that cog, I remembered I had a scrap fat quarter of patriotic popsicles. My lightbulb moment made me search high and low for the remaining piece of this fabric. And I finally found it. Next, I fussy cut one popsicle motif out and placed in in the next ring. I counted how many I could get, and I had enough. I was now on my way and no longer stuck on this wheel block from La Passacaglia by Willie Hammerstein in the book titled Millefiori.

So I have made a bit of progress on two cogs! Now I will have to determine the next round, and have settled on what I will do for the stars and will keep secret till I get to that point and can show you. I have a plan!!!

And lets not forget about the #Sewcialites2 sew along. Pat Sloane’s block was this week and boy was it fiddly. I think I ripped this poor 6 inch block three times before I got it right. I kept turning the butterfly wings wrong! I won’t forget this one anytime soon. Not liking the inconsistency I see with the center yellows not lining up. Like I said the block was fiddly.

And speaking of plan, I have been failing to post any goals on my blog. I was doing that regularly for a while and stopped it all together because of the #ScrappyChurnDashQAL. (For those of you here for any written instruction click on the hyperlink hashtag before these parenthesis). I mean I had a goal to get things done each week but the post itself was the goal (I did not want to disappoint those of you sewing along).

I am setting the following goals for the upcoming week:

• Sew more of the blue and white round on large cog for La Passacaglia
• Film, Edit, And write tutorial on continuous prairie points. (Make video of the continuous prairie point quilt)
• Snap photos of continuous prairie point quilt on the longarm.
• Make #Sewcialites2 quilt block of the week.

So much sewing to do, and sew little time. What is everyone else working on? This is the time of year the makers are gonna make, eh? Let me know in the comments what is with your needle and thread.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!

And what I have been working on during #ScrappychurnDashQAL

This is a follow on post to my Reveal of the #ScrappyChurnDashQAL. I have been making other stuff while waiting to finish the churn dash. I managed to get out my tatting shuttles and make a few snowflakes. Each one of these can be done in an evening. I will be tying a thread through a loop and giving these to my son to hang on his Christmas tree.

Last weekend I powered through a scrappy 9 patch project. I used what I had in my stash. Glad this ugly tan fabric is used up, yes, I used up all but about 1/3 of a yard. I started with a bolt.

I was going to make a spinning 9 patch, but there has to be a commonality when making one of those, otherwise you do not see the spin of the 9 patches. This is still on my bucket list and will eventually happen. I played around with EQ8 to see if I could be clever. Not clever, but traditional it is! This used up half a shoe box full of scrap 2 inch squares. The top ended up being larger than my design wall, so it is larger than 72 by 72. Eventually when the weather permits I will get a good shot of this.

Of late I have noticed a trend on quilt blocks. They are pictoral, with a quilt block some how nestled within. I think of Corriander quilts and the sheep pattern, where the body is a quilt block. I think I have also seen strawberries with a pinwheel for the green cap, and pumpkins with a quilt block for the body, which is cute cute cute. I decided to get out my house accuquilt die and see what I could come up with and see it if was doable with the odd cut on the die.

I have these pieces just laid out on the fabric. This works and I will persue this soon. An idea is percolating like a cuppa coffee in my mind full of richness and energy.

On Dec 3rd, 2022 I went live on youtube and talked about the prairie point quilt I am making. My viewers wanted to see more and hear more about this, so I will definitely be posting about this in the near future. I started a prairie point baby quilt in August, and chose course of the #ScrappyChurnDashQAL because I had and actual deadline. The prairie point quilt has a deadline too. I am making it for expecting parents. And because the weather has cooled off so much, getting in the garage and working this have become impossible. The quilt will be late, so I will not make the deadline. Some things are not in my control.

I have also been working on keeping the scrap pile to a minimum by cutting 2 inch squares as I have left overs from all of my projects. I have been using a system that has been working very well for me. Strings get hung on a dowel next to my machine. when the dowel tips and will not hold more, I know it is time to transfer the strings to a ziplock baggie. The rest of the scraps get placed to the right of my machine. As I cleanup, or finish the project, I take the scraps and run them through the accuquilt, or trim them to a usable size, like 2 1/2, 3 1/2, or 1 1/2 inch squares.

And on a very tired Friday evening, I made my Sewcialites2 block. If you are interested in this free sew along make sure to check out fat quartershops free pattern that posts on Thursdays. I will probably start working the idea I have for the layout of HSTs shown in their very first post for fabric requirements. I am really looking forward to working on this! Each week is more marvelous fabric shopping from the stash, and an hour or so of entertainment for my quilty side.

And lastly, not pictured, I decided to get out my La Passacaglia quilt project. It has been stored away for quite some time. I still lack finishing one of the larger medallions. I need to figure out the next round of fabric. Be looking for that post in the coming days.

Well, I must be off to do the worst and dreaded thing a quilter must do…..CHORES. Thanks for being here and reading my blog!

#ScrappyChurnDashQAL ~ The Reveal

So, this post is a day late (and probably a dollar short). My appologies for my tardiness. Lack of sleep for a couple of nights really zapped me. For those of you all caught up on your blocks, this might have taken 30 minutes to come together.

When I sewed this together, I sewed in rows. Top row I pressed to the left. Second row I pressed to the right. Repeat opposite pressing of rows for the next two rows. My seams nested beautifully. I did not add the extra border. I am brainstorming on further progress of this. For those of you following along on the pattern, your top should measure 48 1/2 inches. The pattern called for a 2 1/2 inch strip sewn all the way around. You could make this strip as large or as small as you like, or omit it entirely. Because of the gold and silver with the blue, this kind of looks Christmasy.

I hope you all enjoyed this QAL. If you just now are seeing this, you can go back and get all the block patterns, templates printables, instructions, and fabric requirements on this page.

Be looking for the quilting of this gem to come in video format coming this spring. I have to wait until the garage heats up.

For those of you following along, thank you! For those of you following along and sewing, thank you! For those of you who have commented, thank you! And for those of you just arriving, thank you! Thank you for taking the time to be interested! Your interest supports me greatly. And remember I am not monetized. This is just my hobby. A hobby I feel compelled to share with my fellow quilters.

If you liked what you saw here, don’t forget to click on other content. I will have a follow on post, showing unrelated quilty stuff I have been working on.

And thank you for reading my blog!