Kenzie in her Coat

I finished the coat completely, and made a little purse to match. Kenzie loves it!

I have the tall tree all pieced and sewn together. Now to put on the borders and quilt it!! No pictures of the finished product though. I will post it when it's done.

We went to Hanging Rock, just north of Winston-Salem, NC last week and hiked our butts off. It was beautiful!!! While we were in the area, we went to My. Airy (Mayberry, for those of you familiar with Andy Griffith) and walked around. Quaint little town.

Dave in front of Floyd's Barber Shop.

Me with Andy and Opie.

Walking in the cold this morning then hope to sew the tree together when I get back.

Have a great day, everyone, and keep warm!!

WilmaNC

Little Jacket

So, I mentioned I was going to make a small heartwarming jacket for my girl Kenzie. I was so excited to get started on it. Instead of sewing patchwork, I bought fabric printed with squares and quilted the panels from that. Small squares made for lots of quilting. It went together so nicely and quickly since I had just finished my own. Well, I had it all finished except the arm cuffs, as I needed to mark where to adjust the length to her cute little arms. Got all finished, except for trimming threads (now is one of those times I wish I had a serger...), tried it on her, and it was so short that the lower band came above her waist, and the pockets were on her chest, lol. I was bummed. Here's a picture. You can see how short the body was. My first clue should have been using a 12 inch zipper. That's short! And this was a size 6.

I thought about giving it to Goodwill, but hated to lose all the time I spent quilting the fabric. Sat and thought for a while and then had a great idea! I removed the band and the pockets and the zipper. Cut a 4 1/2" piece of the quilted fabric I had left over, and attached it to the bottom of the coat using the QAYG method of joining blocks. I zigzagged the pieces together to prevent having a seam and covered the zigzag with fabric strips. Then reapplied the band, a longer zipper and put the pockets back on. It lies flat and is not really noticeable. Of course I couldn't get the coat to lie flat in my picture!!

So, here is a the finished product. She loves this fabric!! I will take a picture of her in it when I give it to her tonight. 

Next, I have fabric with Hello Kitty squares to quilt and make a jacket for her younger sister, Khloe. I will definitely make it longer than the pattern to start with on hers!!!

I have started a new project for myself, Tall Tree by Cindy Egerton. I have all the pieces cut and just started the paper piecing. My sister, Patty, made one and got a ribbon for it in a quilt show. You can see hers here.

Beautiful fall weather, so take a break from sewing and get outside while you can!!

Later,

WilmaNC

No Title

Couldn't think of a title for my post this week, so called it No Title. I guess it's ok not to put a title though. Right?

Spent most of this past week quilting tops for a friend. I did 3 for her, and 1 for me. Well, the one for me isn't for me, it's a gift for a former coworker who is having her 1st biological grandchild. It's so cute and colorful. I found the fabric in my stash. I also made 4 coordinating burp cloths. For some reason the panel only had 8 different baby heads, so I had to improvise and fill in the middle square. I like the way it came out.

 I also made a small purse to match my new coat. I seldom carry a full size purse anymore. This little one has plenty of room for everything that I need.

I started on a Heartwarming jacket for ggd, Kenzie, and should have it done this weekend. I need her here to finish it as I have to mark the length of the sleeves and put on the cuffs. She will be here tomorrow so I will have it done to post a picture next time.

Started, a Big Tree wallhanging (almost 7 feet tall!), that is paper pieced. Huge pieces so should be a little different to work with. And I am still plugging away on the embroidery for the barn quilt I started forever ago, lol.

Going hiking today with some friends and the dogs up to the Rich Mountain firetower in Hot Springs. I can never make myself climb the tower, but today I hope to be shamed by having friends there, lol. We will see. If I do get past the first landing, where I usually stop, there will definitely be pictures!!

Looking forward to rejoining the Monthly Doll Quilt Swap (see link on sidebar) for November. Slowly getting back to all my former quilting activities.

Later,
WilmaNC

Busy week!

I finished my Heartwarming jacket!!! It came out a little big, but there will be plenty of room for bulky sweaters, sweatshirts underneath. I'm happy with it. Don't mind my jammies, lol

I also made 6 blocks for the Block Lotto (see sidebar link). I did this for a long time in the past, and now I am happy to be back. It is a fun swap and you get tons of ideas for new blocks. These are called woven bars.

We took a 5 mile walk at Biltmore on Sunday. It was surprisingly not too crowded. Folks must be waiting for the leaves to get more colorful. I was walking along and Dave told me to turn around, and took a picture. Then he posted it on Facebook with the caption...Which one is the smart ass?...I didn't notice the donkeys in the background. He's soo funny. Ha.  Ha.

It was a beautiful day though. Look at that sky!! Totally Carolina blue.

Saw an article about the new fashions (yeah, I look, but I don't wear, lol. ) They said it was a good year to mix prints. Thought it looked somewhat familiar for some reason.

Then I looked through some of my old pictures and behold!!! I had the same outfit as a girl, though I chose shorts instead of a skirt. I was so ahead of my time in the fashion sense, lol.

You can see the car that would become mine, in 4 more years, in the background. I worked for 3 weeks at Manners Big Boy to save 50.00 to buy that car from my sister. And she bought it new in the year the picture was taken!!

This week I want to finish sewing the quilted fabric panels to make Kenzie (the sweetie in the picture at the top with me) a jacket. I need to piece a quilt top for a baby shower. And I have 2  tops to quilt for a paying customer. So I will be busy.

Later,
WilmaNC

October

It's October, and fall is getting into full swing. We are going up on the Parkway today to check out the color changes in the higher elevations. Taking the dogs on a well deserved hike. I will take pictures....

Speaking of pictures, here are my October decorations. I love changing these every month.

Got my coat cut out yesterday, sewed the shoulder seams and started to put on the collar and it wouldn't fit!! Looked closer and I had sewn on the fronts on the opposite sides. So, right off the bat (haha, get it, bat?), I had to rip it out. Might get back in time today to work on it a little, we will see. It is getting cool enough for a coat in the mornings, so I need to get this done!!

Have a great day!
Later,
WilmaNC