Sewing Machine Collage

This past January I went on my annual sewing retreat in Greenwich, NY with some ladies from my quilt guild.  I brought one of my Laura Heine collage patterns with me to finish up.  It's been sitting half done in my sewing room for a year.

For this type of collage, you iron Steam-a-Steam to the back of your fabrics and then cut out the pieces and adhere them to a special layer of interfacing.  It's hard to tell by from the photo, but just about every flower and embellishment on my quilt has been cut our of another fabric and ironed onto my wall hanging.

After I ironed down all of the pieces, I quilted it in straight lines about half of an inch apart to finish it.  I put on the border and hand-sewed it down all at the retreat so that it would be completed before I got home.

I've admired this pattern for a long time and finally got to finish one of Laura Heine's patterns.  

I hung it up in my dining/crafting room for all of my crafting friends to see.  I'm so glad to get it finished.  :)

At my 4-day retreat I got a chance to work on a lot of unfinished projects (we call them UFO's).  The setting there is so amazing.  The retreat is located near the Vermont border, east of where I live.  Even in the winter it is still beautiful.

Walking along this road reminds me a bit of entering Narnia, don't you think?  

 

Winter Quilting Retreat & My Carpenter Star Wall Hanging

During February, I attended a 4-day quilting retreat at a local conference center.  I brought along a lot of projects to work on and finish up (story of my life!).  

It was a wonderful weekend at a beautiful place with 16 other women who were working on their sewing and quilting projects, too.  

The first project that I finished was a Carpenter Star wall hanging that I started a few years ago during covid.  The pattern is from Missouri Star and was a lot of fun to make.  I used Corey Yoder fabrics from a couple of charm square packs - Strawberry Jam and Canning Day.  

Here is a close up photo of it.  I love how the different colors all work together.  I would definitely make another one of these.  By altering the size of the half-square trianges, you can work this pattern in any size.

I still have more fabrics left over from this project.  Who knows what I will make with it.  

I hung the wall hanging in my family room.  But I may find another place for it.  It's the perfect size to fill in a wall space.  :)

 

Mini Charm Star Wall Hanging

I've been wanting to make this wall hanging for about 2 years now.  I first saw this pattern in Pat Sloan's "Learn to Machine Quilt" book and really it.  I started this in January at my quilt retreat and today I am so happy that it is finally finished! 

For this project I used a lot of fabrics from the "Nest" collection.  I love these colors and they seem to go so well with my decor.  If you look closely, you can see a couple of the birds that I put in there to give it some visual interest.  :)

It seems like I did more ripping out seams than sewing in this project, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.  I didn't read the pattern very closely and had some issues with fitting the outer edges of the star to the inner squares.  But with the help of one of my quilty friends, I finally got it to work!

Here it is hanging on the wall in my family room.  I love how the colors coordinate with the room.  Thank you, Pat, for such a great pattern! 

Here is a pic me working on the quilt this week with my "helper" Ginger.  Today she sat on it while I hand sewed the binding onto it.  She gives her approval.  :)

Table Topper

This week I put together a table topper with 2" squares for a friend who is graduating from Nursing School along with my daughter.  I used the Garden Song fabric that I had left over from the Pretty Quilt.  I thought the colors offered a nice variety for this project.

I divided up the square sections into blocks and it went together pretty quickly.  Then I added some borders and quilted it using straight lines in every other block.

I really like how it all came together.  Maybe I'll make another one (in my spare time) for myself.  :)

This type of project can also be hung on the wall or used on a coffee table, etc.  I even have a small quilt on my desk.  :)

Christmas Wall Hanging in March?

Last year during the holidays I started this quilted wallhanging/table topper for my home.  Needless to say, I didn't get it finished in time to use it.  I took it out the other day and finished it up.  It's a pattern that I found in a Missouri Star video called Cutting Corners Quilt.  Instead of using 2 1/2" strips, I used 1 1/2" strips to make this.   I like the hint of Christmas colors that are in it and the little bird images.  It can be used as a wall hanging or a table topper.

Here is a closer pic of it.  Certainly not hard and a lot of fun to make.  I have a full-sized quilt in the same pattern that I am working on.  I'm hoping to finish it up soon.

The back of it has the cute little bird images on it.  I even have the option of using the back side for a table topper.  Cute, huh?

Quilted Snowman

Last year around the holidays I purchased the pattern to make this quilted snowman wall hanging.  And this is one for the record book- I actually finished it before Christmas THIS year!  Ha ha!  Sometimes it takes me a long time to get around to making and finishing up my projects!

The snowman is made from charm squares, 5" squares.  Most of them are cut in half, thus all of the rectagnles.  I got this bundle of fabrics from ebay last year as a gift to myself.  I just love how it came out!

I found some cute black buttons and a carrot-shaped button at Joann's to decorate his face.  I added some yo-yo's on his belly and placed the scarf on after I was finished.  You can't tell from the photo, but the scarf is 3-D. 

This snowman is hanging on the wall ready to greet all of my family and friends who come over for the holidays!  What special handmade item do you have hanging up in your home for the holidays?