Week #3 Reveal

Smaller projects are getting finished, which is good. However, I looked at my calendar last night and realized how quickly time is passing.

The panel cookie prints turned out very cute and a bit smaller which should work fine for the Grandkids. Again, this panel was a giveaway that whomever had it, became clueless as to its use. Joining the MugRug Swap gave me all the ideas I needed to use it up. Simple stitches made it easy and were traced along the fabric patterns. Each one will go with homemade cookies, and I did make a list of which kind I would bake and ship this year.

One of the mini quilts gave me an opportunity to practice the free motion quilting, but I do need a class to feel confident. Here is the front of it.

And the back.

This is Cole's mini quilt. I am delighted with the new technique I tried on it for Faux-Piped Borders. The back is the same blue with the larger snowflakes. Its really a nice guy-table topper.

Although the Pay-It-Forwards were completed and shipped, I discovered that I did not take pictures of them. I did finish the Faux-Vintage panels as Mug Rugs last night. These go out to a few family elders the week of Thanksgiving too with a card.

Everything I work on is practice. I didn't do much on these, however, tried the various decorative stitches on the borders.

It helps me see how they finish the seam. They are all different sizes but make use of a piece of fabric that really puzzled me as to how it could be used. If the elders are anything like me, at this stage of their lives, they really don't want more things to dust. However, having something larger than a coaster to set a glass of water or a mug on at night can be useful.

I took some quilting advice, and did a zigzag stitch on a couple of the batting pieces to use up smaller scraps. This only holds them in place until they can be quilted, but clearly makes sense to do. Usually there is several inches on the sides of the quilt that get cut off, rolled up and saved. In my earlier days, I made everyone potholders with about 3-4 layers. Unwashed batting shrinks 3%, so the ones I kept wrinkled. Now I prewash it all the time.

I am starting to machine quilt on my Brother-in-Law's piece today. I've gone back and forth on how to make it happen with ease as well as appearance. Its a simple 16-block log cabin, and while I love how the colors turned out on it, its not one of the more artistic quilts I see as I browse the web. 

This one has a deadline for shipping out by 11/8 to get to him before his birthday later this month. It will take me the better part of the week to concentrate and finish.

I am linking up to Janine again (see here) Week # 3. It continues to spur me onward to "Making Solstice"! Thanks for the inspiration in planning. Select the link above if you want to see more about how other bloggers are doing their holiday projects.