Tag Archives: linus connection

TTMT #297 – The Swing of Things

In this video:

My Kitchen Window

In honor of my mother-in-law’s memory, I will be giving away one free copy of My Kitchen Window to a Sewhooked Flickr Member that shares photos of projects made from my patterns during February 2015. This wall hanging pattern was inspired by a stained glass piece made by Carol and gifted to my family many years ago.

My patterns can be found on Craftsysewhooked.comfandominstitches.com,  & various Quiltmaker Magazines. Photos must be shared with the Sewhooked flickr group to be entered to win the monthly giveaway.

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The Project of Doom 2015 Quilt Along on Fandom In Stitches photo PoD2015ComingSoon_zpsf2dd6a6c.jpg

TTMT #280 – Blanket The World

Paper Piecing Vintage

Share your projects made from any Sewhooked pattern with the Sewhooked flickr group in September, including Paper Piecing Vintage, and you’ll be entered to win a free copy of Sunbonnet Sue’s Magical Friends, Set 1: Monster Madness. The set includes 5″ patterns for all the classic monsters shown…just in time for Halloween! Winner coming soon!

Saturday Sewing

Headed out for some charity sewing this morning!

Yesterday morning, I headed out for a day of charity sewing with my favorite blanket charity, The Linus Connection. There were about sixteen of us, all told, stitching binding and quilt tops for kids in crisis in central Texas.

For this venture, I used my handy Singer 301A, which I made in to my “to-go” machine last fall. It has it’s own bag filled with all my duplicate sewing tools so that I don’t have to pack up my home machine every time I want to go sew with friends. I can’t even begin to tell you how much easier that has made events like this!

@clumsykristel, Marie approves of your quilts!  #blanketcharity #kitty Stitching binding on a charity quilt.

My first order of business was to stitching binding on two quilts donated by Kristel from Work-In-Progress Girl. Marie happily modeled the pre-bound versions of Kristel’s lovely quilts! I’ll be showing the finished version on TTMT this Tuesday.

Chain stitching for my favorite blanket charity. Two quilts bound and one top pieced! Almost 3 more hours to sew!  #blanketcharity #thelinusconnection  #Singer301A

After binding Kristel’s two quilts (which were quilted by my friend Marge on the Linus long arm machine), I moved on to piecing a simple top made of bright and cheerful 6″ squares.

 Last few stitched for this top!  #blanketcharity #thelinusconnection #Singer301A Quilt top #2! #blanketcharity #thelinusconnection #Singer301A

After the sweet squares were complete, I moved on to a large tumble block quilt. For sewing days, volunteers pre-cut fabrics that have been donated in to kits to make quilt tops. We try to keep it pretty simple, but use beautiful, fun fabrics that will make a very happy quilt.

Kit #2 today. #blanketcharity #Singer301A #thelinusconnection

This pre-cut is made from a layer cake (10″ pre-cut squares) using a large tumble block template. Because the piecing are so big, the top stitches up super fast.

 

A friend's awesome custom table for her Singer 301A

 

Lastly, I just have to share this amazing extension table that my friend’s husband made for her Singer 301A. It’s pegboard, an old broom handle, a few screws and felt pads for feet! Total cost, approximately $5! Isn’t it fantastic?!

 

Paper Piecing Vintage February Flickr prize from sewhooked.com! #paperpiecingvintage #sewhooked  #flickr

There are still chances for prizes! Just share your Paper Piecing Vintage photos with theSewhooked flickr group in February and you’ve got a chance to win the fabulous prize above! There’s a new prize each month during 2014, so be sure to stop back by!

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Sign up for Paper Piecing Vintage
and get a new pattern in two sizes each month during 2014!

That’s 24 patterns for just $12!

Random Doings

Buttercup complete!
Just this evening, I finished stitching my first set of blocks for the As You Wish Quilt & Stitch along.

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The Princess Bride. Seriously! The Buttercup blocks were designed by Elizabeth from Such A Sew & Sew. The quilt layouts for the event were designed by me.

Four Patch Layout for As You Wish
This is the one I’m using, though the more popular of my two designs for this event is definitely this one.

Making it real. #finishin2014
I did an epic post and my TTMT this week all about the UFOs I want to at least touch, and hopefully finish, in 2014. Today I made an actual, physical list on a giant piece of paper. My goal is to finish 2014 with less projects than I started with. I thought that maybe marking projects done from a real life list would inspire me and remind me of my goals!

New projects aren’t on this list, just stuff that’s been hanging around prior to this year.

Smug kitty is smug. One more of Merlin, then I'm done, promise! #mycatisadorable
Marie and Merlin say hello!

Four puzzle postcards for my David Tennant-loving daughter! Mailing one a day for the next four days. #geekmom #itsasecret
I made these postcards to send to my daughter. You see, I’m a giant geek mom and send my college freshman daughter a postcard every day. Yeah, you heard that right. EVERY day. She loves it. I love it. We’re all happy!

Anyway, I have these ancient printable postcards that are essentially a sheet of cardstock with perforations. To make these, I found an awesome wallpaper on fanpop.com by deedeedee123 and printed it to an 8 1/2″ x 11″ document without borders. It seriously worked a treat!

Because. David Tennant. Yeah.

#crochet
Current crochet project…for The Linus Connection, my longtime favorite, Sideways Shell.

This one is slow going because I’ve mostly been working on hand embroidery the last month. My monthly goal is to donate two blankets per month to The Linus Connection. I missed it by ONE blanket in 2013 and I was super bummed. Seriously. ONE short. Pffth. I’ll do better this year!

Super old UFO #1 for 2014!
This is the first UFO I’m tackling for 2014. It’s 11 on the list. *points up* I’ve already gotten a good start . It’ll be a baby blanket and will again be donated to Linus. This one is so ancient, I don’t even remember when or why I started it! So far, I have done a quilt as you go technique and have most of it done. The goal is to have this one finished before next Tuesday!

Share your Paper Piecing Vintage or any other Sewhooked-inspired photos with the Sewhooked flickr group for a chance to win fun prizes all year long!

Happy Thursday, friends!

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Paper Piecing Vintage BOM, just $12 on Craftsy

12 patterns in two sizes = 24 patterns!

Join the Paper Piecing Vintage Facebook Group and piece with friends!

Busy Bee!

It’s been crazy cakes around my house this week!

My high schooler is back to school, doing what 16 year olds do and my college freshman hit the road and is now back in the dorm, ready for her second semester as a college woman. How did my kids get so grown up? This is a mystery I will never solve!

Paper Piecing Vintage has been amazing so far, with lots of beautiful blocks and fantastic participation in the facebook group.

And now it's a star again! #linusconnection
The crazy mistake I found during this week’s Talk To Me Tuesday has now been rectified. Whew! Now I just need backing fabric to finish up this little quilt of orphan blocks for The Linus Connection.

How I keep projects and events coordinated and on time: clip boards! I've had the one on the bottom for about 30 years. #oldschool
As You Wish, the Princess Bride quilt and stitch along that I’m organizing on behalf of Fandom In Stitches, starts next Wednesday and has been keeping me busy every minute in between!

Quilting is my job and my hobby, what can I say?!

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Fanciful Fairies (Paper Pieced BlockSet)

6 Blocks to Paper Piece, just $7 on Craftsy!

TTMT #145 – beep, beep, beep

In which I finish Papa Bear!

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Workshops are open!

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Papa Bear’s Quilt – 1 of 12

12 for 2012 - 1/12, Papa Bear

Guess who’s going to star in Talk To Me Tuesday next week?

If you guessed Papa Bear, you guessed right!

This is my first UFO finish for 2012.

This quilt was started in 2008 as a pass around with my bee. You can read more about this project in my 12 for 2012 UFO post.

This quilt has always been intended for my hubby and will be his birthday gift in February.

12 for 2012 icon

All my 12 for 2012 posts

Since I ended up working most of Thursday (it was an accident, I swear!), I took yesterday off. I spent the morning having coffee with bee friend Linda while hand stitching the binding to the quilt. I took pre-washing pics yesterday, and then washed it last night. It scrunched up beautifully, especially in the cross-hatching. I love the transformation from bits and pieces I’ve sewn together to a yummy, scrunchy quilt ready to be cuddled and loved after the first wash. I’ll get post-washing pics when there’s more natural light outside.

12 for 2012 - 1/12, Papa Bear

The entire quilt is straight lines because Big E asked for a geometric design. I eyeballed it all, using the shapes of the blocks. The lines aren’t perfect, but I didn’t have any puckering and I love the way the cross-hatching turned out.

12 for 2012 - 1/12, Papa Bear

I put muslin on the back, something I’m becoming more and more fond of doing. I love how distinctly you can see the quilting and the way it looks after washing. This is a pre-wash picture.

We have a Linus Connection sew day today from 9 – 4 at a local non-profit place called The Stitching Studio. It is exactly what it sounds like, a place to stitch. It believe it seats about 15 and has design walls all around, sturdy tables and comfy chairs. There’s a kitchen and a bathroom, perfect for sewing all day!

All Dolled Up

Did you see my latest pattern set, All Dolled Up? Check it out here!

Get the PDF download of Floating Mariner for half-price (that’s just $3!) through January 15 with coupon code BEINSPIRED.

Add your Sewhooked-related photos to my flickr group and you might be featured in a future post!

Have a very happy Saturday!

 

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November Linus

Quilts for Linus

With my Babylock back in working order and all missing stitches found, I was able to complete Stars for Linus quilts #3 and #4, as well as quilting a Scrappy Brick quilt top donated by Aalia.

Quilt Backs
Something I need to do more often: photograph quilts from the back. My free-motion is improving, but I think I need to only quilt one per day from on!

Sideways Shell
Finished after a month off from crocheting after repetitive stress kicked my crochet muscles sideways.

November Linus donation from Amber

Granny Ghan donated by Amber

All the blankets above were donated to The Linus Connection during yesterday’s meeting. You can lots of great Show & Tell photos right here, including a couple of photos of yours truly!

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It’s been such a busy time around the O household, that I completely forgot that yesterday marked my 9-year Linus anniversary!

I went to my first meeting in November 2002, invited by Osie, who I barely knew at the time. Our daughters were in first grade and in Brownies together. I heard her talking about Linus to another mom and mentioned I had made some baby blankets over the summer and would like to donate them. She encourage met to bring the blankets to the meeting.

It’s no small statement to say that volunteering for The Linus Connection changed my life. It gave my craft a cause, and encouraged me to learn to do things I had never before considered. It gave me friends I would not have had otherwise. At a time when I was a stay-at-home mom with two small children, it gave me something that was my very own. It’s really hard to sum up what the last nine years have meant to me.

These are my very first Linus blankets, donated in November 2002:
November 2002
The predecessor to Oh Wavy Baby

November 2002
…and Oh Wavy Baby is born

November 2002
Linus Sideways Shell…see, I told you I’ve been making this one forever!!

You might be wondering where the quilts are. Well, I wasn’t a quilter nine years ago…

May 2003
This is my first, very ugly quilt, donated in May 2003. I didn’t know about quarter-inch seams or rotary cutters. As horrible as it is, it was my first nudge toward quilting. I was ready to learn. The yellow afghan is a knitted sampler that was donated in pieces and I finished putting together.

November 2003
My first real quilt, donated November 2003, one year after I started volunteering for Linus. I pieced, tied and bound this myself, encouraged by Osie.  This was the result of my first ever Linus Work Day.

What a wonderful journey it has been. I found a passion for volunteer work I didn’t realize I had and made some of the best friends that I’ve ever had. Not least is the personal satisfaction that I receive knowing that my quilts and afghans have been providing comfort for children in their time of crisis all across Central Texas for the last nine years.

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TTMT #132 – Stars and Stuff

I’m late again this week!

Blame my crazy schedule…or the fact that I went to happy hour with some girlfriends last night. Your choice. 😉

Remember, in honor of my participation in the Quilting Gallery’s Celebrate Christmas Quilt-Along, right now through November 1, get Holly Jolly as an instant PDF download pattern for half price using coupon code CELEBRATE or get 10% of your total Sewhooked instant download purchase instead with coupon code QUILTOBER!

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Stars for Linus, An Update

Stars For Linus - Update

It’s been almost a month since the original Stars for Linus post. In that time, I’ve received 30 blocks in the mail!

All completed quilts will be donated to The Linus Connection of Austin, Texas. Our organization is comprised completely of volunteers who make and deliver hand-made quilts, afghans and fleece blankets to children in crisis in Central Texas, including those affected by the wildfires in September of this year.

In September, I asked you to share the love and help the kids affected by those fires by making a Stars For Linus block and mailing it to me to turn into a quilt top.

The very first block arrived just days later.

Each Stars For Linus quilt will be pieced by me and I will turn each one into Linus for delivery to a child that needs it. I will continue to collect Stars indefinitely, so any time you’d like to share a block, feel free to do so!

One Stars For Linus quilt top is pieced and ready to quilt. Another set of blocks  is sorted and ready to piece. A third pile is growing and will soon be a quilt top, too.

I wanted take a minute and share a special thank you to everyone that has sent Stars for Linus blocks so far, in no particular order:

  • Paige J., Nebraska
  • Amber L., Illinois
  • Judee K, California
  • Soma A., California
  • Carol M., Wyoming
  • Lynda M., Illinois
  • Barbara C., New Hampshire
  • Kathy P., Washington
  • Linda F., New Jersey
  • Terri J., California
  • Dawn F., Massachusetts
  • Michele F., Ontario
  • Midge W., Michigan
I will continue to add to this list as the Stars arrive! If you do not see your name here and you know I have received your Stars, please let me know so I can update the list. I don’t want anyone to be left out!
I’ve also received completed quilt tops that are now in the process of being quilted and bound, as well as completed quilts:
  • Jenn F., Oregon
  • JoAnn M, Louisiana
  • Kristel C., Calgary
My yarny friends are not to be forgotten! Afghans received from:
  • Amber L., Illinois
  • Mary C., Oklahoma

Stars For The Linus Connection 

a free 12″ pattern

for best results, set scaling to “none”

See more of my posts about The Linus Connection.

I cannot say thank you enough for all of your support for a cause that means so very much to me!

Quilt on!

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