Dropcloth Advent Calendar | Days 7 - 14

I've been totally enjoying my Advent Calendar from Dropcloth @dropcloth. Honestly, it's one of the first things I think about when I wake up in the morning! Where the first six days were all about bees, we've had a couple of new themes since. First there was desserts....

7-Pie Needle minder by @schandworks

8- Darning thread (perfect for embroidery) by @cloverusa

9- 🍰 sampler by @dropcloth [inspired by a very early sampler]

10- variegated thread by @lecien_cosmo

and then the theme switched to mushrooms!

11- 🍄‍🟫 bobbin by @velvetguillotinellc

12- 🍄 zipper pull by @commacraftco

13- 🍄 design by @dropcloth

14- vintage fabric and zipper [Rebecca gave us all the supplies needed to make a zipper pouch with the mushroom stitchery!]

So that's been fun. It's been nice knowing I can count on a sweet little surprise each day.

Luminaries II

Back in 2020, I made Luminaries, a 15" x 28" quilt representing seasonal paper lanterns with a candle inside. I really loved it, but so did a friend, so I went ahead and gifted it to him. Ever since, I've been thinking of making another one to keep. 

One issue was that I didn't have any more of the focus fabric, and I didn't even know what it was, as I'd only worked with a scrap for the first Luminaries. Luckily, I was able to figure out that it was Charley 
Harper Barkcloth Cactus Needles, and eventually found some to purchase on Etsy.

I actually made all the luminary blocks last fall, but never got too far. Fast forward to this November, and I had decided I wanted more of a table runner for this project. So I gathered all the bits and pieces, including varying amounts of Konas Storm, Navy, Indigo, and Windsor that I'd stashed away. I also went through my scraps to see what blues, blacks, and grays I could add to the mix. And then I began designing/creating on the design wall.

The initial arrangement of luminaries (above) fit on the wall, but by the time I added an extra 16" or so to each end, it was too long (about 82") to fit either on the wall or in my camera photo frame.

Then, of course, it was time to create a quilt back, and I was happy to use every scrap other than a few pieced luminaries, into these two panels. 

For quilting, I used several threads, Aurifil 40wt 5015 [Gold Yellow] for the accent stitching through the center; and for the sides of the runner, Aurifil 50wt 4241 [Very Dark Grey], 2692 [Black], 2784 [Dark Navy], and 40wt 2730 [Delft Blue]. Once trimmed and finished, it measures 20.5" x 80".

After making the Modern Madras Table Runner a while back, I chose to again use Quilters Dream Select batting and an envelope-style finish. The combo worked great with the first runner, but I think with the more dense piecing of the Luminaries top, it wasn't ideal. The Luminaries quilt sandwich didn't quilt as smoothly as the first, unfortunately; and I can't say I'm 100% happy with the end result.

That said, once it was pressed, it doesn't look too terrible on our dining table. It's very blue - perfect for Advent - and though it gave me some grief during quilting, it's usable; and for now, I'll be happy with that.

Twinkling Triangles Update

Over the last 12 or so days, I've been periodically working on piecing all my blocks for the Twinkling Triangles mystery sew along with Melanie @mellmeyer. I began sharing them one by one, as I was also sending my pictures to Melanie as she recovered from a finger injury...

But then I got distracted by other projects, and ended up sewing the rest in batches!

But they're done now, and all ready for when Melanie begins to reveal the project design next week. I'm planning on making a 24" pillow with mine, and ordered a pillow form today. Any guesses what the design could be? I have no clue!

The Candle Saga

Brace yourselves, as this is a bit of a saga....

In past years, I've made sets of Dropcloth @dropcloth ornaments that I really liked - the hearts and the snowflakes. But I've also stitched some that were stitched but never got made into ornaments - the gingerbread houses, as they admittedly are a little fiddly, at least for me. So this year, since I did like the candles, I wanted to stitch them, but I also decided right off to keep them together. Maybe I'd frame them? I wasn't sure.

Fast forward..... 

And I had a product I was definitely not happy with. Oh the embroidery was just fine, nice even. But for some reason, I'd gotten some serious puckering and I'm not really sure why. I blamed it on a faulty hoop, which I've since disposed of. Whatever, I wasn't going to keep the candles together after all.

After trying to minimize that puckering with first, hand-quilting, which I then removed; and then machine-quilting, which I also took out.... I decided they were destined to be ornaments after all. Except I struggled with that too. I cut them apart, sewed each candle onto backing, but couldn't turn them right-side out! I think they were just too think, with my extremely dense quilting. So.... I removed them all from their backings! I pressed them, and tried to glue the seam allowances to the candle backs, thinking I'd hand applique them all to a background fabric. I only got half-way through the first candle when I decided that wasn't very enjoyable at all with the thickness of the candles. 

SO I switched over to machine-applique with monofilament thread on top, and a 50wt dark blue in the bobbin. Worked like a charm!

Just add a little side fabric, a lapped backing, and before I knew it I had a holiday pillow! 

The background was made from Essex Speckle Yarn Dyed in Ocean, and the backing in Kona Windsor. Finally, I have a finish I'm really happy with. Whew!

P.S. The candles were stitched with perle #8 from Wonderfil, with accents using Cosmo metallic threads.

Top-Stitching with my Janome MC 6700P

Since getting my new Janome sewing machine back in June, I've been enjoying getting to know it. I use the HP2 foot I bought extra like 95% of the time, and have gotten used to the remote thread cutter switch. I've even free-motion quilted a time or two!

But I tried something new while making the Nightingale Zipper Case that I just have to share. It involves sewing an 1/8" seam / basting / top-stitching. On the zipper case, I used it A LOT for basting, but especially for  all the top-stitching.

I watched a YouTube video by Chatterbox Quilts on How to Top Stitch with the Janome M7. Now that's a model up from mine, but it works the same. Start at about the two-minute mark. Basically, I left the HP2 foot on the machine, but switched out the needle plate from the 'normal' HP plate, to the straight-stitch plate. In doing so, the machine moves the needle so it'll go down in that 1/8" hole.

Like magic, it stitched really beautiful - and straight! - top-stitching, nicer and easier than I've done before. It did mean a lot of switching out needle plates when I was sewing seams vs. top-stitching, but it was so worth it, and with the one-step needle plate feature, it was quick to switch back and forth. Anyway, I've already been using this feature on another project, and am appreciating it so much. Let me know if you have the same machine and have used this feature too - or not!

Pine Ornaments Window Wreath

My friend Louise @imfeelincrafty introduced me to Christmas Wreath Window Art from My One Hundred Year Old Home, and I immediately wanted to do it on our front window. So I ordered up some White Chalk Markers and printed the free template for the Pine Ornaments design, which measured 20" x 20". It printed out on six sheets of regular printer paper, then I just had to tape it together. 

Hubby braved the weather and got the template hung on the outside of the front window for me, then I traced the design with the thickest chalk marker in my set. I was surprised at how the design was distorted(?) somewhat by the thickness of the window. I wasn't expecting that.

But I did my best! It turned out a little funky, but we thought it looked good enough!

We've really enjoyed it being a part of our holiday decorating. Fun to try something a little different, right?

Dropcloth Advent Calendar | Days 1 - 6

It took me a day or three to realize that there was a theme going on. Actually, there apparently are several, but starting off, the theme was bees! Thus began the first several days of treats in my Advent Calendar from Dropcloth @dropcloth.

So far, a needle-minder, pins, thread, beeswax, a little stitchery, and a bit of chocolate. I kinda love it all.

P.S. Shortly after I posted, Rebecca @dropcloth shared the sources behind each day's items:

1-Beehive Bobbin from @velvetguillotinellc

2- Zine by @dropcloth plus 🐝 pins

3-Sashiko thread by @olympusthread

4- Beeswax 🐝 by @just_honest_living

5- 🐝 Embroidery design by @dropcloth

6- Tom Bumble YUMMM by @oregonbark

Nightingale Zipper Case

Another new project - not anticipated much before last week - was to make the new Nightingale Zipper Case, a new pattern by Kristina of Center Street Quilts @centerstreetquilts. It's a very unique bag, and I couldn't resist when there was a sew-along being offered. Again, I was happy to be able to pull fabrics from stash. I basically went with this colorway since the five(!) zippers you see below were the only ones I had enough of in one color. 

The lining and main fabric are both from the Ruby Star Society Geometry line - Hump Day and Ladders, both in the Turmeric colorway; the bindings are Cotton + Steel Freckles in Acorn.

I was able to keep up for three days, then life intervened, and I missed the final two days of the sew-along. 

But no worries, bits of time on and off yesterday (and this morning), let me finish in style.

The trickiest step, for me, was the finishing with the binding. Usually I end with hand-stitching binding, but I opted to machine-stitch here, to match all the top-stitching. I had to redo a couple of spots, and recommend using glue where the stitching is going over especially thick sections. 

Other than that, it was just follow the directions, one step at a time. Nothing about it was hard, I just needed to stay focused. 

And there was so much about it that was just really, really clever, construction-wise. Like the attached pouch. Who would have thought!?

One of the things I like about my use of fabrics particularly, was with the inside design of the case, the lining fabric was shown off in some areas, and the exterior fabric in others. I didn't plan that! But I really love it.

One other tip that Kristina did mention and I totally confirm, is to use coordinating thread in your bobbin, if you plan to machine-stitch the binding on in the final construction step. You can see, here and there, that thread show through from the front, and since it matches the accent/binding fabric, it's not a big deal. If it had been contrasting, it certainly would have.

There was one other little thing - something with my new sewing machine, that I felt really contributed to the nice top-stitching I was able to do on so many of the components. I'll share about that another day, but I really felt that the partnership between Kristina's pattern, beautiful fabrics, my machine, and my own focus to detail that helped make this a successful project for me.