S'Mittens

October 2015 was the Western Massachusetts Shop Hop, nine quilt shops in three days.  I was shop hopping with my cousin, a friend and my daughter.  I had told myself that I could not buy material unless it had a purpose.  So, for this shop hop I went looking for material for the table runner S’Mittens that was in the September/October 2014 McCalls Quilting.  It was designed by Erin Russek.

The material for the mittens was bought at Brookside Quiltworks in South Egremont, the block material at Pumpkin Patch in Lee and the red and blue borders at  A Notion to Quilt in Shelbourne Falls.  I was going to use the block material for the edge between the red and blue but I ended up not liking it as much as I thought I would.  I found the gold oak flooring patterned material at Karen’s Quilting Corner in Williamstown.  I just love that it is a wooden floor pattern and the red and blue are houndstooth and herring bone patterns.  To me it looks like the mittens are drying on the floor.  I did the machine embroidery of the mittens and snowflakes from Anita Goodesign.  I also did free motion machine quilting around the mittens and the blocks and borders. 

This was made in one week in January 2016.

What did I learn?  I do table runners to try out new ideas and techniques.  It is something useful, small and quick to do.  Next time I do machine embroidery on a runner, I will do it without the backing on.  I want to cover the back of the embroidery.  I will machine or hand quilt after the back has been placed.   

Where Have I Been?

That is what I have been wondering.  I retired at the end of 2014 and at the beginning of 2015 I was too exhausted to think or do anything.  The second half of 2015 was more productive. 

Now I need to think of what to do with my blog.  There are only three entries.  So, me, what are you going to do?  I have decided this is a good place to keep a record for me, pictorial journal of what I have done or am doing.  If anyone wants to visit, may they enjoy what they see.  

I was surprised when I looked at my site the other day that 236 visits had been made. Not sure that anyone of those visitors will be back, but just in case.

At the end of November 2015 I made two baby quilts for a friend of mine who will have her first grandbabies this spring.  Yes, that is plural, twin girls.  The idea for the quilts was not mine.  I saw the material and patterns at the Pumpkin Patch in Lee and just loved them.  They were easy to do and I machine quilted them in the ditch.  They were given to the twins as their Christmas gift.