scraps | Night Quilter

It’s been quiet here lately, but I have been doing a tiny bit of sewing. Literally, only 2″ finished square little! With the hustle and bustle of life, my sewing progress has slowed a bit. I’m still sewing, and trying to create daily, but progress is slowwww. When I saw that Sue from Moss & Lotus was having a Tomte Sew Along on Instagram, I knew I wanted in. I had been admiring the cute little gnome-like Tomtes popping up in my feed, and resisting the urge to add yet another project to my unfinished projects pile. Then Sue asked me if I would make a block or two, and honestly, how could I say no? These guys (and gals) are adorable! Plus, the bigger Tomtes will make wonderful coaster or mug rug gifts. I love having an end use in mind before beginning a new project!

Before stitching up a Peder or Halvor Tomte (my two favs at the moment), I had to sew one of the adorable Tiny Tomtes! This Tiny Tomte is a free addition when you buy the Tomte Bundle and is the size of a mini charm square. I’m going to try to resist the urge to make sweet little Tiny Tomte ornaments for everyone I know, but no promises! This particular little guy will happily live on our tree this year, once I give him a little French knot nose and finish him up with some hand quilting and binding.

I used a Henry Glass print for the background, since the mushroom and snail seemed right at home with this Tiny Tomte. This print actually also happens to be the very first fabric I ever bought, years and years ago before I began quilting. The red fabric is from my scrap bin, some gorgeous Oakshott Lipari from my Vesuvius quilt. The white is a tiny scrap of Robert Kaufman Kona white. These blocks would actually be really fun uses for any tiny scraps. I used 50wt Aurifil 2600-Dove thread since that lives in my machine and works for everything.

After sewing up this Tiny Tomte, I had to take him out on an adventure in the woods so that he would feel at home. During my youngest’s nap, I ventured out behind our house and Tiny Tomte had a fun photo shoot! We found a gorgeous shelf fungus on a tree stump, so Tiny Tomte played beneath it.

And on top of it!

He climbed some trees and gathered some souvenirs.

A pinecone three times his size and an evergreen bough will have to hold him over until we cut our Christmas tree this year. I think they will do just fine.

What would you make with a Tiny Tomte?

Today is one of those days where I feel like I have a million things “in progress”. I promise I won’t spill my entire brain’s to-do list for you (that would be messy), but here are some of the top projects I have in progress at the moment:

Late Night Quilters Club Facebook Group

LNQC-cover-4 — This awesome LNQC banner was created by my talented brother Steven.

About a week ago, my new quilting friend Stephanie and her local quilter friend Michelle and I decided to launch a new Facebook community for fellow late night quilters, since we were getting so much out of our own nightly conversations. It started as a page, but the interest and content was so fabulous after only a day, that when new members requested that we make it a private group, we knew it was the right path. This way, it allows for easier communication and better sharing of pictures and ideas. Facebook “pages” aren’t as conducive to posts by many different people in a community as “groups” are. So we made the change, and the group is hoppin’!

We want you to join us there. Your posts will be front and center so you can get lots of feedback from fellow quilters. You can network, ask questions, share advice, share your own works in progress, or even just be a wallflower looking for inspiration.

How is this a work in progress, you may ask? Well, we have a lot of great ideas still in the works, including the creation of a button you can include on your blog, creating a weekly fabric swap so that you can buy, sell, and trade fabric on the page, and more! If you’re on Facebook, would you please give us a little love and take a second to join the group (Steph, Michelle and I are accepting requests as fast as we can), share it with your quilting friends, and perhaps post some of your projects? We’d all love to see what YOU’re working on!

Supernova Friendship Block Swap: Block 1

I have completed my first block for the Supernova Friendship Block Swap, and I love it! I still need to make a duplicate for myself, but I figured I may as well stay ahead and start writing my first letter to my partner Laura. The aspect of the swap that really drew me in at the start is the friendship-making in the process. Each month, I will send not only an awesome 18″ supernova quilt block to Laura, but I’ll also write her a letter about myself. I’ve decided to type most of the letters since I have an awesome typewriter and may as well use it.

Besides, how awesome would it be to receive a typed letter in the mail?! I hope Laura agrees.

I think that the swap is partially supposed to be a surprise each month, and I’ve already blown the surprise this month anyway with my tweeting and Instagramming, so I figure a semi-secretive peek at my block is okay. In future months, I promise to only post pictures AFTER Laura has received her blocks! This is going to be fun!

Scrappy Play

My final work in progress has been a fun little “extra”. My Star Crazy quilt is the first pattern I’ve used that results in many, somewhat large, already cool-looking scraps. I have been having a lot of fun playing around with different possibilities for the scraps.

I think I have decided to make them into a set of place mats, but I think I will wait until the quilt is finished to make sure I have enough pieces to make a sufficient number of coordinating place mats. The alternative, of course is to use them on the back of the quilt. Either way, it has been fun discovering all of the wonderful arrangements possible with half-square triangles (HST).