An Elephant Parade Game

Where has the week gone?  Time just seems to be flying by.  But that's okay.  It is so cold right now that I can hardly wait for February to be over.  The weather people are calling this cold spell a Siberian Express because it originates in Siberia.  Last year was the year of the Polar Vortex.  Crazy! But spring has got to be around the corner!  It is, isn't it?

I did a lot of sewing this past week, but I have very little to show for it.  I am still working on the Jungle Quilt, but right now I am just appliqueing the pieced down.  My machine is not happy about that and is making a lot of silly noises.  I may have to take it in for a tune up before I can continue,.  I did, however, work on the Elephant Parade quilt.  I got the frog done and made 4 little baby elephants.  I have decided to make this quilt into a matching game.  All of the adult elephants will have a matching baby elephant somewhere in the quilt.  There will be two of each of the other baby elephants too.  This is what I have done so far.

I also finished the little crocheted blanket I showed you last week.  Unfortunately I gave it to my DD before I could get a photo of it.  It is just a small blanket that she will use in the library when she takes William to story hour.  I will try to get a photo of it later.  When my DS saw the blanket he asked me to make something similar for his cats to sleep on.  I found a couple of crocheted blocks in a bag at the bottom of a bin.  I have no idea where they came from, or whether they were the beginning of a quilt or some left-over pieces.  I am going to use them.  This blanket should go together quickly and I think the cats will love it.  I am going to run the ends in as I go.  I hate having to still do them all at the end.

Visitors from the Serengeti

I have completed the five large elephants for the first portion of the Baby Elephant sew-along.  I spent a couple of hours yesterday and finished them.  All of my other quilt-related sewing is kind of tedious and boring, so I really enjoyed making these guys.  Can't wait for the next instalment.

What I'm Working On

I have been out of town for a few days.  Just got back yesterday.  I didn't have much time for machine sewing.  But I did do a couple of small things.  I started to make the basket blocks for the bow tie quilt I started last month. This month's blocks were small baskets.  I don't really like them; just a bit too small and fussy for my liking. I only made two of them and I don't think I will make any more.

I know I promised not to start any other new projects, but I just couldn't resist when I saw the elephant baby quilt on the Sew Fresh Quilts site.  The sew along started on February the 1st.  I made one elephant block so far.  It is so cute and it took no time at all.  I will definitely make more blocks of this quilt.  But I will finish some more urgent quilts first.

While away from my machine I worked on some crocheted granny hexies.  I spent a couple of hours each day working on these.  I think I have enough for a small baby blanket.

Today I am heading to my sewing machine.  I really have to finish that jungle quilt before William is too old for it.

DaGMT 2015

I have decided to take part in the Drop and Give Me Twenty.  (DaGMT 2015)  This challenge started on the first of February.  I didn't read about it until a couple of days ago.  But since I have been working almost non-stop on the Jungle Quilt, I think I can still qualify for this.

Here is my statement.

I, Hetty G, am joining Quilting Hottie Haven's fourth annual quilt challenge.   I pledge to sew for at least an hour a day, during the month of February, 2015.  I think that is doable.  I want to finish several more quilts in the first half of this year and this will help me accomplish that.

So here is what I did so far this month.

On the 1st. I did about 60 minutes of sewing.  That was all I had time for.  Because it was Sunday, we had to do some visiting.

On the 2nd, (Monday) I spent about 30 minutes sewing by machine and another 90 minutes drawing and cutting out animal parts for the Jungle Quilt.

On Tuesday (3rd) I spent about 2 hours of hexie hand sewing at our Tuesday morning Friendship group at the church.  I finished the February Hexie Blog's block.

On Wednesday, (4th) I spent 3 hours machine sewing the parts of the animals that I had designed over the last few days.

On Thursday (5th) I spent what seemed like the whole day at my machine.  I am sure I did about 4 hours of machine sewing.  Then in the evening, while watching television, I did another couple of hours prepping and hand sewing some hexies.

So now I am up to today, Friday the 6th.  I am going to try to do at least an hour of machine applique. My DD is coming over today with William and that will probably be the end of my sewing time.

Can't have a post without a photo, now can we?  So here he is, the flying William, practising to be an astronaut..  Now I must get back to my machine.  

Hexie Block for February

I have been doing lots of sewing, but have very little to show for it.  I did, however, finish The Hexie Blog's block for February.  I love these little hexies.  They are so much fun to make.  Here it is, only the 5th of February, and I am already yearning for next month's block.  Just four weeks to go.  Guess I'll just have to wait.  (sigh)

Sewing Monkeys

I drew the monkeys and then transferred them to Wonder Under.  Then I cut them out and ironed them onto the quilt top.  Now all that is left to do is sew them down.  I am not sure if I am going to add anything else to this quilt.  It's been a lot of work, but I think it's worth it.  I hope William loves his quilt.

I still have some things to embroider.  Some eyes etc.  Maybe I will get them done tonight, while I watch television.