Time keeps on ticking

Reflexing back through 2022 it was a good year.  I feel I stuck to my New Year's resolution - use my stash. 

Yes there were a couple hiccups.  One was a fantastic gift to me from a fellow Midnight Stitcher quilter.  Her grandmother-in-law, Louis, passed.  Louis was a fantastic sewer/quilter.  My friend inherited all of her sewing supplies.  Her stash was huge, so my friend shared lots of extra stash with our sewing group.  I ended up with a couple tubs of fabric to add to my stash.  Because of this generous gift I was able to make several projects without buying any more fabric - I still have so much more to use.  One tote is filled with fur to make teddy bears.  I will definitely be tackling some bears.  So thank you my friend and Louis.  You will always be remembered.  I hope when I pass their are loving souls willing to carry-on with what I leave behind.  Right now it's a lot.

Through the AuSable Quilt Guild we will start the new year with two challenges.  

First, choose a word to inspire you in 2023.  I choose STASH.  This will remind me to shop my stash before purchasing more fabric.  Sorry quilt shops - I probably won't be your best customer in 2023.

Second, make a list and number eight UFOs to finish by September 2023.  Each month a number from one to eight will be drawn.  The number drawn will be the UFO you concentrate on and try to complete that month.  In October we will see how well we did.

So I cleaned through my studio including my totes of stashed fabrics.  I have 33 UFOs.  Yes you read that correct, 33.  Now I'm on a mission.  Most of the UFOs are patterns or pictures of quilts with the fabric attached.  I decided to be aggressive and not only pick the eight UFOs for the guild challenge, but add another UFO each month for my personal list.  That's two UFOs per month.  Am I crazy? Yes.  Will I accomplish this mission? Well as of today I think I can.  Let's see how I do.

Discussing this with my Midnight Stitchers friends (some are part of the AuSable Quilt Guild too) they have been cleaning through their sewing stash and they have also found many UFOs.  Together between  the AuSable Quilt Guild and the Midnight Stitchers we will help keep each other to stay on track and finish these UFOs.  We will be victorious.  Right now my studio is very organized and my inventory is fresh in my mind.  I'm so ready for this challenge.  I will start my list tomorrow and Wednesday a number will be picked from the guild.  Ready set GO!

I'm thankful for my sewing friends.  We always have each other for support.  Thank you.

It's been a blessed year.  When I was young time ticked so slow, but now that I'm older it just slips away.  2022 went by so fast.  Time keeps on ticking into the future.  So good bye 2022.  

I'm welcoming 2023 with hopes of plenty of time to meet these new challenges.  Come join me - let's be creative and pass our days enjoying this creativity.

Welcome 2023.  May you find Peace, Love and Happiness.

Santa Claus is coming to town

I've been one of Santa's elves.  With the Christmas trees up and decorated it's time to put the finishing touches on the Christmas gifts I've been working on. 

I feel like reciting the 12 days of Christmas, but I just can't tie my projects into the lyrics.  So I'll have to work at this one.  But first up I made three casserole holders.  They are insulated to keep food hot or cold and holds a 9" by 13" by 2" casserole with cover.  There is even a pocket to hold utensils.  I made them for my daughter-in-laws.  They are both excellent cooks and are always bringing a dish of homemade food.

Next, eight children's crafting aprons.  The two young kids that come to play have outgrown the previous crafting aprons I made them so I had to make each a larger size.  I also made them each an apron to bring home.  They love to do crafts.  When they come to visit they always ask what will be the craft they get to do today.  So for Christmas I bought them each art sets with paint, crayons, markers and colored pencils.  They have fun and are pretty messy so I've included a crafting apron with their gift.  They also love to bake and cook so the apron can be used in the kitchen too.  In fact, I got them an Easy Bake Oven with all the accessories and mixes.  What a great way to learn to measure, read instructions and use a timer.  And of course it fun to eat!

My two grandchildren are now old enough to craft with markers and paint.  One of them I bought a painting easel for Christmas.  Both will get a crafting apron.  They all will have hours of fun.

Last but not least, I made a dozen cozy bowl holders for each of our families.  They each will receive a set of three (small, medium and large).  Cozy bowl holders are hot pads that are bowl shaped to hold  your dish and can help keep food cold or hot and protect your hands. They are made of 100% cotton, including batting, so they can be used in the microwave.  Not only are they useful in the kitchen, but they also become great gift baskets.  One set I made has Mickey Mouse fabric so I was able to find Mickey Mouse printed glasses to set inside.  Another set holds a custom made mug with a matching cookie plate/tea bag holder.  A useful and unique way to present a gift.

Now it's time to hang the stockings with care knowing Saint Nicholas soon will be here.

Merry Christmas to all and too all a good night!

Oh Christmas tree

This past spring, while cleaning out my childhood home, I came across our aluminum Christmas tree from the early 60s.  What blast from the past.  It was still in its original box and each tree branch was still in it's brown paper wrapper.  I couldn't pass it by, it was part of my childhood - so I brought it home.

For the past couple weeks I've been busy decorating for Christmas.  Living in northern Michigan we always have a real tree for Christmas - we live in the woods.  So I decided the aluminum tree will go up in my studio.  With the Mid-Century furniture the tree will feel right at home.

I opened the box containing the aluminum tree and it was all neatly packed just waiting for someone to remember and celebrate Christmas with it.  The revolving stand with flood lights was even in this box.  I plugged in the stand - the lights worked, but the revolving holder didn't move.  Darn, but I decided to put the tree together to make sure everything was there before messing with the stand.  One by one I pulled the branches out of their sleeves inserting them into the trunk as I remember doing as a child.   Low and behold every branch was there and it looked just how I remembered. 

The task of decorating was next.  I couldn't put the same assortment of ornaments on this tree like the one in my family-room - it had to be simple.  I remember my mother always had all turquoise ornaments and one year all red.  I will stay with that concept.  With a handful of green and red glass Christmas ornaments I already owned  I decided this would be my color scheme. I began searching the stores for green and red glass ornaments - everything was so picked over.  Christmas decorations have been out for three months.  In fact, Valentines stuff is already in the aisles.  Yikes!  However, I did find a couple boxes of glass green and red ornaments.  

My aluminum tree is decorated and I love it.  As a child I would spend hours gazing at the shiny ornaments with the tree all lit up and turning.   So here she is spending another Christmas with me and now my family.

I found a surprise in the box with the tree - there was a handful of my younger brothers plastic soldiers from the 60s.  They did a great job defending this tree.  I couldn't even see traces of a creature stirring or even a mouse.  I granted the soldiers a furlough, but they will be back on duty January 1st to continue their assignment of guarding this tree.  I haven't told them that the Vietnam War was over.

Enjoy the season with family and friends. Peace. 

Drool Bandanas

It's been a busy couple months and my studio needed some reorganizing/cleaning.  During the clean-up I came across dinosaur printed flannel fabric that I purchased some time ago to make bibs.  Well, my grandkids are past the bib stage, that is until this past week with the addition of a new grandson.  And dinosaurs are perfect.  So instead of adding this fabric to my stash I busily made three bandana bibs. 

A quick and easy project that is recommended for beginner sewers, I found several free patterns for bandana bibs on the internet before downloading this one.  I decided to make the small size for 0 to 6 months and used velcro for the enclosure instead of a plastic snap making it adjustable around the neck. 

With drooling times on the horizon these bids will come in handy.

My sewing area is now reorganized and I'm feeling good about using more of my stash and already I'm working on another UFO.  This project will be slow going, but I'm determined to try and stay focussed. 

It's always a good break to accomplish an easier project inbetween.  Hint, hint - there will be a couple quick Christmas gifts to work on in the next weeks too.  I'll be back soon.

Speaking of Baby

We have a new addition to our family - a baby boy born on November 18.  In celebration of our newcomer I made a Winnie the Pooh quilt with honey bees as requested by his Mom.

This new quilt should have been an easy one, but finding Winnie the Pooh fabric that was gender neutral wasn't an easy task (we didn't know the sex until birth).  After a few months of searching I came across a lightly printed fabric that was gray, light blue and yellow.  I bought all that was left - only one and an half yards.  With coordinated fabrics I busily constructed the quilt top with a couple months to spare.  But with it almost finished it was hard to actually see it was Winnie the Pooh.  

During the next couple months I searched high and low for something that would make this quilt complete.  All of a sudden it came to me - I would appliqué a Winnie the Pooh bear on the quilt.  I downloaded clipart from the internet and had it enlarged at our local copy shop.

This became a whole new journey.  During the Sew & Quilt Expo in Novi, Michigan, I purchased a Cutterpillar Glow Premium LED light board/cutter.  Boy this made the appliqué layout process very fast and accurate.  Well worth the price and I'm looking forward to using this light board with other projects that I need precision.  Not only did I purchase this light board at the show, but I won a Bernette sewing machine.  It's a beginners sewing machine.  I will find someone who would like to learn to sew to mentor and give it to them.  It's been an exciting month.

Here is my finished quilt.

Besides the quilt, I made a cloth toy tote from the leftover fabrics.  I love to use these toy totes as the gift holder.  I included a Winnie the Pooh stuffed bear, two baby reading books (one with baby Winnie the Pooh) and an outfit.  The quilt was also folded in the tote when given to our new Mom.

Back to the studio.

Come on baby - let's do the twist

I remember as a child when Chubby Checkers and the Twist made its debut on the Ed Sullivan show.  My whole family got up and started dancing the twist.  A fun song and a fun dance.

Do you remember the game Twister?  It tied you up in knots.  I still own a Twister game and bring it out on occasion to help teach the young ones right and left.  

This next project brings back those memories from my childhood with a template called the twister.  Today I finished a holiday table runner using the twister template.  A little tricky to start, but once you put a couple squares together it became pretty easy.  

I used a mini-twister template to make this Christmas holiday wreath table topper.  The finished size is 20" by 20".  Hooray,  it's finished for the upcoming holiday.  Deck the Halls.

I'm on a roll.  Stay tuned I have a couple more projects almost finished.

A skeleton in my closet?

 No skeleton in my closet, but I just made a skeleton print table runner.

I was on a mission this year to not purchase any more fabric, but I've fell off the wagon this past month.  While visiting a local quilt shop I came across some great vintage looking skeleton fabric that I just couldn't walk away from.  I really liked it so I purchased three yards.  What was I thinking?

After thinking for a couple weeks of what could I do with this new purchase, I decided to make a table runner.  I only used about nine inches of this skeleton fabric for this project, so I'll have plenty for the future. My finished table runner size is 16" by 39".   Here I go again accumulating more fabric for my stash.

Unfortunately, I didn't finish it in time for this Halloween holiday.   However, it will be ready for its grand appearance next year.

Back to my studio.  More great things ready to appear.

Blossoms from my garden

A quilt I started this summer just got finished this weekend. I wanted a quilt to hang on my front porch during the month of June to represent my flowers that were in full bloom in my garden.  I came across a pattern by Coriander Quilts called Spring Brook Blossoms.  The blocks in this quilt represent Larkspur, Bluebells, Goldenrod, Sweet Peas, Buttercups, and Forget-Me-Nots.  Bingo.  Just what I was looking for.

My intentions was to hang this quilt on my porch in 2022, but it will debut in 2023.  The finished size is 52 1/2" by 64 1/2".  It will look great.

This past week, me and some of my sewing gals took a four-day bus tour out of Fort Wayne, Indiana to Missouri Star Quilt in Hamilton, Missouri  and hit quilt shops in-between.  It was so fun and everyone was extremely friendly and helpful.  

In Hamilton we visited a quilt museum.  Lots of beautiful quilts and of course new ideas run through my head.  One idea I decided to try is a different way to label your quilt.  Make a fabric tab with your name embroidered on it and insert into the back binding. Fold your fabric in half and fold in 1/2 inch on each side.   I made mine four inches by 3/4 inches finished.  Attach to the back of your quilt then add your binding.  Quite slick.

During this trip I was able to buy fabrics to complete a couple projects.  And of course I found a couple of new projects.  I took a count this morning - I have 12 projects  waiting for me.  Opps, I've slipped.  So much for trying to not buy fabric and use up my stash.  I almost made it through a whole year, but it sure felt good to let loose.

The weather has changed to fall - cold, rainy and leaves falling.  The days are getting shorter.  It's beautiful, but now I spend most of my time indoors.  Perfect for tackling these projects.  Tomorrow I'll start a baby quilt for our expected new addition to our family in November.

Left-over quilt blocks? No problem

 The recent tulip bag I made and posted, Flower Power on September 17, has morphed into another bag from left-over blocks from my log cabin quilt which was posted on April 22, 2022,  It makes my brown eyes blue - log cabin.

As suggested from Nancy, owner and teacher from OOOO La La Quilt Shop, in Frederic, Michigan, I used my left-over quilt blocks from a recent log cabin.  This bag came out stunning.  And what a great idea to use up what you already spent time to construct.  By just adding a couple more strips of blue around the bottom of the log cabin block this tulip pattern fit perfect to be trimmed into shape.  What a great idea!

I have a few other extra quilt blocks that I think I'd like to make into a tote/bag.  I'll have to search through my stash.  Let's see what I come up with.

It's fun sewing with different people.  Everyone has different tastes and ideas and who knows when you'll get inspired in a different direction.  Thanks Nancy for inspiring this bag.  Hopefully I inspire new ideas too.

The weather has cooled down and the trees are changing colors.  It's a beautiful fall season.  It's time to head up to my studio and pick up on my projects.  I'm refreshed and ready to go.  See you real soon.

Flower Power

 I've been busy sewing, but haven't completed any project until today.  Yeah!

One of my favorite flowers is now a purse/bag - the tulip bag

At the beginning of this week a local quilt shop - OOOO La La, in Frederic. Michigan - offered the tulip purse/bag class.  The owner of the shop, Nancy, is very creative. She always has great new ideas and her shop is filled with lots of accessories to make your project special too.

In a few hours I was able to construct this purse/bag with the exception of attaching the handles, which I finished this morning.  Everyone is calling it my "Hippie Bag", because of the choice of fabric I selected.   Flower power!   How fun.

I even had some fun funky hot pink buttons to add on the handles. 

The finished bag size is 11 1/2 inches high and 17 inches wide.  The handles are a perfect length to be a shoulder bag or when carrying by hand it doesn't drag on the ground (I guess this would be determined by how tall you are).

Nancy suggested to try making this bag with left-over blocks from previous projects.  Well, I have some blocks left over from the blue log cabin I finished and posted in April.  I'm inspired to work on another bag.  Time to go shopping through my stash.  Let's see what I can come up with.

Dragonball Z

 My youngest son loved Dragon Ball Z when he was younger.  In fact, he still likes Anime cartoons.  He has a collection of figurines, shirts and t-shirts from Dragon Ball Z.   Back a least ten years ago he asked if I would make him a t-shirt quilt with his Dragon Ball Z shirts.   Of course I made him one.  

It was my first t-shirt quilt that I made.  Although it was pretty simple to make there was a lot of extra calculating since I used different size blocks.  I found some appropriate cotton fabrics to border the t-shirt cut outs.  It came out perfect.  My son was excited when I gave it to him.

Today I went to his house to feed his cat and saw his Dragon Ball Z quilt on his couch.  He still has it and uses it to cuddle up with.  It's held up great.  I couldn't resist to take a picture so I could share it on this blog.

For the t-shirt blocks I not only used the fronts of the shirts, but also cut-outs from the backs.  I quilted it on my regular sewing machine  (I didn't won a longer quilter at the time).  I like the black and red Ninja fabric that I bordered it with and used for the backing.

I would like to make another t-shirt quilt with a different theme. I'll have to dig through my closets.

Do you want to know a secret?

 Do da dooo

I grew up with the songs of the Beatles.  I love them.   It was so devastating when the band broke up, but they left me with wonderful memories.   I sing their songs all the time.  In fact, my sister was born shortly after their song "Michelle" came out.  I asked my dad if we could name our new baby Michelle  if it was a girl.  As you see my parents thought it was a great name!  We had a new baby sister - Michelle.

This past Christmas my daughter bought me the book "Lyrics" by Paul McCartney.  What a wonderful book.  It's been so nice to know more about the person, the method and inspiration behind their songs.  One of Paul's songs,  "Do It Now", was inspired from his youth.  His father would make Paul and his brother go down the street and shovel horse shit into a bucket and bring it home for the garden. The boys hated it and would try to put the chore off.  But their dad was stern and would say DO IT NOW.  The boys coined it as DIN!  To this day Paul practices DIN and has even instilled it into his children.

Part of the lyrics that inspire me are: Do it now, do it now.  While the vision is clear.  Do it now.  While the feeling is here.  If you leave it too late.  It could all disappear.  Do it now.  While your vision is clear.

I've been thinking about DIN for a few days.  I think it's a great habit to get into.  So instead of making a bunch of "to do lists" I'm in DIN mode.  Pretty simple, right?

Now with this new mind set I've been accomplishing some UFOs.   The first accomplishment is a secret.  Ssshh, don't tell my sister.  With the left over blocks and fabric from the quilt we made for my sister, Michelle (see post It's a family affair) I constructed a throw for her new grey couch.  Her boyfriend asked if I would whip something up and right away I had a plan.  Now remember  this is the secret - my sister doesn't know anything about this plan.

I got right to work and within a couple days I pieced and quilted a knock-off of her bed quilt.  

I love the check pattern - it is similar to a buffalo check and will look great with her Modern Farmhouse decor. 

This past week I went down to Detroit for a Detroit Tigers game and met up with my sister.  Boy was she surprised when I handed her a bag and she pulled out this throw.  Have lots of cuddles Sis.

Being in  DIN mode I've been on a roll.  Besides making this throw, I replaced my outdoor chair seats and quilted a raffle quilt for the Ausable Quilt Guild quilt show which will be held at the end of September. Let's see if I can keep the ball rolling.  DIN!

Smitten on mittens

The AuSable Quilt Guild I belong to is having a quilt show in September.  As part of the show we will be raffling three quilts and selling items we've made for a boutique.  The monies raised will help fund the expenses of this event.  We will also be donating some money to the Crawford County Commission on Aging.

As part of my contribution I've helped with the quilts to be raffled and volunteered to make mittens to sell in the boutique.  As of this post I have made a dozen pairs of mittens.  Each pair uniquely different.

Here is a group picture of the mittens I've completed.  If you look closely you'll see there are 12 different styles.

You could say I'm smitten on mittens lately.  Well, smitten or not,  I've had fun making them.  There could be a couple more pair before our quilt show.

There's more projects to tackle so I better get sewing.

Styling

 I usually don't sew much in the summer, too busy outside.  But my little grandson continues to grow and I've had a couple summer shirts cut out to sew him.  Cool nights and mornings has made it easy to spend some time behind the sewing machine.

My grandson is a big fan of Mickey Mouse.  He watches the Mickey Mouse club show when he's at my house.  He loves dancing around and singing to the Mickey Mouse hot dog dance. When I saw Mickey Mouse cotton material I knew I had to make him a shirt.  Since he loves the hot dog dance I'd love to find a hot dog printed cotton.  No luck yet, but I'll be on the watch.

The second shirt I made is with blue with white arrows fabric.  The blue will bring out his blue eyes.  He'll be styling in his new shirts.

With him growing so fast I hope he'll be ale to wear these two shirts for the next couple months this summer.  It's time for me to buy toddler size patterns for the future.

The shirts fit - at least for a couple months.

I'm feeling accomplished with a few projects completed.  Still I have a stack of UFOs to tackle - one at a time :)

What's the BZZZ

 Besides sewing I love gardening - indoors and outdoors - plants, vegetables and flowers.  I like dirt!  As a child I loved running around outside barefoot with my feet in the dirt and I still do today.

Growing flowers and vegetables attracts all sorts of cool insects.  I'm especially fond of butterflies and bees.  I love watching them jump from flower to flower collecting pollen and busily buzzing around.  I am concerned for our little creatures.  Our environment has become toxic, so I do all I can to keep my area of the world toxic free and organic to help support our bees and butterflies.

Last year during one of my quilt shop hoppings I came across a pattern for a bee mini quilt/wall hanging.  I certainly didn't need another project, but with my love of bees I couldn't pass this one by.  The pattern is called "bzzzzzz mini quilt" from Whole Circle Studio.  So I bought the pattern and put it in a pile of projects on my to-do-list.  Certainly not helping my mission to catch up on my UFOs.

Well along came a challenge in March through the AuSable Quilt Guild.  We were challenged to use a paint color swatch strip with gradients of a color ranging from light to dark.  With this paint swatch we were to create something using these gradients of color.  I needed something I could complete by our next monthly meeting - it couldn't be too big.  Looking through my to-do projects I came across the bzzzzz mini quilt pattern I purchased last year.  Bingo - this would work with my color swatch - yellowish/gold.  To make this challenge even better I had all the fabric I needed in my stash, including the backing.

The pattern is for a square wall hanging, however, the bees are constructed in a hexagon with corner pieces added to square it off.  I really liked the hexagon shape and decided I would like this to be a table topper for my dining room table - it is the perfect size.  So I did not square it off.

Quilt table topper with paint color swatch.

The April guild meeting came along and I laid out my creation with the other guild member participants.  Everyone came up with wonderful pieces ranging from quilt squares to stuffed animals and everything in-between.  Such talented ladies.  I didn't know it was a competition.  I thought it was just a fun challenge.  I didn't even know members were voting on their favorite.  To my surprise my creation was voted first place.  When it was announced I had won first place I was very confused, because I didn't even know there was any voting going on.  I didn't vote for anyone - I just enjoyed seeing how everyone embraced this challenge.  How fun.  And I almost didn't participate.  Luckily this table topper pattern caught my eye and I decided this was the time to execute it.

Well - the flowers are blooming and the butterflies and bees are buzzing around.  It's time to put this table topper on my table and go outside and walk in the dirt!

It's a family affair

A year and a half ago my sister and I went to Shipshewana, Indiana.  As we were shopping around we stopped into Yoders Department Store.  They have a wonderful fabric department - lots of great cotton quilting material.  Hanging on the the wall was a beautiful gray, red and black quilt called Stars & Shadows.  It was featured on the cover of Quilt Sampler spring/summer 2016 magazine.  My sister loved the quilt.  The colors tie in perfect with her modern farmhouse decor.

Now my sister doesn't sew, but she knew she could talk me into making this quilt for her.  I agreed with one condition - she had to help in the process.  So the process began.  We had to make a California-King quilt to go on her bed.

I figured she could help by placing squares together for me to sew.  She could cut, trim and iron the pieces. With my sister living three hours away our sewing time was limited and the process dragged out, but when we got together we had a great production line going.  In fact, as my sister and I were busy with our assigned jobs my mom even jumped in and helped sort squares and trim threads.  From the printed pattern we made extra blocks and increased the border to accommodate a California-King bed making the final size 96" by 103".

During one of our get togethers a nine year old boy named Mason wanted to help.  I sat him at the sewing machine and showed him what to do.  He caught on immediately and did a great job.  When his father came to pick him up he didn't want to leave.  He wanted to continue sewing.  I enjoy teaching younger kids to sew and do crafts. 

 Here's Mason busy at the sewing machine.

This past weekend the quilt is completely done. I will be delivering it to my sister next weekend.  With plenty of leftover fabric that we will make a couple pillow shams to coordinated with this quilt.  Pictures to come in the future.  Here is our Stars & Shadows quilt.

With the pillow shams finished this project is done.   My sister said that she never makes her bed, but now she will make her bed every day.  She likes it! And she got an idea on the amount of work that goes into making a quilt.  We had fun.

Mother's Day was this past weekend and I'm reminded that my mother jumped in to help make this quilt.  Unfortunately, she never got to see the finished quilt - she passed away this January.  Us girls made a great sewing unit and had lots of chatter, laughs and food during the process.  This finished quilt has a special beautiful memory.  Truly a family affair.

Bloom

Back around ten years ago I made Amy Butler's pattern called "Bloom Quilt"  with her fabrics for my daughter.  In the pattern the quilt top is covered with different sized yo-yos.  I thought this was a little too much and instead made the basic quilt with the ruffles as directed, but I made decorative pillows to match that I sewed the yo-yos on.  

At the time that I made this quilt and pillows she liked it, but has since outgrown it.  She now lives in Los Angeles as an interior design.  She has her own style and this quilt didn't work.  She came to visit during Easter week and returned the quilt.  It now will stay on her childhood bed.

Shortly after making this quilt for my daughter I made the basic quilt for my daughter-in-law.  She loves pinks so of course her quilt is made in hot pink fabrics.  The quilt top is easier to see in this picture than the previous quilt picture since the fabrics are more contrasting.

This is a picture of the ruffle and the backing.

As I wait anxiously for my flowers to start popping out of the ground these two quilts named Bloom seem appropriate for the season.

It makes my brown eyes blue - Log Cabin

Staying on my mission to use my fabric stash and try not to purchase any more fabrics, I've completed a queen-sized long cabin quilt.  It didn't cost me a penny out of my pocket more.  I even had the 108" backing fabric.  Blue is my favorite color and of course I had plenty of blue fabric stash.  No worries, I still gave plenty of blue fabric stash.  This quilt hardly dented my stash.

This is the second log cabin quilt I've made.  Although not as scrappy as my first one, it is scrappy with a set color scheme of blue and white. My 10" blocks are made of one inch finished strips.The outer border of each long cabin block is finished with navy blue fabric and I carried that color to the outside border with half-square triangle blocks which makes a saw tooth pattern.  I think it adds a great accent. 

 I quilt by hand drawing edge to edge on my longarm quilter. This quilt  I drew a paisley/swirl quilting design. 

The snow is finally gone - at least as of today.  So I was able to go outside to snap this picture.  Hooray!

 I think this is my favorite quilt.  But wait, I think I say that after I finish each quilt.  What do you think?

Tea for me and you

During March's Midnight Stitchers sewing group one of the ladies came up with a pattern to make a tea bag holder for carrying in our purse.  After reviewing the pattern it seemed very bulky with lots of folded material.  We we came up with a more simplified version.

The pouch to hold the tea bag has a velcro closure.  I added a decorative button on the front, however the button had a protruding piece on the back to sew it on - so I cut it off and glued the button on.  Here is my final product.

This is the inside with a tea bag tucked in.

A cute quick project - after the pattern was revamped.  I'll be making a few more of these from fabric scraps.

Spring has sprung?

The first day of spring has finally arrived!  Although the days are starting to get longer - the ground around my house is still covered with snow and it even snowed today.   Celebrating spring I hung my tulip quilt on my front porch will the hope of warmer days and flowers popping out of the ground soon.  However, I am in spring cleaning mode.  In my sewing studio I have a pile of UFOs that accumulated over the past few months.  Here's what I've managed to complete the last couple days.

First a quilted beach mat for my toddler grandson.  This was made from a panel that a sewing friend gave me from her UFO stash.  I certainly didn't want to put it aside in my stash - I got to work and here it is finished!  The finished size is 30" by 40 1/2".  Not only is it functional, but it is educational as a counting exercise.

With the first day of spring wool mittens is not on the top of my project list, but again I do not want to pack this away to my stash.  So this weekend within a couple hours I cleared another UFO off my sewing table and finished these mittens.  These mittens came out beautiful.  And hey, it snowed today so I will get to use them now.

Two UFOs down and few more to go.  Spring cleaning can be fun.  Check and see what clears my UFO pile next.

How it grows

I'm loving the longer days, but it reminds me that my sewing time will pretty much come to a halt in a couple months. 

I'm feeling overwhelmed.  By no fault but my own,  I'm trying to stay focused on finishing a project - yet I'm letting my UFO projects list grow by letting other projects jump right in.   However, I'm staying on track with my goal to use up my stash fabrics.

With the Valentine fabric my sewing friend gave me I ended up making three Valentines table toppers in February - one for me, and one for each of my two daughter-in-laws.  I was determined not to add any of that fabric to my stash.  Check - all that fabric was used up.

Last month another sewing friend gave my some wonderful kids fabric projects that she never used.  Determined not to put these project in my stash I went right to work.  The first is fabric panels called "My Favorite Things Growth Chart" by Nancy Halvorsen.  She gave me one for a girl and one for a boy.  Coincidently, I have a toddler granddaughter and grandson that will be used by them.  On the side of the panel is a marked measuring chart to mark the progress of their growth. The directions state to hang the panel 24" from the floor - the chart starts at 24".  Also suggests to use an ultra-fine point Sharpie pen to mark the date of the measurement on a pin (use super glue on the pin to keep it from falling out).  This part of the directions is vague, so I'll have to some research to figure out what pin will work.  

Not only did I receive these fabric panels, but I also was given the metal holders to hang the panels from.  The craft holder is called Classic Motifs made by Ackfeld Manufacturing.  I certainly will refer to this company in the future for hanging projects.  

 I finished both growth charts to give to my grandkids.  Check - another project off my sewing table. However, my friend gave me another kids fabric panel that I'm almost finished with.  Hopefully I will finish and post in the next couple days.

Heads up, I have several other projects that have become UFOs since the first of the year.  My goal is to catch up with these UFOs - a log cabin quilt which I've pieced, just needs quilting - mittens made from wool sweaters, cut and ready to be assembled - a barn quilt pieced, but needs quilting - finish piecing the Indian Wedding Ring quilt and quilt - plus a few little odds and ends.  As you can see it will be a busy next six weeks.  The positive coming from this is I only purchased two yards of fabric for the  backing of the kids projects - with only a few scraps added to my stash.

With all this going on I'm determined to keep my projects from growing!

Roses are Red - Violets are Blue

 This Heart designed quilt - Sends Valentine's love to you.

In elementary school Valentine's Day was always a fun holiday to celebrate.  Before the big day a school project would be to make a container (mailbox) to receive our Valentine's in.  At home I would sign all my Valentine's to distribute to classmates.  I love the cheesy rhymes on Valentine's to this day.  The cheesier the better.  It was fun to pass out my Valentine's, but it was the more fun reading all the ones I received.  To this day I give my kids cheesy Valentine's.

Well, back to a heart designed quilt.  Several months ago one of my quilting friends handed me a five inch Charm pack of Valentine printed fabric.  She won it as a door prize and told me that she would never use it.  I told her I'd do something with it.  

Last week Missouri Star Quilt had a U-Tube demonstration to make a heart quilt called "Cross Your Heart".  In the demonstration they used four - five inch charm packs plus yardage to make an 83" by 83" quilt.  I'm on a mission to use up my stash (and try not to purchase anymore fabric) so that demonstration reminded me that I had a Valentine charm pack to use.  I didn't want to make a full size quilt, but a table topper would be quick, fun and help reduce my stash. And I'd make one charm pack work.

Having only one charm pack plus yardage of white and some red I made 2" half-square triangles.  A five inch square can make 8 half-square triangles (eight 2" or finished 1 1/2".  I never made a Valentine's table topper or runner before, so that became my mission.

I rearranged the finished hearts so they would face two different directions since it would be on a table.   My finished size table topper is 27 1/2 by 27 1/2 inches.  It fits on my dining room table perfectly. My plan is to offer it to my kids, but if no takers it will find a spot on my table every Valentine's holiday.

This was an easy, fun project that from start to finish only took a couple days.  I still have a little more Valentine fabric, maybe I'll be making another table topper.

Spread your Love!   Back to scrap busting.

So it Crows

 With the New Year beginning I'm finishing up my posting for 2021 projects.

"So it Crows" is a wall hanging I made to display on my front porch for the months of August and September.  This is a fun pattern by Karen M. Walker from Laugh Yourself Into Stitches.

I actually finished it towards the end of September, but after I took it off my long-arm frame I notices I had a large tuck of fabric going across the back.  I had that moment thinking who will ever see the back - I should just not worry about it.  Then I came back to reality and started ripping out the quilting stitches in about half the quilt.  I watched many movies during that process.  It takes at least three to four times longer unquilting verses quilting.  The wall hanging was requilted and the end result is perfect.  As I say anything worth doing is worth doing right.

I love crows and sunflowers.  In my neck of the woods we still have hot sunny days when the sunflowers are in bloom and the crows gather in the trees.  Did you know that a group of crows are called a murder and it is believed to signify that there will be a death, thus the name murder.   I read that one crow is bad luck, but evidently two, three and four crows mean good luck or fortune.  As the number of crows grow it signifies bad luck.  I guess with the number of crows on this quilt it's unlucky, but I love it anyways.

I can't wait until August swings around to display this quilt on my front porch.

My goal for this new year, 2022, is to be more productive.  So many great ideas for quilts on my wish list to accomplish, but time seems to slip by to quickly.  If I could finish a quilt each month that could add 12 checks off my list.  So I'm accepting the challenge - let's see how I do!

Happy New Year to all my friends and family.  Let the good times roll.