Fun Sewing

My Christmas rush ended a week ago when our son came to visit.  We had all of our shopping and wrapping done by then so we could celebrate early with him.  His fiancee had a last minute work problem that kept her home, so we didn't get a chance to see her, but we are travelling to see them tomorrow so all is well.

Since the rush was over a week ago, we relaxed and enjoyed a really fun week.  We went to the movies - TWICE!  That never happens.  We attended some group gatherings with friends and a retirement party for a former co-worker which meant I got to see lots of people that I hadn't seen in years.  We went to the early service on Christmas Eve which is planned to be children inclusive and it was so sweet.  I got to see lots of visiting grandchildren and families.  The church glowed with soft lights and candles and the message was perfect like God's love.

I also got to sew this week with out feeling rushed.  I finished the top for the Florida quilt I started in May.

I wish you could see how cute this border fabric is in person.  It photographs as tan, but it is really a buttery yellow background.

Love the color bar in the selvage, too.

I also made a single block for a quilt from Kathleen Tracy's Civil War Quilt book.  I love her color sense.

I received this beautiful punch needle piece from my friend, Barb.  She is the queen of punch needle  We always tease her because the backs of her pieces are as perfect as the front.  She quilts this way too.  No ravellings or hanging threads for Barb!  LOL!

A church friend gave me this little piece.  It is so cute and it glows in the dark!!

 The message is so true!!

Enjoy the rest of your holiday adventures.  I'm linking to Judy's blog today.

It's Monday Again

We have been in a whirlwind around here getting ready for Christmas.  I'm sure it's the same for everyone.  Seems like I always think I can get more done than I actually accomplish, including making gifts for others.  Our daughter is still here with us for a couple more weeks and our son came home for the weekend, so we celebrated Christmas early with just the 4 of us.  Our son's fiancee was unable to join us as she had work duties that kept her home.  Luckily we will see them again right after Christmas.

Here's what I have been working on.  Another stocking for our mantel.

The house I grew up in did not have a fireplace.  It had a brick chimney like you see on the rooftop of every house that Santa ever landed on with his sleigh and reindeer.  As a child,  I simply could not fathom that we had a chimney, but no fireplace.  How would Santa get in?  I remember scouring the house trying to locate the fireplace that went with that chimney to no avail.  As an adult, I swore I would have a fireplace someday.  My first house had no fireplace, so I had one put in.  When we built the house we are in now, we made the fireplace a focal point in our family room.  There is something special about a nice cozy fire, especially at Christmas time.

The cardinal stocking is from a pattern designed by Erin Russek of One Piece at a Time.  The other stocking I made when our daughter was a baby.  I started a stocking for our son when he was a babe, but it is still not done. LOL.

I also made a snowman quilt for a friend.  It had to be done last week so I could ship it to her in time for Christmas.  Nothing like a deadline to keep me hopping.

I love the lanterns that have become popular the last year or two, so I hopped over to Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago when they were on sale and found one I liked.  I love to comb over the photos on Pinterest and found a tutorial for making a lantern swag.  Back to Hobby Lobby I went for floral picks and ribbon and whipped up the decoration for my lantern.  It is bright and cheery. It's also so big, you can barely see the lantern. LOL! I filled the bottom of the lantern with leftover ornaments.

We had lots of snow this weekend, like most of the upper midwest.  It is so nice to have a White Christmas.  That is one plus of living in Wisconsin.  It is pretty well guaranteed every year.

Blessings on you and yours for the Christmas season.

Hop over to Judy's blog to see more fun designs.

Designing Monday

A little sewing has been done around here lately.  I love getting ready for the holidays.  I made two little ornaments for a church craft sale that is comng up next weekend.  If I have time, I will make a mug rug or two.

I am also working on a stocking for the mantel.  I have not hand appliqued for awhile and I could really tell.  I think by the 5th leaf I made some adjustments and they are turning out a bit better.  Maybe by next Monday I will have this done and hanging.

Oh, yes.   Our sweet daughter came home late last night after two days of flying.  She has been in Turkey for the last two years working and we are so happy to have her home.  Two years is a long time to not see your child in person.  Today we celebrate her birthday!

Stop by Judy's blog to see more lovely designs.

Designing Monday

I seem to have lost my excitement for blogging, although I certainly still find time to read plenty of them.  I always enjoy finding out what others are making and look for inspiration to get me to the sewing machine.  I think my blogging is definitely a function of the amount that I sew.  No sew = no blog.

I did get this little quilt finished last week.  I always struggle with the quilting of every piece.  So I basically followed the designer's lead.  I looked at her finished piece on the pattern and tried to emulate it.  I started this piece in a class from Gail Garber in October.

 Gail had a box of ceramic buttons that a friend of hers made.  Gail carries the box with her and sells these fun buttons for her friend.  They are such a fun accent.

 I used a variegated thread to quilt the borders.

 I think the little house needs something over the door.  Maybe a  tiny wreath.  I have a circle attachment for my machine, but I don't know if it will go that small - 1" dia.  

The objective of the class was to learn how to piece flying geese and other objects like the tree in a curved shape and how to sew them to the background.  Mine turned out pretty well, but sewing that curve over the point of the tree was a little tricky.

Welcome to my little house!!

Hop over to Judy's blog  to see more beautiful designs.

Progress Made

I found some time to finish piecing this top together today.  I like how it turned out.  There were a few errors in the pattern which didn't help matters, but I made it thru.  Looking forward to getting it quilted and on the wall.

A Fun Class

I had the chance to take a fun class last week through our guild.  The teacher was Gail Garber.  I didn't know who she was, but I have seen her work and was glad I got the chance to meet her and learn some new skills.  The quilt I recognized immediately has been used in Bernina print ads for the last several years.  Here is a link if you are interested.  I am sure you will recognize it too.  You can see her other work at the link too.

Anyway, we learned how to do curved paper piecing and join it to other curved pieces.  We started by making this tree.

Then we spent the afternoon learning to draft other curved pieces using a flexible curve.  Here is a sampler quilt that Gail made that shows lots of possibilities.

We purchased a pattern for the class and since then I have made two more parts.  One is a strip of flying geese and the second a house.  Maybe by next week I will have it all put together.

This was definitely a class I enjoyed and I hope I can take these skills forward and make my own creation using some curved piecing.

My other sewing the last couple of weeks was making 3 more pillowcases for the children's center near our church.

I love these little dogs in the snow in their sweaters!

Hop over to Judy's blog to see more works in progress.

Fall is Here!

Our leaves are starting to change and the temperatures are starting to turn brisk and cool.  The A/C is off and the windows are open to let in the cool air.  It is soup weather for sure and I have a pot of borscht in the fridge.

I whipped up this Dresden Table Topper from Luann's design at Loose Threads.  It is going to my church for a potluck dinner.  Our church quilting group is the featured topic this month and we are supplying the table decorations.  The group makes pillowcases and small quilts for children who are clients of the Willowbrook center, an advocacy group for abused or neglected children.

I finished the 2 Halloween quilts from last post and got them in the mail to others.  Now I need to finish mine and get it on the wall.

Designing Monday

I have been doing some fun Halloween sewing for the last couple of weeks.  I saw this little quilt on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago and then two days later the designer and her husband had a booth at Quilt Expo in Madison.  Their pattern company is called Bloomin' Minds.  How cute is this little quilt?!

 The border fabric is from a line called Cheeky Wee Pumpkins.  It has the cutest selvage.

I am making 3 of them and have two quilted.  I should have them finished this week and in the mail to special people.  One is for my sister and one is for a friend whose birthday is on Halloween and she definitely needs this quilt.  The third is mine, mine, mine, my little pretties.  Oops!  Got carried away there.

I have changed out all my summer quilts for my fall quilts and pulled out the Halloween decorations. Last Wednesday night, our church decor committee got our sanctuary decorated for fall, too.  It is starting to look a little fallish here.  The trees are just starting to turn, which is pretty late for us.  My garden is still producing, so I haven't even cleaned it out yet.  Can't believe it is October already.

Hop over to Judy's blog to see more fun designs.

Blue & White Day

Today is Blue & White Day at the Sentimental Quilter Yahoo Group.  Each month or sometimes every other month the group is challenged to make a small quilt following some theme.  This time it is blue & white.  Here is my entry.

I posted the beginnings of this awhile back and got it finished pretty quickly, but couldn't reveal it until today.  When the them of b&w was announced, I did a google search or on pinterest to find something.  There was an antique quilt just like this one that was a doll quilt that had seen lots of lovin'.  I loved it too.

If you are not a member of the group, you just need to ask to join and then you can see all the great little quilts that are posted for all the challenges and join in the fun.  To find the group, go to the Sentimental Quilter blog and find the yahoo group on the right sidebar.

A Day of Quilts

Last week was Quilt Expo in Madison, WI.  This is a fund raiser for Wisconsin Public Television and Nancy Zieman is the main sponsor along with many sewing and quilting related businesses.  It is a pretty good show although the number of really fabulous quilts that one would see at an AQS or Houston type show is limited.  This year however, there was a special exhibit of quilts by Marilyn Badger and Claudia Meyers.  Since these two are typically award winners at every show they enter, it was a treat to see so many gorgeous complex quilts in one place.  Both ladies were there to discuss their work with viewers.

I only took one photo as it was so crowded.  I intended to go back at the end of the day when the crowd had thinned out and take more, but I was just too pooped.  Here is my one photo.

Isn't this adorable?  I cut off the borders, but you can see the top one is a black and white print that is scalloped.  The sides are also scalloped in pink and white stripe like the awning.  So cute!!!

I bought one pattern and some little snowflake buttons.  The pattern is Halloween themed and here is my start.  Maybe by next week I will have it done.  My plan is to make 3 total.

 Here is my group of friends.  We had such a fun day laughing and shopping.  I am blessed to have them in my life.

I am linking up to Judy's blog.

Designing Monday

I actually got some quilt type sewing in this week.  I pieced this cute RW&B top for fun after I saw it on Pinterest.  Anybody else do this?  I love finding new ideas and figuring out how to piece something.  I like the math part.

Kathleen Tracy of the Sentimental Quilter blog hosts a monthly challenge for her Yahoo group.  This month's theme is Blue & White.  Once more, Pinterest came to the rescue.  I found a cute little quilt that was just what I wanted.  I drew up the pattern and got busy.  There will be a group trunk show via Facebook in September, so I won't be showing a pieced top or finished quilt until then.  Here are some of the pieces.

A few of these 

And one of these

And a long strip like this.  

Hmmm.  Wonder what it might be!!

Be sure to hop over to Judy's blog.

Better Late Than Never Tuesday

Hot days and sunny weather are so foreign to Wisconsin summers that I have been trying to take advantage everyday.  Somedays I just sit on the deck and read the paper or sip a drink to keep cool.  My tiny garden is taking off and we are enjoying every veggie that comes our way.  We have been trying to grow grapes for several years and this year appeared to be our year for purple grapes.  And then came the turkeys.  I checked today and there are only about 3 small clusters left and none have ripened yet, so I guess they have pretty well cleaned us out.  They have the cutest babies - 8 of them.

My sewing this week has been pillowcases for a local group.  There is a place near our church that offers services for children that may be abused or in need of counseling. It is their aim to provide each child they serve with a quilt, a teddy bear, a book, and a pillowcase.  We have made several quilts for them and now are working on pillowcases.  Our church quilting group offered 4 workshops for church members to come and sew one pillowcase for themselves and one for this child's advocacy place.  Lots of fabric was donated and the quilt group made up kits ahead of time and set up machines for others to come in and learn.  I was able to get 3 done the first time I went and this past week I brought home lots of fabric and made up 5 more.

These prints are just so cute and were from someone's stash that no longer sews.  They appeared to be 10 - 15 years old.  Hopefully they will stand up to washing and lots of use.

 Cute double decker buses.

 Very busy on route 66

 Love the pink VW buses

 Got the stripe at Hobby Lobby.  I have bought this fabric 3 times in 3 months.  It goes with everything!

 A dark blue green solid from someone's stash

and Voila!  5 Pillowcases 

Linking up to Judy's blog