One Christmas Item

Been so busy, doing alot, but no finishing alot until . . . Quilt symposium! Our guild hosted the symposium and I took two classes. One was a wool stitching class, not finished, but more fun than I thought it would be. The other class was on how to make a "Chelsea Tote" by Lazy Girl Designs. It's a purse/tote/backpack and soooo cute! It was very easy, and I was able to finish the bag during the 3 hour class. My DD picked out the fabrics (from my stash :D) so I gave her the one I made in class. I had quilted a yard of the "cover" fabric so I had enough to make another which will go to one of the 11 people this year who have been earmarked as getting a purse/tote for Christmas!! The second one turned out nicer as I had more time. I hate throwing anything away, so from the scraps I made the sunglass cases and snap bags. I would have made the sunglass cases wider if I hadn't been using scraps. More to follow soon. Happy Quilting !!

Happy Mother's Day !!

Just a note while the DH and and DD go out to grab some more ingredients for a lovely meal they have planned for me tonight! I have been so busy that I don't just wish for more hours in the day or more days in the week, I want a mini me to start helping out around here! We redid our kitchen this winter and we kept the old cabinets and counter tops. My hubby is putting some in the garage and shed for organizing and I am getting some for my quilting studio! I have been feeling very cluttered and overwhelmed by all of the stuff I have accumulated and while very pleased with all that I have been able to complete since joining OPAM I have also started to realize that I will not be able to "do it all" and that I need to go through it and make some tough decisions . . . A task that previously would depress me, so I would do a bit and then feeling so overwhelmed - do NOTHING for a very long time. Not very productive. Well, I am done waiting for helpful little quilting elves, gnomes or fairies to work their magic while I sleep, I have rolled up my sleeves and have gone to work. The pictures are of some before and some during - which is why it looks like my room was ransacked! Hopefully you will see the "after" photos soon! Not today though - I am getting a pedicure from my DD and I am going to watch a couple of very girly, Jane Austenish movies and eat a yummy meal later! Happy Quilting! Poor Hermione! She walked into the studio, saw the mess everywhere (including her kitty tower) and fell over in a dead faint! Drama kitty! : )

Xmas Project

Good thing this challenge is only 1 Xmas project a month, other wise I'd be in trouble! Here is my Christmas table runner. It is also an UFO that I am happy to finish and I used 1/3 yd for the backing so this helped mark off an item in a few categories! I am working on a quilt for my eldest nephew's Christmas present, but it's taking longer than I thought it would (good thing I got an early start!) Speaking of nephews - my great nephew Gus has received his package, so I can show you some more April finishes! My brother still had his original high chair, which he used for my niece, and then had refinished for his Grandson, my nephew! Well, needless to say the original cushion did not make it and my niece could not find one on line, so they used a quilt and belt until . . .

My niece's husband send the measurements of the chair and my dh made a cardboard replica of the back and seat so I made my pattern from that.
I had never sewn anything remotely like this before, so it took a few tries !

After my first attempt that I realized that I needed something, but wasn't sure what that something was until my niece just happened to send me a link to show me some owls she liked,

sewlittlefabric.blogspot/2011/03/0wl-softie-free-patterntutorial.html (I cannot get the link to work) While reading the instructions I discovered that the "something" I needed was a gusset! Had never heard of it. Kind of sounds like an old fashioned name for some kind of fancy lingerie ! Anyway that did the trick, and I would have never figured it out without Paula's help. Thank you! When my niece came for her latest visit, I didn't have it done, I sent the red & beige trial run to them to make sure it would fit and she brought it back, marked where the ties & belt would go. Gus used it as a play mat while he was here (he seems to like it) To make his mom happy I designed it so that the cushions would be secured by velcro, but she could remove them to wash the cover (I even remembered to prewash it)

I had some quilted fabric left over so I made matching bibs and used leftover bindings to finish them off. 2 2/3 yds fabric OUT! April has been a good recycling month. = ) Happy Quilting !!

Hoppy Easter!!

Pretty corny, I know, couldn't resist! Also couldn't resist sharing a photo of one of the best uses of selvedges in a long time! When I went downstairs this morning my Easter Hunny had put out these yummy treats for me, he had wrapped them with selvedges! I love to recycle and hate throwing things away so I save my selvedges! I have used them to tie up batting and QOV quilts to be quilted that are handed out at guild meetings & workshops. I use them to keep my panto patterns together. I keep my panto patterns in an oatmeal container, which are decorated with my daughters artwork when she was 6 or 7 yrs old and I keep the artwork on with selvedges! I used to use rubberbands but they dry rot and fall off. The ball of fluff in the photo with the quilts has a rubberband addiction so we try not to have any in the house at all. I also tie selvedges in the holes of my rulers and to my rotary cutters so they don't get lost when I bring them to classes, workshops etc., it also makes it easier to hang them up. Do you save your selvedges? What do you use them for? I hope you all had a great Easter!

Happy Quilting!

Eggstra Special Card!!

Today's mail brought an eggstra special treat - What a sweet card - what a cute boy - what a clever niece! Love this card, he is such a sweet, happy little boy. We miss him. Sigh. Mailed them a package yesterday, won't show everything I mailed as some will be a surprise. I combined things for my Gram and for my niece and her family to save on postage. I quilted another baby coins quilt for my Gram. This does it for those, just have squares and plain flannel to finish for her.

I also included this little pink quilt, I showed it to my dn while she was visiting, I made it 4 or 5 years ago, our Sunday school class was going to make little quilts for the NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit) at a pediatric hospital but didn't find a point of contact so we made fleece blankets for social services children instead. Since baby Gus spent the first 37 days of his life in the NICU in Maine, she knits little hats and sends them, so I gave it to her to send to them, and of course it got buried under a bunch of fabric before she left and we both forgot about it. I have been getting some things done so I found it and it's on it's way! Below is March's QOV. I had it quilted before the 31st, I just could not find a proper blue or red for the binding, so when I attended the QOV workshop after returning from bringing my dn and dgn back, I bought the binding at Nancy's Calico, which is where I bought the blue and red. So 1/2 of a yard in, but 2 1/3 yrds out! It would have been more but the final border and backing were donated, so I can't count that as part of my stash. Lots more to finish, so for now . . . Happy Quilting!!

I was RAAKed !!!

Been a very busy week or so, lots done but not alot of computer time. I only have a few minutes before I have to turn over the computer to the children so I will just quickly blog about what happened to me at Tuesday night's guild meeting, well after the guild meeting. It was late, cold raindrops had started sprinkling down from the black moonless sky as I walked briskly towards my truck. The only sounds were the click click of the heels of my boots and the tinkling of my keys as I rushed for cover. Quickly unlocking the door, I suddenly noticed a shadow on my windshield, climbing up into my seat I stopped . . . was that a . . . newspaper rolled up under my windshield wipers??? I reached outside flipping the wiper up and grabbed the plastic roll. Sitting back down in the drivers seat I examined the package. It wasn't a newspaper at all it was . . .

.

Just HOW COOL IS THAT??? Wasn't that so nice of someone? I would just love to know who was the nice person who blessed me with such a beautiful mat (you should see the textures!) and such a nice surprise! Happy Quilting! : )

Whooooo's Come For A Visit?

We have had a wonderful end of March - beginning of April visit with my Niece and her baby, Gus! It has not all been diapers and baby goo -(I am laughing because it's not like I have changed even one diaper, I get to do all the fun stuff!) My niece brought along some really neat fabric and a great idea for a wall hanging project for Gus's room. She got the pattern from Paula's blog at sewlittlefabric.blogspot.com . I am going to make a softie for the Australian Flood relief when I return from bring my visitors back to Massachusetts. I have done a link before, but I can't get it to work today. Anyway we made three of them, I did the limited sewing on the project, with my niece designing the placement and adding the personality to each of the owls - they are soooo CUTE! But I get to count them as my first finishes for April (no fooling) ha ha ha - I know that is very bad but I am pretty tired so I am entitled. :) Here's a couple of photos; all of the wall hangings, and the very handsome recipient! Happy Quilting!!