A few more gifts done. I'm in the home stretch!

I made a few little pincushions as gifts for some friends. 

We have a thing about ladybugs...

The other one was my trial one. They looked harder to do than they were. I think I put too much filling in them though because they're not as squishy as the one I received as a gift.

They're filled with crushed walnut shells which keep the pins and needles nice and sharp.

One project to go. I just may make it!

The bag lady returns

The bag lady returns, this time with a couple of rag tote bags.

I'm happy with the way this one turned out. I absolutely love the button I found. It looks to me like it was made to go with this fabric line.

I had a brain freeze in the middle of the project though and remembered that I'd forgotten to put pockets in the bag. So I made a little zippered pouch to go with the bag.



I'm not at all happy with this one. Although I remembered to put pockets in, nothing else seemed to work out right. The fabrics didn't fray like they should have and the overall look isn't what I had in mind.

The back of the blue fabric is actually almost white and it doesn't look very nice where it peeks through on the raggy seams. I'm hoping, in time and with use, that the edges will fray better.

It's frustrating when that vision in your head doesn't translate itself into the finished product. Oh well. As my dear mother would have said (or sung loudly!) Que sera, sera!



My new motto

I was cleaning out my sewing room, going through bins and trying to find some patterns that I know are in there somewhere when I found this almost finished pillow.  I remember making it 3-4 years ago,  getting frustrated with it and tossing it in a pile to deal with later.  The poor thing has too many issues to be gifted, with its wonky ruffle and all, but I couldn't bear to just throw it away either. So, a handful of stuffing, a quick stitch of the opening, and it's finished. I'll put it under the tree as a decoration this year and then probably rip it apart and try again another day.

I love the chocolate chip cookie buttons.

Now I think I need a cookie.

Oh Christmas Tree

I put up three Christmas trees most years. It's just something I do.

 I have the traditional red, white and gold white one in the front room and the family room tree has only handmade ornaments on it.

Perhaps my favorite tree is the vacation tree. For the past 15 years or so I've been collecting ornaments from places we've visited. It's so much fun to decorate this tree each December and reminisce about those fun trips.

Santa surfing ornament from a trip to Hawaii.

The Mission San Xavier del Bac in Tucson, Arizona

The beautiful Athenaeum Hotel in charming Chautauqua, New York

A fun trip to Alaska

A bookmark from our trip to Korea. Christmas ornaments were not to be found anywhere so I had to get creative. 

A maple leaf from Vermont

Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia

A reminder of the beautiful fish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

I have dozens more on the tree from Epcot Center, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Moon Lake, Kennedy Space Center, Sisters Oregon, Nauvoo, Boston, Tahoe, Oklahoma City, Phoenix.....

I wish that I had started my collection years before. I guess all I can do is head back to places we've visited before and collect an ornament from there.

Hopefully the next ornament on the tree will be from Poland! That's the dream anyway.

My Christmas quilt finished....in time!

I actually started and finished a quilt within a calendar year. I think that's a record for me. I have many starts, but few finishes!  This was a BOM I got from Keepsake Quilting. When the first packet arrived I cringed because I really didn't like some of the fabrics and would never have chosen them on my own. I debated for a while but finally decided to persist and I'm glad I did. Although some fabrics still aren't my favorite, I like the overall finished product.

The center medallion alone had 145 pieces in it. This quilt was a much larger undertaking than I had initially bargained for. It didn't look that complicated in the catalog picture!

I really like the backing fabric. It has an almost Victorian feel to me with beautiful Christmas colors.

I told the LAQ to custom quilt it, using her imagination. She did an amazing job. I love the little squiggly lines in this piece.



I like how she made each block unique.

My favorite quilting is the feathery leafy thing she did in the large border. I couldn't get a picture to do it justice. She's a very talented quilter. Thanks Tara!



Too late for this year...

But I'm early for next year!

I pieced this last fall and then stitched in the ditch with invisible thread. I was halfway through binding it and decided that I just wasn't happy with it.

So I took the binding off and unpicked all the quilting and threw it in a corner. This year I took it to a local LAQ and told her to use her imagination on it. I'm much happier with it now.

I think she did a great job and I absolutely love the squiggles she did on the acorn.

Now to fold it away until next fall.



Sometimes my ideas work

When we were remodeling the living room a year ago, I decided to get rid of the old disgusting fireplace screen that was nothing but a dust catcher. I thought it wouldn't be any problem to find a replacement. Well....fast forward a year and we still have an ugly gaping hole because it's an odd size and the available fireplace screens don't fit.

I've been putting up with it because I want to install a gas fireplace there and when that happens, we'll get a custom screen/door to fit the opening. Until then, we have an ugly gaping black hole. I considered getting a nice quilt stand and displaying a quilt there, but the stands were so expensive and still weren't the right size.

I finally couldn't stand it anymore today and then a lightbulb went on.  A bit of fabric from my stash, some sticky Velcro, and voila, no more gaping black hole.  It's not the perfect solution but it helps a lot.

Now my mind is racing with the possibilities of pieced quilts to hang there; snowflakes in January, hearts in February, shamrocks in March....  What do you think?

Family > Quilting

It's been a tough few weeks with Dad being in and out and back in the hospital. It's been a time to reflect on the importance of family and to remember some great times together.

In between trips to the hospital and trying to keep up on work and home responsibilities, I decided I needed some sewing therapy time. That wasn't a good idea. I had nothing but problems with this block which is the fourth one in the Moosequilts QAL. Stretched bias seams, cut off points, etc. I finally decided in the wise words of my brother that "it is what it is."

In the overall scheme of things this quilt block really doesn't matter. So it's time for me to get back to the things that matter most, with family being right there on the top of the list.

A finish and a gift

I finally finished my first paper pieced project. It was definitely a learning experience. I'm pleased with it overall but there are some things I will change when I try again. Although the purple is growing on me now I wasn't happy with it when I first finished the project. Purple leaves?

A good friend brought over a couple of darling little pillows for me. They're so cute and there's so much work in them. The fabrics are all from Bound to the Prairie lines by Moda.

I thought they looked really cute sitting with the leaves quilt.

It's nice to have talented friends!





The best laid plans

But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!

-Robert Burns-

2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War

I thought it fitting that I should do something concrete to commemorate that, especially after our visit to Gettysburg and surrounding areas last fall.

Homestead Hearth came up with a beautiful quilt they called Civil War Chronicles with fabrics by Judie Rothermel.

From the Homestead Hearth web page: "The Civil War Chronicles BOM quilt features twelve blocks that tell the stories of twelve women who encountered their own struggles on the homefront while their husbands were away. Each pattern includes historical background and biographies about the generals' wives."

What a wonderful idea. I eagerly signed up, anticipating that I would faithfully complete each month's blocks on schedule so that by the end of this year I would have a quilt to help me remember.

That's where the "best laid schemes" come to play.  I've received 10 of 12 packages and haven't opened the first one yet.  So much for great intentions.



What to do? What to do?

There are times when this quilting hobby of mine becomes more of a stress inducer than a stress reliever. Case in point.

This quilt in progress is supposed to have log cabin blocks alternating with split star blocks. It's a beautiful pattern.

I got all 28 log cabin blocks done as posted a few days ago. They went quickly and I was happy with them.

Then....I started the split star block. It was kind of a pain but I got it done and it looks nice too.

Then came the traumatic moment. The log cabin blocks, while all basically the same size, are much smaller than the split star blocks. 

Notice the star block peeking out from behind the log cabin...

So where do I go from here? The star block is the right size, the log cabins are not. Heaven forbid that I should have measured them while sewing them.  Maybe I'll end up with a simple log cabin quilt instead of the fancier one.

Simple is good, right?

#3 done

I've actually managed to keep up with the Moosequilts QAL. Of course, this is only the third block but I have hopes of staying on top of this one.

With the other two blocks from the QAL....along with a few other projects in the works.

Then there's the other design wall....

There are several others tucked away in bins and closets. Hopefully I'll get to them pretty soon. The weather is getting colder and when that happens it's nice to while away the hours in my sewing room.



Goodies from England!

Yes, only a die-hard or crazy quilter will have fabrics sent from England to Utah in order to finish a quilt. I'm so happy they're here though. Maybe I'll finally get this project finished that was started in approximately 2005.