Happy New Year!

2012… VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

…was a good year! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I was surprised to see what I’d been able to finish this year.  What a fun year it has been…in my sewing life… and life in general.  I have much to be grateful for.

Here’s wishing all of us a very wonderful 2013! 

2 back from the quilter

I started this quilt some time ago (I just noticed it was in 2010…oh my!) as part of Erin’s Florabunda quilt-along.  I got 7 of the 12 blocks done before setting them aside for a break.  Last summer I decided I probably wouldn’t finish the rest, so instead, made plans to use these 7 in a quilt all by themselves.

And I’m really happy with it. 

Thank you Erin for the pretty applique designs.

I admire my quilter, JoLynn.  She always does very nice work.

She quilted this one too.

I love the sweet little extras she added…children and letters all around the border.

Makes it really special…

And I was excited when I found this fabric for the back… perfect!

 

I’ll be spending the next few evenings binding them…

Then back to work on Christmas stuff!

Such a fun time of year!

charmed!

Look at what can be done with just two charm packs! 

especially with my pretty Cinnamon Spice charm packs…

…and a little bit of cream colored fabric.

I have the perfect spot for this runner on a cupboard I inherited from my grandmother.  A very special place.

 

I got the idea from Lori Smith’s book…

on page 42… 

making a few changes to fit my needs. 

This has been one of my very favorite books!

 

More snow here….but this time it seems so light and pretty. This is the view out of my sewing room window, right above my sewing machine and looking right into the top of our cherry tree. I love this view…just a couple of weeks ago it was glowing golden with all the fall leaves. So beautiful!

What a lovely day

We woke up this morning to this… looked like a dreary sort of day out there.

 

But then this pretty package was delivered to my doorstep from Thelma and my day brightened considerably…

 

And when I found these gorgeous fabrics inside, it suddenly became an absolutely beautiful day! 

Thelma and Nicole had a great Spools Quilt sew-along using Camille Roskelley’s pattern, and one very, very lucky me won these as a prize. 

Thanks so much Thelma.  I really appreciate you.  The sew-along was fun and I will be looking for something special to use the charms for.

a pretty stack

Still sewing those delightful Double Wedding Ring arcs.

130 down…

67 to go.

I do believe I’ll make it!

wedding jitters?

I don’t know if it’s all the hype about “those difficult double wedding ring quilts” that makes me just a bit nervous as I work on mine.  I give a little sigh when a completed arc fits together as it should.  I have 82 finished so far….my final total will be 194.

 

I keep them together in bundles of ten so I don’t lose count.  I like seeing the little piles grow taller. 

Though I keep thinking about what comes next… making them fit just right into all those daunting curved seams!

But I wanted a challenge so I’m going for it…

and really, I am enjoying working on this.

 

This evening I took a break and caught up on my Row-Along quilt. 

Now this one is very relaxing and just plain fun! 

lost and found

Our mornings are quite crisp now and the days much cooler.  Time to change out blankets and quilts to get ready for winter.

That’s when I discovered this quilt. 

I finished the top almost a year ago and had it quilted and then, for some reason or another, it was put away and forgotten…left unbound.

But that’s all taken care of now and it’s sitting in our family room ready to be used this winter.

While I was in the binding mood, I kept right on going and finished this baby quilt too.  This one won’t be forgotten in the linen closet.

Doesn’t it just feel so good when you finish a quilt!

therapeutic stitches

For the third time, cancer has darkened our doorstep.  This time it was Mr. Sunshine and I was having such a hard time with that.

To occupy my mind…and soul…during the many hours in waiting rooms while he went through testing, procedures, surgery and recovery, I gathered some yarn and began to crochet.  One of the most calming things one can do without a lot of concentration.

Last night I crocheted the very last stitch.  And I have a pretty little afghan.  It was very therapeutic for me.  But it isn’t mine…I hope to give it to someone else who could also use some comfort…perhaps Hospice or a Care Center.  I hope it helps someone else just like it did me.

And Mr. Sunshine is doing very well…we think we got it all.

A new challenge

I’ve had an idea to try a double wedding ring quilt for awhile but was just a bit nervous about it.

Well… now I’m finally going for it. 

30’s reproduction fabrics are so cheerful, they should make it fun to work on. 

Wish me luck!

 

Mr. Sunshine and my sweet granddaughter think it’s all cool.

an owl and some butterflies

I had this quilt top done in less than a day….very simple and perfect for just relaxing and enjoying the hum of the machine.

The cute pattern is from Acorn Quilt Co.

 

And then I worked on Lori’s Row by Row quilt-along.  You should check it out, she’s making it “sew” fun.

I rounded up all my favorite scraps and pieces to use on this quilt.  So it will be a favorite for sure. 

Thanks Lori!

My ABC’s

                      

A through Z…

makes for a fun quilt top.

 

I can’t tell you how many times the alphabet song went running through my head while working on this!

I should have those abc’s down pat after this.  So, after its quilted, I will give it to a child who wants to learn them too.

Look what I found

 

These little alphabet stitcheries were tucked away in a drawer in my sewing room.

Now they are out of the drawer and up on my design wall and I have been playing with fabric and ideas on how to set them.

 

Then I got on my computer program and came up with this.

I started stitching these years ago…way before I even had a blog. The cute stitcheries are from Lynda Howell at The Stitch Connection and are supposed to be in redwork and make a beautiful quilt… but I wanted colorful and a little bit different.

I had just 7 letters to go when, for some reason, I set them aside.  This time around I ought to be able to buckle down and finish them.

The grand finale

My Building Houses from Scraps quilt all quilted and bound.

It feels so good to have it all finished at last.

 

With all those tiny seams, it is a heavy, warm quilt.

 

I chose to add a scalloped border. 

My first attempt at that and now I know I'll do it again. 

Really fun!

tears for a sick sewing machine

I’m still cranking out blocks for my latest scrap quilt. 

I have 34 so far…

 

 

Only because of this sweet little Featherweight machine, have I been able to keep going …since my Bernina is very ill. 

She started sounding more like a machine gun than a hum…and that can’t be good!!  She had a check up recently and a clean bill of health so it was totally unexpected.

I’m hoping she recovers quickly and can play with me again soon…

but in the meantime… the Featherweight and I are spending time together.

Other things

Seems I sure spend a lot of time at the sewing machine…

…of course, it must be because I enjoy it so much.  It’s a relaxing, fun, creative outlet and so easy pick up and put down in between my daily activities.

But over the weekend I occupied myself with other things.

This little sculpture has been a part of my life since I was a little girl, when my dad built a lamp post for the front yard and put this on it with our family name… Robbins… robins…  get it?

They don’t live in that house anymore so he recently took it down and is going to use it elsewhere now.  It was pretty weathered so I painted it for them over the weekend.  Now it’s all fresh and new

…and I enjoyed playing with a good memory and thinking a little about my heritage and family name. 

I also enjoyed pulling out my paints again.  It’s been a long time.

But for now and for this week I’ll be back at my beloved sewing machine.

Feeling Scrappy

Time to clean out the old scrap bin again…

and make those little pieces into something useful.

 

Thanks to Mishka for the fun idea…

and to Susan for an awesome design!

My day

Today I worked on my Temecula Summer Sew-along blocks.

I was 3 weeks behind…but now I’m all caught up.

 

And I hung the finished spool quilt.  It adds a cheerful touch to my room and makes me smile.

 

Now I have spool stacks on two walls. ☺

 

But the highlight of my day was getting these Fig Tree Patterns in the mail from Staci of The Confused Quilter.

She had a giveaway and I won!!  Woohoo!

Thank you so much Staci.  They are absolutely beautiful!

That was quick!

Sudden inspiration hit me this morning while reading Thelma’s blog.  I’ve seen these pretty little spools of Camille’s out in blogland, but when Thelma mentioned her idea of matching her sewing room, I was smitten.

I found Camille’s website and ordered the download version of the pattern.  Quick and easy!  I rummaged through my fabrics looking for yellow’s and red’s and started cutting away. 

My granddaughter popped in to spend the afternoon with me so I dropped everything to play with her… 

…until her naptime…then I was back at it. 

And before evening, while there was still sunshine enough to take a picture outside, I had a new wall hanging pieced for my sewing room!

What fun day!

nine patch flowers

A few months ago I cut out all the pieces to make this crib size quilt.  But then set them aside to concentrate on my little houses.

Now, at last, it’s all pieced and ready for for the stems to be appliquéd. 

It went together pretty quick…

and was worth the wait.

It’s a quilt top!

 

 

Ta-da! I’m all finished with the top.

All 8,063 pieces!!

So happy!

After it’s quilted, I’m thinking of making a wavy border edge.  I’m going to have to do some homework on it first however.  Math is involved and math and I are not friends.

Thanks for the encouragement so many of you gave. It really kept me going.

Quilting people are awesome!