Keeping children warm

The weather is getting colder here.  So I’ve been sewing fleece hats for children, along with a Humanitarian Group I belong to.  I needed a model but had a hard time getting this one to hold still for even a second…

 

Aha…  gotcha!

I’ve made 29 fleece caps so far… and there’s more on the way.  Sew fun!

Spice of Life

This is my design wall this weekend.  They say variety is the spice of life…well I have a lot of variety.  1. I’m always working on my Florabunda applique blocks…(and someday I will actually finish them.)  2. I started making my “Cold Wind Blows” baskets.  I decided to shrink the pattern by half and make a little quilt.  3. My bow tie leaders & enders blocks are multiplying quickly.  I finish a few with every one of my 4. Jacob’s Ladder quilt blocks. 

Speaking of which…

I only have 7 more blocks to go to finish my design.  Very scrappy isn’t it?  You should see my much lighter scrap bins.  I still have some rearranging to do on this quilt and then decide on a border. 

Besides a little sewing today, I also helped Mr. Sunshine install new outside light fixtures and made applesauce from our apple tree. 

Our house smelled so wonderful!

His first tux

Last night my daughter and I had some play time with this guy for a fitting.  I've been sewing a special outfit for his blessing.  Sewing such tiny little armholes is very tricky.  Just enough room for my presser foot...no fingers and barely pins.  I finally hand sewed the sleeves in and then machined them.  But the challenge was worth it for my newest grandchild.  I still have to add a soft satiny blue bow tie and buttons in the back and he'll be ready for his big day. 

BTW, the quilt he's laying on was his great grandfather's baby quilt. 

P.S....I just had to edit my post to add a photo of the final product...all finished and pressed....not as cute as the baby...but cute.

One very lucky girl…me!

This beautiful quilt is called, “The Quilting Gathering” and is part of the Prairie Women's Sewing Circle series.  I was amazingly fortunate to be the winner of this pattern and kit from Taryn’s generous giveaway.  I just couldn’t believe it!

When it arrived, I started to work just as quickly as I could push other projects to the side to make space. 

 

And now it looks right at home hanging with other quilts on my wall.  Thank you so much Taryn.  I love it and appreciate you!

Two for One

I’m still at work on my latest quilt and cleaning odd pieces out of the scrap bins.   16 blocks are done and lots of pieces are cut and ready.  Here and there throughout the day, I wander into my sewing room and sew up a block or two, or cut a square or two.  Very easy..very relaxing.  And satisfying to see all those little scraps being put to use.

 

Bonnie and Lori came up with the best idea!  And now I’ve joined in.  I keep these tiny squares next to my sewing machine and use them for leaders and enders while working on my quilt.

 

The results are another quilt in the making.  Which is so fun by itself that I have to restrain myself from sewing ahead on just bow ties.  They are 3 inches.  I don’t know if I’m going to stop at doll quilt size or keep going.  We’ll see.

Little Quilt for Autumn

My apple core doll quilt is finally finished.  It’s hand pieced and hand quilted, which is a first for me.  I don’t know if I could ever do that on a full sized quilt but I got a kick out of trying it on this little one. 

It measures 22” x 26” and there are 168 little apple cores… all different.

Life is good!

That’s all I could think of for the title of this post…because right now that’s just how I’m feeling…”Life is good.”

First of all, I’m happy to announce the winner of the 100 Blocks magazine and Schnibbles pattern, etc.…

Congratulations Angela!

I had Mr. Sunshine draw the name for me… he thought that was pretty fun.  Also, he is a lot more “user-friendly” than the Random Number Generator thing that I tried to figure out but couldn’t.

 

Now, meet my newest grandchild.  He’s the best reason for my happy mood!  What an adorable blessing he is.  We love him so much!

 

 

Big sister isn’t quite sure about it all. 

She doesn’t yet know about all the fun and mischief they’re going to have growing up together ☺

Sewing room tidy-up Giveaway!

When I came across Sarah’s version of Jacob’s Ladder over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, I knew I’d found one solution to my ever growing cache of scraps.  So now I’m busy taking care of that problem and thinking they look kind of fun this way.

(by the way, Karrie Lynn at Freckled Whimsy has a great tutorial on this block).

 

That got me motivated to clean out in other areas too…like magazines.  I’ve been clipping through mine like crazy and came to the conclusion that I just can’t do it all, so I’m limiting myself to a couple of binders full of patterns that I can keep.

I discovered I have 2 copies of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks vol. 2 magazine and the adorable Schnibbles Short Story pattern.  Who knows how that happened? 

So that’s my giveaway…

…the awesome 100 Blocks magazine… the cute Schnibbles quilt pattern… and a stack of magazine patterns that just wouldn’t fit in those binders, but are much too beautiful to toss. 

If you’d like to have them, leave me a comment and let me know.  I’ll draw a name in about a week when I’m through sorting out the sewing room.  By then, I might find a few more goodies to add to the package.  …lets say Wednesday, September 7th.

Red and white from all the world over

My Red and White Swap quilt all finished.

Except that I still need to make a label, because those beautiful red squares came from all over the world: 37 US States, Canada, Australia, Holland, Scotland, Malaysia, Slovakia, Israel, United Kingdom and Thailand! I want to remember them all in the years to come.

 

And remember this little goof-up block?  I took some of your suggestions and gave it a place of honor on the back.  It’s a keeper and makes me smile.

 

 

Also, last January, I joined Anne Marie’s Nine Patch Challenge…

…and my quilt is a nine-patch. 

The deadline is September 1st so I made it by a little over a week.  Whew!  Thanks Anne Marie.

Cozy batiks

It has been so very hot here, but today is stormy and cooler.  So I snuggled under this quilt and stitched away on the binding while listening to the thunder outside.  I loved it.

Three more quilts left to bind.  Then I can move on to new projects. I have a long list in my mind.

One down…

 

View Full Album

I recently finished 5 quilts and took them all in a bundle to my quilter, JoLynn.  She is amazing!!  She finished them all in one week.  If you click on the album you can get a better look at how beautiful her quilting is.

  

I finished binding the first one last night.  Such a great feeling!

 

And look what Mr. Sunshine noticed while I was taking my pictures… my miniature Dresden quilt sitting in the background.  I didn’t do that on purpose.  But what a fun contrast. 

Now on to the next quilt.  I kind of enjoy binding quilts.  But I’m questioning the fun of doing 5 at once. 

Keep going Annette!

Puppies waiting for their new owner

 

Remember these cute little guys?

 

Well, now they are a quilt.

All ready to welcome our newest grandchild who is due in just a couple of weeks.  We’re so excited to meet him!

I loved this pattern, “Bow Wow Blankie,” by Bonnie Sullivan.  Very fun to put together.