A First

 

168 little apple cores all stitched together.  No two alike.  It’s going to make a cute little doll quilt… about 24” x 28”.

It’s even kind of fun looking at them from the reverse side. 

But I’ll never see that again..

…because I’m getting it ready for the quilting part. 

I am going to hand quilt it.  Then because it was hand pieced, I will also hand stitch the binding on so I can say that it was 100% hand made.  That is a first for me.

Notebook Fun

 

Buy a mini composition book for your purse and make it fun with a fabric cover…

 

Like it so much that you whip up a few more to share…

 

Then play with fabrics and before you know it, you’ve sewn even more.

 

I found this cute idea over at Obsessively Stitching.  I think I caught her “obsession”  because I know I’m not done making them yet.

more on the little quilts

  

I finished Cheddar Cheese and Crackers.  This was one fun journey!  And because of that, I think it will always be a favorite of mine.  I wish I had enough stamina to make a large sized one  …maybe someday.

 

Thank you again Lori.  It fits beautifully in my doll cradle.

 

There are a few more apple core nine patches on my wall.  Whenever I sit down for even a minute, I feel the need to stitch two apple cores together…and sometimes that leads to a few more. 

New Kid on the Block

I just finished this doll quilt…made special for my new cradle.  The blocks are 3”.

And I’m still working on Cheddar Cheese and Crackers from Lori’s quilt-along.  Although my cheddar is more Sunshine Yellow.  While putting it together, I kept thinking it was sort of like working a Sudoku puzzle…and I really like doing those.  I’m hand quilting it now.  I’m going to love this little quilt.

For the moment, however, everything is being pushed aside to make room for the new kid on the block…

 

An apple core quilt! 

The apple cores are just 3” long so can be a little fiddly but the more I do the easier it gets and now I’m so hooked on these little guys.

I’ve been stitching them into nine patches first.  My idea calls for 21 blocks.  6 done over the weekend and 15 more to go.  Then sew those all together into another little doll quilt.

Thelma, thank you soooo much!!

It’s here!…it’s here!!…it’s here!!!

Ever since the mailman delivered a special package to my house this morning, it’s been a wonderful day!  I have been anxiously awaiting this beautiful Glace fabric that I won in Thelma’s 250th post giveaway.  I still can’t believe I won and I can’t believe the prize….awesome!!

I’m going to use it to finally finish the Dresden quilt I started some time ago  ….now even bigger and better than originally planned.  This will be a quilt with a fun memory attached. 

You just have to go visit Thelma’s blog.  She is very inspiring!  She sews lots of amazing quilts and always puts her own twist into them.  I love watching her creative process and learn a lot from her.  Thank you again Thelma.  Here’s to 250 more fantastic posts…I’ll be looking forward to them all.

A Sweet “Just Because…”

My walls and tabletops are covered with little quilts and so I was talking about other ways I could display them. 

Then the other day, Mr. Sunshine gave me this adorable little doll cradle as a gift…for “just because”…

And I have had so much fun sewing a little pillow and pillowcase and mattress and arranging my quilts… and rearranging my quilts.

 

And starting another project for it.

 

Is it any wonder why I am so in love with Mr. Sunshine.

My friend the magnet

We’ve all seen this awesome idea to add magnets to the underside of a pin dish…well, it works great for me too. 

 

I also use magnets in other ways for sewing... I put a couple of them in the lid of my take-along Klosje project tin.  They keep my thread bobbin, needles and scissors nice and neat. 

 

 

There’s a little magnet under this yellow pocket of fabric that I stitched to the inside wall of my applique bag.  I never have to fumble around for my scissors and risk getting poked because I know right where they are.  And its so easy to put them back into place.

 

 

Another tin with a magnet for my applique bag.  Where it’s metal, I don’t even have to glue it down. 

 

This yellow plastic flower sticks to the lamp post by my work table thanks to a magnet I glued on the back.  I use it as a handy place to rest spare needles. 

 

And I’m thinking a button would work too…how cute would these be!

tiny pieces of fabric… too pretty to toss

Yesterday morning I sorted through all my tiniest scraps

And trimmed them up nice and neat to about one inch (give or take a bit)

And by the end of the day they had become this.  An 18 x 24 inch quilt. 

 

And I went to bed happy.

For my dolls

A quick little quilt for dolls.

All washed and soft and ready…

…for my granddaughters to cuddle with their dollies.

An awesome AHA moment!

My sewing room is a small space…less than 10’ square…so I have to be very creative in getting the most use out of it.  Mr. Sunshine is always trying to explain to me how I can not get one more piece of furniture in there…and then I amaze him by finding a way to do it anyway. 

I’m doing great on storage ideas but my biggest problem has been table space.  Then the other day I read this post over at Bloom and she led me to this post at La Vie en Rosie and a giant AHA! moment hit me. 

Early the next morning I was out shopping for foam core boards and inexpensive batting and before noon my quilt boards were all assembled. 

And now…look what I can do!

And I love being able to carry them right to my sewing machine.  I can sew away without having to keep jumping up to get block pieces from the design wall.  Wonderful!

I am now using them to finish the last row on my “The Road Less Traveled” quilt. 

But the first thing I used them for was to finish my Nine Patch Challenge blocks

  

A beautiful pile of yellow and blue (with a touch of green).

And I finally have a plan for how to put them all together.

Dear Jane Glass… half full or half empty?

 

A small note to myself reminds me that I began my Dear Jane Journey a year and two months (or so) ago.

 

My swatch chart shows that I have completed 75 blocks.  So many beautiful blocks.  I need to get their pictures taken and posted. 

After a year, I am only nearly half way there.  But I’m enjoying the journey and feel I’ve made good progress…  “Glass half full!”