A little project to start off 2011

I was so close to finishing the top for this little quilt late last night that I stayed up stitching away till 1:00 a.m.  I should know better than to work on details such as measuring and cutting sashing when I’m tired because I got it wrong and had to come back this morning to fix things.  It made it very close for the sashing fabric…I started with less than a quarter yard scrap and after having to redo it, all I have leftover are crumbs… almost dust!  I was holding my breath!

Now to quilt and bind it and then I’m going to display it in a ready made frame.  The quilt is 18” x 24” and so it will fit just right. 

My Quilty Christmas

This was what I was doing just days before Christmas:

But they were finished just in the “St. Nick” (ho ho ho) of time for Christmas day!

And there were “I spy” quilts for the little ones.

Then Mr. Sunshine surprised me with EQ7 under the tree…

 

…and a featherweight machine that is just so tiny cute! 

  Looks like it’s going to be a very fun…

Holiday Wishes

This is a busy week…that just got busier this morning when we discovered that our stove is broken…right in time for all the Christmas baking and as we are planning on having the whole family here for Christmas Eve dinner.  Yikes!  But Oh well, I know it will all work out somehow…it always does. 

Very soon now I will be able to post all those projects I have been working on secretly the past while.  I am especially excited for those I love to finally receive them. So fun!

I hope you are all having a beautiful, wonderful Christmas. 

Look what I found!

I climbed into our little attic room to get out the Christmas decorations and came across a forgotten box filled with these felt ornaments.  I had to bring them down and have been playing with them.  So many good memories!  I stitched these up 31 years ago for our tree.  It was our second Christmas together.   

They came from a book by Sandra Lounsbury Foose.  I loved her designs back then and over the years have collected five of her books.  They are all out of print now so I feel lucky to have them.

I’ve also finished two more blocks for my little applique quilt.  Each one will finish at 5 inches square.

Projects for in-between projects

I have several finishes that I still can’t show.  However, this little zipper bag isn’t a Christmas secret.  It was just a fun break from the other bigger projects going on.  The pattern is from Keyka Lou.

For the most part I am on top of things for my Christmas sewing this year.  Wow, such a great feeling! 

Outside everything is snow covered and pretty.  Inside we spend our evenings by the fireplace where I relax and stitch away on these cute little blocks.  I just LOVE them! 

In a few days we will be putting up the tree and decorating the house.  Such an awesome time of year!

No peeking…well…maybe a little one

There are so many things I’ve been working on but most of them I can’t share just yet.  This is the time of year for secrets you know. 

But I can give you a peek at this miniature house block that’s a part of a bigger project.

The little window is only 1/4” square. 

I used part of a Carol Doak pattern for the house and added one of my favorite little quotes.  It’s all going together nicely, I think.

And these pretty pieces are part of a stack of fabric on my cutting table awaiting their turn for the next project.

Watch me grow!

When I go visit my parents I can still see the pencil lines on the kitchen doorway where my mom marked the growth of all the grandchildren.  The kids loved to have her measure them and make their mark.

I want to create the same kind of memories for our grandkids so yesterday I stitched up a growth chart to hang on our wall. I found this fun monkey fabric in my stash and made it up as I went along.  I still have to figure out how I am going to mark it.  Any creative ideas?

              

27 inches and thirty inches tall so far.  We have a lot of wonderful growing up years ahead of us.

And another one…

Of course I couldn’t stop at just one bag…no…Nanette’s pattern was just too much fun to put together. 

I had some favorite fabric strips that were saved together and thought they’d be perfect for this, except the pattern calls for 4 inch strips and I found that mine were only 2 to 3 1/2 inches wide.  Drats! 

So I donned my thinking cap, jimmy-rigged the pattern a bit, did some extra piecing and came up with this.

Woohoo!  I like it.

Other than the lining, I used only scraps.  No two strips on either side are alike and there wasn’t even enough to make two handles of the same fabric…they are similar but not the same. 

 

A new bag and a little lighter scrap bin.  I’ve used those favorite fabrics nearly down to crumbs.

Scrappy Afternoon

I just got this pattern by Nanette of Freda’s Hive.  Also Jodi at Pleasant Home is inspiring us to use our scraps… so I rummaged through my scrap bins for pieces to make this and enjoyed a quiet afternoon at my sewing machine. 

Those little bits of leftover fabric are now being put to very good use.

That was close!

I nearly lost the top of my little pinkie today!  While zipping through the fabric with my rotary cutter, I suddenly realized I’d made a careless mistake.  But whew!…it just got the nail and the tiniest sliver of finger….no blood…no pain…and one very lucky me! 

There are safer ways to trim ones nails so I will slow down and be more careful now. 

Little flowers for little girls

 

 

While watching TV today I stitched up a whole bunch of these flowers for my sweet granddaughters.  I got the instructions from Polka Dot Pineapple where Lettie is absolutely amazing at creating gorgeous flowers from fabric and paper. 

Button Tree

This little Christmas tree will be staying up all year long.  

I found the pattern by The Drawn Thread in a little stitchery shop while we were in Victoria Canada last year and just got around to making it.   

   

There 23 very tiny little pearl buttons.  All different.

I have a pearl button collection kept in a glass jar in my sewing room.  They are pretty to me and I love looking at them and playing with them. 

And now a few are sweet little ornaments on my tree.