Four Sided Placemats

I made these four sided placemats for my daughter for Christmas. The pattern is called "Several Settings" out of Hampstead NH and includes a plastic template for cutting.    I used the four different Eliza Stripes from Sis Boom Basics by Jennifer Paganelli.  The photos aren't great, but the placemats turned out pretty cute.  Also easy to pack in the suitcase to take back to Charleston :(

Merry Christmas

Hope your Christmas is wonderful!  After I showed the Christmas stockings that I made for my children about thirty years ago, you may remember I said I was planning to make some for my son-in-law and daughter-in-law for next year.  Well, again, my daughter is one step ahead and finished this creation for her husband last night before we all left for Midnight Mass!  She continues to amaze me and I am so proud of her sewing (and many other) talents!

Favorite Christmas Memory

Kelly at Charming Chatter asked everyone to tell about their favorite Christmas memory.  Well, it was easy for me because it was the year I was five years old and I could not find my baby doll for weeks before Christmas.
On Christmas Eve, we went to my Grandparent's house and there under the tree was my doll with a brand new dress on and sitting on a box full of clothes for her!  My grandmother had sewn a whole wardrobe of clothes for my doll - it was the happiest Christmas ever!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Thanks to everyone for the great ideas on what to use for binding on the tree skirt.  Well, Red Polka Dot was the favorite, but the red in the tree skirt did not match any polka dot I could find. Off to the LQS with the tree skirt and we discovered Turkey Red from the Rounneries of French General was EXACTLY the right fabric.  What do you think?

Next, my sweet friend Betsy of Quilting Fiesta surprised me with this beautiful holiday tea towel. Isn't it cute?  Thank you so much Betsy!!

And lastly, I wanted to show you some of my hand stitching of a different sort from around thirty years ago.  These are my kids Christmas stockings I made when they were babies and our card holder. Did any of you make these kits?  Click on them to see the details!!

Dear Santa,

Dear Santa,

I have been a  very, very good girl this year!  I helped my Mom with the dishes and helped my Dad in the garden.  I have not had a fight with my three brothers or five sisters all year long.

I would really like a Fatquarter Bundle of Essence by Sandy Gervais from the Fat Quarter Shop:

Santa, do you allow revisions to letters?  You see, I just received a phone call from my son and found out that my VERY FIRST GRAND BABY is going to be a GIRL!!

If you bring me this Fat Quarter Bundle, I promise to make you a new sleep cap as I heard from Mrs. Clause that yours is wearing out.

Therefore, instead of Essence, I would like Girl Baby Toile by Jane Hallmark:

 

And Pretty Pink Love U by Deb Strain!!!
Thank you Santa!!  That would make me a very very happy Grandma-To-Be!!

Mary

Another Christmas Gift

My daughter saw the other ones I made and asked me to make letters and bag for her best friend's daughter Sophie.

I put magnets in these an they look pretty cute on the refrigerator.  I made a bag out of the front and back fabric with opposite handles.

Another thing checked off my list.

And the winner is......

Let's see now.....using random.org at 8:00 PM Central the number that was selected was #20 and counting down in the 34 comments we come to #20 and that is PAT!!

Congratulations Pat!  Send me your mailing address and the Snap Happy bags will go in the mail to you tomorrow!

Thanks everyone for participating in my give away!

Eight, Nine, Ten - Big Fat Hen??

• My EIGHT foot tree is very unhappy with her skirt...so
• I got out my NINE degree ruler
• and TEN fat quarters of Roman Holiday

And what did I end up with (so far)?  Not a Big Fat Hen, I hope!

Here is my new tree skirt all quilted with NO binding.

  Nothing in the house that could possibly work.  I used up all of the red and green Roman Holiday.  So what fabric color/design would you go out and look for to bind this Big Fat Hen?  Help??  Click on the second photo to get a better idea of the colors.

Virtual Christmas Quilt Show

Sew Cal Gal is having a Virtual Christmas Quilt Show and even though you may have seen this before, I wanted to show it on my wall.  This happens to be with the sunrise coming across the lake hitting it.
Go over to her blog and scroll down to find the links to other Christmas quilts.
Here is the whole story and photo log of my quilt when I finished it in October.

For You

I had just enough fabric left for two more Snap Happy bags, so I would like one of you kind and thoughtful readers to have them.
No need to share this give away with anyone.  I will draw a name on Sunday December 13th at 8:00 PM Central and mail them out on Monday.
You can keep them for yourself or use them for a gift for someone else.
Thanks for your sweet comments and always making me feel included in this wonderful world of stitching women.  I would love to make each one of you something if I could.
Happy Holidays.

Snap Happy

I have made five of these small bags.  They are called Snap Happy by Stitchin' Sisters and the little purses "snap" closed by using a metal carpenter tape to form a hinge.  All three sizes are included and they give directions for making additional sizes.

The fabric is Happy Camper  by American Jane for Moda.

The Prairie Points (brown on one side and red on the other) are where you can pull them open.   One photo shows them lying flat and the others I stuffed so you can see them open.  The three sizes nest into each other so easily wrap into a small gift.

One Christmas Present Complete Saturday

(photo replaced 12-8-09 to include a daytime photo of the bag with truer colors)

I made my daughter-in-law a diaper bag with some Amy Butler fat quarters I had in my stash. The pattern is Pocket Parade Tote by Penny Sturges. Room for bottles in the side pockets (I added a few already) and a few rings added to the handle.  There are lots more pockets inside and I added a key ring.  First grandbaby is due next year - Yipee!!!

I have another fat quarter I am going to use to make a changing pad to roll up and put inside.

Pinch Me!

I must be dreaming!  I can't believe I won this awesome Penny Rug Candle Mat from Cathy at Cath's Pennies Design .  It is even more gorgeous in person.  Here is a closeup of her amazing detailed work:

I love it and will treasure it always.  Thank you again Cathy!

Go see her wonderful blog and look at the wonderful patterns she has for this and other penny mats!

Another One Pack Doll Quilt Finished

I finished my second One Pack Doll Quilt for Vickie's Challenge.  This one is made with a Shangri La Charm Pack with a few other miscellaneous fabrics added to make it work.  All hand pieced and hand quilted and so much fun.

Joseph's Coat Progress

I've made 309 petals for my Joseph's Coat Project:

Now I have lots of hand sewing to do!

 

The giveaways that you can't pass up!

Go here to try to win Grandmother's Flower Garden!

Go here to try to win some Flea Market Fancy!

I am thankful for my husband, my children, my parents, my friends, my health and you.

Enjoy your day with those that you are thankful for.

Folly Beach & 1st Hand Stitched Road Trip Project

Here is our view for the next 10 days from the deck!!  Sunny, warm ocean and sand!

I finished my first One Pack Doll Quilt for the Challenge by Vickie of Mid-Ohio Quilter.  I took the final stitch in the car as we were pulling into Charleston.  It's not perfect by any means, but I did get a lot of hand piecing and hand quilting practice.  The charm pack is Spirographics by Bernatex.

Here is the back:

These photos were taken on the deck here on Folly Beach.

Now on to my second doll quilt and Joseph's Coat.

The last of the Swanky

I still had some Swanky fabric left so I made a gift for Jordyn's first birthday.

They are little rag edged letters of her name along with a tote bag to carry them in.  I'm going to mail them off to her in Chicago tomorrow.

Sugar Baby and Turban

I got sidetracked from my hexagons and Joseph's Coat.

Back on June 1st I won this wonderful fabric from Janelle and Kylie at Threads of Friendship. They had made a cute tote bag and I won everything that was left which included yardage, cut squares and prairie points.



I wasn't sure what to make until I purchased Ladyfingers & Sugar Baby bags pattern from Stephanie at Loft Creations.

Here is my version. The only change I made to the pattern is to make one long strap instead of two short handles. The Dresden's (my first) were fun as was adding the beads to each tip.



I have plenty left for a table topper or tote bag. Thanks Janelle and Kylie!

Then I received a request to modify a turban for my Mother. She wears a wig and likes a turban to keep her warm at home when she is relaxing. Forget the alteration - I made her a new holiday style turban using the pattern from Sewing.org.



Now it's back to my regular schedule which includes knee surgery tomorrow and our annual road trip to Charleston on Wednesday.

WIP

I have been stitching but no finishes so I will show what I am working on.

The first two are little hexagon dolly quilts that I worked on while traveling to Florida and back. They are for "One Pack Doll Quilt" Challenge by Vickie of Mid-Ohio Quilter. You will see these again once they are all together, quilted and washed.



I'm not very fast with hand stitching, but I got quite a bit done while I was gone.



And since I've been home, I've been trying to catch up with Kellie of Don't Look Now on her Joseph's Coat quilt along. I am using Lila Tueller's Santorini and Kona Chocolate for the background. The photo is yellow as it is taken inside this evening. The colors are actually pretty cool looking.

This will be a long, long project!!

Unexpectedly Unavailable

With only one day notice, flew to DC with my sister and road tripped to Punta Gorda FL to help her finish furnishing and decorating her new condo. This is the view from the Lanai!

It is HOT, HOT, HOT here and sunny! The only sewing is some hexies that I will show next week.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Stitch in the Ditch around 429, yes 429 Flying Geese

I am all finished with my Geese in the Forrest designed by Anina of Twittletails! Thanks for the great design Anina! It was quite the process and I am so happy with the results. I did the whole quilt from start to finish by myself.


I was not sure about borders or quilting, so I took my time. I decided on red Ta Dot from Michael Miller and then darkest green in the quilt with solid red binding.



For quilting, I stitched in the ditch around all 429 geese with red, green and white variegated thread, then also around the red dot border and finally three rows of green in the outside border fabric. And then I quit!



And here is the final finished quilt. Zoom in to see how crinkly sweet it is after washing and drying!



For those of you who have followed this Geese in the Forrest progress, you may remember that I had 46 blocks that were the wrong size and I needed to make them over. Well, here is how I used them - on the quilt back!