dinosaur.

I played with this dinosaur last night.

CALICOS!!!!

I went looking for something in my orphan box...

saw these....

couldn't find what I'd been looking for....

Did a little sewing!!

Minutes (seconds?) later I had this!!

I told you I'm the queen of hand-me-downs. ;)
Here's some more proof.

I bet these blocks are SOOOO happy to be free!!

And I was happy to rescue them!!!

Now what to add for a border???

I like the pink,

but I don't want a pink quilt!!!

While I thought about that I made

a couple more 16 patches for my

never ending project here!!

I make a few.

Put it away.

Make a few more.

Etc.

I'm going to love this quilt......

but I've learned something about 2" squares.

They don't play nice.

Sew them carefully into little 16 patches

and they immediately

transform

into misshapen masses.

(I'm exaggerating just a wee bit)

Not the lovely squares I imagined!!!

:/

I'm going to WIN though!

I'm not going to let these little 2" monsters

get the BEST of ME!!!!

thinking and sewing

I made this for my friend Lori.

While I stitched away I thought happy thoughts about her

and the friendships I enjoy.

:)

She bid on one of my quilts last month

that I had donated to a fundraiser.

She didn't win. :(

She's always so positive about my quilts.

What an encourager.

Friends like that make my life so happy.
So...

I thought I'd give this to her

"just because".

Her birthday is in April...

and I just couldn't wait that long.

I think she'll like these colors too.

:)

well....

guess what?

She must have been thinking of me too.

Look at what she gave me yesterday "just because".

Vintage goodies.

:)

Our happy thoughts were colliding this past week and

we didn't even know it!!!!

Straight

I WAS able to quilt yesterday!

Yeah!!!

I quilted lots of straight lines.

This time I used my darning foot instead of

my walking foot. This way I can go as fast as I want

without worrying about stripping the gears on that special walking foot.

:/

The lines might not be perfectly straight....

but I think they'll be fine.

As I quilted I also figured out who's getting this quilt.

That made the quilting so much sweeter!!!

That lovely orange thread was on my shelf.

IF there was a queen of hand-me-downs....

It would be ME!!!!

Somehow or other I have collected an army

of old thread.

I've got the new stuff too....but it's nice to be

able to use these old spools up!!!

Sometimes it really comes in handy.

I don't know what kind it is.

I don't know how old it is.

But it WORKS!!!!
Does thread have a shelf life??

Does it get TOO old???

Nah!!

Then the mail came!!!

Our lovely neighborhood is

comin' together!!!

Em, Karen, MªClara and Michele
were QUICK!!!!

Look at that little tiny quilt MªClara added!!!

Oooooh! I love it!

Don't you?

done.

You all know I like that word.

DONE.

I'm so happy with my little quilt.

So happy that Sujata challenged us all to dream.

It's even quilted!

You know, quilting little quilts really doesn't take that long.

You've just got to sit down and DO IT!!

I stippled all that white background

closer together than I normally do.

Wow!! It sure takes a lot of thread!!

I used brown wavy lines in the baskets.

I like that part!

Can you see the vine with leaves in the green borders
and the little three petal doo-dad in the triangles?

Well.
I had fun playing with some quilting on this one.
:)



Here's the back.
Not too exciting, but no one's going to be seeing this side.;)
I used an old piece of heavy weight fabric.
I thought it might hang better.
We'll see.

I cooked enough yesterday.
I ate enough yesterday.
I cleaned enough yesterday......


After putting these away...
I'm going to quilt!!!

sweet potatoes.

This is what I'm doing today.

peeling, cutting, cooking.....

My "GO TO" recipe during the holiday season.

The ONE thing that family will not do without!!!

3 C. cooked and mashed sweet potatoes

3/4 C. sugar
2 eggs

2 t. vanilla

1/2 t. salt

1/2 C. milk

1/2 stick butter.

Mash all that together.

spread it in your 9x13

Make the yummy topping!!!

1 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. melted butter

1/2 C. flour

1 C. nuts

1/2 C. coconut

mix that up.

Dollop it onto your potatoes.

Tomorrow I will bake this at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes.

Mmmm. Mmmm.
Can't wait.

Then guess what I did today

while things were cooking,

in between chopping....

mashing....etc....????

I goofed around with the turkey netting.

You know...
That net that surrounds the heavy bird???

Goofing around with

unnecessary activities

is exactly what I like to do!!!!

Especially when there's a lot to do!!!

:)

Pulled some scraps out.

Got lots of those!!!

I made a bag.

:)

I'm ready for the beach.

But you know,

And I know..

It's not beach weather.

Oh good!!

It works for groceries too!!!

Fun time's over.

Better get back to the stuff I'm

supposed to be doing....

and don't forget to.....

With a GRATEFUL HEART!!!

a beginning

Here's the first house block for our friendly neighborhood!

Thanks Ellen!!!

Woo Hoo!!!

I'm looking forward to receiving a whole lot of houses!

Then....even more....

seeing what YOU ALL do with them!!

Here's a reminder about the details:

1. Send me One 12" block

Some have asked if they can send more.

Yes. If you send more blocks, I can divide them

into more winning little neighborhoods.

2. Your block needs to get to me by January 1, 2011.

3. On that day, I will group the houses into winning

9 to 12 house per neighborhood groups and choose some winners.

Did you notice that some of our blog neighbors here

are going to donate the quilt if they win????

Isn't that sweet?

That is the kind of neighborhood we live in!!!!

That's why I'm not moving!!! ;)

Now....

I'm off to clean and

Get that turkey brining.

(I've never brined a turkey...have you?)

Can I sneak some sewing in?

I've got a bunch (17) coming over Thursday.

I really should focus on that!!!

Oooooh! it's hard for me to focus!!!

never say no.

My advice to you.

Never say no to fabric.

These flannel scraps were not given to me...I bought them...

cheap!

3 1/2" wide strips. All different lengths.

They looked like they were leftovers from someone's project.

I love these colors!!!

So I bought them!!!!

I cut a few more 3 1/2" strips from my leftovers...

I made sure those red pieces were cut shorter.

I like the little pieces of red here and there!

So.... there was SOME thought put into this one.

NOT MUCH, though. ;)

OooooH! I had so much fun piecing this together.

It was like doing a fabric jigsaw puzzle!!

Fun. fun!!!

And when I was done with the puzzle....

I didn't have to put it back into a box!!

I now get to quilt it and give it away!!!

The fun never stops!

leaves

I finally added leaves to my little basket quilt.
The lonely berries....
REJOICED!!!!

How do you spell AVOID?

In this busy, busy season....

How do you avoid

those HAVE TO's....

those GOTTA DO THAT's.....

you know....

those LISTS?????

VISIT

I sometimes visit old friends.

1 1/2" friends.

They always welcome me back.

SEW

Sometimes I sew those old friends together.

This one just needs a white border.

I made a quilt like this earlier this year and

LOVED it.

So I'm making another!

It was a welcome way to avoid my "to do" list....

Let me tell you!!!

SHOP

How about buying unnecessary fabric???

Little pieces of fabric.

Fat quarters = my weakness!!!

O.K. Friends.

'fess up.

How do YOU spell avoid???

Christmas!

I finished my Christmas Quilt!!!

Before Christmas!!!

Are there special prizes for that kind of thing??

I did hear there's a Christmas quilt show and tell...

Maybe I'll link up over there. ;)

I even quilted it!!

Double prizes???

No?? oh well.

Black swirls in the trees with a star on top.

Loop-dee-loops all over the rest of it.
Love those loops!!
Easy pattern. No marking. ;)



Here's the back.
There are lots of memories here!!!
Fabric from "quilt mom" Gerda.
Fabric from my friend's neighbor who used to have
our girls come over to her craft room and "play".
The girls spent many happy hours there Creating!!!
She was the real life DREAM neighbor....
She made raggedy Ann dolls for donations
to hospitals and such.
Can you guess the fabric that came from her???
YEP! all that red and white!!!
And then the scrap pieces from my project
last year!!
I could call this a memory quilt! :)

I learned recently how to put binding on
so that no one knows the end from the beginning!!

Here's how I did it.

Sew binding on leaving Two very long tails.




Lay binding down.
Fold one of those tails of bining right up against
the raw edge of the other tail.

Make sure your quilt is nice and flat along that edge.



Since my binding was cut to 2 1/2" wide
I measured 2 1/2" away from the fold.
Can you see my chalk line on the right??

Cut the tail off leaving your 2 1/2" fold there.
IF your binding is a different width you'll have to
measure to THAT width instead!!


Now lift up those two tails.
Put right sides together at a right angle.
Draw a diagonal line and pin.

This is why we left those tails long....
We don't want that quilt to get in our way!



Sew along that line and trim.


Your binding should now fit
PERFECTLY.
Let me know how you do!!!

Thank you to those who are joining me
in our blog neighborhood quilt block giveaway!!!
I'm excited to see what comes of it!
Aren't you???