The party's just beginning!!!

I received the FIRST of many house blocks today!

The blogland party is just beginning!!!

;)

Kathy sent this one.....

and this cute little yellow bungalow!

I'd love to live among so many flowers!!!

Wouldn't you????

Michele sent one too!!!!

There's still LOTS of time to

"build" a 12"x12" house....

mail it to me....

and then

CROSS your fingers!!!

YOU might be the winner of

some GREAT blogland houses!

What a cute quilt that will be!!!

Details here.

Little Black Bag

I've been shopping for a black bag.

Every time I see one I think about the black scraps I have at home.

I think...

I can MAKE a black bag.

Why BUY when I can MAKE???

I thought about it MANY times...

and FINALLY today I

DID SOMETHING about it!!!!

I did not use a pattern.

I measured the bag I've been using

and just made one similar in size

with the same sort of handles!

I almost CUT the handles OFF

my current bag so that I could use the rings...

then.....

I chickened OUT!!!!

What if I want to use my current bag again????

:/

It's kind of worn out...

but you never know.....

Instead I used some "D" rings I had in my stash.

Here's the back.

I'm almost OUT of heavy black and gray scraps!

Oh no! ;)

I added some hexagons I made WAY back here!

That silk hexagon quilt is

STILL A DREAM!!!

That's o.k.

I DO like having a little jar filled with silk hexagons.

I can Whip them OUT at times like this!

Lining and a pocket with velcro!!!

Here's what's left of the wool pants I used!

One leg had already been used for a prior project.

Now we've got some HOT pants!

LOL!!!

Construction 101

I'm getting ready for the neighborhood party!

Making the house is simple.

Adding the roof can get TRICKY.

:/

First cut yourself a triangle.

Choose a background and lay that triangle down.

Cut across one side of the roof.

Sew it on.

Press open.

Now....

Scoot that roof down to the right over your background fabric....

Cut again.

Sew it on.

Trim your block to 12" square.

VIOLA!

I hope you'll join us

as we celebrate blogland!!!!

Details HERE.

DEADLINE:

I need to receive your house block by...

 JANUARY 1, 2012

LOTS OF TIME!

Don't let those pesky ROOFS

keep you from a party!!!!

Triangle Tree!

I finished my triangle challenge....

because....

I had LOTS of help in the kitchen!

Slicing and dicing.....

Stirring and mixing!!!!

:)

For this little mini quilt I added some fast finish triangles.

It's an easy way for my swap partner to hang the quilt....

IF she wants to.

I used 5" squares, folded them

and....

put them in the top corners before

stitching the binding down.

Easy.

I LOVED putting ALL those stitches in!

Stitching and talking...

Talking and stitching....

A wonderful way to spend

 THANKSGIVING weekend!!!

Thankful

Thankful....

I can do a little hand stitching today!

My daughter's cooking the turkey...

so I get to sew a little as I GAB with relatives!

:0

This is a little mini quilt made for a swap.

I got excited....

got it together....

and realized...

OOPS!!!

It's too big!!

Oh well...

Hope Miki doesn't mind.

Neighborhood news!

Here's Julia's win from last years party!

Isn't this one sweet?

Do you see your home in there???

Thanks for sharing Julia!

Sign up to be part of this year's celebration

HERE.

another apron????

It's SURE a good thing I don't get OUT much!

If I went department shopping more often...

I'm afraid I'd have LOTS of

IMPULSE buys

cluttering my cupboards!

;)

Here's the proof.

I couldn't pass this tea towel up!

Isn't it great????

AND....

The price was right.

I splurged...

bought it....

and...

Made an apron.

If you're interested...

You can see how I made one like it last year here.

After all...

since my job involves

cooking and cleaning....

I should be able to sew a

UNIFORM once in a while!!!!

;)

My older girls wondered if I have an apron

for EVERY DAY of the month.

Not YET!!!

LOL!!!

Here I am.....

FREEZING!!!

My daughter was kind enough to snap a picture

before she rushed off to work.

Not the best picture....

This is reality.

Cold mornings.

Coffee in hand.

Apron on.

A NEW apron! Woo Hoo!!!

I made this last night.

Curry Chicken Pot Pie.

Mmmmm...good.

I doubled the recipe and have only this left.

Guess what I'm having for lunch???

:0

Second Annual Neighborhood Party!

Last year abut this time we had a little celebration!

A blogland Party!

I wrote about it here and would love to do it again!

Blogland IS a great place to live.

We support each other with encouraging words.

Quilt blocks are sent out in mass when things get tough.

Residents with blog addresses are kind to VISITORS. ;)

If you would like to join me in celebrating

Send me one 12" house block with your blog address

written or stitched on somewhere.

If you don't have a blog address....you can join in too!

Rules will be JUST the SAME as last year.

I will choose some winners on

JANUARY 1, 2012

Winners will recieve a set of blocks to make a quilt!

Everyone has ONE chance to win

EVEN IF you send more than ONE block.

IF you won last year and would like to share

with us what you made with the house blocks from last year....

please let me know and I'd love to share it with everyone!

Welcome to the PARTY!

Start stitchin' those cute houses!

Leave a comment if you'd like to join in!

I'll send you my address.

I WON'T be able to reply if you are a NO COMMENT blogger.

Check your settings. ;)

Find out more here .

Grab the picture above if you'd like...

and....

Invite Your Friends!

I ate my words.

I told myself ....

"I'm not going to make any holiday gifts or 

seasonal crafts this year."

My friends and I have ENOUGH!

I know that sounds strange coming from a

CRAFTY blogger. :)

But.....

Life is BUSY.

I wanted to TAKE OFF the pressure.

FOCUS on the important stuff.

 I was doing really good until I saw this.

Then I tried one snowflake...

and....

I was hooked.

It was a fairly easy project.

I used some old red fabric that had

little gold dots on one side.

I didn't like those sparkly dots....

so I used the backside!

The lime green is linen.

I love linen on the table.

Guess what this is on the back????

Yep!

Flannel.

I even had some lime green cotton

that matches almost perfectly

for the binding!

Woo Hoo!

Another project

without

spending A DIME!

Sometimes it's FUN to eat your words.

;)

And you know what???

I'll probably EAT my WORDS

a FEW more times before CHRISTMAS.

There are just TOO many inspiring things

floating around BLOGLAND!

I'll try NOT to get too

DISTRACTED on the FUN things

and TRY to focus on the

IMPORTANT things.

Do you have this FOCUS problem

sometimes too??

:/

I realized AFTER

fiddling with ironing selvages for this project

that I have a very BIG roll of

white bias tape that would have worked

REALLY well.

NO fiddling.

NO pressing.

I'll try to remember to use it next time!

I wonder if there'll BE a next time??

Yeah....

I think there will!

Thanks for the tutorial on these snowflakes Riel!

I used 6" squares for the snowflakes.

3" wide strips for the sashing.

I'm loving my new table runner!

Adding this post to some show and tells today

over at.....

 AmandaJean's, Sarah's, Karen's and Amy's blogs.

Seems there are LOTS of parties in blogland!

:)

The party's over!

The yarn ties are all ON!

Thanks to all my friends who attended my

"Tie parties"!

also known as....

Senior luncheon and quilt class.

The flannel backing was pieced with what I had on hand.

ABSOLUTELY nothing was purchased for this

FUN quilt.

;)

The cookies were eaten as we tied.

The BRIGHT turquoise binding is on!

Time to cuddle!

circles

Going round in Circles.....

Singing along with Billy Preston....

I can't get the song OUT of my head!

It IS a catchy tune......

Don't you think?

;/

Wondering WHAT song I'd be singing if I were quilting

 long LINES.

??????

I'm using some NEON green to quilt this one.

Never thought it would BLEND in so nicely.

My goal of ONE donation quilt a month is almost a

REALITY!

Woo Hoo!

Sheila!

You're the winner of the little unfinished,

Knitted doll.

Make her a HAPPY doll....o.k.?