Happy New Year!

My Wish for YOU:

May you have MANY quilt blocks...

both Large and....

Small.

May you have many quilting stitches

both...

Swirly......

and Straight!

May your blades stay

SHARP!!!!

And your Seam Ripper

GET DUSTY!!!!!

Looking forward to more quilting in 2012!

Thanks for stopping by my "house"

and letting me share with you!!!!

You're the BEST neighbors!!!

Birthday Gift.

I had ALL week to make something for the birthday girl.

I waited....

until the BIG day!!!!!  :/

Then....

I did some QUICK stitching!

After all...

I think I AM the fastest stitcher in the WEST!!!

;)

I even added a few quilting stitches in there!

I had the Ingredients on hand:

LOTS of happy scraps!

My favorite fusible web.

And....of course I have SCRAPS of batting!!!

One thing I don't have ANYMORE is....

pillow stuffing!!!

I used it ALL up on this project.

I'm so happy I was able to give a little handmade something!!!

Every BIRTHDAY girl deserves it!!!!!

Fun Fabric!

The hardest part of a project is sometimes

CHOOSING the fabric.

I was overwhelmed with the choices

when I arrived at the fabric shop!!!!

I FINALLY settled on this one!

My friend Ellen had a birthday...

and since we prepare a meal for senior citizens twice a month...

an APRON seemed to be the perfect gift!!!!

You probably know......

I have PLENTY of fabric in my stash.

But.....

Nothing seemed QUITE right and....

I wanted to make this one SPECIAL!

I found a free pattern here.

and....

I have lots of bias tape.

Good thing!!!!

This pattern requires 7 yards of it!!!!!

Sheesh!

That's a lot of bias tape!

I love this apron.

Maybe I'll make one for me too!!!!

What????!!!!!

You think I have enough already????

:/

Neighborhood News!

Our neighborhood is growing!

Eva said every neighborhood needs a church....

and...

she sent one along.

How Sweet!

Theresa even sent a LIGHTHOUSE!

Wish you could see the BLUE in Angie's landscape better.

What a beautiful place to live....

ALMOST as good as BLOGLAND!!!

;0

Barbara sent her house all the way from Northern Ireland!

and Tamar sent her's from Israel.

I hope you realize how blessed we are to

live next door to each other!

EVEN though we're worlds apart!

We share our LOVE of quilting......

Our love of creating...

and our support of EACH other!!!

What a GREAT place to live!

A little progress

I've made a little bit of progress on my half square triangle border!

It's been hard though.....

There's a grandbaby to hold.....

and ALL my kids are here!!!!

In ONE place!

When things calm down...

I'll make some more of these!

A gift

I told the kids what I wanted for Christmas.

Actually...I tell them the SAME thing at every occassion!

1. Hugs and Kisses.

Or...they can give me....

2. Peace and Quiet.

;)

Then.....

I saw this post about this book.

I bought one for myself.

Now....

I can get all those hugs and kisses...

and WHEN I get that peace and quiet....

I'll have something to DO!!!!!

Circles Revisited.

I decided to give circles another try.

Sujata made some and then...

she gave me some encouragement.

Isn't that what we ALL love about blogland???

Yes!

Soooo....

I began again....

Using a VERY HIGH TECH method...

I cut two circles...

Using a smallish plate as my TEMPLATE.

The rotary cutter zipped around the rim

Nice and Easy. ;)

I cut 10 slices of pizza.

I DID not measure.

I DID not worry and stress.

Zip. Zip. Zip. Zip.

I  now have enough pieces for TWO circles.

I kept my slices in the same position and sewed them together.

Almost done!

I also used some batting scraps.

If you look CLOSEly you can see I

BASTED them to the back side of the front of my circle.

I used a very large stitch.

(This makes turning the circle right side out SOOoo much easier!

and...

The basting stitches are super simple to pull out.)

I then TRIMMED the batting.

Added a backing.

Turned it RIGHT side out....

slip stitched the opening....

and.....

VIOLA!

I also added a few quilting stitches.

Two Mug Rugs.

Two Potholders.

or...

Two Little doo-dads.

I'm not sure WHAT to call them.

;)

Thanks for the encouragement Sujata!

If I practice a bit more

I MIGHT be able to get those center seams to match....

In my DREAMS!!!!

 LOL!!!!!

You know what though???

I kind of like the wonkiness of them!

Good thing, huh?

Fun Times!

We're having some FUN times in the neighborhood!

I'm watching the clock!

January 1, 2012 is COMING up!!!

The little houses have traveled far and near to be here on time!

I've talked and talked about the upcoming party.....

blah...blah...blah...

It's almost time to lay all the little houses out.....

and get a proper PICTURE!!!

Then the fun part!

Dividing them up and sending LITTLE neighborhoods out

to a few winners. ;)

I hope you'll all be there!!!!

It's getting NICE and COZY here at this neighborhood party!!!

It'll NEVER be too CROWDED for ME!!!!

Houses pictured above came from:

Cheryll, MaClara, Brenda,

Elizabeth, Sue, and Ruth.

Pancakes in a Jar

Here's a simple gift to give.

Almost homemade. ;)

Collect jars ALL year long from

 spaghetti sauce, jelly and fruit.

Clean thoroughly.

The hardest part......

 is figuring out WHERE to store them

AS you collect.

Get your ingredients together using this recipe.

Delicious Pancakes.

Fill the jars.

Spray paint the lids.

Cut 1 1/2" strips of Christmas fabric.

Add a tag with some instructions.

They're READY!!!!

Give one to a friend

and say

Merry Christmas!