Holidays Homemade

When the turkey was eaten

and the relatives had all gone home....

We were able to get COMFY!!

 

Flannel pajamas!!!

Don't We all LOVE our flannel PJs??!

Here's the old pattern that I used.

It still works!

:)

I had a little bit of this lace.

Tiny, tiny hearts.

It was JUST that special touch we needed!

 

There were also handmade touches during the day:

Here's the table BEFORE the meal....

and the hanging sign my oldest daughter made

using cardboard and fabric pulled from my

GENEROUS stash.

She also ironed and folded 17 of these.

 

Handmade.

Homemade.

Isn't it fun to use our

CREATIVE ENERGY

as we celebrate with family and friends???

 

 

Two things

My Quilt made for The Alliance for American Quilts

is now on EBAY.

 

"20" was the theme of this quilt contest.

The Eye Chart was my interpretation.

;)

 

I painted the background fabric

adding lots of applique.

Felt letters, hand painted eye,

felt circles from an OLD, old felt wall calendar.

And of course..

GLASSES!

Many of use need those to get that 20/20 vision!

 

 

I also made a small zipper pouch for a friend.

 

I have NO shortage....

repeat....NO shortage of small 2" squares!

But I had to cut some NEW ones for this little bag.

 

Sometimes there just ISN'T that one or TWO colors you WANT!!!

Crazy.

Writing a pattern to go along with my little project

made it even more FUN!

 

Now...

I'm OFF...

I need to get BUSY in the kitchen!

 

  TURKEY...

STUFFING....

PIES.....

SWEET POTATOES......  YUM!!!!

 

 

Neighborhood NEWS

Here's the FIRST arrival

at our Neighborhood party!!!

 

Are YOU coming???

 

I love this house.

The block walls.....

 Fireworks in the roof ....

and...

a WELCOMING red door.

 

Megan sent hers in a standard envelope

and it arrived safe and sound with

just a single stamp.

 

If you'd like to come to the party

read up on the details here

and leave a comment!

 

The MORE the MERRIER!!!

 

Invite your friends!

 

Let's celebrate this wonderful place

I call BLOGLAND!

 

A great place to quilt....

a great place to sew...

a GREAT place to SHARE!

 

Deadline for house blocks is January 1, 2014

:)

 

(house block tutorial HERE)

 

Happiness

Happiness is...

having scraps to play with.

 

Happiness is......

Sewing them ALL together!!!

Happiness is....

 getting emails and photos

from friends who have been inspired here.

(This small quilt was made using this post.)

Happiness is....

A daughter finding that ONE special PERSON!!!

 

Another wonderful son-in-law is in my FUTURE!!!

 

Feeling VERY blessed today.

 

 

 

 

 

Remnants

Buying remnants (end of bolt fabric)

is KIND of like buying fabric....

but NOT QUITE!!!

(that's what I've been telling myself)

;)

 

It's just a LITTLE piece....right?

 

I challenged myself with a YEAR of

NOT buying fabric.

 

I've slipped a few times..

and when I saw this 5/8 yard of fabric...

I BOUGHT it!

Ooops!

 

Should have NEVER entered that fabric store...

but I was helping a friend.

(excuses, excuses...I know!)

I didn't want to CUT up that cute fabric...

so I added some orphan blocks!!!

 

Oh my goodness!!

I love this quilt!!

 

Another one I want to KEEP!!!

But I have no little boys at my house.

They've ALL grown up!!

and....

It happened SO fast!!

 

See what you can do with

REMNANTS and ORPHANS???

The two were MEANT for each other!

 

 

 

 

The letter "P"

When life is PARTICULARLY busy/complicated....

I like to PLAY.

 

*If I don't want to feel GUILTY..

I call it a PROJECT!!!

Sounds a bit better

when I am explaining to family

why dinner is still not done.

 I frequently say....

"OOps!  Time got away.

I was working on my PROJECT." 

First I PULL.....

Then I PIECE.

I PUZZLE.....

PROUDLY using the PROLIFIC orphan blocks.

It is the way I

PROCESS

the EVENTS of my life.

 

Quilting is a PLEASURE-filled activity!

It's also

PRACTICAL!!!

(Another P word I LOVE!!!)

 

Any more P words to add to this POST???

:)

Thanks for PLUGGING along with me...

Sorry...

I just CAN'T stop!!

LOL!

 

 

 

 

Stockings

I thought I was all done making things for Christmas.

I DO a need a couple more stockings

since the kids are finding spouses

and having babies these days.

:)

But.....

I was dragging my feet about acquiring new stockings...

Sort of wanted them to match the ones I have

and the ones I have were knitted by a GREAT aunt.

I'll never find a match!

 

Then..... I went to the THRIFT store.

One of my favorite shopping destinations!

I found a Bedspread.

The fabric is called "Matelasse".

Nice and thick.

Chunky and FULL of TEXTURE.

I knew JUST what I wanted to do with that bedspread!!!

There is SO much BEDSPREAD I can make

LOTS of stockings!!!

 

I'll put a couple in my shop and have enough left

for ALL the kids, Grandkids,

Friends of kids.....

Friends of friends...

and everyone IN BETWEEN!!!

 

;)

 

Christmas is coming!

I Designed a simple Christmas tree skirt this week.

Pulled the fabric.

Did some calculations.

Took LOTS of pictures.

 

This Christmas tree skirt was fun to make and design.

Instead of using batting in the middle.

I used just a heavy weight cotton.

This "quilt" is only TWO layers.

I ALMOST used some fleece!

 

I kind of like the LIGHT weight feel.

PLUS....

storage is always TIGHT

when it comes to all those CHRISTMAS decorations.

It won't take up much room at ALL!

;)

 

 Well this is ALL I've done to prepare for the holidays.

And you know what???

I probably won't do another thing until

Thanksgiving is over and done!

Then...

I'll be scurrying around!!.....

Wondering why I WAITED!!!

LOL!

 

 Pattern for this tree skirt is listed in my shop

FOURTH annual Neighborhood party!

It's that time again!

Time to celebrate this AWESOME neighborhood

I call "Blogland"!!!

It's a GREAT place to own property.

Getting the blog address is fairly easy.

Neighbors are friendly.

There are even some FAMOUS people

that "live" here!

It's a place to connect.

A place to make friends.

A place to SHARE!!!

:)

If you're interested in CELEBRATING

All you need to do is construct one house block.

12 1/2" square.

Send the block to me.

I will group the houses into neighborhoods

and THEN....

I'll let Mr. random generator help me choose some winners!!!

The winners will receive

9-12 houses each...

Kind of depends on how many come in!

Here are the houses from three years ago....

(seems like yesterday!!)

all SPREAD out in my house!!!

If you'd like to play along,

leave a comment.

I will email you my address.

There are NO firm commitments here.

If you decide later NOT to sew a little house...

That's o.k.....Life happens..... ;)

Add your blog address (if you have one)

or your name on the front with a fabric pen.

That makes it fun for the winners!!!

Deadline for these houses is

JANUARY 1, 2014.

LOTS of time!!!

 

I'm excited!

This will be the best PARTY ever!!!!

I look forward to

CELEBRATING blogland with YOU!!!

Please include email address if you are

a no reply blogger,

if you have no blog...

or are unsure!

 

I'd love to hear from PAST winners

and post about the finished quilts

that have been constructed with blocks won here!

Wouldn't those be FUN to see???

If you'd like to include a SECOND house block

for a charity quilt....

send it along!

I'll be constructing some charity quilts

and giving them to my local guild.

 

This REALLY IS the BEST neighborhood.

Let's CELEBRATE together!

Tuesday

You know me.

My favorite fabric is called "SCRAP"

and

my favorite word is "DONE".

 

This quilt has them BOTH!

;)

Thanks go to Selina

for sending me this UFO.

As I sat there wrestling quilting this one yesterday

Sophie sent me a comment.

A word that came at JUST the RIGHT MOMENT!

I love when blogland does that!

 

She sent me the word...

BREATHE!

A gentle reminder.

I needed it!

I used some soft white and black prints for the back of this.

They're the last ones in my STASH!

I'm doing a pretty good job

USING what I already HAVE.

There was just a little bit more of that IKEA bird fabric too.

 

I almost DIDn't think to use it!

So GLAD I did!

 

Did some loopy quilting.

Found some GREENS for the binding.

 

It's the perfect cuddle size quilt!

A generous 65"x65"

 

Going to cuddle admire this one a BIT longer

before it finds a NEW home.

 

 

 

 

Gentle Reminder

I recently hung a quilt in my kitchen area.

 

Just a GENTLE reminder.

When MOM cooks you dinner...

she wants you to EAT it!

 

Normally it's a GENTLE reminder.

Once in a while I need to add

VOLUME and an exclamation point!!!

LOL!!!

 

I had LOTS of fun making this quilt.

It began with an old white sheet.

Here are my tools:

*spray bottle with water

*acrylic paint (cheap paint from walmart)

*foam brush

*plastic bag under the fabric to protect table.

*paint palette (an old take home container)

*and the fabric

Painting fabric is easy.

For LESS defined lines

the fabric needs to be wet.

I Put some paint on my brush....

 

And took the PLUNGE!

 

The sea foam sponge adds some texture.

Here's my work area.....

Outside on the patio.

:)

 

After the fabric dried

I added silverware and letters with iron-on fabric adhesive

some big stitches by hand

and BEADS!

 

The beads were collected

off of one of my older girls blouses

she was giving away!

;)

Never underestimate

the value of GIVEaways!!!

 

I bet YOU have some ideas about

GENTLE reminders at your house too.

 

What would YOU make??

What would YOU say???

 

**************

 

Just noticed!

This is my 1,000th post!

Whoa!

That's a LOT of talking.

That's LOT of quilting.

AND.....

A LOT of listening by YOU!

Thank you dear friends!

 

 

FIRST project

Think back.

Remember your VERY first project?

The VERY first time you sat down to a sewing machine?

Your VERY first STITCH???!!!!

 

I was able to re-LIVE all that yesterday

with our newest sewing SISTER Candace!!!

 

She walked into my house

with a BRAND new machine...

(still wrapped up tight in the box).

We OPENED it up....

and the FUN began!

 

Where do the plugs go?

Where does the thread go?

What's a bobbin?

It goes backwards too?

 

We used my drawer of squares

for this fun little project.

(A small pillow for

her new little nephew.)

 

She thought she would need to buy

a pincushion

along with scissors, pins, etc.....

 

"Pincushion???

oh NO!!!

Don't buy that!" I said.

 

"I know how to MAKE one of those!!

and

YOU CAN LEARN TOO!"

;)

 

Oh...

It was FUN to share

my LOVE of sewing

with a FRIEND!

 

I'm adding this post to a

couple of linky parties

here and here.

 

Not technically MY finish...

but I FACILITATED

from START to FINISH!

:)