Happy New Year

O Thou, in whom we live and move, Who made the sea and shore; Thy goodness constantly we prove, And grateful would adore; And, if it please Thee, Power above! Still grant us with such store The friend we trust, the fair we love, And we desire no more.

Robert Burns

May you have a Blessed New Year full of joy, love, and laughter.

Merry Christmas

Luke 2:11King James Version (KJV)

 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

May you have a blessed Christmas full of family, and friends.

 

Pretty Quiet

It has been pretty quiet around here as of late.  I work on things when I have time, but quilting kind of was put on the back burner, to make some Christmas presents. I shared a sneak peak on Instagram a week or so ago.

I decided that I was going to make each daughter a snowman this year.  Five sweet snowman faces with the orange carrot noses. 

Six pairs of boots and mittens.  I used some cuddle fleece, I hope they work out alright because they don't get laundered.

Six happy snowman.  DH and I chose fleece for the hats and scarves to suit each daughter.  The bright white snowman was made a bit different.  Cayden, one of the grandsons loves the book The Snowman, and the movie too and he wanted a snowman.  Now if Grammie can make it who am I to say no to the sweet face?

Oldest daughter kind of simple and traditional.

Second oldest daughter loved the colors, and reminded me of the outdoors, where she and her husband spend a lot of their free time.

Baseball for the middle daughter.

Bright pink and black tiger stripe for the second to the youngest daughter.

Finally camo for the youngest daughter.

And Cayden's snowman.  These little guys are about 2 feet tall when it is all said and done.

I also finished up this little kite table topper I made but never finished.  I just needed to whip stitch it closed, and quickly quilt it.

The Sunday before last, I made DH take me to one of my favorite quilt shops called The Quilt Patch to pick up some fabric for my friendship block for guild.  Now it isn't like I didn't have fabric, but I just didn't have the right color in my stash of batiks.

Of course while I was there I bought backing for my winter quilt which I showed on my previous post.

The white, red, and green flannel is my backing, and of course I needed a light blue, and some deep reds to make my cardinal wall hanging which I prepped the applique for it a couple of weeks ago.  I also picked up a pattern that my hubby saw and loved.

The last guild meeting of the year was our Christmas dinner.  We all had a wonderful time and everyone was to bring a gift  which was $10 or less and quilt related. 

 I got this cute little seem ripper, these little bobbin doohickeys and a red frixion pen (which is not shown because I have been using it).   Gasp! I forgot to take a picture of my gift.  I put together 5 fat quarters of the Singer sewing themed fabric by Robert Kaufman fabrics, and it was so cute because I learned to fold the fat quarters so it was a really cute 5 pointed star. 

The holidays is a great time to supplement your stash, and any additional notions you may need.

Some orange fabrics and a medium pair of Karen Kaye Buckley applique scissors and a sewing tutu.  I saw this and though it was a cool idea.  You put it on a small large mouth canning jar.  You choose your fabric for the pincushion part. 

I figure at least I could keep my scissors, bobbins, in one area near my machines so I don't dig through the box looking for my scissors or bobbins for a specific machine.

A bundle of Blueberry Park fat quarters from the Craftsy sale.

Some 1/2 yard cuts of Lecien Flower/Sugar and some Marvel Avengers fabric from Pink Castle Fabrics 12 days of Christmas sale.

And a pattern which I saw on Pinterest so of course I had to have it. 

I also won the Quiltmakers 100 Blocks volume 14 during their recent blog hop from Textile Time Travels.

I also received a wonderful surprise in the mail from Dawn at SewYouQuilt2.

This cute stocking with a mug rug, thread, some note pads, and a little calendar.  Quilty friends are the best I will say it made my day.  I had been having a bad day, and fighting with the AO and was feeling pretty low. Receiving this gift and Christmas cards sure brightened up my day. 

Tomorrow I need to crawl into the attic to get the gift wrap to finish getting ready for Christmas, so I can mail off my gifts.  I am so relieved to have the flurry of snowmen finished and be able to do something else.

Snatching Time

I will admit there are times I feel like I waste a lot of time.  There are days I lament my loss of time, but I know that occasionally you need some downtime to reset. 

Tuesday we were at the hospital for an outpatient procedure.  While I was waiting I managed to get parts traced for several applique projects I want to do.  I won't show the sheet but lets just say that it is a over 2 foot long of heat and bond off the roll.

I ordered a kit during November for a winter type quilt. I finished up piecing it today.  There is a lot to say for simple.  I think that the Stripology ruler really did help get the fabric cut for this quilt quite a bit faster than it would normally take me.

The red is flannel and for me was a bit tricky to work with, but don't you just adore these cute little scenes?

I love the snowmen, bears, old cars, trucks and vintage trailers. 

I also added to my fabric hoard stash.  Fat quarters of mini pearl bracelets from Massdrop.

Some 1/2 yard and 1 yard cuts from Old Country Store's black Friday sale.

Still working on finishing up the 3 months of the RSC. 

I finished my binding on my star quilt, and today while hanging with the boys I finished designing my labels, now to get my fabric prepped and to print it out.  I try to get things done when I have a few moments.  Someday I get more done than others. 

Organized Chaos

I don't get much time to wander off to my sewing room, so some things have migrated back down to the sun porch---small ironing board, large cutting mat, couple of rulers, (no sewing machine as of yet).   Um yep it made the appearance yesterday.

While I am waiting in the morning for the AO to get motivated to move, I have been working on binding.  I keep the thread I am using next to where I am sitting.  I was working on my pumpkin hanging and went to reach for my thread, and it was gone!  I looked in my bag by the couch, in the couch I sit on, under the arm chair next to where I sit, in the arm chair, in my purse, on my sewing table, in my jacket pockets....you get the picture.  Even Finn and my daughter look under the couch.  I looked upstairs in my sewing room (gasp!) like it somehow made it there.

As Finn and his mamma were leaving, I pull the couch out and there it is, it had rolled under the couch, and somehow had eluded Finn, and his mamma, even after she cleaned under the couch!

 I finally finished the binding, and the hangers for the pumpkin wall hanging.

Yep it was too big for the Ackfeld table stand that I purchased.  Oh well I am going to display it anyway until I have something else to put up.  I need to make a label for it, but I have been procrastinating while I learn Windows 10 on my new computer. 

With all of my purchases lately I really wanted to sew something, and maybe learn something new.  I decided to play with the side kick ruler that I purchased. I have 2 big shopping bags of scraps to cut up for charity quilts for the guild.  We uses10 inch squares, 4 1/2 inch squares and 2 1/2 inch x at least 12 inch strips, anything smaller can be thrown into dog beds or thrown into the person who is cutting up the scraps.  Because we make gurney quilts which are donated to transport wounded soldiers, anything with metallic flecks cannot be used.  Therefore I ended up with a large chunk of yellow fairy frost, and a bunch of short 2 1/2 inch purple strip, throw in some strips from my stash,  I made the pattern Rock Candy by Jaybird Quilts to test drive the side kick ruler. 

I think it turned out pretty well. I think I am ready to attack the big quilt using my pie making day fabrics.

Of course I still have things trickling in from purchases some several weeks ago. 

 A book from Patch Abilities, now I am not one to make Christmas quilts but I saw a couple of these wall hangings years ago and could not resist. I love the Christmas lights.

 I have been looking at this pattern for over a year also.  I wanted to buy the kit, but they were out at my LQS, and it has never been back in stock since. 

I bought some yardage white fairy frost, and black Moda Grunge. 

Today I needed to escape the house for a bit.  The AO were irritating me, because he needs to go in for a procedure tomorrow and he is whining, and complaining up a storm.  One of the LQS recently moved and I wanted to check out their new digs.  Plus I needed some fabrics for the last 3 months of the RSC, perhaps I will finish up the blocks for the year soon.

Yellows, a couple of oranges, and blue. 

Hmmm I wonder what kind of mischief I can get into next?

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving.

 Remember to be thankful for all you have not only today but everyday.

I saw this image and it made me smile. 

Patchy Sewing

I have been doing a little sewing.....very little.  But I thought I would share what I have been up to.

I have 2 grandsons who are in scouts.  One is a wolf, and the other is a Webelo.  The boys changed packs this fall and so the number on their uniforms changed, and the Webelo wanted to have the khaki colored shirt instead of the blue.  The patches have glue on them, so you can iron them on, but when the shirts get dried, the patches start to peel up.  I had actually sewn the patches on a couple of years ago so this was where the problem started, unpick the stitches, but how to get the numbers off.  Thank goodness for google.

A hot iron applied to the back side with a towel as a pressing cloth and then just a little tug and it peeled right off.

I use a small dot of glue on these to keep them in place before I sew them down.  One shirt down, one shirt to go.

I finished quilting my small quilt and am currently working on stitching the binding.  Will I have it finished by Thanksgiving?  I am also still working on the binding on the big star quilt.

 I got the gray that I ordered to work on the quilt I showed here.  The gray is Moda Bella Ash.

I think it will look great.  I did order a little bit more of the pie making day fabric, and some solids to match, I need to go pick that up tomorrow so  I will have enough to make the queen size quilt. 

I started cutting my background strips using the Stripology Ruler I bought a couple of months ago.  I will say that I was pretty happy with the way it worked.  It did exactly what I needed. 

I don't know about you, but do your plans exceed what you can actually do? Translate to buying fabric, and quilty things.... I know that yellow was part of the RSC so I have picked up some here and there.

Martingdale has had some nice sales lately so I picked up a couple of books for $5 a piece.  OK I picked up 5 books total.  This is just 4 of them, one actually was put away.

Also a quilt shop had a Thanksgiving sale they call Thomas Stuff my Turkey.  Every day for 14 days they had deals on fabrics, kits, sewing machines, patterns and other quilty stuff.  I saw this quilt and decided that I had to have it.  Very Christmasy right?  I love the old trucks. 

Dh asked today why do you get packages and I don't?  I told him, but you did get a package, a new blower for our wood burner.   :D  Yours just aren't as fun as mine.

I also received a Frivols Tin from Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts.  The line is by Moda called Blue Barn which I won during a drawing months ago.  The Frivols are 7 inch squares of the line. 

It will be a fun project too. 

Last Friday Finn and I had a picnic on the grass while waiting for mom at the social security office.  The temperature was above 70 degrees, there was a very slight breeze, and I was wearing a tank top.

Me and my shadow....

Saturday it got cold, it was freezing in fact, the wind was blowing and we got snow.

OK I am still wearing the tank tops since the AO have to have the house at at least 75 and I feel like I am dying constantly. 

I think I am starting to finally change gears and get in the holiday mood.  The turkey is sitting in the sink to thaw a bit, I have started working on my Christmas gift list.  I guess I just needed the weather to change.

This or That and Sometimes The Other Thing

Once upon a time when DH and I could go out to dinner sometimes when we couldn't decided one of us would think of two choices and say This or That.  Once the choice was made there was no turning back. 

Remember my purchase from Craftsy?

I decided I didn't want to put it up on the shelf and allow it to languish.  While cruising Pinterest I saw this very cool quilt and I knew that it was the one I needed to make.

The pattern is called August Stars by Jaybird Quilts and how fortuitous for me because I found it on sale for 25% off, and it uses the Side kick ruler which I had just purchased last week.

The last order of business?  To choose a background.  I decided I wanted to go with a solid.  So I asked DH what he thought.  Black, white, gray or something else?  We both decided to go with gray so I ordered the 4 yards I am going to need.

I did finish up the applique on my little table top quilt.

The plaid is the backing.  I just need to sandwich and I am ready to quilt.  I pulled out a gray and a variegated. 

As to the Other Thing....we do not have any fur babies.  I like to be able to go places and not have to worry about getting home to feed, water, at a specific time.  Once upon a time I loved having dogs, and cats, but I am kind of over that for the time being.  The AO came with some furry baggage.

Meet Miss Lucy.  We have a love hate, relationship.  I was told, "Oh don't worry she won't go upstairs."  Yep she made a beeline directly upstairs to the one room without a door, and made that room her home. The problem?  That room is the one that belonged to the one grandson who is severely allergic to cats.  Guess who had made that room her own, kitty litter and all, and christened it immediately by yacking in the middle of the carpet.  Lucy stalks me waiting for me to go into my sewing room, trying to sneak in.  She then waits outside the door, and when I start to head down the stairs she goes shooting past me, through my legs, then stops on the step right as I am ready to step down. 

Life is starting to sort itself out more and more, even with my furry stalker.