Truth be Told

You've probably noticed that I haven't put much new sewing stuff on my blog lately, haven't you?  Sad, I know!!!  :)  Well, the truth is that I've been desperately searching my computer and anywhere, quite honestly, for something to show you to keep you interested while I wait for my sewing machine to be returned.  I took it in for cleaning almost three weeks ago and I don't have it back YET!!!  Lord knows why they needed it that long......in actuality, I am getting a bit "pissed" about the whole thing, but what can I do?  If I "put up a stink" they'll probably hold it for ransom longer.  LOL  Now.......I do have an old machine (like almost 30 years old) as a backup, but as I was leaving my Bernina store when I dropped it off, one of the ladies chirped, "and don't think you can use your walking foot on your old machine honey, 'cause it won't work!"  E-gads, it was like she was reading my mind!!!!  I was thinking that exact thing at that moment!!!!  Yikes, they must know me better than I thought!!  So......needless to say, I've been sewingless.  AND.....it's been awful!  I have soooo many ideas in my head!!!

BUT.....and you might like this........I have been working on the Tree Skirt Pattern and will be mailing off the first trial set to my friend this morning who is going to test it for me.  She sews in the craftsman style and will be doing the skirt entirely in her colors and style......and I'm so anxious to see it.  It will show the diversity of the pattern (which I didn't know I was doing when I first made it, but will take all credit for my brilliance now, thank you! LOL)  In the meantime......I'll show you my Flickr mosaic (which didn't turn out correct) of some of my 2009 quilts.  I'm such a computer dunce!!!  I sew much better, thank GOD!!!

Have a nice New Year's Eve everyone! I wish you "EVERYTHING WONDERFUL" in 2010!!!

Merry Christmas

May the blessings and joys of the season be yours, and may you enjoy friends and family in love!  My wish for you is peace, hope and wonderful creativity!!  Thank you for being part of my life, although only in blogland.  I cherish each and every one of you!!!

Cookies Anyone?

People think that I make lots of cookies at this time of year, but what they don't know is that I used to make twice, if not three kinds as many.  In fact, I think I was up to 33 different varieties just two years ago.  Then, I give them all away (except the ones I eat myself, you understand, and those for my own family to eat too, you know!!!)  The joy is in the giving, they say, and I totally agree.  EXCEPT.....the shipping costs are killing me!!  And buying all the containers that I never get back are getting a bit expensive.  Now I just make 14 different kinds (although 2-3 batches of each).  Doesn't make lots of sense, does it?  After all, I probably still make the same amount of cookies.  Duh!  Where is my brain??  I want to cut costs, but I haven't a clue how to do it....and so I go on, baking away!  Every year..year after year, after year.  And...I'm getting old, I shouldn't have to work so hard anymore.  I think about that, I really do, but then the recipients write or call and brag about how much they love my cookies and so what happens?  Yup, you guessed it......I do it again the following year.  I'm thinking that only my demise will stop this cycle.....heavenly days!!!

These were taken in the basement on the pool table prior to sorting in separate gift bins.  I know the pics are kind of yellow, but the light down there isn't the best and my camera doesn't take the best flash shots. Sorry about that!   This might tell the tale better.......

Good enough to eat......wouldn't you say?????

Hand Stitched Gifts

I just love embroidery, so when I saw this free design on this blog last year, I just knew that I'd have to make a few for gifts for this year.  Needless to say, I didn't realize how many I'd have to make.  I think I gave one to everyone special to me so far, including some to customers (like the sweet lady who just ordered the tree skirt), but now I'm realizing that I'm missing some special friends, so I'm desperately stitching away so that I can finish them before I take my machine in for cleaning on Wednesday.  Wish me luck!!!  E-gads, next year I better do a better job of counting!!!  LOL  (Or maybe get rid of some relatives or friends, huh?   My fingers will really be sore after this marathon, I'm sure.)

 

Toddler Togs

No table runners and Christmas quilts for me to finish....oh, no!  I have to make something special for the two "sweeties" in my life....my 8 month old granddaughter and my 22 month old great niece.  Too bad my granddaughter lives in Florida because they'd be so cute together in these outfits, don't you think?  (And huge thanks to my two dear friends who did the machine embroidery for me.....what would I do without you???)  The pants were easy!!!  

And then, because my sister, who is my nieces grandmother, loves snowmen so much, I just had to make a snowman outfit for Christmas.  Won't she look cute in January wearing this?

Incidentally, since many of you asked.......I am seriously thinking of publishing the Tree Skirt pattern.  I hope that pleases you and you'll keep it mind for your 2010 sewing.  I'll let you know when it's ready for sale, okay?

HO, HO HO

I know I've been sort of MIA lately, but since I posted that tree skirt, I've been really busy.  Little did I know that it would result in such a big response, (including some unexpected tree skirt commissions which I thought I'd do after the holidays, but decided to do now.)  Who wants a tree skirt after Christmas anyway, huh?  Needless to say, I haven't been doing much else.  So, sorry!

I do have some things to show you, including all my Christmas cookies on my pool table when I was sorting them last weekend, but I haven't even uploaded the pictures into my computer yet.  (I know, what a slacker, huh?)  I thought maybe you'd like to see what's on my front door though.  Isn't he cute?  I made him last year.  It's really beginning to look a lot like Christmas here.  How about at your house???

Someone's got a new skirt

After re-doing our tree to lime, green, white and red in 2007, I knew the poor tree needed a new skirt.  The victorian one I made in the 80s just wasn't doing the job with all the bright, funky new colors......and the 4 inch ecru lace on the bottom, well, what can I say???  Duh!!  Besides, it was.....glory be......dark green velvet, with pink ribbons!!??  E-gads!!!  

Well, you saw the previews of my sewing the other day with my red and white and green fabrics, so now I can show you the finished product since we've finally had a bit of sun.  I must say that it turned out exactly as I had envisioned it.  (Good thing I still had my original newspaper pattern from all those years ago, huh?  At least it gave me a start.) 

And doesn't it look nice where it belongs????

Pies anyone?

Well, the pies are made and we'll be ready to go to my sister's in a few hours.  I knew you'd want a peek though after bragging the other day about what a fabulous pie maker I am.  LOL  So.....may I present:

Pecan:

French Silk:

And the all time favorite.....French Apple:

You all have a Happy Thanksgiving too......even my "out of the US friends". I am truly grateful for all of you no matter where you live!!!

Another Project in the Works

I imagine that most of you went into my photostream to see the quilting on the "Insanity" quilt, didn't you?  I sure hope so, and if you didn't, get your butt over there if you want to see, because I have bigger fish to fry here today.  I'm super excited about this project and I'm close to being done (and it is lookin' good, if I do say so myself), but it's been rainy and dismal here all day, so pictures weren't possible.  BUT....I do have some "in the works" pics to show you from the last few days and you're going to have to just guess what I'm making now.  

And then, my attempt at paper piecing for the first time (and Lord knows if I even did it correctly???)

Can you guess what it is???? Next time, I'll show you the finished product that I made and thought about for months. It's turning out exactly as I had envisioned. Yahoo!

I love this Quilt!!

Oh, I love this quilt so much.  I'm not sure if it's now my favorite or second favorite, but I'm crazy about it.  The weight is amazing and reminds me of the old fashioned quilts of yesteryear.  I suppose I should wash it....but I'm not ready yet.  I really love quilts just quilted and not washed and dried right away.  You can never get the newness factor back again, so I put off the process as long as possible.  Anyone else feel like this????  Maybe it's the contemporary in me, I don't know.

I just was reminded by a friend that I didn't take a picture of the back. Duh!! It's just plain white (because I was "squared out" when I finished the front), but the quilting is amazing and it really shows up nice on the solid color. My quilter does such a good job. I'll take a pic tomorrow!!! Come back..........

We Have a Winner

It's Friday and I can't believe how close it is to the holidays.  Next week is Thanksgiving already and before you know it, it'll be Christmas.  My sister and I were talking just yesterday about that.  Our families always get together every year, here, at our house, and with the kids growing, we need to coordinate dates, times, etc.  This year we're having our celebration on December 19th....less than a month away.  (That's a "flip out" with everything I still have left to do, believe me.)  I'm thinking that not much bloggin' will be going on...at least until the beginning of 2010.   (Unless you want to see pics of wrapping paper, shopping at the mall, or cooking...although come to think of it, I do make some rootin' tootin', beautiful pies.)  I just might have to show you one or two of those.  LOL  BUT....I know you didn't come here today to hear about that.  I know you are anxious to hear about the winner.  And we have one.  

CONGRATULATIONS TO LAUREN.  WHO WAS NUMBER 15  

I had a friend pick a number between 1 and 122 without choosing 9 or 12 (mine and AmandaJeans) and 15 is what she picked.  So, blessings to you, Lauren.  I hope you like it.  I'm contacting you next for your mailing info so I can get that right off to you.

Thank you everyone for entering my giveaway and thank you so much,  Amandajean, for directing your wonderful and lovely readers to my little blog here.  I had so much fun reading all the entries.  I'm thinking I'll have to do it again right before Christmas.....I do have something else in mind......and I do love giveaways, don't you????  

Giving Thanks

Just in time for fall and Thanksgiving, I thought a give-away would be nice.  After all, I am so grateful for all of you and the sewing community here in blogville and Flickr.  I have made so many friends!!!  (Oh, incidentally, I am posting this and the pic of the giveaway at the same time, if you can believe???.  For a change, you are not seeing things 2-3 days later.  LOL)  Anyway, I wasn't sure what you might like, but thought maybe a quilt front, back and binding might be nice.  Sooooo, if you want to win this Batik Beauty (48 x 65 1/2 inches), fancy back (4 inches bigger than the front all the way around) and scrappy binding, just tell me why you would like to win.  Please don't forget your e-mail address so I can contact you for mailing info. if you get lucky.

Believe me that everything is straight. The wind was blowing when we were taking pics. Also, I have the tops labeled for your convenience and that's what the white thing is on the tops of both. LOL The winner will drawn by a random drawing next Friday, November 20th. Good luck!!!

I "get it" now!!!

It just occurred to me that I have it all wrong.  From what I've been reading, you're supposed to post a new pic to Flickr and your blog at the same time so that the pic gets the full effect.  E-gads, where have I been?  I told you that I'm not very good at this blogging business....but it takes months for me to figure that out????  Oh well, I'll try to do better in the future.  Today though, you're going to have to put up with something that Flickr has had for a few days.  So sorry!!  I hope to make it up to you by maybe a nice giveaway next time.  Would that do it??  

Anyway, I did the quilt along thing with Quilt Dad for round 3 here,  but I was late in posting because I had to wait to get this back from the quilters.  I sure wish my quilter was faster.  Don't they know that it makes me seem like a slacker?  Anyway, the quilt along was a blast and John's instructions were wonderful!!!  Oh well, here it is:

It was so fun to make and I used all this crazy fabric which sort of reminded me of Halloween prints. (Maybe because they were purples and lime greens, huh?) I do adore all the white though. Here is the back:

And finally, I do have to show off the quilting. I think they call the pattern, Loop De Loop:

Boy they do a good job! My husband even liked this one. Go figure that!! So....like I said, next time I'll post something totally different here and at Flickr at the same time and it'll probably be a giveaway so come back soon. Okay??

Baking-Not Sewing

I can't believe it!  I'm all sewn out!  I think it happened because of my recent sewing marathon and I really thought the day would NEVER come.  I love to sew!  On top of that, my husband is traveling again....a time I relish to make huge messes because I don't have to pick up a thing until I'm done.   So what do I do to keep myself busy for 4 days??  Ummmm???  Well, Christmas is coming and when's a better time to make a mess but now making Christmas cookies?  I mean, I usually freeze them anyway, so what's the big deal if I make them a few weeks early?  So, as of today I have 9 kinds done already with about 4-5 kinds to go.....and most of them are double batches, I'll have you know!  I maybe should have taken pics, huh?  Oh well, I'm sure I'll do that when they're all done and I'm sorting them in tins for friends in a few weeks.  Until then, I wish I could share the smells of my kitchen with each one of you!  Ummmm.....soooo goood!

Squared Insanity

I'm having a happy day!  It all started with this and the fact that my hubby was going to be out of town for 10 days.  It has been years since his job has taken him away for that long and I was concerned that I'd either be bored or lonesome.  No better time to start a new project, huh?  And the perfect time to attempt something that you thought you'd never try!!  First, I scoured my basement for the perfect fabrics and started cutting away:

Next, I had to discover the perfect size middle piece for the eventual blocks, so I wasted the first bunch of squares, but it was a lesson well learned:

Next, I had to determine how many blocks I'd need. (I was going to do some for the back too, but after I discovered how long it took to make a bunch of these, I canned that idea in a big hurry.) LOL

Let me tell you, I was working on those blocks day and night and getting mighty tired of doing the same thing over and over again. (Think a little ADD here, maybe???? Duh!!) Anyway, the weekend flew by, and soon I wasn't even answering the phone, I was so consumed to finish. This quilt was taking longer than any I had EVER done and I couldn't wait to put it together. But, when I did........I was perplexed on what to name it so I waited two whole days to post it to Flickr. I do think that I did come up with the perfect name though...because it did drive me a bit insane. I'm proud to show you, "Squared Insanity"...which made the Front Page of EXPLORE today. YEAH!!!!!!! I'm standing here doing the happy dance, I'm so excited!!

Placemats Anyone?

I'm telling you, I should have stock in the "Steam a Seam" company for all that I've been using lately.  I joined another swap and naturally had to buy, buy, buy so I had enough!  I think prior to this, I had only made placemats once in my life and they (naturally) were the normal kind where you'd make 4-6-or 8 all matching.  Not for this swap...oh no!  I did eventually make 8, although 3 of them were duplicates.  One of them even made the Explore pages, but I'll let you guess which one.

That's the one I sent to my swap partner. Isn't her daughter adorable? (Those are supposed to be whimsical spiders although they look more like aliens crawling among the spiderwebs, I think.) Here are the rest of them:

Which one is your favorite??

  

Fun Mail

This has really been a fun week.  I got a darling Halloween mini quilt from my swap partner, spinstersister, (Jill) and it just love it:

And then, yesterday I got a gorgeous placemat from my placemat swap partner, alexdk (Alex). It's so me!!

I'm having a ball with these swaps. Who knew I'd enjoy it so much??

Kaffe Fassett

I seem to be in love with Kaffe Fassett fabrics lately.  I go to the quilt shop and come home with bunches, it seems....and then, what to do with them (besides just staring at them longingly)? Believe me, they don't stay in my stash very long.......like a week, maybe??  I mean, they're pretty by themselves, but together...WOW!  Who can resist?  I'd LOVE to make everything in all his books....and maybe someday I will order a kit, just to have one original, but until then, I have to do my own thing so I came up with this:

This was made using the "In and Out" pattern by Blue Underground. I have used this pattern before and loved making it. Besides, it's a nice size finished at 55 inches by 66 inches long. A great nap size! Of course, I had to make a back equally as cool as the front (or almost. LOL)

But the best thing of all is the quilting......oh my heavens, my quilt shop does such a nice job...take a look:

See...now you know why I call it "Sunshine Sampler". Doesn't it just scream warmth, and love, and happiness? I think so!!

Happy Mini Monday

Naturally I had to come with something super cute for my first mini swap, right?  Well, here he is....at 5 1/2 inch square, but with a nice O ring so he can be hung immediately in some sweet corner.

Now doesn't he just make you smile???? Have a happy day!!

Carol

Quilters Blogfest

Amy from Park City Girl is having a quilt festival.  I'm not too familiar with all the ins and outs of it, but you can find out here.  I am to post my favorite quilt of all time, and I think I will chose one that doesn't have the best picture, but is my all time favorite.  I made this quilt early this year, while I was still a relatively new quilter (and didn't know anything yet) and copied one that I had seen on Flickr that was made by my now new friend, LauraJay.  Hers was bigger though....(I think.)  Anyway, my husband was traveling when I decided to start this quilt and I just stayed in my kitchen day and night working on it.  I had strings and fabric pieces all over the floor (and me) and was so exhausted by the time I went to bed every night, I never cleaned up until it was completely done.  I never could have made it with him home, especially not with cooking and everything else my daily life brings in my kitchen.   It took me 5 days and I love it!  It has all the colors I adore and I was so proud of myself when I was done that I could do it and make it look good.  Since then I have learned so much, but this quilt will always be special to me.

    

Fruit Basket Upset

Oh boy, I've just been sewing away and not paying much attention to this blog, but I have so much to show you and it's getting so that I better hurry or there will be a big backlog.  LOL  (Like that should be a problem??)  I actually got this quilt back from my marvelous quilter last week, and it's been on Flickr, so it needs to be here too.  I did it with all Kaffe Fassett fabrics using the "Gems" pattern by Blue Underground.  Get your sunglasses, it is bright:

And the back is cool too:

But best of all is the quilting.....soooooo gorgeous:

And, it's the perfect size at 53 by 65 inches. I wonder who will be getting this one????

Only 2 months and 3 weeks until Christmas

Boy oh boy!  Between my hubby and I coughing from this crud that is going around, it seems I haven't been getting much done.  

I took a trip to my local quilt shop the other day just for giggles and saw a darling Santa wall hanging that I thought I could make, but they had sold out at the recent quilt Market in Madison.  Fortunately though, they had the accessory kits for it and that's all I needed since the Santa's were the cutest part of the wall hanging anyway.  I thought by making minis, that they make perfect little hostess gifts for the holidays.  Well, once I started, it seemed as though I couldn't stop.  So cute at 6 1/2 inches by 8 1/2 inches.  Just perfect for some cute little corner!!

Like I said....I couldn't stop with one. I did make 10 but 9 looked better on a picture. LOL

How you doing on your holiday gifts???

Carol

Fall is in the Air

Guess it's time to bring up "Witchy Witch".  She's a staple on the door this time of year, until Halloween is over.  I made her about 2 years ago from a Mc Calls pattern......I forget the number, but it has about 3-4 different holidays in the package.  I remember not only making her, but about 4 others for my relatives who fell in love with her and had to have their own.  I wonder if theirs are on their doors yet???? 

Sick Days

I've been a bit under the weather lately.  Not enough not to sew, you understand, just enough so that I'm not my merry self and raring to go like normal.  In fact, I spent most of the last week at home with no running around here and there.  Hubby was out of town which meant I didn't have to cook either and that, in itself, was WONDERFUL!  I sure get sick of cooking all the time!  I picked up a quilt from the quilters on Wednesday so perhaps you'd like to see it:

I call it, "Oh My Stars".  I think that's appropriate, don't you?  Actually this was a kit that I picked up from one of my quilt shops.  It had everything in it to complete the top including the pattern and binding (I did choose something else though to match the back...which is just plain, if you can believe??)  I like it.....and I LOVE the qulting!!  Man, my quilter does a great job...look:

Isn't that pretty? I had it stuffed with a very thin batting because I'm thinking that this will be gifted to someone in the southern states for the holidays.....(I don't dare say....you never know if they read my blog or not...!!??) Anyway, I hope they like it. More to come soon. I think I have another one scheduled to be picked up this next Wednesday too! Whew!!

Stay well you all and happy sewing,

Carol