Okay, I'm done now!

First it was this:



Then, it was these:



And, for some reason, I couldn't get that block out of my mind, so I made these Friday and Saturday:



(There were a few more, but I thought 9 made a prettier picture.  LOL)  Then, on Sunday, I sewed them all together and made this:



I just love how they look sewn all together, don't you?



Look at the texture.......wow!  BUT, it's time to move on......so today, I will make two pincushions.  One for my LQS to put all those cute pin toppers into for sale, and a commission pincushion.  After that, I will start cutting fabric for the (yet to be written) new lap quilt pattern.  So, hopefully, you will be seeing that next.  Pray I don't screw it up.  I'd hate to re-order all that fabric!  E-gads!!  I hope you will be having fun sewing this week too!!!!!!

Old business and New business

Thank you all for your many suggestions on that ugly quilt from my last post.  I so appreciate your ideas.  First, I must tell you that I am not a ripper.  No, no, no!!!  Once something is sewn, it's sewn.  Besides, if I had ripped out that sashing and corner blocks, I surely would have ruined some of the seams in the colored blocks.  I took it to the quilt shop as it was and am having it quilted with tie dye variegated thread.  Keep your fingers crossed....BUT, if it's still ugly, I will finish it, and shove it in my upstairs closet for my kids to wonder what to do with after I'm dead.  LOL

One more thing.  Sooooo many of you asked where I got my name tags.  (They are the best, aren't they??)



I do love them!!  Anyway, here is where I ordered them:  http://www.sterlingnametape.com/  They have several styles, sizes, colors and fonts and they are FAST.  You will love working with them.  I'm almost ready to order my second batch.

Now for some old/new stuff.  I must show you something from my past.  In the late 70's/early80's (yes, I am that old!!!) I sold these outright to about 6 shops and did craft fairs in my area.  (Too bad they didn't have the internet then......I might be rich now???  LOL)  It gave me an outlet for my creativity as well as bringing in a bit of $$ while being a SAHM.  Perhaps some of you remember salt dough ornaments???





These were all hand formed and hand painted and I did about 100 different kinds.  Too bad the white paint and/or varnish has yellowed all these years.

I bring this up because when I started doing those pin toppers recently, it brought back memories of years ago.  In actuality, I got the idea for the pin toppers from a marvelous and super talented artist on Etsy.  Her stuff is amazing and gorgeous......you must look.  I so admire her and her talents that I had to try to make them myself.  Needless to say, I'll NEVER be able to copy her.  She is way above me, that's for sure.  Besides, I do go through phases, as many of you know, so this won't last anyway.  Soon I'll be back to sewing.  (Good thing for those of you who are waiting on commission quilts, huh???  I really have not forgotten you, believe me!!)  But, I thought if any of you might like a pin topper of mine, I'd throw it out there........$5.00 each and when they're gone, they're gone.  I have duplicates of all of these, so chose at will.  At least I'll be able to re-coup some of my investment.  My e-mail address is on my side bar.



Thank you all!  And thank you too for being such loyal followers.  I so appreciate each and every one of you and I cherish all your super wonderful comments and suggestions although I might not always have the time to answer all of them.

Busy, busy, busy!

Yeah.......I finished one lap quilt.  BUT......I'm not real sure I like it.  I will have it quilted and then decide.  I can't put my finger on why I'm not crazy about it either.  Maybe it's because the sashing is too wide.  Or, maybe it's because of the black squares in the middle.......I just don't know, its something.  Since I took these pictures, I did put a solid white border all the way around and it did help a bit....BUT.....it's still something.  What do you think?





One good thing though is that I have lots of scraps from all the pieces I cut from the original round blocks.  And, I already have a plan of what to do with some of them, so stay tuned..........

Then, I also made a few more pin cushions.  Several of my friends just flipped over that simple red and white one, and I wasn't about to give them mine, so I HAD to make some more:



Then.....(can you tell it was a boring, snowy weekend here???) I thought I'd work on more pin toppers.



I invested in some SculpeyIII instead of that Fimo polymer clay I was using and it's so much easier to use.  I also got some longer pins today, and I think (yes, I'm close to being certain) that I am going into business with these.  I thought that they might be fun to sell at my LQS.  I'll make a giant pincushion and  it could be at the counter where the cash register is filled with pretty pin toppers.  How fun!  (Too bad the owner doesn't know this yet, huh?  LOL)  I will do lots more styles.....I was just practicing with the ones pictured.   I'm thinking $5.00 would be a fair price to charge depending upon the difficulty.  I also bought some small boxes so if any of you have a hankering for an apple or two, let me know.

Never a dull moment around here.  I needed a new project you know (like a hole in my head).........eikes!  I wish this brain of mine would slow down sometimes............

Here it is.....

I told you I'd show you my favorite pincushion that I made recently and so here it is:



And the pieced back (which seemed to generate more interest than the front...much to my dismay!



I just love the simplicity of the front.......and.....I suppose the back's not bad either.....LOL!!  Fancy schmancy little apple pin topper, dontcha think?  Darn thing cost me $6.30 in shipping, I'll have you know!  BUT, I did get some of that Fimo stuff to try my hand at making some and this is what I did yesterday in only an hour:



Granted, my mushrooms leave something to be desired, but the apples aren't too bad, I don't think.  I posted these on Flickr, complaining that I couldn't get the dough soft and pliable enough to use decently and someone was wise enough to tell me to sit on the blocks for 15 minutes before I use them.  Duh!  Brilliant!  How come I didn't think of that?  I suppose I could put them in my bra too, huh?  Nothing like warming up your dough properly......e-gads!!!  (I have yet to try it.)  Maybe I should get me some more colors first?  'Course, knowing me, I'll make 100 and then won't know what to do with them!  Ask me how I know that...........

The only other thing that's new is this:



I had to make this for a dear Flickr friend who just cracks me up.  She is such a delight, and so kind, and funny, and really talented too.  You'll find her blog here.  I knew she'd appreciate my humor.

So, that's it for today folks.  The only other thing I've been doing is strip piecing to try to catch up on some older stuff.  I need to get a project off my dining room table to make room for something new.  You probably remember this:



Well, I'm working on it.  Wish me luck!  6 circles to go and I can get to the next phase.  Hopefully it'll be all pieced by this weekend........

A New Day

Yup, it's a new day and ...........ta-da.............a new swap!  (Like you expected something else???)  I should quit this stuff, really I should!  When in the world am I going to finish all that other stuff I have hanging over my head???  I mean, I have two lap quilts to do, a pattern to write (yes, you heard it here first) and I'm thinking perhaps two....or maybe three....commission wall hangings to start/finish.

So, am I completely crazy or what?  It's just that I LOVE making pincushions.  I LOVE using my tiny funnel and pouring that wonderful smelling Walnut Litter into those cute little things.  And after I stitch them closed they feel soo good in my hands!!!  Now......you realize I only need to make one for my secret partner, right?  Then, please tell my why I already have 6 done, with more ideas in my head that just won't leave......e-gads!  On top of that, I bought some of that Filo stuff to make pretty pin toppers today too.  Duh!!!!  Like I need more projects???  HELP!!!!!

Wanna see them????  I have one that I haven't photographed yet, but here are the rest:









Guess that's only 4......I did make 5, 'cause one is exactly like the last one, only it's not centered and doesn't have french knots so I didn't take a picture of it so I really WAS telling you the truth!  The best one is the last one though, the one that's not even pictured yet...the 6th one.........and you'll have to wait for that one.  (In reality, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it so I think I will keep it for myself.)  Bad me!

Incidentally, thank you, thank you, thank you for all your millions of comments last time.  I was blown away by your wonderfulness about my little doll quilt.  I am so anxious to send it off to my secret partner in a few weeks.  I do have a few more doll quilts that I must finish yet for angel quilts.  I just remembered.........eikes............I better get to work!!!

"Over the River"

Now that the Packer win hoopla is over, I guess I should concentrate on getting back to the business of quilting.  Too bad I've gotten the "crud" that is going around with the stuffy head, nose and watery eyes that brings on a cough that leaves me breathless.  You might have to settle with this post for a week, my friends until I somewhat recover.  Although, I must admit that I was well enough to make two pincushions yesterday, even though I never had the strength to stuff them.  LOL.

Anyway, enough of all that!!  Onto the good stuff.  As you know, I am a big part of the doll swap.  I LOVE this swap the best of all, I think.  Probably because it seems the perfect size for all my ideas and believe me, I have ideas!!!  A week or so ago, I drew two possibilities for my partner.  One was very involved and I sort of figured that by the time it was done, I'd never be able to let it go, and another:



I thought that might be perfect if I added some crazy fabrics and a bit of whimsy, (like I love to do).  Besides, earlier in the week, I visited my local fabric store and saw tons of possibilities for the addition of buttons to enhance it.  (Some of which happened to jump right in my cart, I'll have you know.)  So I started fusing:



And continued until I was done............(a mere 8 hours later, if you can believe??)  And that was with the inclusion of a run for additional buttons that wouldn't get out of my head.  Duh!



Finally it was done and I will show you sections before showing you the whole thing.  I want you to see the detail.  First the top left:



And the bottom left:



The middle:



And the right side:



You'd think it was huge, right?  Not really!  It finished at 21 by 17 inches.  A perfect size, I think for all the fun!



Best thing of all though is that my swap partner LOVES it.  She commented, and that was the "frosting on the cake".  Yahoo!!!

Super Bowl Sunday

How sad is it when you've been a Wisconsinite your whole life and only have two little cookies to show for team support...........(which no doubt will be gone by games end)?  Yum!!

GO PACK GO!!!!!

Who knew?

Ever since the beginning of the 3rd mug rug swap, I've made 9 mug rugs, none of which my partner has commented on, I'll have you know.  Now, I know you can't comment on everything, but trouble is that she hasn't commented on anything else that I knew of either and I've been looking.  I was thinking of what I could do to maybe "shake her up", so earlier this week I thought I finally "had it" and made this:



I used to just love that song from "Alice in Wonderland" when Tweeledee and Tweedledum sang it...do you remember?  Oh well, anyway, I drew the oval freehand and went to town.  I hand embroidered all those words, appliqued those teeny tiny candles, stitched the sprinkles on the cake, pieced the bias binding and got it on almost perfectly and ........."nothing".  Not a peep!

Then, just for fun, and because I wanted (and because I have a strange personality, I suppose), I made this:



Yes, it's a mug rug too!  It does have batting and the yolk, in fact, even has three layers making it stick up real 3D like.  I should have saved it for the QT Mini swap for this time.....the theme is 3D, BUT the real funny thing is that I've gotten more comments in Flickr on this goofy egg than on some of my other stuff which has taken me sometimes 10 times longer to make.  Who knew?  Now, I wonder what other kinds of food I can find to quilt???

And I suppose you're wondering..........."No", she didn't comment on this one either.  LOL