"285"

And the marathon continues.......!!!  I don't know if you realize, but other than the first doll quilt, I have been using my leftover 1 1/4 inch strips from my "Squared Insanity" quilt.  I had a bag full!  I really was planning on returning them to the basement after the Freddy and Gwen quilt, but then I thought of the neat trick that "Oh Fransson" did on her blog with gridded pellon so thought I should try it.  I went to my local Joanns, but low and behold, after I cut about a million 1 1/4 inch squares, the pellon I bought was not the iron on kind.  Duh!!!  Now what?  No worry, I'd just go get the right stuff the next day.  EXCEPT.....the next day it was freezing outside!!!  No way am I going out in the really cold weather, so I decided to sew them the old fashioned way...piece by piece.  First I put them all in a bowl (a 5 inch in diameter bowl) so if I sneezed, none would blow away.  LOL  Then I chain pieced each colored fabric to a white one.

When I was done with sewing them all together, I ironed the seams open as nice as I could...and it wasn't easy getting it really flat.  Try as hard as I could, I couldn't match all the seams perfectly.
But it didn't look as bad as it could have, so I had to take a picture with items to show how small the squares (3/4 inch) really were.

But, then, what was I going to do with it? I loved it already and knew that I could never give this one away, especially when it matched the Insanity quilt so well, but how to finish it???? Until a brilliant thought came to me. Make a frame and hang it on the wall. So I did..........and amply named it "285" because that's how many squares are in it. Cool, huh?

DQS8 #3???

I can hardly believe there is more than a month to go on this fun doll swap and I already have so many cute little quilts done.  Think I have too many ideas?  And/or not enough other stuff to do?  I'm thinkin' you're right!!!  I guess that's what happens when you're retired and have a quiet life.  I figure it's tons more fun and loads cheaper than therapy, so why not?  Besides, I'm sure I'll find someone to take the excess off my hands if I end up with too many.  I did offer to be the swap "angel" so maybe they'll all be used, we'll see.  Wanna see #3?  I got the idea from a Gwen and Freddy book......the name escapes me right now because I loaned it to my friend to read.  Duh!

#4 is close to being done and will be hanging on my wall.  I am loving it, and I think I'll keep it for myself.  Who knew I'd be creative enough to really love something enough to keep it???  That rarely happens!  

Having a ball!

I'm having such a ball with all these tiny quilts, I can't believe it.  #2 is done, and I'm working on #3 right now.  Just thought you might like to see #2 though.  I'm calling it, "Squared Up".  

DQS8 #1 Finished

As I'm sure you know, I'm one of 160 members of the current Doll Quit Swap on Flickr.  I LOVE this swap!!  It's a secret swap and I have no idea who has my name, and I only know who my own partner is.  It's so fun!!  Last time in DQS7 I made the "Chickenfoot" quilt and the one Princess one, plus one other for my swap partner.  (Sometimes my partner is the last on my list because I have so many ideas in my head that have to come out first.)  I know, I'm bad!  Such is life!  Actually, that was the case with this one which I'm calling, "Think Spring".

First I started with a tree trunk, a base tree and ground cover:

Then, I fussy cut some flowers from some Kaffe Fassett fabric and appliqued them, along with some hand cut leaves to my bases.  (The color is weird on this picture because I took it at night under my lights on my kitchen island.)

After I got all those on, I hand stitched one stitch in each leaf for stability sake,  (going around each with the sewing machine would have taken forever, I figured.  LOL)  I also added the birds at this point.  See.....one is appliqued and the other one is not at this point.
Next, I sandwiched the layers and started doing the hand quilting by adding black colonial knots to the tree base and ground cover.  I should have counted how many.  It seemed as though I was knotting forever!  Here is a close up of the top.

Just about done.  Finally I did white colonial knots in the sky area to finish it off and took a few stitches in the birds tail feathers to add some color.  And ta-da.....a finished folk art quilt.

I hope you like it as much as I do. This is not for my partner. I do have someone special in mind though.....but, I'm not telling!!!

DQS8 #1 is in the works

I'm getting ready to start.  Hopefully tomorrow and now I'm thinking there might be 5 by the time I'm done.  Boy the ideas are floating in my head.  AND........joy for joy.........I finished the tree skirt samples so I'm raring to go.  And lookie what I got today in the mail today......1/8 yard of 72 Kona cottons.  Aren't they pretty?  And only $41 with shipping from fabricshack.  Amazing!

 

Christmas is Over

Christmas might be over, but unfortunately, my mindset is still there.  In order to keep from really "going over the edge", I promised myself that I would finish two tree skirt samples before I did ANYTHING else.  (That does not include shopping for fabric though...which I did do this morning.  LOL)  I know that I'll get into something else.........I'm dying to get going on the Doll Swap Quilts (yes, you did hear that right...there will be more than one...I'm thinking 4 and I'll get into that next time), but right now I have to C O N C E N T R A T E!!  Yes, concentrate on these samples so that when I get the patterns back from the graphic designer, I can ship them off and hope that I sell LOTS of patterns!!!  I'm thinking my quilt shop might "push" them at Market??  We'll see!

Anyway, I did get to see my friend, Shirley's, take on the pattern and take pictures, (and she was a doll to help me adjust the instructions and use the correct quilting lingo)...THANK YOU SHIRLEY.  I rarely buy patterns, so how was I supposed to know you don't write like you talk?  Duh!  I must admit, it did cut the instructions down almost a whole page.  LOL  Oh gee, here I get off the subject again...talk about ADD??  Maybe!  Well, enough......here is her skirt in it's glory.  Isn't it gorgeous?  I just love it!

Don't you agree that it shows the versatility of the pattern?  It looks good in country or modern.  I didn't know I was so brilliant!!  LOL   

Yeah, my baby's back!!

Yeah....I finally got it back!  About time too since I had to call at three weeks to discover that they hadn't even looked at it, nor even touched it yet.  E-gads, it was only in for cleaning, it's not like they had to readjust the thing or anything.  Yikes, just blow the dust, guys, that's all.....and it took that long??  (You sure can tell a man was in charge, huh?  If it was a woman, she'd surely know how important a sewing machine is.....at least I'd think so!!!)  But, she's back and I'm happy!  I was going bonkers there with no creative outlet, believe me.  Any longer and I would have been whipping stuff out of the closets to discuss.  LOL  

Naturally, I had to use it today to see how it worked and I had a ball!  I was "lost" in imagination that had been in the back of my brain for weeks and I needed to get "him" in fabric (FAST) before I forgot or got waylaid by something else.

  

As it was, I think he turned out pretty cute.  I made a few in both styles, but really couldn't decide if I liked him better in the day, or the night....what do you think?  I named them, "Day and Night in the Snow".  And I took the picture with them in the snow too, if you can believe?  I think that's why they look a little wonky.  

Clowin' Around

Since I haven't gotten my sewing machine back yet (although today is supposed to be the day), and can't show anything of that nature, I guess I'm going to have to go out on a limb and reveal a bit of my past.  

While I was cleaning out stuff a few weeks ago, I came across these (which I was surprised I still had).  I made tons of these clowns in all sorts of positions and sold them at craft fairs, about 25 years ago.  (Probably when lots of you were still little kids!!)  I even made a Strawberry Shortcake, which (unfortunately) I didn't save.  LOL  They averaged about 6  to 7 inches square, depending upon the position, and were relativity heavy.  I made them out of Super Sculpy on a wire armature and they were all hand painted.  I loved making these and it was so fun watching people decide which to buy..........how things change, huh?  Now, I couldn't even imagine packing up all that stuff and sitting at a fair all day.  I like sewing better!!!

I think this one is my favorite of the ones I kept.  He has a certain personality which seems to be more me.  (Check out those 80's colors though, huh?)

I think this is the best picture of all.........what a kick ass clown!!!

Have a clowin' around kind of day, my friends. Thank you for visiting my blog and I promise I'll be back to sewing soon!!!

So pretty and EXACTLY what I needed!!

Have you ever been in a funk and had no idea how to get out?  Or, have things gone from bad to worse for you and you've been depressed and wondered how in the world things would turn out?  Well, lately, I think I've been experiencing both....(in due partly "probably" to my *still* missing sewing machine)...BUT....none the less, real!!  Then on top of it, the holidays are over and there is always something a bit sad about taking down the decorations....especially when you live in a state that only has "white" to look at outside.  Ugh!  And it's so cold that the chill just goes through you (even in the house).  Brrrrr!!!  And you feel fat, and your hair is ugly, and you have nothing to wear.....well, you know!  All of that!

BUT then,.......out of the blue.....something wonderful happens, and you can hardly believe it.  The mailman delivers a package to your door totally unexpected.  "For me??", you say.  So you RIP it open in wild abandon and low and behold, it's exactly what you need....and in the perfect colors.  And it's from a dear friend too (which makes it even better.)  And life is pretty good again....and you feel like it's your birthday...even just for an instant.  Well, that's what happened to me.......and isn't it pretty??  I just love it!!!  Thank you my friend!!!  It's exactly what I needed!