~Went with Buttons~

Thanks so much for the comments, but I didn't see them until this morning after I'd done the stitching! :-o Sorry. :-/

I decided to sew buttons on last night... now it is finished! :-) Well...., not quite~ I think I'll put a covered board in the bottom to give it shape. It measures approx. 12 inches wide by 14 inches high with a 4 inch bottom. I think if I covered a heavy piece of cardboard and slid it into the bottom, it will sit nicer and hold its shape better. ;-) It has pockets all the way around in the inside. It holds a book or magazine very nicely. I won't take anymore photo's as the bottom really won't show so much when it is sitting down anyway. :-) Aren't you glad you won't have to see it again? LOL :-)

I also pressed and prepared all my pieces for the April BunnyHill BOM~ I know! :-o The last day of April and I'm finally getting to it! And the Verandah Views BOM is now up for May! I'd better get to work!~ :-)

Until next time~~~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Sewing!

Oh it felt great to dig into my scraps and sew today! I'm working on this bag for a friend who loves Thimbleberries fabrics. You might recognize the pattern~ I did the B&W bags from the same pattern last month. ;-) It's from the Spring issue of 'Quilts and More' magazine. I added the prairie points instead of the rick-rack, and a solid top instead of more strips. It is a really versatile pattern to change around. ;-) Now my question is~ should I sew buttons on every prairie point? or not? I'm so undecided! :-o I'm also making a few accessories to go in the bag, so back to work with me!

Thanks for your help!~

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

More Photo's!~

This is a photo of the other pieces of fabric that we discharged and played with~ I used stamps, paintsticks and a little foiling on these. I can see lots of possibilities with the techniques and I think I'd like to try it with printed fabrics because it might make an otherwise 'what was I thinking' fabric, something fun. ;-)

I also worked on the blocks that Bingo~Bonnie and I are swapping. Although I didn't get that many blocks made up, I did make up a pile of HST's in the 2 sizes we need. ;-) I have been straining my brain trying to remember the traditional name of this block... does anyone know? The photo shows 4 blocks arranged in a star, but the 4 parts can be arranged many different ways. It is a fun, scrappy block. ;-)

And finally for today~ a pile of FQ's. :-) I took 6 for the FQ Lottery and came home with 30. :-)) Yay! See the one down in front with the button on it? It is safety pinned on to make the FQ look like a little envelope. Someone was very creative with their FQ's! :-)

I think (hope) you can click on the photo's for a little larger view.

That's all for now, until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Feels Like I've Been Gone Forever!

What started out as a weekend away turned into a computer mess and a week away! Yikes! Let me back-pedal and catch up. :-) My weekend away was fantastic! Look at all that 'stuff' to go!~ I knew I wouldn't get to everything, but I had high hopes! :-))

We left on Friday morning and had our sewing machines set up and ready to rock 'n roll by 11 AM. We sewed and sewed on Friday and I got 'sew' much done! A whole bunch of Ocean Wave blocks that I'm swapping with a friend. ;-) I also took a class to learn fabric discharging, dying, painting, stamping, foiling~ a whole bunch of fun things! My samples aren't that great, but I learned a lot and hope to use some of it in the future. ;-) Ahhh! I'll have to put the other sample in another post~ it won't let me add it here. :-/ The black looks really dark in the photo~ it looks more rust in real life. ;-)

Well, I must've overdid it on Friday because by Saturday evening my shoulder was screaming at me! It wouldn't let me lift my arm to my machine. :-( I'm not sure if I pulled something, or just used a muscle that wasn't used to so much work, but I was pretty worthless as far as sewing went. I did sit in on a few classes and learn all I could. ;-) I wondered if it was the heavier irons they had or just me... if it was just me, I have to say my bod has pretty poor timing! The weekend ended Sunday and I came home with more things to do than I left with ;-)) ~did I tell you they had a fabric shop set up for the weekend? :-o LOL

On Monday I was going to up-load my photo's and I couldn't get the computer on! Hubby couldn't either when he came home, so into the shop it went. Another hard drive. They had it in the shop most of the week trying to figure out the old hard drive, and finally gave in and put in a new one. We've spent the weekend downloading our programs..again. :-/ I think everything is good now... I hope! And my silly shoulder?~ starting feeling better by mid-week and is back to normal this weekend.

Now I need to hop around and see what y'all have been up to! ;-)

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Sewing, Sewing, Sewing...

I am finally caught up with the BOM the HGTV quilting message board ladies are doing. It's a mystery BOM. The 2 ladies who are co-hostessing this year have been having little contests with clues to guess the block each month. By some stroke of luck, I figured out this month's block~ the New Hampshire Star from QuiltersCache. :-) Then they drew a name from all the correct guesses to win a FQ~ must've really been my lucky day! I won the FQ! :-) These photo's show the 2 blocks I finished today. March (ahem~ yeah~ I was behind :-/ ) and April. The other photo shows all four blocks from January to April together. I should've used some of the lighter light in my April block, but I only have a few scraps left, so not every block can have some. If, when I get all 12 blocks finished, I have any fabric left~ I might re-do April. We'll see... The last photo is a special block they did mid-January with the january and February blocks. I'm not sure how that block fits together with the others yet~ it's a mystery to me! :-))

Now off to work on the denim/flannel raggy~~

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!! :-)

Bunny Hill BOM~

I finally finished up the March block. :-/ Where does the time go?! I won't be able to start April for at least a week, so that one will be done sometime in May. LOL I'm having fun and learning lots about hand applique, so I'll keep on working... ;-)

I'm catching up on other BOM's in the sewing room, so hopefully I'll have more photo's soon. ;-) I leave for my working getaway on Friday, so if I don't get back before then, I'll for sure be back after! :-))

Have a happy week and~

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'! :-)

Still Embroidering~

I finished up my April block for Verandah Views (link in sidebar). :-) Isn't that a cute garden? I'm ready for spring! :-))

Have a happy weekend!!

Another favorite thing~

This little rotating cutting mat is another of my favorite sewing room things. I received it as a gift a few years ago. In the beginning, I didn't use it very much, thinking that I could cut with either hand, so why would I need it? Well, let me just say, I was so wrong! :-) Yes, I can cut with either hand, but with this little gem I don't have to if I don't want to...~ and I don't have to dance around the table to find the right position to cut from! I can just give it a little twirl. ;-) It was a great help back when I was making all those mini 9-patches, and it is a great little help in trimming up the Triangulations triangles. Really~ a great little helper! :-) It took all of maybe 20 minutes to get all my 'Bears in the Forest' border HST's trimmed. :-) Whoohoo!

What is your favorite sewing room gadget??

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

How about a Spring Giveaway~

Go Lani Go has some fun things in her giveaway just in time for spring!

Good luck!

And Happy Stitchin'! ;-)

Still Working~

I finished cutting out the denim/flannel graduation gift raggy quilt with just scraps to spare! Whew! There are not any scrap jeans left in my house! I thought DS's last growth spurt would yield plenty of denim for quilts~ but I've used it all up already! :-o It always takes more than I plan it to take. I used the pockets too. :-)

Once all of the denim and flannel were cut and stacked, I cut out the HST pieces for the border of Judy L's 'Bears in the Farmhouse' quilt~ or in my case 'Bears in the Forest'. Now I'm all set for some serious sewing time!! :-)

I thought I'd take a minute to answer a question I had about the Triangulations~ yes, I use the paper-piecing paper for them~ mainly because it tears so easily. :-) They are all printed and cut to size in the photo for the Bears HST's. I don't press the papers, I press the fabric squares right sides together, then pin the paper to them. When I've finished sewing, I trim them, & the directions say to finger press them open, then tear off the papers. I do it that way. Oh, once in a while I have needed to press before taking the papers off, and the ink has never transfered to my fabric, but I'm not about to chance it when I'm using W-O-W fabrics. ;-)

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!! :-))

Give~Away's... :-))

Hop on over to Not Quite June Cleaver ~love that name! :-)) And check out her cool give-away.

And while you are blog hopping~

if you have some vintage linen's and want to win a neat prize package, check out Apron Memories Blog. :-)

Good luck and have fun!!

Busy as a bee!~

Although my sewing machine isn't running, I am keeping busy! I have been cutting! :-) And cutting, and cutting.... lol, I think I needed a break! :-)) My little get-away is coming up fast and I needed to cut out the things I want to work on. It is a working weekend get-away. ;-) I cut up a bunch of sets of the blocks I am exchanging with a friend in my former guild, and a bunch that I am swapping with Bingo~Bonnie. Both blocks have HST's in them, so I also printed off a bunch of Triangulations papers. (That's the link in case you aren't familiar with the Triangulations~ it is my favorite way to make HST's! ;-)) I can hardly wait to start sewing!! :-))

The final borders for Judy L's 'Bears in the Farmhouse' also have HST's so next I will print off some more papers and cut out those pieces. And I need to cut out a flannel/denim raggy quilt for an upcoming graduation! :-o I think I'd better put a new blade on my shopping list! :-)

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!

Could you hear...

...my sewing machine? LOL No, it isn't that noisy!! :-)) I was finally sewing! Yay! With my kiddo's spring break's one after the other, my sewing time felt a serious crunch! :-o But I just had to get sewing to finish this bag! ~it's for a friend, so don't tell! ;-) I found the pattern in Issue #15 of 'Asian Fabric' magazine. I've already got another planned in my head using oriental fabrics. :-)) My friend loves all things bright, so I had to hop out of my comfort zone for this one. I'm happy with how it turned out, but I'll do a few things differently in the next one. ;-) (which may not be for a few weeks, as I have a pile to catch-up with!) In the inside pocket, I put a small tissue holder made from the scraps. Fun, fun!! ;-)

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'! :-)