Flying~

Not me, the days! LOL  ;-)  Doesn't it seem like yesterday was Thanksgiving?  I can't believe how fast the days are flying by! :-o

And I am flying a little high  ;-)  ~ I won this wonderful giveaway from Anna at Woolie Mammoth!  I love the wooden bowl!  And I've already started tracing the pattern for the little snowball ornaments pillow. Isn't it cute?  Thank you Anna!

I've been sewing too~ but can't show you the gifts I'm working on.  Sorry. :-/
I can show you Steps 1 and 2 of Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay mystery~

I haven't started Step 3 yet. ;-)  Guess I should get back to work!

I hope you are finding sewing time!
Until next time~
Happy Stitchin'!!

It's That Time!

Every year Darlene at Insights from SewCalGal has a Christmas quilt show~ You will be inspired beyond words when you start viewing all those wonderful links!

 I'm a little late in joining the fun this year, but would like to share this little quilt with you...
 I made these two mini's a few years ago and sent one to my friend, Bonnie,  in a swap.  It was so fun to sew a 'secret' and we gave each other convoluted little teaser peeks as we went along. :-) Every year when I get mine out, it brings me wonderful memories of our little exchange.

This is the cute mini Bonnie sent me~~ I love it!  See the little label she embroidered?  It is these wonderful gifts and exchanges from friends that make this time of year so special.  Thank you again Bonnie!! :-)

If you want to see more lovely Christmas and winter quilts, visit SewCalGal!



Thank you for stopping by!
Have a happy day!

Flying High!!! (final update)

Whoohoo~ I got the 80 Flying Geese blocks finished! (Get it? Flying High? :-) )  I couldn't resist!
I just have to trim off the wild feathers (bunny ears) ;-)
I didn't take another photo, but wanted to share my progress.

I hope you also visit~

Karen @ Briarside Lane

Jayne @ Jayne's Quilting Room

Barb @ Bejeweled Quilts by Barb

And I discovered Monica @ Diary of a Quilt Maven is sewing with us too!

Thank you for joining me ladies!! :-)

And since no post is complete without a photo~

I am headed back to work on my Orca Bay step 2 (link in my sidebar)

Have a happy evening!!

Sewing..Sewing.. Sewing...

Today is Thimbleberries Sew Day!  And I am sewing!!  I've been working on Double Duty from Miss Rosie's Spice of Life Quilts book one day a month for a while now. Today I counted my Log Cabin blocks~ I have 78 complete; I need 26 more.  There are also Flying Geese in this quilt~ I got 28 made this morning. I need 80. I know I won't get them all sewn today, but it is good to pull it out every month and make a little progress. :-)

Are you sewing?  You can use a Thimbleberries pattern and your stash of any fabrics you want, or use any pattern and your Thimbleberries fabrics.  Either way~ you are sure to have fun! :-)

I'll be back this evening with an update on the Flying Geese.

Please be sure to visit these gals who are sewing with me today~ :-)

Karen at Briarside Lane

Jayne at Jayne's Quilting Room

And Barb at Bejeweled Quilts by Barb

Happy stitching!

Thimbleberries Sew Day Time!!

Thank you, Karen, for the reminder!! LOL  I can't wait to see what you work on! ;-)

Ladies~ tomorrow is Thimbleberries Sew Day!  Won't you join us?  You can use Thimbleberries fabrics, or your own fabrics and a Thimbleberries pattern. Let me know if you have a project to work on and I'll be sure to stop by for a visit! :-)

I'll be pulling out the log cabin blocks bucket once again and working on those. ;-) ~  one of these month's I will have the pile I need for the Double Duty quilt in Miss Rosie's Spice of Life Quilts book.

Hope to see you tomorrow!!

Embroidery Experiments...

I love to embroider. The part I don't like is tracing the design. I usually use a pigma pen and light box and trace. But some patterns are so detailed I get hand cramps~ but I love the patterns!  What to do? what to do? :-)

I've tried Transfer-Ease before and liked it, except sometimes I don't want to have to wash my project.... and the last time I used it, I took such tiny stitches that it had to soak a long time to come all the way out.  I printed the design on the left on the Transfer-Ease and I'll embroider and rinse it out.  But then I got to thinking.... uh-oh!  ;-) (I know, that is scary! LOL )  The design on the right I printed right on the back of the fabric using freezer paper on the fabric, and making a reverse image.  It works! I can see thru the fabric enough to do the embroidery, and I won't have to rinse anything out. :-)

You can kind of see the design thru the fabric here...

I also did a test sample and washed it to make sure the ink didn't run or do anything funny in case I did want to wash my project later. It didn't do a thing.  Now I have another way to transfer embroidery designs without having to trace, or rinse later. :-)

Both of these designs can be found free at Red Brolly. I am going to use star buttons on the one I started working on. The other is going to be done all in red.

That's all for today~

Have a happy weekend!

Saturday Sewing~

Or maybe I should say 'mindless sewing'. :-)  I decided to do Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay mystery.  ( She has a tab at the top of her blog where you will find all the info and Step 1).  When the first step turned out to be 224 QST's I did pause for a minute! LOL  But she says we are getting the worst over first, so away I went.

I don't collect 1.5 inch strips, and don't have a stash of those. Actually I don't have much of a stash of black fabrics at all~ I used them up in my last B&W quilt.  So rather than cut my remaining pieces down to 1.5 inch strips, I printed out sheets of Triangulations papers and cut rectangles.  I know a lot of quilters don't like having to remove the papers, but it is the easiest and most accurate for me. I love not having to do any squaring up when the units are 2.5 inches or less. ;-)

Today I sewed ten sheets~ which will be 120 QST's when I sew the halves together. It went really fast, and I can pull the papers when I'm sitting in my easy chair tonight. :-)  At this rate, this step is going to be done before I know it! :-)

Have a happy weekend~
And until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!