National Quilting Day~ a little late

Did you sew on National Quilting Day?  

Saturday's are always busy at my house, but I did sneak in a little project. :-)

I have a friend who loves hedgehog designs.  And I just happened to find

a cute potholder pattern. :-)

Pattern by  Susie C Shore Designs

Isn't it fun?!  I hope to make a few more soon.

I am finishing up 2 quilts and I'll show them to you after they are quilted. ;-)

If  I can wait that long! LOL

Have a Happy St Patrick's Day!

A Bit O'Green~

I just had to pull out my green fabrics and make a couple

mini runners for St Patrick's Day. :-)

Everything is greening up outside, so I needed some inside too. LOL

I should have put my shamrock plant in the photo, but

I trimmed it up last week and it is still looking a little puny. ;-)

No worries though, it is a hardy plant and will soon fill out again.

My daffodils are budding, the primrose are blooming~

I think spring is coming!!  :-)

Have a happy week!

Ah, The Sewing Machine~

It really is a girl's best friend! :-) I have been giving mine quite a workout

lately, but much of what I'm doing is for gifts, so.... I don't dare show you! ;-)

BUT,

Here is one gift that has been received. So let's look~

This is called the 'Classmate' from Atkinson Designs.  I sent it to a friend for her

birthday. This is the third one I've made, but the first one I remembered to get a photo of! :-o

I know! I was so excited to give the others to their intended recipients, I totally forgot. 

I was talking to my Mom the other day and she asked if I'd made myself one yet... LOL No. (blush!)

So she made one for me and sent it! :-) Thanks Mom!

Mine is full of stuff, so I didn't take a photo, but I still can if you want to see it. LOL

This is the inside~

Room for all your treasures, whether they are for sewing, hand stitching, going on

vacation or ...?  Behind every clear pocket is an open pocket for sliding in a notebook, pattern, etc. :-)

It's a lot of steps, and easy to get yourself confused, but so worth the time it took.

Next time, I will cut as I go, it would be easier to keep myself on track and when I have to step away (for a week) I would know where to pick up again. ;-)

*Disclaimer.. I made this bag for a gift. I bought the pattern. I'm not in any way advertising for Atkinson Designs~ I doubt they even know I made this. I just wanted you to see what I've been doing.

Now I am working on a big ol' pile of string blocks~ I'll be back to show you soon!

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Where Have I Been?

LOL, now that is a very good question!

It seems life has just intruded on my blogging time this month. :-)

I hope y'all are still out there! 

I received the next block in my Mystery Sister block swap~

Isn't it a beauty? 

I just love the autumn colors!!

I can't show you the blocks I've sent, its a secret. ;-)

I've also been working on my Bunny Hill, 'I Believe in Snowmen' embroidery and I started another smaller embroidery~

In the April 2014 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting

there was this cute little tote by Pretty By Hand

I think it will be so cute for my DGD for Easter. ;-)

And it is really quick stitching. :-) 

Hope you are having some fun in your sewing room too!

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

Still Sewing...

I've been working on a gift and in-between times I've been making blocks~

I have the 48 blocks finished for Inferno II from Connecting Threads. 

I purchased the kit and have been really pleased. They sent plenty of fabric

to make the blocks and enough that if I made a mistake, I could fix it. :-)

No mistakes. ;-) I'm not sure when I'll get the rows together, but the 

blocks will wait for me. ;-)

We got snow last night! And here are my February blocks for the 'I Believe in Snowmen'

quilt along. :-) Kids were out today making snowmen~tomorrow the snow will be gone. 

I need to trace some more blocks tonight.

Hope you had a good weekend~

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

Little Things

I've been working on lots of little things lately, so let's get caught up~

First up is the new HGTV BOM. I'm not hosting it this year, just playing along. :-)

The first block the new hostesses chose was 

'The House that Jack Built' from Quilter'sCache.

I decided to make my blocks in black, white, & grey with a touch of a solid red.

I don't think I have ever used a solid in a quilt before~ I like the texture that tone on tones give quilts; but I needed to stretch~ so we will see how the year goes. ;-)

Next up is the second installment for the 'I Believe in Snowmen' quilt along.

The pattern is from Bunny Hill.

I have a friend who traces all of her patterns using Crayola Washable markers. I have to admit, I was skeptical about the marker washing out, so when she sent me some of her blocks, I tried one. I purposely didn't use red thread, so I could really see how the marker worked. ;-) 

And guess what?!!

It worked great!! :-)

I had to rinse the block quite a bit, but every last trace of the red came out.

I love it!

Here is my bluework block next to another traced block~

Pretty amazing, right?

I think you can click the photo for a larger view.

I am also doing a 'Mystery Sister' block exchange this year. I send a block once a month to my Mystery Sister, and someone in the group sends me a block. We did get a little say in color preferences. I chose  Autumn-type fabrics/colors.  In December, we picked the fabrics for our 'Mystery Sister' and all the block need to be made from the 5 fabrics we chose; but not all 5 fabrics need to be used in every block.  Of course, I can't show you the blocks I am sending~ my 'Mystery Sister' may be lurking. :-)

But I can show you the first block I received. Whoever my 'Mystery Sister' is~ she obviously has been checking up on me because she chose a star block~ and I love stars!!  I also love the colors

she chose. This is going to be a fun year! :-)

Here is my first block~

She had to remove one of the fabrics because she had 6 on her sample card~ I wouldn't have 

minded at all; but someone noticed and pointed it out. :-/

I guess that's all the news from here~

I need to go dust off my sewing machine and get it humming! :-o

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!

A Little Fun~

Brooke at Silly Mama Quilts did a post last week about Valentine's fabrics. I just love Valentine's fabrics too, and when I told her that, she offered to share a few squares of Chemistry by Cosmo Cricket from her stash. :-)

At the same time I saw the new U-tube tutorial by Jenny of Missouri Star Quilts~ a pinwheel in a Churn Dash block.

So, do you know where this is going? :-)

Yup!! I had to try the block using the charm squares. LOL Now I will warn you right up front~ Jenny uses layer cake squares, which are 10 inches. And this technique produces a lot of bias edges! :-o BUT~ I still had to give it a whirl... three times!! :-)  I ended up with three cute little blocks~

~and I haven't decided yet if I will put them into a larger mug rug, a little bag or what. They measure about 4 x 11 3/4th's now.  I'm not sure why the stripes look so wonky, I must've shifted something. When you are sewing this small~ every little error is quite glaring. :-o  Oops.

I also got my first segment for the 'I Believe in Snowmen' sew along that we are doing on the HGTV message boards finished.. This is an Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs pattern; and I must say I am loving the reds. Some of the ladies are doing theirs in blues, and there is even a rich gold set being done. Lots of variety!

Sorry for the tiny photo~ I think if you click it, it will get bigger. ;-)

That's all for now.
Until next time~
Happy Stitchin'!!