Time~

 Did you get all your Christmas projects finished in time?

I got all my gifts finished, but there was one project I wanted to finish 'for me' that didn't quite make it.

My Crafter's Edge project for December was to be a pillow cover. I got it all prepped, but finding the time to quilt it like I wanted was not in the cards.  I used the Whimsical Tree die and had a lot of fun deciding how to position the branches and how many to have on each tree. I machine embroidered the words.

But I wanted a big block of time to do some quilting on it, and it just didn't happen. Maybe it can happen this week. ;-)

What kept me from working on it? Well, at Thanksgiving our youngest son asked if I would make him an afghan that went from his shoulders to over his feet~ he is over 6 feet tall! It seems he sets his heat to go down at night and some nights he is still up working when that happens, so he said he 'needed' an afghan that was long enough. Yes, he has quilts but as he pointed out~ nothing is as snuggly as an afghan. LOL He has a point there. So I purchased the yarn, chose the pattern based on the one of mine he always claims when he is down visiting ;-) and got to work. Over 6 feet is a loooong afghan! But I finished in time! And he was so surprised~ he really did not think he would see it until at least February and he was ok with that. :-) 

This week we have cold temps and it is a winter wonderland outdoors~ 

 good time to stay in an sew! ;) ;)

Have a great week!

Until next time`

Happy Stitchin'!!

Happy December!

I can finally start to reveal some of my secret sewing this year, 

and this was the biggest one!

I hosted a quilt-along on a small FB group. :-)

We made a mystery quilt~ I designed it in my EQ program and gave the ladies a little block assignment each month. Some months it was 2 blocks, some 4 (but easy ones)

By the third month they all knew it would be a Churn Dash quilt, but they couldn't figure out how all the different size blocks would fit together. :-)

It was soooo much fun!!! 

I made 2 quilts. The one above was all scrappy blocks and backgrounds. I still need to add my outside border and it will tie all the colors together. Right now, Christmas sewing is keeping me from it. ;-)

I also made a Christmas version~

In this one I made all my Churn Dash blocks from various greens, and used the same background for all the blocks. I have a border fabric that is Grinch fabric for it.

Both quilts will finish at 84" square. :-)

 I can't wait to get them quilted next year!

 

Right now I am knee deep in Christmas makes and bakes and loving every minute!

I hope you are having a fun December too!

 

Until next time~

happy stitchin'!!

It's Friday!!

Did you have a good Thanksgiving? Did you hit the sales today? :-)

I am too much of a homebody, don't care for crowds. LOL  So I have been sewing!!

I used the Gingerbread House Die from Crafter's Edge~

 

And I put it on a kitchen towel~

I like it, but I felt it needed something~

How about a little hand embroidery with perle cotton thread?
 

And now I am in love!! :-)  It was so fun to play in my scraps and the dies are so nice to work with!

No sharp edges so even my DGD could help me!

For the rest of this month Crafter's Edge is having a 30% off sale on their site.

(while supplies last) The discount will show up in your cart when you checkout.

Go check them out!

I am already planning another gingerbread project. :-) 

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

A New Pattern!

I recently had the pleasure of pattern testing 

for a new-to-me designer and an improv quilt!~ also new to me!

Emily @ Dame and Dane Quilting designed a fun quilt called 'Squaretangle'.

I was a little nervous as I don't think of myself as good at improv, but discovered it was really fun! The hardest part was choosing the fabrics! (for me)  LOL Making the angles and pathways was a little like playing Chutes and Ladders.  :-)  I had the pieces on the design wall when sewing with my friends and they each offered suggestions for rotating/moving blocks until we hit upon this arrangement.  I love it!

Of course it had to be rainy and windy when I tried to get some pix! This is the best of the lot. ;-) You will be seeing this one again as I plan to add borders and an applique to it. Fun, fun, fun!

Emily also has a fundraiser going on with the release of this pattern and you can find the info in this screenshot with the link below.

 

Fundraiser link

---Once you make a donation take a screen shot of the PayPal receipt and send it to Emily in an email at DameandDaneQuiltingco@gmail.com to receive your pattern (s).  ----

If you are on Instagram follow the link #squaretanglequilt to see other tester versions. One gal turned hers into a child's jacket!  :-)

I will be back later in the week with more fun projects! ;-)

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!

And Happy Thanksgiving!!!

A Little Fun Sewing!

My how time flies when November first comes around!

I have been doing a lot of secret sewing~ Christmas gifties that I cannot reveal until January! And pattern tests, but in between all those projects I did have a little fun. ;-)

My friends and I got together for a weekend sew-in! But before we did, we each cut out 75 red tumblers using the Accuquilt 4½" die, 75 green tumblers and 30 gold tumblers. We were to cut from our stash. 

 Then when we got together we put everyone's reds in a bag and mixed them up and pulled out hand fulls! We did the same for the greens and golds and then made tops with our new bunches of tumblers! The amazing thing was that we didn't always get any of our own back but got 3 or 4 of someone else's depending on how hard the fabrics stuck together.  

Four of us just went 'helter skelter' and didn't try to make any designs but one smart cookie arranged hers to make a modern tree top. :-) 

Aren't they all fun?!!! I plan to border mine with a green fabric which will make it lap size. :-) 

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!!

A Little Something Fun...

What do you sew on to de-stress?

Do you have a favorite mindless sewing project?

I like making string blocks or pillowcases.  Lately my 'sew-jo' has been waning, so yesterday I worked on a few pillowcases. :-)

I had purchased the two with the white background, and made the middle one.  When I purchased them, I thought they would be just perfect for 2 of my grands, and I didn't think the 2 yo would use a pillow yet~ oops! I was wrong, so I made up the third one and am real happy with how it turned out. 

Then I pulled out my Crafter's Edge machine and alphabet letters and put the kids names on their cases so there would be no problems when they arrived. LOL  I tried out different sewing machine stitches just for fun. :-)   It was a perfect 'mindless sewing' afternoon! :-)

And a quick reminder, the Crafter's Edge website is having a 20% off sale for the month of October~ a great time to stock up on some fun dies!

 

Now that my 'sew-jo' is back, I need to get to work!

Until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

Pumpkins?

While the Pumpkin Spice Muffins are baking and filling the house with wonderful smells, 

I thought I would show you another use for the Crafter's Edge Beach Ball Die. 

 

Remember in June when I made the balloon balls for the grandkiddoes?

 If you cut just 2 more of the die 'melons', you can make pumpkins!!

How cool is that?!  I left a little opening in the seam at the bottom of one of the melons and used it to turn my pumpkins. Then instead of filling with fiber fill, I blew up a balloon inside. :-) This will make them much easier to store from year to year as I will just have to pop the balloon and fold them flat to store. :-) 

And just a little reminder~

"From October 1 to October 31, all orders on Crafter's Edge.com will receive a 20% off discount! No coupon codes are needed, the discount will automatically be applied at checkout. This discount is only applicable while supplies last, and cannot be combined with other sales or promotions. The discount is not applicable to wholesale or resale orders."

 

Until next time~

Happy pumpkin season!!!