Sashing Done!

I think I love it. I wasn't too sure about the fabric I chose, perhaps a bit dark, but I think I love it. DH just said "it might be too nice to give away" woot! This is high praise, believe me!

I'm thinking of adding two borders to make it a queen size, I think that might sell better.

I'm thinking a lighter border around this, then this same fabric for a second border.

Here's a close up of the sashing fabric.

All very "fall" colors.

12 Blocks Done!

I'm a week and 2 days behind schedule, but they're done!

Tomorrow I will take a picture with me to pick up fabric for sashing, borders and binding.

I'm pretty happy with it so far.

5 down 7 to go!

I finally got started on a quilt that I purchased a kit for oh, about 5 years ago. My cousin is very ill and they are having a fund raiser for her, so I thought this was the perfect inspiration to finally make this quilt.

I had hoped to get all 12 blocks done this weekend, but life got in the way. Oh well, at least I got a start on it. I have until early November to get it done.

Here are the first 5 blocks, it's a "sampler", I got Jan, Feb, Mar, April and September done.

Baby it's cold outside!

I can't believe it's winter already.

Here's a picture from Friday, October 9!

My poor DH has to work outside sometimes so I thought I'd make him a flannel welders cap. I used the scraps from a pair of flannel shorts I had made him several years ago.

He was on graveyard shift this weekend so sleeping during the day. He woke up and I showed him the hat, he put it on his head and slept in it! I guess I should have turned up the heat in the bedroom.

Wow! The summer is gone!

Friday's high is supposed to be 28 and the low is in the single digits-YIKE! It was just summer. The good news is that I can finally dust off the old sewing machine and get productive again.

Colt and Minnie had a great summer-Minnie spent last summer in the humane society, so she especially enjoyed her time swimming, running and hiking.



< Now there's a happy girl!!!!!!! Her first time in water that wasn't a flooding, rushing river. She loved it and has become quite the swimmer. At first she would only wade in, now she jumps right in. Sad that a dog doesn't learn to swim until she's 2 years old-but wonderful that she will be swimming all she wants for the rest of her life.

Here's Colt taking a rest on the picnic table-hmmmmmmm..........does the bird dog realize there are several birds behind him?????? LOL! In his defense he just woke up, we had taken a couple hour hike earlier that day.

That isn't a cigar hanging out of his mouth, it's a raw-hide chewy. We let that sunflower grow right in the doorway-yup, we went around it all summer. We had several around the yard, we try to let them grow wherever they come up. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the massive amount of them we had around here, each plant had several flowers on it.

Happy Birthday Girls!

A friend of mine's triplet girls turned 11 on Monday. Their mother got them each a Nintendo DS-they've been asking for a couple of years. Those things are amazing-they can actually text each other-crazy. Anyhow, we did get them each a game but I really wanted to make them something. I know they all like purses and bags so I made them each a purse (tutorial here) with a matching coin purse. They just happen to be the perfect size to carry their DS'! and the little one can hold the games-man those things are tiny.

Aren't they adorable? Horses for K, Princess' for T and "Hippy" for A. They LOVED them! I wish I had gotten a shot of them with them on, they each slung them over their shoulder immediately and wore them throughout most of the party.

Happy Birthday Girls!

It's finished!

Actually, it's been done for a few weeks, I just haven't gotten around to taking any pictures.

I made this quilt to raffle off for a fund raiser I'm doing for a local youth home organization. I will be walking a half marathon on Sunday. I am going to try to break 3 hours, last year I did it in 3 hrs 10 min. I feel ready, but I'm bummed that I haven't dropped any weight in training. At first I did but when I started to increase my workouts I gained-and no, I don't think it's muscle, I guess I increased my eating or something-although it didn't feel like it. I'm really bummed that I didn't lose some weight as I have my THIRTY YEAR class reunion the following weekend! ACK! How did I get this old?

So, cousin P won the quilt-even though we did the drawing at one of my clients they claim it was rigged because family won-lol-sore losers.

I won these squares at a quilt retreat I attended about 3 or 4 years ago.

Didn't it turn out nice? Here is a picture showing the back-I just love this fabric. This is the first time I followed the directions on attaching the binding. I don't trust my hand sewing but everything I've found says you have to attach the front of the binding by hand-so I did. I hope it holds! I quilted it using multicolored thread, I don't know that I would make the choice again, I probably would stick to black, but I think it turned out nice anyhow.

Congratulations P!

One thing I learned with this quilt: If you can't get the tension right on a bobbin-dump it! It is not worth the time and potential damage to your quilt to keep trying to get it right. In the end you have to pull out all that quilting you did because it looks horrible. I don't know how you can wind 4 at the same time and one just doesn't work-but it happens-let it go!

She likes monkeys!

Yup, 50+ and still crazy about monkeys. Just when I think "enough with the monkeys" I see she is wearing a pair of monkey shoes, or has given one of her grand-kids something with monkey's on it. So, for her birthday I picked up some cute monkey material, then realized I had enough for several gifts (yes, I have left overs), I don't know what I'll do with the rest of it, perhaps a fabric bowl or box.

I've been wanting to make this bed caddy for quite some time, and still plan on making one for myself, but thought it might be a nice gift. Poor sis, she got my practice one.



I based it (loosely) on a pattern purchased - cheaply- from here - sorry, I can't find the exact one, I see they now have a bed caddy pattern for free, I may try it. The one I used is called a butterfly bed caddy, but obviously I didn't do the butterfly.

One reason I haven't made one for myself is because I know the two little monsters that live with us (pictures to the right) will pull it outside and rip it up, or at the very least pull the items in it outside and tear them up. The other day I found a pair of dh's underwear in the yard, with big rips in them-good grief, after 8 months you'd think he'd learn not to leave underwear or socks on the floor-serves him right!

Anyhow, here it is, hanging on my sewing table. I think I will make the pockets bigger when I make the next one, they aren't big enough to put a magazine unless you roll it. I like the little pocket in the front, perfect for the remote on one side and reading glasses on other.




Of course I had to include a purse and coin purse in the package. I really do love these purses-I hope everyone I've sent them to does as well.

Happy Birthday Sis!

How do they do it?

I'm very impressed how bloggers are able to post a few times a week. Although I'm sewing, and taking pictures, I just can't seem to get them from the camera, to the computer, to the internet.

Anyhow, I've been making these adorable purses! See the tutorial here.

The purple and pink was my practice one. I took this to a fund raiser I attended recently and LOVED it! I didn't have to worry about a big, bulky purse bumping everyone, nor did I have to leave it at the table and worry about someone pilfering through it. It is the perfect size for a checkbook, credit card, some cash, my keys, and lip balm. I need to make one less flashy, but I think I will get a lot of use out of it-perfect for shopping.

I made this one for a niece that turned 19 recently. I also made a little coin purse to go with it. A great gift, especially with a little cash tucked inside!

This one went to a niece for her 16th birthday-also with a bit of cash. How cute is that?

These don't use much fabric 2-6X17" pieces of fabric with the same amount of batting. It's also a great way for those of us new to machine quilting to get some practice in.

If you have a serger, I'd serge the edges together. Also, the little purse didn't really seem to match the quilted, bigger purse. So the first one I used quilted pieces. That was too bulky so I just "quilted" the next ones, minus the batting. I think it looks much better that way.

I have 4 more in progress for some little gals that have birthdays coming up.

Lucky Me!!!!!!

About 3 1/2 years ago I won these 12-12X12 squares.

I forgot to take a picture before I added the borders.

I was at a quilt retreat and we each received a little pile of fabric-already cut- and instructions on how to assemble our square. There were 24 in all, and they had 2 drawings for 12 squares each. The other was fall colors (I think). And I won these! I purchased some awesome fabric for the sashing, but once I had it home, I decided it was a bit too much (dh agreed). I then used blue and black fabric from my stash to border each square, and the fabric I purchased for sashing (thank goodness I purchased extra!) I will use for the back. I'll post pictures of the finished product (hopefully in the near future).

I am going to walk a half marathon in July, I will be collecting donations for a local youth home. I am going to sell chances on this quilt! I sandwiched it tonight. I'm not sure just how I'm going to quilt it yet. Since I'm a beginner I don't want to get too extragavent, but I'd like to (obviously) make it nice. It measures 54X72.

I think I love it!

Yes, that is Minnie's (once again) behind in the bottom left corner!

Colt is such a BRAT!

We purchased a gentle lead halter for Minnie a few weeks ago, and it works so great at keeping her from pulling we decided to get Colt one as well. On my way to our walk today I stopped and picked one up for him ($15) and I decided to put it on him in the parking lot of the store rather than do it at the dog walk place in case I had to make adjustments. It fit perfectly so I left it on him and drove the ~5 minutes to the trail.

When I opened the back of the truck and went to put the leash on him the halter was dangling around his mid-section! WTF???????????? Oh I see, he CHEWED it off his neck! in 5 minutes!



JERK!

I love him dearly (he's truly the funniest dog I've ever had) but I thought he was over this chewing thing. I told him I'm adding $15 to his tab. Hopefully I'll be able to somehow sew this back together.

Doll Quilt and Pillow

I made this adorable doll quilt and matching pillow/pillow case for a special little girl.

Here's the back.

Here is the quilt with matching pillow/pillowcase.

I think my 4 yo GREAT niece will love this for her dolls.

I made this totally from scraps. The fabric is flannel, I used it originally for a ragtime quilt (is that what those were called?) for another niece several years ago. I stippled this-WOOOOEEEE. Very difficult when using flannel (just an FYI). I don't think I'd ever try to machine quilt a large quilt made of flannel. I used 3.5" squares (3" finished) and it went together really quickly. Basically it's just making one square and binding it. I used a "scrappy" binding of the different fabrics in the quilt.

It measures about 12X18. The tutorial is here.
Amanda Jean used 2.5" squares, I wasn't that motivated-I used 3.5.

Yes, I know I link to her often-I love her tutorials and ideas!

A Real Quilt!

I finally finished my first "real" quilt in a very long time. Actually, it's only a lapsize so perhaps it doesn't even qualify! I used Amanda Jean's Stacked Coin tutorial-found here.

My local quilt shop only had 2 different charm packs to choose from and neither of them really worked for what I wanted - I wanted all black and white- so I cut my own rectangles. I did include some grey in there too. I wanted a lap size quilt so I used 6 strips and made them 25 long. I wish I had made it a bit longer, but I think it turned out very nice.

Here's the back. I stole Amanda Jean's idea of putting the strip on the back. I didn't do a stacked coin strip, but I used a strip of the sashing. I like it, she's correct that it does make the back much nicer.

This is the first time I've ever truly machine quilted a quilt (other than stitch in the ditch). It's supposed to be stippling, but I told my sis (the recipient) that it's more like "Tracey's Wanderings".

I was shocked how physically tiring it can be. You have to have some upper body strength! I can't imagine what it will take to do a full size quilt.

I'm anxious to get started on the next one!

Good Grief, I'm an Idiot!

The needle was in backward! ARGH! Of course I couldn't find the manual so I had to go online to find one (I love the internet!). I kind of thought it was the needle, but I couldn't seem to put the needle in the other way-obviously I didn't try hard enough.

Anyhow, problem solved, project finished, and another project finished. I sewed more in March than I have in a long time-no pictures to show for it-but soon! (they're in my camera).

ARGH!

Why does the &$%$%!!@ needle break within ten minutes of being done with a project? Then, all the other needles you have, for some reason, keep breaking the thread! ARGH! I love to sew, but honestly between tension issues and crap like this, I wonder why??????????

Ok, I'm just putting it away and buying new needles tomorrow and I'm sure I will be happy as can be.

I have actually gotten a fair amount done this month, just no pictures-yet!

Off to have pizza and beer with DH!

Dog Memory Quilt

I made this last summer after losing 2 beloved dogs in a short space of time. That is Minnie's behind in the bottom corner.

I had 2 dogs (Jody and Lily-cockapoo and bichon) when I met my dh. He then got a dog (husky mix) while we were on "a break". So, for the first several years we were together, we had three dogs. Jody died in 2002 at 15+ years, then Comet died unexpectedly at 11.5 years in November,2007, and Lily died in Feb 2008 at 15+ years.

It seemed very odd not having any dogs. We decided to wait a year before getting any more dogs, but my dh couldn't wait and he brought home Colt (see the side bar). It soon became apparent that Colt needed a friend (WAYYYYY too much energy!) so we brought Minnie home to keep him company. They are awesome friends, and wear each other out - thank goodness!

Anyhoooooooo......... after losing Lily last year I made a memory quilt for our dogs-as we'd had them throughout most of our relationship. As I told DH, Lily and I had been together longer than him and I!

So, here are a few pictures of the quilt.

In Memory:

My Jody:

My Lily at about 13 yo, up in the bay window:

Our Comet-dh's dog. Everyone LOVED Comet and I used to tease dh that he was quite the "dude magnet"!

Here's a poem I included on the quilt.

The backing is the red dog fabric. I love this quilt.

Complete Sets

Ok, after this I'll stop with the checkbook covers and coin purses, but I've added a tissue holder! You can find the tutorial here. What a great set, and if you aren't interrupted by barking dogs, potty breaks and Grey's Anatomy-you could probably finish a complete set in 1-1 1/2 hours! They also fit inside a biggish envelope and the last set (with tissues) only cost $1.51 to mail! with a card included! Can't beat that.

I purchased a "quilters pile" (or something like that) at JoAnn's this weekend. I love the greys and blacks. I have a TON of the offwhite that I'm using for the lining, so it's nice to be using up some fabric. I shouldn't even be buying any fabric, but it's hard to resist. Especially when you have a coupon! 5 fat quarters for $6-can't beat that.

Here are 2 sets I've made this week, one inside a thank you card, and one inside a birthday card.

So, now on to bigger and better things! I need a new quilt for our bedroom, we painted it recently, and the quilt we have is several years old. I have also found some great wall hangings I'd like to do.

Pantipalooza!

I just saw this here. It is a little late to make something for Valentine's Day, but I think I may do some shopping tomorrow and pick up a few things to drop off at our local women's shelter. What a great cause!

Love these checkbook covers and purses!

I'm having a blast with these checkbook covers and purses! Great gift set.

I picked up 2 fat quarters this afternoon when I was getting the snaps. I made one coin purse and 2 checkbook covers, and have some decent sized scraps left. With snap and stabilizer less than $3 per set! I used a medium weight stabilizer on the back and I really like that, it made the checkbook cover, well, more stable. See the post below for links to the tutorials on both. Oh, and it took less than an hour to make both!

So,this set is being sent off in a birthday card.

I LOVE these fabrics. I hope P loves them too.

My goal this year is to remember all my siblings (7!) and nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews(21!). Hmmmmmm wait, that's a LOT. The first niece and nephew birthdays got store bought, but at least they were remembered. Ok, n/n's may not get hand-made, but siblings get hand made.

I have 11 months and 25 birthdays left to go this year! Not to mention various friends, and DH and IL's. I guess 2009 is going to be a crafty year!

Check these out!

I finally found some time to do a bit of sewing last night-and I mean a BIT.

I've been wanting to make these checkbook covers for a while, I think they will make great gifts. I made one for my regular account, and one for my business account to practice, but I think I will make more for gifts. Aren't they great!? Amanda Jean has a great tutorial here:




As she says "they are easy peasy" and they don't use much fabric; you can definately use fabric from your stash or scraps.


Here's one open. I did make it about a 1/4 inch wider than she says in the tutorial, and I made the pockets closer to 3" than the 2.75" she suggests. I found my checkbook flap didn't fit in the pocket otherwise, perhaps my 1/4" seam was too big?

I also made this adorable coin purse-I love this! Split Yarn has the tutorial here:

I found this through the 30 Days site-I love this site-LOTS of ideas!


I made one that matches my checkbook!

I still need to add a snap, I'm going to pick up several when I'm at the fabric store, as I plan to make lots of these. I like this little wallet too, but it is definately much more work.