Kitchen Tree Skirt Finished

 I don't remember when I started making this little 

Christmas tree skirt, but it was a while ago.

The parts were cut and some were assembled

and then they were all put into a bag and forgotten.

 

 This kit came off the shelf last week and is now a finish!

 

I watched the Youtube video from Missouri Star for using these templates

and had a charm pack with cooking fabrics already.

 

At Christmas time I put a tree in my kitchen

with kitchen related ornaments on it.

The tree skirt I've used was an old one and needs

to be retired.

Now is the time!

 

 

 

 This is the pattern and the templates used

are below.

 

These hexagons went together very quickly.

There is a piece of batting in each hexagon,

cut the same size as the inner fabric.

The hexagons were zigzagged together

with a narrow stitch.

 

 

I didn't pay any attention to the placement of the backing

solid fabrics and like the randomness of the back.

 

 

 

 

I left the half seam in the back unstitched so it can be

placed around the tree.

I see another tree skirt made like this in my future.... 

Like maybe for my other niece who needs one.  :) 

 

 

The next kit has been chosen and work has started!

 

More to come soon!!

 

Happy Quilting!

Christmas Tree Skirt for My Niece

 Those of you who have been following me for a while

know that my go to wedding gift (when appropriate)

is a quilted Christmas Tree Skirt.

Two of my nieces were married before I started this tradition,

so I told both of them that I would make them Christmas tree skirts,

especially since neither of them has one.

Last year I found a layer cake and a pattern to make one niece

her tree skirt.

The patter, layer cake, backing and binding fabrics were all in a bag

in my "kit cabinet", so they all came out to play.

Here is the finished tree skirt!

 

 

 

This tree skirt went together so quickly

and used such a neat way to cut the various pieces

from the layer cake.

 

 

The fabrics all have some sparkly gold in them

and really makes the tree skirt shine.

This tree skirt could be reversible, if desired.

The backing fabric has a whole lot of JOY in it!!

 

 

This will be put away until the next time I see my niece.

A little Christmas in the early part of the year will be fun.

Happy Quilting!

Farm Pinwheel Baby Quilt Finished

 This top was sewn together sometime last year and has been

waiting to be quilted and finished.

 

Last week was the time.

I pieced a backing and basted the layers together.

 

Now it's a finished baby quilt, ready for donation!

 

 

This top was made from a package of charm squares

and yardage.  Some of the farm fabrics are so cute!

 

 

I am really liking the simple grid quilting these days

and love how it looks with this design.

 

 

 

You can see a few of the farm prints in this photo.

 

The backing was pieced from fabric in my stash.

The blue is not this dark in person.

 

Green gingham binding was used to finish it 

and it's ready for donation.

 

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

 

 

Happy Quilting!

My Hidey Hole is Finished!

 I moved into my house back in April

and left a wonderful sewing room/office behind.

We were downsizing and that meant my sewing room

had to be smaller, too.

Well, there were several things needed in my new sewing room.

(Years ago my daughters started calling my sewing room

my Hidey Hole, and that's what it's been called since.)

The first thing my new hidey hole needed was a wall.

The room was probably an office for the previous owners

and was totally open to the front hall except for two huge pillars.

That would not work for my hidey hole!

The second thing my new room needed was cabinets and a cutting table.

 

Finally in December, the work was done.

The cabinets were installed and the wall was built with two pocket doors.

 

Since then I have been unpacking, organizing and getting the room

set up and ready to use.

This morning I did the last thing I wanted to do.... hung the peg boards.

 

At first I was very hesitant about downsizing so much,

but I am thrilled with how the room came together.

One thing that will have to happen is I will need to keep it neat

and organized.  NOT my strong suit!

 

Anyway.... my Hidey Hole!!

 

 

 

I am so fortunate and thankful to have a room

dedicated to my sewing.

There was a time when the dining room table was my sewing space.

 

 

 

 

 Having my rulers out and easily accessible will be wonderful.

 

 

 

 

In my old house, my design wall was flannel covered insulation boards,

screwed to the wall.   I really like those, but over time the flannel

stretched and I couldn't easily remove the boards to replace it.

Erica at Kitchen Table Quilting

posted the design wall she uses and how she hung it.

I decided to give her method a try.

These two windows give the room a lot of natural light.

There are recessed lights for night time sewing.

The one challenge is there isn't really room for an

ironing board.  I bought a larger wool ironing mat

and will use the ironing board in the hallway when I

need something larger.

 

 

In my old hidey hole, I didn't have much wall space at all

and had nowhere to hang my little quilts.

I've started to hang them up and love how they brighten the room.

A friend made the magnetic board for my birthday last year. :)

The creative juices are bursting now that my room is finished.

It will be fun to see what is created in here.

 

 

Happy Quilting!

 

Sock Monkey Finish

 Can I just tell you about how thrilled I am

to be able to sew in my hidey hole again??!!

My room isn't quite finished,

but it is all set up for sewing.

And sewing I'm doing!

My soul is singing Hallelujah!

The second kit is finished and ready to give to my friend.

Years ago I made a sock monkey quilt for my bestest girl friend

and saved the remaining fabric thinking I would make a baby quilt

for her when she became a grandmother.

That day has come.

Her grandson was born at 30 weeks and was in the NICU

for over a month.

He is home and is doing really well

and his Gigi was thrilled to finally meet him and hold him.

It was time to make the quilt for her.

I had the three sock monkey fabrics in the bag

and pulled the rest from my stash.

 

There is something I just love about making quilts with triangle pieces.

It's fun to play with the placement of the fabrics

and see the quilt come together.

 

 

The three outer fabrics are the leftovers from my friends quilt.

They are interspersed among the triangles, too.

 

 

 

 

The backing was pieced from the remaining fabrics, 

plus a different piece I had in my stash.

 

 

This is all the fabric I have left.

These scraps will be cut into usable sizes and put away.

The photo below shows how much binding was left

after finishing the quilt.

PHEW!!

 

 

Onto the next project!

 

 

Happy Quilting!

Patriotic Quilt Finish

 I have the first finish of 2022 and the first

quilt totally made in my new Hidey Hole.

The room is pretty much put together and 

I am thrilled.

I need to put up a peg board wall and my design wall

and that's it!

My quilting mojo is back now that I have a room to use again!

Back to the quilt...

This was a kit I had purchased long ago.

I don't know where, or when or why.

This is not my typical type of quilt to make.

The kit quilt looked like this...

I knew it would be donated, but it wasn't that large.

Vicki suggested donating it to the local

Veterans Hospital, but it needed to be larger.

When I decided to do this,

I added the borders.

What a difference they made in the overall appearance!

I decided to quilt it with a grid and get if finished.

It's been a while since I've quilted anything,

so easy was the name of the game.

 

 

It took an evening to get it quilted

and I worked on the binding yesterday

while it rained.

The binding strips had been cut for the smaller, no border version,

so I needed to add one piece.

I had enough of one of the fabrics used and added

that for a bit of a scrappy binding.

 

 

The backing came from my stash and used up all of the stripe

and most of the solid blue.

It will be washed and delivered to Vicki to add to the quilts they donate.

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

Kit #2

 After I posted my first quilt top finish for 2022 the other day,

Vicki suggested that, if the top is large enough,

I donate it to her quilt group that makes quilts for

the local Veterans hospital.

Well, the quilt top wasn't large enough,

so I added two solid borders.

I like it so much more now and will get

it quilted and sent to Vicki to donate.

Thanks, Vicki!

After adding the borders to the above quilt,

I went to the kit cabinet and pulled the next one to make.

This one is one I put together and have been waiting to make

it for some time.

My bestest friend LOVES sock monkeys.

Years ago I made her a sock monkey quilt

and have leftover fabric.

I knew that I would want to make a baby quilt

for her home when she became a grandmother

and the time is here!

Out came the fabrics,

along with my Accuquilt cutter

and the pieces are ready to arrange.

 

 

 

 

 

I had cut these triangles from scraps when I was putting 

all of the fabrics away, so they were ready to go.

 

 

 

 

 

Several of these fabrics I had placed in the bag with 

the cut triangles and the rest I pulled from my stash.

I love using the AccuQuilt to cut triangles

because it cuts notches and makes assembly very

easy and accurate.

 

 

 Now it's time to play!

I don't have a design wall yet,

so will need to use my design floor while

I'm watching college basketball this afternoon.

Happy Quilting!

First Kit Done

 In my first blog post of 2022

I stated that one goal is to work on the 

cabinet of kits I've accumulated over the years.

There are purchased kits and kits I've put together.

 

The first kit is done! 

Well, it's a finished top, anyway.

This kit was purchased...

I don't remember where

and I'm really wondering why.

It is not anything I would buy today,

but it's done and will be quilted and donated.

 

 

 

This was actually a good one for me to start with

since it was small and easy to make.

I had to knock some rust off of my sewing!

 

 

 

 

I am not fond of the large square fabric at all,

but used it to move it out of my stash.

 

 

This quilt is not large so won't take me long to quilt it.

This year I was invited to join the Gridster Bee

and am so excited.  It's made up of quilters,

mostly in California,

but there are two of us who are not.

Each month someone is "Queen Bee"

and the others make blocks that she requests.

This month Patti chose Ayumi Takahashi Envelope pattern

from "Patchwork Please"

and asked that we think of them as "Love Letters".

These are paper pieced blocks and went together pretty quickly.

These will be mailed off to California today or tomorrow.

 

Happy Quilting!

Olivia's Quiet Book

 One thing I have wanted to make

even before I had a grandchild is a 

felt Quiet Book.

 

I'd seen these online and have looked at many

patterns and pages.

 

My granddaughter turned one on Dec. 27th and

it was time for a quiet book!

 

I found this pattern on Etsy and a friend

helped me cut the pieces on her Cricut.

(Boy did THAT save some time!)

 

Because life has been crazy

I didn't get working on this until this past week.

 

It is finished and ready for delivery!

 

In making this, I learned many things

that I will use when I make more pages as 

Olivia gets older.

 

I hope she likes this as much as I enjoyed making it for her.

 

 

These are the pages of her book.

I decided to put them into a book form

differently so the pages can be removed

and added to easily.

The tabs on the left side have big button holes

and I made a strap to go through those to hold the pages together.

Some pages have little activities on them

and others have crinkle fabric between the felt pieces

or beads to move.

I know buttons should not be used for little ones,

but these are sewn on so tightly that I'm not sure

I could get them off if I needed to.

The lady bug has a little lady bug on

a ribbon behind the zipper.

 

 

The bee is velcroed in place with little

things to find under the flower petals.

The beads move under the netting on the fish.

The owls wings move up and down

and there are things to find in his belly.

 

 

The apples are velcroed in place on the hedgehog. 

 The door on the mushroom opens

and the beads spin.

I have the next set of pages picked out to make

and these will have more advanced activities

as Olivia gets older.

Happy Birthday, Olivia!!

Happy New Year!

 I've read that whatever one does on January 1,

this will be done throughout the year.

(I made sure I didn't clean today! :D)

My hope for 2022 is that I get back into my sewing and quilting.

I have really missed the lack of creativity in my life this past year

and am excited about playing in my new hidey hole

and making new things.

That being said....

one thing that happens with moving

is one really sees just how much stuff one has.

As I was putting my fabric and things away in my

new hidey hole,

I really saw just what I have!

This shelf is crammed with kits I've made myself

and kits I've purchased over the years.

I had not idea I had this many.

One goal I have for 2022 is to get through these kits. 

Some will go together quickly and some will take some time.

There is a variety of designs, fabrics, sizes, etc. on this shelf,

so there should be something for just about any mood.

To start the year off, I chose the oldest kit in the bunch.

I don't remember where I bought this or really why I bought this,

but it's going to be a quick finish and it will get me started on my goal.

 

 

 The cutting and sewing has commenced

and I'm so happy.

My soul needed to be fed with some creative time

and playing with fabric.

May 2022 bring you good health,

many joys and lots of time sewing.

Happy Quilting!