"Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning, the devil says...."Oh crap! She's up!" Unknown

Friday, February 28, 2014

February Scrappy Blocks

For February's Scrappy blocks
I went
Super Colorful!

I pulled out my bin of
Kaffe Fassett scraps and started sewing.


A friend asked for a new table topper,
so I made six blocks....


Added some bright blue polka-dotted sashing...


Quilted and bound it and it's finished!



My friend Loved it and put it right on her table!

Visit Patchwork Times to see what others
created with this block.

Meet.....

Monique!!

On Knitting Needles Friday I have a
New Friend
to show you!


I finished my Sock Monkey 
and am pretty pleased with her.


The pattern called for some weird looking hair that I didn't like,
so I put a hat on her in place of the hair.
I need to come up with something else in the future to replace
the pattern's hair for the Lady Monkeys.


How about those lips??
:)
I do need some more practice with 
the Eyes and Nose.
Are there any tricks to embroidering these on a
stuffed animal?

This was a fun project!
Here is the pattern book I bought at Michael's,
if you are interested.

The red on top of the female monkey is the hair!
The Mohawk on the male monkey is a hoot.


I did start another pair of socks this week.


Of all the socks I've made,
These are my least favorite.
The colors don't do a lot for me,
but I will keep going.
The yarn is super soft!

Visit Patchwork Times to see what others are knitting
AND

Happy Friday!

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Making a decision...

I've been playing with some ideas
for borders for the
Mardi Gras Quilt
and I think I have a plan.


It's hard to tell what these borders will really look like
because I only have a little of this shade of green.
I'm going to buy some more and then will really be able to
see how things will look.

I do like the green break with the 9 patches,
followed by the purple border. 
What do you think?


Also,
I started a new hand project the other day.

I bought the patterns to make the Sue Garman
"Classic Santa" 
quilt and I'm planning to make each
Santa out of wool.

Here is the first one ready for the embroidery.


These guys should be fun to make.
:)

Have a great day everyone
and
Happy Quilting!

 

Monday, February 24, 2014

Design Wall Monday

This weekend didn't allow for much
Sewing Time,
But I did make use of what I had.

Friday night was an away basketball game
SO
I had three hours of sewing time while I listened on the radio.

This is what I completed in that three hour time frame!


My "Mardi Gras" quilt top is sewn together!
(Thank you, Gloria, for the name!)

For me not being a "purple person"...
I love this quilt top.


Now for the borders...


I'm playing around with this border design,
but am not sure that I like it.
Is it to busy?
Maybe I need a solid border in between these borders.
I'll keep playing....


This week I do have a finish!!

My Little Christmas Quilt is Finished!



I machine quilted this mini,
but machine quilting is NOT a strength of mine.
I need practice, practice, practice!
Love the colors in this one.

Visit Patchwork Times to see what others are
working on this week.

Happy Quilting!

Friday, February 21, 2014

Knitting Needles Friday

This week I have a finished project,
a "I'm bored with this so I'm putting it down for a bit" project
and an "odd looking at the moment" project.
:)

First, the Hermione Everyday Socks are Done!


I made these for myself and they fit,
but the socks look so short in this picture.
I don't have huge feet, but not tiny feet either.


These socks are the ones I'm bored with right now.


All I have to do is add the
Afterthought Heels and I'll be finished.
(Maybe this is a good reason NOT to use the Afterthought heel??)
Hopefully I'll force myself to get them finished...
Soon.


The Odd looking project is this:


A Sock Monkey!!

My "knitted pantyhose"
(a comment from a couple of weeks ago)
have progressed to a completed body...
without a face....
AND
armless...but not for long.
The second arm is about half finished.
This will be a "Lady Monkey"...
Hence, the ruffle around her neck.

This Sock Monkey is knitting up very quickly with the 
wool yarn and the larger needles.
So much fun!!

Visit Patchwork Times to see what others are knitting!

Happy Friday!


Thursday, February 20, 2014

Ready to Gift...

A dear friend asked me to make a 
Bright Table Mat for her
Kitchen Table.

Do you think this will suffice?


(My Design Wall is occupied by my Purple and Green Quilt, so
out came the Design Floor!)


This Table Mat was made with the
Scrap Challenge Block for February.
 

All quilted and bound.
It sure has brightened up MY February.

Happy Quilting!

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Something new...

I am often looking for ways to make
quilting easier or faster
and this is one reason why 
I enjoy reading blogs.
There are some GREAT ideas out there in blogland!!

The other day I read about this
cutting technique for HST's on a blog.
(I'm sorry, but I don't remember the blog
from which I read this.)

First, I am a trimmer...
I make my HST's larger than are needed
and then trim them to size.
Things are much more accurate this way for me.


I line the angle on the ruler up on the seam and trim, trim,
 turn, line up again, trim and trim.
And in the process I hope the ruler doesn't move, giving me an uneven cut.

This method is what I found the other day..


Before pressing the HST open, 
line the ruler up by placing the line for the size HST you want
on the seam line of the triangle.
(The 2 12" line is on the seam of the triangle.)



Trim up one side.
 

Trim the other side,
press open, trim the dog ears and you are done!

How much easier is that??

I happen to find this Quilt in a Day ruler that can be used for 
1/2" and 1" measurements, but if I want a triangle in smaller measurements,
I'll have to get another ruler.
(I have no idea why I bought this ruler, but it came in handy!)



A bunch of HST's are trimmed and ready to be sewn into blocks.



All of the blocks are sewn together for this quilt now...
Lickety Split!
(Well.... maybe not too Lickety Split, but faster!)

Have a great day and Happy Quilting!!

Monday, February 17, 2014

Design Wall Monday

This week I have two projects that I am
playing with on my
Design Wall.

The first is the
Purple and Green
Edyta Sitar's "Garden Path" Quilt.

Last week this is what I had on my design wall.


After living with this for a few days,
I decided I did not like the purple 6 1/2" squares.
They were too dark.

So...
I switched them out with this fabric...


This purple fabric plays better with the
other purples in the blocks
AND
I find myself looking at the overall quilt
instead of the big purple squares.
The greens pop more, too, with this purple.


I have a few more HST blocks to trim and sew together
into the "arrow" blocks and then I can begin sewing
the top together.
It's coming along!

(After looking at these photos,
I realize that I have to flip the HST blocks...
the "arrows" are going in the wrong direction!)


The other project I am working on is one that
I've had in my head for a while....
a dangerous place to be!
:D


While I had my Kaffe fabrics out for another project,
I started picking fabrics for some Dresden Plates.

I'm not sure where this will end up,
but it's fun to play with the colors and fabrics.

Visit Patchwork Times to see what others are creating.

Happy Quilting!

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Get out your Sunglasses!

My favorite types of quilts are the
Bright, Bold and Colorful.

I LOVE Kaffe Fassett fabrics!

For the February Scrap Challenge
I decided to use my Kaffe scraps.

Well....
These fabrics and colors have certainly brightened up
My February!




Again,
I'm controlling the scraps to a certain point.
I need a little order!

If these colors weren't bright and bold enough...


I added this bright blue for the sashing and borders.

A friend wants a new table mat for her kitchen table.
Her kitchen has yellow, blue and orange.
Should be fun in there!

Now to get it quilted.

Happy Scrapping everyone!


Friday, February 14, 2014

Knitting Needles Friday

Wow... it's Friday already!
This is been an odd week
with all of the snow and preparations for
The Snow!
Thankfully it wasn't as bad as they predicted.

This week I continued to work on
two pair of socks.
Depending on how much I needed to pay attention
determined which pair I worked on at that time.


again... still!!


These are knitted with Madelinetosh Sock Yarn in
Spectrum.


Next is a pair of just plain Jane socks,
knitted with On-line Supersocke yarn.


I'm knitting the
Afterthought Heels
in this pair. 
The heels will go where the blue and red yarns are knitted
in the body of the sock.

Hopefully next week both pair will be finished!

Visit Patchwork Times to see what others
have on their needles.

Happy Friday!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

My Supplies are ready!

We are expecting a LOT of snow here in Virginia
beginning tonight and going into tomorrow.
Our Governor has issued a state of emergency
and recommends that we have three days worth of
supplies on hand.

I am ready....

I have three days worth of
Thread,
Fabric,
Rotary cutter blades,
AND
Ideas!
I just hope I have power for these three days!
If the power doesn't cooperate...
I have three days of
Yarn,
Knitting Needles
AND
Sock patterns!!
:D


Yesterday I finished binding the
Third quilt I picked up from my
Long Arm Quilter.


I purchased most of the reds and a few of the other fabrics
for this quilt
two summers ago while I was at a family reunion in
Southern Ohio.

I saw so many beautiful
Barn Quilts
while on this trip
that I'm thinking of somehow using this in the name of this quilt.
(I'm not good at naming my quilts.)
Any ideas?


Be safe everyone
and
Happy Quilting!

Monday, February 10, 2014

Design Wall Monday

The ONLY good thing about cold weather
is....
I don't feel as bad about the time I 
spend sewing!
:)

This week I have a Finish
AND 
I dug out a quilt I started a while ago.

This past week I picked this quilt up from my
Long Arm Quilter and I finished sewing the binding
on it Sunday afternoon.


My Christmas "Blind Man's Fancy."
I might call this one "Christmas Fancy."
 

This has to be near the top of my
favorites list.
And to think I was about to give up on finishing it!


The quilting is difficult to see, but my quilter did a
WONDERFUL job on this quilt.

I will put this away to use at Christmas.


Now I am continuing the work on a quilt I started a few months ago.

A quilting friend of mine, Linda, has made some
BEAUTIFUL green and purple quilts
and this inspired me.
I found a pattern I really liked in
 Edyta Sitar's book, 
Friendship Triangles
called
"Garden Path Quilt."

I thought this would be so pretty in purples and greens,
so the collecting began.

Here is what I have done so far...


 
A little over half of the blocks are finished,
but I am deciding if I'm going to make it large enough
to fit on a queen sized bed. 
This would look GREAT in my guest room!

Please visit Patchwork Times to be inspired by the
beautiful quilts
and
Happy Quilting!