So Long 2017!

Here we are at the end of another year

and, once again, I'm wondering how we got here.

I asked my husband today how time can keep passing faster and faster.

I'm certainly not getting faster and faster!

This time of year a lot of us look back on the things we've accomplished.

One reason why I blog is to help me keep track and remember

what I have done and when.

It's been a busy year in my Hidey Hole!

And fun, too.

It's fun to look at what has been made all together.

My two biggest quilts were the 

"Diamonds in the Deep".

Both were made for wedding gifts

and one was for a California King!
I also participated in my first Quiltville mystery

and said I wouldn't do that again....

until I saw the color choices for this years mystery!

 

These are some of the baby quilts I made this year.

I've donated some and others were made for specific babies.

I just pin basted another one today!

 

We were invited to four weddings in 2017,

so that meant that four Christmas tree skirts were made.

I already know of two coming up in 2018!

I had fun making pillows, bags and a tuffet this year, too.

It's been a very productive and creative year.

I sure hope it continues in 2018.

There are a lot of quilts for which fabric has been purchased or

have been started and left hanging,

so the plan is to get as many of these made as possible.

Happy New Year

and may 2018 be a very creative year for you!

Happy Quilting!

All Caught Up and Another Baby Quilt

These past few days have been wonderful!

I have been able to play in my Hidey Hole on and off

and have been checking quilty things off of my list.

I just now finished clue #5 for "On Ringo Lake". 

(For some reason I want to call it Lingo Lake.)

Anyway, I am caught up with all of the clues

and am ready for the next clue.

Clue #5 finished!

All of the clues together. I love these colors!

Last night I quilted another baby quilt I've had for some time.

I had a bunch of squares of Kaffe fabrics and polka dots

and made 9 patches some time ago.

They were sewn into a top and then waited to be finished.

I wasn't sure where this was headed,

but just kept making nine patches.

 

It's a bright and fun baby quilt

and will be added to the pile of

"Waiting for baby".

 

Two more things checked from my list.

Let's see what I get working on next!

Happy Quilting!

Relaxing Sewing...

The past couple of days have been quiet and peaceful.

In fact, I haven't left the house since coming home from

church on Sunday night.

It's wonderful!

In these quiet and peaceful hours,

I've had a chance to sew and play in my Hidey Hole.

One of the things I worked on was getting the pieces cut

for Clues 4 and 5 of
"On Ringo Lake."

They are waiting to be sewn into the units.

Unit 4 was started last night and is half way finished.

For quite some time, I've had two baby quilt tops done

and waiting to be quilted.

On Christmas Day afternoon I pin basted each one

and began quilting the first one.

I had wanted to use a free motion design for these,

but I put a minky on the back and there was way too

much drag to free motion quilt.

Out came the walking foot and the quilting was finished.

 

One I quilted a foot length away from the seam,

the other is just next to the seam.

This pattern is from the Fat Quarter Shop

and is called Baby Gingham Quilt.

It went together in no time at all.

I just love the minky I found for the backing.

It is so soft and so fun with all of the animals!

 

These will go in my stack of baby quilts waiting for babies!

 

All bound and ready to give.

Now, back to sewing mystery quilt units!

Happy Quilting!

Merry Little Things

This week I've been trying to get some odds and ends tied up and off of my plate.

This included a couple of things on my cutting table.

For some reason,

I cut a bunch of "JOY" letters from the prepared Crafted Applique fabric,

but didn't need all of the pillows they would make.

Instead, I made a table runner with two sets of letters.

It isn't the most exciting table runner,

but will add a little color to the middle of my table.

I think I have one more set of letters to use!

Maybe these will be put away until something else inspires me.

When I find something fun and easy to do,

I need to make one for everyone I know!

This year it was the dish towel pillows.

How could I pass this dish towel by??

I did tell myself to STOP looking at dish towels!

Then, I did get Clue #3 of the On Lingo Lake mystery finished.

Clue #4 hasn't been started yet and Clue #5 came out yesterday.

They will both be finished soon...I hope. :)

And, finally, I have this beautiful plant greet me each morning.

I've never had it bloom like this and am loving it.

Merry Christmas!!

One Week behind....

Last night I finished sewing the parts for

"On Ringo Lake Mystery Quilt"

clue #3.

 Clue #3 came out almost a week and a half ago,

but I'm doing pretty well considering I was sick

for three days last week.

(These darn winter colds! This one hit me Hard.)

Anyway,

after much cutting and sewing,

the parts are together,

but the trimming isn't finished.

The parts that are clipped are totally finished.

The other piles are waiting to be trimmed.

Slow progress, but progress none the less.

It isn't too late to join in the mystery.

Visit Quiltville to get the clues

and to see the progress of others.

I'm also linking to Design Wall Monday today.

My niece has started painting rocks and has made some beautiful ones.

She isn't hiding the really nice ones,

but is sharing them with people like me!

(Are people hiding painted rocks everywhere in the country

or is this just a Virginia thing?)

She gave me this one a couple of weeks ago.

It's so simple and yet tells such a beautiful, life changing story.

Merry Christmas!

Annual Ornament

Each year I try to make an ornament

to give to my family and a few friends.

Some years I succeed,

others I have to head to the ornament aisle

at one of the many stores that sell them.

I do have to say...

shopping for ornaments is NOT a chore for me.

I. Love. Ornaments!

The chore is not coming home with a

bag full of ornaments for myself!

My tree is packed already.

This year I did get them made,

and early, too!

For these candy cane ornaments,

I used plastic candy canes from the dollar store,

six to a package for $1.00!

Strips of homespun fabrics were torn 

width of fabric in various strip widths.

Then I started at the bottom of the candy cane

and wrapped to the top and back down.

I did stitch the end of the fabric strip down

instead of gluing it.

I bought a small evergreen wreath and cut

little pieces for the greenery,

one bunch of red berries was enough

and one package of stars on wire

was enough as well.

The end of the fabric was tucked in on the bottom,

but I left the top as a raw edge.

No hanger necessary...

just hang by the hook of the candy cane.

Merry Christmas!

Pillows, Pillows Everywhere!

This year I decided to make some more

Christmas pillows,

primarily for myself, 

since I had just one.

Well....

pillows have been made,

And not just for me!

I've shared photos of the pillows

I've now given to some friends.

The five "Peace" pillows were given yesterday

to my friends in quilt club.

I have one more to finish for myself,

which may or may not get done before Christmas.

The other day I showed this photo of the

"Joy" pillows I made.

The letters were lost in the background of the pillows

and I wasn't thrilled with them.

Ann at Straythreads suggested I outline the letters in black.

What a difference this made!

Thank you, Ann!!

The letters stand out and can easily be seen.

These are ready to be given as gifts now, too.

A couple of weeks ago,

Sarah at "Confessions of a Fabric Addict"

posted pillows she had made from dish towels.

Dish towels!!

Off to Target I went!

I found one of the towels she had used,

along with a couple of other towels as well.

Can I just say....

these pillows went together so quickly

and are just so cute!

 The towel for the pillow on the right was from the dollar section.

The one of the left was found back in the kitchen area.

As Sarah mentioned,

I took the bottom and side hems out 

and cut a 15" square from these.

 The backing is another kitchen towel.

This one came as a set with the "Peace"

dish towel.

I basically just had to cut the side hems off to get the

width for the backing.

Binding was from my stash.

I have two more gifts finished and ready to give.

And, of course, I bought this towel to make myself one, too!

This year has been the Year of the Pillow!

These have been quick and easy gifts to make

and so much fun!

 

Happy Quilting!

Merry Christmas!

Finished Pillows

"The faster I go, the behinder I get!"

Does anyone else feel this way right now?

It isn't even holiday things with me.

It's all of the regular life things that still need to happen,

even though it's Christmas. 

I'm taking it one day at a time

and am enjoying the holiday season.

Yesterday I ran to get pillow forms so I could get these 

pillows finished and checked off of my list.

Four are finished and I have four more to go.

These have been really quick and easy to make.

There actually may be five more to make

because I'd like one for myself!

The letters were cut with the Go! cutter.

Quick, easy and accurate!

I did put zippers in the back in case the recipients

want to remove the pillow form for storage.

Onto the next batch!

And for those keeping track...
I have not even started clue 3 of the mystery quilt yet.
Maybe later in the week... we shall see.

I'm so excited!

My Christmas cactus is actually blooming at Christmas!

Woohoo!!

Peace to all today!

Happy Quilting!

More Pillows

On Monday, I shared a pillow I made for myself on my blog.

It went together so quickly

and adds a nice festive touch to my family room.

Well....

Tuesday I thought

hmmmm,

I could make several of these pillows for gifts.

I have all of the supplies except the pillow forms.

I don't have anything else that has to be made at this point.

It will be fun to share these with some friends and family.

Off to my Hidey Hole I went.

Fabric needed to be painted with Modge Podge.

(I used the Crafted Applique method for the letters and holly.)

So far five pillows are almost finished.

 I did run out of red buttons, so will be heading to the store.

The binding still needs to be sewn down

and the pillow forms added.

 

Pillows are a great way to practice free motion quilting!

The project is big enough to get some good practice,

but not too big that it is overwhelming.

I wish there was more contrast between the background fabric

and letters, but these are pretty.

 

 

I love the fabrics.

 

All of the painted fabric has been cut into letters, 

using my Go! Cutter and the Peace and Joy die.

There are enough words for six more pillows!

I better get sewing!

On another note,

my son-in-law,

who loves making things with his hands,

made a number of these glass pieces for their wedding reception

this past September.

They were on tables with votive candles in them.

He and my daughter gave me this one after the wedding

and I am thrilled to have it as a remembrance

of that wonderful day.

I knew I needed a flameless candle for what I wanted to do,

but, knew that I didn't want to be taking it out each time

to flip the switch on the bottom.

Then.... unbeknownst to me.... I found candles with a remote control!

At Tuesday Morning!

I had no idea they made such things,

but it's perfect for this!

AND.... it looks like a real candle.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Quilting!!

Peace Pillow

For the past couple of years
I have had a thing for Christmas pillows.

There are so many lovely designs

and I want them all.

Until this year I had one Christmas pillow.

Why I have not made more is beyond me,

but this year I hope to change that.

One pillow made!

(I need to buy the pillow form.)

A while ago AccuQuilt had their "Peace", "Joy" and "Love" dies

on sale for half price.

I bought them, thinking they would make pretty pillows.

This went together very quickly and was fun to make.

Hopefully there will be a few more festive pillows made this year.

Clue #2 of "On Lingo Lake"

was released on Friday.

 You can find the clue information here. 

I have all of the Flying Geese sewn,

but only a handful have been trimmed.

 

I used the "Essential Triangle Tool" method

for making my geese.

 These piles are waiting to be trimmed.

No matter how careful I am in sewing these,

they always need trimming.

Trimmed and waiting!

Today I'm linking to Design Wall Monday

at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts,

as well as On Lingo Lake link up

at Quiltville's Quips and Snips.

Happy Quilting!

Tea Cosy

A few weeks ago my mom asked for a 

Christmas Tea Cosy.

She's having some of her neighbor friends over for a

Christmas Tea

and wanted a tea cosy to keep the tea warm.

I found a pattern on line and went to work last night.

This was super quick and easy to make!

I used the Crafted Applique method (book found here)

to add "JOY" and the holly leaves.

It's finished and ready to deliver to my mom.

(Please ignore the mess on my counters. It's going to be cleaned today!)

 

I might have to make one for myself

since I am a tea drinker.

Happy Friday!

I Succumbed....

Last year was the first time I participated in a 

Bonnie Mystery Quilt.

While I love my finished En Provence,

making a quilt with 4 million little pieces

is not really my thing.

(I know... I exaggerate a bit. :D)

I had done it once and that was it for me....

Until I saw the color palette for this year's mystery.

Oh My!!

"On Ringo Lake" uses my favorite colors...

aquas, turquoises and teals!

And paired with browns, oranges and corals.

Sign me up!

My nine patches are finished.

Yesterday morning I had to go to early church and 

as I was driving out of my neighborhood,

the sky was an aqua/teal color and the oranges

and browns of the trees just glowed.

I am excited about this quilt!

Here is a link to Bonnie's blog,
Quiltville's Quips and Snips,
so you can see other peoples progress.

Progress has been made on my totally scrappy 

Reproduction quilt.

I have sewn almost all of my cut HST's into squares

and then 9 patch blocks.

There are only a few HST's left and they are all greens.

There were enough squares to make 45 blocks,

so 42 of them are on my wall here.

The blocks will finish at 10.5" square,

so this quilt will be 63" x 73.5".

(I had to stand on a chair to take this photo)

I'd rather not add any borders to this quilt,

but I wanted it a bit bigger.

 

Once it's finished,

this will be donated for a silent auction.

Thankfully I have until April to finish it!

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Happy Quilting!