End of 2021

 I have no idea where 2021 has gone.

One day it was January 1, 2021 and the next it's 

December 28, 2021.

 

It was a year of big changes for my family...

most were good changes,

but there were some sad changes.

We just kept moving forward and look

forward to each new day.

 

My quilting adventures sure took a back seat

to life this year.

I had all good intentions of creating more,

but time and energy just did not allow for that.

I'm hoping this will change for 2022.

 

My Hidey Hole is getting settled.

The boxes have all been unpacked and things

are finding their place in the new space.

 

In the mean time I've been knitting a bit.

 

My granddaughter turned one yesterday (!!)

and I knitted her birthday dress.

(I wanted to smock her a dress,

but hadn't unpacked my pleater yet!)

Her party will not be until Sunday

and she will wear her dress then.

It has been given to her and is ready for wear.

 

 

This pattern is called "Lil Rosebud"

and purple seems to be her favorite color.

(My daughter's middle name is Rose

and is "Rosebud" to us.  My granddaugther's

middle name is also Rose, so the pattern name is perfect.)

 

 

 

These little polka dot leggings go perfectly with the dress

and will help keep her legs warm.

 

I hope to be here more in 2022,

sharing new creations and inspirations.

 

Be well and Happy Quilting!

Little Henry's Quilt

I realized that I had never posted about Little Henry's quilt.

My goddaughter and husband had this little man the day after my birthday.

Henry was born at 30 weeks and has been in the NICU since his birth.

All is going as well as it can go

and Henry is growing and getting stronger.

 

After he was born,

I was able to deliver his quilt to his mom.

 

For some reason I didn't take a photo of the finished quilt...

only the back.

 

 

My goddaughter had picked this pattern a while ago

and we were able to go fabric shopping together.

This was before the Deco QAL began!

(My floors are not orange! For some reason the

color of just the flooring is off.)

 

 

 

 

As I was quilting and praying over this quilt,

I added some hearts and some

words to the quilting.

They are little hidden messages.

 

 

  This batik made an awesome backing!

I may have to go back and get more of this.

 

 

Welcome to the world, Henry!!

 

Happy Quilting!   

A Mouse Invasion

 I haven't been able to do much sewing these past few weeks,

but I have been able to get my ornaments finished.

This Bucilla kit is my favorite!

These little mice are so stinking cute

and just make me smile.

They have invaded my home and I may need to order more!

Everyone to whom I've shown them wants one or all six. :D

Here they all are...

This one is my favorite!

It's going to be difficult to give these little

cuties away!

 

Merry Christmas!

New Hidey Hole

 Progress on my new Hidey Hole has been very slow,

but there is progress!

 

Last week we went from this...

 

 

to this!!

It's a small room,

much smaller than my previous Hidey Hole,

but I will have a dedicated sewing room.

 

 

So you see the pillar in the photo above?

There were two of these.

Now there are none and this is happening!

I will have a wall with pocket doors!

It is very, very, VERY important to be able to close the doors

to my Hidey Hole!

 

For now, all of my things remain in the dining room

and sunroom.  Therefore, not much decorating is getting done.

Or sewing, for that matter.

 

One day very soon, I hope!

 

Happy Quilting!

Guess What??!!??

 It's FINALLY happening!

I am Finally getting my new Hidey Hole!

We moved in April and my hidey hole has been in 

boxes and bins and piles.

They have all been moved out and the room

is ready for the cabinets to arrive.

 

 

The dining room is across from where my 

hidey hole will be,

so a lot of the things ended up in there for now.

Do you think I'll have it empty in time to 

use it for Thanksgiving?

The boxes and bins ended up in the sunroom.

 

 

Hopefully after Tuesday this room will

look totally different!

 

I'm so excited!

 

Happy Quilting!

Advent Calendar Finished

 These last few weeks have not gone according to plan,

but I was able to sneak in some stitching here and there.

One thing I really wanted to finish was this

Advent calendar I was asked to make

for a good friend of my daughter.

It is finished!

My goal was to get it done by the end of this week

and I finished it last night.

 

 

This was made by using part of a pattern

and part original design.

Most of the felt designs came from the pattern,

but the construction was my own idea.

 

 

 

I bought a Cricut machine and that helped immensely with

the lettering and numbers.

The felt I used is all wool felt.

 

 

 

The little designs are so cute,

but were so tedious to cut out.

If I make another one,

I will want to come up with a different

way to cut these out.

They were too small for the Cricut. 

There are things I would do differently in the

construction, too, that would make things

go more quickly and look a little better.

 

 

This will be delivered soon..

Just in time for the start of the Advent season.

 

 

 

In the ornament corner, these little cuties are being made.

Yep... .another Bucilla kit.

There are six of these little mice.

They are much easier to make than I anticipated.

 

 I am linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Creating!

My Mom

 Two weeks ago today my family lost our anchor.

My mom, who was 81 years old, left this earth

for a much better place.

It was a sudden death, thank God.

She would not have wanted to suffer

and become more of a burden to us.

My five siblings and our spouses,

along with her 13 grandchildren and spouses,

her 18 great grandchildren

and her last remaining sibling,

along with a few friends

all gathered for her funeral. 

It was a sad and joyous event.

My family always finds reasons for laughter.

There were many, many tears,

but so much laughter, too.

 Mom would have loved that.

And after her funeral we all gathered at a park

and grilled cheeseburgers while the

kids all ran and played.

Mom would have loved that, too.

Cheeseburgers were her favorite food.

My mom was the best grandmother I've seen.

No matter what her grandchildren were interested in,

she was interested and read up on the topic so she

could discuss it with the grandchild.

Nothing brought her pleasure like being with her family. 

 

My cousin, who is a Baptist minister,

had some wonderful words for us.

He said those of us here are suffering from separation,

but my mom has had a wonderful reunion.

This is so true.

Mom,

you are greatly missed,

but I know you are loving being back with dad,

your parents and brothers

and meeting all of the ancestors you've researched

and had questions for over the years.

We love you.

Advent Calendar

 One of my daughter's good friends has asked me to make her family

an Advent Calendar.

When she was married, I made them a tree skirt

and she just loves it.

I was honored to be asked to make this Advent calendar for them.

The only thing she asked is that it have pockets in which to put treats.

The rest was up to me.

I looked and looked at ideas and thought about several different options

and finally decided on using this pattern.

The only thing I'm using from the pattern are the patterns for the felt pieces.

 

 

 

The felt pieces have been glue basted to cotton fabrics

instead of felt.  I will add a piece of batting in between

the cotton pieces for the pockets to give them more stability.

 

 

I like tedious work, but this was really tedious!

I was hoping there would be a file to use for the Cricut,

but no such luck.

 

 

 

My silk threads have been found in one of the many

boxes in my sewing room, so I am ready to start stitching 

these pieces down.

 

Once they are stitched down, pockets will be sewn

and I will make a quilt on which to sew the pockets.

It's slowly coming together.

 

 

I am really on a roll working with felt these days!

 

Happy Quilting!

Spider Webs

 This post has nothing to do with quilting

and everything to do with the beauty of God's creation.

 

This morning at church, I was teaching Godly Play

outside and the lesson was on God's creation.

There behind us in the bushes were these gorgeous

spider webs filled with dew droplets.

 

What a wonderful example of God's creations!

 

 

  

 

I was very thankful we didn't see the spiders responsible

for these beautiful webs!

 

Happy Day!

Pineapple Blocks

 The blocks for the Pineapple quilt my husband

is making me make (😊) are coming along slowly

and I'm okay with this.

There are several other projects going on, too, and it's

nice to have one that does not have an end date.

 

 

 

 

For some reason I've been waking up super early a lot of mornings,

so I go into my makeshift sewing room and sew with a cup of tea

while listening to a book. 

And by super early, I mean around 4am.

 

 

I have 49 of the 121 blocks finished

and will keep plugging away at them.

These colors sooth my soul.

 

 

I'm teasing my husband by saying he is making me make

this quilt, since he suggested it would look great on our bed.

He loves it and so do I!

Happy Quilting!

Bucilla Kit Finishes

 This week I decided to get a few things finished and

off of the pile of things waiting.

Two of these things are Bucilla felt kits.

The felt tops have been finished for a while 

and were patiently waiting for the rest of the project.

First up was the stocking for my granddog, Tucker.

If you follow me you know that I make a quilted

stocking for these kits.  The felt backing just will not work

with the things we cram into stockings at my house.

 

 

The quilt sandwich was made, cut by using the

felt backing piece as a pattern (and adding about 1/2")

and then stitched and bound.

The binding for this stocking was challenge

because of the bone shape at the top.

 

 

 

The felt front was stitched to the quilted stocking

and is ready to fill!

The other Bucilla kit I finished is the 

Snow People tree for my daughter and son-in-law.

Here's the finished front.

The kit had a piece shaped like the tree for the back

and required using either cardboard or foam core

to keep the tree from bending.

That did not sound fun to me, so I decided to make

a small quilt and stitch the tree to it.

I love how this finished!

 

 

 

The quilt is just plain white fabric bound in a green

Christmas print.

The tree is hand stitched to the quilt

and ready to hang.

 

These are now ready for Christmas!

Happy Quilting!

Ugly Sweater Dog Ornaments

 I cannot believe we are half way through September already!

Time to crank up the ornament making plans.

As you know, I just love making the Bucilla felt kits.

A new kit this year is the Ugly Sweater Dog ornaments.

I finished up the last three this past week

and can add these to my pile.

 

Each Christmas we do an ornament exchange with my sister

and her family, so I need a number of ornaments.

I love adding them to wrapped gifts, too.

 

 

These are just too cute!

And I'm not a dog person!

This one is my favorite, probably because my daughter

and nephew have English Labs.

My daughters' is black, but my nephew's is blond.

 

 

Here are all of the doggies together.

Woof, woof!

Onto the next kit!

Happy Quilting!

(Or Creating!)

Pineapple Blocks Grow

 I am not one that can make a quilt by pulling out

scraps of fabric from a bin or bag and randomly

sew them together.

Scrappy quilts need to be controlled for me.

In addition,

I want ways that are going to move the process

along for me... make things faster.

 

Making these pineapple blocks without strip measurements

was driving me crazy.

So, as I was making a block,

I measured each piece that was sewn on and noted it.

 

Bins were purchased (2 for $1 at the Dollar Store!)

and strips were cut to the

appropriate lengths.

They didn't need to be perfect, but close to size.

I now have my row of bins with pre-cut strips

and I am ready to go!

 

 

I'm sewing the blocks in groups of ten,

which makes it easy to keep track of how many

I've made.

 

 There are now 30 blocks made!

Only 91 more to go!

 

This is my temporary sewing station,

but I have room for my Ipad with my audio books,

as well as my evening glass of wine on the 

card table next to my sewing machine.

 

The good news is it looks like things are beginning

to move in the renovation area.

My contractor thinks he can begin work in two weeks!

I cannot wait to get my new Hidey Hole!!

 

Happy quilting!

Tucker's Stocking

 Can I just say that my favorite part of Christmas,

aside from the true meaning,

is filling the stockings.

I'd much rather find little things for the stockings

than purchase gifts.

In fact, some years that's what we've done...

just filled stockings.

Now, I can go a bit overboard with the stocking stuffers.

You won't find just gum, combs, candy, toothbrushes,

etc. in the stockings I fill.

 

Since I love stockings so much,

my daughter and her family all have stockings

at my house, in addition to the ones at their house.

Everyone except their dog, Tucker.

 

This year he will have his own stocking at my house, too.

 

  

 

This is a new design from Bucilla for this year.

It was so quick and easy to make!

 

 

 

I wanted to make the dog black, like Tucker,

but I didn't have black felt and wanted to get it done.

Tucker won't mind.

 

 I will make the quilted stocking and stitch this to the front.

This one will be challenging with the bone shape,

so I'll see how it goes.

Only a little less than 4 months to Christmas!

Happy Quilting!