Chenille Floor Mat

Have you ever purchased the items

necessary to make something

and then put it off 

FOREVER,

thinking it's going to be too difficult or take a long time?

Two years ago or so I was in a quilt shop and saw

this great chenille floor mat.

I asked the owner how to make it

and purchased what was needed to make one.

I was going to make one for my sister.

Well....

I'd plan to make it, but wouldn't because I was

afraid it would take too long

or be too difficult

or not turn out the way it should.

Yesterday I finally decided

"Today is the day."

I pulled out the fabric and cut the four layers plus the canvas for the bottom.

A piece of batting was cut and the 

stitching lines were drawn on back of the canvas.

The stitching began.

This went together so quickly!

 

And turned out great.

I haven't washed it yet, but will before I give it to my sister.

(Act surprised, Deeda!)

 

Here I was almost dreading making this floor mat,

put it off for two years

and it took all of 

Three Hours!!

Happy Quilting!

Beautiful Dresdens

I have mentioned before that I belong to a

History of Quilting group that meets monthly.

This is one great group of women!

The talent in the room is amazing

and we have a great time at our meetings.

A few sessions ago we were given a challenge to find inspiration

in an antique quilt and create something from that inspiration.

This was my creation for the challenge.

Our wonderful leader, Linda, was inspired by my quilt

and asked if she could use my design to create something of her own.

"Of Course!!"

Well, yesterday her quilt came back from her Long Arm Quilter

at our monthly meeting

and it is gorgeous!

Isn't this wonderful??

(I apologize for the blurry photo... )

I love the colors Linda used and the different Dresdens.

The quilting is so much fun, too....perfect for this quilt.

Each month I get so excited when it's History Club Saturday.

Talk about inspiring!!

Keep those creative juices flowing!!

Happy Quilting!

Finished Cowl

With all of the socks I've been knitting the past few months,

I needed something different to work on, knitting-wise.

After looking through patterns on Ravlery,

I decided to knit a cowl...

something I had not made before.

The knitting moved right along,

since I was using size 8 needles and

worsted weight yarn.

It's finished and I love it!

I had not used the provisional cast-on before and was surprised

at how easy it was to do.

I think I stitched the ends together backwards,

but I don't care...

once it's on, no one will notice. 

:)

 

Hopefully I won't need to wear this for a long time!

I haven't made too much progress on my anklet,

but will get back to working on this more.

Please visit Patchwork Times to see what others are knitting.

Happy Friday!!

Cathedral Window Finish

I cannot tell you how much fun this little quilt was to make!

It measures 16 3/4" square and was made with 2 1/2" squares.

Stitching around the window panes

(I'm not sure what the gray pieces are called, but this works, right??)

was a lot easier and faster than I anticipated.

I was able to stitch from one to the next without having

to stop stitching and cut the thread each time.

My husband suggested that I make placemats with this pattern...

I think I just might have to do that!

You can use any size square to make this pattern 

as long as they are all the same size.

Watch this tutorial and have a ball!

 

The quilt as you go aspect is awesome, too.

Once the gray panes were stitched down,

all it needed was binding!

I see more of these in my future.... maybe a lot more!

Happy Quilting!!

The Windows Have Arrived...

.... but the instillation isn't complete.

:)

I started this Cathedral Window quilt last week and

had gotten this far.

I'm using this tutorial to make this cute little quilt.

This week I haven't had a lot of time to play in my Hidey Hole,

but I have worked on this little quilt.

The windows are installed and ready for stitching.

The tutorial shows how to stitch the windows in place and quilt it

at the same time.

I'm thinking I should have started with larger blocks...

 it's going to be a challenge to stitch the edges down by 

machine on these little things.

 

 

The idea of stitching the edges down and quilting it at the same time

is a great one.

I'm just not sure I can be as precise as I want to be.

We shall see!!

Stay tuned.  :)

Happy quilting!!

Miss Muffet's Tuffet

Miss Muffet has another Tuffet! 

A few months ago I finished this top for a tuffet

and was waiting for a class to fit into my schedule

so I could put the tuffet together.

Saturday I headed over to one of my local quilt shops

and made this new Tuffet.

This is for my oldest daughter's birthday at the end of the month.

She's a HUGE VCU fan...

Black and Gold!

These are just too much fun to make.

I see at least one more in my future.

There are a number of choices for the feet

and I thought these modern feet looked good with these batiks.

Too Much Fun!!

I'm glad Little Miss Muffet 2 has a Tuffet!

Is this not the most unusual flower??

I think it's a Passion Flower... growing on a vine in one of my pots.

I planted it there, but it has bloomed very little.

Please visit Patchwork Times and Main Crush Monday
to see what others are creating today.

Happy Quilting!!

On My Needles

This past week found me at a family reunion for

my side of the family in

Gettysburg, Pa.

We laughed, played games, laughed some more,

ate, laughed, told stories and

did I mention laugh?

It was four days of love and fun.
I am so blessed to have the family I do...

not that we don't have problems,

but we truly love each other and

would do anything for each other.

Well...

I gave the quilts out to these

Nieces and Nephews who were there.

Unfortunately at the last minute

four of my nieces weren't able to come to the reunion,

so their quilts were sent home with their parents.

(I will be checking to make sure the nieces received them!)

All of them were very appreciative of the quilts

and were talking about where they are going to be hung in

their rooms or homes.

It was great fun!

Since I was away from my quilting things for the reunion,

no sewing or quilting has been done.

However...

I was able to knit!

I started knitting my first ankle sock.

This pattern inspired me,

but I have made several changes. 

I added an inch of k2p2 ribbing to the beginning.

Plus, I used the short row heel instead of the heel the pattern suggests.

It's taking a while knitting on these little needles,

but I'm pleased with the results.

I needed a bit of a change from knitting socks and 

found this pattern on Ravelry and had some great yarn to use for it.

It took me three starts to get this going!

Plus, I had never started with the provisional cast on,

so that took a few attempts, too.

Knitting on these larger needles is quick!

(As long as I pay attention and don't have to rip back!)

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

Happy Friday!

July 350 Blocks Project Report

I am really surprised at how many blocks I put together this month.

Some of my total are very easy blocks,

but I did a lot of sewing that was not easy this month

that can't be counted as blocks.

First,

I made the pinwheels and snowballs for this quilt.

48 blocks completed here.

Next, I made the blocks for a Christmas Tree Skirt.

24 blocks in this project.

Finally,

I made this months "Gravity" blocks.

2 Blocks here.

This is a total of 74 blocks for July

and 342 blocks for 2015.

Happy Quilting!

Cathedral Windows

One of the first things I ever quilted,

many years ago,

was a Cathedral Window table runner

for Christmas.

I actually made a number of them, all by hand,

and gave them as gifts.

This has been one of my favorite blocks since then,

but for some reason I never made it again....

Until now!!

The other day I watched this video

and knew I had to try it.

I had just purchased a charm pack of  fabrics

from Free Spirit and

knew these would work well.

Instead of using the 5" squares,

I cut them down to 2 1/2" squares and 

pulled some gray scraps from my scrap basket

and cut those to size as well.

Here is what I have so far...

I played around with the squares and layed them out this way,

but quickly changed my mind.

 (I know you can't really see the "fun" fabric,

but I put them in blocks of four prints each.)

They needed to be randomly placed.

I've sewn them into two's and will continue sewing the rows together.

 

 

I think I see a pillow in my future!

Happy Quilting!

A Little Bit of This and That...

Since I finished the

Big Project

of making quilts for my 11 nieces and nephews,

I've been working on

Odds and Ends.

This week I started a

Christmas Tree Skirt

to give as a wedding gift in October.

The top is sewn together and is waiting to be quilted.

This pattern goes together so quickly

and really shows off the gorgeous Christmas fabric,

"Holiday Flourish" by Robert Kaufman.

Giving Christmas Tree skirts as wedding gifts

has become my standard gift, when appropriate.

I made this months blocks for "Gravity."

The colors aren't quite as bright as shown here.

These blocks are growing on me.

The pinwheel and snowball blocks I made a while ago from the

Anna Marie Horner fabric have been sewn together.

This top reminds me of sparklers. 

I need to find some fabric for borders and 

don't have any other fabrics of hers in my stash. 

With her fabrics being so bold and different,

I'm thinking I need to continue with using hers for the borders.

This might mean some shopping is in order!

On the Knitting front....

I finished my "Socks that Rock" socks

and I love them!

These were made with #3 needles,

casting on 60 stitches.

They are loose on me, but they will be so warm.

These are going to be anklet socks....

something I have not made before now.

They will go together more quickly though!

It's a hodge podge of projects today, 

but it's been fun to bounce from project to project this week.

Please visit Whoop Whoop

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

Happy Friday!

Wedding Gift Needed

For the past few years,

making Christmas Tree Skirts for

Wedding Gifts

has become my standard gift.

(If it's appropriate, of course!)

We have a wedding to attend in October,

so I need to get the Christmas Tree skirt made.

I cheated this time and bought a package

of pre-cut 10" squares.

 These fabrics are gorgeous!

For this tree skirt I am using this pattern.

It will be the fourth or fifth time I have used this pattern,

I think.

I made HST's and then pinned the blocks and made the
Hourglass blocks.

I just put the blocks on my design wall

and have since moved some blocks around to even out the design.

I just love these fabrics.

The line is "Holiday Flourish"

by Robert Kaufman.

Hopefully this will be sewn together and will

be ready for quilting by the end of the week.

It's Christmas in July!

Happy Quilting!

Hot Finish!

Yesterday I put the final stitches in

"Hot Hot Hot."

I love this quilt!

It's wild and bright and fun and colorful!

It surprises me at how much I like this one.

The zebra prints, the polka dot border...

so much fun!

This is the final quilt I had to make for this

HUGE plan that hatched back in January.

My side of the family is having a family reunion beginning next week.

I have 11 nieces and nephews and I decided to make them each a quilt.

Doing this was going to make me practice and, hopefully,

improve upon some of my not so great quilting skills.

The quilts are finished and I did learn some things in this

creative process.

Here is the stack ready to be packed up for the trip north.

Looking at the binding side is fun, too!

A peek at the quilts in the stack...

I'm looking forward to playing Santa Quilter next week.

The six hearts in the upper corner are for my siblings, my mom and me.

For the last four years I have made a little patriotic quilt for all of us.

I had to continue with that tradition!!

Now...

Onto the next project!!

Please visit Patchwork Times to see what others are creating.

Happy Quilting!!