Amanda's Christmas tree skirt

One of my daughters' best friends is getting married next month

and she asked if I would make a tree skirt as her wedding gift.

Any excuse to make a quilt is good with me!

Except for the label,

which will be sewn in tonight,

this tree skirt is finished!

I'm not sure how many tree skirts I've made for

wedding gifts,

but this is one of my favorites.

 

It went together quickly and uses so many different fabrics.

 

Christmas fabrics are some of my favorites...

especially those with metallic gold in the design.

 

The pinwheels add some whimsy to the design.

 

Thanks to Mary at NeedledMom for the design.

This will go in the mail in the next few days and will be

ready for the October wedding.

Happy Quilting!

Another Christmas Tree Skirt...

There is a wedding next month.

Next month is October!

I thought I had lots of time to get this

Christmas Tree skirt made,

but it's only a few short weeks away.

Boy, has time gotten away from me!

Out came the Christmas fabrics,

the cutting was done

and the sewing began.

The top is not finished,

but four blocks sections are sewn together so far.

 

Mary at Needledmom is making a Christmas Tree skirt

and I loved her design.
I am always looking for new designs for tree skirts...

it's my "signature" wedding gift, when appropriate.

 

I don't think I will cut mine into a circle,

but will angle the corners and make it octagonal.

Hopefully it will be finished by the end of the weekend!

Happy Quilting!

Finished socks

The calendar says September

but outside still says summer...

thank goodness!

I am a summer girl!

I know cold weather is coming and if it arrives

as quickly as September did,

it will be here tomorrow. :(

Anyway,

cold weather requires warm socks

and I finished a pair yesterday!

These are some fun socks!

Someone asked if they glow in the dark,

but I haven't tested them yet.  :D

The photo above is the true color of the yarn,

but I love the design and it shows really well in the photo below.

The pattern is "Echo Beach Sock"...a fun pattern to knit.

 

I started another pair with some yarn my sister gave to me.

This yarn is Ty-Dy Socks Skinny Stripes.

The pattern is called "Overkill-Socks"

and is going quickly.

Please visit Judy at Patchwork Times to see what others are knitting.

Happy Friday!

Friendship Star Quilt Finish

Last year I made 12 wool applique basket pieces

and set them in the middle of the Friendship Star blocks.

My intention was to make one big quilt with these blocks for a 

Christmas quilt.

The more I looked at these blocks, the more I thought I didn't want a huge

quilt made with them.

Instead, I would make three smaller wall-hanging size quilts.

Well, the third one is finally finished.

The first two were finished in the beginning of the year

 and one has been gifted.

The other is staying here, at least for now.

This one will be gifted, too.

Doing wool applique is so relaxing to me.

 

There are no seams to turn...

 

the wool feels so good in my hands...

 

The colors are so deep and rich...

 

and I love it when paired with cotton fabrics.

All this quilt needs is a label and it will be sent to 

the person for whom it was made.

One more thing checked off of my "to be quilted" list.

Yay!!

Happy September!

Borders Added

First, I need to apologize for the not so great photos of these quilts.

I was in a hurry and needed to get the photos taken before

leaving for an appointment.

The borders have been added to the scrappy baby quilts

after many fabrics were auditioned.

Sometimes the scrappy quilts are the most difficult to find border fabrics,

in my opinion.

The same fabrics were used,

but the blue border is 1" wider on this quilt.

The borders really pull out the yellows and blues of the quilts,

which makes them more unisex.

This quilt has a narrower blue border

and I think I like it better.

It's difficult to see the difference in these photos,

but the extra inch really makes the quilt seem huge.

I'll be trimming the first border down before I quilt it.

Add these to the "to be quilted pile"!

Please visit Patchwork Times to see what others are creating.

Happy Quilting!

Nine Patch Finish

Back in June I began teaching three friends to quilt.

Between vacations, work schedules and taking care

of grandchildren,

the lessons have been very sporadic.

We are nearing the end though

and should have finished quilts very soon!

This is the one I have been making as an example.

 The fabric and colors in this quilt are so calm and soothing to me.

  

I used straight line quilting with my walking foot 

because I had the ladies quilt theirs this way.

I love making nine patches...

no thoughts,

no pressure to match points,

just sew and relax.

 

 The backing was pieced with left-over fabric

and a piece from my stash.

This will go in my pile of baby quilts,

waiting for a baby.

I've delivered two baby quilts this week!

More will be delivered in the next months,

but I don't know what quilts will be needed...

boy or girl.

Either way, I'll be ready.

Happy Quilting!

Sew Together Bag #3

Don't ever make one of these bags!

I'm warning you...

if you make one, you will be making a dozen.

You will want to make one for every person you know.

Okay... maybe not the men you know,

but every woman you know.

A while ago I made two of the Sew Together Bags

and gave both of those to friends.

I wanted one for myself, though,

so pulled the fabrics and finished this last night.

The possibilities for the outside of these bags are endless.

I had wanted to try the straight line quilting with different threads

and this was the perfect project for it.

It's hard to see the different threads in the photo,

but I used a metallic thread, lime green, aqua, teal and turquoise.

(Thanks, Lara! She gave me the idea for this type of quilting.)

The inside fabrics of this one blend more than the other two I made.

 

Don't be intimidated by the zippers.

Here is a wonderful tutorial for making this bag.

It is loaded with photos and great directions.

I already have the fabric pulled for the next bag.

Christmas isn't too far away!

If you take the plunge,

don't say I didn't warn you!

:D

Happy Quilting!

Fish Finish on Friday

When my daughters were younger,

on long car trips we would play the

Alphabet game.

"Hi my name is Alice and I live in Altoona and I eat artichokes."

We would go through the entire alphabet and be laughing so hard

sometimes with the names or things eaten.

Writing the title of today's post made me think of that game.

But I digress....

I have a finish this week!

There were no plans to finish this quilt this week,

but then I talked to an old friend that I had not talked with for

some time.

She is going to be a grandmother for the first time!

Her grandson is due any day now.

Her family LOVES the beach and everything about it,

so an "under the sea" quilt is perfect for the new little one.

The quilting began....

"Under the Sea"

This is a Kaleidoscope quilt design and was so fun to make with this fabric.

 This quilt is a bit large for a baby quilt,
but will make a great beach blanket.
When I started making this quilt, I had no idea who it would go to.
It was waiting for the right person and since the top had been finished
for a while, I was able to get it quilted and ready to send to the new little one.

 I could have played with these blocks all day...

 Turning them to get different designs....

and seeing what pops out with the different placements.

The good news is all of this fabric came from my stash!
I  have had the fish fabric for several years
and used almost all of it!
(yes... I bought a lot!)



In addition to a quilt finish,
I have a sock finish!!

These socks have been in the works for months!
It's good to get them finished and out of my knitting bag.

Since I finished one pair,
I had to start a new pair.
This pattern is easy and fun to knit
and it's free on Ravelry!

Check out Judy's gorgeous socks,
along with other knitting projects here.

Happy Friday!!

Dribs and Drabs...

Isn't funny how we use different terms or words 

in different parts of the country?

I was in Michigan last week visiting family

and my cousin asked if I wanted "a pop".

In NY and Virginia we call it "soda". 

I asked my aunt if she was working on anything fun

and she said "Dribs and Drabs".

I would have said "bits and pieces" or "this and that".

So today, I have dribs and drabs to show you!

There hasn't been much time for sewing these past few weeks,

but that's okay. 

It's summertime and the living is easy!

I finished sewing the filler blocks for the second scrap quilt I've been making.

I was going to make a big scrappy quilt, but I need baby quilts!

 

It's fun to see all of these fabrics together.

These blocks are fun to make and go together quickly!

I'm not sure what these will be yet, or how many will be made.

I'm working on a new quilt and have the background almost finished.

Two more rows will be added.

This is going to be a cathedral window quilt... the easy version!

It does take some time to get this part sewn... and a lot of fabric!

I can't wait to put the windows in though.

Have a great week and stay cool!

Bye Y'all or You guys or You-uns or Yinz or You all! 

:)

I'm Back...

The past week was spent driving my mother to

Michigan and back for a family reunion with her brother, sister

and various other family members.

Needless to say,

nothing has been done in the sewing and quilting department.

Yesterday, while driving home, my husband sent me this text...

It made me laugh so hard!

I am back home and playing in my hidey hole,
so the crying has stopped.
Hopefully there will be something to show soon.

Happy Day!!

Slow Sewing

The other night I had a sewing buddy in my Hidey Hole!

My oldest daughter has Down Syndrome

and usually doesn't want much to do with my quilting.

Going to quilt shops is the worst for her

and often involves some kind of a bribe.

Her piano teacher has a birthday soon 

and Doodlebug decided that she was going to make her teacher a

table runner for her birthday.

I had the perfect piece of fabric...

pretty design that would look great just quilted.

Out came the fabrics and batting,

I basted the pieces

and set Doodlebug in front of the sewing machine

with the walking foot in place and the speed on 

SLOW.

She had a blast quilting this runner.

The lines are not precise at all,

but she is so proud of her accomplishment,

as she should be!

I sewed the binding on and it's ready to wrap.

Her teacher will be thrilled.

I'm continuing to play with the 2 1/2" squares I cut from my scrap pile

and have a baby quilt sewn together.

This top may be done.

I haven't decided if I will add a border or not.

I started to make a large quilt,

but decided I didn't need a large quilt right now.

I need baby quilts!

There's a population explosion going on in my world right now!

After cruising Pinterest,

I made these blocks with some of the squares and HST's.

Mr. Sunshine appeared just like this after the cutting was done.

How cool is that?

Serendipity.

Happy Quilting!