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!

Dribs and Drabs

Wow!

I don't know where this last week has gone,

but it's Thanksgiving week!

And almost the end of November!

And almost the end of 2017!!

Yikes!

I've been putzing around in my Hidey Hole,

but haven't had a lot to show for it.

(Does anyone else say "putzing around"? 

My grandmother said it and my mom does, too.

I learned "dribs and drabs" from another blogger

a while ago. Phrases like these make me smile.)

Anyway,

my Hidey Hole LOOKS like there is a lot going on in it

because of the piles,

but that's just what they are...

piles.

One of the things I've been playing with is the box of

half square triangles I cut from all of my

reproduction fabrics.

It's totally mindless sewing...

pair up two HSTs,

sew,

trim,

press

and sew into nine patches.

 

I'm normally not much for scrappy quilts,

but I like this one.

The nine patch blocks were placed on the wall

as they came off of the pile.

Once all of the blocks are made,

I'll even out the colors that pop.

 Looking at something like this

makes me think about all the fabrics

we as quilters have at our finger tips.

These are just a drop in the bucket compared to

what is available.

 

This stack is ready for stitching.

While looking for a piece of Christmas fabric the other day,

I found a pile of HST's I'd cut from corners

making a tree skirt.

 

They are now little candle mats

or mug rugs.

Nothing fancy,

but they will add a little color to the table.

This my absolute favorite Christmas candle...

Fresh Balsam from Bath and Body.

Happy Quilting!

Metro Rings

This year we were issued a challenge in my

History of Quilting group.

We were to challenge ourselves to make or finish something

we've been putting off

 or to learn a new skill.

My challenge was to make a curved block.

I've been quilting for 15 years and have never made a block

with curves, except with hand applique.

A friend told me about the

Quick Curve Ruler

and I found a pattern I liked that used this ruler

and began to collect fabrics.

(After being folded up and in a bag, the top needs another good pressing!)

There were a lot of steps to making this block

between the sewing and cutting, sewing and trimming

 and sewing and squaring up, etc.

I found it difficult to get a consistent distance between the arcs

and the corner pieces,

but once the blocks were all sewn together,

they don't stand out that much.

I would use this ruler again and would

purchase one of the patterns again.

The directions were very detailed and easy to follow.

And I LOVE the turquoise and gray together!

Now I need to decide if I'm going to add a couple of borders.

I'm thinking of a solid gray stop border and a wider turquoise print outer border.

I'll need to go fabric shopping, though.

Darn!

I linking up to Design Wall Monday at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Happy Quilting!

Prepping...

It's been quite a while since I haven't had a quilt or project

that I needed to make.

The December baby quilt is done and the next one isn't needed until March.

I'm not making any quilts for Christmas gifts this year.

We've pared our list way down,

so there aren't as many gifts to get or make.

I do have a couple of quilts tops that need to be quilted,

but I'm not in the mood.

I'm taking this opportunity to prep some quilts to be made when

the mood strikes.

Reproduction fabrics are not my favorite,

but somehow I ended up with a cabinet full of them.

Last week I took the time to iron all of the fabrics

and roll them up,

ready to be cut.


 

I wasn't kidding when I said I had a cabinet full of reproduction fabrics!

At the end of last week I began cutting.
I have a Go! Cutter and, while there is a bit of waste

using this, the time saved is so worth it.

 

I decided what shapes I wanted to use,
cut the large pieces of fabric into smaller pieces
that would fit onto each die
and began to cut....

4 1/2" HST...

 

Flying Geese Parts

More Flying Geese Parts

for a different quilt

 

Pieces for Log Cabin blocks....
over 90 of them!

I have a few more pieces of fabric to cut and then that job will be done.

Now I have an empty cabinet!


You know I had to play a bit in between cutting!

One down,
who knows how many to go!

There will be a lot of these made, too!

Now to clean up my mess!

Happy Quilting!

Crickets....

I am here, but am having internet issues.

The internet is very, very slow and photos won't load.

I will post again once this issue is resolved.

In the meantime...

Happy Quilting!

A Quick Table Topper

A couple of weeks ago a

friend gave me a charm pack.

A few days after that I needed something

mindless to do,

so I decided to use the charm pack

in a Cathedral Window table topper.

I cut some yardage into 5" squares for the 

"window panes"

and laid out the charm squares for the background.

After a couple hours of sewing,

I had this...

I didn't have enough charm squares to make it 

symetrical,

but I like it anyway.

A friend saw it over the weekend and loved it.

It is now on her kitchen table!

Mindless sewing is the best!

Here is the link to the Tutorial
in case you are interested in making one!

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday

at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Happy Quilting!

Turquoise and Gray

Back in August I started working on this quilt

using the

Quick Curve Ruler

and the Metro Rings pattern.

For a while I had been collecting turquoise/aqua/teal fabrics,

along with various shades of gray

for this quilt.

I love how they look together.

In August I had 16 blocks finished and debated

on stopping there and making a baby quilt.

The other day I decided I want this quilt to be bigger.

I don't know how much bigger, but bigger at this point.

Out came the bin of fabrics and the piecing began.

Using this ruler speeds the cutting process up tremendously

and it's used for almost every aspect in making this block.

It has taken me a while to get used to cutting with it

and I finally have it figured out...

I think!!

 

 

The only problem I have is with the accuracy of where the

curved pieces end up in the block....

how far they are from the straight edge.

I'm not sure if it's from the pressing,

which distorts things a bit,

or if it's my piecing,

or a combination of the two!

 

I have learned from one of my quilt group buddies to

not point out my mistakes,

so I won't.

And once it's all together,

they aren't that noticeable anyway! 

There are 14 more blocks needed for the size I'm thinking of,

so block construction will continue.

Happy Quilting!

Lucky Day!

On Saturday I had my

History of Quilting group meeting

and just love getting together with these women.

I come away with so many ideas and thoughts from

this talented group.

They are such a life-giving, positive group.... such a blessing to me.

Well....

Saturday was my lucky day!

Last year we all made a quilt block

that was representative of a book that we read of our choosing.

When all of the blocks were collected,

they were made into a quilt.

We, as a group, decided to raffle this quilt off

and the proceeds would be donated to the local

organization that supports women and children

who are victims of domestic violence.

The drawing was on Saturday and

Guess Who Won!!

YES!!
I WON this gorgeous quilt!

We were given fabric to use for our blocks

so they would cooridinate.

Each of us read a book of our choosing,

did a "book report" on the book,

and made a block that represented the book for us.

 

See what I mean about the talent in this group?

These blocks are beautiful.

I'm not sure where I will display this quilt,

but it will find a special place in my home.

I'm linking up to Design Wall Monday at

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

Happy Quilting!

Finished Pillows

I love making pillows.

I haven't made many,

but making pillows is like making a mini quilt.

My niece asked me to make her a tuffet

and from the extra fabric,

these pillows were made.

 This pattern is "Strip Stars" from

"Angles With Ease 2"

by Heather Peterson.

A placket was made on the back to hide the zipper.

These, along with the tuffet,

are ready to send to my niece. 

I might have to add some more pillows to my

list of things to do!

Happy Quilting!

Piecing and Knitting

Modern technology is wonderful, isn't it?

I've been gone for almost three weeks,

but because I could write posts and schedule their postings in advance,

it seemed like I was right here in my Hidey Hole the entire time.

My husband, oldest daughter and I took a wonderful trip

to Europe and cruised along the western coast of

France, Spain and Portugal.

We also visited the Canary Islands and spent a little time in Morocco.

The sights were just beautiful and the memories are great.

Now it's back to reality!

While I was gone I did a little knitting.

Knitting hasn't been on my list of things to do lately,

but it's such a portable project for a trip where

space is a premium.

This pair of socks was made while

relaxing on the ship

and during the hours of flying.

I love how the yarn pooled for these.

 

I also decided to try my hand at knitting mittens.

This is attempt #3.

I'm not thrilled with it and learned some things,

but they will be warm.

The thumb is made with the "Afterthought" method.

Next time I make mittens, I'd like to try the gusset method.

Since I've been home I've done a little playing in my Hidey Hole.

A few weeks ago I posted about the tuffet

I made for my niece.

I decided that with some of the extra fabric,

I would make two pillows to coordinate with the tuffet.

My niece isn't much into quilts,

but something simple would work.

 

This pattern is from the book called

"Angles With Ease 2"

and was so easy to make!

I'll get these quilted and made into pillows

and then send them to her for her new home.

My mind is overflowing with thoughts and ideas of

projects I'd like to make this fall.

We shall see where I am lead!

Thank you to all who commented on my blog posts while

I was gone! They were so fun to read when I returned home.

Happy Quilting!