A New Christmas Quilt

Back in the spring I was in one of my local

quilt shops and talked to a local designer there.

She has designed a number of quilts for the 

Creative Grid rulers.

Her latest quilt was this Christmas quilt

and there were kits made up at the shop.

Yep...one came home with me!

I've had fun making the santa blocks

and sewing all of the sky and tree triangles together.

Santa's Forest Quilt

 

This went together very quickly once the santa's were

appliqued.  I did all of the applique on my machine.

 

The snowflake sky fabric adds so much charm to the quilt.

 

I love this tree fabric!

Hopefully this will be quilted soon.

My walking foot is acting up,

so once I get that working properly,

I'll get this one quilted.

Happy Quilting!

Gingerbread Cottage is Finished!

The construction project is finished!

This Gingerbread house went together pretty easily

and is ready to be given to my friend.

These Bucilla kits are so easy to make.

Just follow the directions and go in numbered order

and you will end up with a pretty nice piece.

There's one more thing I may do

and that's sew a pocket onto the back

to put the candy pieces in until it's their turn

to go on the front.  This way they will all

stay together.

I've had this kit for a number of years and am

VERY glad to have it finished!!

What can I say... I'm obsessed with these candy bag pouches!

Two bags of candy were bought for each pouch at the 

Dollar Tree.

There will be more of these in my future!

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

Finished and Almost Finished

The putzing continues here at my end of the street,

but I am seeing the end in sight on this Bucilla kit I've been making.

Last night I stitched the backing in place on the 

Gingerbread Cottage Advent Calendar.

Now I just need to stitch the back of the snow to the chimney

and add the hanging cord to the ornaments.

The almost finished cottage.

The backing for the chimney snow is pinned in place.

 

 All of the ornaments are just placed on the cottage.

They will attach to the sequins sewn onto it.

I need to add the hangers.

 

The host and hostess! 

:)

I'm excited to have this almost finished!

Now that I'm back into working on these kits,

I have my next one picked out to make.

Hopefully I'll keep going for a while

and have fewer unfinished kits in my cabinet.

Alright...

I confess....

I have a new obsession!!

A while ago I watched the tutorial by 

Jenny at Missouri Star

on making little pouches from candy bags.

I had saved a candy bag from my daughter after Easter

and finally decided to try making a pouch with it.

Can I just say.... these are so much fun and so stinking cute!!

They go together in no time.

I've made two and have the third bag prepped and ready to go!

 

The biggest problem with making these bags....

not eating the candy!

Happy Quilting!

Just Putzing....

This last week has found me hip deep in cleaning my kitchen.

The refrigerator and freezer have been emptied,

scrubbed and reorganized.

The pantry has had the same done to it.

Can I just say...it's amazing what gets hidden in the back

of shelves in both places!

Things have been slow going in my Hidey Hole.

The putzing has continued and I don't have much to show for it.

One thing I do need to share is this awesome sign

that my goddaughter made for me.

I saw the phrase on line somewhere and asked if she could make me a sign

with it.  She has a cricut machine.

We were out shopping and found the old pickets

at a vintage shop.

She cut them down, attached them to a board on the back

and painted the lettering.

I love it!!

Thank you, Petunia Blossom!

 

Things are progressing with the Gingerbread Cottage.

The trees and gingerbread people aren't attached yet,

but are finished.

 

The candy pieces on the sides are the advent pieces.

One will be added for each day of Advent.

I need to add the hangers and they will be finished.

There are more candy pieces to be made.

Slowly this is coming together.

 

 

All 110 blocks for my daughter and son-in-laws

Canyon Dance are made.

I need to begin laying them out and getting them in order.

Maybe that will happen soon.

That's about all that's happening in my neck of the woods.

Happy Quilting!

Progress on Two Fronts

This week I find myself kind of in limbo land.

I've finished several things and have checked them off of my list,

but I'm not sure of what I want to start next.

Right now there is nothing that I have to make.

Trust me...there are PLENTY of things for which I have the fabric.  

It's just that nothing is speaking to me.

So, in the mean time, I will continue on with two

things I've started recently.

The Gingerbread Cottage is coming along!

There are sooo many white sequins sewn to the snow

on this cottage! That took a fair amount of time to finish

and there is more snow to come.

Once the cottage is finished,

I'll be making the candy pieces that

will act as the Advent Calendar pieces.

 

These Bucilla kits really are fun and easy to make,

as long as one goes in the right order.

The directions are very well written and easy to follow.

 

Progress on my daughter and son-in-law's

Canyon Dance quilt is moving along.

Here are 80 of the 110 blocks I need for a queen size quilt.

 

 

Ten more blocks are laid out on my cutting table.

And there are ten here by my sewing machine ready to piece.

That means only ten more are needed to organize and sew!

It may be a completed top soon!

Woohoo!!

That's about it from my Hidey Hole today.

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

Escher Quilt is Finished!

I have been a fan of M.C. Eshcer for years,

finding his drawings and paintings fascinating. 

When I saw this pattern for a quilt that is

"Escher-esque"

I had to make it.

Here is the finished quilt!

The top had been finished for a while,

but I could not decide how to quilt it

or if I should send it to my LAQ to be finished.

 

Finally, I decided to just quilt in the ditch for this one.

The design speaks for itself.

 

This quilt was not as challenging to make as I initially thought

it would be, but it was not mindless sewing,

by any means.

 

The fabrics had to be kept in a very specific order

so the design would come through.

 

Using the Kaffe fabrics gives it so much movement.

 

I'm not sure where this one will end up,

but it's staying with me, at least for a while.

 

I used this fun Kaffe stripe for the backing

and a blue and green dot for the binding. 

There will be another one of these in my future,

I believe!

Happy Quilting!

Mindless Little Projects

Over the past few weeks I've finished up

a few things that had been languishing in my

Hidey Hole.

Before starting another big project,

I decided to get some small things made.

A friend had asked me to make her some

potholders... and had asked a while ago!

Out came the fabrics, batting and the insul bright.

 The line of binding across the pot holder is on a pocket

for the hand. The hand can go inside the pocket and be protected

on both sides from being burned.

I had this pumpkin fabric in my stash and thought it 

was time to use it.

The lower set is for me. :)

These will all be delivered to their homes this week.

For those who have followed me for a while,

you know that I have made a number of Bucilla felt kits over the years.

There is a shelf in a cabinet in my Hidey Hole that has

a number of kits waiting to be made.

I decided it is time to work on one again.

This is going to be a Gingerbread Advent calendar.

There are a LOT of white sequins that will be sewn

onto the felt for this one, along with other colors

and some embroidery.

It's a relaxing thing to do in the evenings while

my husband watches sports.

Nothing too exciting here,

but I'm using stash and making little things.

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

Baby Quilt for Quinn

A friends daughter had a baby in July

and Quinn's quilt is finally finished!

The baby's room is in pinks and gray

and I decided this time to make a

quilt that would cooridnate with the room.

This pattern was on Pintrest a while ago

and the heart in the design caught my eye.

For the backing I decided to use this gray

velour blanket I've had for some time to use as a backing.

NEVER AGAIN will I use a blanket like this!

It was a BEAR to quilt!

I wanted to do some feathers,

but there was no way that was going to happen.

Swirls it was.

It isn't as bunchy as it looks in the photo...just puffy.

The quilt is super soft and cuddly with this backing, though.

It's ready for delivery!

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday.

Happy Quilting!

October Wedding Gift Finished

As those who follow me know,
I make Christmas tree skirts for wedding gifts

when it's appropriate.

A good friend of my daughter's is getting married

next month and the tree skirt is finished!

This pattern has been used for several tree skirts

and, unfortunately, is not available anymore.

It was a Moda Bakeshop pattern that I am unable to find

online. Thankfully I printed it off several years ago.

 

The pattern uses a layer cake and goes 

together quickly.

The fabrics are much richer and prettier in person

than the photos are showing.

 

I'm still deciding if I'm going to put the ties on this one.

A friend has made a couple of tree skirts

without the ties and then I realized that I don't

tie them on my tree skirt.

I will add those today if I decide they are needed.

I can check this off of my list now. :)

Happy Quilting!

MInt, Berries and Chocolate

I really struggled with naming this quilt.

My first thoughta were "Ugly Quilt #2"

or "Sensory Overload"

or.... I won't tell you the rest.

The fabric line is called "Botany"

and Botanical Beauty became the name.

****EDIT****
After Preeti's comment, I'm changing the name
of this quilt to
"Mint, Berries and Chocolate"!
It's helped me to like it a little more!
Thank you, Preeti!!

It's not often that I make something and think

"Phew!  That one is finished!"

I'm not a fan of this quilt, but it's done

and a pile is gone from my stash.

 And honestly,

now that's it's quilted,

it has grown on me a bit.

As I've mentioned before,

the Disappearing 4 Patch is one of my favorite blocks to make...

...and I've made a number of quilts using this block.

I am really enjoying doing the grid quilting

these days, too.

This does look like a vintage picnic quilt or a tablecloth to me.

Is it bad that I like the back better than the front?

Another finish and that's a good thing!

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

More Canyon Dance

A couple of weeks ago I cut a lot of the pieces

for Canyon Dance,

so if I have a few minutes,

I can sew a block or two together.

If you have never sewn curves before,

this is the pattern with which to begin.

It's so easy because nothing needs to meet or match.

The pieces are sewn together in a certain order

and then the block is trimmed to size.

Easy Peasy.

This is mindless sewing for me.

Before I begin,

I arrange the pieces in pleasing sets

and stack them on a cookie sheet.

Then I sit and sew while listening to my book.

 

Thirty eight of 110 blocks are made.

 

As I make more blocks,

things are rearranged.

There will be a lot of rearranging once 

all of the blocks are finished.

Happy Quilting!