Dinosaur Hunt is Over

 This past week found me trekking through the countryside

looking for dinosaur parts and I found them all!

The blocks are finished and sewn into a quilt top.

 

This was made using Elizabeth Hartman's pattern and

fabrics all from my stash.

I have never made a quilt like this and really enjoyed the process.

It sure slowed me down, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  

I didn't have enough of one background fabric to make the

entire quilt, so I used a different background for each dinosaur.

The colors in the photos are off a bit,

but I love all of the greens.

 

 

After finishing the top, I've been pondering how to quilt it.

I'm leaning toward using a diagonal grid

or a straight grid, but we shall see.

These guys are pretty cute... for dinosaurs.

 

Hopefully this will be finished soon!

Happy Quilting!

Odds and Ends

 These past few days have been spent getting things that have been

languishing around here finished.

I've had this quilt on my design wall for a couple of weeks

and have been slowly sewing it into rows. 

I woke up at 4am today (😒) and decided to get this top finished.

This is another Kaffe scrappy baby quilt.

It was dark and dreary here today,

so the color in the photos is off.

You get the gist.

 

 

I used three different black on white prints from my stash 

for the fill triangles and love how they look with the Kaffe.

I am going to leave the points on the edge and quilt it like this.

Maybe I'll be brave (or crazy) enough to bind it this way, too.

We will see how much time I want to spend on it when it

comes time to bind it.

Two of my nieces, who are sisters, are due on the same day in March.

One is having her third boy and the other is having her first child.. a daughter.

The knitting needles have been busy making baby sweaters.

Neither has been blocked yet and both are waiting for buttons.

These yarns are so soft and cuddley!

 

 

For you knitters out there....

I had to save the sleeve stitches and pick them back up after

the body was completed. I used the same size DPN's as the circular needled

used for the body, but why do the sleeve stitches look smaller?

Maybe my knitting is tighter using the DPN's?

I didn't notice this until they were finished.

:(

These two hooded baby towels have been cut out and waiting

to be made. They were both finished today, too!

It has been a productive couple of days here in my hidey hole.

Back to Dinosaur land!

Happy Quilting!

Dinosaur Parade

 The dinosaur construction has begun!

The pattern is divided into 8 blocks for the baby quilt size

and I have finished two blocks.

 

I've decided to cut all of the pieces and kit them up 

before proceeding with the construction.

 Cutting all of the individual pieces is a bit time-consuming,

but each block goes together pretty quickly once that is done.

 

 

 

 

 

The fabrics have been selected for each block and are waiting to be cut.

 

 

 

Each block will have a different background,

and I'm using all batiks.

This guy looks more like a turtle to me,

but once he's with his friends,

he will look like a dinosaur... I hope!

Let the fun continue!

Happy Quilting!

Dinosaur Baby Quilt

My family ended 2020 with two births...

a niece and her husband had their third child

and my daughter and SIL had their first.

This year will bring three more births to my family.

Two nieces are expecting on the same day and they are sisters!

The third niece is due in June.

The sisters are two in a couple of months,

which means I need to keep going on baby quilts!

Today I pulled fabric for the niece who is having a boy.

This baby quilt will be unlike any that I have made before

and I'm excited to be starting it.

Green batiks will be used to make the smaller version of this quilt

pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.

The first six blocks are done.
Many more to go!

(And the fabrics aren't Kaffe!)

😊

Happy Quilting!

First Kaffe Finish of 2021

 At the end of 2020 I pulled backing fabrics

and cut batting for four quilts that needed to be finished.

All of them were made with Kaffe fabrics. :)

One was finished at the end of 2020

and the second of the four was finished yesterday.

I pieced this top back in the summer, I think,

and love the grayish/purplish/tealish

Kaffe fabric with his prints.

 

 

This design is so simple, but so pretty. 

I love how it appears that you look back into

the quilt to see the print pieces.

I quilted the prints with feathers,

which you can't see very well.

The quilting should have been reversed...

feathers in the solid areas and

straight lines in the prints.

Oh well... 

This great fish print was in my stash.

I think I had bought it to make a bag that was

never made.

My husband said he likes the back of the quilt

better than the front.😊

The smallest of the three remaining quilts 

is finished.  Now onto the other two!

 

 

In the evenings, another Bucilla kit has come out to play.

These snowmen are just too cute!!

 

Happy Quilting!

One Last Finish

 Today is the last day of 2020 and I don't think

anyone will wish that this year could have lasted longer.

On this last day of the year,

I have one more finish in my Hidey Hole.

The quilting mojo has not been here recently,

even though I've been working on other crafty things.

Then this past week the itch started...

I pulled out a pile of triangles I had cut from Kaffe scraps

and started to play with them.

More triangles needed to be cut to add some more color

and fabrics and the neutral fabric was chosen.

 

After playing around with the pieces on my design wall,

this is what came to be.

 

 

There is something about triangle shapes that just draws me.

Maybe it's the simplicity of the design... I don't know.

My original thought was to add more rows to make the quilt longer

and have the triangles pointing down.

Then I decided that I like them pointing to the side.

 

 

I had this piece of Anna Maria Horner fabric in my

stash and it made the perfect backing.

Some simple straight line quilting was done

and the quilt is finished.

This will go in the donation pile.

 

 

While I was looking for backing fabric for this quilt,

I pulled backing fabrics for three other quilts that have

been waiting to be finished.

 

Making the backs for quilts is my least favorite part of quilting.

The backing fabrics were found and sewn together, batting was cut

and now these three quilts are ready for basting.

The thing that struck me with these four quilts....

(the three waiting to be basted and the one I just finished)

all of them have been made using Kaffe scraps!

I do have other fabric in my stash,

but these Kaffe scraps keep multiplying and NEED to be used!

 

 

 

And since I had triangles that didn't get used for the first

quilt mentioned in this post,

Another quilt is on the design wall.

 

 

I pulled some white with black fabrics from my stash for the

neutral places in this design and really like the look.

 

Maybe one of my goals for 2021 should be to use fabrics other than Kaffe!

(But they are my FAVORITE!!)

 

 

I pray that everyone has a blessed and joy-filled 2021. 

Peace be with you.

2020 Review

 The year 2020 certainly didn't play out like any of us expected.

Back in January, no one knew that we would be at home

way more than any of us would like, 

or that so many people would get sick and/or die from a virus,

or that so many would lose their jobs,

or that the world economy would take such a hit.

Thankfully, my family has remained healthy and

has been able to carry on without many set backs.

For me, one good outcome to this pandemic and the

isolation that came with it, is the amount of time I was able to spend in my

Hidey Hole.

Don't get me wrong... I would have much rather been out and about

amongst the people, visiting family and friends, 

going to church in person, eating in restaurants, going to shows, and

screaming at basketball games and other sporting events.

 But, since I was home, and have all of this fabric and unfinished projects,

I made use of the time.

 

Here is a recap of my Hidey Hole 2020:

 

 

These quilts were all completed in the first half of the year.

Several had been started previous to 2020 and were lingering.

Three were kits that had been in my cabinet for Way too long!

 

 

These quilts were finished in the second half of 2020.

During the second half of 2020 my time was taken up with

making baby things for my granddaughter, who was born Dec. 27th!

 

 

 

These were a lot of the "other things" I made this year.

I pray that 2021 is much easier for everyone

and that we can return to some kind of normal.

In the meantime, may your creative side bring you some 

peace and serenity.

Happy Creating!

Olivia Rose

 Ok.... I promise that I won't be posting photos

of my new granddaughter every day.

Maybe every other day!!  :D

 

 

 That face! It just melted my heart.

The fun thing is she might be a redhead!

Both of my daughters are redheads,

so this would be so wonderful.

Back to normal programming now.

:)

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

 This year of 2020 ended on a very high note for us.

Our granddaughter... our first grandchild....

arrived last night at 9:05 California time.

Meet Olivia Rose!

Mom, Dad and Olivia are all doing great.

And, of course, I can't wait to hold her.

 

God is good!

 

 

Holiday Tidbits

 Christmas 2020 has come and gone

and was a quiet celebration with my husband and Doodlebug.

Like so many others, we didn't get together

with other family this year.

It just isn't worth the risk.

I did get the Bucilla stocking finished for Baby Girl.

It is ready to be filled next Christmas and beyond.

Once again, I made a quilted stocking

and attached the felt stocking to the front.

This makes for a very sturdy stocking

that will be able to be stuffed with goodies.

This fabric is on the back and the inside.

The binding fabric was my mom's from the 90's,

I think.  I was glad to use some of it.

 

 

 

 

The Bucilla kit for the stocking came with this bonus ornament.

It went together in no time and is so cute!

 

 

Our tradition for Christmas breakfast is to have

homemade cinnamon rolls.

This year I made enough to share with friends

and family.  The recipe is from

Ramona Cafe in Ramona, CA.

I was named after the person for whom

Ramona Ca is named.

:)

And look!!!

I have a quilt started on my design wall!

I pulled out my box of Kaffe scraps again

(the box has been sitting on the floor in my hidey hole

for months, so I didn't have to go far!)

and cut some triangles with my Accuquilt cutter. 

For the neutral triangles, I'm using the Ombre Confetti.

I love the gold sparkle with the Kaffe prints.

Hopefully this will be a finished top soon.

 

Happy Quilting

and

Happy End of 2020!

My Stocking for Baby Girl

 A few weeks ago I posted about the Bucilla stocking I made

for my granddaughter, who is due at the end of the month.

This stocking went to her house for her to use there.

 

I have made stockings for my daughter and son in law

to have here, so they don't have to bring their

stockings with them when they come for Christmas.

(Plus, I LOVE making these stockings and it has given me

a reason to make more of them. :))

 

Anyway,

Baby Girl needs her own stocking at my house, too.

 

 

This stocking was SO fun to make!

There weren't a lot of parts and pieces,

so it went together pretty quickly.

 

 

 

 

The only thing I changed was using real bells

instead of making the felt bells.

I will make the stocking part next and stitch this to the front.

 

It will be so wonderful to fill this stocking over the years!

 

Happy Creating!

 

Round and Round She Goes

 I have had a box of scrappy skinny strips and two hanks of clothesline

for quite some time, just hanging in my cabinet waiting for their 

turn to come out and play.

 

While reading Vicki's blog, I was inspired to get these things out

and do some mindless sewing. 

I've never made anything like this with cording or clothesline

and now understand what people mean about it being addictive.

While watching college basketball, I've been winding

the fabric strips onto the cording.

Once it's long enough, I go sew the cording into these wonderful circles!

Three have been made so far and I need to buy more clothesline.

For each placemat, I am using 50 feet of clothesline and LOTS of scraps!

I did make some coasters with the first 50 feet,

so I could practice the technique.   

It's not a quilt, but I'm playing with fabric!

Happy Creating!

More Little Projects

 I can't seem to find the motivation to begin a big quilt,

so the little things are keeping me busy.

My sister gave me some fingerling weight yarn that is 100% wool,

so I couldn't use it for socks.

Instead I made a little sweater for my granddaughter

who is coming soon!

Is it just me or has the button selection at Joann's really gone down hill?

I would not have chosen these buttons for a newborn sweater,

but beggars can't be choosers!

One of my traditions now, it seems,

is to make pillows from dishtowels.

I look for fun towels to use

and these go together in no time.

Last week I was visiting my daughter and son-in-law in

California to help with some last minute things before the baby comes

and took these to them.

I bought the pillow forms once I was out there and stuffed them.

The fun thing is my SIL is a C5 pilot for the Air Force.

Last year my daughter found this fabric on line with C5's on it.

It's kind of blah, but made cute pillow backings!

I also made him some masks out of the remaining fabric.

He was quite excited about those!

Hopefully soon I will have a quilt going in my hidey hole.

Until then, the little things will keep me busy.

Happy Creating!

Baby Things

 With my granddaughter arriving at the end of this month,

I have been busy making her little baby things.

Making things for littles is so much fun...

(and goes so quickly!)  :)

This little sweater pattern in called Newborn Vertebrae.

It's knit without a front for skin to skin contact

Also, if the baby spits up, one doesn't have to change the sweater.

It was strange to knit at first,

without a front, but went quickly. 

These are quilt as you go bibs.

I bought the set on sale somewhere and had fun making these, too.

I need to add the fasteners and these will be finished!

I found the softest terrycloth for these baby wraps

on-line at Nature's Fabrics.

(This is the bamboo double terrycloth.)  

 

These wraps went together quickly and will be so cozy soft

for the baby. I'm tempted to order more of this terry cloth

to make some robes! 

The shipping was super fast and they sent me samples

of other fabrics they sell.

 

I have three nieces who are also expecting,

so I will be busy making these little things for a while!

And, of course, baby quilts will be made for each little one.

 

Happy Creating!