The Stockings Were Hung....

 ....and the rest of the house was decorated, too.

 

We moved into our current home in the spring of 2021,

but with my mom's death in late October last year,

I didn't decorate for Christmas at all.

I put a tiny tree up and that was it.

 

Our old house was very big and I had a LOT

of decorations for that house.

I moved a lot of them, but wasn't sure how they would all

fit into this house.

This year I was excited to decorate and am

happy to see that a lot of my Christmas treasures

fit into this house nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

We had a mantle added to our fireplace this year and it looks

great with all of our Bucilla stockings hanging from it.

 

 

 

 

 

This little nook is in my kitchen.

 

 

 

 

My quilt cabinet is quite festive with some

of my vintage treasures decorating it.

 

 

 

 

 

Years ago I found a woman who makes Santas from old quilts

and chenille blankets.  I've collected a number of them

over the years and love getting them out each year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My parents started buying me a Frykman Santa for Christmas years ago,

so I have a nice collection of these.

They look great on the dining room table with a vintage tablecloth.

 

 

 

 

 

This skinny tree has a lot of the handmade ornaments on it

and is in the family room.

The grandchildren can't hurt the ornaments on this tree,

so it's where we spend most of our time.

 

 

I was thrilled that the big tree fits into the sun room

and looks nice in there.

There are colored lights on this tree,

which don't show up very well in the photo.

If you couldn't tell... I have a "thing" for ornaments!

 

I hope you all have a  Merry Christmas

filled with peace and joy.

Merry Christmas!!

 

This and That

 The past week or so I've been working on

bits and pieces as I get ready for Christmas.

The house is decorated,

we are going to bake this weekend

and I'm working on Christmas cards.

In between all of this,

I steal a few minutes here and there

in my Hidey Hole.

The second pillow for my son-in-law is finished.

Is it bad of me if I hope he doesn't like it??

😁

This pattern is called Diamond in Diamond and is

foundation paper pieced.

These are big pillows... 24" square.

I am really pleased with how this one came together.

One thing I am determined to finish by the end of January 

is the bed quilt I've been working on for almost 2 years.

I started it, thinking I would make a wall hanging,

but my husband really likes it and said it would

be a beautiful quilt for our bed.

I tease him now and say this is the quilt he's making me make.

 

 

 

This is half way finished.

All of the blocks are made, so now it's just a matter

of sewing them into rows with the sashing.

I used the pineapple ruler by Creative Grids

to make the blocks.

The one downside is all of the seams are pressed in the same direction.

If I sewed the blocks together without sashing,

there would have been a lot of bulk at each intersection

and where the blocks meet.

I do think the sashing helps calm the blocks down a bit

and am happy with how it looks.

 Small borders will be added once all of the blocks are sewn together.

 

 

 

 

 

I have a Cricut machine, but am not that proficient at using it, yet.

My daughters, granddaughter and I are having our baking

weekend this coming weekend, so I made us all shirts.

I do have to say... I am REALLY happy with how these turned out!

And last, but not least....

the December blocks for the Gridster Queen Bee

are done and in the mail.

This is a Block Lotto block and is free!

These birds are so stinking cute!

There may be some already made for my own quilt.

:)

That's it for now... back to writing out Christmas cards

and then I need to wrap some gifts.

Happy Quilting!

Second Pillow

 As I've mentioned in the previous post,
I'm making pillows for my son in law for Christmas,

per his request.

The first one was made with fabric weaving,

but for this second pillow I used

paper piecing.

I do not enjoy paper piecing at all.

It isn't the sewing part that I don't like.

I hate removing the paper after the blocks are sewn.

However, you can't beat the precision one gets

with paper piecing.

Since I'm making a pillow,

there aren't that many blocks to be made.

 

Here is what I have so far:

 

 

 

 

 

These blocks aren't sewn together yet,

but are laid out as they will be in the pillow.

This piece will measure roughly 16x22",

so I will need to add borders to make it 24" square.

 

 

 

 

 

This is such a striking pattern and was pretty easy to make.

(Assuming one likes paper piecing.)

The pattern is called Diamond in Diamond  by Saija Elina.

  

 

 

I might have to keep this pillow for myself!

:D

 

Happy Quilting!

Fabric Weaving Pillow

 A couple of posts back I showed some fabric weaving

I had tried.

It was for a pillow for my son in law.

Well, I learned a valuable lesson in my first attempt at

fabric weaving.

When pressing the woven piece to the interfacing under it,

do not iron it.... press it!

Once it was all ironed, the piece was distorted.

As I was ironing, I didn't realize that I was pushing

the strips and causing distortion.

The end result was off square by almost 2" in spots...

unacceptable to use for a pillow.

But Wait!

I looked at the piece and realized that the middle was

not distorted.  I could cut the middle out of the piece

and add borders and salvage some of the weaving.

Here is the result:

 

 

 

I had quilted the piece with a big spiral already,

so I quilted borders with some grid quilting

and added them with a "quilt as you go" technique.

 

The backing was added and then I bound the pillow.

 

 

 

These colors are more true and you can see the weaving better

in this photo.

 

It's a big pillow...24" square.  They like big pillows

at my daughter's house.

 

This one is finished and I've started the second one.

It is not being made with fabric weaving!

 That one will be shown soon.

 

 

Happy Quilting!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins!!

 This year I was invited to join the 

Gridsters Quilting Bee.

There are 12 members from around the country,

but most being in California.

Each month the queen bee for that month

asks the rest of us to make blocks that they have

chosen and given certain specifications to use when making the block.

November is my month and I have asked for pumpkin blocks to be made!

 

For once, I am so excited for the mail to come,

because I have received THE BEST

pumpkin blocks for my pumpkin patch.

 

I altered a pattern by Dodi Lee Poulson for Landauer Publishing

(used with permission)

called "Punkin Quilt".

I would link the pattern here, but the pattern doesn't seem

to be available any longer.

 

So, here are the four blocks I made as an example for my bee mates.

 

 

 

 

Each bee mate received the pattern traced onto pellon and 

I asked them to just have fun with the block.

By sending the traced pellon,

I was able to give them the altered pattern

and made sure the interfacing was all the same weight.

 

Here are the pumpkins I've received so far!!

 

 

 

Aren't they fun?!?!?!

I am going to have the best pumpkin patch in town!

 

Once the last couple arrive,

I'll start trimming and planning how it will go together.

It's so much fun being Queen Bee!!

 

Happy Quilting!

I'm Here!

 Okay... where did the month of October go?

And while we are at it, where has the first part of

November gone?

 

I've been gone here and there during the last month,

but a little has been done in my Hidey Hole.

 

 

My son-in-law asked for new pillows for their couch.

I made them 24" pillows a few years ago

and they have changed their color scheme,

so he would like new pillows.

 These will be a Christmas gift for him. 

I was trying to decide on a pattern to use

and came across a youtube video by Mister Domestic

on fabric weaving.

How fun will this be??

The most frustrating part was trying to get the

bias tape makers to work.

I finally gave up and made the bias ribbon pieces by hand

and then began to weave.

 

 

 

It took a few tries to get the fabric placement to my liking

and once I did that, the weaving went fairly quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

This Wefty tool is a life saver with the weaving.

 

 

 

 

 

A LOT of pins are used to hold everything in place.

It got to be a bit cumbersome, since I am making

a 24" pillow,

but the weaving was done.

 

 

 

 

These colors are pretty true.

Now I need to get this quilted and made into a pillow.

I think  I will quilt it with a spiral.

 

Hopefully this will be done soon!

 

Happy Quilting!

Blue Sunflowers

 A few weeks ago I posted some photos of a

yellow and green sunflower quilt I was making.

The fabric is from a line by Robin Pickens.

There is another colorway for this line in blues

and yellows and I like this one just as much.

I had purchased both colorways, not knowing

what I was going to do with them and have had

them for a while.

The blue colorway came out to play after I finished the

top from the yellow and green colorway.

 

 

 

 

If I had only one block I could make quilting,

it would be the HST.

This block can be used to make

so many different designs.

 

I loved the black with the yellow and green fabrics,

and it looks just as nice with these.

 

I'll start sewing all of these blocks together soon

and have another top to quilt.

Happy Quilting!

Stockings for Miles

 This Christmas will be my grandson's first one

and I needed to get his stockings made!

I've made two for my daughter and son-in-law's family...

one for their home and one for mine.

Last week I put the finishing touches on Miles' stockings,

so he is ready for Christmas!

:)

This is the stocking for my house.

 

 

 

These Bucilla kits are so full of cute details!

 

 

 

 

 

Santa sure is jolly here. 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again, I made a quilted stocking and stitched

the felt to the front of the stocking.

 

 

 

 

 

This is Miles' stocking for his home.

His dad LOVES outer space and requested

this space ship stocking.

 

 

It turned out so cute and sure was fun to make.

This stocking has the same quilted stocking

as the one for my house.

Santa will be able to stuff these stockings to the top now!

Happy Quilting

&

Creating.

Sunflower Table Quilt

 I just love Robin Pickens fabrics and have used a number

of them over the years.

I'm not sure when these came out, but I've had them

in my stash for a while.

The sunflowers and the lattice are just so pretty together.

 

  

 

The blocks are all sewn together and it's about

54" square.

Once it's quilted, I think I will use it

for a tablecloth. 

 

 

 

These are all 5" HST's... mindless sewing to me.

 

 

 

 

 

I have to look in my stash to see if I have a fabric for

the backing, then I can get it quilted.

 

I might have purchased these same fabrics in the

turquoise colorway, too!  :)

 

 

Happy Quilting!

Luna Quilt Finished

 Luna has been waiting to be quilted for a little while

and I finally got to it this week.

This quilt is for my latest grand-nephew,

my sister's grandson and her 6th grandchild,

 

 

 

 

 

This pattern in The Luna Quilt by Kitchen Table Quilting

and went together so quickly.

I had wanted to do something with the stack of primary

colored fabrics I've had for a while

and this worked well.

 

I think this is the third quilt I've made from these fabrics

and there may be enough for one more small one.

 

 

 

 

 

This pattern has several different sized quilts to make,

but this one is in between the baby quilt size

and the lap quilt size.  

 

 

 

It was quilted with some straight lines

and that's all it needed.

 

 

 

I even pieced the backing.

All of the fabric for this came from my stash,

which I'm pretty pleased about.  

 

It will be washed and given to the little man soon.

 

 

Happy Quilting!

Whale Baby Quilt Finish

 My grandson was born in April

and before he was born,

my daughter and son in law asked for a

Whale quilt.

 

I ordered this pattern and pulled some fabrics

to make the whale, but immediately knew

it was not what I wanted.

The fabric pull was going to be way to busy.

 

After some looking and pondering,

I found a pattern of a Sunset at Sea. 

Now I knew what I wanted to use.

 

To make this quilt even more exciting,

I had won a selection of water colored hand dyed fabrics

from Vicki at Colorways by Vicki Welsh

and had purchased a few other fabrics packs from her 

to make another quilt that never happened.

I had my plan!

The whale pattern was scaled down to 75% and the

fun began.

 

 

 

I could not be happier with how this quilt came together.

 

 

 

 

 

The only fabric that is not from Vicki in the body of the quilt

is the lightest water blue. 

The sky, the sun and the whale are all made from her fabrics, too.

The borders are batiks that I purchased for the quilt.

The quilt has been delivered and

my daughter and son in law are very happy with it.

The little man is only 5 1/2 months old, so he isn't thrilled yet!

(I did make him a quilt when he was born.... an outer space quilt.)

 

 

As a side note,

for some reason none of your comments are

coming through to my email.

For the longest time I was getting most of them

to my email, but now none are.

I have looked to see if I can change a setting,

but have had no luck.

Does anyone have a suggestion on what to try?

I do appreciate all of your comments and feel badly

that I can't reply.

 

Happy Quilting!

 

Travel and Busy Month

 As so many of us say these days....

How did we get to the end of September already??

I have been gone a lot this month,

traveling and doing fun things with family and friends.

Therefore, my hidey hole has been pretty quiet.

I did start a new quilt last week and it is

pure mindless sewing!

These fabrics have been hanging in the cabinet for

    quite a while and it was time for them

to come out and play.

 

 

The sunflower and lattice fabrics are Robin Pickens

and I just had to have them when I saw them.

 

The HST's are 5" square and were fun to play with,

trying to decide on a design.

 

I think this will be a picnic blanket or a table cloth.

 

 

 

Hopefully, it will be sewn together soon. 

 

 

 

The September Gridster bee blocks were made

and are on their way to the Queen Bee.

I had not made this block before and really enjoyed it!

 

 

I'm looking forward to getting a couple of things quilted

and on the finished side soon.

 

Happy Quilting!

Luna Top Finished

 I think I am at the end of making this round of

Baby quilts and the Luna quilt finished it off. 

For this one I pulled out my stack of primary colored fabrics

with a lot of black.

I've used this stack to make several other quilts over the years

and pretty much finished up the pile.

 

 

 

The background fabric has black (or maybe navy blue??) dots

and worked really well with all of the bright fabrics. 

 

 

 

This quilt went together so quickly!

I think I'm just going to use straight line quilting

on this one to finish it.

 

Something new is being worked on in my hidey hole now

that the baby quilts are finished.

(For the moment anyway!)

 

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

 

 

Happy Quilting!