Scrappy Plaid-ish Quilt

Well, after ironing and cutting a pile of scraps,

the blocks are made and the quilt is on my wall.

Well, all but the bottom two rows!

This is a large quilt!

This quilt pattern is "Plaid-ish" and can be found here for free.

I don't use a lot of dark fabrics in my quilting,

so the contrast between the darks and mediums

isn't as good as I would like it to be. 

The "Plaid-ish" look still comes through, though.

I have enough scraps cut to start another one and may

either need to find lighter mediums or darker darks.

The rows will be sewn together soon!

My older daughter and I have been participating in 

art classes with the ARC group in our county.

We've had fun doing things that we would not ordinarily do.

My daughter is especially enjoying these classes.

The teacher is excellent and has found things for all

of us to do that look good no matter who is making them.

This week we made mosaics.

E did a great job on her Christmas tree!

My snowman needs a hat.

I decided, while this was fun,

I'll stick to quilting!

The Sea Life ornaments are finished!

Mr. Turtle was the last one to be made

and he is so cute!

Here are all six from this particular Bucilla kit.

I need to add the hangers and they will be ready to hang.

Happy Quilting and Creating!

Scraps!!

Scraps are taking over my sewing space

or so it seems.

I do not enjoy making scrappy quilts.

I'm more of an organized quilter

who likes to pick fabrics and use some order.

Throwing caution to the wind and using

the next piece I pull from my bin is not how I roll.

Therefore, I have this....

These bags vex me!

They taunt me and tell me I should be using them in quilts,

instead of going to my stash and adding more to these bags.

The other day I succumbed to their taunts.

After parts of three days pulling fabrics,

pressing and cutting specific pieces for a scrap quilt, 

all I have is this...

This is not much for hours of work!

I am going to make the quilt from these scraps,

but, honestly, the rest of these bags just have to be removed

from my Hidey Hole.

I know if I had stayed on top of the trimming and cutting

I wouldn't be in this place,

but I'd rather sew and create.

Please don't kick me out of the quilt club.

:)

On a more creative note,

I finished two more ornaments from the Bucilla kit!

There are a LOT of sequins stitched onto these ornaments!

I really like how they finished and look forward to seeing

them on a Christmas tree this year.

 

I've never sewn sequins on like this before 

and it took some time to get the hang of what I was supposed to do.

One more ornament to make from this kit and I'll be done with it.

I'm linking to Design Wall Monday today.

Happy Quilting!

Blogger issues

I was going to write a blog post,

but Blogger won't let me post photos. 

:(

Back to quilting, I guess.

Have a great day!

Vacation Stitching

I spent the past week in California

visiting my daughter and son-in-law

and had a wonderful time.

Since I couldn't take my sewing machine with me,

I took the next best thing....

two more Bucilla kits to stitch!

These kits are both newer kits that I ordered recently.

I know.... I should be working on the kits I've

had in my cabinet for some time,

but I knew these would be quick and easy.

The first kit is supposed to make a 10" pillow.

I'm going to add a border to this and quilt it.

Then it will become a larger pillow.

This came together so quickly and easily,

even with all of the sequins.

Poinsettia's scream Christmas to me

and this will be a nice addition to my Christmas pillow collection.

The other kit I took is for sea life ornaments.

Some of Bucilla's ornaments are quite fussy and can take

quite a bit of time to make.

The first three in this kit went together very quickly.

There are six ornaments total in this kit.

The rest of them will more time to make.

There are a LOT of sequins on the last three.

This one is my husband's favorite.

He says we are keeping this one.

It's okay with me!

Yesterday my quilt club friends got together

and Janet made each of us one of these cute coasters.

The quilt group I belong to is so wonderful.

We have learned a lot from each other, 

but the time spent chatting and visiting is the best.

 

Happy Quilting and Creating!

More Pot Holders!

The co-worker of a friend asked me to make her

ten Christmas pot holders.

I decided they had better get made now

or Christmas would come and go and they wouldn't be done.

Out came my Christmas fabrics,

batting, Insulbright and the sewing began.

I had enough bits and pieces of Christmas fabrics

that I didn't need to cut into yardage. 

There are 12 pot holders here...

two are for my friend.

Making these in an assembly line

made them go together quickly.

They are ready to deliver!

Happy Quilting!

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!