Ready for February

I was ready for February at the beginning of January!  February is my birthday month, and since my tree has been decorated, maybe I should have celebrated the entire month of January too!  Here is my adorable Valentine Annie, made by Nicole of Raggedy Old Annies.  Isn't she just the cutest thing ever?

 And here is the whole tree (sorry, it's hard to get a decent picture).  Hopefully you can enlarge it enough to see some of the ornaments and the garland that I made (with the help of Ozzie and Callie, of course).  My DH had the brilliant idea to put the tree in the bucket...I like it!

Even though my tree says Valentine's Day, my stitching still says Christmas!  I am still stitching on my Merry Christmas quilt from Heart to Hand.  This is block #4.  It didn't take too long, but I sure was tempted to add some red to it somewhere.  I still might - it just looks kind of blah. But the block next to it will be Santa with lots of red, so we will see how I like them together.  

I don't get to make nearly as many quilts as I would like (do any of us??) there just isn't enough time.  But...I am designing a new quilt!  I've just barely gotten started, and it will be awhile before it's finished - partly because I'm busy with jewelry and other things, and partly because I have so much help!!  Here is Ozzie, being his usual helpful self - he could easily lose a tail!  

 And Callie has decided that she would like to help in the fabric selection process...

One project that has been hiding in the closet for a long time are these bow tie blocks.  They were a leader/ender suggestion from Bonnie Hunter a few years back.  I have always done leaders/enders, but usually just use the blocks of the project that I'm working on.  But for some reason I decided to jump on the bow tie band wagon.  Not sure why, because I really don't love bow tie blocks!  But, I made a bazillion of them.  My friend, Yvette and I were Skype-sewing and I needed something to work on, and decided it was time to do something with these.  I sewed them all into fours...and then put them back in the closet!  

Have you ever Skype-sewed with a long distance friend?  It is so fun - almost as good as actually being together.  My friend, Nancy and I are working on Kim Diehl's What Nots 2 together, by Skype.  We make sure to have our cutting all done ahead of time, then we sew "together".  I paired my fabrics together before I started sewing (because I'm anal that way!).

 And here it is...all pieced...

 And it only takes a second, and this happens!

Ozzie approved!

And now it's time to get back to work!  I'm sending tons of jewelry to Lisa Bongean for her new shop (Primitive Gatherings) in California.  They open on Monday - sure would be fun to be there in person!  Here are some of the pieces I sent to them...

So now I have to get busy and re-stock!  

Have a great day!

The cutest Annies!

Well Christmas has come and gone - it happens faster every year for me!  If you read my previous posts, you know that I had to get a new Christmas tree this year, and my angel didn't look too great on the top!  One day it hit me....I needed an Annie angel!  Nicole, from Raggedy Old Annies makes the cutest Annie dolls ever and she also makes Annie tree toppers.  I remembered seeing a few of them that had adorable aprons made from handkerchiefs.   I just happen to have some vintage handkerchiefs that belonged to my Mother-in-law and my Grandma and I knew there were a couple of Christmas hankies that would be perfect for Annie's aprons.  What a great surprise these would be for my hubby, Mom and Aunt!  I was so excited that I could barely contain myself!  I also went through some sheet music that belonged to my grandparents that was still in the piano bench, and found a couple of my favorite Christmas songs, and sent those to Nicole with the hankies (she uses the sheet music for the angel wings).  Each hankie makes 2 Annie aprons, so I had Nicole make 4 tree toppers.  Aren't they just adorable?  The hankie with the poinsettias belonged to my MIL, and the one with the little Santas was Grandma's.  Oh...I just LOVE THEM!!!!  I had already decided that I wasn't going to give them to DH and Mom until Christmas day.  I wish I would have had a camera when DH opened his.  He looked at it, with a confused look on his face, then slowly said...A doll???  But when I explained the details to him, he was really happy with it, and said it was the best gift he received (awwwww!).  

 Here she is on top of the tree - she fits much better than the old one!

When the box came in the mail, I could not wait to open it, but it was the day that we had our family Christmas, and everyone was here - we were making cookies, etc.  I finally locked myself in my sewing room so I could open the box and take a peek! That's when I discovered that there was a surprise in the bottom! I had told my friend, Nancy (the one who got me started on these cute Annies), about the tree toppers and she called Nicole and had her add a Christmas Annie for me!  She has a little metal, cookie cutter in her hand.  How sweet and how thoughtful!  Isn't she just adorable?  I LOVE the fabric of her dress.  It came from JoAnn Fabrics, but evidently I was too late, because they didn't have any at our "local" store.  

I think Mom and Aunt Nancy were really surprised and happy with their Annies too.  If you want an Annie of your own, just contact Nicole, she makes lots of special orders.  There are a few on her website, but they sell out fast.  Now she is making Valentine Annies, so guess what I have coming?!  I decided to keep a tree up year around, in my sewing room.  And believe it or not, it's all decorated for Valentine's. So my new Annie will be a tree topper and she will be the perfect touch!  I don't decorate much at all, so having a tree year around means buying and making some ornaments.  I would like to keep some sewing-related things on it all of the time, then add other things for different holidays/seasons.  Here are a few little ornaments that I made...they finish at 2 1/4".

 Then I saw some really cute garland on Pinterest and decided to make some of that.  It's just pipe cleaners (I guess they are now called Chenille Strips...lol!).  They were too bright for my taste, so I decided to give them a little spray of Instant Antique to tone them down.  While they were drying, Ozzie decided to take a little nap on them!  And when I was trying to actually string them together...Callie was having a blast (me...not so much!).  She saw them as a table full of fun!

My new Annie should be here this week, so then I will take a picture of the whole tree to share with you.

Back to Christmas...It was really nice to have our family Christmas the weekend before the holiday.  Everyone was here, and we had a great time. Then on Christmas day, just Mom and Dad came over.  We made a turkey in the crock pot (it was really good!) and all of the trimmings.  It was just a nice, quiet day.  We did not have a white Christmas, but since then we have had several inches of snow.  This is the view out of my sewing room window - isn't it pretty?  The pond is all covered up and the sun is just peeking over the trees.  So peaceful...

 And what better to do when it's snowy and cold outside?  Stitch, of course!  Here is block 3 of the Merry Christmas quilt.

Here is what Callie likes to do on cold, snowy days (or any day)...

She tends to make wool prep work interesting!

And just so you know that I really do work - here is a batch of scissor fobs that we recently finished.  I will be adding some of these to my website...

And speaking of work...I need to get busy!  Hope you have a great week!

Ready for Christmas!

Thanks to everyone who shared links with me for the brown Cotton Club fabric - I did find what I needed - now to get that quilt off to the quilter!  One reminder - if you are a "no-reply commenter"  PLEASE CHANGE YOUR SETTINGS!!  I hate it when someone leaves me a comment and I am unable to reply - makes me feel like I'm being rude!  If you don't know how to change your settings, follow this link for the instructions...Lori has made it easy!

If you read my last post, you know that I've been itching to make a Christmas quilt - was hoping some of you would join me in a sew-a-long, but I didn't have a lot of interest in that.  So, I bit the bullet and started one on my own.  I decided to make The Merry Christmas Quilt from Heart to Hand.


I love this quilt and am super excited about making it.  I have cut out all of the black flannel for all of the blocks and have prepped the first 2 and part of the 3rd - just need to steam them onto the block.  Here is the first block...all stitched and everything!

 And here is block 2 - all prepped.  I have about half of the stitching done now.

I had to set those aside so I could work on these...

These stockings are made from my grandpa's neck ties.  I have been going to make these for years, and always forget about it until Christmas time, then there are too many other things to do and it just doesn't get done.  This year, I decided to take a day and just do it!  Well, the first day was slow going, but by the end of day 2 they were finished!  We also have all of my FIL's ties and I need to make a batch of stockings with those as well, but that is going to have to wait!

We are having our family Christmas here tomorrow. It's going to be a busy day - we are starting out with our annual cookie-bake, then having our Christmas dinner and gift exchange, then back to cookies (if we have any energy left by then!).  I've been busy wrapping gifts and need to finish cleaning (I hate cleaning!!) today.  My dad likes date cookies - they are a pain in the butt - you stuff a pecan inside of the date, then put them in batter and spoon them out, bake them, then frost them.  They are a lot of work, but he likes them, and this is the only time of year he gets them (if then!), so I'm going to try to get those done today.  But...I decided to try something a little easier - I'm just going to chop the dates (they were out of the already-chopped-dates at the store...boo!) and the pecans and just throw them in the batter.  Seems like it should work - so we will find out.

I've been decorating a little (I'm not a decorator, at all) and have our big tree up in the living room...

My angel has a bit of a problem - she's leaning a bit - but better than what she was at first!

(do you see those ears sticking up??? Callie always has to be in the middle of it all!)

 and a few close-ups of ornaments on my pencil tree in my sewing room...

Aunt Nancy made me this last year...isn't he cute?

She made this one too...

I also wanted to share this - I had a fun mail day yesterday!  These are from Janet O of Rogue Quilter blog...

She likes making small stuff almost as much as I do.  I already have a couple of her cute ornaments, but this time she sent me this basket - using my favorite red fabric (that she is also hoarding), and some of her wonderful hand made soaps.  They smell sooooo good, and look how cute - love the snowflakes!  Thanks again Janet!  Such a nice surprise!

And just as fun as a good mail day, my DH brought home this beautiful poinsettia the other day...

It's really big, and I would like to set it on the floor, but SOMEONE can't keep their teeth off of it!  Speaking of that little someone...what the heck is she doing??

This is a new one - now we walk on my sewing machine?!

Now I better go get that cleaning done!

I'm linking up with Bonnie at Quiltville - Go check out her blog and all of the links to see what everyone is working on!

Have a great day and a very Merry Christmas!

In search of fabric!

If you've seen my stash, you would think I'm nuts for needing more fabric!  But...do you remember The Cotton Club quilt from a few years ago?  It was a really popular block-of-the-month, and of course, I jumped on the bandwagon!  Here is a picture of the finished quilt.  As usual, I stayed caught up with the monthly blocks, but then didn't ever put it all together.  It seems that I am the Queen of making blocks, then doing nothing with them!  One excuse is that I was intimidated by the mitered border.  Evidently my Aunt Nancy got tired of me not finishing this quilt and volunteered to do it for me (isn't she nice!?).  I quickly packaged it up for her, before she changed her mind!  Here is a pic I found online of the finished top.  Do you remember it?  I still love it - what's not to love about red?  And brown?  NICE!




As promised, Aunt Nancy finished all of the piecing, and yep...I still love it!  I wanted to get the binding made right away (you know...a couple of years after the end of the program...) but quickly discovered that I don't have enough of any of the fabrics for binding!  ACK!!!!  I love 2 of the browns in this fabric line and swear that I had purchased yardage of both of them, but I sure don't have any.  I think that one of the browns would look best, but...I have ALMOST enough of the red...just maybe 6" short.  Here are the fabrics...

I have searched online, but have not come up with anything - since the name of the fabric line is Cotton Club, searching comes up with a lot of other stuff.  If anyone out there has any of these fabrics, please contact me - I really want to finish this quilt some day!  I need a little over a half yard.

I did finally buy a new Christmas tree - I decided that I was being too picky about it.  The trees that I really liked were so expensive, but really...is it worth it?  Not to me.  Once it's decorated, how much do you really notice the tree itself?   I found a cheaper tree, it's pre-lit, and it is up and I am happy with it!  Callie was her normal helpful self, and we had to chase her out of it several times, but it's still standing, so all is well. I wrapped some gifts yesterday, so now it's really starting to look like Christmas around here.

Speaking of gifts...did you give yourself the gift of Charming 3?  If not, here is what you are missing out on.  This is the second charm in the program.

I know this post is jumping all over the place - sorry about that!

So, next up is a kit that I bought (in MAY, I think!!) at The Woolen Needle in Williamsburg, IA.  They have a great shop with so much amazing wool.  Love it there!  I prepped all the pieces and have stitched a lot of it now, but of course have not put it all together (wonder if Aunt Nancy is up for another challenge?).  This will look good outside the door of my sewing room - I want to start hanging different seasonal things there.

Speaking of seasonal...I know I said it before, but I really have very few seasonal quilts.  Seriously...the only Christmas quilt that I have is a watercolor wreath (remember the watercolor quilts?) wall hanging.  And guess what?  Aunt Nancy put it together for me!  Wow...do you see a trend here?  It was a class that I took as a very new beginning quilter.  At class, we learned very little!  We didn't sew at all...just kind of learned how to lay out the pieces.  It definitely should have been more than a 1 day class - at least for me.  So...the pieces sat in a box forever, and one day I shoved them in Aunt Nancy's car as she was leaving!  And it came home to me like this...(it's like magic!)

I have patterns and fabric for 2 Christmas quilts that I would really love to make, but just never seem to get them done.  One of them is Home for the Holidays, by Primitive Gatherings...


Guess what?  Aunt Nancy bought the kit last year at a show and she has hers finished!  Yes....finished!  Quilted and bound!  I didn't buy the kit, because I have tons of these fabrics - I did buy some yardage for borders, binding (yes...I have fabric for THIS binding!), and backing.  And...I haven't started it.  BOO!

The other Christmas quilt that I really, really want to make is called Merry Christmas Quilt by Heart to Hand.


I LOVE this quilt so much!  Again...no kit, but I have been collecting black flannels for the backgrounds and probably have plenty of wool in my stash too.

So...does anyone else have these 2 quilts on their HAVE TO MAKE list?  Maybe we could choose one and work on it together?  Break it down into sections and have it done by next year?  Let me know if you would be interested - it may be the only way I ever get them done (unless I send them to Aunt Nancy, but I would really like to make something myself!)

Well, this post has gotten way out of control.  It started off as a plea for some fabric - nothing more...was just going to talk about that, and it turned into an "Aunt Nancy saves the day" post, and is ending with me trying to coax you into jumping on a Christmas quilt sew-a-long with me!  I better go get busy!

Hope you have a great week!

Celebrate!

I hope everyone here in the U.S. had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration!  And now (only after Thanksgiving for me!) we can start to decorate and celebrate Christmas.  I really need to find a tree - we had one that I really liked that had the lights already attached, but Callie played a little too hard in that tree as a kitten, and DH had to fight those lights every year.  Last year, after Christmas...he pitched it into the trash!  Now I can't find a tree that I like and I don't know what to do about it.  Right now the only trees we have are these...

For decorating, I want a 7 foot tree, but today, we will settle for these 1 1/2 and 1 1/4 INCH trees!  And because this post is about celebrating...today we are going to celebrate Small Business Saturday, by offering free shipping to anywhere in the U.S.!  It's a great day to spend in your jammies, shopping from home (isn't every day a great day for that?!).  So go take a peek at our website and do some Christmas shopping!

Another thing that I'm celebrating is my Gathering Scraps quilt.  After I finished it, my friend Lisa Bongean from Primitive Gatherings asked if she could borrow it for awhile to take to shows.  Here it is in their booth in Des Moines...

They have kits available for it in the shop and online.  I talked to Lisa the other day and she said that they sold out of patterns in Houston, so that is really something to Celebrate!

Now it's your turn...what are you celebrating today?  Whatever it is, take a little time out and help small businesses and at the same time, take care of some Christmas shopping - 2 birds with 1 stone!

Callie (see her waving through the chair?!) and Ozzie say "celebrate and shop with us!" (wow...now that is cheesy...I better stop here!)

Have a great weekend!

What a great time we had at the show in Ft. Dodge, IA.  Such a super guild - the ladies were all so nice and very helpful, and so smart - they put their husbands in charge of all of the food!  They had lunch for us each day and also made us supper on Saturday night.  And on top of all of that - we sold lots of jewelry and loads of socks!  So many socks, that I had to order more for the next show, and they will be here today.  Speaking of the next show...it is in Clear Lake, IA and here are the details...

North Iowa Quilters One-Stop Shopping Spree

Best Western Holiday Lodge

I-35/US 18 - Exit 194 West

Friday, November 14th from 10:00 to 5:00 

Saturday, November 15th from 10:00 to 4:00

There will be 13 vendors and lots of fun!  Hope some of you can make it there to see me!  My aunt has a home in Mason City, so Mom and I go and stay with her, and my aunt helps me at the show and Mom runs around and sees the sights :).  But...we have had a bit of a problem with that plan...Mom fell and broke her arm and had to have surgery last week.  Which, much to her chagrin, means NO DRIVING!  So...I may be working at the show by myself and Mom and Aunt Nancy may be off playing without me.  I'm sure it will all work out.

I've decided that the rest of this post is just going to be a hodge podge of random stuff that I haven't shared with you yet!  Mostly pictures, not a lot of words.

You know how I love a good mail day - well, one day, my friend Nancy sent me this book - it's a great book and I was lucky that she accidentally bought 2!

 And another day Nancy sent me this adorable Annie.  I love her!  Check out this website to find one for yourself!

 She made herself at home on top of the quilts...

 Another fun mail day, but this was from Aunt Nancy.  A few scraps and a super-cute note pad.  Nothing better than pumpkins and cats!

Do you plant zucchini in your garden?  If so, you know that one plant yields about a bazillion zucchini!  We do all kinds of creative things with them, but the yummiest is these brownies!  So good!

 This is an old picture, but this is one of the cute little kittens that Dottie had.  They are all so big now - as big as their Mommy already!  They have the shiniest, softest fur and are all adorable and hilarious to watch!

 I made a little visit to one of my favorite quilt shops...Inspirations...in Hills, IA.  Nancy always has lots of new samples (all gorgeous) and new fabrics.  Love that shop!!  I took just a couple of pictures...

 And here are a few things that jumped in my car...

And since I am obsessed with the new socks we are selling...I thought I would share one of my many pair. I really can't wait for the new ones to get here - I will probably have to have another pair for myself.  I have had a lot of people ask me if they will be on my website.  Probably not...but...if you are interested in them, send me a note and I will send you pictures of what I have.  They really do make great gifts.  One lady in Ft. Dodge bought NINE pair!  Some for her and some for her grandkids.

I should have posted this a long time ago.  This is the final block for Charming 2.  Teresa C is from Australia and she is the only person who sent me pictures of every single block.  She should win a prize!  And maybe she will....that should be an incentive for those of you in Charming 3 to get to working on your blocks!

 And speaking of Charming 3...this is just a few of the first charm. We were working on these up to the minute I sent them out and I didn't ever have them all in a big pile, like I usually do.  I didn't get any pictures of the bright ones.  I hope to do better next time (which is right around the corner!).

That's all for now...hope you have a great day!