New Jewelry

Just a quick post to show you a few pieces of jewelry that we finished this weekend. The hubby gave me a fat quarter bundle of Jo Morton's new Crimson Bouquet fabrics for Christmas - you can see that I put some of them to good use.  A few pieces have sold already, but I posted new items on the website yesterday - go check it out!

We sure are having strange weather here in Iowa (and around the country) - snow last week, 50 degrees yesterday, freezing rain and snow overnight.  Wonder what tomorrow will bring?!

Have a great day!

Fun Mail Day!

You all know that I love Marty the Mail Lady, and she did not disappoint yesterday!  Look at the fun things that showed up in my mailbox...

It's always fun to look through the new Keepsake Quilting catalog.

Yippee!!!!  I LOVE THIS MAGAZINE!  If you don't already have a subscription to Primitive Quilts and Projects, you should get one.  This is definitely a keeper - there are always several projects in each issue that I want to make. 

And the best piece of mail!  Check out these cute little bow tie blocks!  My blogging friend, Joan, from Keeping You In Stitches sent me these little gems.  She read my post about these and decided to make a few for me to add to the bag.  I just love them all.  Joan always has such fun projects going on, and I always tease her that any one of them would be happy to come and live at my house.  Unfortunately for me, Joan seems to always choose her daughter, Emily, instead of me, to gift her wonderful projects to.  So...haha Emily...I have something from your mom now too!

Wasn't that a great mail day?  And the best part...NO BILLS! 

Have a great day!

Bow Ties Everywhere!

Are any of you making bow ties with Bonnie Hunter? This was her 2011 leader/ender challenge - she just continues to tempt us all with her ideas.  And how in the world does one woman get so much done?  I have refrained from a lot of her temptations, but for some reason the bow tie blocks seemed like a good idea, but not as a leader/ender because that just doesn't really work for me. If you haven't heard of this challenge (where have you been??) here is Bonnie's original post.  She is using cheddar as the "background" for her bow ties, but I wanted to make mine scrappy.  Every now and then when I want to take a little break from making jewelry, I go through scraps and cut the fabrics for these 3" (finished) blocks.  I have a small container of pieces on my sewing table so they are handy when I get in the mood to sew a little something.  Usually when I work on them, it seems like I sew about 20 blocks, then go back to jewelry.  I have a ziploc bag in my closet that I stuff the finished bow tie blocks in.

The idea was for this to be a year long project - and we are now six months into it, so Bonnie has asked that we link up to see how everyone is doing so far.  This of course, prompted me to get out the bag of bow ties.

I was really surprised when I counted them all - I have 318!!  That's surely enough to make something!  I want to get into EQ and try some different layouts.  And, I'm hoping when everyone links up that maybe I will get some ideas as well. I can't wait to see what everyone is doing with this. Be sure to visit the Quiltville blog to see all the links to everyone's bow ties. Thanks Bonnie, for another fun project!

Have a great day!

Quilty Stuff

I haven't posted much quilty stuff for awhile.  I was BUSY before Christmas, trying to get gifts done.  Here is what I accomplished...

You've seen this one before, but here it is finished - I added some borders, had it quilted and got the binding on.  This was a gift to my brother and his wife for Christmas.  It now lives in their house in Florida. 

Next on the list...

This one went to my husband for Christmas.  I had to really sneak around to get it finished!  Actually, even to get it started!  Since all I ever work on anymore is jewelry, I knew if he saw me making something big he would wonder what it was.  I took part of the pieces to Mason City when Mom and I went to stay with Aunt Nancy.  I didn't think I would work on it, but took it anyway...just in case.  As it turned out, I kicked myself for not taking all of the pieces with me.  Aunt Nancy pieced some of the blocks (because I was having issues!) and we all removed the paper (it's a paper-piecing pattern).  To finish it, I took it to church on Tuesdays and tried to work on it late in the evenings when I could hear snoring coming from the living room!  I begged my LQS to quilt it for me, then added the binding on the Tuesday before Christmas!  Whew!

Next up...

T

 

This one was for my grandson, Kaden.  It is all the Minkee-type, super-soft fabrics.  I have had this in my closet for over a year.  It really only took a couple of hours to make, but I struggled on what to do about quilting.  I decided to just sew down each one of the rows. That turned out to be a huge disaster and almost landed the whole thing in the trash!  This fabric is so slippery - I had used a ton of pins, but it still was all bunched up when I got to the end of the first row.  Have you ever tried to un-sew Minkee?  Pretty much next to impossible.  Not good.  Ends up it has no quilting!  I hope it is ok - I don't think Kaden will mind!  Luckily the static electricity kind of holds it all together.

This one has been done for awhile...

When my father-in-law passed away 2 years ago, DH, DD and I stopped at a quilt shop in Velva, ND.  DD saw this quilt and really liked it (she has a very large love for ALL animals!).  There was also another kit similar to this but with bears and different animals and more of a green color scheme. We ended up buying a kit of each, and matching backing fabrics. These quilts were to be for the kids as kind of a memorial to our time in ND and to their Grandpa.   I made this one right away, but my husband wanted me to add some kind of memorial-type label to the back.  The other kit promptly went in the closet where it stayed for two years!  I decided it was high time to get 'er done!  It is now at the quilter!  YAY!!  And here is the label that DH made for the backs of these quilts...

And last, but not least...

This is a 24" floor pillow for my niece, Emma.  Remember that she and Andrew were married in Florida in September.  I had thoughts of making this for a wedding gift (after the fact) but decided to just make it for them for Christmas.  Well...it didn't quite get done in time for Christmas.  But, it's done now.  So, as soon as she sends me her new address, this will be in the mail.

Whew!  See...I really do make things once in awhile!  Oh...one more thing...have you seen these tree ornaments? 
(Sorry, I tried to copy and paste the picture - to no avail).  I found these online and am determined to make some for next year.  My blogging friend, Joan, is obviously on the same wavelength!  You can see hers here.  Seeing her post gave me the nudge that I needed to give these a try.  Here is my first attempt...

I can't finish it yet, because I ran out of pins!  But this gives you the idea.  I followed this YouTube video for instructions.

And while I have been busy with all of these projects, and still making lots of new jewelry...

This is what Callie has been up to....

 See her peeking around the corner?  She is laying on a little stool in the closet!  And CC has been very busy doing this...

After Callie rested up from laying on the stool, she decided to choose some fabrics for my next project...

And, I believe that Ozzie was napping the entire time!

Be sure to notice in all of my pictures that there is no trim around doors, windows, etc.  That is changing (FINALLY!!!) as I type this.  Pics of that upon completion!

Have a great day!

Kindred Spirit

I know that there are several of you out there who think I'm nuts for being in love with an outhouse.  Well...I'm here to tell you that I am not alone!  I received an e-mail from Pat in Oregon who also has a love for outhouses.  She was kind enough to share a pic of hers (it's the real deal!)...

It is soooooo cute!  Thanks for sharing, Pat!

Have a great day!