Quilts and Cats

Now that Christmas is almost here, business has slowed down a little, so it's time for me to do some sewing for fun!  I'm making a quilt for my niece (it's really her Christmas gift, but she might not get it until her birthday - in June!).  The pattern is called Diamond Double.  The blocks are fun and easy to make, and the instructions are really good, but it is a little confusing to lay out.  I took this picture of it and decided to look at it for a day or two to make sure all of the blocks are turned the right way.  Still need to make the setting triangles.

For the last couple of years I have wanted to make Home for the Holidays by Primitive Gatherings.  Of course, Aunt Nancy bought the kit and got hers FINISHED before I even thought of starting!  But there is a sew-along on Instagram that kicked me into gear.  I traced all of the pieces for the wool applique blocks on to Steam A Seam Lite 2, picked out some wool from my stash, and worked on some of the pieced blocks yesterday!  Business usually slows down at the end of the year, so I am taking advantage of it for the next few days.  Here are the pieced blocks - I have one fourth of them finished.

Here is another wall hanging that I finished fairly recently.  Actually, it's been done for awhile, but I just had it quilted and put the binding on it.  It is called Summertime, also from Primitive Gatherings.

I wasn't sure about the red binding, but now that it's finished, I like it.

And you know it's not a post, if there is not at least one cat involved!  Ozzie (or Mr. Adorbs as I like to call him) likes to lay on top of everything that I am trying to work on, but he's so cute that he gets away with it.

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Boomer's Tree Farm

Just a quick post to tell you that I finished some cute new pin cushions.  I know Christmas is right around the corner, but you still have plenty of time to make these - they are quick and easy.  I named this pattern after our black lab, Boomer, because he loves to wander around out in the woods, finding treasures (some disgusting) along the way!

We also have a few snowman pins and pendants left, but not very many.  I don't have time to make more, so when they are gone, that will be it until next year!

I'm trying to pack up for a presentation and trunk show that I'm doing in Iowa City on Monday, but Ozzie is making it difficult!  Every time I add a quilt, he feels the need to jump in and lay on top.  Today I am thankful for lint rollers!

Have a great weekend!

The Merry Christmas Quilt

Do you remember last December when I posted about a couple of different Christmas quilts?  You can go back and read about it here.  I was hoping to do a sew-along with online friends, but no one else showed any interest in working on either one of these, so I chose The Merry Christmas Quilt by Heart to Hand, and was bound and determined to make it and get it done by this Christmas. I'm so happy and excited that I stuck with this and got it all finished and actually hung up before Christmas!  This was no small feat, as we have a huge, open wall over our stairway, and that is where we decided to hang it.  I ordered a curtain rod and hubby got it hung up this morning.  Luckily he has a ladder that can be set up on stairs, but it still was no small task.

This is the perfect spot for a larger quilt, and now I will have to be thinking about what I want to hang there next.  I don't have many (any?) seasonal quilts, so who knows what will go up next.

In my last post I showed our new ruler boxes...

We have sold tons of them (thanks, everyone!) - DH has been spending evenings and weekends working on them.  And I have a trunk show and presentation coming up in a week in Iowa City that we need some more jewelry for.  So, needless to say, we are busy elves around here!

Now to get my trees decorated!

Have a great weekend!