Almost October and Tea Time

I left for the weekend and did a little hand quilting, but straight line stitches are boring to blog about. (I did a race if you'd like to read about it here) So I thought I'd show you another craft I did this weekend.  My sister and I like to try out other crafts but our "duo" projects end up lacking severely. Pinterest craft gone bad!!
I saw these cute decorated pumpkins in a magazine and thought we'd do them while I was visiting.
They didn't turn out too bad if you had a big group of them together. I brought my three home so it's a tiny group.

So, what do you think? Success or failure. (I can take the truth!) lol

I was surprised at how many people are tea drinkers. If the tea is good I'll drink both! I was thrilled to try out Davisdon's Tea and am thrilled to share with.....

DebrafromMDSeptember 26, 2013 at 6:24 AM

I don't care for coffee so that puts me in the tea drinking camp.

Debra from MD please send me your mailing address and I'll send you a variety of teas to try.

Please click n Davidson's name above to go to their website and see where you can find these wonderful organic teas.

Thanks you all for playing along!!

 

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

I'm sorry I do not have any quilting to show. I'm working on appliqueing borders on my Porch Quilt, so showing a long vine would really put us all to sleep! lol I've been preparing for Christmas, trying to enjoy each moment. It is fun to revisit quilts and decorations I've made in the past.

I made this one last year, but it is in a prominent place this year. It's the first thing you see when you walk in the front door.

 

I  picked up this reindeer ornament from the Scandinavian fair a few weeks ago. The woman making them was walking around chatting and braiding. I was duly impressed!!

My cat got his pants changed to red again and he fits right in.

Second Sunday of Advent.

Trying to get the timer on the camera, this was the best I could do. We had our business Christmas dinner last night. It's always a fun time with our small group. Dinner and company was great.

This week I went to a Christmas Card making party. I'm not crafty like that, but it was so much fun and now I have some hand made cards to send out this year!!  Have a fantastic week.

PS Three of my AAQI have sold. One more is left. Please considering purchasing this for a great cause!! Click on the title to check it out. Cinnamon Rolls.  Thank you so much.

Eagle Crest Sewing

We all got a little sewing done while spending the week at Eagle Crest.
 
I made a good portion of this cat from Primitive Quilts & Projects. It is a design by
JoAnn -Wool Crazy.

 

I made a new pair of red coveralls when I got home.

Carol finished this beautiful African quilt top.

Gabe finished hand piecing Pink Lemonade from my sewalong.

Carla made this fun applique quilt- pretty much start to finish.

We were very productive!!

Surrounded by Love

It thrills me to no end to see wonderful creations my friends have given to me.

A prayer flag made by Libby.

The Wine Fairy aka Rum Runner made by my good friend Judy. You must check out her website Rustic Garden!

Wonderful birthday blocks, including the Danish flag. (my heritage) Debra I couldn't find an email to thank you properly- thank you!!

Wow! Julie sent this and no photo online does this beautiful necklace justice. It is so precise and so tiny!! 


Thank you so much dear friends!! You have no idea how I've been touched by your friendship and generosity!!

 Fabric in the Caribbean!!

I had to take a photo as it was quite the accident that I found these.

PS, I've been wanting to add a couple of book recommendations, in order of preference:

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana : five sisters, one remarkable family, and the woman who risked everything to keep them safe by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon. 

Life in a Jar : the Irena Sendler Project  by Jack Mayer

Wild : From lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail  by Cheryl Strayed.

Jingle Bells...

 Look what is next up on my quilt list! I'm having my doubts I'll get it done before the end of the year, but if I can start on it I will be happy.

I made a couple of these primitive hearts for a hostess gift.....

and I liked them so much I had to make a few for myself. I'll hang them on the tree when we get one.

 My daughter is coming tonight and I hoped to make the room cheery for her visit.

Porter the dog gave it the thumbs up!! Then I promptly kicked him out!

Joy to the World

The Bible quilt is done.....

I had planned to bring it outside and take photos but I was delayed getting home today and it was too dark. Here's the top half....

And the bottom half. I did some simple meandering quilting. I kept it primitive to go along with the wool applique. I had to remake the label and will get it sewn on tonight and packaged and sent off in the next day or two. Woo-hoo!!

I wish I could say I made this, but I didn't. I purchased it  online from LJ Fibers at www.woolyredrug.com. I kept one and the other is winging its way to our friends in Denmark.

Here is another adorable hand made item I bought online for my daughter. It has a pin on the back so it can go on a hat, a blouse, a dress or a purse. I purchased it from Lana at http://honeysucklelane.com/

If you have a favorite site that you like to browse or purchase or maybe a favorite Etsy seller please leave the url in the comments as I would love to check them out.

Roll Roll Cotton Boll

 I finally got the binding on  Roll Roll Cotton Boll, the mystery quilt of Bonnie Hunter's from last November. I had Kathy, my machine quilter to do an all over quilt pattern, since it wasn't going to be the focus of this quilt . It is on my bed right now and I love it. Can you believe this is the largest quilt I've ever made?! Yep, the little doll quilts sure have appeal, but it is fun to have a big one!!

 I had purchased a panel with the coffee "blocks" some time ago. I needed lots of coffee to keep up with Bonnie on this one so I thought it was appropriate to put them on the back.

Carol put a call out for patriotic pillowcases. Can you believe I've never made a pillowcase before today? Here are the two I'm sending. That was a lot of fun and didn't take a huge amount of time. Maybe you'd like to help?

Linda, at Quilts in the Barn is collecting signature blocks for a raffle quilt. All the money raised will be donated to Breast Cancer Research. I made mine today but forgot to take a photo. Linda and her friends raised over $10,000 last year for this cause! So many "small" things can turn into something huge! Check it out if you would like to make a signature block.

If you'd like to see what I did on Mother's Day check out my other blog! I had a blast!!

A Wee Bit of Sewing Going On

I'm staying busy but not in the sewing room where I'd like to be. I've managed to get a little bit done though.

My bird pinkeeper/scissor holder doesn't look quite as good as Renee Plains does in her book, but it's growing on me. It is filled mostly with walnut litter so it's pretty heavy. Would work for a paperweight too!! It's another gift so I am hoping the recipient will like it.

I got the third block made of "Under the Big Top". I'm having fun working on this quirky quilt!!

I am planning on posting the McLinky for the Strawberry fields quilt next week. I can't wait to see all the quilts. It's ok if it's not quilted but it would be nice if the top was together. It doesn't take much time once the blocks are made.

Have a terrific weekend!!

It's a Party!!

Two more houses completed on my wonky houses!! The center top is called Double Martini and the upper right is called Two a Tee.
I'm making a few little gifts and I love these birds. The purple one will have to wait for legs until I can find a few more long beads. I think they are really cute, but are they kind of dorky too? Would you like it if a friend gave you one? Sometimes I'm so unsure of myself. They are little scissor fobs and the pattern is by Sue Spargo.

I got a discount half my age at the Stitchin' Post and have had my eye on this wonderful book by Renee Plains for a few weeks now.

It has a few quilts in it, but I rarely use patterns for the quilts I make. I loved all the little "sewing needfuls" craft projects she added to this book.

I finally found some of this cotton stuffing on my last road trip! I only had to use a little to stuff the birds but I know I like it better than poly already.

I purposely don't write about a lot of family stuff but I have to today. I hope you don't mind.

We bought our daughter a car when she was 16. It was a used 1991 Toyota. She is 26 now and she has still been driving her Toyota, regardless of it not having much power, being hit by a large firetruck, and having 240,000 miles on it.

It just happened to work out for her to buy my old car. She came down this past weekend and picked up her "new" car. She was so excited!!

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"Mom, let's have dad take a picture of us with our new cars". I love this photo!!

My baby is graduating from college on Saturday. I found out today his 4 year gpa average is 3.66 and this last semester was 4.00!! He has loved school so much and we've seen him grow in so many ways.

In high school he went with a friend to Block Island, RI and worked for the summer. Then after graduation he did an exchange with AFS to Denmark for a year. He is always up for an adventure. (nice shoes he has on, eh? )

So, I am off to Portland in the morning to start the celebrations. Have a wonderful weekend!!

Poole Forge Quilts

My friend Jill visited Poole Forge the week before Lancaster and sent me these photos.


The rock building is so cool. Here in the west our "historic" places don't compare with the old places you find east of the Mississippi.
It looks like it was a gorgeous day.

I've seen a few photos of quilts from this exhibit but I haven't seen these beauties in blogland yet. I am a huge fan of Sawtooth Stars and am crazy about this version.

A little bit of everything in this one. I love a good scrap quilt!!

The same Jill who sent me the photos also has her quilt on the cover of American Patchwork & Quilting. As soon as I saw the cover I loved it and it didn't surprise me one bit it was hers.

I've actually been working on a few things, including this little bird scissor fob. This is my trial model and I think I can change a few things to make it even cuter.

All of the photos I've taken recently of the quiltalong have disappeared. I'm so bummed!! I'm going to try and recreate the piecing and retake photos today. Look for it soon!!

We are opening another Weight Watcher meeting in Central Oregon, this time in Sisters. I've been a bit busy with that, but once we get open, everything should fall into place and there won't be so much work involved. If you are going to be here for the Sister's Quilt show and need to find a WW meeting, we'll be there!! I'd love to meet you!!

Necessary Bundles

I think the name for this pattern is so cute. It's called Necessary bundle by
Primitive Pieces by Lynda. I'm not sure how "necessary" they are but they were sure fun to make!

I made a sample for me so I'd be familiar with the construction. The bag on the left opens at the top and fits a quilting book perfectly. The 3 cotton pieces are pockets on the front. I did the applique in wool.
That is a little sewing rollup on the right.

Here is the roll up opened. There is a pocket at the top and little pockets at the bottom right above the year.

Here are the two pattern/book bags I made for a shop sample. The little one will hold patterns and whatever else you might be toting along.

These were fun to make! If you have the pattern I suggest appliqueing before sewing the front and back together.