A Quick Finish

I did have some time to sew over the weekend and 

decided that my newest great niece needed a chenille blanket. 

 So I just whipped one up!  

Each time I make one that one is my favorite and this was no exception!  

Of course I had a little help 

(purr usual).

I decided this vintage looking bunny fabric would be a great fit for a chenille blanket.

As usual I chose 3 colors. 

 I have yellow for the uncut layer and then used the aqua to form a sandwich

 with a retro pink in the middle.  

This is what it looked like after it was cut and before I washed it.  

I have been working on my machine binding and it is improving. 

 I did glue baste the binding and then could literally zoom around the blanket and stitch it down!

  This is the tutorial I learned how to glue baste from, if you are interested in learning how too. 

 It sure makes binding easier, by hand or machine.

This is what it looked like after it was washed and dried.  

I have a tutorial on how to make this right here if you are interested in learning how to make it.  These are definitely my "go to" baby gift. 

 They are relatively inexpensive to make, make up quickly and are so loved by the babies!  

I can't even begin to tell you how tactile these are. 

 Thanks to my friend, Pauline, for introducing me to this great technique!

I joined a swap and it is called the Bitchesgotstitchesswap.  

I am in the Profanity Party group.  

It is a swap where we make something using a swear word, or innuendo or something a little "racey".  We were pretty much given the go ahead to make whatever we wanted. 

 My partner has not posted one single thing that shows me her tastes.  

No color choices, no words or statements, no idea of the kind of project she would like

 (ie a bag, mini quilt, wall hanging or whatever).  

We are supposed to make 2 things to send.  

I have decided that I want to make a bag for one of the items.  

I have never made a bag in my life!  

HAHAHA, 

so I found an "easy" pattern on the web and went for it, making a practice bag this weekend.  

Notice the fish, so of course it is for my daughter.  

I used this tutorial to make this Dumpling bag and it really was quite easy!

Now my zip is not perfect but it was my first bag! 

 I will be making some of these for Christmas gifts I think. 

 Here is the inside of the pouch.  

I thought it looked like fish skin (scales) so used this for the lining.

I found this fabric at Spoonflower and though it would work for the pouch. 

 Kama Sutra bunnies, LOL.  

I bought this when they were having their BOGO sale a few weeks ago.  

The bunnies are quite large so maybe something else.  

I have a few things in mind.  

I would like to try making a boxy pouch next.  

I have seen a couple of tutorials online and one in a book that I have. 

 I like the one that has all the seams enclosed so might give that one a try. 

 I also found a great pattern for a trivet (in a book) and 

may use the bunnies as a center in the trivet (could also be a mug rug). 

 More on these things later once I have time to make them.  

I can see that I will be making some of these things for Christmas presents.  

That dumpling bag made up super quick so 

that will be one of the things I make several of for Christmas.  

What are you making for Christmas gifts?  

I am always looking for new ideas!  

~XOP~

Thanksgiving Weekend

I can't even begin to tell you all the things that happened last week!  

Hubby had kidney stones.  

That was not fun for him at all. 

It was not fun for me either. 

I took the bus to work that day so had no car to go home and get him.

I called my son and he drove hubby to the ER, then I walked over to the ER.

Upon release, I met my daughter and got her car keys, went back to the lab to get my things, got the car and drove to the ER to get hubby.

Then we dropped off his prescription and dropped him at home.

I went back to get the meds, and do the Thanksgiving shopping, drove home, put away the food.

Then back to work to pick up my daughter and then back home so she could drop me off.

She and I ended up going to see Mocking Jay part one and it was fabulous!

Hubby seems to be ok. 

We think they passed as the pain is now gone.  

He goes to the doctor on Wednesday to see how things are and hopefully get cleared to fly again.  

We only had our eldest daughter and son for Thanksgiving at our house so we had a small turkey.   

It was actually one from our daughter's farm.  

We decided to cook it open over the stuffing (we saw that on tv) and it was fabulous! 

 This is what it looked like.  

I don't know about you but I like the stuffing inside the bird the best (the other is often dry) and

 this way all of the stuffing had juice from the turkey and it was amazing!

On Friday we did not go Black Friday shopping in stores, but in the afternoon we did go to the farm for awhile to help replace the roof on the chicken coop (an old Rubbermaid shed).  

Then we went to Depot Town and walked around.  

There was a fly shop hubby wanted to go visit.  

We went into some antique/thrift shops too. 

 In one of the shops they had these amazing Kit Kat clocks.  

I had only seen them in black so was super excited to see one in turquoise! 

 Wouldn't this be adorable in my aqua sewing room?? 

 Maybe I will have to ask Santa for one for Christmas?

Then we hunkered down and did some online shopping. 

 I did order a roll of batting from Joann while it was on sale and a few other things from a few places.  As I was ordering, Aiden decided to do some kitty lovin' on my.  

It was so cute I had to take a video to share.

I did finish a few things this weekend also but will save those for another post. 

 I sure wish the weekends were longer.  

We started cleaning and bringing in the Christmas stuff. 

 I hope to have the tree up this week! 

 How are you coming along in your Christmas decorating?

~XOP~

Snowy Daisies is Finished

I worked like a fiend last weekend to finish the binding on this one. 

 I am so happy to have it finished and ready to gift next week!  

I will link up to Finish it up Friday over at Crazy Mom Quilts when the link is live 

and I have a minute.

I thought I would just show you the photos I took of the finished quilt.
I designed thus pattern
It us for sale in my ETSY shop

You are seeing it in all of it's crinkly post wash goodness!

My friend Kathy of Thread Bear Quilting did the quilting and I LOVE it!

See those Guising (Lizzy House) ghosts?  Love them too!

I think my favorite added fabric is this block with Sebastian from the Ghastlies! 

 Notice the cat rumps?

I just wrote on the back for the label.  

I used my signature stamp made by my friend Yuki too. 

 If you blow this up really HUGE you can see  teeny tiny Japanese characters 

in the lower left corner of the pinwheel. 

 That spells my name in Japanese.  She carved this out of stone for me! 

 What a wonderful friend!  

The pinwheel is the size of my thumbnail, maybe half an inch square.  

She is amazing.

I used the gluing technique to glue down the binding prior to hand stitching it in place.  

I sure do love that technique.  

Binding is really hard on my holding hand, not the stitching one and when it is all glued in place it is so much easier on my hand. 

 I was able to do all the binding in one 3.5 hour sitting.

 More importantly I was not crippled doing it!

So there you have it.  Snowy Daisies is complete and will be gifted next week.

My daughter is coming home from North Carolina tonight and I am so excited!  

We are going to spend all day Friday together.  I can't wait!  

She has a wedding to go to on Saturday so I will be trying to get that Christmas stocking finished.  Wish me luck with that.

What do you have planned for the weekend?

Looking For Water

I have decided to make a quilt for my daughter's boyfriend.  

He is working on his PhD in fisheries. 

 He LOVES to fish!  

If that guy could make a living fishing I think he would do it!  

So I actually unearthed some fish fabrics that I had collected a LONG time ago and decided I would make one for him and one for my husband (who is actually just as crazy about fishing).  

Next was to think about a pattern or patterns to use to display said fish fabrics. 

 I found a pattern that I really like and think that is what I will use for the one for Carson.  

My issue is that there is a lot of negative space (which I love and will fill with water quilting). 

 I need to find just the right fabric for "water".  

At first I was thinking solid, but I don't want that, too flat I think.  

So I did a LOT of looking around and decided that I want to use fabric from the Moda Grunge line. 

 I have used different Grunges in past quilts and have always been happy with the outcome.  

It is a great neutral fabric without overpowering your design while adding some depth and character.  My issue is which color? 

 I can't see them all in one place and I'n not sure if I can judge them from the photos online. 

 I don't want it too dark or the dark fish fabrics won't show up. 

Daughter tends to the blue/blue-gray pallette.  

Here are the 4 I have it narrowed down to.  

Go here to see Avalanche

Go here to see Blue

Go here to see Ocean

Go here to see Charmed

I am leaning toward Avalanche or Blue but would like some other opinions.

I know it is difficult to decide without seeing the fish fabric, but suffice it to say mostly, greens and browns in all this fishy goodness.  

I will try to get a photo tonight before we have not sun.

I appreciate any and all opinions!

~XOP~

Paper Piecing and Trunk Show with Carolyn Friedlander

Last week on Wednesday I took a paper piecing class, 

at Pink Castle Fabrics, with Carolyn Friedlander. 

 If you don't know who she is 

(not sure which rock you are living under, but whatever, it's your rock) you can find her right here. 

 I pretty much already knew how to paper piece but love her new Outhouse pattern.  

I feel like you can always learn something and this time was no exception. 

 Here are the 2 blocks I finished in our class.  

I actually used Horizon from Kate Spain to make my little houses.  Aren't they adorable?

She gave us a mini charm pack of her newest fabric line Doe.  I had her sign mine!

She was super sweet and very hands on in her teaching style.  It was very nice to meet her.  

Then she did a trunk show and that was amazing! 

 Here are a few of the quilts she showed us and talked about.

She just whipped up this little Outhouse quilt for a sample 

Hey do you see my Daisy Field pattern to the left of her head??  LOL

This quilt was quite stunning.  Those circles were all appliqued!

The colorful quilt above and the calmer one below were the same pattern! 

Carolyn's quilting is what really makes these quilts amazing.  

You don't really realize how much quilting there is on them until you get to see them up close.  

She liked to do a big stitch (her words) using Perle cottons and then fill in with machine quilting.  

This is what she called her Big Houses quilt.  

I am sure (when you were not hiding under your rock) that you have seen this done as a BOM.  

It was just spectacular to see in person.

Carolyn likes to use a LOT of orange in her quilts.  

I loved the totally different color palette of this one.

I wish you could see this up close because the quilting is just stunning!

That certainly was not all of her quilts but 

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the beauties she brought with her. 

So if you read all the way to the end you deserve what you get with this pic!  

Me and Carolyn, just hanging out before class. 

~XOP~

Snowy Daisies

I am going to a class with Carolyn Friedlander tonight.  

There is a trunk show following. 

 I am super excited to meet her and to make her Outhouse pattern.  

It is always good to learn from different people.

I am also excited to pick up my Snowy Daisies quilt from Kathy tonight too.  

When she emailed me that it was finished, I asked for a sneak peek.  

I thought I would share my sneak peek with you too.

I love the quilting and can't wait to see it in person. 

Now comes the binding saga.  

I thought I had made binding but I will be darned if I can find it, sigh, so I will make more.

Don't tell Dan and Amanda it's back yet as I have a LOT of binding to do before I can gift it!

What are you up to?

~XOP~

Polaroid Swap

I was kind of a slouch this weekend.  Looks like I was not the only one!  A

ll of the cats were so stinkin' lazy this weekend.

Every time I walked past my bedroom one of them was laying on my bed sleeping.

I decided to work on my Polaroid swap "pictures".  We are working on pictures of KLMN.

Here is what I came up with.

Some of the "K" blocks were Kangaroo and some Koala bears.

Believe it or not it takes quite a little bit of time to make 7 of each.  There is a LOT of trimming.  

I like to oversize them and trim to the correct final dimensions.  

I also got to work on my Crayon Challenge quilt but I don't want to post it just yet.

I am also hoping to be able to publish this one!  Time will tell I guess.  

How was your weekend?  What did you get to work on?

~XOP~

Halloween

Yes I know it is not Halloween or October any longer but we had a Halloween party and 

I wanted to share a few things with you.  

The BEST part  was when my daughter dressed up her cat, Lenore, as a peacock. 

 I am fairly certain Lenore did not agree!

We did some food prep that turned out pretty cute!  I was loving these pudding cups.

 She made "eyeballs" using Gouda cheese, ketchup and black olives.  

She couldn't make the "veins" very well and ended up using a needle and syringe.  

It worked perfectly!

She had rented a tent and we decorated it. 

 It was so cute, but we couldn't be outside as it was raining and so so cold!

One of my favorite things she got this year was this cat skeleton.  (It was plastic). 

 I think we need to get it a collar and 

a name tag for next year with a sign saying we forgot to feed her!

It turned out to be a small party but it was fun to spend time with my daughter prepping. 

 We used to host a Halloween party every year at our house when the kids were small and

 now she wants to carry on that tradition.  

I have gifted her all my Halloween "stuff".  

Hmmm, I wonder who wants all the Christmas stuff??  LOL

Back to quilty stuff soon, I promise. 

 I am making another chenille blanket and need to get the binding on a quilt.

  I am hoping to make the binding and attach it before quilting tonight so I can have a few hours to hand stitch at quilt group tonight.

I am taking a paper piecing class next week,

 being taught by Carolyn Friedlander at Pink Castle Fabrics.  

The pattern she is teaching is her new one Outhouse. 

 I am very excited to go to the class and also her trunk show!

~XOP~

Secret Stalker Mini Quilt Swap

Last week Wednesday was the Secret Stalker Mini Quilt Swap at the A2MQG meeting. 

(am I really that far behind?) 

I still can't share mine as I have submitted it to a magazine.  

Once I hear back one way or the other I will let you know.  

I will share how I wrapped it, even though I learned that we were not supposed to wrap it! 

 I made the card and used that needle minder in the center of the bow.  

I LOVED how it looked!

My person was Emily.  She loves vintage sheets and cats!  She has 2 cats Odin and Polly.

I made a label using fabric and my ink jet printer.

First I found a great vintage paper site that had free designs.

It is called Free Pretty Things for You.

They have some adorable things on this site if you love vintage designs.

Next I went to Pic Monkey to edit the image.

This is a free photo editing site and you can easily add words, which I did.

I saved the image to a jump drive.

I was able to directly insert the jump drive into my printer.

If you can't do that you can upload to your computer and print from there.

Then I had to prep for the label.  

I had to fiddle with the settings on my printer and did a few test prints on paper until it was right.

Then I ironed Kona cotton to the shiny side of a piece of freezer paper.

I was able to feed this through my printer and print the label directly onto the fabric.

I then trimmed the label and sewed it, rst, to another piece of the white fabric.

I clipped the corners and turned and pressed and voila, a great label with no raw edges!

You can even close the opening when you sew it to the quilt.

I received a BEAUTIFUL mini quilt in return from the amazing Jackie.  

We were supposed to put on our name paper what we liked and 

I forgot all about putting Cocoaland Cats but she did a fantastic job!

She even did some hand quilting on this and it is just so lovely!

I could not be more thrilled over it.  

Over the moon with both what I gave and what I received.

Also, we closed on my dad's house on Wednesday.  

I am so relieved to be done with this!

The new people have already made sweeping changes to the house.

It looks great!!

They took out all the bushes, trimmed the pine tree and took off the ramp.

BEFORE

And after (so far)

More to talk about but I am running out of time!

~XOP~