Fabric Painted Skies

My first attempt at painting "sky fabric" for my landscape quilts. It was scary to start something new that I have never done before but exhilarating once they it was done. I can't wait to slice it up and make a landscape....watch this space for more photos

Happy Halloween and a Surprise Visitor

My DS carved the pumpkin--totally on his own--for 12 it is fantastic!  The Corgi was also in the Halloween spirit:

This bear came out of the woods and was looking for our bird feeders, which we had just ran out and brought in......my neighbor called me to alert me that he had just left her house and was coming my way.

Here he is just before coming on the porch looking for that seed!  He is real, not anything in costume!

Have a safe and happy Halloween!  Until tomorrow, Happy Quilting!

Boo!

(click to enlarge)

One in every color

Photo by Christa Wiens

No further explanation needed.

Sweet and Simple

The items are sweet and simple, the blog post is short and sweet...
(as well as one more shameless and self indulgent plug!)


Pincushion Pillows


Mini Patchwork Quilt

With very simple piecing and the help of some good 'ol solids, the patchwork mini quilt and the 3 pincushion pillows were all easily made using just 1 fat quarter of my Posie Party fabric. All the stitched items shown are also available in my BooDilly's shop!

And speaking of sweet, (and self indulgent!) enjoy your Trick or Treating! (Hopefully it's all treats and no tricks!)
Wishing everyone a very Happy Halloween!

Paintsticks

Something that I want to try are the new Shiva Paintsticks so I bought the Christmas pattern and the Coneflower--love them both.

The nice thing is that the paintsticks and the rubbing tiles or plastic template patterns are included.  Well, until tomorrow, Happy Quilting!

"I did so good I scared myself"

This summer, Christa signed Charlotte and Levi up for swimming classes, the "mommy and me" type.


Since she needed another helper, I got to help with Levi, who turned out to be a little fish.
It took Charlotte a while to become comfortable in the water, but toward the end of the sessions, she was talking to Grandpa on the phone right after one of the classes. He asked her how she had done, and she said, "Grandpa, I did so good I scared myself."

Huh? What was that again?

When kids start talking, they say the most amazing things. Charlotte has already done this many times, and I would give you some examples, but the thing is, I've already forgotten. A friend had a great suggestion (thanks, Tanya). When her 4-year-old says one of those priceless things, she writes it on a piece of paper, dates it and puts it in a jar. Brilliant. Easy.
Oh, and all those fortunes you save when you eat Chinese food, because of course "your ideas are clever and you will be rewarded."

Now I've got that covered too...

A giveaway at Canton Village Quilts

There is a wonderful giveaway at Canton Village Quilts which features items that Jackie brought back from Houston!  There are multiple opportunities to win, so hop on over and take a look.

One of five items to win:

I know I wouldn't mind winning this!  So until tomorrow, Happy Quilting!

A Halloween table mat

A quick post tonight to show you the table mat I quilted tonight to say "thank you" to the teacher whose room we borrowed for Trick or Treat Street.  This was fun to make and I will definitely make another before Saturday! 

Very easy to make using a 17 x 17 square for the background, folded in half and half again.  Cut an arc and thus form your background.  Make eyes, nose and mouth to suit and machine applique onto background.  Machine quilt and sew a bias binding--super simple.  Originally, this came from a Party with Patrick monthly class that I attend at Yankee Quilter--great fun.  I changed the pumpkin face from the original to suit me.

Until tomorrow, Happy Quilting!

Do you think she planned this?

This is Jessie working on an order of slippers for her etsy shop. Looking cute (of course) and very color coordinated. Does she plan her wardrobe based on the colors of her current slipper order?

Just wondering...

Quilt Show pictures

I went to a quilt show a little while ago and found a few gorgeous quilts and snapped a couple of pictures.  I will share these tonight:

Son is getting better, hopefully only one more day at home.  Then maybe I can get back to sewing!  Until tomorrow, Happy Quilting! 

And then there were two....

My one little guy needed a friend. The second seagull has a separate wing. He's not supposed to be flying here, but just on another part of the sand. But I think that would be neat to have some flying critters with 3-D wings on a block. Just for the record, I sat down and said to myself that I could have one hour to sew, but in actual fact it took me two hours and I worked on it until it was finished.

More Color Added

I'm making progress on this quilt. I've been adding more color to the girl and other than a few tweaks here and there, I'm about done with her. She hasn't whispered her name to me yet. Not sure if she is going to.

Next I'll concentrate on kitty. Kitty hasn't told me his name either. He's actually looking a little bluer than I wanted. I guess that's what happens when you apply gray tones over yellow.

A presentable bird

It was quite good fun to do this little seagull. I made the stitches much closer together than my first attempt (see previous post) and because of that I needed to work with a magnifying glass to get the stitches into the right place. He's 1 1/4" from tail to beak and 1/2" high, not including legs and I stuffed a little cotton under the wing to give him a little more dimension. He's now on Nokomis Beach on my holiday block!

Son Still Sick

My DS is still sick with the flu.  His temp goes down with the Motrin, up in the afternoon and evening.  He is taking Tamiflu, but it is only the second day.  It has been a long weekend of Trick or Treat Street and an ill child.  My DH has been super wonderful taking care of him while I am doing school things.  Well, no sewing for me today; hopefully no one else will come down with this flu and the week will be kind and easy.  Will leave you with the last pictures from the quilt show:

Until tomorrow, Happy Quilting!

Another try at Needle lace

Last February I tried making a needle lace dragonfly and I posted about it. I followed instructions that used a heavy cardboard and several layers of strong fabric. I found it very difficult to lay down the thread pattern. Trying to find the hole in the cardboard from underneath was slow and frustrating.

One of my new books, Beginners Guide to Stumpwork by Kay Dennis gives instructions for a way to do it that's much easier on the fingers. The photo below is from the book. I tried the seagull.

Kay Dennis suggests three layers of thin cloth, like muslin, your paper pattern and then cover it with a piece of Press-and-Seal wrap. Below is my pattern after I had finished using it. I didn't think to take a photo before I started. I used three layers of muslin, my paper pattern and the press and seal on top of it. It was very easy to couch down the outline.

And here is my humble first attempt. The eye and legs will be embroidered later. I used the same stitch but much looser. I'll try again with the tighter stitch.

Rainbow Sherbet

For awhile now, I have been a fan of the color orange. Lately, I think it looks even better when combined with pink.

photo from glimmerglossglow.com

A peak at some recent fabric purchases. Draw your own conclusions.

I have started a collection of pictures of pink and orange quilts (and to those fabulous quilt artists who made these, I'm really sorry I wasn't better at documenting where these pictures came from--because these quilts rock! )

And then there was the series of fortunate events. Jessie posted about the cute slippers she had made. And I happened to make this comment: "Can I place an order? I would like a combo of pink and orange, please ...Oh, and the trim could be pink on one slipper and orange on the other. That way they wouldn't be too matchy-matchy. You know how I am about being mismatched."

Well, apparently the whole order thing kind of took off, and Jessie is now in the slipper-making business.

And yesterday, look what I got!! Even the buttons are slightly different from each other. Perfectly mismatched.

Thinking about Christmas already? Well, then I would recommend thinking about placing an order at this fabulous little etsy shop.

My feet got an early Christmas present.And now they just want to dance a little jig (and in honor of Jessie, I might even throw in a little squeal).

Cot Quilts and Roses

Strange title you may say..... I think I have said this before :LOL.

I have finished the top of the cot quilt that is for a gift for a friend. Her baby is about 3 months old now so I'd better get a move on. The three layers of the quilt are pinned and I am busy machine quilting the quilt. I went on a quilting course last monday so have some fantastic tips to help me quilt easier.

The first photo is supposed to show the dark blue striped background while the 2nd photo shows a close up of the detail. When I have finished the machine quilting, I will post more photos

Now for the Roses.... One of our rose bushes in our garden is flowering and the flowers are stunning, the colour the way the flowers have opened, their arrangement on the bush etc... I just could not resist taking LOTS of photos....... I have posted 2 of them below.