coasters for Christmas gifts

Here are some of the coasters I have sewn for Christmas gifts. They are made from 5x5 squares - 12 squares of each of two prints, plus a single square of flannel. Eight of each of the prints are folded in half and ironed - the squares are placed thusly - one print down, flannel sq., one print up - laid with the closed side inwards the 1/2 squares are placed like lattice work around the four sides. after sewing around with a 1/4" seam, they are turned inside out.

I hung the Christmas Quilt today!

I had a neighbor/friend bring a higher step stool than what I have, so that I could reach up to almost the ceiling to hang the Christmas Quilt.

Seeing it up like that is sure more inspiring than laying it on my bed (which is a full size only so that it hung over the top and bottom. The quilt is about 72" long and about four feet wide.

I have cathedral ceilings. so it can really be seen from top to bottom.

Angel Wall Hanging

Hard to believe it has been over two weeks since I last posted here on my blog. I have been busy making three lap quilts that a friend ordered for Christmas gifts for her grand children.

I have discovered that I really don't enjoy sewing someone that I did not get to choose the theme for. Sure is a lot more fun to look at fabric and decide what I want to make. Plus I have a really hard time asking for money from friends.

This wall hanging is about 24 in. wide by 20 in. long - the center oval with the angel was downloaded from the Internet on silk - surrounded by a silver glitter ribbon. I have hand quilting all the frames, as well as the rays coming from the center oval. The angel appears to be a water color and is very delicate. If my friend doesn't care for it, I will hang it in my bedroom.

A lazy day filled with sewing

Oh, what fun! As soon as the breakfast dishes were done, I headed for my sewing machine and had a great time sewing up my latest wall hanging. When you see it you can guess the name "Four Cats". It was a blast to make - biggest problem was with the background fabric - hard to tell the differnce between the right and wrong side - lots of tearing out - my seam ripper is getting dull from all the use it gets.

Tumblers & cats

Another wall hanging - I really enjoyed working on it. Is it perfect? Heck no! But what fun it was. There is a cat in the upper right hand corner coming out of the frame and another in the lower left hand corner catching some zzzzzz's.

Its fall and not too long until Christmas

Finished Lap Quilt #21 yesterday - I made the backing out of left over pieces of patriotic fabric - remind me never to do that again. It took me hours to finally get it all done - Evidently I am not good at things that look like a jig saw puzzle - I am now working on the hand quilted stars in the blank blocks - fun!

The little purse is one I did up a week or so ago - Lots of piece work - small with a rope handle - it closes with velcro and I'm thinking I will keep it ...

This is Lap Quilt #20 - a patriotic theme

I Iseem to have left out #19 - but anyway, here is #20... I will be hand quilting hearts and stars in the very lightest blocks - hope to start on that tomorrow. The reverse side is composed of three different patriotic prints - very bright ...

latest sewing projects

I see I haven't posted in a while. I'll post a picture of my latest lap quilt (#18) and a tote I made this morning from a 5" charm pack I picked up last Saturday at a quilt shop near by. I just fell in love with the colors - and I am definitely going to buy more of the charm packs - they save so much time as well as providing you with such an assortment of designs - super!

Here it is - Lap Quilt #16 - I already know where it is going

This latest lap quilt is sewn from the package of fat quarters that my daughter-in-law brought me from Utah. I framed them in some fabric I already had and used the same fabric as the backing.

I wanted to try something new and it was a lot of fun. I probably could have done the piecing without so much trouble, but I enjoyed doing it.

I may need new batteries in my camera - the colors look all pinkish and it is actually maroon.

Lap Quilt #15

This is lap quilt #15 - trying to do one a week and still leave plenty of time to sew up other items inbetween. This week I made about six carry all bags - been mailing them to Arizona to Sister. I enjoy making them as much as I enjoy making the lap quilts.

The Christmas Quilt is almost done!

Until I get the Christmas Quilt wall hanging up on the wall, I can't take a good picture of it - so I am posting a picture of the top part of the quilt and another picture of the bottom - As usual, my pictures are not the best - always look so wavy and out of whack!

Some more Christmas Quilt Blocks

These are some of the Christmas Quilt blocks that I have been working on - I have a hunch I won't be so eager to do any applique work for quite a while. Other than that, it is a lot of fun. There is also a picture of a picture - it is Dolly Momma - a counted cross stitch that my Sis sent me (I do not do counted cross stitch) - one of the gals in our Quilt Workshop adores doing them and I put her to work on this one - she did a super job. You can tell that I am just awful at picture taking and set up - everything looks so crooked and out of shape. I see I am missing two of the blocks that I have finished - with any luck, I will be done with the quilt top in a few weeks - I am eager to get back to working on the lap quilts and some bags.

First Christmas Quilt block!

This is the first block of my Christmas Quilt that our Quilt Workshop gals are doing. There are six blocks altogether - they are about 24" square and then there are a number of borders. Every block has a lot of applique work (not my strong suit) I am not always using the colors that they show in the pattern. Most of us are doing 'our own thing'

I never know where to put the object that I am taking a picture of - the block is actually square - just a horrible angle.

Coffee Lap Quilt

Finished lap quilt #13 this afternoon. It is a simple block design, however, for the first time I have sewed a double border around the outside. I have yet to quilt it - probably a simple sew in the ditch around the two borders - when I use the high loft fiber fill, it is more difficult to sew in the ditch or use a decorative stitch.

pattern from the Internet

Bett, one of my favorite gals from the Weight Watcher board led me to this site, where there are patterns that are free to download. (If I could remember the name of the site, I would post it) I always have difficulty following patterns - what helped me about this one, was that there is a goodo picture of the finished purse on the first page - that always helps. It is difficult to see in the picture, but I used five different fabrics for the body of the purse, it is completely lined and the braided straps were fun to make - the pattern suggested putting a large safety pin at the top of six 2" X 36" strips, pin the safety pin to your mattress and then braiding the strips - fun!

I'm getting braver all the time

This latest lap quilt features different size blocks and some appliques. Far from perfect, it was still a lot of fun. I have some ideas on how to mask my mistakes - but will let it 'sit' for a while just the way it is. The hearts are copied from a Fons & Porter magazine and I love the elongated look of them. I definitely plan on using them on future quilts.

sew and flip

This small purse (10" X 12") is made by sewing directly on the batting - there are no selvages left when you finish it - I used webbing as the handles. It is lined and has a velcro closure with square buttons sewn on top to hide the stitching for the velcro.

Window Valances

I just couldn't bring myself to purchase window valances when I know I could sew them myself - I dreaded the job as my windows (one in dining room and two in living room) are quite large.

Found some great fabric for $1.50/yard - it was 54" wide and I needed six yards. I can't believe I got all the windows done for $9.00!!

Log Cabin Lap Quilt

The Log Cabin blocks are so much fun to make - I just went through my stash of fabrics and cut out some that I thought would go well together - can't say that it looks that great, but sure was fun to put together.

You ask why is there a red center? It is traditional and although it doesn't really go with my quilt - I thought it would be interesting to use it there.

Latest lap quilt & painted tennis shoes

My sister Dolores wanted to see the tennis shoes I painted at Craft Club this week - they aren't great, but still was fun to do.

Latest sewing items & Mother's Day flowers

Beautiful flowers delivered this afternoon from my darling daughter and her ever so wonderful husband - they are lovely and there is a butterfly on the vase.

The tablecloth is the Log Cabin one I made two weeks ago. The lap quilt with the American Flag applique in the middle I made yesterday and today - it was a lot of fun. The flag fabric I bought last July during the Quilt Run and I think I will be using more of it as I made the lap quilts for Christmas gifts this year.

The orange and green lap quilt is flannel and I have sewn big buttons in the corners. I used a high loft fiberfill inside and it wil be quite cozy.

Log Cabin Quilt block purse

Sorry for putting the picture first, before my dialogue, but I was having a hard time uploading it and then when it worked, I wasn't expecting it to load.

I made two extra blocks when I worked on them for my table cloth. Still have to 'square' up the other 16 blocks so I can sew the cloth together. i will probably do that at Quilt Club on Thursday night

It sure has been fun doing the blocks - a little hit and miss at first, but when I caught on it went together smoothing. If they were perfect, I wouldn't have to square them up - guess I never will be a great sewer.

My first attempt at a quilt

I spent a good deal of today working on a lap quilt made from Fat Quarters that I picked up last July when my friend and i went on a Quilt Run in So. California. I bought a fat quarter at each of the ten quilt shops we visited over a two weekend period - I wanted to have something to remind me of the wonderful time we had.

I'm not certain, but it could possibly be that if you walk in a Quilt shop - you are hooked for life. They don't have material - they have 'fabric' - glorious colors, out of this world designs - what a playground for grown ups.

I cut my quilt blocks in 7" squares. I used a 1/4" seam allowance (well, I tried to - my seams are not the greatest). Did it turn out great? Heck, no! Did I have a wonderful time - you bet!

I still have to insert the batting and the reverse fabric - it will be the same fabric as the border print - We the People....

Cup Cakes - the non-edible sort

The aroma you smell is corned beef - I am cooking one for the St. Patrick's Day dinner we are having at the club house this evening. Ms. Tara is in love with the crock pot.

These are the infamous cup cake pin cushions - the smaller was the absolute dickens to make - my fingers just can't handle such small pieces of fabric - therefore, I decided to enlarge the pattern and it was a lot easier to handle

rag bag

I finished my 'rag bag' this morning and was eager to get it into the wash and the dryer. I was so excited to see how it looked when it got all fuzzy - what fun! It is quite large - you wouldn't use it as a purse, but will be great taking magazines and patterns to Craft Club or where ever..

The pillow case set is one that I used a decorative stitch on my new machine - I am sure having fun....

Swedish Embroidery

I took a class in Swedish Embroidery last night. It was a lot of fun, if you ever have the opportunity, go for it. There were five of us and we were a little overwhelmed in the beginning, but after we got started - we all took off like Gang Busters....

The Embroidery is done on Huck toweling, with Pearl #5 thread (floss). Very easy to work with. You use a #20 tapestry needle. I added some ecru cotton lace that I picked up at the thrift store (4 1/2 yards for $.99).

All Debbie Mumm

Fun, Fun, Fun

As usual, I am having a ball with the sewing. My little machine is being pushed to the limit - and sometimes, I must admit, it balks...

I have been using a lot of Debbie Mumm fabrics, which have been reasonable lately - I love her stuff - the big, gathered bags are with her fabric on the outside and a solid contrasting color as a lining. They are made from square pieces with casing all around - two opposing side have thick elastic and the other two opposing sides have heavy ribbon or leather thongs.

The fleece throw is also a Debbie Mumm which I found in the remnant shelf. The purse and matching hat are an experiment - I have no idea what I will be doing with them.

Oh dear, I guess you will have to tilt your head - I forgot to flip the pictures --- blogspot won't let me put the third picture on this post, so I will do another.

hobo bags & stuff

It's been a while since I have posted here - usually that means I am having trouble getting my pictures uploaded to where I want them - My Pictures - Adobe Pictures is very forceful and keeps taking over -

Spent three hours at my favorite thrift store today - I could walk up and down those aisle forever - I'm a big 'touchy feely' person, and a thrift store is right up my alley. I was looking for wool sweaters - a side project and friend and I are hoping to do entails boiling a 100% wool sweater with detergent and then patting and patting until it 'felts'. When it is dry, we will cut a round opening on top, cut out the sleeves and we should have a 'bag'. I'll let you know how we do - I found a wool sweater that already is on its way to felt (someone washed it in hot water).

This hobo bag has a contrasting fabric as a lining and I made a matching hat - my twin came by yesterday and insisted on taking the whole set with her for a silent auction in Lake Havasu - so I never had time to take a picture of the hat - it came out pretty well. When I finish the hat for the other hobo bag, I will take a picture of them together.

ruffled apron

I am hoping to post two pictures of the apron I finished this week. One is full length and the other is a close up so that you can see the colors and pattern of the fabric. It has nice long ties and covers all the way around the bottom half of a person. Ruffle is nice and full.

I am thinking of donating this for our Silent Auction that the mobile park association will be holding at our Easter (Saturday before) luncheon.