A Fall Finish

 Hello!  I have not blogged in so long!!!  Life has been busy.  Fall semester always seems to be a whirlwind of activities!  Work has been busy too.  I have managed to sew a few fun things though.  I really enjoy making small seasonal quilts for fall and halloween.  This little quilt really appealed to me because of the vintage postcards.  They are so charming!! It was fun to make and is really bright and cheerful!!  I just love it.

English Paper Piecing is taking the world by storm at the moment.  If you have not tried it I recommend you find out what makes it so appealing and addictive to "sew" many people.  It is portable, a good stash buster, and just plain good old fun to make.  What you will need to make this block is 1" 6-point Diamonds, 1" Half Hexagons and then 2" 6-point Diamonds for the connector pieces.  I am making this out of solids.  Different colors in different shades.  The connector pieces will be in black!!!  Stay tuned for progress with this project.
I actually completed a quilt top, pieced the back and basted the quilt this week for my son.  It has been a WIP for many months now.  I really need to complete a few things!!!  I am the queen of starting projects.
Definitely not the queen of finishing things!!
I hope you all have a great weekend and thank you for stopping by!

Something to make one's piecing life easier!!

 Hello People!!!  I feels so behind the times, because I am only now getting myself prepared to start some Farmers Wife quilt blocks.  Many of you have been making them for ages.  I want to show you what some of the ladies from our quilt store have done.  I have shamelessly copied their great idea and made some design boards to facilitate the block construction.

 What you will need is a foam core board, cotton batting or flannel, some scrapbook paper, and lastly some duct tape.  Cut the foam core board into 10 by 10 inch squares.  Place some scrapbook paper on the back of the board and your cotton batting or flannel on the front of the board.  Adhere all the layers together with duct tape.  Mine is cute Zebra stripes!!!  It comes in many colors etc.  What you have now is a beautiful board that you can place your cut block pieces onto without them sliding around.  You can get six boards from one foam core board.  You can cut out six blocks and have them stacked one on top of the other to take to your sewing machine, and the order of the pieces will not become jumbled and chaotic.

See!!!  Works like a charm!  Till next time stay well and happy!!!

Putting Myself Out There!!!

 Hello folks!  I am going to be teaching some classes at work.  An embroidery class seemed like a good idea to add to our list of fun classes.  There seems to be a real resurgence in stitcheries!!  Perhaps some people feel intimidated by embroidery and feel they don't know too many stitches!  This is what this class is designed to address.  We felt, french knots, lazy daisies, chain stitch, stem stitch and  boullion knots were a good repertoire to learn.  Then most stitcheries would be well within the scope of my students.

Here's the thing!!!  I had to come up with a pattern that would cover all those stitches.  Well, I sweated over that and finally got something down on paper.  Then the embroidery began.  When I finished it I was not really sure how much I liked it.  A few days passed and I decided to just take the plunge and finish the project.  I added a few more flowers and french knots.  Then I trimmed the embroidery down and finally stitched it into a pillow cover.  Tomorrow I take my sample into the shop!!!  I hope it will be acceptable and that it will be met with enthusiasm and not "What on earth is that".  I am nervous, but I am hoping for a positive reaction.  Will let you all know how that went!!!

Christmas Stockings and Santa's Little Helper!

 Good Morning!!  I hope this blog finds you all happy!  I certainly am happy!  We have had the most blisteringly hot summer in Texas with 56 (?) days in the triple digit figures.  This morning I woke up to thunder and rain!!!  I nearly had to ask myself "What is that curious sound?".  It was not much rain but it was enough to gladden the heart!!!
On to things sewing!  I am teaching a class at The Quilt Asylum during the next three months.  Yep, you guessed it - a Christmas stocking class!  These are the samples I stitched up to show folks what they will be making.  They turned out really well.

 Here is Santa's little helper! O'Malley loves to come and lie on my sewing.  He was being all cute and social.  One of my favorite things in the whole world is to sew (you've probably come to that conclusion yourself).  It is even sweeter in the company of a sweet furry cat!

I hope you all have a great day and thank you for stopping by!

Old Memories and New Memories

 Long ago, when I was a little girl, my great grandmother and great grandfather collaborated on a gift for me.  Pa made me a dolls cot and Ma made a dolls quilt and bedding for the bed.  It was a beautiful gift and I can still picture the little cot in minds eye.  We grew up and stopped playing with toys.  My Mom gave our toys to charity so other children might enjoy them.  It was all fine until I became an adult and developed an appreciation for things made by others.  I so would have kept that bed and quilt if I had any sense back then.  Well, not all is lost.  My second son was looking for something to do a few weeks ago.  He is on summer vacation.  I asked him if he would mind making me a replacement dolls bed.  I would like to show off some of my dolls quilts using the little bed.  Well he did a wonderful job and I am so glad with the little bed.  He even wood burnt a design onto the sides and headboard.  I am so grateful to have the opportunity to own a dolls bed with a lot of meaning attached to it.  I will treasure it, and maybe return it to him should he have a daughter in the future!  Thank you sweet son!!

Here is a picture of the progress I am making with the little quilt that is to go on the dolls bed.  I will be sure to post a picture of the finished article.  I also bought some sponge yesterday to make a mattress for the bed.  I think it will look so cute when done.
Until next time, stay happy and healthy and thank you for visiting.

Amish Looking Churn Dash Block Swap

 Hello folks!  I can't tell you in words how happy I am to report that my 84 blocks for the block swap on Saturday are done!!!  And, it's not even a minute to midnight!!  Ha ha!!  It was so much sewing! 8 of the 9 mini-blocks which makes up the churn dash are pieced.  My rotary cutter blades wants to retire and my iron is begging for a break too.

 My machine is fine though although it string-pieced miles of fabric for me.  Thank you faithful friend.

 Here are five blocks waiting to be pieced into rows.

 My finished six color groups of 14 blocks each.  They are all packaged and ready to go.  My darling daughter helped me pack them.   I will of course show you the wonderful blocks I will be getting tomorrow.  Until then, have a great day.

Progress on the Hexagon Quilt!

 Hello!  It has been weeks since I last posted anything!  It has been a busy summer so far.  I have been working at my job, we travelled to San Antonio for a couple of days, been sewing for a block swap due this weekend, sent my eldest back to college for his last year!!!  No wonder I have not been around.

 It has been unbelievably hot and dry here in Texas.  We are breaking record temperatures this week with the forecast predicting (and achieving) temperatures of 108 F for the next few days.  Hence the progress on my diamond hexagon quilt!!!  It is too hot for mad dogs and Englishmen to be outside.  The swimming pool is like a hot bath.  So I stay indoors and stitch.  It is also shark week on TV here, so I watch some of that while I sew.

 I am predominantly using Kaffe Fassett's fabrics for this quilt.  I am not sticking to the rule though.  I have found a few other fabrics which have been wonderful alongside the Kaffe's.

 I have 15 diamonds completed with the 16th well on its way to being finished.  I can lay the diamonds out now and see a quilt starting to form.

 I just love the bright colors of these fabrics.  It certainly is going to be a very happy quilt.

Yesterday I received the latest edition of Quiltmaker in the mail.  It is the September/ October edition and has the pattern for a stunning hexagon quilt on pages 46 -48.  I might just have to make that one too.
Hope you are having a happy day!