July 26, 2010 - Five Finishes

My 32 year old orange pot holders have met their end. I decided to knit up some blue cotton ones to take their place.

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My daughter is working at a day camp this summer. The old bean bags made from old socks were wearing out and leaking beans. I consented to making a batch for her to take for the campers to use. Old blue jeans make great bean bags, and I used polyester pellets instead of beans.

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My sister got me started on coffee cup cozies. I'm not fond of knitting on double pointed needles so I revised the pattern to knit on straight needles. This was Coffee Cozy 4.0. I wouldn't stop till it was perfect. Perfection, a blessing, and a curse.

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As if knitting and quilting weren't enough, I decided to try single crocheted amigurumi. This pattern is for a penguin but all I had with me was the purple yard from the coffee cozy.

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This quilt, Plan C by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company, was pieced and quilted 18 months ago. My friend gave me the kick in the pants I needed to sew the binding on and be finished. It's hanging in our bedroom and I love it! It still needs a label and laundering and that will happen soon.

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Thanks for stopping by!

June 5, 2010 - More Caterpillar Bag photos

Here is the finished bag.

Here are the strips all sewn together.

Caterpillar Bag - The strips sewn together

OK, Blogger is not cooperating.

I'll try later to post the photo of the strips sewn together, and the completed bag.

Any troubleshooting suggestions on posting photos appreciated.

Karen

June 5, 2010 - Very Hungry Caterpillar bags

More Very Hungry Caterpillar Bags! My sister asked if I would make two of them for my niece's teachers as she graduates from Kindergarten. I spent Memorial Day weekend getting them made.

This is my first attempt at posting since Blogger did some updates and I seem to be having trouble adding more than one photo. So, this is the bottom. I boxed the corners so that the dot fabric is the entire bottom of the bag.

Continue on to the next post or posts to see the other photos.

April 11, 2010 - Rough Draft

I got a small start on my Nash Schnibbles quilt. I'm using Looking Back by Brannock and Patek.

I don't like that the red from the 4 patch touches another red. So I plan to have all the 4 patches be composed of 2 blue and 2 brown fabrics. I am using layer cakes and a bit of yardage, so I have enough fabric to not have to rip out this block.

Stay tuned for more progress.

April 4, 2010 - Pin Cushions

I have been sewing since I was 10 years old. That's a long time. : )

I have always kept my straight pins in a plastic or tin box and I just grab the pins as I pin a garment or quilting project.

I had the joy of helping my college aged daughter do some sewing this week while she was home from college. She kept poking herself as she took the pins from the tin. She asked me why I don't use a pin cushion. I guess it is because when I un-pin, I pull out a lot of pins at once, and then how do I stick them back into the pin cushion? So I bought a large tomato pin cushion from Joann Fabrics and I am going to give it a try.

How about you? Do you use a pin cushion or box of pins?

Photo from Joann fabrics

April 4, 2010 - UFO problem

No finishes to post. I seem to have a problem with attention span. I have started at least 5 projects in the past 6 months or so. Then I get bored with the project, or an urgent need arises for a gift or a new project. Or a new collection is released that I need.

Stay tuned for the newest project. We did some rearranging in our living room and there is some wall space begging for a new Schnibbles quilt. The fabric is washed and ironed and the cutting will begin soon.

Stay tuned.

Photo from The Fat Quarter Shop

November 21, 2009 - Jewel Box mini quilt

A jewel box quilt has been on my list for quite some time. Since I am working on 3 other projects, I thought I would do a single block. It turned into this 8 inch mini quilt which I finished yesterday. I thought the tiny squares would be a lot harder than they were. I'm so happy with the way it turned out!

October 26, 2009 - Design Wall Monday - D9P

It seems everyone is doing a Disappearing 9 Patch these days so I thought I'd jump in too. I tried one once with lots of different fabrics and it was too scrappy for me. This time I picked my 3 favorite fabrics from Wiscasset. I really like it. Of course it is my favorite color combination.

The blocks go together so fast, it shouldn't be long before the top is finished.

October 15, 2009 - Design Wall Thursday

I have really had time to sew! These are 1-1/2 inch squares set in 14 rows of 10. I'm going to consider making it just 12 rows, I'll sleep on it and see what I think in the morning. I'll probably do a 1 inch border in ivory and bind it in red. I'm thinking some free motion swirls for quilting.

The beauty of yardage as opposed to charm squares is, if you are like me, you just don't care for scrappy. I ended up pulling out the fabrics I didn't like, even though I had sewn and cut them. For me the purpose of charm squares is to decide which are my 3 favorite fabrics in the collection! Just call me boring.

Karen

October 12, 2009 - Quilting in my head

I now have my wonderful sewing room all set up. But life and work have gotten in my way so I have sewn hardly anything. But I think a lot about sewing : )

What I am working on is a miniature quilt of 1-1/2 inch squares of Prairie Paisley.

It shouldn't be a long project. We will see!

September 19, 2009 - Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

When I saw this Brown Bear fabric I just had to make a quilted wall hanging for my friend's Kindergarten Readiness classroom.

It's not the first quilt that I made and took apart and remade. Perfectionism. It's a blessing and a curse. But it is finished and the kids will enjoy looking at it and learning their colors : )

September 19, 2009 - Sewing Room!

My dear husband painted our son's bedroom and pulled out the ancient carpet. Now I have an awesome sewing room with a hardwood floor. I'll be making some mini quilts to decorate the walls. I am so grateful!

July 27, 2009 - They're married!

On Saturday our son married his best friend : ) It was a beautiful, God-honoring ceremony and the kids were simply beaming! My husband performed the wedding and managed to hold it together.

We could not be happier!

July 15, 2009 - Puppies!

We went to see Phoebe's puppies last night. They are 4.5 weeks old. She has 8 puppies and there are 4 more from another litter. They are so cute. Wish we could get one but they are all spoken for. Phoebe will come back to us in about 2 weeks, after our son's wedding.

July 15, 2009 - Rail Fence quilt

This quilt went together very quickly. It turned out even prettier than I hoped. Yesterday I cut strips for the first border, maybe I can even get them attached today.

I used 3 jelly rolls to make this queen sized quilt.

Irish Chain and Rail Fence quilts

Sorry for the fuzziness, these were taken with my cell phone.

June 28, 2009 - A finish!

I am on a dial up connection, so no photo for now.

I have finished the navy and ecru Irish Chain quilt. I used Judy Laquidara's technique of sewing the binding completely by machine. It worked great and saved lots of time!

I have also started a rail fence type quilt with 7 jelly roll strips per block. I am using April Cornell's Nostalgia line. It's been great to have uninterrupted time to sew. : )

Phoebe had 11 puppies. They are about 2 1/2 weeks old. We can go visit when they are 4 weeks. We are looking forward to having her back with us after the puppies go to their new homes.

June 2, 2009 - Bleep

This is Bleep. She came with the name. She is our loaner dog while Phoebe is on maternity leave and living with the breeder till her pups find homes. Phoebe is due to deliver June 9.

Bleep holds court on the couch, or sometimes the chair. She is no trouble at all, but pretty terrified of anything off the couch. We are happy to give her some love and we hope she loosens up a bit.

The Ballerinas in my life