New Project

I have a new project that I am literally falling in love with.  This fall I joined a knitting group and we meet the first and third Wednesday each month.  This is such a fun group of ladies and it is more a social than a structured meeting, but there is always someone there to help you with a problem in your knitting.

This winter I broke my leg so I knitted a sweater that isn't quite done.  I enjoyed this so much.  I remembered forgetting to plan an item to donate to the Salvation Army Christmas gift baskets.  In past years I have either purchased or made a doll and a wardrobe.  Now this year I decided to plan well ahead so I would have everything ready for Christmas.  Last summer I purchased a set of doll bunk beds for $5.00 and handmade of oak.  This spring I started looking for a nice baby doll to go with it.  I ended up with 4 nice dolls, one has ink on the face and it will live with me.  I have been having a lot of fun knitting clothes for the dolls.  I am also working on the little quilts for the bunk beds.  Oh yes, I also purchased a small 3 drawer storage unit on wheels to store all the bedding a clothes.  What fun!

Here is a little peek at the doll that will go with the bunk beds and the quilt tops for each bed.

I think this doll is soo cute.  She is about 12" and I knitted the romper and hat for her.  She needs some booties to match.  She has weighted beads inside her so she can sit up nicely and on the edge of items.

I plan on attending  a Christmas Craft Show in November so I will be back to my quilting soon.  I like a bit of a summer break and these little items are just perfect to work on.  I will post more pictures of the new kids at my house as I get clothes made for them.

Happy Valentines

Hope you all have had a wonderful day with special people in your life.  My day could not be better!  I awoke smelling fresh coffee and chocolates were on the table, that was a perfect start to my day.  Later in the afternoon we went out for strawberry sundae and coffee.  I did manage to finish my Valentine twister heart.  I don't usually do seasonal projects because I just simply never finish them.....well my sewing machine was certainly trying my patience on this one.  I changed to red thread and then it didn't want to FM nicely and breaking thread and tonight it still is skipping stitches as I was sewing down the border.  Anyway I won and I hope you enjoy this picture.

I don't know how many of you enjoy curling but here in Canada it is a national sport and if you live in small town Saskatchewan, it may be one of the only winter sports you have.  Saturday, the Tournament of Hearts ,which is the Canadian ladies teams, starts for a whole week.  I will have to organize some simple sewing so I can sew on my "Fabric 15-91" while I watch the games.  Another note, we are half way through winter...woo hoo!  Temperatures are starting to rise but we are getting rain and lots of snow but that's okay, it is winter here.  Have a great weekend.

Red and Pink are my Colors

Hi everyone.  Hope you are getting through the winter months and having fun working on projects.  We have just completed a week of a-40 to -45C windchills!  I can tell you I have gotten a few projects done just by staying indoors.  The flue landed hard here even closing one wing of our hospital but I think the cold windchills have taken care of those bugs.

Here is my second finish for 2013, a snowball quilt.  I was super excited to find some flower quilting designs while visiting Marcia's Quilting Blog.  She has a longarm quilting business and does beautiful work.  I have always struggled with flowers, just can't keep them round.  Now seeing how Marcia does hers inspired me to try again  and I think they are okay, at least, the best I have done so far.

The photos could be better, however, this was during the snowy freezing weather dull days.  I made this quilt entirely out of scraps.....maybe about 600 2-1/2" squares.  It looks real pretty all finished up and will be going to a cancer patient.

Since it is February and I have time to play a little, I am working on Connie's twister heart project and you can see her tutorial here http://www.conniekresin.com/2013/02/twisting-heart-valentine-tutorial.html
Here I am so far....

See the tiny 2 1/4" template I used to cut the squares.  I have never done this tiny of twister blocks so I used my scissors to cut the blocks apart after I traced the template with a FriXion pens.  When I get it done, I am going to link to Connie's Freemotion on the River. Connie is also having a giveaway today if you live in the US.   Have a great day everyone.

Hello, I am Here!

I am back after a few setbacks.  I had to upgrade to Google Chrome which is fine other than so many things have moved/changed that it takes me longer to do things.  As I was going through this task, feeling annoyed, I remembered back when I was employed and our company introduced CHANGE.  Wow, what turmoil and unhappy employees and disgruntled employees we had.  What change was doing was making everyone more accountable for what they did.  It was not that hard, just took time to get used to, so as I was doing my updates, I thought why am I so upset over all of this?  I will and did get through it, and yes, I still have some issues to deal with but they will resolve themselves in time.  I am not going to let being a senior make me an unhappy blogger.

Back to business, do you ever make binding up ahead of time just to have available when you want some in a hurry?  I do, especially for scrappy quilts where  a scrappy binding is often the right choice.

Above you can see my assortment of blues that I sewed together and pressed ready for a quilt.  I usually sew 7 - 8  2 1/2" strips together.  This time I have some left over so they will get joined to some other set.  Below is my finished quilt with the binding attached.  It was a good fit for this quilt.  I regularly sew at night and how often have you finished a quilt and would just love to get that binding on but to start from fresh is just too much at 10 pm so this is when I go to my binding stash.  Try it, I am sure you will like it.

New Year

Happy New Year everyone.  Hope you all had a happy Christmas and are enjoying 2013.  I know we had the best Christmas ever, just being with family and at home during the holidays.  The weather was good with a little Christmas snow, so how could you wish for more.

My DD had some holiday time so we had a couple sewing days together.  Here is a picture of my finished bed topper that I made out of my stash of 2 1/2" squares.  Well sometimes funny things happen when you haven't posted for a while.  When I click on insert pictures, I can't browse my computer for pictures.  Wow, this is going to take me some time to figure out.  If anyone knows why I am having this blip, please let me know.

I put together a small quilt to donate to our Palliative Care Unit and it is ready for quilting.  I will post some pictures when I get this problem sorted out.  Until next time, best wishes to all.
 

Giveaway

Just wanted to let you all know about the wonderful giveaway of 12 FQ bundle of Cloud Nine Simpatico.  Be sure to enter here http://maureencracknellhandmade.blogspot.ca/2012/12/a-fabric-giveaway_14.html as the draw is Monday.

It's Starting to Feel Like Christmas Here

Hi Everyone, I have missed everyone so much.  Is Christmas coming together at your house?  I got out my treasured Santa I made many years ago. We put up the Christmas tree yesterday and our daughter came over with wrapped presents to put under it.   Her Golden Retriever, Hudson, was so cute, and I didn't take any pictures of him.  He loves all the fluffy Christmas stockings and handmade stuffed items.  He helped himself to a handmade reindeer ornament and claimed it as his.  Even growled if you got to close to his treasure.  He flipped a few hats around and bunted the the snowman door decoration to make the bells jingle.  He just seems to know when the tree and lights go up it means good times and lots of treats.

Here he is in his favorite spot in my sewing room catching a little nap or maybe his tummy just feels too full.  Do you like my quilt display rack?  I saw this on the Internet somewhere.  Rods were placed under the table top on 1 or 2 sides and you hang quilts or tops.  It also hides all the storage totes under the table.

Backtracking a bit, the Craft Show I went to in November was really great.  I sold quite a bit and one of my bigger quilts, actually, a sofa or bed topper done in blacks and taupes.  The day went by quickly but boy was I wiped by the time I got home.  It took a few days rest to get moving again.  Here is a snap of my booth at the end of the day.

I am feeling very much in the Christmas mood.  I started this little bed topper to keep toes warm.  I saw this in Connecting Threads and they used their rose manor prints but I didn't have time to order the kit.  Anyway, why do I need to buy new material for every project...just go check out those 6 or 700 2 1/2" squares we cut out of scraps.  The main part is together and I am working on the two borders consisting of holly and a nice bow.  I am happy with how it came together so well and a great practice session of sewing accurate 2 1/2" squares together!

The binding will be done in the blue striped print.  It's been quite some time since I have done any applique.

Well I am off to work some more on these holly leaves.   I am going to link this to Leah Days FMQuilting.  Have a great week.