Settling in....

I'm enjoying getting back to the Farmer's Wife blocks.  I've done a couple more....

I did take a break and quilt Karen's baby quilt on my frame.... Love her mitered border! She bought a panel, cut it up, made squares of coordinating solids, arranged it to her liking, and called it done. I think it's Sew Cute!

And she pieced a binding with left over fabric and bound it.  This was her first machine bound binding - very durable for frequent washings and baby chewing, etc! 

Way to strike a project off the UFO list!

I caught this cute pic of Laurie wrapping her present for Jason (a humongous score at Target on Black Friday!)...

She eventually yelled for assistance/moral support from Karen.... 

And the job is done.  That thing is in front of the tree now.  It hides half of it! Mr. Jason will be thrilled!

Next up, another FW block tomorrow night, and the baking of our cookie tree for Mr. B.

This is the picture from the Wilton site showing how the tree should look.  Ours never end up quite like that, but Mr. B. doesn't seem to mind!

Sigh!

That big sigh was my reaction when I realized today that I had finished every single Christmas present, right down to the barbeque apron for my brother in law!  (who does not read the blog, so I can show it!)

I love that one!

I finished a quilt today also that I can't show until after Christmas... heh heh!

All done!  So I cleaned up the sewing room a bit, vac'd the floor real fast, and dragged out a project to work on.  Back to my regularly scheduled projects!

Yvette had "assigned" us the next row of Farmers Wife back a couple months ago!  I tackled my file of paper piecing sheets for the row and managed to get three blocks done today! It was fun to get back in the swing of this one!  Once again, I used OleFrogEyes to pick colors and keep track of what blocks I'm doing!

After that, Karen had gotten all industrious and made a List of projects for 2012.... and her momentum carried her right through piecing the backing for the first project on her list.  So once she was done, we set up the frame again and loaded this baby quilt. 

I should be able to meander this one tomorrow afternoon and then she can bind it and mark one item off her 2012 List!  And then it will be back to Farmers Wife blocks for me!

I'm contemplating making a project list for 2012 myself.....  but I'm overwhelmed with the mere list making! Maybe I will tackle that this week.....

Black and white and red! It's all over!

Black and white and red seems to be a very popular color combination these days.  I've found myself drawn to red in my kitchen (all the fault of Mr. B who fell in love with and purchased a nice new deep red colored Kitchen Aid mixer!)  Laurie likes the red/white/black combo....

And a young lady we've known since my girls were in high school recently married and she picked that combination for her new apartment.  I did a quick search online for black/white/red fat quarter bundles, and scored some nice ones on a couple of ebay auctions.  So far I've made two easy quilts from that pile of fats, and I have another one to go!

Here is some of what I used for Dani's quilt that I made as a wedding present.

Dani and my girls wore (and still wear) converse tennis shoes - I HAD to incorporate that fabric!  I found some fabric with music notes on it also, to add for her new husband Steve, who is a musician!

Here I'm auditioning layouts on the floor.....

And here it is finished and ready to wrap!

When Dani saw the tennis shoe blocks, she pointed to the shoes she had on that very minute!

She can't wait to curl up with it and her new puppy Coda (Koda?), who by the way is adorable! And speaking of adorable?  Here's our 'Studio Kitty', Tiger, doing her duty as Quality Assurance tester of the batting for the next black/white/red quilt (a piece is peeking out of the batting pile at the top of the frame).  That quilt is now loaded and ready to machine quilt!

I'm slowly getting used to this new blogger method of posting - I think I like it for the most part!

It's been a while, obviously....

Oh, good grief.  It's been so long since I posted that now there is a new interface to use.  Okay, this should be interesting.

First up, I've been making Christmas ornaments to give as gifts.  These are way too much fun! 

They take me about two hours apiece to make, but that's perfect to blow through a couple episodes of some old TV shows I've missed in the last decade or so.  Netflix streaming is definitely a fun addition to the sewing room!  Right now, I'm working my way through Dead Zone.  I saw the first season and then somehow, never watched any more. 

Here's a couple more....

Oh, now do tell.  If loading pix is this easy, I am a fan of this new interface.  Hitting "publish" will be the deciding factor, I guess!

Anyway, I also made a few kitchen appliance covers for my Mom for Christmas.  She never reads the blog, so I can show them here.....  She has collected owls for many years, and Dad says they've crossed the 500 mark for sure, so here's probably #537, #538 and #539 for her! 

These will cover his mixer (a Kitchen Aid), her mixer (a smaller older model), and their toaster oven.

And just in case they get tired of the Owl Trio, I put other designs on the backs!

Now I want to make some for myself!  With quilt related embroideries, of course! 

Tomorrow is another day! I have a quilt on the frame to finish quilting, and our dear friend Dani is coming by to pick up our wedding present for her (a quilt, of course!).  Then, I'm making a list, and checking it twice..... and it's a list of the UFOs in my sewing room!  2012 is going to be my year of FINISHES! 

Okay, hitting 'publish'!! G'nite!

Regarding block 22

Dear Yvette,

Please ignore the pattern I drew up for block 22. That is, if you would like to avoid four of the dreaded Y-seam occurrences.

What was I thinking?!?
















I got through it, and done is good enough..... but it's a tad wonky and there is a much better way to construct it....

namely, the way the author intended. Imagine that.

Signed,

Chagrinned, Bemused and Relieved (a.k.a. Me, Myself and I)

The Margo Bag, and more

Some pictures from the Margo bag I conquered! I had a ball figuring this one out, and now I can't wait to make another one. But, since it zips, I may try making a... gasp... single shoulder strap, and maybe on my third one, I'll add an inch or two to the overall size?

This one didn't look like a purse until the very end!

Also, some most of my pictures are sideways. Blogger hates me tonight. Oh well!

The weekend also included one of the Barbara Brachman Civil War blocks - I'm slowly catching up!

This mess actually became a block...

This is likely what I get for not having posted in over two months. Blogger has completely changed and I have no idea what works now. I shall post this, see what I get, and go to bed! G'nite!

P.S. I sure enjoyed seeing everyone at Orange Quilt Bee today! Must. Do. Again!

Farmer's Wife and Civil War BOW

I've been playing the catch up game....

Here are some Farmer's Wife blocks...

And here are some Civil War Block of the Week (http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/) blocks.

I swear, I could stay in my sewing room for weeks. Just send in meals and I promise to shower daily. Please? Sigh.....