A fun Christmas gift

One of my friends has a sweet little girl who celebrated her first Christmas in 2014.  I wanted to do something for her but knew since it was her first Christmas she would get lots of gifts from Mommy and Daddy, grandma and grandpa, aunts, uncles and just about everyone who met the little cuttie.  So I decided to make her something.  I started with this basket and these two guys.

I made a mattress and pillow for the basket.  The mattress is filled with 4 layers of cotton batting.  It's tufted to give it an old fashioned mattress appearance. I made a pillow and then the pillow case.  Although you can't see inside the case, the seam is not just an ordinary seam -- it's a French seam.  Nothing is too good for this little girl.

The monkeys are going to need a quilt to keep them warm during these long winter naps.  So I pieced a quilt front and back.  I quilted it on my Bernina (even quilted in the little girl's name).

Here's the finished product.  I think she loved it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

It was a warm Thanksgiving

For over 20 years while in the Air Force I did everything I could to spend Thanksgiving at home.  Now that I'm retired, I enjoy spending Thanksgiving away.  We decided to spend our holiday in Tucson this year.  It was a very good choice according to my sun loving husband.  We enjoyed 83 degree weather on the official holiday but the entire week was beautiful. 

We are Holiday Inn fans so choose that chain when we can.  This was the sign on the back of our door in Gallup.  Yikes!  What could be happening that would cause the room rate to increase to that amount?!

We enjoyed our drive over the White Mountains even though it seemed like we doubled back and forth many times.

Every day in Tucson was spent enjoying nature.  Saguaro National Park where we never tired of looking at the saguaro cactus.

Botanical Gardens where we especially enjoyed the butterfly garden....

 

......and the itty bitty blue frog.

 

 

Old Tucson where many of Mike's favorite TV shows and movies were filmed. 

Colossal Cave where we learned cottonwood trees provide late November beauty.

The Tucson Zoo where we enjoyed watching the newest addition to the zoo: a not yet named baby girl elephant.  She was born August 2014 and weighed 245 pounds at birth.  She had such a personality -- full of mischief. 

Of course, I brought stitching with me.  Here's one project I worked on.  I plan to choose sashing and border fabric and hope to have them sewn into a wall hanging next week.

Today I'm writing the pattern for Camp Runamuk.  My friend designed and stitched the blocks.  I sewed them together and am drawing the pattern templates and writing instructions.  I'll post a photo as soon as the weather clears so I can get a good photo. 

To Continue or Not

Recently I've thought about my blog and whether I want to continue keeping it active or hit the delete button and send it into neverland.  I decided to keep it for a couple of reasons.  It motivates me to work on projects so I can share (unfortunately a lot of what I work on can't be shared until later but that's OK).  It also is a history without having to journal on paper.  I look back to previous entries and they bring back a flood of memories. 

My fall was very busy.  I helped Sew Graceful Quilting with vending events in Springfield MO and Quilt Congress in Mountain View AR.  I spoke at the Green Country Guild in Tulsa OK and the Saline Guild in Benton AR.  In between all that, I spent 10 fun-filled days at quilt market/festival in Houston. 

I recently finished this Cricket Street Wool design, A Sign of Christmas.  It finished 13" x 13" and you can get your own kit for it at  http://www.sewgracefulquilting.com/. 

I'm tying up loose ends today....feel like the ends keep getting moved but I'll persist and find the ends and tie them securely.  LOL.

A couple of finishes in time for Halloween

As a child I never went trick or treating, I never went to a Halloween party and bobbed for apples, I never had a Halloween costume......I didn't miss festivities associated with Halloween but did always enjoy the change from fall to winter that occurred around the holiday. 

As an adult, I enjoy creating pieces to celebrate the fall season.  These two small wall hangings are not my designs but were a lot of fun to stitch.  Both are Jo Ann Mullaly designs (with my modifications).

The first, We're not Scary, says "Come play with us on Halloween.  We're not as scary as we seem".  It's a combination of embroidery, wool applique, and simple piecing. 

 

The second says "October brings black cats, scary jacks, flying bats, witches, ghosts, haunted houses, spiders weaving, trick or treating".  I like it all except spiders weaving -- probably should have replaced that little phrase. 

 
On both pieces I stitched through the background fabric and a piece of batting.  I love the resulting look.

"Mini Wonderland" wall hanging

I was thrilled when Lynette Anderson asked if I'd be interested in stitching a project for submission to McCall's Quilting magazine.  I think it turned out very cute. 

You can read more about the project by going to Lynette's blog.  It's always fun to play with Lynette's fabrics -- I have a bundle of her new line and am having fun playing with it. 

I hope to blog more frequently.  Things have been very hectic but the fall is such a wonderful time to stop and smell the roses.....errrrrr.....the falling leaves.

Gathering Acorns

The fall issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects recently arrived.  I have two projects in the magazine.  The first is a quilt featuring brushed homespun fabrics and Diamond Textile fabrics in the most wonderful assortment of textures (the Diamond fabrics are the applique backgrounds). 

Here's a couple close up photos of the applique.

I also created a pillow with a fall feel.  I took it with me to the Edmond (OK) quilt show and enjoyed people's reaction when I told them the background was just plain 100% cotton fabric and not upholstery fabric.

Of course, the photos in the magazine are much nicer than mine.  LOL.  You can get the magazine or kit at Sew Graceful Quilting.

Today I'm working on the project for the summer 2015 issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects.  I like how it's looking.

Back to Cross Stitch

The recently was bit by the cross stitch bug.  I used to stitch all the time (before my quilting days) but after I learned how to applique, cross stitch took a back seat.  I wanted to start with something quick and easy.  I chose this Shepherd's Bush project. 

Here's the finished necklace.

 

I am the world's worst about procrastinating when I need to make pillowcases to complement the current quilt on the bed.  I don't know why because they are super simple.  Yesterday before church, I finally got around to making a couple of pillowcases to match the quilt that's been on the bed for several weeks.  Using the sausage roll technique means all seams are encased so no raveling when they're washed.

I pulled out a Merry Cox cross stitch project and am stitching it as well as working on a wool applique project.  I hope to have more to show soon.