Crafty Sewing of Last Minute Gifts

My Winter Wonder Pal (Secret Santa) at work saw that I had always wanted a sewing room Christmas tree so she made me a kit to put one together.  Super thoughtful gift!  Then after work Friday I went to sew with Barb and she gave me one she had from a guild tabletopper.  I took off a few of the things on it (they had paper quilts that didn't do well with time) and started throwing a few things on it.  I plan to get out the hot glue and really do it up right, but most likely not this year.

Barb also made and gifted me these cool handtowels.  I buy a few each year at the craft sale so I am well stocked now.  I brought over the two cool, old red buttons (and some others for the other towels she was making) and she put them on.

Today I woke up and thought I should whip up some of the Simple Bags for Suli's twins who are now three!  I love my little tool for making the handles.  I have lots of tools and gadgets that I never seem to use, but this one has helped me alot!

 The pattern for this bag is in this book. It is my favorite go to bag and I put crayons, color book, and a deck of cards in the bag and it makes a good gift.

 Ollie (twins' older brother) already has a bag so I made him (and Colton) a pillowcase with hot wheels and flames on it.  They are folded up here but you get the idea.

 We are going to my brother Sam's tomorrow for the Christmas Eve festivities.  I made a TON of chex mix for us to eat and to gift to everyone today.  I overdid it a bit as I am still easily tired.  We had to go to Costco and Fry's Grocery so it was more walking and standing then I am good with now.  By four-ish I was in bed and planning to take it easy tomorrow. 
Every year Kathy and I bring a puzzle to work on at Christmas...my family winds up stopping over to help and eventually they all get really into it.  This year my sister was all excited to tell me she found a Packer puzzle for us to do.  Then a week later my mom said she found a puzzle with three different size pieces to the kids can help too.  Cannot wait to see which one we wind up doing!  I sent Coleman and his family in Ohio a puzzle with a camping theme so he can continue our puzzle tradition.  He called to thank me and seemed excited about it. 

Hodge Podge and Red!

 I made the backing and a matching pillowcase for Lexi to go with her Purple Heaven Quilt this morning.  I also drooled over this modern BOM coming up soon.  I am so tempted to order the kit and make this, though I need to play with the fabric I have!

 I did make a few lozenge leaders and enders in red so I can link up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

 I made another Wild and Goosey block (I think I am one behind still on my goal of one a week--hoping to get that in this weekend!  Funny how little goals like that really do help move a project along!)

 Kathy took my quilt out to take pictures for me.  She cut off the borders, didn't take the pictures on the rocks, etc.  I give her credit for trying since it is 110 out there and really bright so she couldn't even see the pictures on her phone but I will be doing this again later today or tomorrow.  I have been sewing in my pj's all day and I need to work out before I shower and at this rate the sun may be down by the time I am decent!

Sewing on a Week Night AGAIN!

I have had more free time during the week for a few weeks (been working more on the weekends due to some schedule changes, ugh!) but it has made for a nice change.  Next week is a bit more work during the week and the week after that is full tilt again so sewing on weeknights may not be happening as often as I would like soon but for now I am enjoying it!  Tonight Kathy and I watched the first four episodes of "Graceland" which we liked while sewing away.  I started out with making myself a pillowcase to match my Picnic quilt since I will be bringing that on our road trip to Wisconsin (because I need a quilt!) and wanted my pillowcase to match.  Kathy laughed at me, but that is how I roll!

 I have been steadily working on the 35th Ave. "block" of the month.  We were to do the first half of these SIXTEEN blocks last month and the second half this month.  Seriously, I thought a BOM was "A" block of the month!  I am happy to report that since I was alerted to the size problems Kathy had, I managed to get mine to come out to the right size!

 Last night I organized my old cross stitch floss.  I have had most of this for 26 years!  I learned counted cross stitch when I was pregnant with my oldest and enjoyed it nightly for years, til one day I must have gotten too busy with school or something and I put it all away and never really got back to it.  Now that I am embroidering I am happy that some of this floss will get used!  Kathy also used to do cross stitch so we have  tons more, but she stored hers in bags so as time goes on it will get wound into this box.

 Here is a close up of the elephant from a few days ago.

 Older picture, but in case you forgot this is what the elephant looks like :)

Sunday Sewing--Christmas Through the Year 2013 Begins!

 One more Scrappy Trip Block made last night :)

Last night I went through all of my kid fabric that was hanging out in a big plastic bag.  I had already cut Eye Spy in different sizes, shapes from that fabric and most of it was just bits and pieces.  I put together a stack of odds and ends to give to Megan and found three different chunks for pillowcases, and a few other chunks for charity drawstring bags for PHXMQG February Charity Sew In.  Now my bag is about a third full and I am happy!
So today I have been cutting and sewing pillowcases for Christmas Through the Year!  I participated in it last year and really had a good stock of gifts for giving come December.  So four Christmas gifts made already in January!

This was fabric we got at a fabric thrift sale and I am happy to have put it to good use.  I used Weeks Ringle's pattern (free at her blog) though I used the same fabric on both sides of the strip, and I like how they came out.  Oh and I am enjoying Bonnie Hunter on QuiltCam!

Hand Sewn Hexies, Pillowcases and Labels!

 Cut and sewed this pair of pillowcases for me and Kathy today.  The pillowcases are matching, but the fabrics are different on each side, kind of cool.  They are already in use on the bed.

 I went to Kathy's (sewing buddy) house today (see her in the back corner) and sewed with her and Barb (left) and Becky (right).  We had Bonnie on the QuitlCam while she was on which was hoots of fun!  Since Becky and I were done with our Easy Street Clue three I worked on Tobacco Road pinwheels with a few spools thrown in for good measure and Becky worked on a Christmas skirt for her daughter and some lounge pants for both her kids.  Kathy was working on cutting and finished up her clue three.  I was tickled to see she had some of the same connecting threads aqua with little circles in it as I did.  Barb was working on a customer quilt and hasn't started Easy Street, but she needed lots of space to work, so eventually took to learning how to use Becky's knitting hoop thingy.  I have a few of them with hats started (by DJ) that I need to finish up.  Next time we get together I think I will bring them.  Becky is a great teacher of those kinds of things!  Barb caught on in no time and was YouTubing other patterns it could be used with.

 I came home and hand sewed four labels on the Christmas present quilts, so they are all set to go!

 I also hand sewed up the flower from last week (I never got to it during the Packer game because I was upstairs doing other stuff and spaced it!).

 Not sure why my pictures are kind of cut off, but you get the idea.  I finished hand sewing the last hexi flower--finally!  Now apparently I need to hand sew them down to the brown squares.  May still be working on this next football season!

 Today is my oldest son's birthday!  Coleman is 26 which seems impossible to me.  I am not that old, lol.  Here he is being silly and not showing me his face with his bday/Christmas quilt.  It is the bonus Night and Day quilt.  He likes it, yay!  Happy Birthday Coleman, I love you!

Behind on the Blogging! Stepping Down Easy Street!

While Kathy is in MA for her father's funeral and Randy is in Ohio for his brother's funeral I have been home sewing and sending my prayers and love out to both of them and their families.  They say bad things come in threes, so I am not sure what we will be hit with next.  Kathy's father was 85 or so and ready to go be with his wife but Randy's brother was only 51 and it is such a sad thing to bury your younger sibling as Randy and several of his sisters had to do.  So since Coleman and I are holding down the fort here I have been sewing.  I made this Zip up bag for Mac.  He loves Batman and anything comic.  Already filled it with bathroom supplies and wrapped it up for him.

 I talked to Kathy on the webcam last night and made this Moth in the Window block while we gabbed.  Recognize the plaid?  It was the back of my Dad's quilt.  Love seeing those fabrics turn up in other quilts!

 This morning after some cleaning and organizing and fabric folding, Becky came over and we worked on clue three of Easy Street.  We both finished it off and got in a few spools too.  We both agree we are loving Bonnie's color choices!

 Here are all the parts for the mystery so far.

 Here are a few of my spools.  Got more cut too, really need to sew more!  Linking up to Bonnie here  Bonnie's mystery Monday link-up.
Grab your cup and meet me there.      

 I made a pair of pillowcases for Reid (my cousin's son) for Christmas too.  Hope he likes them.  I need to make a pair for Kathy and I too.  We got new sheets and since we have six pillows on the bed we need more pillowcases!

 I also dug out all my half square triangles that were bonus triangles and trimmed, and trimmed and trimmed them for pinwheels--clue two of Tobacco Road.  I have 25 blocks made and have trimmed all the rest of the hst's so I can make more tomorrow.  I hate the trimming, but am happy to use up leftovers from Carolina Christmas and I am not sure what all else!  Made the eight half four patches today too.

Tomorrow Kathy (sewing buddy) invited Becky, Barb and I over to sew.  I am sure some will be finishing up Easy Street clue three, Becky has some Christmas items for her kids she wants to sew, and I think I will work on pinwheels for Tobacco Road.  Or I make take spools, or both!

My oldest son turns 26 on the 9th (today since it is after midnight now) so he and I went and saw Red Dawn which was really a good remake to celebrate.  It was nice, he and I haven't been out by ourselves in forever. Went to the late movie and it wasn't crowded at all so that was nice.  Now I am free to sew in the afternoon and should still be home in time for the Packer game!  I hope you are getting in some sewing!

Sunday Funday!

 Can't recall if I posted my sock again here or just on facebook!  Here is the first sock I did over a year ago now I believe....and the second sock that I had started..I have now ripped out most of the errors and have started working on it again...slowly.  I pretty much forgot everything I knew so I am kicking myself for putting it down.  Pretty sure I will be taking another class on this personal footprints method.  Meanwhile I signed up for a Crafsy class and was going to start that, but felt guilty for not finishing these..so am working on this first, I think.

 This morning I whipped up two pillowcases (following Weeks Ringle's free pattern) with the batman fabric I bought yesterday on sale at 35th Ave.  These will be for Mac for Christmas.  He loves all things comic so every time I see fabric with comics I get the urge to make him something.  Hope he likes them.

I also forgot to post a picture of the grey pinwheels so here they are and I can link up with SoScrappy's blog.  

Packer game on soon, so I will be handsewing my hexies.  I need to grade papers but just can't quite seem to get there...have been reading lots of books lately, but need to switch gears!

Happy Mother's Day and Happy Birthday Dad

I requested two more Quilts for Kids kits from Downy....these arrived in the mail last week. I need to get these two together to send off to some sick kiddos!
Here is my little nephew Ben making us all do his little pose smile...my brother is holding him, then next is my sister, mother, me and my (step) dad. We celebrated Mother's Day and my Dad's birthday...he is 64!

Can't believe I haven't been gushing about my new phone! This is a Samsung Epic....it is amazing! I can do all the normal phoning and texting on it, but also can play solitare, Angry Birds, and tons of other games. I can read my Nook books on it and surf the net. It is unreal. I am one happy girl..especially because it has a touch screen for typing (also has a slideout keyboard) and I can do a funky slide typing all of which means my BlackBerry thumb can heal. I have been having awful pain in my right thumb and couldn't manage to force myself to text with a different finger...now all that is over, YAY!

Tonight DJ helped my cut a bunch of squares for a type of Eye Spy ish quilt for my cousin Tara's soon to be born son , Koi. We cut enough squares to do two of these as I am forever in need of a baby quilt or two. I just realized that my cousin Crystal had her second son and I don't think I sent her a quilt. Usually I do but I don't have her address...so I better whip one up for that little guy too. I am going to need one suitcase for all the quilts I am hauling back to Wisconsin when we go in June!

As promised, here is one of the two pillowcases I made at June's. Ben got one, and this one will be gifted to some other little one.

Here we are again being a little less silly, this is the picture right before we all did the cheesy dimple thing! Happy Mother's Day all.

Sprucing up the Quilting Studio

Last night I decided to spruce up the quilting studio...I took everything off my bulletin board, added some fabric and replaced the stuff I still wanted to look at. I should have taken before pictures, but I am sure you can imagine!

I made a few pillowcases out of fabric Tif gave me for Christmas last year. Most likely they will wind up Christmas gifts for some young boys on my list.

I went through all of my quilting books and have a stack to donate and room for more again. I love books and so I buy them without always really planning to make anything out of them. I figure if it inspires me that is fine, but after awhile I just feel like "stuff" I am not using weighs me down. Hopefully someone else will love when I getting rid of!

I also go crazy organizing and refolding my fabric. Becky gave me this great idea to use one of my larger rulers to make my fabric fold in a more uniform way and now I am addicted to it!

You can see some of it here, and more of it here.

There is another whole stack behind this one and I have smaller pieces in drawers as well as my strips drawers. I always tell people I don't have much of a stash, but I am now rethinking that. I have the biggest stash I have ever had. And true to form, I want to find things to use it up in because I feel like it is wasted just sitting here. I can't stop smiling looking at all this neat fabric. Hmm, what to do next?