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. 

Good Fortune--On to Clue Four!

This week was crazy so no sewing happened in spite of our best intentions!   We had hoped to sew yesterday but that did not happen either.  We did stop at a Goodwill for half off day and found a ton of this fabric which we got for a total of four bucks!

Also, we did go out on my very first party bus with our MoeFoe friends to see the Christmas lights.  We did not realize we were not just driving through the lights, but were parking and walking in the various areas--I most likely would not have gone had I known.  My Epstein Barr just lets me do so much and Friday my high school students caroled around the school which meant I got 8000 steps (which is nothing I know, but for me anything over 5000 or so means I need a day of recovery in bed!) so I was already tired and wound up walking 7000 steps Saturday.  Too much...today all I did was sew--it was hard to stay out of bed all day but I did it!  One more week of work and then vacation so I am hoping I have not pushed myself too far!

So today I started out by cleaning up my strings...I have them all stored and sorted by color but in the last year or two I just kept piling in the new ones without sorting...so today I sorted and found larger bags for those that needed it and such.  I picked out the correct shade of purple as Bonnie's oranges are purple for both Kathy and I.  I also finished cutting Kathy's clue and later helped her iron them all.

Clue Three

All the clue colors so far.

Kathy's Clue Three

 We both sewed away on clue three until it was done!  I even made seven of clue four so it is in progress!  Hoping to make a quarter of them each night this week so we will really be caught up when clue five comes out Friday.  I know it is not a race, but for me the motivation is best when the mystery is live!  Linking up with Quiltville!   Barb and I Skype sewed most of the day.  She has not started the mystery, but was working on cool towels for Christmas gifts.

Start of Clue Four!

I also sewed a quick tissue holder and two hexagon trivets with orange for my Winter Wonder Pal at work.  The gal I got is someone I do not know...so I got some of her favorite candy, soda, made those two items and got her thank you cards which she had on her list.  Hopefully she will like her stuff!

Whirwind Weekend and Clue Three in Progress!

 Friday night my daughter Hannah flew in from Wisconsin for 48 hours so we could wedding dress shop.  She had two dresses from Azazia shipped here so she tried those on Friday night.
She made appointments here in Arizona and Saturday morning we went to David's Bridal where she tried on about nine dresses.  All but maybe three we all liked though the top contenders were number one and three. In the end the winner from store one was number three and we were pretty sure that would be the one.

 

My mom and Kathy and I were her entourage.  The gal she had was really fast at getting dresses and at getting her changed which was great.

We had a quick lunch and then went to Brilliant Bridal where she was not finding alot of dresses she liked.  The set up there is different...you get to walk around and pick the dresses you want to try.  We picked one for fun because it reminded us of something my great grandma Rushman would have worn!  The dress was made off little white plastic discs.  It actually looked great on and my sister (who was voting via pictures on the phone) liked that one.  The second dress she tried on there was an absolute stunner.  It was the first dress that she immediately said "I really like this one" to.  I knew then we had a winner.  She tried on a half dozen more or so and then back to dress two.  They added a better belt and a veil and it was a done deal.  She said yes to the dress! 

 Meanwhile, I knew Kathy and I would fall behind on clue three due to these plans but clue three will wait a bit.  So Saturday morning since I am up early anyway, I cut (and marked the first square) all of my parts--it helps that I have strips cut in the right sizes though I needed to cut more of the darker blue color for variety.  I also cut about a hundred of Kathy's neutrals which are the dark blues.

 

 Sunday morning I sewed a test block (before drawing lines on all those squares) and packed everything up to take to my brother's house.  The whole family got together and watched the Packer game and ate.  I marked all of my squares and Kathy and I did all of hers.  Still need to cut her aqua (which goes in her center) but we have strips cut to choose from first.  We hope to sew about a quarter of them each night this week so we stay caught up but we shall see!

I will be linking up with Quiltville.

Header Pic--Issues!

Good Fortune with good friends!

I have been struggling to add my new picture this year.  I cannot get it to be the right size for some reason.  I have tried uploading a file and linking from the web.  Have tried doing it on my phone and here in Firefox.  I want the picture to be large like it always has....any advice?
THANKS!

Good Fortune Clue Two and More!

 

A few years ago I  worked on Straits of Mackinac as the Rainbow BOM and made two blocks in each color every month.  Things got crazy that December and those two blocks never got made and the whole thing wound up on a shelf!  I had some time to made another brown and orange (not pictured) block and then laid out all the blocks and realized I needed one more!  I then made another yellow block!

 Tried a few layouts...

 I had put the blocks away by the time I made the last yellow block, so just imagine it in there.  I did not sew these blocks together yet as Bonnie's new book is on its way to me and I believe her full pattern for this is in there.  She does a border that extends the stars and I may try that too.  The block pattern is in Quiltmaker's 100 blocks Vol. 14.  Linking up with SuperScrappy  for the first time in a long time!

 I also ironed and got a picture of the latest eye spy I sewed at Barb's a few weeks ago.
Super happy I have kept up with the Good Fortune mystery so far.  My daughter is coming for a quick weekend of trying on wedding dresses this weekend so I know next week I fall behind, but will get it done!  Not the greatest picture of my HST's but lots of scrappy fabrics.

 

Kathy sewed and sewed and is also caught up and ready for clue three.  Really fun to use the same colors in different places and a light and dark neutral...cannot wait to see what the pair look like with these differences! 

  

Linking up with Quiltville when I get a chance!

I did some cleaning and organizing in the sewing room today since I had the clue done yesterday.  I started sewing a bunch of HST's that I got at an estate sale several years ago.  They came all pinned and ready to go and I figured someday I could find something to use them in.  After sewing and sewing and trimming and trimming (they still need depapering and ironing) I looked through my Quiltville books and found Cactus Patch (which I marked awhile back as one I wanted to make) and realized that I could use the HST's for this.  Mine may be more scrappy than the one pictured, but all these are black paired with a bright so seems perfect!  Not sure if I have enough or too many until I count but happy to have started something now that I am finishing up so much!

I may make a new UFO list for 2018--goal is to complete the one picked each month.  It has really helped the past few years in getting me motivated to finish stuff!  I really do not know that I will have time to get a whole one done each month, but since it does motivate me and I do make progress on them I will try it again this year!

Binding Done!

 The Pat Sloan Storytelling Library BOM was quilted by Barb and delivered to me yesterday.  I finished up the clue for Good Fortune and got it bound tonight.

Ros quilted Betty's Choice for me and also delivered it to the party.  This was a Rainbow Scrap Challenge that Amy and I did in 2015.  I made the Betty's Choice blocks (in Quiltmaker, they are a Bonnie block) and Amy made the nine patch/couthouse steps blocks.  Ros liked it so much she wants the pattern.  I put a scrappy binding on both these quilts..love how they look..love using up extra binding from my drawer..and did not have to make new binding!
I also got the eye spy squares baby quilt tied at my sister's on Thanksgiving.  The picture does not want to upload though.
So happy to have some quilting mojo back.
I was pretty active this past long weekend and am feeling alright!  Now to get through the work week!

 Mondqy night I got these quilted and bound for a pair of Kathy's coworkers.  She was still working on clue one.  The pattern is free online.  It is called Simple Gifts by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr.  It is my go to baby quilt pattern.  Quick and I can quilt it fairly decently myself.

The Sixth Annual Quiltville Mystery Kickoff Party: Good Fortune Edition!

We had 20 people at our 6th Annual Quiltville Mystery Kickoff party in Chandler, Arizona this year.  Barb had to work so only stopped in for a bit, but everyone else sewed all day!  If you want to attend next year and will be in the area, let me know.  We invite people until the seats are filled! 

Left to right starting at the top:  Marguerite, Laura, Marlene, Sueann, Ros, Becky, Kathy, Celeste.
bottom:  Phyliss, Cindy, Cynthia, Fran, BJ, Charlotte,Jill, Tina, Laurie and Kathy.  I am taking the selfie.

Only one gal that I know had gifted her On Ringo Lake before our picture so in total twelve of us got the quilt done this year.   My favorite part of this get together is seeing all  of Bonnie Hunter's magnificent designs in different colors up close.  Each one is its own masterpiece!  If  somehow you missed out on getting this pattern for free last year here is where you can buy it instantly.

Completed quilt tops are modeled by:   Marguerite, Laura, Becky, Celeste, Andee (me) and Ros and in the bottom row:  Cynthia, Fran, Tina, Kathy and Phyliss
Annual Duck Lips Photo!

 Marguerite and Laura are a mother and daughter who really enjoy sewing together.  Every year they come to the party and get their quilts done for the photo.  Love their quilts!

Here are Kathy and I with our quilts. Mine is of course Packer colors (third mystery quilt I have done in Packer colors--I even have a facebook page devoted to Packer quilts!).  I helped Kathy a lot this year on her quilt because this one will be gifted to my brother and his wife at their upcoming wedding.  She picked the colors for it and loves it--and the matching pillow made with the leftover block.
We gifted all who wanted one a quilt label and the last dozen or so people at the party got an embroidered sewing machine that Barb made for me.  Everyone always asks how to make these. Super simple, save Bonnie's picture to your computer.  Open up Word (or something similar) and insert the picture.  (I cropped it first to take off the duplicate information that was on the bottom of Bonnie's picture).  I then type in and center whatever I want on the label. When I see Bonnie I have her sign mine if she can.  I print them on my regular printer (buy fabric sheets to print on) and then cut them apart.

Marguerite gifted me the cutest mini hedgehog and cool clips.  So sweet of her!  BJ brought me a Packer coffee cup.  I am blessed!

Kathy and I are not quite half way through clue one, but plan to spend our afternoon sewing so we will be ready for the next one!

Fabric Pull from little pieces. Will start with strips and go to yardage if we need to.  Working only with stash!

These are the colors Kathy and I will do for our quilts this year.  They will be for both of my engaged children's wedding gift.  Both girls love purple so using the same colors in different places and using navy blue for the neutrals in one.  Should be an interesting pair when they are done.  Here is part of my clue one done!

Clue done with a few to spare!

Thank you Bonnie for this gift, I have made every mystery (some more than once) and look forward to it every year.  I even have a tab on my blog devoted to the mystery quilts and another one with a Quiltville Parade of quilts!  Linking up with Quiltville for clue one's Monday Link Up soon!  Looking forward to clue two of Good Fortune!