Baking Day!

I took the morning off from my current sewing projects and did a little baking for Christmas. I usually don't bake very much at Christmas but I thought I would try a few recipes that I haven't done in a while. The stained glass cookies I remember my mom making many Christmases ago and thought I would give them a try. The whipped shortbread cookies I haven't made since last year and my daughter requested the rice krispie squares. All in all, a morning well spent.

Date Planner/Journal Cover Tutorial

I was looking at various blogs on the net and found a blog called Totally Tutorials. This blog hosts exchanges between suppliers and crafters. I was choosen to receive this fat quarter of fabric from Sasha from Fabric Fusion to create a project from it. This fabric is called Dance with Me by Jennifer Paganelli.

I am pleased to share this tutorial for this Date Planner/Journal Cover

A Finish and A Start

I started this Boxy Stars quilt from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville last spring. I wanted to use up some of my scrap fabric but somehow ended up with more scraps than I started with.

I was looking at various blogs on the net and found the Totally Tutorial blog. (See link in sidebar.) This blog hosts an exchange program for suppliers and crafters. I applied for one of the exchanges and was accepted. I have to create a project and write a tutorial with pictures using the fabric "Dance With Me" by Jennifer Paganelli. The supplier for this wonderful fabric is Sasha of Fabric Fusion. Stay tuned for the finished project.

Binding Tutorial

These instructions are for making binding on the straight of the grain of the fabric.

Cut 2.5 inch strips from the fabric you have chosen for your binding. To determine the number of strips you need measure your project vertically and horizontally through the middle, multiply that number by 2 and add 12. Take this number and divide by 42 (or the width of your fabric). This will tell you how many width of fabric strips you will need.

Sew your strips end to end using a 1/4 " seam allowance.

Press your sewn strips in half horizontally.

Starting half way down one side leave approximately a 6 " tail machine sew the pressed binding around the edges of the front side of your project using 1/4" seam allowance. Miter the corners by stopping 1/4" away from the corner with the needle down, turn project, back stitch off project, fold binding at a 45 degree angle up, then fold binding straight down and continue down next side. Repeat for each corner.

When you are approaching your starting point stop approximately 8" from the beginning tail. Remove project from machine, lay project flat and measure binding so it overlaps the beginning tail 1/4". Sew loose ends together as illustrated. Then continue sewing binding as before until you reach the beginning stitches.

Trim the edges even to the binding.

Pin the binding to the back of the project.

Hand sew in place using a blind hem stitch.

Post Card

I wanted to send my husband's aunt something unique for her birthday. She likes foxes so I thought this would make a cute birthday card.

Getting a start on Christmas

I know some people are well into Christmas preparations but for me this is early. I have never made a quilted Christmas stocking. A friend asked if I could make one for her to give as a gift. After some Internet research and looking through my existing patterns this is what I came up with.

Pumpkin Patch Give Away

I was looking around on the net this afternoon and came across this fantastic giveaway. Check it out for yourself at http://pumpkinpatchprimitivequiltshoppe.blogspot.com/2009/10/its-happy-halloween-giveaway.html

Quilt Repair

A friend from work told me about her quilt. It was a wedding gift from her husband's grandmother and it was in need of some repair. She asked me if I had ever repaired a quilt before. I said no but I would do some research and see if I could figure it out and if I could I would try to fix up hers. I came home and went online and found a few sites that showed quilt repair. I went back and told her I would try but no promises. I couldn't match up the damaged fabric so I bought a colour similar. Then I cut strips of fabric the correct size adding seam allowances. I then proceeded to hand stitch them to the damaged areas also replacing batting as I went. After all the torn strips were replaced I requilted the areas I repaired. This took a bit of time as I don't hand stitch very quickly. I finally finished the repair this weekend.

What have I been working on?

The wedding is on Saturday and I got the gift finished! I made six placemats using fall fabrics and a matching table runner. I put insulated batting in the runner so hot bowls could be placed on it.

Friendship Bag Exchange

I have never participated in an exchange before so I decided to sign up for the Friendship Bag exchange from the Quilting Bloggers site. (See shortcut in sidebar). I was overwhelmed when this came in the mail last week.

I want to say a big heart-felt Thank-you to my partner Florence in Florida. She really blessed my socks off!!

What I have been working on

I have gathered these fabrics to make a wedding gift for my best friend's daughter who is getting married this month. I got a bit of a late start so I chose a simple pattern and I hope to get the gift done in time. I will post pictures later. But I will give you a sneak peak at a corner.

Old Friends

My youngest son has special needs and when he was younger he had a very special support worker who became part of our extended family. She worked with him for at least 5 years. Unfortunately circumstances change and she had to stop working with us about 10 years ago. Recently I was fortunate to reconnect with her and when she saw the handbag I made for myself last year (see previous post) she asked if I could make one for her but just a bit smaller. The handbag is a creation from the features I liked from two different patterns. She gave me the dimensions she wanted, picked the fabric from my "stash" and this is the result.

Shower Gift

Over the past few years I have been fortunate to have been given bits of fabric that friends no longer have a use for. I call these projects in waiting. Recently my MIL returned from a visit to family in England and she brought me back some bits of fabric from her sister. I had to come up with a bridal shower gift for my BF's daughter. I pulled out some of the English fabric and was able to come up with some coordinating pieces from my "stash". I found a pattern to make a neat quilted cover for a binder to make it into a photo album. It can be found at http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/04/funky-quilted-binder-cover.html2009/04/funky-quilted-binder-cover.html. All I have to get now is the inserts for the pictures.

Loyalty Card Wallet

On several of the other blogs that I follow I saw this loyalty wallet from http://aspoonfullofsugargirls.googlepages.com/Tutorial-ScrappyLoyaltyCardWalletRea.pdf and I decided I would try to make one. I have so many business cards floating around in my purse that I thought it would be nice to have them all in one place. I made this purse about a year ago and I made the wallet to match.

Bit by the knitting bug...

Lately I have been reading some knitting mysteries by Maggie Sefton. Since then I have had the itch to knit, so I have been knitting some dishcloths. They are a small portable project that I can work on while watching T.V. or relaxing on the deck with a cup of tea while listening to the birds singing. I chose the yarn called Stripes by Bernat yarns.

Knitting and Crocheting

The latest quilting project I am working on it too large to be portable. The weather is so hot and humid I just had to sit out on the deck so I decided to do a little knitting and crocheting. I needed a new potscrubber so I decided to make one. Then with the potscrubber done of course I had to knit a discloth to match.

Gardening

For Mother's Day my youngest son gave me a petunia plant. It out grew the pot it was in so I transplanted it along with a few extra plants.



The extra plants I put in the pot that he painted for me. I am thinking of getting a second window box but I am going to wait to make sure these will go as I don't do well with plants.

Table Runner Complete

In early May I attented a guild workshop to learn the quilt-as-you-go method of quilting being taught by our guild president. The name of our guild is the London Friendship Quilting Guild so the friendship star block in this project is an illustration of the name of the guild. The project we were to make was a table runner. Here is the front of the finished project.


And here is the back. The neat thing about using this method the project is reversible so you really get two runners while making one.

June--The Final Border Complete

I finished the final border on my mystery quilt last night. I hope to have this quilted and bound for my DH as an anniversary gift next spring. I have to decided on how to quilt it. I was thinking of all over diagonal lines. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them. Now the next project on my to finish list is the table runner from the May workshop. I am hoping to have it completed by the end of the week.

May's Border

I have been working on several projects this past month. I finally finished the May's border on the mystery block of the month from Claudia's Quilt Shoppe, (http://www.claudiaquiltshoppe.com/freebom.htm), just in time to work on the June's clue. I am also working on the table runner from a workshop I attented in early May. I will post a pic of that when I get it finished.

Home Sweet Home

I belong to one of our local quilting guilds. Every year the president of the guild issues a challenge to the membership. This year's challenge was called O' Canada. We had to create a piece that represents what Canada means to us and their had to be a maple leaf somewhere on the front. To read more about this challenge you can go to the London Friendship Quilters Guild's Blog. The link is on the side of this page. This is what I made. I grew up on a farm so the farm house represents home. The gold path to the house represents prosperity . I used green for the front door because there is a song that is called "The Green Door" that came out in the late 50's or early 60's that talks about a green door and a party going on behind it. To me parties mean friends and fun. The windows are yellow representing a light in the window meaning all are welcome here. I also decided since this was a challenge I would try something new. I paper pieced the centre block and the maple leaf corner blocks. I found both of these patterns at www.quilterscache.com/QuiltBlocksGalore.html. The name of the block is Farmhouse.

Great Finds.....

I was in Wallaceburg visiting my Mom for Mother's Day on the weekend. On the way out to her house we stopped at a couple of thrift stores in town. I found these interesting quilt blocks. Does anyone know what the name of this block? Any ideas how to make the templates for the background?