HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013

May we all experience good health, happiness, and prosperity for the New Year 2013! And. . . lots of fabric and the time to cut and sew it up!

As 2012 comes to a close, I leave you with my very Best Wishes for a safe and Happy Holiday. . . until next time. . .

Quilty Hugs,

HAPPY MAIL - A Wonderful MugRug

Another gorgeous MugRug flew across the BigBluePond and has made it safely to California.  Thank you, Rosemary! I just love this darling mug rug. Isn't it beautiful? Check out the stitching!

MugRug designed and made by: Rosemary D.

Wishing everyone a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Quilty Hugs,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

With love and best wishes

from my home to yours!

 

Quilty Hugs,

HOW 2 WRAP SECRET SANTA GIFT. . .

Secret Santa gifts are so fun! This year for our Annual Family Party we were given a range of how much we could spend: $15-$20.  Below is how I wrapped my little gifty which is all bling and very little substance!. . . . hee hee hee:

Secret Santa Gift

But first things first...
1.) Find rock from neighbor's yard -- ask first! lol --  clean, wrap in tissue paper, put in bottom of bag:

"cost" of rock NOT factored into the $15 to $20 limit...lol

2.) Slip Lotto Tickets inside set of 4 special Holiday Coasters:

Coasters / Mug Rugs from scraps + Lotto tickets

3.) Wrap Coasters in tissue... add bow. Place in bag and 'poof' the bag out with more tissue paper [see above]:

Coasters n Lotto tickets all wrapped up

Ta Dah! All done. I'm such a kid this time of year...lol... can't help it! Until next time, what devious methods have YOU devised to wrap your gifts???

MERRY CHRISTMAS

&

HAPPY NEW YEAR

From my home to yours -- whatever you celebrate and share this time of year may your Season be full of blessings, family, friends, good food, and fun.

Linking to: SoScrappy RSC2012.  Click over and see what the others are up to.

Love n Quilty Hugs,

PS: If I turn up MIA from posting for a few days it might be a result of too much party or too much "festive drinks" at the party! lol

GIFTS FROM AFAR. . . + A new "notion"

Isn't this sweet? A darling MugRug all the way from The Nederland. Thank you, Marianna. It is the perfect size to fit beside my laptop. I just love it! Thank you so much.

DJ MugRug by Marianna

And. . . Marianna's Mother made me this gorgeous card! WOW! Thank you. I love it... it is beautiful!

Hand made card by Marianna's Mother

A new "notion":  Have you heard about the great new tool for frog stitching? I first heard about it via Quiltville and Bonnie Hunter. It's actually a personal grooming aide - let me say I would never let this thing near my face!, but makes a fabulous un-sewer. It will undo tiny stitches in PPing in a wink. But be careful as it is very very sharp!

Eyebrow Razor: makes a super un-sewer for tiny PPing stitches!

Until next time, I hope projects are getting done and everyone is having fun during this Joyful Season.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah. . . what ever you celebrate, please share your Joy with others!

Quilty Hugs,

PERFECT 9 PATCH - any size, NO math!

Mini Product Review:  The CutRite Nine Patch Ruler by QuiltersParadise, Escondido, CA, is totally amazing! Take ANY square, any size, doesn't have to be divisible by 3, and NO math involved! Interested? Read on...

CutRite Nine Patch Ruler, by Quilters Paradise, Escondido, CA

I took two lop-sided charm squares and trued them up to 4 5/8 inches square. Laid the CT9P Ruler on the square, made two dots, sewed, cut and voila! Perfect. After Christmas I'll write a tute on this amazing ruler and how it works.  It is simple, fast and accurate... what else does this quilter want? Nothing! lol. BTW, I have no affliation with this company - just love their product. Oh, and they are very nice people, too!

This little gem-of-a-ruler has been languishing in my 'extra' ruler drawer for months... years? I am Happy Dancing! Love this thang. My two odd-ball squares made into two perfect 9patches. Below are two 9 patches sewn together which will be the background for some applique - small style... very very small! lol.

Two 9Patches sewn together to create a 'field' for some applique

Until next time. . . How about YOU?  Have you recently 'discovered' something wonderful in your sewing space... what is it?  Meanwhile, you can recognize me as the crazy woman still sewing her brains out!

Quilty Hugs,

I WON A GC from the THIMBLE ROOM!

WOWZER, I sure have been a lucky-ducky lately. Just recently I won a drawing at The Thimble Room.  Miss Thimble invited comments as part of her research while she shops for a new sewing machine. Isn't that a great idea?!  Thank you so much, Miss Thimble. I'm thrilled to win!

I have been wanting to read Ebony Love's new book, so with my new Amazon GC I bought it:

Quick Book Review follows below

The book arrived lickity-split... you know how prompt Amazon is.  So, I sat right down and read it cover2cover. I am not disappointed. Ebony has written an incredible book. This new book fills a void with solid information about how to incorporate a die-cutting system into one's quilt making for increased accuracy, speed, and convenience. I recently bought a new little Sizzix Big Shot, which is why I am interested in Ebony's book. It's great. Has lots of quilting tips in it, too. [no affiliation... just a happy consumer.]

Thank you again, Miss Thimble. I just love my prize and am already putting it to good use.

Until next time. . . it's back to the sewing machine for me. What are YOU up to today?

Quilty Hugs,

AND ONE MORE . . .WOOF!

How do these things happen? How did I get into the MugRug-making-business? lol. Well, I've made one more for another co-worker of DD's and now I consider myself retired from this activity! No more, none, nada, fini, and dat's it!

But I kinda like this one...Woof! There is no pattern. It's just some strips and odd pieces of blue stitched together 'crazy' fashion with the batting as the foundation so it was quilted as I sewed it. Simple fusible appliques on top finished off with a blanket stitch courtesy of my Janome6500. No binding either... just layer stitch and turn like you would make for a pillow form - the lap seam in back is secured with a narrow strip of fusible. I like how it turned out.

Woof! A MugRug for Crissi

And a coaster:

With a quick little double heart FMQ'd on the back. ;-).  I started adding quilting to these about 8 months ago. They really go through the washer/dryer better.  Now I cut the batting smaller so the seam isn't so bulky. I like it this way. 

Until next time, I hope where ever you are that you have time to sew up something that makes your heart sing! 

Quilty Hugs,

FIXED! Thanks to blogging friends. . .

Thank you, THANK YOU to the many people who responded to my plea for some advice. I used a composite of all your ideas and some of my own and shown below is what I came up with. [Please forgive the bad picture - this little quilt is NOT wonky, but it sure looks like it in the picture. Drat. Quilt size 6x9 inches.]

MugRug for Kristen

The color absolutely needed to be spread around the surface. In addition to putting Blue on the Orange and Orange on the White, I put some White and Tan on the Orange. It sure is more balanced now. I had hoped to put an Orange flange/piping with a Blue binding but didn't have enough blue fabric to do that. Too bad, 'cuz I think a Blue binding would have looked good.

Just in case Kristen's desk isn't big enough for a MR, I put "Quick Triangle Sleeves" on the back:

Pencil shows the Quick Triangle Sleeves

and made her a coaster... it's orange - sort of, but has no puppies.

I think it is good to make ourselves work outside our own color box, you know, our usual comfort zone. This has been a learning experience for me and I'm grateful.  Thanks again to all my blogging friends who really helped bail me out of this design corner I had backed into! You are ALL so wonderful! Please go to this post to see the problem flimsy, and then read all the fabulous and helpful suggestions.

Until next time. . .
Quilty Hugs,

CAN ANYTHING SAVE THIS PROJECT???

The guidelines I was given: A MugRug and I like dogs and orange. Oh my. This is a toughie. The orange just jumps right out, but then orange is like that, eh?

 

I embroidered the  seam lines of the strips and did some quilting with variegated thread hoping that would help calm the orange down. It helped a little:

If some Orange/Tan or Orange/White mini stripe could be found, or even Orange/Blue, then cutting the stripe on the bias for binding might help.

Someone very good with color once told me if a color isn't sitting nicely in a project to ADD more of it... it helps it to quiet down. I've used this trick before very successfully, but I'm not sure anything can help this little mug rug. Do YOU have any SUGGESTIONS or ADVICE?? I would really appreciate it so much.  Thank you. This is supposed to be done by Sunday night... no pressure, right?!

Sew, until next time I am gonna quit for the night -- maybe go read. What are YOU going to do?

Quilty Hugs,

REMEMBER. . . Please do not forget

 

Please remember the ultimate sacrifices made by so many in the name of freedom.

 

THANK YOU to all VETERANS

and

all MILITARY who are activly serving!

 

Quilty Hugs,

SNOW ARRIVAL. . .& now there are 3..oopsy, 4!

Another little snow person flew in today all the way from Pennsylvania. Thank you, Beverly! He is so cute. Your hand applique and embroidery are wonderful!

SP from Beverly

The new little guy is playing nicely with Feisty and Melty, up on the wall. And, now there are 3 - oopsy 4, forgot Twiggy - with 8 more to come.

Feisty by Frummie

Melty by Pat from FL

That's all for today, sew until next time: I'll be prepping a few DJ blocks and finishing up a design I'm working on - shhhh, it's a secret! What are YOU playing with today?
Quilty Hugs,

TWIGGY GETS A FACE... and off they fly

The first 7 SnowPeople are ready to fly off to their new homes. Here are three of them:


SnowPeople Swap



 



Their faces are all embroidered free-hand so no two are alike. And they will all have their own 'personalities'. Do snowmen have personalities? lol

This guy seems to be waving "bye bye" or maybe "hello"

Linking to Connie's linky party: FreeMotion by the River

Sew... until next time: I am off to my sewing circle to embroider the last few SP faces. What will YOU be doing today?

Quilty Hugs,

TWIGS it is! Thank you, everyone!

TWIGs is hands-down the winner! THANK YOU so much, everyone. I really appreciate your input. It helped a lot.

Lotsa lotsa TWIGs for SnowPeople Arms

All the twigs are cut - now just to fuse and sew them on. But, not tonight. This ol' gal is beat!

Thanks again to everyone - bloggers and quilters are sew wonderful! Until next time, I'm off to beddy bye right after I have one more piece of pie!  What are YOU up to?

Quilty Hugs,

TWIGS or BRANCHES??? That is the question...NEED opinions, Please!

The SnowPerson has 'evolved' a little bit since this morning. I changed his/her arms. What do YOU think... TWIGS or BRANCHES?? Which look better to you?

SnowPerson with TWIG arms

BRANCH arms

Prototype no longer in the running... but I do like the Bird on the Hat

Your opinion would be very much appreciated as I am having trouble trying to decide.  Thanks a bunch.

Sew, until next time... it's back to cutting out SnowPeople parts. [does that sound too gruesome?!]. What are YOU up to?

Quilty Hugs,

SNOW PEOPLE in the making & fresh Apple Pie!

The Snow People Block Swap 2012 is happening, thanks to our organizer Rosa. Thanks, Rosa! My little person, below, still needs a face and a few other things. *g*

SnowPerson - the first prototype

I've been busy drawing and making various SP parts. Now it's time to assemble my *snow* into people. My Sizzix will be used to cut some of the embellishment bits... at least that is the current plan.

Swedish Apple Pie

I was craving something sweet last night. Since I had 1/2 box of lovely green Granny Apples in the fridge a Swedish Apple Pie sounded good. Only takes a few minutes to put together and throw into the oven. NO crust to roll out - love that! It's hard to believe that something so simple can taste so good.

Swedish Apple Pie, no crust

Sew... until next time, I will be playing with more snow. What will YOU be playing with?

Quilty Hugs,