HAPPY MAIL - DJSP Gift

Yesterday's mail brought a lovely surprise - Happy Mail from my Dear Jane Secret Pal. She splurged and sent me "The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt" book by Laurie Aaron Hird. It comes with a CD of the patterns, too! Wow. Thank you SP.

I learned of a FWS QAL on Pat's blog using this beautiful book. This promises to be fun. I doubt I will make the whole quilt, but a  WH would be nice.

That's all for today. Thank you for dropping in for a visit. I hope wherever you are that you have time  and space to create something you love.

Quilty hugs,

PS... as an experiment I have removed the "prove you're not a robot letter thingie"... If I don't get a lot of spam, I will leave it off. It certainly will be easier to leave a comment w/out having to type those horrid letters that none of us can read anyway. lol

Quicky Green Mug Rug

It is almost March and I promised a Green Mug Rug with a St. Patrick's Day theme for a gal in DD's office who loves all things Irish, so here it is almost finished. Why is it only 'almost' done? Because Missy decided that it is "lap time" and not sewing time! lol

The original inspiration for this Mug Rug came from here, but I took quite a few liberties and changed a lot of it. We sewists are always free to do that, eh?!  The pictures below show how I made it.

Snowball the corner of a 2" green square with a 1" white  square.
Press a narrow strip of green for the clover's stem and

topstitch into place diagonally on 2" white square.

Assemble the two blocks together with some black fabric; add a small black border and batt-up for simple machine quilting.

Only a wee bit of binding left to hand sew on the back and then it will be complete... isn't the leprachan fabric cute? [not sure I spelled that correctly..lol]. I'll finish the binding when Missy goes back to sleep. lol

That's all for today - Thank you so much for dropping by. I hope where ever you are that you have time to create something that makes you or someone you love happy.

Quilty hugs,

FLIMSY FRIDAY . . . a few finishes - small, but DONE!

Hop on over to Pat's blog to read all about Flimsy Fridays. She gives a good explanation of what many of us are trying to accomplish. Her button is on my sidebar.
My offerings this Friday are fairly paltry, but, hey, they are D-O-N-E, and that's the real deal, eh?! Because everything looks better next to flowers [tee hee] I propped this little PH up against a vase of my birthday flowers which are fading fast. lol.

The first two flimsies are biggish potholders for DD's new little cottage down by the beach. The first one is from blocks made at Retreat using the D4P method that I read about on Elly's blog. I like they way she does it. Below is a closer look at my efforts of FM straight-line quilting -- it's a bit wonky but I'll get it; just need more practice. lol

The one above has a quilted back and a crocheted front... the crocheted front is the "practice piece" I made while designing and playing with colors for DD's large Granny. Her afghan wound up being a bedspread for a Queen size bed!

Then a rather largish child's quilt -- I sew quilts, make hats, socks, etc., as a means of giving back to my community. It is part of my personal commitment to put Gratitude Into Action [I'll write a post about this sometime]. Back to this quilt: I have always stitched the first seam of binding by machine and then finished the back with hand stitches. I am making so many projects now that this is no longer practical. I am trying to get proficient at applying the binding all by machine. My first few efforts are not really terrific, but it's a start and one has to begin somewhere. I try to begin at the beginning. lol

 And b/c these are all BLUE, it fits right in with the  Rainbow Scrap Challenge for February... nice how that worked out. lol.

That's all for today. I have some housework calling my name so guess I will finish that up before I leave to meet DD for lunch. We are going to the Soup Plantation Express near where she works in Carlsbad -- they create the yummiest salads! 

Then it will be back home -- I am anxious to begin a project I read about on Connie's blog [Quilting By The River]. Speaking of Connie's blog, be sure to pop on over there on Tuesdays -- she throws a Linky Party!  There is a button on my sidebar that will take you to the post. Fun!

Quilty Hugs,

MISSY LOVES HER MINKY QUILT

Good news: Missy likes her new Minky quilt. It's one of the things I made while away at Retreat last weekend. I am so done sewing with Minky fabrics, though. Sheesh. . . fiddely, slippery, stretchy... you name it. Oh well, it is finished and kitty loves it!

Uh oh... when I snapped the pic, it woke her up. . . but not for long.

Below is the completed quilt - - tiny, but just right for a 6 pound kitty.

This is a really short post as I'm off to root for DD Laura as she plays her very first softball game**. So, that's all for now. More pictures of retreat to follow soon.

Quilty hugs,

** I had to leave for the game [yesterday] so am posting this today.

R-E-T-R-E-A-T SPELLS "FUN" & "TIRED"... here are a few pics

Hello Everyone,
Retreat was totally FUN, but golly it feels good to be home! Do you feel that way when you travel or take a trip -- long or short?

During Retreat, the squares for my Twister experiment were sewn together, sub-cut with the special Twister ruler, and sewed back together. OMGoodness but it does shrink a lot with this process. BTW, I threw in a striped fabric just for the heck of it to see what would happen.

Hopefully, I can trim up the "waste" bits and use them to add a pieced border. Right now it is just too small for anything. Fingers crossed.

Also made another SnapItBag. This one is in Lime Green for DD's boss who loves lime green. Hope she likes her "911 Bag". That's what I call them as they hold "necessitites" safely and cleanly in the girls' desks at work. Ooopsy, got a tad wrinkly in the suitcase.

The Quick Project at Retreat was a cute bag: Super quick and easy even with a zipper. Will probably use it inside my Featherweight machine case to hold cords, the foot, and so forth. It will protect my machine.  Right now I am using old socks - not very attractive! lol

The Retreat Center is lovely, very quiet and soothing. Below is a pic of just one of the many lovely areas we walked past on our way to the dinning room -- sewing requires sustenance! lol. This was a nice place to spend a weekend. All we did was sew sew sew, eat, chat, sleep, repeat! lol.

That's all for now... more later when I've caught my breath.  I hope where ever you are that you have the time to create something for yourself or someone you love.
Quilty hugs,

Embroidery, Beading & Quick "Hi"... going on 4 day retreat. . .

Just a quick note to say "Hi" -- I am going on a Retreat for four days so won't be posting again until next week. I am taking my Internet phone with me, but I doubt we will have any reception out in the boonies. lol. My DD Laura will stay here to "hold down the fort" and to take care of Missy -- there is no way I would leave her alone for 4 days! Thanks, Laura!

Finished most of the embroidery for the wonky October block I've been working on. My friend Bob's birthday is ON 31 October -- Halloween! So, this block will be a little something just for fun. Not sure if it will be a small WH, or perhaps a reversible pillow for his couch. I "inherited" this block from someone else who was "through with it". I think it's really cute. A few LC rounds on it and it will be finished.  Note to self: next time add a thin batt to the back of the block and quilt it while embroidering.

My long-time and wonderful BFF Joy made me this darling Scissor Fob for my recent birthday. It has a little 'lobster claw' finding that allows it to easily be moved from one scissor to another. Wow!  I am so blessed to have her in my life. Thank you again, Joy... I just LOVE my fob and it even has a little kitty charm... how sweet is that?!

I was so spoiled this year for my birthday. Family and friends were great and heaped on a lot of surprises. But now it is "official"... I am actually Older Thank Dirt! Next year I will start counting off the years going down instead of up! Only substraction from now on! lol

That's all for today. Thank you for stopping by for a visit and I hope where ever you are that you have time to create something for yourself or somone you love.

Quilty hugs,

It's A Wonderful Day... hey, it's been a great WEEK!

No quilty projects to share with you today, but. . . Oh Happy Day! It's my birthday and I have been spoiled rotten so far! lol.

My sweet friend Marianna, in the Nederlands, sent me this darling card and quite a bit of gorgeous RED fabric. Love it! A girl can never have enough red in her life! lol. Thank you, Marianna!

Not a day goes by that I don't say a "gratitude prayer" that I'm lucky to have family and friends that care about me and say so. I feel so blessed. What are you grateful for today?

Thank you for stopping by for a visit. I hope where ever you are that you have time to create something you love.

Quilty hugs,

LINKY TUESDAY at Quilting by the River... come join the fun

Connie, at Quilting by the River is starting a Tuesday Linky Party... come join the fun. All the info is on Connie's blog.


That's all for today... I'm off to the Tuesday Quilters' Friendship Group meeting.
I hope where ever you are, you have time to create something that makes you or someone you love happy!
Quilty hugs,

FLIMSY FRIDAYS -- even tho' it's Monday, we're talking about it!

Pat and some of her blogging buddies came up with a nifty idea: Flimsy Fridays. An effort to tackle some of those UFOs hanging about and other projects that only need a little of this-or-that to be complete. Go check out Pat's blog for all the info. Good idea, Pat!

This idea fits well with OPAM: One Project A Month. Please find the OPAM button on my side bar.  Flimsy Fridays can get us to One Project A WEEK! Yippee. Please give it a try and let's see how far this can go.

That's all for today. Thank you so much for dropping by to visit. I hope where ever you are, you have time to create something for someone you love!

Quilty hugs,

BABY GONE WILD - Minky quilt is done, fini, finished!

Sewing with Minky on both the front and back of a quilt required me to develop a new skill set. lol. A walking foot was a huge asset. I am glad this one is finished. I know I said I would never sew on this stuff again, but I hope to get a tiny quiltlett out of the scraps for my little kitty -- she likes the stuff!

The full pic didn't turn out as well as I hoped, but you can get a general idea of what it looks like. The back is all pale pink minky [the same as pink squares on the front]. Sandwiched into the edge seam is very large pink rick-rack.  The quilt is tied with pale pink floss at every square's intersection and has pink silk ribbon bows in each of the four corners. With all the animal prints, I figured it could use some "girling-up".  And I do have a thing for ribbons.

After a bit of hunting around, I found a bag big enough to stuff the quilt in. Tied it up a few ribbons, and voila! Done. Just something about ribbons. I love to tie and fuss with them. Don't know what it is, but they sure appeal to me. Probably just a girl-thing.

That's all for today. I hope where ever you are that you have time to create something that makes you or someone you love happy!

Quilty hugs,

Happy Mail: a package from DJ SP

Happy Mail is so much fun to receive. My new DJ Secret Pal sent me a wonderful package for January. Just thought I would share it here. Wow... gorgeous F8ths, marking pencils, a tote pattern, and a beautifully hand written lovely note! Teriffic! I am a happy camper.

Update on Baby Gone Wild: All the squares are together. Now sewing up the last three rows. I hope to get the giant rick rack on the top tomorrow and even bat-it-up. Because it is Minkee on both sides, a simple stitch-n-birth will be the edge finish technique -- but with the rick rack tucked into the seam. After turning, I'm thinking of tying it with mini ribbon instead of floss or pearl, but will make that final decision Friday. After all, it doesn't have to be finished until Friday night! lol.

While sewing this afternoon, my little kitty Missy wanted to be in my lap, then on the machine, then on the quilt! lol.

Have you ever tried to sew with a "lump in your lap", or a cat in and on your sewing machine? I just couldn't resist - I stopped sewing & reached for my camera. lol

Take it from me, sewing with a kitty in your lap does not work out too well. I took the hint and stopped sewing so we could play for a while.

That's all for now. I hope you have time to stitch up something that makes you happy!

Quilty hugs,