BINDING BY MACHINE. . . and a few personal thoughts: Thank you!!!

Hello, world!  NOPE, didn't fall off the edge of the planet, but almost! lol.  Not a whole lot of sewing going on around here lately. Have managed a bit of crochet and knitting, but that's about it. Until yesterday. . .


Missy *helping* to sew on the binding

Yesterday was very productive: Bound a colorful quilt that will be donated to my Guild's "Cuddle Quilt Project".  Took a few fun pictures along the way... couldn't resist.  Missy - as usual - had her nose quite literally into my sewing!

Missy loves it under the lamp... so warm!

Try stitching the final wrap of a binding while a kitty is sitting ON the quilt and occasionally turning around and swishing her tail! lol. I had to be sew careful... I was afraid it would get stitched! Luckily all went well.

Stitch to back, then edge-stitch to finish from the front. I like it!

Just one single line of straight-stitch shows on back 1/4" away from bound edge. I like it!

I'm really happy with how the binding turned out. I think I will do more machine applied binding in the future. Can't believe how fast it was... even with Missy's occasional help!

Scrappy little Cuddle Quilt. This will put a smile on a child's face!

One block isolated from the others

Someone else pieced this quilt... I just bound it. I think it is a fun block. I drew it up in EQ7 and have saved the file. If anyone would like a copy of the EQ7 file or block drawing, just let me know in the comments... k? Of course, you need EQ7 or the file won't open... that goes without saying, right? For those who don't have EQ7, I can send a pic of the drawing with the cutting dimensions.

On a personal note: THANK YOU SO MUCH for sticking with me--I appreciate every.single.one.of.you!  Saying my posts have been spasmodic lately is a huge understatement! Most of the *stuff* that has been keeping me away from sewing and blogging is about settled, so I hope to return to normal. You know, "normal", whatever that is! lol. Anyway, thank you very much. I have missed all of you more than words can say.

Until next time, when I will share a wonderful discovery with my sewing machine cabinet. . . I'm gonna go practice some FMQ and try to get my MoJo back. What are YOU working on??

Quilty Hugs,

HAPPY MAIL & Quick n Easy Coasters

Donna, of BrynwoodNeedleworks, sent me a surprise bit of Happy Mail. A set of colorful charm squares and a sweet note. Thank you, Donna! I have already put the charms into a project.


Happy Mail - surprise gifty from Donna

The pic below shows some very quick to make Coaters. Take 6 charms for each coaster: fold 4 of them in half, arrange, stitch and turn. I like to zigzag the edge before turning - they launder better that way.  These are so fast, so easy... too cute. Make great gifts.

Coater on left shows zigzagged edge & Coaster on right is turned right side out - finished.

Coasters slip over the foot of a wine glass making them very useful at parties.

It was really really hot a few days ago. Got up to 90 INside the house! Thank Heavens for fans. Below is Missy's solution to keeping cool while napping. I just can't resist sharing this cute picture of Missy stretched out over the edge of one of her beds taking an afternoon snooze. So darling!

Missy stretched out trying to get cool on a hot day.

Until next time. .  . what are you working on today???

Quilty Hugs,

HOOKING ALONG . . . A New CAL Has Begun

It's nothing official, just an informal CAL - Crochet A Long - with a few friends.  Want to join in?  Jules is writing up some directions. Katrin wrote a great post about this blanket - that's how I learned about it. Sounded good to me and I told EllyD and LuAnn about it... now we are all crocheting up a storm!

Mixed Stripey CAL

 What else is a gal to do with huge Space Bags FULL of yarn??

Part of my Yarn Stash

Missy - if there is a box around she will find it!

Missy 'observing' from her new-found box

I've been clearing out and de-stashing in order to re-organize my sewing space. This box was supposed to hold a lot of fabric and several books and magazines. It was headed to my Guild for our donation table. Guess I better find another box!

Until next time. . . what are you doing today???

Linking to Connie at Freemotion by the River.

Quilty Hugs,

CRAZY 9 PATCH QAYG - Quick Update

The Crazy-Beasty is almost finished! I'm not sure, but I think it has been in-process for about 8 years! Yikes. Talk about a UFO!  All four borders are now attached - a better picture will follow when I get the binding on.

Crazy9Patch: 3 borders attached

It might take awhile to decide on the binding fabric. . . more pictures will follow in another post showing the process of putting this lap quilt together.  It is a good technique. I love that it is easier to baste, quilt and complete than more traditional methods. I don't do every quilt this way, but it is a nice technique to have in one's bag of tricks.

Missy "helping" me sew on the sashing strips

Don't forget to enter the BlogHop Drawing.  Some nice gifties are being offered. Please see the button on my side bar to take you to the QuiltingGallery for a list of ALL the blogs participating.  Thank you, Michele, for hosting! You must leave your comment on my original post HERE to be in the drawings. Good luck, everyone.

Hope you have a lovely weekend planned and will find some time to stitch. Until next time. . .

Quilty Hugs,

UFO Time... QAYGo Crazy9P

How did it get to be Wednesday AGAIN ALREADY???! I didn't realize when I bought that last 2012 calendar that I had bought a "fast one"!

It is definitely UFO time around here. The QAYG Crazy Nine Patch quilt - below -  has been on the back burner so long that I don't even remember when I started it ... 2006, 2007, 2004? Who knows. Long enough that I no longer remember my orginal "plan".

QAYG Crazy 9 Patch

So far it is set with 7 rows of 5 blocks each. The piecing is totally wonky and deliberately hap-hazard. This was a fun and liberating group of blocks to make. The blocks are layered and machine quilted across the seams with a serpentine stitch. Each block is made as a separate unit. Then the blocks are joined with sashing strips. Very easy and a good technique when one's space is limited as mine has been. The borders will be added the same way.... now I need to get busy and do just that. It is July's project.

Crazy stitch closeup & Green border backing fabric

Missy cat-napping on one of her afghans

That's all for today. Thank you for stopping by for a visit. Until next time. . .

Linking to Connie at Quilting By The River

Quilty Hugs,

PS: Good news: Received a lot of "atta-girls" from my doctor at this week's visit. Have lost >6 pounds, and my lab results have improved! This has all happened just since June 20th! I have been almost 100% compliant with the new plant-based eating regime. I'm having fun with it.  THANKS again to all of you who have written to me with support and encouragement... it has been a HUGE help!
More "menu fun" and pictures to follow next time.

CATHEDRAL WINDOW PINCUSHION... Quick, Easy, Fun

This sweet pincushion sews up pretty quickly and makes a nice gift for a sewing friend. Or... even make one for yourself! Now that's a novel concept, eh?! I had fun sorting and picking through my buttons trying to find a pair to sew in the center. It was a nice trip down memory lane as so many of the buttons were removed from past garments... a couple from my Great-Aunt's garments.

My dear friend Rosa posted/tagged a picture on FB and that's where I first saw this pincushion. A little clicking around produced THIS LINK where there is a great tutorial, so I won't re-create the wheel by giving directions.  The fabric I used is a charm pack from the 1862 Battle Hymn by Barbara Brackman for Moda.

TIP:  I created placement guides by pressing two light creases on the diagonal of the large plain fabric square. This little trick really really helps to center the folding template guide and get it dead-center! That's my contribution to this project. Below are a couple of pics showing where I made the folds.

See below how easy it is to center the manila folding guide square? It's right on!

The pincushion back is a four-patch. I left part of the final seam open for turning the pincushion. I prefer not to leave an opening on the edge... I like it in a seam, as I think it hides better.

Can you see the tiny space that Missy leaves me to do my pressing in? Little kitty likes to drape herself over most of this already tiny ironing space. The flash on the camera "disturbed" her... trust me, in a few moments she was back relaxing and dozing away on the pressing board.

That's it for now. Next time I will share some FAB straight pins that I found. They are sooooo thin and have very sharp points. Love them!

Until then. . . Quilty Hugs,

Linking to: Connie's Tuesday Linky Party

SURPRISE FROM A SPECIAL FRIEND - Kitty Jewelry!

HUGE surprise last Tuesday: my sweet friend Jill presented me with a Pendant she had made for me. She d/l a few of kitty pics from my blog, fussed with them in her photo-software, and created the jewlery pieces. I am stunned by her generosity. So happy!

After the pendant, she also made a few other pieces... even a couple of magnets! Two of these now live happily inside my portable 'sewing kit'. So cute. The other 3 will become fobs for my quilting tools... need to get a couple of lobster claw findings to put them all together. Thank you so much, Jill!

This is a quick post -- sorry I have been MIA for the past week. Been busy moving and rearranging furniture. It is a much bigger job than I thought it would be and is taking a lot longer, too. Isn't that the way these things go?? lol
Until next time, please have a lovely day stitching. . .

Quilty Hugs,


Linking to Connie's Quilting By The River Tuesday Linky Party

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,

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.

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,

HOOKING MY BRAINS OUT . . . or how to make a dozen coasters in one day!

Ok... the oodles of coasters are DONE! Yippee. The hearts were fun and quick to make. Truth be told, I do love to crochet! I started off by watching a YouTube vid by the Crochet Geek that my sweet friend Elly sent to me. Thanks again, Elly!  Then I veered off and did my own thing. 

The same process with the kitty coaster. One of the gals in my DD's office is just crazy about Hello Kitty, so instead of making her a heart, I tried to make a Hello Kitty likeness -- it's close enough, I guess. lol.

So now it's back to sewing. I still haven't started my little Scrap Houses yet! ;(  I want to get started on them right away. Then there is the Batik quilt in the design process. . . .

I am grateful everyday that I am retired and of reasonably good health so I can sew, create, play with fabric, and visit with all of you on the Net!  And, it's good that I can bend over again, because Missy really loves to play "chase the ball". Here's how it goes: I throw/roll the ball, she watches it intently, I go fetch it and bring it back to her! She is a cute and fun kitty, but we all know who is the boss in this house! lol

Have a wonderful day -- thank you so much for stopping by for a visit.

Hugs,