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,

HAPPY MAIL! Embroidery!

The postie brought some lovely Happy Mail: a wonderful embroidery from Frummie. I think her Charlie helped... or maybe it was the other way around! lol. Thank you so much Frummie. Your lovely embroidery will become part of a special label for my Civil War Quilt. The picture below does not do justice to this gorgeous stitchery... all the stitching is PERFECT and so delicate!

Embroidery by Frummie

Until next time. . . I am off to my sewing circle meeting to sit-n-chat-n-sew. What are YOU up to today?

Linking to: Freemotion by the River.

Quilty Hugs,

MINI ARRIVES!!

A Friendship Embroidery Mini Quilt has arrived at my home all the way from Tasmania, Australia! It is so pretty. I love everything about it. Thank you, THANK YOU to Jenni for making it. Jenni even put hanging sleeves on the back and a label! Look close for the darling little kitty buttons Jenni added. Really high on the Cuteness-Scale! Jenni wrote a lovely note and included a picture of where she lives. Lovely.

Quilt designed and made by: Jenni K., Tasmania, Australia, Oct 2012

Jenni made and included two NeedleCases. She said one is to keep and one to share with a friend. How sweet is that?! I can hardly wait to hang this gorgeous quilt up, but want to finish the re-do in my sewing room first. It will look fabulous, but I want its new home to be on a clean and freshly painted wall. Yippee Skippee. I am so happy that I just don't have words to express it!

Friendship Embroidery Mini by: JenniK.., Tasmania, Australia.

Until next time. . . what are YOU up to???

Quilty Hugs,

HAPPY MAIL. . . A sweet MugRug from Sherrie

Friday's post brought some Happy Mail: A pretty little MugRug from Sherrie R. in Massachusettes. Both of us are in the Inklingo 2012 Mug Rug Swap. Thank you, Sherrie. My new little mat is already doing duty in my sewing room. The colors are so fun... love the circle fabric! Sherrie even included two packages of Twinings Tea in her gift. Nice!  I will post a picture of the one I made and sent to Sherrie, but not until she sees it first. *g*

MugRug, InklingoSwap2012, made by: Sherrie R.

The swap was a small challenge to design and use one or more Inklingo shapes to make a mini quilt in a MugRug size. Our fearless-leader was Jillian of DakotaEssense. Thank you, Jillian, for all your time and hard work. 

This is a super quickie post today - some OB blocks are calling my name.  Time to get back to these poor little OB pieces that have been languishing in a box for too long. They need to come out and play and get sewn into a top! So, until next time. . .

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,

BABY GONE WILD... sewing up some Minkee

It is almost "baby time" in our family again -- time to whip up another baby quilt. The new mommy-2-be has chosen Pink & Brown as her color scheme, but also wants animals. While strolling thru the aisles at Road2California earlier this month, I spotted a stack of  animal print Minkees and a light bulb went off! Eureka... this was it! lol.

So far just the 80 squares are arranged on this make-shift design wall*, but I think it might be ok this way and will begin sewing the squares together tomorrow.  The outside edge will be very simple -- large pink rick-rack tucked into the seam... then just stitch the Minkee backing on and birth. A little tack-stitch at the intersections in lieu of quilting, and voila! Done!

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

Quilty hugs,

* Make shift design wall: A large piece of flannel tacked to a piece of wood that can be draped over the open doors of my TV armoire in the living room... not fancy, but it works! lol. And when I'm done it can be rolled up and stored behind a bedroom door. ;-)

PINCH ME! . . . I won

It is so exciting! I won the drawing over at Elefantz! Thank you so much, Jenny!  The fabric charms and the hand dyed cotton embroidery threads are sooooooo beautiful! And, it came in this gorgeous package all the way from Australia:

Jenny has a lovely blog and is currently running a BOM: "Promises & Borders". There is a clickable link on my left side bar. Go have a visit at Jenny's blog. You will find oodles of eye-candy and tons of inspiration!

I tell ya -- I am excited and thrilled all the way to my toes! lol. So, the next time you see a give-a-way or drawing, go ahead and sign up.  You never know -- you might be the lucky one!

Thank you for stopping by for a visit and I hope you will come back. Until then. . .

Quilty hugs,

A LITTLE PURSELETT . . . The 911 Bag

TaDah! Finished a couple of things today. First, a cute little purselett that I have dubbed "911", because I fill them with essential things a gal might need during the day at work: 'cotton angels', ponytail holder, small manicure set, bandaids, hand sanitizer, emery board, small sewing kit, etc.... All the gals in my DD's office love them. By the end of the year I hope to have made one for each gal.

Take 2 FQ. Fold raw edges to center. Fold over ends and top stitch for casing. Stitch up side... DONE! I do make tassels, or prairie points or similar to use as 'handles' to open purselett. Today I made strips similar to what we make for belt loops and added some buttons on the ends for fun.

Before joining the front to the lining, I made a small pocket for the 'cotton Angels' and top-stitched it to the lining.

Also today saw the completion of 10 new crocheted coasters. Pics for these Valentine's cuties will follow soon. I have really been on a crocheting binge lately... can't get enough of hooking! lol

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit.

Hugs,

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Isn't this a sweet WH? My wonderful friend SteffiniD made it and gifted it to me two Christmases ago. It is one of my all time favorite quilts!

The 'tree' above is a Swedish Dowel Tree that stays up all year around in my house. I just love it. My youngest son and I made it together - a couple of decades ago! Bill [who was in Jr High at the time] did the woodworking and I made all the tiny ornaments, or "quiltlets" as they have been called. My Mother is gone now, but we keep this tree up all year round because she loved it so and we all loved her!

From my home to yours, the very warmest of Merry Christmas greetings, and the Happiest & Healthiest of New Years!

★˛˚˛*˛°.˛*.˛°˛.*★˚˛*˛°.˛*.˛°˛.*★Merry*★* 。*˛.
˛°_██_*.。*./ ♥ \ .˛* .˛。.˛.*.★* Christmas*★ 。*
˛. (´• ̮•)*.。*/♫.♫\*˛.* ˛_Π_____.♥Everyone ♥ ˛* ˛*
.°( . • . ) ˛°./• '♫ ' •\.˛*./______/~＼*. ˛*.。˛* ˛.*。
*(...'•'.. ) *˛╬╬╬╬╬˛°.田田 門      ╬╬╬╬╬*˚ .˛ ...

Hugs,

PS: The text picture above is courtesy of one of my handy-dandy-talented kids!

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TODAY? . . . I'm Embroidering An SBS Block

What are YOU doing this gorgeous Sunday? I'm finishing up the embroidery on a SBS block for one of my granddaughters. It's not quite done, but here it is so far. . . please ignore the basting threads:

A couple of years ago I made Sid a quilt using several embroidered blocks, adding sashing, cornerstones, borders, etc., to bring it up to twin size.  This block is similar to the ones in her quilt and will be a 'picture' for her bedroom wall. I hope to create a small pieced border for this embroidery using some of the material left over from her quilt. My plan is to carry it with me on my upcoming trip to Hawaii and frame it to hang in her room. Easier than mailing it, ya?!

That's all for now. Thank you for stopping by. I hope where ever you are that you have the time and inclination to create something that makes you happy!

Hugs,

Happy Mail from Germany! -- Thank you, Brigitte

Four beautiful DJ blocks -- all perfectly made -- sent all the way from Germany! Thank you so much, Brigitte.  Brigitte's needleart skills are amazing... every seam perfect; every seam intersection, perfect! Golly, sure wish I could sew like this. 

Look carefully on the right side of the photo: A lovely and darling handmade card! All hand-painted, colored, calligraphied... wow! I'm lucky if i can legibilly sign my name to the monthly checks when i pay the bills! LOL.

Thank you, thank you, Brigitte. Here are some closeups of her beautiful blocks:

Perhaps I shouldn't try posting so late at night... can't seem to get the photos to line up where I want them. It doesn't detract from their beauty however, but I apologize that it might make it more diffiuclt for you, dear reader.

That's all for now... I just wanted to share these gorgeous blocks... I'm so excited!
Night nite everyone. . .


Oh, BTW, while I've been on this sewing hiatus, I have been working on other handcrafts that are easier for me to manage right now.  I have some new projects to share of knit, crochet and tatting items I've been working on lately. Pictures to follow soon. . . . Thank you for stopping by and visiting. . .

Many hugs,

Cyn; -)