One Flower Wednesday

The flower I made today turned out quite interesting.

Using Kaffe Fassett fabrics is a real challenge but very fun.

The better part of One flower Wednesday is that I received my VERY first hexies in the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap.  These little beauties came all the way from Pat, who lives in Northhampton, England!!  Oh, they are simply gorgeous and perfectly made!!  Pat also sent a little note on this cute little card from the British Red Cross.

The painting on the front is the Humanity Rose from an original painting by Elizabeth Cameron, who passed away in 2009 at the age of 93.  She was an amazing woman; both an entrepreneur and one of Britain's leading botanical artists.  You can check out more about Ms. Cameron HERE.

Thank you, Pat!!  I love both flowers, but I must say that the polka dot one is my very most favorite!!!  So, much so, that I just might ask Jane to change my preferences to polka dot petals surrounding a lavender or purple center!!  Oh, would that make a gorgeous quilt top or what!!

It's Been More Than 35 Years

since I have done any embroidery!!  Yes, I did buy a couple of darling kits from Shell over at The Raspberry Rabbits but every time I looked at one, I froze up because it had been so long since I had done anything like this.

Well, we went to dinner at my niece, Michelle's for dinner Sunday night and out of the clear blue sky, she asked if I would like to teach an embroidery class at her Church Super Saturday day in October!!  I said yes, I would love to, but then as soon as I could, I found a pattern and both Regena and I worked on a couple of samples to see if we really could do it!!

TaDa!!

 Kris'

 Regena's

Are they the cutest things or what!!  I guess, it's like riding a bike and we had sooooooo much fun!!  Now onto one of Shell's cute pieces!!!

It's Just Too Dang Hot . . .

so I am just hanging out

trying to garner some energy and go in to get some work done in my sewing room and the annex (out in the garage) and get them in working order!!

Anyone wanna come over and just hang out with me while this heat passes??

I am also keeping an eye on Irene to make sure my blogging buddies on the east coast are going to be okay!!

I hope this is as bad as it gets

Prayers continue, dear friends!!

What in the World??

I was out in blogland a few days ago and saw a product advertised that looked exactly like what I should have had when I was making my fabric postcards.

It is called The Wacker Seams Perfect and it is supposed to flatten multi-layer seams by wacking the seam twice while the seam is still hot.  Sounded like a great idea until I saw how much it cost - anywhere from $14.99 to $17.00 plus shipping and handling on top of that.

Since I am a super cheap skate, my mind went into high gear and I thought, hmmmmmmm, I wonder if a rubber mallet at Home Depot would be less expensive.  Well, yup, I got this beauty at Home Depot (or Lowes or Ace and any good hardware store) for $4.97!!

The difference between my Home Depot Smacker and the Wacker is that the Wacker's wooden handle measures about 8 inches long and my super-duper Smacker's handle is 11 inches.  Also, I would imagine that my Smacker is heavier than the Wacker.  But I'll bet it works just as well!!

And I decided that in order to make my Smacker really special, I would paint the wooden handle my favorite color - lime!!

Now, I am not putting down the Wacker Seams Perfect tool as it is truly inspired and it is a great idea, but the way I look at it, not only do I have fun tool that serves it's purpose, but I also have an extra $10.00 - $12.00 to go out and buy a new yard of fabric or 4 Fat quarters!!  Now, that's my kind of tool!!

Hope all our friends on the East Coast are staying safe!!

My First One Flower Wednesday

As I have mentioned several times in the past, I have fallen in love with the hexie flower, so much so that I am now a member of the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap and I just joined the One Flower Wednesday group.

I learned a lot on the first flowers I made in the Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap for Deb in Australia.  But I even learned more on this first One Flower Wednesday flower.

I figured out that if I am going to use the big, bright prints by Kaffe Fassett, I think I want to fussy cut them.  Also, I need to use a thread that is closer in color to the fabric I am using instead of a nice neutral light grey that I use for everything else.  I think I am going to get one of the BobbinSaver rings with prewound bobbins in a cacophony of colors from Superior Threads

If you would like to see what everyone else in the One Flower Wednesday group is doing this week, click on the link above!!

Have a great day, everyone!!

I Want to Be a Cowboy!

I have always loved horses and I have always wanted to be a Cowgirl!!  When I saw the new Moda fabric collection called "King of the Ranch," I just fell in love with it.

 I decided I was going to take a big jump and try something new in my eBay shop.  I am not completely sure what I am going to do, but something fun.  I also ordered some cowboy panels and a bit more of the co-ordinate fabrics.  I am thinking I might make up some fun pillow size kits or make up some cowboy stars with the panel in the center.

Stayed tuned and see what comes out of my head!!

Pillowcases for the Soldiers

Several months ago in the first part of May, Carol, over at Brown Quilts 4 Me asked for some help on behalf of her good friend Jami, who had just found out she has cancer.  Jami has dedicated almost all of her sewing to making patriotic pillowcases and quilts for our servicemen and women.  She has made it her project to make sure that every member of the service that she comes in contact with gets a pillowcase to remember home.  Whenever she goes to an airport, she has her carry on bag full of pillowcases.  She goes to the USO room at whatever airport she's in and hands out pillowcases or if she saw a service person at a gate waiting to get on a plane, she would give them a pillowcase.

Well, when Jami found out about the cancer, she had already promised to make a delivery of pillowcases to Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia.  She asked Carol and her husband to help make the delivery.  They were originally going to go this month but with some delays in Jami's chemotherapy and radiation treatment, they are going to make the trip in September. 

On August 12th Carol posted an update saying that she had received over 300 pillowcases and that with Jami's therapy schedule they are going to try to make the trip to Fort Gordon the end of September.  So, if anyone has any thought of making a pillowcase or two to help Jami and Carol put smiles on lots and lots of soldiers' faces, you can email Carol at goodhomequiltco@aol.com and let her know some pillowcases are on their way!!

I was able to put 4 pillowcases in the mail to Carol today.

And I know I have said this so many times, but I love the quilting community; it is so giving and loving and compassionate!!  I thank Heavenly Father every night for allowing me to be part of this incredible community!!  And I thank all of you for being part of it as well!!

Working on a New Project Fast and Furious!!

When Regena moved in with my Dad and I last month, she was relegated to the smallest of the three bedrooms because my Dad got the Master bedroom with the bathroom and walk-in closet and I got the second largest bedroom to act as our sewing room.  Since her bedroom is so small, she only has a single bed in there.  Since she has always had a queen-size bed she had no single bedding, she was going to go out and get a single-size comforter.  I told her I would make her a quilt instead and she was thrilled.

She decided she really liked the 1930's prints and I started out making 9-patches with white off-setting squares but decided that since her cute little dog, Penny

will be sharing the quilt with her, I decided white was not the best idea.   So, I am working hard to get it done before the cold winds blow in November!!!  Only, kidding, Regena!!

More International Siggies for My Siggie Collection

I have been working on catching up on exchanges siggies for the International Siggie Swap I belong to.  This one is one of my favorites:

and if you would like to see more, just click on the International Siggie Swap page near the top of my blog.

We Picked a Winner for the 1968 Heirloom Wool Crazy Quilt!!

Thank you all for leaving comments about this gorgeous heirloom Wool Crazy Quilt.  You all left such wonderful comments and I truly wish I had a quilt for each of you!!

And the winner is:
Jeanne from The Learning Curve

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:10Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Congratulations, Jeanne!!

Email me your snail mail address and I will get your wonderful quilt out to you!!

My First Hexies for The Inchy Hexagon Flower Swap

are all done and I think they turned out pretty darn cute!!  My swap partner wanted 1930's reproduction fabric and so I decided to find some fabric pieces that I could fussy cut.

But I am a bit nervous about sending these off to Australia because these will be the very first hexies that anyone else has ever seen the back of.

I have just learned to do these little cuties and I have looked at several tutorials on making them but I have really just done my own thing with them and I hope they are properly done!!  I will find out in a few weeks when my swap partner receives them!!

Have a wonderful week where ever you might be quilting!!!

My Postcards for the Carol Doaks Postcard Swap are Done!!

Woo! Hoo!  And boy did I have fun making them.  These are the first postcards I have ever made so I tried all different edges and different post card faces.

Now, all 6 of these postcard fronts may look exactly alike but if you look closely at the diamond piece in the middle you will see that I used a large Kaffe Fassett print and so each triangle is different.

Also, if you look closely, you can also see that I tried different stitches for the edges and finally decided that the one on Nina's postcard is the one I like the best.

I am taking them down to the post office Monday morning so that I can have them hand-cancelled.  And look all the fun stamps I used - a different one for each postcard!!  I hope the recipients like them as much as I do!!

Thank You for Being a Friend!!

Is This the Cutest Thing or What??

Mom, can you come get me down??

Postcard Swap is Due in a Few Days!!

I am feverishly working on my 6 paper-pieced postcards for the Carol Doaks Yahoo group that I belong to as they are due no later than August 15th!!  This has been a really fun swap!!  Here are 4 of the 6 cards I have already received:

This is what the back side of a postcard looks like:

Are they darling or what???  I am hoping that all 6 of my cards go out in the mail by tomorrow!!

Reminder for the 1968 Heirloom Wool Crazy Quilt Giveaway!!!

Drawing is August 15, 2011

See here for more details!!

The Neighbors are Jealous Because We Moved into the Neighborhood

and took all their birds!!  We started out with one little bird feeder under the tree in the front yard.  Then we noticed how many finches were coming to the feeder, so we got a finch sock.  Then we notices all the doves - oh my, we must have 50 doves out there in the early evening just checking out all the bird food droppings that the little birds had dropped out of the feeder during the day.

We noticed a hummingbird and so Regena picked up another hummingbird feeder (we already have one in the backyard) and this morning I walked out to a symphony of bird songs and sights!!

I had no idea there were so many different birds living in the desert.  It's hard to see but there is a yellowed finch at the bottom of the finch sock.

Enjoy your day!!!

Knitted Dish Cloths with Instructions

One of the things I do love about the summer, and no, its not the heat, is that it is baseball season and I am a huge Colorado Rockies fan.  I am sorry to say they are not doing so well this season but they are a great bunch of guys and the game is my fav!!

One thing I can't do is just sit and watch TV so, I always have a project to work on.  Now, it depends on how much I really want to watch what is on that decides what project I am going to work on.  With baseball, I do want to watch it for the most part so my favorite baseball game project is a knitted cotton dish cloth because it is just knitting with a few yarn overs and knit 2 togethers.  Very simple and does not take a lot of thought.

I would imagine that a lot of you knitters already know how to knit this dishcloth and have probably made 100s of them like I have.  But, I thought that new knitters might be interested in getting the pattern for this dish cloth as it is SUPER easy and quite quick!!  They also make wonderful gifts!!

First, you start out with a ball of ""Sugar 'n Cream" by Lily in either solid or variegated.  It is 100% cotton which is most important when making these dishcloths.  You will also need a pair of #8 needles.  The yarn you can get at Michaels, JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby.  Be sure you have your 40% off coupon at JoAnn's or Michaels because they charge way too much for this yarn.  I like Hobby Lobby the best but we don't have one here in St. George.  Boo! Hoo!

Instructions:
With your #8 needles, cast on loosely 3 stitches.
First row, knit 2, yo (yarn over) knit to the end.
Turn needle.  Knit 2 yo knit to the end.

As you can see, the yo increases each row by one.

Continue in this fashion until you have 45 stitches on the needle.

Next row knit 1, knit 2 tog (together) yo, knit 2 tog knit to the end.
Turn needle.  Work previous row until there are three stitches remaining on the needle.  Your dish cloth should start looking like this:

Next row, knit 1, knit 2 together.
Next row knit 2 tog and then you will have one stitch remaining.
Pull this stitch up into a loop and cut off a your yarn with about 6-7 inches hanging.  Pull the end through the loop and tighten.

Take a yarn needle - I prefer the metal ones as they seem to be stronger - and weave the ends through the body of the dish cloth.  Cut off the ends and you are done.

Since I am always making these little guys, I have lots of them!!

But every time I give them as gifts - usually 3 at a time - folks seem to love them!!  And of course, I own enough to change the dish cloth every day, so they never get stale.  Then, after you no longer want them as dish cloths, they make great rags.

Hope you enjoy making these great dish cloths!!

Hmmmmmmm, Moving does Have Some Perks

Several years ago, I bought a ton of fun yarn to make scarves for friends and family.  Well, everyone got their scarf!!  While unpacking boxes from this move, I unearthed this box of goodies.

So, since Regena and decided that we are going to try to get rid of as many extras as we can, we decided we would make all this fun yarn into scarfs and sell them in my little Etsy store.  Here is a peek at my first one.  Regena chose a pink yarn for her first shot!!

Only problem is that it has been so long since I put anything into my Etsy shop, I have forgotten how to do it!!!  Oh, well, off to the drawing board to figure out how to list these scarves!!

Winners of the Ready, Set, Snow Charm Packs

I had so many wonderful comments on this fun Giveaway that I decided giving only one away was just not right - so I decided to give away 3 Charm Packs!!

Congratulations to the Winners:

Mimi from Manitouwadge, Ontario Canada

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: 

Result:

10Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Martha, a Private Blogger

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Result:

20Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Val Laird of Val Laird - Journey of a Stitcher

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Result:

128Powered by RANDOM.ORG

If everyone will email me with your snail mail addresses, I will get your Charm Packs in the mail to you immediately so you can start your Christmas project!!!