A Timely House Warming Gift

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I'm so happy for my sister, Marianne!

She and her husband just bought their first house.

There are four sisters in my family. We are all different and still, in a lot of ways, very much the same.

Marianne, is truly a traditionalist in her color preferences and her decorating sense. A Christmas tree skirt should make a great house warming gift for her.

This Kansas Troubles, Holiday Medley has been in my stash for a while waiting for just the right home. I think I found it. The tree skirt is 49"x 49" and I used a pattern by Sweet Jane named Oh Christmas Tree. I did the straight line quilting myself. The binding was my first try at a machine binding. It looks great but I still think I like the relaxation that I get by hand sewing better.

The project came together pretty quickly. It could  easily be done in a weekend, especially if you use pre-cuts.

Hmmm, what next?

 

It's a Ghastlie Friday!

My Ghastlie Swap package was a truly special and appreciated end to this week!

 My Ghastlie swap partner is Jennifer Wellbord from Arizona.

I am at a loss for words, (which is rare for me).

Jennifer did an amazing job. This is a very generous, creative and fun swap gift.

The first thing I saw in this very full box was an adorable little pouch that is a perfect size for carrying around little supplies or even a fun reminder of my real life when carrying small items when I have to travel for business.

Next were some fun stickers, tape, mustaches (yes! mustaches) and two adorable pairs of socks.

These will really come in handy for our company Halloween party.

Finally is this GORGEOUS quilt.

I just LOVE it!

The center block is a good example of why so many of us went nuts over this fabric line. The quilt is backed by a coordinating fabric from this year's release. 

I am a Halloween fanatic and this quilt will now be a treasured part of my decorating.

 I am consistently amazed by this fun, cool, helpful, educational and most of all, friendly world of modern quilters. 

Thank you so much Kathy for hosting this swap and Thank You Jennifer!



Hi to all the Sister Thing Swap Sisters!

This was my second bag, ever!

I made it for Bea at www.beaquilter@blogspot.com in the:

I have to admit that I was a little intimidated about my sister having so much more quilting experience than I do but I soon got past it.

I have been a follower of Bea's blog for quite a while.
This is what I came up with for her.

I really enjoyed making this bag.

The pattern is "The Just Right Bag" by Sue Pritt.

It is "fallish" fabrics, with pockets inside and out. The handle is adjustable. The outside pocket has the first zipper that I have put in since a tayloring class in high school. The top closes with a magnetic snap. I will definitely do this one again for myself.

I sent a few other goodies, like a Christmas charm pack and a very special tea that I was introduced to on my recent Alaska vacation.
Thank you Bea for patiently waiting until I got back from vacation.

I really hope we do this again! (Michele?)

A Sister Thing!

Kathy at www.kwiltypleasures.blogspot.com/ is my swap Sister!

She and my sister, Michele at www.quiltsfrommycrayonbox.blogspot.com, conspired and Kathy sent me her gift just before John and I left on our dream vacation in Alaska.

 The timing could not have been more perfect!

I, LOVE this bag!. It's was made from beautiful fabric, it's big, has lots of pockets inside and  has  a key holder that came in really handy. It was the perfect carry on.

Kathy also sent a Christmas charm pack that I have already picked  a table topper pattern for as well as a cute tote pattern.(Hmmm........maybe the Ghastlie swap)

Thank you to Kathy who is an ideal sister and my sister, Michele for hosting this swap.

A Ghastlie Swap!

Kathy over at Kwilty Pleasures is hosting a new

 GHASTLIE swap!

Click on over to www.kwiltypleasures.blogspot.com and check out the details.

Sign ups begin on August 15 and the swap is limited to 30 participants.

Rumour has it that the 2014 Ghastlie fabrics may be the end of the line so let's help Kathy make this swap a

Ghastlie SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Its a Sister Thing, Round 2

It's A Sister Thing!

My sister Michele from Quilts From My Crayon Box is hosting the 2nd annual (?) Its a Sister Thing swap.

Mosey on over and check it out..............

www.quiltsfrommycrayonbox.blogspot.com/2014/06/final-call-for-its-sister-thing-swap.html

For those of you that are new quilters, please don't hesitate to join in. I was a little intimidated last year and found out that quilting ladies are friendly, encouraging and more than happy to have you come play. This was a blast last time.

 I can't wait to get started stalking my swap sister .

Congrats to the Giveaway winners!

For my Giveaway, I asked everyone what they were working on. I had a great time reading about all of the projects that we have going especially some that I never thought of to try!

As for me, I haven't had any quality time with my blog or my Bernina for a couple of weeks because my youngest broke his wrist at school along with a bunch of other not so fun little, time consuming distractions.



Back to the happy announcement.....Congratulations to Kat who is busy making baby bibs. She is the winner of The Quilter Color Club and Colorful Quilts for Fabric Lovers.

Jess is the winner of Easy Quilts for Beginners and Beyond. Jess is making a baby quilt and teaching her S.O. to sew. I loved this comment. One of the things that I liked most about my husband when we started dating was the fact that he sat down at my machine and made a pretty perfect star block.I was a competent hand sewer/quilter back then but had no experience with machine piecing or quiting. He sure showed me how it was done!

One little "housekeeping" matter......this time I had to run Mr. Random twice because the winning entries were No-Reply bloggers. To learn how to fix this problem, try this link created by my sister dear, Michele at Quilts From My Crayon Box, http://quiltsfrommycrayonbox.blogspot.com/2012/10/are-you-no-reply-blogger.html.

Congrats again to all of the winners and thanks for commenting!

It's Giveaway Time!

Welcome to my Giveaway, hosted by Sew Mama Sew! Once again, she has organized all of this for us to get to know each other while having the opportunity to win lovely things. Many thanks to her!

 I am offering two giveaways.

First, Easy Quilts for Beginners and Beyond. This book contains fourteen fun quilt patterns from Quiltmaker magazine.

Second, is The Quilter Color Club by Christine Barnes AND Colorful Quilts for Fabric Lovers by my Walsh and Janine Burke.

To win, just comment on what quilty project that you are working on right now. Followers of my blog are always appreciated but following is not necessary to enter.

Entries must be in by midnight Friday May 16th and winners will be chosen by Mr. Random by Sunday May 18, 2014. Winners will be notified after that date. I am happy to ship internationally. I love reading all of your comments! I wish I could but I won't be able to reply to all of them.
Good luck! Have a blast checking out all the participating blogs.

Saint Patrick's Day Fun

 Wouldn't you know it????? As often as not, when I am planning a big dinner with company, there is some sort of disaster at home. I won't have time for company tomorrow so I am making my traditional St. Patrick's dinner today. I got up early and started the horseradish sauce for the corned beef then started working on desert. I was just getting happy and the darn kitchen faucet started leaking under the kitchen sink! Not a good time for me not to be able to use water. What my husband hoped would be a small fix, turned into several hours and a new faucet!

Things are starting to settle down now but what a mess I need to clean up before anyone gets here! I kept going without water so I used every practically every pot, measuring spoon, measuring cup and utensil that I own. The Guiness cupcakes http://sugarandsnapshots.com/irish-car-bomb-cupcakes-recipe/are done, the corned beef is in the oven and the ingredients for the Irish soda Bread are ready to mix when my oven is free.

 I wonder if I can make time to put my feet up for five minutes and have a cup of tea and a cupcake!

Bronwen's Fantasy

My Batik Adventure produced this quilt that I call,

 Bronwen's Fantasy

Batiks always seemed random and scattered to my super linear taste.

Now, I'm looking for my next project using them! 

I did the straight line quilting myself, for the first time, on my domestic machine. I've done this a lot on small projects but I really struggled with it this time. I just couldn't get comfortable wrestling with the quilt. I'm not the most patient person in the world especially when I really want to do something and there is a learning curve.

 I need lots and lots more practice. I think some classes are in order.

Parting with a quilt intended as a gift isn't usually an issue for me but I was surprised to find myself a little reluctant to put this in a box and wrap it.

 Bronwen squealed with delight when she opened it on Christmas!

Bronwen's Fantasy-My Batik Adventure

I have a very colorful mother in law!

My Batik Adventure began when I decided to make my mother in law a quilt.

Bronwen is colorful, vibrant, bold and she loves adventure. 

I poured over magazines and blogs for months and months trying to decide on just the right fabric and pattern.

Hmmmm.....would this be a good oppourtunity for me to explore something different?

 I had seen Batiks but never quite "got it". Symetry is a very strong tendancy for me, most of the time and Batiks seemed random.

 From the minute I laid out the first block, I could see that this was going to turn out to be something special.

It's colorful and bold and adventurous and ZANY, just like her. The more I worked, the more excited I became.

                                     What will Bronwen think of this?