Wednesday, December 31, 2014

one last swap for 2014

I've been blogging friends with Jen for several years. We've swapped goodies before (three of my favorite pincushions are these chickens she sent me in 2011!) Earlier this fall, Jen & I decided to do our own private mini quilt swap. I had fun making her this English Paper Pieced mini that I called "you're a star!"
I sent it off with some extra goodies, and look at the fabulous bundle I received from Jen...
Not one, but TWO awesome minis! Jen said the little tulip one was supposed to be a mug rug but I love it hanging on my wall! It's a little burst of sunshine! And the other, well, it matches my aqua walls PERFECTLY! Of course, Jen knew it would because she painted her studio the exact same color as mine! We really are kindred spirits!I love the matching pin cushion too!

Look how pretty they look added to my mini walls....


Check out the adorable fabric basket she sent. It's the perfect home for all of my wonder clips!

Thank you for all of the awesome treasures Jen!

Monday, December 29, 2014

some more 2014 finishes

I love a good small project, that I can whip up in a day! Here are some pillows, bags and pin cushions I made this year....

In the center is a wall hanging that I did as a pattern test for Sara Lawson earlier in the year (this was NOT a one day project! Ha!) I loved it so much and the sentiment was perfect to send to my friend Maria for Christmas.

Mug rugs made an appearance this year. (all of these have gone to other homes!)...
and lots of placemats, thanks to The Placemat Project....

It was fun to get back to garment sewing this year! I'm really enjoying teaching others to sew garments at Stitched With Love....
Lila Lounge pants, Geranium Dresses, Schoolhouse tunics, Washi Dress and Headbands
Looking forward to lots more fun sewing in 2015!


Sunday, December 28, 2014

2014 year in review - quilts

Confession.... I do these year in review posts mostly so I will have a record of what I completed this past year! I sure had fun quilting this year and completed lots of quilts, big and small. Here are most of them....

First up, big quilts! 
Metro Hoops  Marcelle Medallion   Modern Baby Quilt
Dualing Asterisks  Pow Wow   Polka dots
Medium quilts....
Michael Miller challenge Stitchalong
 Postcard quilt  full house
And Minis!
Raincheck Raincheck again! Dwell Swoon Stitch


Mini Asterisks IGmini swap You're a star!






















And one last mini made just this past week. whew. I wonder if I can keep up this pace next year?






Friday, December 26, 2014

handmade Christmas

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Ours was peaceful and fun. I'm so lucky to have friends and family who spoiled me with many handmade gifts. An assortment of ornaments from sewing friends, coworkers, guild members and blogging friends....
Last Monday when I opened up my locker at work, I found this beautiful little tree complete with handmade tree skirt from my friend Sarah! 
This beautiful Christmas mini, complete with metal hanger, arrived from Maria in Australia....

Ally painted lots of canvases for all of us. Some of mine include these fun emojis (some of our favorites to text to each other) 
And a fun Crafty Tuesday sign....
The biggest surprise from Ally was this beautiful afghan! I had no idea she had learned to crochet while she was away at college. From the looks of this, you'd think she had been crocheting for years. I was thrilled to be the recipient of her very first afghan!
Did you receive handmade gifts this Christmas too? I hope you did!


Friday, December 19, 2014

baby quilt finish

One last quilt finish for the year! I just put the final stitches in the binding of this quilt made for a friend's new granddaughter. The request was for a bright, modern baby quilt that could be used past infancy by a little girl.....
 Also, there was a request that it have a tea party reference, since the baby shower was a tea party! I also included some of the linens used at the shower (the pale pinks). Here's a close up of the teapot & cup I included. My pal, Diann, did the beautiful quilting which you can see here as well.
 I used the baby quilt pattern from Rachel Griffith's "Quilts Made With Love" book as a jumping off point, then kind of did my own thing to make the quilt bigger and include all of the requested elements. I rather like the way this turned out!


Wednesday, December 17, 2014

tiny clothes

I've been busy making shop samples for the classes I'll be teaching at Stitched with Love in the spring.  How about some Easter finery for your tiny tots? Darling Geranium Dresses for all sized girls....
 And Mod Kid's Natalie & Nate romper for baby boys.....
Fabrics are from the Moda Pedal Pushers line and Moda Grunge. Won't you come sew with me?

Monday, December 15, 2014

Graduation day!

My handsome son graduates from The Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University today! Seems like yesterday he headed off to Phoenix for college and here we are. So proud of him! He was on the deans list every semester and has really worked hard.

I made him this quilt to celebrate graduation and Christmas. You might remember me working on the curved piecing here....
 Diann's awesome quilting really make it special....
 Quilt pattern: Metro Hoops
Fabric: Moda Figures jelly roll



Saturday, December 13, 2014

Bee Blocks

I realized I haven't shown you my bee block finishes for the last couple of months! Last month, Diann had us make some of the 6 1/2 inch blocks for her Moda Modern Building Blocks quilt. That clever girl, having us make her quilt for her! And the tiniest blocks at that. She's making the whole quilt out of grunge and it's going to be fabulous! Here are the 2 blocks I had to  got to make for her!

 This month, Lisa has us appliquéing orange peels and arranging them however we like. Her fabric choices are so bright & happy. With Christmas coming and so much going on at our house, I wanted to get mind done early....
I am loving being a part of this bee!

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Dainty Tote

When I saw the very first Dainty Tote Bag made by Three Owls I told her she had to write up the pattern! I wanted to make one (who am I kidding? I want to make dozens!) of these! I never imagined she would offer it as a free tutorial on her blog! Well I had a charm pack of Best. Day. Ever! so I chopped it into mini squares and set to work.....
 I adore this bag! The pattern is so clearly written. There are lots of steps, but if you follow along and use all of her hints & tips, it's a fun and easy bag to make. I will be making more for sure! It's the perfect size for little girls to carry their treasures in (think dolly diaper bag?) which is why this one is making it's way to a special little girl in my life for Christmas. But it's also the perfect size for a hand sewing project, which is why I WILL be making another one soon, for ME!
I do believe you need to make one too.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Instagram Mini Swap

This morning as hubby and I were leaving for church I noticed a box on the porch. It must have been delivered after we picked up the mail yesterday. Was it my instagram mini swap quilt? Could it be? I was hopeful! And yes, I did tear into the box while hubby drove to church. And I was right! The package came from Rhonda over at Quilter in the Gap. She named my mini "Winter Wonderland" and is it ever!
 So much to look at! The things I love the most are the bright & pretty paper pieced star and the 3D aqua whirligigs in the sky! oh.... and the curly hand quilted snow drifts..... and.... and.... and.... you get the picture! So much work went into this beauty! Thanks Rhonda!

Included in the package were some extra fun goodies, a darling tree ornament, an awesome lanyard and some other holiday treasures. Ah happy mail!
The mini I made is still making it's way to it's new owner far away. This is what I made her...

I hope she likes it! Fingers crossed it gets there soon.

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Modern Guild meeting

Last night we had our monthly meeting of the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild. So much fun! One thing we did was vote on a challenge mini to represent our guild at QuiltCon in February. I was happy to be one of five who made minis......

Our winner was Stephanie, the second from the left, with the tree. Isn't it awesome? What am I saying? They are all awesome! So much creativity in this group.

Here's a close up of my mini. It's a mini version of my dualing asterisks quilt.....
 I actually drew up this pattern so I could make a mini for my friend, Sarah. She had been threatening to run off with my big quilt ever since I made it! I thought maybe having a small version of her own would make her happy, and it did!


Sarah showing off the mini dualing asterisks quilt I made for her, during show & tell

Something else we did last night was swap handmade ornaments. There were so many cute ones! Here's the one I made for the swap....

I made it using Gingermelon's Snow Folk Pattern that I found on Craftsy. Such a great pattern! And here's the darling ornament I received, made by my friend Chris...

I love it! If you haven't checked out the Modern Quilt Guild near you, I encourage you to do so! If it's anything like my guild, you won't be sorry!


Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Holiday Crafty Tuesday!

The crafty Tuesday girls came today and we had a little Christmas gift exchange. Everyone loved their sweet gifts so much!
I love that Lexi always manages to get into our group shot! As part of our gift exchange we each shared a fact about ourselves that we didn't think the others would know. It was fun to try to guess which clue matched each of us! Who knew that Grace was an actress in her high school days? Or that I once tap danced in a recital! Bet you wish there was video of that! Dream on....

There was much fun crafting, hexie stitching, paper tree making, crocheting.... and of course there was food! (wouldn't be crafty Tuesday without it!)

Turkey, Macaroni & Cheese, salad & fruit.... and lots of chocolate!

Hard to believe our next Crafty Tuesday will be in 2015!