trouble in paradise

hello friends! I've been trying to share some projects with you here on my blog for several days, but alas blogger has decided not to load any of my photos. Have you ever had this issue? Any suggestions for a solution? When I try to load a photo (any photo) I get an error message that says "server rejected". boo. 

Just wanted to check in and say all is well here, I hope you are well too. You can always visit me and see all of my makes on instagram @ellynz

Happy weekend to you!

 

First Finish of the New Year

 

Last night I put the finishing stitches on the binding of my 2021 Word of the Year quilt.  You can read my thoughts on the word believe here.  I thought a magic wand was the perfect item to represent my word this year.

All of the fabrics are Moda Grunge and the finished quilt measures 18" x 20".  I used a bunch of different techniques in this one tiny quilt.... foundation paper piecing for the letters, my own funky dresden technique for the end of the wand, needle turn appliqué recently learned from my friend Martha for the stick, big stitch quilting on the yellow, and machine quilting for the rest.... and I'm really happy with how it all came together.

Believe

 

photo of Macys in NYC by my daughter Leigh Anne

Happy New Year friends. I have chosen my word for the year for 2021. It is...

BELIEVE

I have come to learn that often I choose a word for the year for a specific reason and that the reason changes and evolves throughout the year. That said... here is my thinking at this moment.

I believe in myself! I believe that I am strong and capable. I believe I can learn new things, accomplish many things, love well and live well. 

I believe our country can (and will) do better. That we have learned much, especially in the past year, and that we will apply what we have learned so that we can work together, love each other and restore our nation to one that is respected throughout the world.

I believe our world will heal. That each of us will have a hand in that healing and that we will, once again, be able to travel the world and be united as a human race.

Most importantly, I believe in an almighty, loving God who will help us to make all of this happen.

Do you have a word for 2021? I'd love to hear about it.

Plaidish 2

 In an effort to use my scraps this summer, I decided to jump on the plaids bandwagon and make a Plaidish 2 quilt. This quilt is a free tutorial from Kitchen Table Quilting and it's a good one! The quilt top was fun to make and when it was finished, hubby declared it one of his favorites. I decided right then and there to finish it up for him for Christmas.

My friend Anne quilted it for me on her longarm. We bartered for woven towels and shoe laces, which I was so happy to make for her! 

It's a great big quilt, 69"x86", which I knew hubby would love for tv snuggling in the evenings. He was very happy when he opened it up on Christmas morning.

A couple of weeks before Christmas I told him I was making him a Christmas gift and I challenged him to do the same. If you look carefully in the photo above, you can see my gift behind him.

He built me a wonderful storage unit for my rigid heddles and shuttles! It's perfect and much needed.

Christmas sure was different this year, with none of the kids here to celebrate (we visited all of them on zoom) but we made the best of it and enjoyed each other's company. I'm so happy my kids are all choosing to stay safe and make wise decisions. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well.

The Big Easy Quilt, AMH version

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to test Alice and Catherine's soon to be released pattern, The Big Easy Quilt. This is an awesome pattern using fat quarters,  perfect for big prints. My test quilt (which still needs to be quilted!) was made all from my stash. If you've been following me for a while, you might guess that it was not an easy feat for me to come up with prints to use! But I did it, and I'll share that quilt with you down the road.

While we were working on our test quilts, Alice shared a version that she had made using Anna Maria Horner prints and I fell in love with it. I have always been a fan of AMH florals, but never knew what to do with them. Finally I had my answer! I immediately began collecting prints for my own version.

This has quickly become my go to snuggle quilt for evening tv watching! 

I couldn't bear to waste the leftover thin strips, so I pieced them into my pieced backing. I must say, the back makes me almost as happy as the front.

Diann and Jeff from Happy Quilts quilted it for me, perfection as always! And the quilting pattern Diann chose is absolutely perfect with the prints. 

I promise to update here as soon as this awesome pattern is available. Also, I have one more quilt finish to share with you before the end of the year. 

ornament swap

Every year the McKinney Modern Quilt Guild has a great ornament swap during our December meeting which is a fun Holiday party. Of course, this year looked much different. Our party was on Zoom, so there was no stealing of ornaments. boo. that part is always fun! Instead, swappers signed up ahead of time. The Saturday before our meeting, swap fairies flew all around the city and swapped out the packages that had been left by the front door of each member's home. Then we waited until our meeting on Tuesday to open up our packages.

I ended up swapping ornaments with Kacey, a fun new member of our guild. I found this cute squirrel ornament pattern in a recent quilting magazine and had everything I needed to make him. Kacey seemed to like him!

Meanwhile, I received this beautiful hand embroidered holiday hoop from her. I just love it! Such beautiful handwork.

This meeting also marked the end of my two year term as president of our guild. The time really flew by! I had so much fun leading our guild with incredible board members alongside me. Now I get to be a regular member and be surprised every month by the fun activities. 

weaving

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged! I've been very busy filling weaving orders for kitchen towels. I'd love to fill my etsy shop with towels, but I can't seem to get ahead of the special orders. It's a great problem to have.

I saw someone warping their loom on you tube (can't for the life of me remember who it was) and she had a board with multiple pegs to help keep her warp even. I showed it to hubby and he set to work building me one! It works really well....

Here are just some of the towels I have woven and shipped off in the last month or so...

                               

 I still have several orders to fill then I can start to fill my shop!