Gratitude Quilt

I finished my fourth word-of-the-year quilt! Gratitude was my word in 2012. I chose a pumpkin to represent my word because I always think of the harvest when I think of gratitude. Also, I realized that this is ABSOLUTELY the longest word I can choose or I will have to make my paper pieced letters even smaller (and that, my friends, is NOT happening!)

For the pumpkin, I used this tutorial that I found via Pinterest (don't you just love Pinterest?) posted on the Fort Worth Studio Blog (which I love!) The finished quilt is 18x20, just like the other word quilts I have made. I can't wait to hang them all together eventually! I have one more to make before 2016 and my new word arrive. It's my 2011 word, Trust. I am totally stumped on a picture for this one. Any thoughts?

going around in circles...

I confess, I am easily distracted! I have a wonderful list of projects to work on, then I see something I like and off I go in a different direction. Recently, Laura over at Love the Bluebird has been crocheting mandalas. First I saw them popping up on her instagram. Hers are sweet and pastel and pretty. I loved them. Started looking up tutorials on Pinterest, checked out some links on her blog. Next thing I knew I was digging in my yarn stash and crocheting in circles! Of course, there are no pastels to be had in my stash. So I started with brights & maybe, just maybe, I will be adding some pretty pastels to my collection (so much for using what you have, right?)

First I whipped up this one (tutorial here)....

 Then this one (tutorial here)....

both were pretty easy and quick to do. I'm a beginner crocheter, even though I've done it for years I never advanced past the basics! The tutorial for the second one was kind of hard to follow but I managed to figure it out!

UPDATE!
I actually found a few pastelly, dainty colors and whipped up a third mandala today! Want to see? of course you do!

This tutorial was really easy to follow and the most fun to make so far! You can find it here, at Attic 24.

This is a bit addictive! Thanks for the inspiration Laura!

this and that

Yay! my wall of minis is beginning to come together! I put my three Thimbleblossoms minis up the other day and I must say, I love the way they all play together....

 As you can see, I have lots of room to add to this wall.... also, my fabric is all unpacked but looking rather messy. sigh.

 Has anyone else been contemplating making a Marcelle Medallion quilt from the Liberty Love book? Or am I the only one that crazy? Do a search for them on Pinterest, you will be amazed! I have to be honest, it's the center block that intimidates me the most. I decided to give the block a trial run, using some fabrics from my stash....

It's not perfect but it's not horrible, right? This was, most definitely the most difficult quilt block I have ever attempted. I will try it again. Perhaps in solids? Stay tuned....

projects at the new house

Quite a while ago, long before we bought our new house, I pinned this pin on Pinterest. I'm sure I'm not the only person who hates those big giant bathroom mirrors with the ugly light bars above them. Well there were two of those in our new house....

 I showed our handyman the plans I had gotten off the internet and now both bathrooms look like this...

So much better! And once I deck them out with pretty nick backs, a stack of new hand towels... it's going to be great! Have you completed any pinterest projects lately?

home

Our church is creating a "family Christmas tree". They asked that each family provide an ornament for the tree that represents them, along with an explanation for a scrapbook. I knew immediately that I would make our ornament, and that it would be a house of some sort. I found this ornament on Pinterest and it spoke to me.

When Rick & I married 26+ years ago, and formed our little branch of the Z family, we had no idea where our journey would take us. We only knew that we wanted to take the journey together, for better or worse... you know the drill! We didn't know that God would provide us with three amazing kids. Nor did we know that our journey would place us in 5 (so far!) different homes in 3 (so far!) states. What we did know was that wherever we were, we would create a home for our family. A place where our children felt safe and loved, a place where our friends (and theirs!) could gather to laugh & cry, eat together, study, pray, play board games....

Home.

And whether it was a two bedroom apartment, with hand me down furniture and 80s mauve and blue country decor, a 1960s split level with a leaky roof and broken toilet, where kraft macaroni and cheese and applesauce were daily fare, a temporary apartment with rented furnishings (even silverware!), a freshly built colonial, with the Rocky Mountains as our backdrop, or a Texas sized brick house with quilts hanging on every empty wall, all have been home to us.

Now, as we celebrate our final Christmas before we become empty nesters, we watch our children begin to establish homes of their own. My prayer is that home will always be a place of comfort and happiness for them. And we will go back to where we began, just the two of us, with our arms and our home always open and waiting for their visits.

jumping on another bandwagon

Several months ago I pinned this tutorial and vowed I would try out the Japanese X and + block. There were quite a few quilts of these popping up all over blogland and I was intrigued. Well it took me quite a while to hop on the bandwagon, but the other day I finally sat down to make one block. And this happened....

Twelve blocks! All made from my stash (except for a couple of fat quarters of gray solids I bought, so I could mix up the triangle colors). And then I decided to make one big block to mix in with the others...

 And that made me happy too.

So there you have it. Once again I have been sidetracked by things not on my "must do" list. Sigh. More of these to come....

baskets received

Since I was on vacation last week, I didn't get to attend the McKinney Modern Guild meeting when our baskets were exchanged. I have a confession to make. The day after the meeting, I was poking around on pinterest and Facebook searching for pictures of the basket I received. I was delighted when I saw these sweet baskets made with my scraps.....

I picked them up from the quilt store the other day. The maker didn't include her info in the package. I hear they were made by Stephanie and I am trying to get her contact info so I can thank her. I love them! They go perfectly in my red/white/black kitchen...

 and a side shot so you can see the pretty patchwork...

I plan to keep them full of silverware, just like she gave them to me. A perfect idea! Thank you Stephanie!

festive treats

so, I saw this pin on Pinterest a while back and thought these would be so cute for the holidays. And thanks to these...

 I was able to make them gluten free! Yay! Mine aren't quite as fancy as the ones on Pinterest but I think they came out pretty cute. I decided to put sprinkles on them while the white chocolate was still soft...

 And here they are in my cute little IKEA bow on my cute little IKEA tray. Just because.

The church ladies are coming for tea on Sunday. I think these will go over big.

learning to sew... the ongoing story

The girls came over for another lesson today. One drawstring bag needed to be finished up...

 And then we played with Shrinky Dinks! They had seen buttons and pins I made with shrinky dinks and they wanted to do it too. So we did...

 Wait, what is that she's making?

 ah, it's Justin Beiber! Of course! I'd know him anywhere!

 Somewhere on Pinterest I saw someone suggesting you stick straight pins in a potato when you put them in the oven to shrink. Genius! It worked like a charm. The girls straight pins were so creative and cool!

Next time they come, we're going to make pretty patchwork pincushions so they can display their awesome pins. Stay tuned!

Also, did you hear? Monday is Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day! I'll be playing along for sure. Check this space on Monday for goodies you can win!

pattern review.... Church Ladies' Apron

A friend of mine asked me to make her a couple of aprons for Christmas gifts. After the two of us perused Pinterest for a while, she decided she really loved these aprons. I thought the pattern looked really great so I ordered it online. It's the Church Ladies' Apron pattern. 

 I must say that this pattern did not disappoint! The whole pattern takes just one yard of 2 coordinating fabrics (I used some Denyse Schmidt fabrics I had on hand from Joanns). It went together in just a couple of hours. I love the contrasting pockets and the fun scalloped edge on the bottom.

 The really cool thing is that the apron is completely reversible! All of the seams are totally encased so there are no raw edges anywhere. Sweet!

I'll be keeping this one for myself (no, it doesn't match my kitchen, but really? It's so pretty!) and can't wait to make some more.

The Church Ladies' Apron Pattern gets 2 thumbs up from this girl!

learning to sew

Some of the junior high girls at church indicated to me that they would like to learn to sew. We synced our schedules (ok, theirs really! Those girls are BUSY!) and decided to begin this morning. I thought it would be fun to start with.....

BUTTONS!

I set the girls up with embroidery hoops, white cotton fabric, needles, needle threaders, scissors and all kinds and colors of buttons and thread. We looked at some fun pictures on Pinterest to get ideas, I taught them the basics of needle threading and button sewing, and turned them loose.

 It was great to see their creative juices flowing. Each button picture is going to be quite different when it is finished. They will have something fun to hang in their bedrooms and will have learned a valuable skill in the meantime.

I told the girls that when sewing and crafting there are no real rules, only guidelines. Oh, one rule actually. There must be chocolate. They liked that rule!

The girls want to learn to sew on the machine too. We are going to make drawstring bags next time we meet. I can't wait!

Nine patch block swap

I've never made a quilt with Kaffe fabrics. I love them, they are gorgeous, but I have never been inspired to make a quilt with them. Not sure why. Well our current block swap at TQA is Kaffe nine patches. We each made 90 nine patches using Kona Porcelain and any Kaffe we wanted. Not surprisingly, mine were mostly polka dots and spotty fabrics.

On Saturday I stitched them all together. All 90 blocks in one quilt top. I was inspired by this quilt I saw on Pinterest. The quilt on Pinterest has a tiny scrappy border but I have decided to leave my topper with no border, more modern I think and I like it this way. I'm trying to decide what color to bind it in though, any advice? I don't want to do it in the porcelain because it will get dirty too fast.

Thinking maybe I will pick up one of the colors and bind it in a solid. Not sure yet...

zipper pouch swap

Last night we had our zipper pouch swap at The Quilt Asylum. It was really fun, even though our numbers have dwindled (summertime maybe?). You have already seen my pouch. Here are all of them together...

 I love that they are all different, from teeny tiny pouches (perfect to store your earbuds! Or coins) to over-achiever large pouches! Here's the one I received made by Susan B...

I just love the bright pezzie fabrics and the snazzy buttons, just my style! And it's a good sized pouch which will easily hold a small handwork project on the go. Or maybe jewelry when I travel. I just love it and can't wait to put it to use.

Next swap is potholders. I've already created a Pinterest board for ideas and my creative brain is beginning to work.... stay tuned...

fusion blanket crochet along

yes I've jumped on another bandwagon. Sigh. But seriously, I had pinned this blanket a long time ago on Pinterest and when Little Miss Shabby and others decided to do a crochet along I took it as a sign that I was supposed to play along. 

The cool thing about this blanket is that it combines sewing and crochet skills. Most people are using quilting cottons for the center squares (and since it calls for 5 inch squares, charm packs are perfect). You know me, I had to try something different. I had a bundle of flannel fat quarters that have been sitting in my stash for a while, so I cut them up into 5 inch squares and set to work....

 Hmmm my first attempt was less than perfect. The yarn I had chosen was way too thick and created a ripple/ruffle effect. Not what I was going for! Back to Walmart I went for baby weight yarn. Well look at that! Much better!

 Each block uses 2 different squares, here's the back of block number 2.

 Quite a difference. Now I am busy cutting the border off of square number one so I can reuse the flannel.

Feel free to jump in and crochet along with us!

double disappearing nine patch mini quilt

As if I didn't have enough distraction issues, Pinterest is going to be the death of me! I will have to live to be 200 years old to complete all of the fun projects I have discovered there. The other day I decided to try out this tutorial for a double disappearing nine patch which I first found on Pinterest. It's from a new-to-me blog called a few scraps. So I made up one block...

And when I got one block done, I saw all kinds of possible layouts for multiple blocks. So I  made three more....

Added a navy blue border and there you have it! My buddy Diann agreed to quilt it for me, then we'll put both of our names on it and submit it as a mini quilt for our guild's auction. What a fun block! And easy to do.... you should try it out.

instead of sewing...

You might have gathered from my last couple of posts that there wasn't much (ok, any) sewing going on at ellyn's place the last 10 days or so. I was so so lucky to have all of my chicks in the nest over Mother's Day! We had so much fun just being a family. This morning we sent this pretty girl back to her home in Arizona.....

 While Leigh Anne was here, she was staying in my sewing room which converts into a guest room. Nope, she doesn't even have her own bedroom here anymore! But it's ok, she has an apartment that she loves all to herself. Don't feel too sorry for her!

During our down time (you know, watching Nate decorate on TV, chatting the day away) I decided to do some crochet...

 Cotton dishcloths! Nine of them to be precise, from this pattern which I spotted on Pinterest.

It whips up very quickly and turns out so cute! I bought one giant cone of white cotton yarn and three small colored skeins and you can see that I still have some leftover! So there may be another dishcloth to come? Maybe a striped one using all four colors! Who knows.

Today I am back in my sewing room, finishing up something splendid for Sew Mama Sew Giveaway day (it's Monday! are you ready?). Bet you can guess one thing that will be a part of my giveaway?

little pouches

When I saw this tutorial I knew I had to make some little patchwork pouches! I have several friends with birthdays this week and next and I thought these would make adorable gifts. I made four. The tutorial was awesome and they went together really well. These 2 came out perfect!

 But this one, well, let's just say it's a little wonky. Totally my fault. 1) I didn't topstitch the patchwork seams which would have stabilized them & helped me to line them up better.

 2) I managed to sew through my finger with the machine needle as I was putting in the zipper! I don't recommend this. It HURT! I did not get a drop of blood on the patchwork (and there was plenty of blood to be had, believe me!) but I'm sure this little activity didn't help my sewing any.

This last one went together pretty well, but when I had it all done I realized I had the little ribbon loop inside out! DUH!

so, two of the four will make lovely birthday gifts, don't you think?

needlebook

The next swap at The Quilt Asylum is needle books. I've been pinning tons of pictures from the internet for weeks here. This weekend I made one up, not sure if it is the one I will swap or not but I sure am happy with it! Here's the front...

 and the back....

 I used the tutorial from Nana Company. Have you visited this blog? You really must! So many lovely things there. The whole needle book was made from my stash. It was a great opportunity to use up little scraps of fabric, ribbon, felt, etc. I even decorated the inside pages a bit. And added a little pocket inside the front cover.

 ribbon, rickrack, buttons and scraps of felt here and there...

I think I'll make several more of these. It was a fun little weekend project & would make a fun gift for my crafty/sewey friends. (is that a word? sewey? if it isn't it should be.). I hope you had a fun weekend too!