Block of the Month Carrier

Today I finished the BOTM carrier.

Since I didn't have a pattern, I had to figure things out as I went.  I wanted to make the cover stiff, so I had to put the insert in before I quilted which also meant I needed to quilt just the cover and batting, not the backing.

Then I wasn't sure how to quilt it.  I finally decided to do some echoing.  It was the first time I've done this and it was pretty easy.  It's not perfect but not bad for the first time.  I was considering using Timtex for stiffness, but it wasn't quite as thick as I wanted, so just used some cardboard.  So I put two pieces in and left one end open to do so.  I was able to machine sew it shut adding a little enclosure tab.  The pages are fleece which I tried to add with the machine and quickly found out there wasn't room to do so.  So I added the brown spine to the pages and then hand sewed it to the book.  Then I found the perfect button to sew on the front cover.

Now I have no excuse for not finding my blocks of the month!  I think I will also use this when I am doing applique projects.  The fleece will hold all those tiny pieces.  Some of which I have had to re-do as I had lost them.  No more!!

Quilted Book

Today I worked on my Bernina project for the month. Nancy, our instructor, demonstrated a wonderful sweet wall hanging and cute Halloween bags.  I decided to do something a little different but using the techniques we learned.

I need something for keeping my blocks of the month I'm working on, so thought I'd make myself a carrier to keep them.  I did a little research online and ended up designing my own.  I started with the front cover.  Here's a pic of it in the beginning.

We all have these wonderful sewing machine feet and very seldom take full advantage of them.  Nancy encourages us to use them and finds us lots of different ways to do so.  I was switching feet like crazy today.  I used the #37, 1/4" foot which I love in my quilting.  The #1C I sewed the rick rack down with, 10C is my new favorite, just love that one!!  I used #12 for zigging the beaded thread down and  #23 applique and piping foot. I also used some decorative stitches on the wide stem.

She also demo'd "Piping Hot Binding".  There is a book and"ruler" (not really a ruler but...) for this which I've had for over a year but never used.


Today I had success.  I used it as an accent, not in a binding, but it worked out very well.  And I really like that little pop of color.

Three of the flowers are 3-D.  I topped then with a tiny button which I tried to use with my #18 foot but had no success. The holes were just too small.   Dang, I had to hand sew them!

I have the cover done as of this afternoon and ready to put my BSR to use.  I'm dreading that.  I haven't used it much.  We'll see how that turns out next week.

Grandkids!

My Texas kids were here for the weekend to celebrate their cousins' birthdays and did we have a good time!

Lyndey turned five on August 31 and Kayley turned 8 on September 5, so they had a combined birthday swimming party on Saturday.  They had a blast!  Fifteen kids, that's pretty hectic.  Then the family had pizza and Paige got to spend the night with her cousins.  Jake got to spend the night with Austin, my niece's son, that was staying with my sister. They played the Wii for hours.  The next day we all got together for swimming, trampoline, croquet and visiting.  Had sloppy joes and lots of goodies to go with it.  Then the adults played a new dice game called "Dicescapades".  It's a lot of fun.  It has about a dozen different kinds of dice and you have to do different things with them.  Jake and Austin loved it too.  It was late when we left my daughter's house, but I had promised Kayley and Lyndey they could have a sleepover at our house with Jake and Paige so we woke them up (they had fallen asleep) and brought them over.

We were all worn out this morning.  It was slow moving and I was going to fix pancakes for breakfast but quickly got out voted.  The grandkids all love "monkey bread".  You know where you use canned biscuits, butter and cinnamon sugar!  So Papa made a quick trip to the grocery store with the three girls and we started our assembly line.  Lyndey loves cutting them up with the kitchen scissors and Paige and Lyndey love to roll them in that cinnamon sugar! 



Jake being almost ten now has outgrown the fun of making them and prefers to enjoy eating them.  (He'd rather be playing Wii!)  I had given him a "Hex Bug" and he was checking it out.

Before they all left today, I gave the girls their new fabric "paper dolls".  They played a little with them, but with all the new birthday toys, it wasn't on the top of their play list!  I do understand.  But I know they will play with them some because I kept a set for myself!!

So, Bo, aren't they cute? : )

New Fabric Paper Dolls

When I saw these I had to get them, so cute!  Two of my friends have grand daughters and they are doing them too.  We kind of inspire each other to get things done.  Maybe we just use the kids as a reason, but we really like them for ourselves.

The fabric of course, had the neat little tabs that we all used way back when they were made out of paper and  used to keep the clothes on the dolls.  I hated to cut them off but, they were unnecessary because I used flannel on the backs of the clothing.  I backed the dolls with poster board.  The clothing clings very well.

There are actually two different fabric lines.  One is "Aunt Lindy's Paper Dolls" by Sibling Arts Studio and the Christmas line is Paper Doll Christmas Pattern No 30861 by Windham Fabrics.  I got a half yard of the clothing of each and as you can tell there are several repeats which is fine.  The girls can have the same dresses as long as their doll is facing the correct direction.

My three granddaughters will be here this weekend, so I'm going to let them choose what they want and of course, the extras will stay at Nana's!

Can't wait until they see them.  We are going to have such a fun time!