Football "blanket"

I can't believe it's been a year since I posted anything on this blog!  This past year I have not done as much sewing and quilting as I would have liked.  We have really been using our spare time on riding our trike as much as we can.  Life's too short not to enjoy that as long as we can and my husband and I do like riding the motorcycle.

Anyway one my nieces is expecting her second child, a little boy in about two months and she saw this posted on the internet and asked if I would make it for her.  She actually asked me in October, and I told her it'd have to wait until after Christmas which was fine with her.  It took no time at all, as it is not quilted, just so soft with that "minky fabric".  They are big Oklahoma University fans so she wanted the OU fabric on the back.  I am a fan of Oklahoma STATE, and my Bernina was a little reluctant to sew on that OU fabric, but we made it!

I had some fabric left so I made a little tag along blankie to match.  It has all different ribbons, color wise and texture wise to supposedly stimulate the baby.  It turned out pretty good.  A very fun and quick project for  "Buster" (no name yet)!

Free Log Cabin Quilt e-book

Fons & Porter has a fantastic book that all can have!  This electronic book has three of the most popular Log Cabin patterns.

It is well written, easy to understand, and has great colorful pictures!  There are only 24 pages but they are packed with diagrams, cutting charts and numerous helpful tips including some on binding.  It is easy to understand why the Log Cabin is a pattern that has been around the quilting scene since the 1860's, everyone loves it!

Check it out.  It may inspire you to make yourself a new traditional quilt.

If you want your copy, go to this site to download your free copy!

http://www.fonsandporter.com/landing/free-log-cabin-quilt-patterns

Hope you enjoy it!  I did!

Christmas wall hanging quilt for sale!

Well, it looks like I need to post more often.  It's definitely been a while.   My life has been so busy lately but I have to say I have been sewing too.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I have so many quilts, wall hangings and table runners, I have decided to let some go.  My family has plenty, but I still keep making them.  So I'm going to see if any of you out there in "cyberspace" might be interested in this one.

This one is 43" wide by 55" long.  The trees are machine appliqued on the blocks.  It is quilted in a variegated red, green and white thread.  

Here is a close-up pic.  You could hang it up all winter as the front just has Christmas colors, not Christmas fabrics. On the back it is "Christmasy".

This is the backing--the 12 days of Christmas!

It would be a great gift for someone who appreciates quilts!






The price is $80 plus shipping.  If anyone is interested please let me know.

May you all have a Merry Christmas!

My take on SUNSHINE IN A BOX!

The other day I saw on Pinterest, "Sunshine in a Box" and decided I needed to make one for a friend that had an accident and lives several states away!  So this is my version:

It was fun shopping for yellow items that would be useful and yummy for the box.  (Time will tell if the candy makes it!)  I even got my Cricut out and made some flowers and the "Sunny Days" cutout was perfect.  It was a fun gift to put together! 

I hope there are "Sunny Days" ahead for our old friend, George!

Prairie Dress

My 4th grade granddaughter, Kayley, is going to attend the local Rose Hill School next week to celebrate the opening of the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma.

Rose Hill School, a one-room country school built northeast of Perry in 1895, is on the Cherokee Strip Museum grounds.  In schools like this one, students received their education from the first through the eighth grade. 

Rose Hill was moved to the grounds of the Cherokee Strip Museum in 1971. The school contains most of its original furnishings, including a cast-iron stove and wooden two-seater desks.

A Day at Rose Hill School

Rose Hill School is not only an exhibit of a traditional one-room schoolhouse from Oklahoma's early days, but also a place where children can learn what education was like when their great-grandparents went to school. Now, fourth grade students from all over the state come to Rose Hill School for an enlightening and educational experience of what life was like for young people who lived in 1910. 

Dressed in period clothing and carrying makeshift syrup buckets containing their lunch, students participate in the living history program, "A Day at Rose Hill School." They pretend to travel back in time to become scholars attending one of Oklahoma's early one-room schools. Greeted at the door by a stern-looking school marm, the students file into the classroom and take their seats. During the day, the scholars have exercises in cursive writing, cyphering (arithmetic) with slateboards and chalk, and reading from McGuffey's readers. Scholars also study history, geography, do chores, and play games.*

Here is the dress I made for her to wear.  Since I am a quilter and haven't sewn clothing for many years, I was so glad that the pattern fit her to a "T" and no adjustments were necessary!

I wish I had taken her picture in it--I will.  I may even visit the school that day (visitors are welcome) to take pics of her class!

West Coast Motorcycle Trip!

My husband and I along with some good friends of ours went on a 5,674 mile, 20 day trip on our cycles to the West Coast, up to Vancouver and back home to Oklahoma!


What a way to see the natural beauty of the United States.  Up close and personal!

The weather was kind to us most of the time.  Once we had 104 degree weather for an hour or so in Laughlin, Nevada.  We were ready for the hotel that afternoon for sure.  It sprinkled on us a few times, but not anything bad.  And it did get down to about 46 degrees one morning for a while but it warmed up in a couple of hours.  When you're on a cycle, you learn to layer your clothing and we were prepared for anything.

The California coast is beautiful, even with the twisty curves.  We saw hundreds of elephant seals basking in the sun along the coast too.  We had to stop at the Hearst Castle and see how the rich and famous lived.  It is beautiful.  Lovely flowers and the view they had of the coastline-- phenomenal!

One of our most favorites spots was the Redwood National Forest.  The Redwoods are AWESOME!  You have read  about them but when you see them it is unbelievable.  They are really that big! lol We even drove through one of them!




The Oregon Coast is wonderful.  The roads are much "straighter" and they have numerous cities along the coast which I loved.  We stopped at two QUILT STORES there too.  Had to get some souvenirs, right?


We rode into Vancouver and  saw the Capilano Suspension Bridge over the rain forest.  British Columbia is very pretty.  We rode East to Osoyoos, a small town, but very nice and we stayed at a fantastic resort, Sandy Beach.  Wonderful place.   Orchards and vineyards were everywhere.

We saw so many interesting bridges.  Robert and I like to see the different ways they are built. The Golden Gate was not what we expected.  It's smaller than what I thought.  We whizzed by on it--wish we would have had time to actually stop and enjoy.  Then in Northern Oregon we went over the Astoria Bridge--a long one.  


The Rocky Mountain National Forest near Estes Park, Colorado was just great.  There were many dead trees that we found out had been killed by beetles.  It will take 50 years for them to be replaced.  I guess that's part of the cycle of the life of a forest.  It was pretty scary driving at the top.  Well, I shouldn't say that, I wasn't driving.  It was scary for me because there are no guard rails and it was a long ways down.  Rob told me to take some pics and I said I took two and that was enough.  I was not going to look that way any more than I had to.


I am leaving out so much, but suffice to say it was a wonderful trip.  When you are riding in a car, there are many distractions that sometimes keep you from enjoying the scenery.  When you are on the back of a cycle, you are more or less forced to see and notice the landscape.  And it is amazing.

Eyeglass Case with "Texture Magic"

A friend of mine and I have been wanting to try out the "Texture Magic" product.  Since I needed a small gift for a friend, I decided this little eyeglass case would be perfect to do so. The case actually holds two pair of glasses.


This stuff really is amazing!  All you do is pin the thin sheet of TM to the back of your fabric and sew a grid or free motion a design.  Then you get your trustworthy steam iron out and hit it with steam until it puckers up nicely.


Then all you do is cut your pattern from the puckered fabric piece and sew it up.

Here is the product.  I've seen this used in purses and purses, but you could do anything with it.  It would be pretty cool to use it in a small quilt and alternate the blocks with regular fabric.


I also have some of that thread that shrinks.  I've got to try that next and see how that compares with Texture Magic.

QR Code Quilt Done!

My sister, Karen, is an art major at Oklahoma State University.  She made an exceptional art project which inspired me to make a similar quilt.  She made a three dimensional QR wooden wall hanging. It is fantastic, made entirely of little wooden blocks.  The little blocks surrounding the piece are also QR codes.  A very NOW project! Check her blog out http://karenskrazykreations.blogspot.com/
to see how she made this.

 Isn't it cool!

QR, which stands for Quick Response, are those square bar codes you see in magazines, posters, etc.  You can download a free app for your smart phones and then be able to scan them to learn more information on whatever is being advertised.  Many times it is just a website with detailed info.  Quick Information!

I went to a QR code generator to put in the info I wanted. Well, I soon learned that the more information you want in your QR the more squares you have.  I quickly decided I wanted a small wall hanging.  It ended up being about 32" square for one word.  And it does not have to be black and white--I used a dark print instead of black.  You just need contrast.

Since I had printed out that original code with lots of data, I decided to print that on a sheet of fabric and put it on the center of the back.  If I counted correct, there would have been 66 squares across and down instead of the 21 I had.  Way too many for me!

This was a fun project--something a little different.  It will definitely be a conversation starter.  Let me know if you know what it says!

Storybook Quilts -- Presented to Local Library!!

The Storybook Mini-Quilt project our guild had was a huge success!

Myself and the Children's Librarian, Linda Branson

Our guild is celebrating it's 20th anniversary this year and decided to make 20 little mini-quilts that coincide with children's books.  They will be used in the Children's Storytime and also used to decorate the local public library.

We ended up making 35 quilts and we presented them to the library Wednesday, during National Library Week.  They were thrilled to receive them.  Here are a few of them!

Valentine gifts for grandkids!

NAME TAGS!

These tags are for luggage, gym bags, music bags or sports bags!

I've had the embroidery applique designs for several months and kept delay making them as I had not done anything like that before.  (It uses the heavy stabilizer inside, so it's pretty thick.)

However, once I got started the instructions were very easy to follow.  The designs are from "Tag-A-Long" Embroidery Collection by Hope Yoder.

You can't tell, but these tags are 5-6" long, a nice size.  I am going to get some ribbons to tie on the flip flops for the girls and maybe a chain for Jake's.

There is a danger of having name tags on kid's bags (everyone is aware of those dangers I think), but in my grandkids' situations they are never anywhere that their parents aren't nearby. 

They turned out so well, that I think I'll be making me a new ID tag for my quilt guild!  Now to go get something (candy??) to go with these tags!

IPAD 2 Quilted Case

My IPAD has a nice cover I received as a gift, but I felt like I needed to completely cover it, in case I dropped it and also just so it wouldn't be so "exposed" when not being used.

So I did a little research on what was out there and decided I could make one much cheaper than buying one.  (ya think??!!)  In my stash I had some quilted fabric that I had  leftover from another project and thought why not.  The work was half done for me.

This one was done in 30 minutes or less! That includes figuring out what I was going to do.

I cut the fabric into a rectangle 9 1/2" x 25" long. Turned down the short sides 1/4" and then turned down again about an inch or so and hemmed again.  (Use your ipad to measure exactly by folding fabric in half and adjusting the depth of case.)

Put right sides together and sew outer edges. Turn inside out.  Sew a button on the front and add an elastic hoop sewn on the inside of the back of the case that pulls over to the button keeping the ipad from falling out!  DONE!

   

Another Storybook Quilt!

I couldn't help myself, I found this very cute fabric depicting "The Grouchy Ladybug", so I decided to make another mini quilt for our guild project for the library!  I ordered the book from Amazon and am very happy with the result.

You can't really see much of the quilting, but I just cross-hatched it!  Simple and quick!  The guild members are beginning to turn in their projects and I think it is going to be a great service project for our community.



Storybook quilts!

As a community project to commemorate our 20th anniversary in June, my quilt guild is making STORYBOOK QUILTS! 

We are making mini sized quilts (from 12" squares to door sized) that are based on children's pre-school books.  Then the quilts and the books together will be presented to our local public library during National Library Week in April.  They will be used by the Children's Librarian during story times at the library. 

These will be  "hands on props" to be used when the books are read to the children and then hung periodically on the library walls.  It also will give the librarian a chance to explain to the children just what a quilt is, therefore promoting quilting, even though these will be wall quilts instead of the kind used on beds.

We have had good response for signing up to make these and I can't wait to see all the different interpretations of the different books.  I retired from the library and we have several former teachers in our guild and we are all very excited about this project!  They aren't due until March, but here is my first one.  I thought it might be good when they have a program on "manners".

Christmas Pic

Every Christmas I purchase pajamas for my grandkids and have to have a photo of them.  It's so much fun to see how they change from year to year.  They used to be all the same but as of last year, Jake gets his own.  The girls, Lyndey, Kayley and Paige love wearing matching ones!



A quick and FUN gift for machine embroiderers!

Okay, I have seen these before, but never attempted them.  It was on my "TO DO" list SOMEDAY.  Well, I was needing some inexpensive fun gifts and thought of them last night when I couldn't sleep. 

Embroidering on toilet tissue is interesting.  I had no trouble with it tearing at all.  I was careful though.  Using three thicknesses folded under and cut-away stabilizer, it was really quite easy.  I would suggest not using a dense design.  I liked the lightness of the snowmen.

The toilet paper brands I used were Cottonelle and Angel Soft.  I prefer the Cottonelle, a little more durable, but the Angel Soft worked fine too.  I am sure that I need to change my needle too, after sewing through all that paper, it's bound to be a little dull.

They are so easy and depending on what design you choose pretty darn quick!  I made the flowers first and then decided I didn't want to change threads because I needed several rolls and found the SNOWMEN!  I think they're cuter anyway.

So instead of cleaning today, I was in the sewing room.  That dust will still be there tomorrow! Put that off as long as possible. Here's what I ended up with:

I may have gotten a little carried away!  Here are some closeups:

When my husband saw these, he laughed and said, "what will you do next?"  Who knows!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas came early for me this year!

The past six months I have swapped gifts with a new internet friend--Sandy from Ohio in the SANTA SACK SWAP.  Each month we sent two wrapped gifts to each other and they were put in a specially made "sack" and told not to peek!!   We could open them yesterday and this is what I got.

Sandy did a fantastic job of choosing gifts for me!  I absolutely love the mug rug with the coffee cup.  I don't drink coffee, but I love tea AND hot cocoa.  So cute.  And the purse and table topper are just gorgeous!  She sent some charm packs and fat quarters so I can sew up something new, some sewing tools, the cutest ear rings, footies, an assortment of BEST PRESS, a wonderful cookie cookbook, and the neatest framed pin cushion, so clever.

This was definitely a fun swap!  Not often do we mothers/grandmothers get many gifts.  At least I don't.  And we got to open them early so we could actually enjoy them at the time.  Thanks go to Cheryl at Gone Stitchin' for organizing such fun for all of us.  And, Sandy, thank you very much for everything you sent!

Clara's Calling

Today I found out about something that touched my heart!  

Master Sergeant Clara Vargas and her team of American soldiers have a mission to teach 4,000 widowed Afghan women to sew, so they can provide basic necessities for themselves and their children.  These women have nothing.  Clara started this project last year and quilters and lots of sponsors are doing what they can to help.

They are asking for treadle machines and irons that are heated on a fire, like my grandmother used, because there is no electricity available.  When I think of how fortunate I am, I thank God.  Who uses fire to heat irons anymore?  These women do.  I may not be able to donate a treadle machine or an old antique iron, but I have many of these items in my sewing room that I doubt I'd ever miss.  How lucky I am.

Several quilt stores, have jumped on the band wagon and are providing postage to mail these items to Afghanistan. All we have to do is give what we can to help these poor women.

Some of the things they need are:

Fabrics*

Scissors

Rotary Cutters

Bags or Totes

Pins

Lace

Rulers

Bindings

Fabric Markers

Patches

Fasteners

Elastics

Buttons

Embroidery Supplies

Zippers

Needles (Hand & Machine)

Ribbon & Trim

Sew-In Interfacing/Stabilizers

Organizers

Thimbles

Pincushions
And much more!

Please go to clarascalling.com and read about this amazing project.  I'm taking this to my local guild.  I know they will be ready to give generously.  I hope you do your share.

Embroidered Burp Pads!

My sister asked me to embroider some burp pads for a co-worker's daughter so that's what I did this morning.  Pretty simple and quick! 

I got some Carter's cloth diapers at Wal-Mart to use.  They really are super for burp pads.   They have that extra padding in the center which is perfect.

I also made one with the baby's name on it.  Now get this--the baby isn't born yet.  Things change.  I made a quilt once and put the label on it with the baby's supposedly "name" on it.  Yup, you guessed it. They decided on another name.  I told them I'd take the label off and re-do it, but I never got it back.  Who knows if they took it off or not.  Hope so.  Rather have no quilt label, than the wrong name on it for the poor child.

I may have to start selling these for people.  Maybe I could make enough to pay for my thread!!  Anyone need some??

FINALLY--Quilts done started seven years ago!!

CELEBRATION TIME!!!   Seven years ago when my two oldest granddaughters were two, a long time friend made some embroidered doll blocks for them and told them that their Nana could make them a quilt out of them.

Patsy had just gotten a new embroidery sewing machine and she just has grandSONS, so was anxious to try the cute "Sue's Cousins" designs.  Well, then the ball was in my park and I used the excuse for a while of finding the perfect pattern. Then I used the excuse of finding the perfect fabrics.  So I finally decided if I was going to do it while they could still use them, I'd better get in gear.  So this year I finished them.

I then had another problem, because I had another granddaughter born later.  So I decided to make her one too.  Well, I do have a nice embroidery/sewing machine now, but didn't have the designs in the right format, so Patsy made the blocks again for Lyndey and I got busy and made hers too.

Their birthdays are within a month of each other, and the past weekend, we celebrated two of them.  So I decided to give them all at the same time.

Lyndey, the youngest, says "Paige got the prettiest--PINK!"  I knew that might be a problem, they all love pink.  Patsy had chosen the red for Kayley and I knew Paige loved pink, and Lyndey likes purple too, so I went with that.  I wanted them to be the same but different colors. 

My daughter had taken photos of me and each granddaughter at Easter so I used them on my label, so when I'm long gone they won't forget me!!

The girls were much much more excited with the toys they received, but someday I know they will appreciate the quilts and know that their Nana loved them so much!

Journal (Notebook) Cover!

When we were on vacation I spotted a similar journal cover that I really liked.  As usual, it was on display for a class and no pattern was available.   So....... I came home and made my own pattern!  Here it is:

I LOVE JOURNALS.  I can't really say just journals, but notebooks, too.  I jot notes down all the time.  Robert says I "make lists of lists"!  Things to do for the day, things to make (sew or quilt) and then every so often I have to prioritize what I'm going to do FIRST.  Please tell me I'm not the only one out there that does this. 

Anyway, back to the notebook cover.  When you open, it looks like this:

And behind the spiral notebook, there is a panel that holds the notebook in.

Sorry, for some reason I canNOT rotate this picture, but hopefully you get the idea. 

If I make another one, I'll make a change or two.  One being putting the velcro on the front cover before adding the inside cover and binding.  As you can tell, you can see the sewing on the little pencil holder which also made the cover of paper notebook NOT FIT!!  I was already to rip it out when Robert said why don't you just trim the paper cover.  HELLO.....sometimes he is amazing!!  Why didn't I think of that.