A Little Last Minute Fun

Hi all!

Hope your weekend is going great!  I am enjoying every moment with my family!  We have a visitor for the next month.  I will be sure to share pictures of her periodically as she is as much a part of this family as can be!

In the meantime, I thought I would share a little last minute project.  Occasionally, I get the hankerin' for a new project, despite the long list of UFO's staring at me!  Well, the other day, I was flipping through a quilting magazine and the mood struck!  I 'needed' some fall decorations to liven up the house so I jumped in feet...ok HEAD first! 

I happened to be chatting with my dear friend and she was an easy sale!  She quickly jumped on my bandwagon and before we could say BOO, we had started a new center piece!  We love to make things more personalize by sharing fabrics for projects so we split the required (16) hexie count in half.  We both made a set of 2 hexies out each of the 8 fabrics we selected for the project and swapped the second set within 24 hours of starting the project!  (Yup!  We were a bit excited about this one!)

We are both finished!  She completed hers last night and I finished mine this morning!  I have it proudly displayed on our slate coffee table in the downstairs living room.  It is perfect! 

The completed center piece

A close up shot of the simple quilting and some of the hand embroidery

My pretty new fall center piece in its new home!

Isn't that just too cute for words?  Well, I guess you may not think so, but I sure do!  It is perfect and I love it!  Only one problem...we both like it so much that we have decided to continue making this pattern in other fabrics for each holiday of the year!  Whew!  Good thing it is a quick and easy project!  :-)

Hope you enjoy the remainder of your weekend!

Until next time...

~ J

The BIG secret

Hello and happy FALL everyone!

Isn't this weather just glorious?  Here in North Texas we are sitting at a woppin' 53 degrees today!  It is absolutely wonderful!  Our 13 year old Alaskan Husky agrees!  She has been frisky and full of energy today!

So, you may be wondering "what is this big secret I have had to keep???"  Well, my brother and sister(-n-law) celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on August 15th this year.  They renewed their vows in Las Vegas  July 20th.  We were not able to attend due to the whole unemployment thing but we made up for that by my making them a very special and personalize gift.  :-) 

I subscribe to Primitive Quilts & Projects quarterly magazine.  If you are not familiar with this magazine and like primitive things, please rush to their website and take a peek!  (http://www.primitivequiltsandprojects.com/)  I promise you will NOT be disappointed!  Well, as I was trying to decide what in the world I was going to make Jerry and Tonya for their gift, I received the Spring 2012 issue.  Inside was a wallhanging called "Marriage".  I knew as soon as I saw it that it was the perfect way to express the pride and love we feel for Jerry and Tonya!

Well, I am not very good at waiting until the designated celebration/holiday to give a gift.  I have fought this battle all of my life!  I just get so excited and anxious that I cave and give gifts before the intended date.  This time, however; I was a good girl!  I made it 2 months past the actual anniversary date without spilling the beans!  I mailed the gift on Monday...insuring it so that I might be able to replace the fabric in the event it disappeared in the postal system... and they received it Thursday!  We Skyped so I could see them open the box.  I think they like it...at least a little!  ;-)

Here it is:

A full view of the wallhanging

A close up shot of the hand embroidery and quilting

I am proud of the way this turned out and so glad that they love it so much!  Was worth the anticipation and all the work put into making it special!

There are plenty more projects in the works around here.  I will be sure to share as I get things done.

Enjoy the rest of this beautiful day!

~ J

Two Completions!!! Yay me!!!

Good afternoon all!

I hope that you are having a spectacular weekend!!!  Other than waking with a sore throat this morning, my weekend has been remarkable!  I absolutely love my family time!  My son was sick and home from school 3 out of 5 days last week and the toot took Mamma and Daddy's rule of sharing too far!  Hubby and I both woke feeling a bit under the weather!  If only we could select the times we want our kids to listen and abide by our teachings!!!  LOL!

On to the important stuff though...  I managed 2, yes TWO, completions in the last few days!  I have been steadily working on a memorable anniversary present for my brother and sister-in-law in celebration of their 25th!  I cannot post a pic yet because I have not even told them what I made...but rest assured that once they receive it, I WILL post some pics for you!

The second finish was a set of four folded fabric coasters.  I love them.  The pattern makes round coasters, but being the pain in the butt that I am, I chose to leave them in this octagon shape.  I think they are beautiful in this shape but the binding was a pain because of all the mitered corners.  Duh!  If only I would listen to my logical brain...NO!  I have to follow my "ooooo, I love it this way" brain!  Anyway, here are the pics. 

A top view

My not-so-perfect binding on the bottom side

Looky!  Looky!  Aren't they awesome???

Other than those two completions, I have been plugging away at the hexie book bag for my daughter.  I have also made some pretty darn good meals for the family!  Check these out:

Homemade meatball subs with baked steak fries!  They loved this!

Puff Chicken

The Puff Chicken sparked all sorts of ideas on mini pot pies and such so I am sure I will perfect this recipe for my troop.  ;-)

Well, that is all for today.  Hoping like crazy that you are having a wonderful and restful Sunday afternoon!

~ J

A Little of This and That...

Hiya all!
How are you enjoying this weather?  I love the cooler temps but the overcast skies we are experiencing in McKinney are a bit gloomy.  I have to keep myself busy or I would spend my days napping.

Today I thought I would just share a few pictures of projects I have going.  So, here it goes...

This is an oblong folded centerpiece that I started:

Center strip and Row 1

Row 2 added

Up to Row 5!  Yay!

And Row 6.

I have sewn Row 7 and pinned Row 8.  There are only 10 rows so I am almost done!  This is a fun method of sewing.  I am enjoying it a great deal!

This quilt top is for a customer.  It is a for her sweet little girl! I hope she likes it!

Seville by Cluck Cluck Sew in Sugar Pop by Liz Scott for Moda

I guess that is all for today.  I was also going to post pictures of progress on my daughters book bag but the pictures are taking forever to upload from my phone.  Guess that is for next post.

Hope you are having a great Monday! 

~ J

Such a slacker...

I feel like such a slacker!  It has been such a long time since my last post.  Good thing I don't have tons of followers.  Hee!2 

I have been busy sewing and tending to my family lately! My time has really been spent mostly on handwork though.  I have finally jumped onto the Twilling bandwagon!  I kept putting it off; telling myself the last thing I needed was another handwork obsession.  I tried it though, with the hopes of NOT liking it.  Well, as you can guess, that was not the case!  I love twilling!  It does not hurt my hands like embroidery work does!  It is fun and easy...and I am addicted! 

Here was my first project:

Check out this beautiful pumpkin batik I found!  Isn't it just yummy???

So, that project is layered and basted.  I am just deciding how I want to quilt it.  :-)  With that accomplished, I started another twilling project.

In preparation for Christmas!  Don't you just love the little baubles hanging from the tree?

 Oh!  And guess what???  I finished my little red hexie purse!  I had a heck of a time trying to attach the round wooden handles like the pattern required.  I am telling you...I said quite a few colorful metaphors while using both my hands and both of my daughters hands to try to hold the purse and the handles while feeding it through my screaming machine!  It was NOT a pretty sight!  Disgusted with the entire process and the end result, I set my purse aside for a while.  Then, at a weekly sew day, I told my friend I was considering making long strip fabric handles so that I could hang the purse over my shoulder.  The creative juices started flowing freely and my friend brilliantly suggested I plait (braid) three strips of coordinating fabric for the handles.

I did just that and now I absolutely love my purse! 

I get compliments on it everywhere I go.  I even had a lady ask me if I had considered making them for other people.  My immediate thought was "NOT ON YOUR LIFE LADY!"  I nicely said, "no, not really."  I am however making a larger version as a book bag for my daughter though.  I am using 1 1/2" hexies instead of these small 3/4" babies in hopes that it will not be as labor intensive.  I will keep you posted on the results.

Well, I guess I have rambled long enough!  I hope you are having a truly glorious day in this cool crisp weather!

~ J

Home Tweet Home

Once again, I have gone several weeks without a post.  I do have a legitimate reason...the Hinkelman's have been aggressively looking for employment.  With this going on, my machine time has been limited.  But, today I, as my friend said, decided to treat myself to a new project!

The project:  A birdhouse wallhanging

Fabric selection:  30's reproductions (This pattern works perfectly for scraps!)

Method:  Foundation Paper Piecing (One of my absolute favorites!!!)

If you have not tried FPP, I strongly encourage you to give it a try.  I really enjoy it!  The process is fun and making tiny blocks (this one is 2" finished) is much easier!  You simply sew chunks of fabric to foundation paper like this:

Align the first fabric face down with the second fabric face up like this.

There is no real need to press between stitching seams.  I simply finger press the seams.

Then layer fabric 3 face up and sew along the seam line.

Holding the paper and fabric out of the way, clip the excess to make a 1/4" seam.

At this point, I did take my block to the iron so that I could be sure they next set of fabrics went on correctly.

Hey!  Did you happen to catch a glimpse of the snazzy scissors I am using???  They are Gingher spring action scissors.  I forget the actual size, but these puppies are simply awesome!  My sweet Daddy got them for me off of eBay.  These work perfectly for FPP!

Sweet, huh?

I digress...  Back to the project at hand!

I've added the next 2 fabrics to unit one.

This is a view of the back side.

This is unit 2 of the block.

Next, I need to trim the excess fabric from the two units so I stitch them together.

Unit 1 trimmed

Units 1 and 2 trimmed

Layer the two units right sides together and stitch.

There are 12 blocks, or birdhouses, to this wall hanging.  They came out like this:

My least favorite part of FPP is removing the paper from the back after sewing the blocks.  My friend has the secret weapon...Tiff the Paper Peeler...at her disposal!  I wish I had one of these too!  ;-)

This is only a portion of the trash.  Hee2

But, check out the results:

Birdhouses sewn together for center

Inner border added

Outer border added

And the final touch of cuteness... I am going to sew on buttons for the bird house doors.  I think it will be precious! 

Well, that is all for today.  I hope you are having a great night!

~ J

Mamma needs a new bag

Hello there.  It has been a while since my last post.  I have been staying pretty busy with the family scurrying around this summer.  I am managing a bit of stitch therapy here and there though.  Thank God!

Have I mentioned that I am a bag addict?  I love totes, purses, do-dah bags, you name it!  I just love them!  Some women can't have enough pairs of shoes...with me it is bags!  Most of mine are handmade though.  I love making them!  I am sure that a portion of the reason for my affection for bag making has to deal with the quick completion.  Quilts can take quite a bit of time to put together and finish so a quick finish every once in a while helps my motivation.

While at a wonderful local quilt shop with my dear friend and our daughters, I purchased a Sue Daley pattern for the Hexagon Bag.  I was dying to make it so I started it recently.

See the pattern?  Isn't it too cute?
I decided to use 30's with a cheery Robin's Egg Blue backing:

Then, I got busy drawing my hexies on freezer paper.  These are some hugem' hexies compared to the wee 3/4" ones I am using on my red purse.  LOL!

 

Here is the nice stack of hugem' hexies that I ended up with:

Then the stitchin' began!  Whoot!

This pattern only calls for a mere 15 hexies!  That is a far cry from the 340 3/4" ones I need for my red purse!  And a welcome reprieve!  Hee2

The layout is a big odd looking but it all comes together nicely.

I have to say that this bag came out much better than I anticipated.  I love it!  I think I will make another in Batiks!  Yuuummmm!

Pre-handles

The completed project!

Isn't this just adorable?  Can't you see it made up in some delicious Batiks???  I-must-make-more!  Aggghhhhh!

Well, that is all I have to report for now.  Until next time...

Have a great night!

~J