Hometown Christmas

I was so successful in finding Michelle her Hometown Christmas kit and I knew I'd be seeing her this Saturday, I went ahead and cut out the fabrics for pamphlet # 1 and you know I couldn't cut it out without taking them for a test drive so I assembled Section 1. I assembled the house on Sunday and then tonight I connected the pinwheel and the hourglass blocks.

I will get to assembling and connecting the other 2 sections over the next week or so.

It was nice having today off and I don't mean to sound greedy, but I'd sure love to have a delayed opening tomorrow.....

Peggy

I think the picture speaks for itself

HELP

Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again, quilters are the best!!!

I posted for the Hometown Christmas Quilt kit and within minutes of posting I had an email from a girl saying she'd post on her Thimbleberries group and within a few hours I had 2 replies.

One girl had some of the fabric but the other girl has the entire kit, including the applique yardage. The best thing about it is she also lives in New Jersey and less than an hour north of me. We are trying to set up a day and time to meet and do the exchange. I'd have gone up while I was out if I could have arranged it but she apparently has a life and doesn't "live" with her email attached to her hip LOL I'm hoping we can meet tomorrow so I can have it in my hot little hands faster......

Thank you out there to anyone that responded and emailed me. You are really the best!!!!

Peggy

HELP

If you email me about this project, please set your email so I can reply. I've received 2 emails and they are both set for no reply....

Hometown Christmas HELP!

I know there are a lot of people that read blogs but don't comment on them. I read a lot myself but don't always feel the need to email the blogger. So, that being said, I was wondering if anyone out there that has a Thimbleberries Hometown Christmas kit or some of the fabrics????? If you do, would you email me? A whole kit would be fabulous....some of the fabrics would help.

paront1222@comcast.net

Thanks.....

Peggy

Berry Pickin Update

I've been plugging away working on some UFO projects, the Berry Pickin embroidery project was on the top of my list...I've been working on it now for 17 months! YES, 17 months, and I'm tired of seeing it sitting on the shelf.

I got the blocks out today, made some borders and started to connect them. This is only one section but I have other units made...unfortunately, the block I need to connect them all is waiting to be assembled so I'm showing what I have for now. Maybe this time next week I'll have the entire thing done and ready for quilting....

Hometown Christmas

Has anyone made their quilt from this pattern?

I bought this kit in 2004!!!! I hadn't even opened the package until recently, and even then I just washed them and put them in a basket on the shelf.

I got a nudge yesterday from Robin who found her kit while moving stuff around in her sewing room, who in turn told me I should email Michelle and see if she wanted to join in on the fun, and of course she said yes....She's had the patterns forever and wanted to do this so now Michelle has to collect up the proper fabrics and get organized so she can join us.

I think we'll do it like a BOM so we can continue to do other monthly committments and keep up with our 2011 UFO list as well.

Does anyone out there have a kit of this project or some of the fabrics? Want to swap for something else I might have so we can hook Michelle up?????

Peggy

Humility Block?

Someone noticed that one of my corner hst's was turned and asked if I was going to keep it as a humility block? Ummmm, not this early in the game, especially since nothing is connected to it and it is on the corner....so, here it is all fixed:

Aunt Grace Circle of Friends- Month 3

FINALLY....took all afternoon to make this block but I'm done and all caught up. The gees in this 10-1/2 inch block are 1-1/2 inch wide so rather than mess it up, I had Robin make me a paper piecing pattern for the geese units, which made this block much easier to make and assemble. Thank you Robin!!! Now to move onto something else.

Aunt Grace Circle of Friends

I thought these blocks would go together so quick...... ha ha ha!

I guess if I had my half square triangles going the correct direction and I paid attention to what I was sewing instead of the TV I'd have gotten them done right. As it is, I spent close to an hour ripping apart the red/print borders and redoing them....But I did it so I'm done with the December blocks. January is only 1 block so I should be able to get that done fairly easy tomorrow. For now, it's bed time....Goodnight!

All Caught Up

I'm taking this weekend to catch up with all my block of the month kits and finish up anything small that I have started recently. I'm almost forced to do this because back in December Robin, Michelle and I each made our "Top 3" projects for January and when you actually make a list you kind of have to follow it. That's my story, and hopefully I'm gonna stick to it.

I got my mom's snowman mini done and mailed to her, I got the 2 borders on a quilt for a girl in work (no pictures since it's going to be a surprise) and # 3 is going to be Monday's project.

But in between I got caught up with my "Snow Days" block of the month. December's block had a huge amount of embroidery and add that to the holidays, and I just got

way behind but I did finish last week and made the pieced blocks and then immediately start

ed with the January embroidery. I worked on this one like a woman obsessed and finished it last night, trimmed it and got the pieced blocks made today AND I attached the blocks to make the entire right side of the quilt.

I have to say that in the end there will have been a ton of embroidery and piecing to this quilt and I'm thrilled with how it's looking. I look at it every day hanging in my room

and cannot believe that I have done all this work.

I have my Aunt Grace Circle of Friends BOM to catch up with now too. I need to get December and January's blocks done.

Peggy

Baby Quilt Finish

Yes, I have a finish but I don't know if I can consider it a 2010 or 2011 finish, and NO, it's not on my UFO list for the BPF Challenge but it's a finish, and that's all I care about!

My nephew and his wife had their 3rd child back in December and named her Kaitlyn. Since she has 2 older brothers I knew that she would need her own "girly" quilt. I used some 30's polka dots and prints for the blocks and a purple polka dot for the back. My friend Sandi did the quilting and if you look real close at the up close picture you can see that the quilting is baby bottles, pacifiers, baby pins etc. Sandi did a great job and the quilt should have been mailed off to Florida for the baby but I needed to finish tacking down the binding...which is one of my least favorite things to do.

BUT, it's done and if weather perm

its, it will be in the mail no later than Thursday.

Here's a picture of the finished quilt and a close up of the bottle quilting.

A Finish for January

I spent a little time this afternoon making this mini from the "COUNT ON IT" book from Art to Heart. Michelle is doing this mini BOM while I am doing a Patchabilities along the same lines.

I'd already ordered the book when I saw Michelle's snowman on her blog so when I couldn't decide what to do this afternoon I traced and got it sewn up. No, I'm not keeping this for myself, I've made it for a very special person for her house in Florida because she always tells me she loves everything I make so I'm waiting for the stand for it to come in tomorrow's mail and then this guy will be making his way to the Florida sun.

New Years Day- 1/1/11

Here it is, New Years Day 1/1/11! Family is all safe and happy (yay for that), I got snow last week, had the week off to sew, spend time with family and be a bum (yay for that) so basically, all is good!

Last night we had dinner at a nice chinese restaurant that we frequent quite often because their food is the best, and from the looks of all the people there and the waiting line, i'm guessing that a lot of people know about this place too. After dinner the kids went out so hubby watched TV (read-snoozed on the couch) and I sewed.

YES, I sewed 75 4 inch pinwheel blocks last night. I mentioned in a previous post that I was using all my scraps for these pinwheels but when I realized how long it would take to do it that way I decided to try the Triangulations Papers that Robin and Michelle suggested. OMG, what a lifesaver those things are. One night to pick and press the fabrics and sew them, the next afternoon I took the papers off whilst doing other things around the house and then yesterday I pressed them open, paired them up and made up all 75. It took till just after midnight but they turned out fabulous (and perfectly sized!) and now I'm up to 126 pinwheels out of 314 that I need. Not a bad 3 days work!!!

Today will be another quiet day at home taking down the tree and getting my daughter's laundry all done since she leaves to go back to college tomorrow. She hates to leave but there is light at the end of the tunnel....She graduates in May so she has that to look forward to.

I am still mid way on my Snow Days embroidery project. My December block is almost done, minus one small snowman and the little boy building him so I think before I sit and stitch tonight I will have to get the pieced blocks done because as I've said in the past, this is the gift that keeps on giving because once I attach the blocks I will have to trace some more trees or something onto the blocks....and next week we'll be getting the January pieces so I NEED to get these done pronto! More pictures of that project this week I hope.

Hope you all enjoy 2011!!!!

New Years

2010 is coming to a close so I wanted to wish all my blogging friends, family, and anyone else out there "Happy New Years" and all the best to you and yours in 2011!!!!

Pinwheel Project

Back in November, in the Winter 2010-2011 Mc Call's Quilting Magazine I found this quilt and I KNEW I had to do it. The quilt finishes up to approximately 79 x 96 and you need 314 4 inch pinwheels....Yes, you read that right 314 pinwheels!!I have a cabinet of Thimbleberries fabrics and a drawer of 3 inch squares in all different colors, not just brown. So, I decided that I'd mix mine up but still use neutrals with them. I started with some blue fabrics and then the holidays hit. I had shopping and some small holiday projects to do so I never got back to doing anything with the project until yesterday.

I know there are a lot of ways to make the half square triangles for the pinwheels, one of which "triangulations papers" works well as per Michelle, but with them you still have to rip the paper off. My method you have to draw the lines, sew and then trim. I guess no matter how you do it, there's a lot

of work to these guys.

My real goal in doing this quilt is to use up as much of the fabric in the cabinet and drawer!

What do you think....think I can make a dent???? I guess we will see when I finish the project!!!

Darn Blogger

First off, I want to start this post with stating that I've attempted to post about this project 2 times only to have BLOGGER post an error message and shut me out! I am not happy with Blogger today!!!!

I have another ongoing issue with Blogger.....why can't my pictures be uploaded in a post to the exact spot where my curser stops typing? I don't get it. Does anyone else have these issues?

Wooly Pincushion Swap

Some girls I go to retreat with every May are doing a "wool crazy" pincushion swap. We are doing the swap 4 girls to a group, 2 groups. We're starting in January and when we meet in May we will get our pincushions back from the last girl that worked on it. I'm excited to see what I'll get back on mine after they see what I've started with. I have a sunflower on mine since it's my favorite flower and I'm thinking they'll add crows, birdhouses, butterflies, watering cans etc.....

Here's my first attempt at working with wool......

Here's a link to my friend Laura's blog with her pincushion top on it....ain't her rabbit cute?

http://leftatthestoplight.blogspot.com/

PS: This is starting out as 8 inches round.

New Light

I thought I'd share a picture of a lamp with a magnifying window for us ahem "over 50's" that want to still do embroidery but are having a little trouble seeing the lines on our pieces. My son gave me this for Christmas and lemme tell you....it's good!!! Can you see the little flip up door?

You don't have to use it but this here girl will!

Here's a link to the shop where it was purchased for anyone that want to know:

http://www.shoptablelamps.com/tl37981.htm

YAY for Snow

Yes, we got us some SNOW yesterday. Official count is 22 inches!!! This picture on the left is my back deck from the family room.

The other picture is my front yard. My son and husband have been out 3 times just trying to get a start on clearing.

Of course, my attitude on all this on 12/26 is "why couldn't it have waited 1 more week?" Why you ask? Well, I'm already off work this week since school is closed. If this was next week I'd get another week off!!!!

New Mini BOM

I saw this Patchabilities BOM back about 3 months ago but didn't do anything about it. I caved though last week and signed up with Quilting Possibilities, my local shop. I am so happy I did too.

Each mini finishes up to 12 x 14 and is doable in about 2 hours. I got it bound, the hanging sleeve made and the binding on tonight after dinner and then assembled the stand. It's really cute and I think makes a nice addition to my other seasonal minis that I have around the house. What do you think? AND, included with the price of the fabric is a different header (mittens) each month to match the banner.

So, did everyone get some quilting goodies for Christmas?

I got some gift cards to Quilting Possibilities, a new rotary cutter and some money from mom in Florida to use on whatever I want. It will most likely go towards fabric!!!

Do you like a giveaway?

Here's a great giveaway for all you gals that like fabric and especially fabric giveaways... And, a little hint...........

http://www.dawnsquiltcorner.com/2010/12/happy-new-year-fabric-giveaway.html

Merry Christmas

Well, it's finally here!!! I feel like I've been preparing for months for Christmas and it has finally arrived!!!!

The presents are wrapped, hubby's out getting last minute fresh stuff for dinner tomorrow and the house is clean. The 2 youngest are home, Jen and Tim will be here in the morning from Maryland, all's right with the world.

Wishing all of you blogging friends a Merry Merry Christmas ! Safe travels if you are leaving the house and i'll see you Sunday or Monday....

Peggy

January Mini

I know it's not January yet but I worked on my mini today and believe it or not, it's buttonhole stitched,quilted, bound and ready to hang on the wall. Each kit comes with a special hanger and the theme matches the season. I had a couple of questions about this one, specifically "what's the brown stick?" Well, it's supposed to be a coat rack with a scarf hanging off it.....

Wish me luck keeping up with these!!! I've got the last 4 done, only 8 more to go :)

Is everyone ready for Christmas?

I think I am....I have the presents, they're just not wrapped, I have the baking supplies, the stuff just hasn't been baked, but I have a plan....and ya know what? It will either come together or it won't, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it!!!

Early Birthday Presents

I gotta say that I think I have the best quilting sisters ever!!! Saturday afternoon the mail girl rang the doorbell and handed me a box with this inside. Not only did Michelle send me a Patchabilities pattern, she sent the project all made up and a small wire hanger for the wall with it. She also sent a red and white polka dot spoon rest that she filled with my favorite Butterfinger bars and a charm pack of "Punctuation" by American Jane fabrics.

Then, today, I'm in my room sewing and the doorbell rings again....this time there's a box from Robin...

Inside her box is a pink and purple polka dot bathrobe, a note pad, an easy angle ruler and a little wool/fabric snowman kit wall hanging.

My BFF's know me so well....

Thank you for the early birthday wishes....

Peg

Star Quilt

I entered a quilt into the Quilting Gallery Quilt Contest. :) This week's theme is Star Quilts. This is the quilt that I entered.

http://quiltinggallery.com/tag/weekly-themed-quilt-contest/

I wasn't going to ask for some votes but I thought to myself, "what de heck", this is a beautiful quilt and it took me a long time to make it!!! So, if you don't mind, would you go on over and vote for my "30's Quilt"?

Peggy

PS: Thank you to everyone that voted for me....unfortunately, someone had over 350 votes which is a HUGE amount!!!

Patchabilities Minis

Two summers ago I found some Patch Abilities mini's online that I just had to have, well upon careful internet searching I found them as a block of the month! How lucky was I? I was so jazzed that the minute the first one came I did it up and it is still up in my sewing room. It's a hot air balloon. Well, 2008 came and went and every month the kits came and were immediately put in a basket with the previous months, never to be seen again...You say you're shocked? Oh please, that was the summer I signed up for every block of the month that came down the pike...and none of them got finished. Last week however I decided that I NEEDED this little tree done to hang in my front hallway so out it came and here it is, less than 6 days later and it's finished and hanging on the wall. Can you see the cute hanger? And look at the ends of the branches...cute little plastic bulbs!!!

Now, I see how quick and easy it was and ask myself WHY???? Why did it take over a year to finish? One of the mysteries of all time...guess we'll just have to speculate and move on and say "YAY PEG, you finished!"

Blue Lights Runner

I worked a little on some sewing yesterday and got a runner done for my mom for the holidays. I wasn't sure what type of colors she'd like so I went with fun and bright and came up with this simple but nice runner................I like the lights fabric and I hope she will too. She's requested a small tabletopper too for a side table in her dining room so I'll get to that today and get them in the mail so she can enjoy them the whole season.

It's back to work tomorrow :( I know, I know, it's a sad thought but i'm already trying to figure out how I can make it through the whole week without a day off LOL

Sneak Peek

Last post I showed you some scraps that I've been collecting and today I'm ready to shpeek at what I've been working on. This is 2 rows of a scrap quilt that I'm going to call Red Pepper since that's the blog I found something like it on. The blocks with the small pieces have 100 2 inch squares in them and the other squares are 3.5 inches. I'm only working on this project in between things that need doing right away.

Scrap Management

I am by no means a "scrap quilt" type of person. I don't cut my scraps into manageable sizes, I don't arrange by color, I guess you could say I'm "scrap challenged".....but I was inspired a while back by a scrap quilt on a blog I like to frequent so I did a LOT of cutting up of kona snow and scraps into both 2 inch squares and 3.5 inch squares and I'm going to attempt to "use em up" this year. This is just a sampling of what I cut up the other night, the rest is already on it's way into a scrap quilt which hopefully be partly assembled before this weekend is over. The long strips that I have will go into string blocks and I may be working on some of those this weekend too....