Auld Lang Syne...Should Old acquaintance be forgot ?

Yes it is that time of the year....New Years Eve here in the USA and for many around the world New Years Day 2013!

Traditionally this is a time to look back and reflect upon the year that has passed and I am no different than others in taking a look back over 2012. A look at where I have been and planning where I want to go in 2013! How about you? Did you find you did more? Less? Learned more? Taught more? Time moves on and lives change - maybe you had one of those years....and your journey took you places you could never have imagined!  I applaud all of you, I find you inspiring, funny, so encouraging and helpful! I enjoy reading your comments, reading your blogs, and looking at your lovely projects and pictures on Flickr!  So Thank you! for being such a great community!  I look forward to spending time with you in 2013!

One of the things that helps put it in perspective, at least for me is a mosaic. I love them! I love to look at all the wonderful projects everyone has worked on this year!  These are my projects for 2012.

So what did I do in 2012?  I found Flickr, and swaps! Love them - built my stash up from swaps and met many wonderful sewist's some of  whom are only on Flickr!  Sew many amazing projects!

My Flying Geese wall hanging was for the Modern She Made Swap and I was sooo happy the way it turned out! The colors were dark and bold and out of the box for me. 

I joined a couple of Bee's -- those are my blocks for this quarter-- the Whirlygig block for all those in my hive and the Ribbon Star block in my colors for another hive. Really fun picking out a block to make and all the fabrics and watching it all come together! I reorganized my sewing room - much more efficient and easy to work in - yea! 

I did a couple BOM and must admit I am not finished with them yet!!  I did make blocks (and finish them) for Hurricane Sandy Relief  :)

I am STILL working on perfecting my binding technique  LOL!

I must admit, I love surfing through blogland and seeing what everyone is up to, but it also adds to my inspiration overload. My to do list is long(er) than ever, and I am sure I will have more projects this upcoming year than I can ever finish!

I passed the one year mark of blogging, and met wonderful friends from around the country and the globe. Fabric and pattern is our language! 

Earlier when I was contemplating this end of year post  I was thinking I had not done enough, you know the comparing myself to others bit....do you do that?  Hmmm, not a good thing to do! There will always be someone else that made 37 quilts and was in 20 swaps and ran a fabric shop out of their basement all the while having a wonderful husband and 3.5 kids all under 5 yrs old at home!  Or the busy blogger who works 65 hours a week and finished 22 quilts and posts from her cell phone and does Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,and  Pinterest and always answers a comment immediately!  Please, all is said in the most humorous, sarcastic tone you can imagine-- it is not meant to be snarky towards those hard working women-- I admire them and they inspire me to try new things - the point is, they are not me and do not have my life and responsibilities just as I do not have theirs. So stop the comparing game. For me, this is supposed to be fun, a hobby, a way to share something I love to do, not a second job. I find when I feel I HAVE to do this, and meet everyone else's expectations (I have enough of that in my paid day job ;)  then I shut down and lose my mojo. So join me won't you for that New Year's Resolution? 

This post has been a bit random, alot of high points and some points to ponder and work on-- I guess that all adds up to a review of the old and contemplation of the new--exactly what New Years Eve is all about!  So I leave you with the words to Auld Lang Syne, chorus and 1st stanza. Tomorrow I will be back with my projects and happenings  for 2013 and then a tutorial for the Whirlygig block above in the upper left corner! 

Come on-- sing along with me :)  Happy New Years!  Ginny

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne ?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

A Rainbow for a Grey and Rainy Day!

Hi everyone, how are things going for you? It is cold and grey and rainy here, with the "S" word in the forecast. I guess a little "snow" in December is to be expected! 

I wanted to share my latest swap project with you and it just seemed appropriate given the cold and grey day! Isn't it sweet! I am just lovin' it and I hope my partner does too! This was part of the Modern Scrappy Bits swap over on Flickr. The idea was to swap scraps and add a bit to your collection. You were to send something small along with the scraps. 

Here is a pic of the scraps I sent along, its a bit dark but I think it was like 5am in the morning when I took it and my dining room light is not the brightest! Funny how scraps evoke such good memories---well mostly good lol! of the projects you work on :)  Alot like listening to music and how a certain song can take you right to a certain moment in time. 

So I decided to use some of these scraps to make a little mug rug and came across this fun tutorial over at Sewfantastic. The instructions and pics are very clear and you end up with a little bit of happiness! The biggest caution is not to pull on your fabric strips or "iron" with steam too much vs. just pressing the seams. Doing either of these will stretch your fabric strips and you will end up with wonky looking seams/lines or they will not line up perfectly....uhm not that that would ever happen to me! Yes, it did a bit with this little rug but it's still sweet!

This is the back of it and I used a scrap piece from one of the Victoria and Albert lines. So much like the city and the start of many peoples day.

I just straight stitched this every 1/4in with my walking foot. 

Then I used some left over binding fabric from this quilt here. I like to cut my binding 2 1/4 in and  in this case I machine stitched it on since I was a bit short on time. 

And there you have it, a little bit of sunshine on a grey and rainy day in Indiana. Sit down and have a cuppa and oh yea maybe a couple of double stuffed Oreo's to go with it. 
This ended up being 9 1/2 in  by 11 1/2 in and I used Kona white for the background. 

Have a great week and Happy Stitching!

Ginny

Friday Finishes!

Did you catch that in the title of the post.....finishes.....that's right not one to tell you about but two!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday if you are in the US. If you are not--I hope it was a good Thursday for you too!  This was the scene this morning from my window--

Ok Ginny, you say, but what exactly is that and what does it have to do with quilt finishes?

Well, it's not just a picture of the heavy fog but--- how appropriate is this....wait for it.... it is a flock of honkers Canadian Geese! One of my finishes is a Flying Geese pattern---Canadian Geese...Flying Geese... ok, on to the quilty stuff  (and yes! they do "honk, honk" loudly!) ;0

My Flying Geese mini quilt is complete and on its way to my Modern She Made 2 swap partner now, so I thought I would give you a close up, and the down and dirty details.  This was for the second round of the Modern She Made swap on Flickr. If you have never participated in one of these swaps, you are assigned a partner who posts a photo mosaic for your inspiration and completes a brief questionnaire on their style and what they may like. Then the stalking begins!

That's right you check out everything you can think of to see what their likes and dislikes are and then make something you think fits them. You can post teases, and questions to try and get more info. Some people comment on everything and some do not comment at all! All part of the fun, but I must admit, it is a bit stressful wondering if they will like what you have made for them. 

So here we go: 

Flying Geese Mini

Close up of quilting and binding

Close up of blocks and quilting

Back of mini with binding

Close up of quilting on back side

So there you have it, my Flying Geese Mini. 

Stats:

Size: 19 in x 19 in

Fabric: variety, including Kona Charcoal for the solid and Michael Miller Divine Damask on back

Quilted with walking foot and pearl grey thread

Next: the little extra that will be going with this mini quilt! 

Medium cosmetic bag in Washi Tape!

 This is my first little cosmetic bag! I love it! Not to hard. Took about two hours but I am sure that the next one would go much faster as I did have a few hic-coughs that had me sharing a bit of time with my seam ripper. 

The inside has a finished lining. So many of the bag/pouch tutorials that I looked at had and unfinished inside which I really didn't want. I used this tutorial from Flossie Teacakes, and really the only thing that didn't turn out was my zipper ends. Yes, I  covered them but they do not lay smoothly. But that may be because I used a zipper that was too long and I had to cut off-- maybe my measurements were not correct and it was a smidge (technical term) long.

Inside finished lining

Finished bag

I hope she likes it.....I do. I used a turquoise zipper and turquoise thread to topstitch it.

Stats:
Wahsi Tape Cosmetic Pouch
Size: 7 in x 5 in
Washi Tape on the outside and Lou Louthi as the lining  (interfacing for structure also)

I will be linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts Friday Finishes and TGIFF!







Happy Stitching!
Ginny

PS. I have had trouble with Google and Blogger tonight so this may have posted and I have now edited it to complete the post, it disappeared twice on me--- must be too much turkey! ;)

WIP Wednesday

It's WIP Wednesday!










Time to take a look at what was completed and what is now on the front burner this week!

I completed my U R Priceless little coin purse and Blog Hop. Love these little purses and was happy with the way it turned out

I finished all my cutting for all the fabric swaps I am in and popped them in the mail yesterday.

I also sent off my blocks for Hurricane Sandy relief organized by Jennifer over at the Knotted Thread.

Front and center for this week is to finish up my Modern She Made Swap mini for my partner!

Here is the layout chosen, and I finished squaring up the blocks last night, next it will be on to sewing and quilting!

A better shot of the pattern

Lets take a list at the List (with a capital "L" she said ;)

1. Finish up my Flickr fabric swaps by cutting and mailing off.
2  Finish up my U R Priceless Coin Purse and Blog Hop post
3. My Lime and Latte lap quilt: All blocks are made and the layout complete, now on to sewing the top up and quilting: so progress - just not as quick as I thought
4. Cut and piece my orange inspired Flying Free quilt: no progress here :(
5. My Modern She Made 2 Swap: Yes! Progress here, see blocks and layout above. Mailing deadline is coming up soon.
6. New set of scrappy hot pads: yes, there is progress here, the tops are pieced.
7. Craftsy BOM's : No progress here (yet)
8. Commissioned baby quilt: the fabric has arrived and the pattern decided on, so a little bit of progress here. Due by mid-January.
9. New to the list: The Weekender Bag! Yes I am going to make this bag--a bit intimidating by everything I have read, but this is not a rush project. I would like to finish it by March. Now on to scout out some fabulous fabric---or maybe I will do patchwork?

10. New--Not specifically sewing related, but I am researching updating my Blog--updating and a new look! So stay tuned, a fresh look is coming soon I hope!

Linking up over at Freshly Pieced!

Hope you are having a great week!

Ginny

Pick a Bundle!

Have you stopped by Sew Lux Fabric? This online fabric shop is run by a mother and daughter team, Linda and Chrissy. You can find them here or you can find them on Etsy here. They are having a Guest Curated Bundle Contest where you search the fabric in their shop and put together a bundle of 8. Pick a name and submit it to their Blog linky party and you might just win that bundle! Entries must be linked up by 11:59pm on November 20th.

If you are the winner, you not only win your bundle but the bundle with the most votes will be featured as the Curated Bundle for December in their shop.

Sounds like fun, so I played around today and came up with two bundles (max you can enter).
Take a peek:

A Spot of Tea Please

I was thinking about how windy it is here today and although it is sunny and warm for this time of year, the wind was chilling. A nice hot cup of tea to wrap my fingers around would feel so good!  I love the combo of aqua and red, and adding a bit of pink and royal blue just makes the colors pop even more. The pink reminds me of sweetness, like the sugar I have in my tea. The creamy white reminds me of the milk some use in their tea. 

These teacups are so cute--couldn't you just see this bundle as a great mug rug?

 

My second bundle pick:





Cuz You Can!

I love the colors in this bundle! The saturated aqua from Chicopee, the deep plum from Simply Color remind me of the changing colors of the lake waters I see outside my window and how they change from dawn to dusk. The tangerine, green and gold remind me of Autumn which was gorgeous today in the sunshine although it is quickly fleeting, and the raspberry is warm and lucious, one of my favorite colors!

It was fun putting these bundles together! A relaxing Sunday afternoon :)

Happy Stitching!

Ginny

U R Priceless Blog Hop

Hi everyone and Welcome to day 4 on the U R Priceless Blog Hop!





Have you checked out all the little cuties that are being made? Wow! Lots of different styles- novelty, sophisticated, embroidered, monogrammed, no limit to the imagination. Over 100 little purses!

I would like to Thank Madam Samm over at http://www.sewwequilt.com for the wonderful pattern and great instructions! The many photos and fun instructions (she instructs you in it  that it is now time to take a break - a 23 minute break! LoL! ) were easy to follow. I would also like to thank Katherine over at http://www.sewmesomethinggood.blogspot.ca/ for organizing and being the Cheerleader for this hop- great communication and organization!

And did I mention prizes? Oh yea-there are prizes! See below for how to enter and win!

HOW CAN YOU WIN?

#1 all those who participated will have a chance to win

#2 All those who are in our top 3

#3 All those who leave comments ( each comment leaves

you another chance to win) 

So comment away! We all love comments don't we!

Ok on to my little creation :)

I used VeloCity City Scene at Night for the front and back of the coin purse. I think it really is an interesting fabric in a large piece and then to cut it down made it very abstract looking--not a bad thing for a modern little coin purse! On the sides I used Too Muchery in Orange. and the lining is Metro Living Circles in Carrot. I just love the orange and navy combination!

Here is the bottom of the little purse, it meets nicely in the center for a diamond or hourglass look.

A peek inside at the lining

And I finished it with a heavy duty thread in coral for a bit of pizazz!

Overall this little purse was pretty easy to make. Didn't take too long - probably about an hour or two. The hardest part was sewing on the frame but once you get the hang of it, it goes pretty fast. I plan on making more of these as Christmas gifts.  Cuz you know...after you make the first one, they are kinda addictive and you start to thinking about all the people you could make them for and what great fabric pics you could use and customize the purse to that person! Alot of Fun!

So leave me some comment love and tell me what you think, and be sure and stop by the rest of the blogs on today's tour listed below and leave comments for a chance at winning some great prizes :)

Happy Sewing!

Ginny

Day 4 - Nov. 8th

as sweet as peaches
Deborah B
Birgit H
Fish Creek Studio
A Quilter's Table
Lily Patch Quilts
Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio
Mary F
Rose Prairie Quilts and Farm
The Desert Rat Chronicles
Sally K
Paris at a Certain Age
From Blank Pages
Quilt Taffy
Barb H

And if you want to see ALL the bloggers and their coin purses, CLICK HERE 

This is the list for the whole hop

Hurricane Sandy Blocks and U R Priceless Blog Hop

Just a quick post to show you the blocks I made for Jennifer over at Knotted Thread for the quilts she is organizing/making for people who have been impacted and displaced by Hurricane Sandy. They are fast and easy. If you cut one 8 1/2in strip the WOF you can make a total of 5 blocks. Here is a link to the Flickr group if you want to get in on this great charity event:  https://www.flickr.com/groups/2153869@N22/

I hope these ice cream blocks bring a smile to someone. I chose this fabric because I thought of walking the Boardwalk in the summer and eating a yummy ice cream cone. I hope it brings back good memories, and that someday whoever gets the quilt with these blocks gets to do it again. Or just simply enjoy one of the little things in life - a sweet, creamy ice cream cone! :)



Don't forget to stop by tomorrow -- I am on the U R Priceless blog hop from Katherine and Madam Samm.
Have you seen all those little cuties? If not, stop by Katherine's over at Sew Me Something Good for the schedule. The hop started on Monday and continues through the 15th!

Happy Sewing!

Ginny