Merry Christmas!

When I was young, my mom used to make these jeweled

Christmas tree portraits.  Recently I saw this one at

a quilt show and it brought back so many memories

of my mom and made me miss her just a little bit

more that usual.  She passed away Christmas Eve, 1999. I 

think that may have been one of the worst days of my life

            

            and since it happened on a holiday, I sort of relive it every year.  Theres             never a moment that I dont miss her.  She taught me so much, needlepoint,               latch hook, cross stitch, sewing, knitting, crochet, cooking, baking, you  

     name it, I have my love of creativity because my mom always had me doing               something with my hands.  I'm so grateful for the gifts she gave me. 

                                             I miss her so much.

                   Merry Christmas to you and your family..hold them tight and 

                                tell them how much you love them everyday!

Postage Stamp LOVE!

I am sure that the postage stamp quilt has to be

one of my favorites!

                                       I have made several and even
                 sold just the quilt tops on Ebay.  They are just so bright
                and fun, who could resist?  They are classic!!

Lovely Jewel Tones

Another finish!  This is a scrap vomit quilt that I 

just finished.  Its amazing that I really gave

no thought to the colors, I was just grabbing as I went

and now when taking a photo..

                  I realized that its very colorful with jewel tones...love it!

                                       Heres the scrappy backing!

A finish!

Yay!  My Japanese X&O quilt is done!

                                        Its scrappy deliciousness!!

Table Runners!

Heres a couple of table runners that I whipped up

for the craft fair....all from my 2 1/2" strip bin.

                      Very easy and quick to do...will make a great gift!

Wonky Dr. Seuss!

I just love the Lorax/Dr. Seuss fabrics...

I found a remnant and some coordinating scraps

from my stash and made this super duper

cute wonky log cabin Dr Seuss 

quilt...I love it, so bright and fun!

                                 
                                         
                                 Heres a close up of the Grinch block

This one is my favorite block...

"Horton hears a who"

What a great book!!

Can you see the quilting? Its the tall hats from Dr. Seuss!

AWESOME!!

15 minutes play...made a flimsy!

Ohhhhh....the process.....

It started with a bowl of fabric crumbs....

                             Which turned into slabs of "Made fabric"

                                Which then morphed into these beautiful
                                          Anvil blocks/Squares

                   Then of course I had assistance laying out the blocks,
                                this is my assistant Calico....Dahlia.

And here is the completed flimsy!  Yippee!

Now to get it quilted!!

"Onna the unicorn"

Jaydens papa thought she needed this Unicorn...

Its Enormous!

Needless to say, Jayden loves it!

A little sewing with a friend

Before we lost our house a couple years ago, I used to live a stones throw away from my friend Julie and we used to sew together 2-3 days a week and we always had a blast!  Now that I live in town and she still lives up in the forest about an hour away, we still find the time to get together and sew.

Julie has 3 grandsons who recently  moved back to California from Delaware.  She needed to finish up the youngest boys Christmas Stocking...yep, Michaels!
So here she is, happy as heck to have it done...it turned out great and she quilted the fabric herself which was a first for her!  Nice job Julie!!

Now notice in the picture to the right of Julie, the little sign...it says "Soon it will be Christmas day"...I keep that right next to where Julie sews and everytime she starts to complain or say she is tired, I tell her "Soon it will be Christmas Day!" to which she always growls at me!  LOL!  Shes a good friend to me, some days I dont know why she puts up with me cuz believe me I can be a treat!

My little helper

Suki Monster!

    
                                                  Shes always helping me...gotta love her!

Celtic Solstice Clue #1

Well its mystery time!  Bonnie Hunter has her yearly mystery up and going...this year its called "Celtic Solstice".   I did her mystery "Easy St" last year and it was so fun and the outcome was a gorgeous quilt that I really love!  So, heres my progress so far, these aren't trimmed yet...I need to get in the right frame of mind to trim 188 of these!

Love my pups!

Its a very rare occasion when I can get both of these

girls to sit still and actually get a photo! 

These are my two Black Lab/Rottweilers

Maggie Lou Who is on the left, we saved her from the

South Lake Tahoe shelter a few years ago, shes the sweetest

most well behaved dog ever!  The one on the right is 

Jacey Mae Frey, shes have had her since she was a pup

and she will turn 10 in the spring.  She is also a very good

girl.  

Down below here is Duke aka "honeyboy"...he adopted us about 12 years ago so we assume thats how old he is...hes a good ole guy!  We think he is a German Shepard/Golden Retriever mix...hes absolutely handsome and he knows it! Thats Suki the tortie monster with him...shes always up in everyones business...typical!

       

I dont know what I would do without my animals, theycomfort me, they keep me company, they give unconditional love 

every single day.  I love them.

Scrappy Trip Bee!

 

I just joined the "Scrappy Trip Bee" on Flickr...

I have to make 5 blocks for my hive members and mail them

out by January 15th...easy peasy!

This is the first one I got done, she requested

all greens...

 

Granny Block Bee!

 

 

Here are my blocks for November for the

Granny Block Bee

on Flickr...

This has turned out to be a really fun bee

and I have enjoyed it very much!

 

Suki!

 

So, my quilty blogging pal Kathy in Ohio longarmed my

Easy Steet quit with her Awesome Lords Swirls

pattern.  On the day I got it, this little monster

Suki..our tortie...jumped right on up there..

Shes such a character!

 

 

                                           So, needless to say: Cat tested Lap Approved!!!


                                                         Heres Kathys blog: Check it out!

 http://new2quilting.blogspot.com/2013/11/customer-quilts-6-7-are-done.html?showComment=1385228455979
                 
       

Vintage Finish!

 

 

So, one of the nurses I work with got this Vintage Quilt Top

from her mothers house in the south when

she passed away.  So she brought it to me for repairs

and finishing.  It looks like it was made from

old kitchen towels and pajamas.

 

                                                           
                                              It needed a bit of repairs, split seams and such
                                        and then quilting and binding.  Its finished now, she
                                                   is really pleased with it.  Score! Done!

Putting the husband to work!

Some days I just need to remember to be grateful for my sweet husband.

He puts up with so much from me.  He holds my place in line

at the fabric stores while I am off still picking out

fabrics.  He runs to the grocery store for whatever

it is that I have run out of in the middle of baking.

He even does all the dishes after I make a huge mess baking and

then goes and works two jobs!  Now, trust me, he isnt

perfect but hes a good guy and he supports my fabric hoarding/quilting

obsession, that right there makes him a keeper!

 

In the picture above he was making the little loops for my potholders,

sewing them and turning them...

 

Then I made him do something that I HATE to do, we got out the bin of

batting scraps and set to work zig zagging them

together to make large enough pieces for the potholders.

It took us over 2 hours, but we got it done! 

Look at that concentration!!

 

Ya, hes a good guy....and all he wants is a good dinner at the end of the day! 

Thanks Dear!

Craft Fairing!

                      Oh my gosh has it been a busy month!
                         I havent blogged all month!  Geez! 
          I have been busy making things for two different
craft fairs. The photo below is from the first craft fair that
                  we did in Folsom, CA.  This is my husband  and I  just hanging out amongst all my goodies!

 

I baked and baked and made my blue ribbon English Toffee a couple days prior...we didnt end up selling very much but we had a nice day and met some very nice people! Heres my husband and I amongst all my goodies....

Floozie!

This is Floozie...shes been sick...

                 Needless to say, its been hell shoving pills down her throat
              for the last week, thankfully I still have all my fingers...but now
                she is so much better! She says its rough getting old (shes 12).

Simply Solids Bee-October

The requested block for this month in the Simply Solids Bee was a 

Hexagon Star

             
              This went together fairly easy...and came out the right size! Yay!

Chevron Quilt!

Yay!  My husband has a new quilt!  He requested

Red, Black, Gray and White..

long enough to be up under his chin &

down over his toes! 

I think I did it! This fits the bill!

I used this tutorial here...it went so fast! Great results!

http://myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com/2013/09/easy-peasy-chevron-quilt-tutorial.html

"Honey Honey" pattern testing

Esther @ ipatchandquilt put out a call for pattern testers

for her new pattern called

"Honey Honey"

Its a paper pieced honeycomb pattern...its very cool!

I did the 20" pillow size...heres the front...

                                  and heres the back:

It was a pretty straightforward and easy pattern to do.

She has great instructions and shading on her

pattern pieces that really help the process

go more smoothly.  

Thanks for letting me test this for you Esther!

Heres a link to Esthers blog, from there you 

can also link to her store and more of her great patterns!

Thanks Esther!

http://ipatchandquilt.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/experimenting/

Shiny Happy World Challenge

"Shiny Happy World" blog had a challenge to use their 

small embroidery pieces and make them 

into a small item...I got 4 dog pieces and

made them into this wonky mini quilt.

Many seamtresses joined in and many lots of cute things

you can see them all here along with 

who won prizes!

http://www.shinyhappyworld.com/2013/10/congratulations-finished-stitches-embroidery-challenge-winners.html

QBSA Paper Piece Swap-Sept 2013

Heres a "Scrap Attack" block that I made for my

partner Sandi in the QBSA PP Swap.

Oh! I wanted to keep it!!

Another Super Scrappy Finish!

Another Scrappy trip finished and SOLD!

                  All done in black, purple, green, burgundy and a hit of
                                     coral.....the new owner loves it!

Kitty Cat Wednesday!

This is  my beautiful girl Puka...

               the long haired calico I have always wanted...shes a lovebug!

A super cute finish!

So one of my bosses at work is a new Grandma, so the girls I work with put me to work making a quilt for the new grandbaby....thing is, its a girl and since her daddy is a firefighter, they wanted a girly firetruck/fire fighter themed quilt...took a little bit of thinking on my part, but after finding this great paper piecing pattern on Craftsy from "Quiet Play", I had an idea in my head and I was all set!!

A Pink & Purple Firetruck!

                                       with a cute little gal driving!!

It turned out so amazingly cute, she was so please with it!

Stella Jane was born just a few days later

and they have decided to use this

quilt as a wallhanging..perfect!!

Doll Quilt Swap

This is the doll quilt I made for my partner in the "Doll Quilt Monthly Swap" with Barbara over at "Cat patches" Blog...

you can sign up here:  http://dollquilters.blogspot.com/
 she is always welcoming new members and its so fun to get a cute little mini quilt every month, not to mention being able to make one to give!

Here is the quilt I received from my partner Sharon...I love it! Scrappy goodness!

                              So, go over, take a look....its a fun swap!

I knew if I walked away....

this would happen!

                               Koi, keeping a lid on the scraps as usual!

Wordless Wednesday

Look what I won! Kinda....

When I went to the Gold Bug Quilters Quilt Show last weekend,

they had a silent auction.  I didnt think I would win, but I did!

Look at these cute cute cute owls!

The lady who made it didnt think it was that great but I sure think its really cute!

$25!!  Its mine now!

Shhhh...

This one is a Christmas present for my husband. He has no idea that I have made it.  Its very "manly"...Ha!

The pattern is called "Split Decision"

Wordless Wednesday

Star Surround X 2 Done!

Its time to link up for the Star Surround QAL

with Melissa Corry of Happy Quilting

Heres my Modern Version

 I love how fresh and pretty it is...I am so happy with how it turned out...the background is actually a white with light green polka dot...Love it!

                                        Heres my Patriotic Version

Sorry its a crappy picture, but it does the job for linking up....its much prettier in person.  Lots of fun patriotic text prints and polka dots!  So fun...love it!

Postage Stamp LOVE!!

I honestly think that Postage Stamp quilts are my favorite to make.

I have made so many of these and I love every single one.

         
They are just so colorful and bright and I never have to give a thought to what goes where...LOVE IT!