Let the fun begin!!!

Well it's finally here!

The first official day of the "bers" :)

Only 16 Saturdays left until Christmas!!!

Are you working on Christmas gifties yet?

Those of you who have been reading my blog

for a while know that I hate to pay full price.

So I have some great news to share!

Purses and totes make wonderful gifts,

so you might want to check out Michelle Patterns.

Just click the link on my right hand sidebar.

She's having a sale this weekend for 20% off using

coupon code "laborday" at checkout.

I've made several of her bags 

and her patterns are totally FTS (fun to sew)

You can see them HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE

I'll be making some more very soon :)

Now on to my work in progress.

I have the 12 months blocks hand quilted

in red perle cotton.

Now I have to decide how I want to quilt the rest of it.

Decisions, decisions..... 

I also started cutting some of my scrap fabrics into 2 1/2" squares

so that I can make some Great Granny Square blocks.

I've seen them all over the internet 

and I know I'm a little late to be jumping on that train,

 but I'm smitten now 

and I really want to give them a whirl :)

(I blame Pinterest)

I've also done a bit more stitching on my rooster. 

He's not as far along as I would like,

but I've been hand quilting at night

instead of cross stitching.

 

I hope you all find some time in this long holiday weekend

for some crafty goodness!

Home :)

I'm almost finished with my Tiny Houses quilt :)

I need to decide whether to bind it in red or yellow.

It's going to hang against a yellow wall

so I'm leaning toward red for the binding right now.

You know I had to find a way

 to incorporate some giant red rick rack

into this quilt.

Large rick rack is my latest obsession!!!

I would have been completely finished

with the quilt top last night but I ran out of

red floss to blanket stitch the word "family".

When I started the Tiny House quilt along

I wasn't really sure how my quilt would evolve,

but I'm happy with the outcome and I can't wait

to do the hand quilting and get this up on the wall

in my living room.

It's just a happy reminder of all the people

I love most in this world :)

In stitches :)

I don't know about you,

but there are days that I just don't feel like sewing

on my machine.

*gasp*

I know...right?

Sometimes I just love the simplicity of

creating with a needle and thread.

Today I'm doing the hand work on another

component of my tiny houses quilt.

I also wanted to show my "chickens and quilts" cross stitch

that I finished last night.

Now I can add it to my ever growing

box of completed stitcheries

that are just waiting to be framed.

Why is it so stinkin expensive to have something framed?

Sheesh!

My friend Amy gave me the phone number

of her framer and I'll be contacting her soon.

I also finished this fun scissor case kit that I received

for my birthday :)

I just love love love it!!!

Wednesday's Work in Progress

I finished adding all the birthdays to my blocks

and added some sashing.

Now I have to run out to M & L for some more

Kona Snow to add the next elements to my quiltie.

I need to get some backing fabric too.

I'll be honest....

ANY excuse to go to M & L is a good excuse :)

.

I think I'm going to hang this one on the wall

in the living room when it's finished.

12 Tiny houses all in a row :)

I spent part of Saturday sashing my tiny houses

in what I like to call "phase 2" of my

Tiny Houses From Scraps quilt along.

Clearly I won't be making 365 tiny houses.

I knew from the beginning that I didn't have

 the attention span to make one house per day.

But I have a fun quilt design in my head for these little houses

and we'll see if it comes out in real life

as cute as I'm hoping it will.

I have to say that I really enjoyed making the houses

all by hand, but I'll be using my machine to

assemble the quilt top.

I back stitched the months of the year

onto each block and there will be a bit more

embroidery still to come.

I have so many projects to finish up.

Way too many quilt tops just screaming

to be sandwiched and quilted.

That's my goal for March.

We'll see how that works out...ha!

My Tyrolean Train Wreck

I am finished with stage 1 of my Hideaway quilt.

I still need to sash it and add the borders

and then hand quilt and bind it.

I am using the "Hot Cross Buns" pattern

from the Schnibbles Times Two book.

This Hideaway fabric with the coo coo clocks,

tiny deer, and chalets in the Alps,

 just reminds me so much of Germany.

Maybe that's why I love it so much.

Anyhoo.....

This pattern has made me realize (once again)

that I can not expect perfection.

I've had to embrace the "wonkiness".

*sigh*

My lovely Hot Cross Buns are more of a "hot mess"

or if you prefer...

"My Tyrolean Train Wreck".

I'm showing the photo from a distance

so you can't easily see the severe "wonk factor".

I dream of a day where every intersection

of my quilts will meet........

(it could happen...right?)

In the meantime I will just enjoy the process.

And for some reason I really love

these little piles of fabric goodness

 that come from squaring up my blocks.....

maybe it's just me?

And I thought I'd share this little Christmas house

that I stitched last night :)

And for those of you that are playing along

or just following along with the After Christmas Sew Along,

be sure to check out the flickr group for week #3.

There is some serious crafty goodness happening over there!

I've bookmarked a few fun projects myself :)

Won't you be my neighbor?

I have a few new little homes

 to add to my growing neighborhood :)

I have to admit...they are addicting.

I love that I can stitch them

sitting next to the hubs in the living room

while he watches his "blow them up - everyone dies" movies.

My quilt will not have 365 little houses

and it will only be a lap quilt.

I have it all planned out in my head

and we'll see if it turns out the way I hope it will.

In the meantime I started cutting the pieces

for my Hideaway quilt.

I love this fabric.

Reminds me of Germany

and the co-ordinating gingham just makes me happy!

I'm going to start piecing it today.

I can't wait!!!

I also wanted to mention

in case you hadn't noticed the flashing button

on the right-hand side of my screen,

but I've joined the Craftsy Block of the Month.

It's a free online course and each month

she'll be showing us how to do two different

kinds of blocks.

At the end we'll put it all together

in to one large quilt.

How cool is that?

I'm going to learn paper piecing

curved piecing, Dresden's and much more!

All free! Being new to quilting

I'm super excited to learn new things!

I haven't shown pics of the first 2 blocks

because I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of them.

I'm planning on making my quilt smaller

than the 20 blocks she'll be teaching on.

That way, I'll watch the videos each month

but only make the blocks I really like.

If you want to learn how to quilt

hop on over there and register!

My geese were too fat....who knew?

I really hope you are all having fun

with the After Christmas Sew Along!

It's been so great to see all your projects on the flickr group

and read all the lovely posts of encouragement and praise!

I have to say that the friends I have met through blogging

are truely the sweetest people ever!

Well I've been really enjoying sewing with no deadlines!

I'm so excited that I finished my quilt top yesterday.

I just love this fabric (Countdown to Christmas by Sweetwater)

I used a pattern from the book "Schnibbles Times Two".

(just found the book on clearance HERE

and also amazing prices on fabrics as well!!!)

I would have been done sooner,

but it turns out that my flying geese were a bit "fat" shall we say?

They were supposed to finish out at 2" by 3 1/2".

Mine were 2" by 3 3/4".

Being new to quilting, maybe someone can explain to me

what is the purpose is of a "scant" 1/4" seam.

Why not just stick to a regular 1/4"?????

My lovely quilting foot is 1/4"....not a scant 1/4"!!!!

A scant 1/4" sounds to me like you go just shy of a 1/4" seam.

Well that's what I did and my geese were a full 1/4" too wide.

I had to resew 104 seams!

I re-did them at a full 1/4" and they worked out fine after that.

  

I also finished 3 more little houses for my new neighborhood :)

Don't forget to hop over and add your projects

 to the flickr group for week #1.

You have until tonight to enter your pictures.

The winner will be posted here tomorrow!

Good luck and happy sewing!!!

Never give up....Never Surrender!!!

I did it!

I made 2 little houses that are actually 4" square!

The roof lines are good.

The spacing is good.

I actually enjoyed sewing them by hand!

(confession:  I did the sashing by machine)

One of my favorite movies is "Galaxy Quest".

Being married for almost 32 years to a Star Trek fan

 makes Galaxy Quest an even funnier movie.

There are so many references to Star Trek.

You can't watch it and not have the

"Never give up, Never Surrender"

stuck in your head.

It's hilarious!

If you've never seen it,

I highly recommend it :)

So what does that have to do with sewing?

Well I was about to give up and surrender

to these tiny houses.

My 2 earlier attempts were WAY beyond wonky

and were no where close to 4" squares.

If you remember, I made the first one by hand.

I stitched the 2nd one on my machine

and even my hubby asked me

"what happened to that 2nd one?"

You know it's bad when a man notices these things!

I tried sashing them in cute polka dots

 but even that couldn't save them.

So maybe the 2 little houses on Wonky Lane

will become coasters for my sewing room.....

And today is the first "normal" day of the New Year.

The hubby is back at work and my daily life returns to normal.

I have all the pieces cut and ready to go

for my Countdown to Christmas table quilt.

Hopefully by tomorrow I'll have pictures to show you.

Hope you're all getting started on your projects!

I'll be checking the flickr group for pictures.

Tiny Houses Quilt Along - 1st House :)

This is my first tiny house.

I'll admit that when I started the hand sewing,

 I had already decided

that I was not enjoying the process at all.

But oddly, by the time it was done,

 I fell in love with my little house!

I'm going to try the next one on my sewing machine

and see if I like it better.

I have prefection issues...I'll admit it.

But the "wonky factor" seems to lend a kind of charm.

We'll see if this little house is the first of many

or if I end up making a mug rug out of this one

and call it a day.

2012 Tiny House Quilt Along

I have been drooling over all the gorgeous quilts I've seen on many different blogs that are the result of "quilt-alongs". I really wanted to find one to join in 2012 so that at the end of next year, I too would have a lovely new quilt just for me. I stumbled across this fantastic idea for a quilt that will be made up of 365 tiny 3" houses made from scraps so that no 2 are alike. These little houses are stitched together by hand so that's perfect for me to do while the hubs watches TV in the evening. The houses will be sashed together into a large quilt with one large house in the center (since 2012 is a leap year). This idea is the brain child of a very talented crafter named Jeanneke. Her blog is written in both Dutch and English. If you want to play along, just jump over HERE and click on her email near the top of the page to let  her know that you want to join in the fun! On December 15th she will send you the pattern for the tiny houses. I can't wait to get started :)