having Christmas fun early

I'm having such fun putting together Christmas quilts. I decided that whatever I wanted to make, I'd go ahead and make. So here are my latest two Christmas quilts, one is a geometric bit of everything and the other is a super traditional nod to Christmas past:

This geometric quilt came together like a painting. I started with preparing the canvas, the three quilt layers of top, batting and backing. These layers were pinned to keep them from shifting. Then the fun began. All my scraps and small pieces went flying everywhere and the best ones landed on the quilt. These were moved and trimmed and layered and finally pinned in place. Then they were sewn to the quilt. I love sewing the appliques and quilting at the same time. It is just a lovely economy of effort and creates a beautiful pattern on the back of the quilt. This holiday quilt is a bit expensive, $105.00, because there is a surprising lot of time and dense sewing invested.

The quilt above  was labor intensive, this one was just fun and easy. I loved quilting following the outline of the little winding road between the houses. Such fun and I could almost smell the pumpkin pie, can't you?

weathering the storm

Hi all,
I'm online with generator power hubby hooked up. We weathered the storm but it was hard. A pine tree fell and hit the deck but because it was rotten, it fell to bits and didn't damage anything.
A tree brought down live wires at out neighbors causing a huge fire in the woods below our house. Our two closest neighbors were evacuated in the middle of the hurricane and had to go to a church basement. The road on our side was blocked by the wires. We spent the night watching the fire and praying it didn't burn down the neighbor's house. He was calling us every couple hours to get updates through the night. Fortunately, some power guys helping from Ohio (thank you) came and turned off the power after about 8 hours of worry and jumping fire.
Now we just wait for the power to be restored.



The red cart is our neighbor's horse trailer. The fire was right next to it. I guess the forest was too wet to really burn because we saw few burn marks. This is out driveway with downed lines on it. The road is to the right.

 

once upon a fairy tale quilt

I really love the fabric line, Fairy Tale Friends by Moda. I bought a bundle of fat quarters through a great deal from Craftsy. The fabric is rich in color and has a great texture.

 I used 4 fat quarters in the same color family to make this first quilt. The bundle came with two craft panels with scenes from fairy tales. I knew I wanted the quilt to showcase parts of the panel, but it took  a bit of thought to decide how to do it. Finally I chose a mottled red flannel as a frame for the pictures. The flannel is also used for the back of the quilt.

The best part of the project is that I only used 1 of the 4 colorways in the fat quarter bundle, so I have lots more fabric to mess around and make more quilts with :) Yippee! I'm such a fabric addict :)

Autumn fun and adventure

Fall is my favorite time of the year! The trees are changing color, the air is crisp, and a bit of scary adventure lurks around the corner :)

This is the view from my deck-- a gorgeous tree called a katsura. We planted it some years ago and it fit on the back of our pickup truck. Time sure passes fast....

I'm really proud of this cape because it's the first clothing I've ever made by myself from one of those tissue paper patterns Simplicity sells. This is my hubby dressed for a horseman's hunt ride coming up in November. It took his encouragement to get me to make the costume-- I'm glad he pushed me, it was worth the effort and now I'm not intimidated to sew clothes.

 My littlest one hamming it up for the camera:)

Sarah Jane out to sea

I love Sarah Jane fabric. Here is a baby quilt I made from her new line called Out to Sea.  I enjoy Sarah Jane fabric because it reminds me of a vintage era of white picket fences and puppies and a slower lifestyle. I don't know if that world ever really existed but at least it lives in the imagination. When I sew with her patterns, it makes me happy :)

Hi Liz and everyone,
Sorry it's been awhile since I posted. I've been busy avoiding the blog, not entirely sure why, mainly I've been a bit discouraged. Anyway, I thought I should get up, brush the dust off the blog and write something.

I have been busy quilting, and here are my newest quilts.  They are mainly a bunch of baby quilts that are really satisfying to make because they are small and fast to work up. The Scottie dog ones are available as patterns in the shop, too.

I love love love this pattern

I've been having fun all week with this pattern. I had some leftover ovals from Kelsey's wedding quilt and was moving them around, trying to fit them into a lap quilt. Here is the result:

I liked it so much because the center pieces are the pieces that are cut out of the ovals, so there is no waste when you cut out the applique AND you get twice the reward from your efforts. I love that! In fact, I loved how the quilt looked so much, I made 2 more of them, each one a bit different:

I often like to make batches when I fall in love with a pattern, then I'm done and don't make any more, ever.

If any of my readers would like a free pdf copy of one of these patterns, just mention it in the comment box. Include your email address and which quilt you want to make, I'll send it to you :) They are also available to purchase in my shop.