November 29

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I have been concentrating on schooling and a retreat with my quilting friends in between.

I have been learning more and more about "Word" program.  I am so glad I have the opportunity to learn what I will need to get a better job.

My typing is getting much better.  I started at 20 wpm and in 3 weeks I am now at 25 wpm. I just need to stop looking at the keyboard every now and then.

Now for the fun stuff.

Here are some of the pictures of things that were done at the coast:

My curtain climbers

Christmas Dotee

Lit'l sis Dotee

Paisley Dotee

Wild Dotee

Pinky Dotee

Sock Monkey Sweat Shop

Lorle's Table Runner

I made 5 little Christmas Tree Dottees that went to Finland.

My Girlfriend Suzanna made a basket of Sock monkeys. 

Lorle shared with us her table runner.  We love the block pattern.

Time to go back and concentrate on getting my life in control.

Friday Night Sew In

Well I decided to call it quits at 11:30 pm. I have made 3 things. I finished 2 of them from start to finish.

first:

This mini is for one of my swaps.I used my die cut machine and fusible webbing. I then went around each butterfly using a different stitch. (16 of them) I did couching to attach the fuzzy yarn in between the blocks and a straight feather stitch for the binding.

Next:

I made this little frog from The Purl bee blog.

The pattern is there for you to down load. Johnny was so easy to make and I stuffed him with Navy beans. I think I will use rice next time. The I could put him in the microwave to use as a heat pack.

Lastly I did this:

This is just a sample for a quilt pattern I found in a book. I can't find the book right now to tell you what it is. 

Each square is 1 inch finished. I am going to use the little squares from my postagestamp swap. I will change the flower color for each rose. The block will be 5 inches alternation with an "X" block. I will need 111 Rose blocks and 110 "X" blocks and about 40+ half blocks for the inner border. No I will not finish it real soon. It will take over 6000 squares to make a full size quilt

Scrap Happy Summer

I WON!

I want to thank Em for hosting the Scrap Happy Summer challenge.

It was a good reminder to use my scraps (love to use them) and to post what I was doing.

I chose the scrap bag filled with cozy country color scraps.  It is my style.

Now for the leaf update.

I am almost half way done. Working with black on black is harder than I thought. It doesn't help when you have your "Supervisor making you take a break.

Can I repeat that she is so "Bossy!"

I will get this done. Lucky for me Shelli has a Wedding to do this month and can look at the updates.

Again Thank you for Em and her challenge. My first blog site win.

Labor Day Marathon

I have an up date from yesterday.

I have completed one side minus the center of the flowers. All of this with my "Supervisor" looking on to make sure that I stay on track.

I have learned a lot from this. The main thing is to applique the border on BEFORE attaching it to the main quilt (it is easier to twist and turn) and be glad I use only a few dots of glue. The needle has no problem going through it when I sew at a slow pace.

I did go on a small Quilt Shop Hop with a girlfriend.

First was The Cotton Patch. It is a great shop in Keizer Oregon outside of Salem. Then we went to Greenbaum's Quilted Forest. It is a fabulous shop in Salem Oregon.The last place was Canby Quilt and Fabric It was a first time for me there and I wasn't disappointment. 

If you are in the area, please do stop. I feel they are a good use of your time.

Well I am going to go back and work on the leaves again before I visit Kevin my boyfriend. He has been a little neglected, but he says he understands. He's a keeper.

Scrap updates.

I finally took pictures of the minis in the flimsy top state. I won't quilt them until later in winter.

Postage stamp swap 1 flimsy

 

 

 

New UFO flimsy

I am finding out I like to test the blocks this way before I commit to a larger quilt.

Going to my small quilt group tonight to give one of my Girlfriends a bag I made using a cut up Cat Litter jug for a liner. I made one out last week and Lorle fell in love with it. Fran asked for one too. I have only one jug left and I had recycled 3 a couple of weeks ago. Oh well!

I will post pictures of it tomorrow.

Scrap parade

I want to thank Em for hosting the "Scrap Happy Summer" parade. (use button on the right to see more.) I have been working on my scraps and posting them through out my short history. Here are a few I have taken pictures of before I sent them off.

This little pincushion is made from a 2 litter pop cap lid.

These are my first postcards I have made from fabric. They were fun and I know I am addicted to making more.

This little quilt, (the squares are now on fabric) will be my record of what postage stamp squares I have swapped out. I was going to put them in a book, but decided a little quilt was better.

Well that is all for now, but I will continue on through out the winter.

Happy scrapping to all.

Skeletons in your closet?

I am hosting a swap on About.com. It is called "MORE SKELETONS IN YOUR CLOSET"
We believe it is a "HAUNTED" swap because some can access things where others can and it changes constantly.I am posting the guide lines here just in case.

MORE SKELETONS IN YOUR CLOSET - due September/27

You asked for it and here it is. Its time to gather all those terrific Halloween fabrics you have in your stash and join us in making blocks for a  Halloween quilt.  We will be making a simple version of the attic windows block to showcase all those great Halloween prints.

FABRIC REQUIREMENTS:  pre-washed, good quality 100% cotton.   We will be using Halloween prints as our focus fabric and a solid BLACK fabric such as Kona Black for the two (2) border strips.  Please do not use any fabric that is too thin or see through. As always, please be considerate of those swappers who are allergic to smoke, perfume, or pets.


DIRECTIONS FOR CUTTING AND SEWING THE BLOCK:

The blocks will measure 6” finished  (6 ½” unfinished). 
The cuts for one block:
Halloween print:  One (1) 5-inch square 
Black fabric:  One (1) 2 X 5-inch strip and one (1) 2 X 6-1/2-inch strip
To assemble the block:
Join the 5-inch-long strip along the right-hand side of the square;
Then join the 6-1/2-inch-long strip along the bottom.
Please do not trim your blocks.
Please take care to center any figures in your Halloween print so that part of the motif is not cut off.  Even though it is Halloween, we don’t want any headless horsemen.
Note:  When cutting my black fabric, I added 1/8”   as extra insurance.
Barbara (BarbaraSews) used this block in her 18th Scrappy Swap.  I want to thank her for the instructions even though she hasn’t been here in a while.
Please place a label with your name and forum name on the back of each block.

Maximum number of blocks you may swap:  48
Maximum number of blocks from a single focus fabric: 8

Enclose a stamped (the equal amount of stamps used to mail them to me) self addressed envelope.  No meter mail.

Please email me you name, address and Forum name. I will email my address.

Everyone is more than welcomed to check it out and join if you would like. You need to be a member of About.com to join.

Thanks

Friday Night Sew In

Yes I did participate in the Friday night sew in. Yesterday I worked on one of my Mini quilt swaps. This one is for "Mini QT Swap". It is a Flickr swap group

The theme is Beach]Underwater. I made a Storm at Sea quilt because it reminds me of how I think of the beach.  I love watching storms on the Oregon coast.

The total size of the quilt is 8 inches. There are 145 pieces including the border. I paper pieced the mini.  I will be giving it away to my partner. I hope she likes it. Sorry the pictures are fuzzy. It was taken late at night.

Yes those are a Dime and a Quarter.