Once again, I made postcards and sent to some friends at Girl Scout Camp. I enjoy it. Not sure what the others think but I know that some of them do so that makes it ok.
Here are this year’s versions.
Category: Seasonal (Page 1 of 3)
A couple more pictures here. I did make some things for Christmas this year but find I only have pictures of some of the things.. not sure what happened. Guess I’m out of the habit.
I did make this nightgown for my niece’s daughter. I love making flannel nightgowns for little girls.
And I made my brother some napkins.
Of course there were also a few more zip bags.
And I also made about 20 of the long rice heat packs. There was a 50 pound bag of rice left at one of my work places so I made many of these. In fact I even ended up going to Costco for a second bag of rice.
Next up will be several baby quilts and other items. There are at least 3 babies that I know of in the next few months. I do enjoy the baby sewing and could easily get carried away by that.
A Halloween mat is now on my desk at work. I have this wonderful wooden desk and I hate to put water glasses and coffee cups on the desk. I also don’t like to put food directly on the desk top because let’s face it, it’s really not very clean! This is a desk that has been used by many people over the years and is cleaned by a cleaning team at night and I really don’t know what has been on it . My solution has been a little mat, coaster etc. that will serve several purposes. Protecting the lovely wood and also protecting my lunch. I’ve wanted a new little mat for some time. I’ve used the last one every day for about a year and a half and although I still like it, it was time for a change. I made this little Halloween one in a hurry. I had an idea in mind when I started that didn’t turn out at all like I planned so this was the second choice. It’s fine with me. I like the way it turned out. Kind of sloppy binding job but I’m really the only one that sees it so that’s fine with me. This is about it for my Halloween decorations this year. How about you. Any decorating at your house?
Red white and blue is the theme for today. Yes, even here in Edmonds it’s a holiday. Our little town has a children’s parade, a regular parade, a holiday run, activities in the park and even fireworks. It’s been fun to drive around town the day before these activities and see the people preparing for this big day. This photo was taken yesterday morning.By 10 pm last night the chairs were elbow to elbow. Too bad it was too dark to take a picture because it certainly made me chuckle.
It has been a quiet day here at our house. I finished the binding on the red, white and blue table runner. It was cut from a remnant that I found at JoAnn’s last summer. It was nice to have it in my stash so when the motivation struck, I was able to pull the fabric, use the AccuQuilt Go cutter and get to work.
We did have some folks stop in the afternoon. Soon we’ll have some barbecued hamburgers and beans. A traditional kind of 4th meal. The sun is out and I may go and finish the baby quilt that is sitting waiting for some batting and quilting. That needs to be finished by next Friday so I’ll have to get in gear. Second choice is to sit in the sun and read. Hope you are having a wonderful day too.
A Christmas stocking for Raegan was a necessary addition for holiday sewing. This sweet little girl ventured into the world on December 5th. The grandparents and Mom and Dad were excited. Of course all the family and friends were pleased to have such a sweet addition to this family. I didn’t want Santa to overlook this new babe however so a stocking was created. I used a combination of a McCall’s stocking pattern and some AccuQuilt dies. The name was cut with a Slice Fabrique die. If I do this again I will make a few changes but overall, it was a successful completion. Merry Christmas Raegan.
It’s an Edmonds kind of day. The sun is shining, there is a bit of breeze and the spring air is fresh. What a great event for a Saturday. It makes everyone smile and rejoice in the beauty of spring.
Yard work, washing and sewing are all on the agenda today but I did make a stop by the beach to celebrate. Oh how I love the spring.
I have a die that will cut hearts. Valentines day is coming and I love red. Seems to me this is a perfect combination to try something new.
I have thought about this project for several weeks but had not made a decision about the direction. I finally decided I just needed to cut some hearts and then go ahead. I didn’t have any more product to make iron on appliques so the first step was make a trip to Joann’s. Now if you shop regularly at Joann’s you should never have to pay full price which is fine with me. That leaves more money to spend somewhere else. When I came home I had two different kinds of iron on applique product. I did some from both the Wonder Under and Heat and Bond Lite and have definitely decided I like the Heat and Bond better. Its easier to use and peels off the back more easily and cleanly. This however was an indication of how the entire project was going to go.
There were continuous challenges with this project. First not all the hearts peeled well. I decided I was just going to applique them onto a white square and satin stitch them. Sort of a make it up as you go kind of project. It’s been a long time since I have done much satin stitch applique so the hearts are not very consistent. After the third one I had already decided this was a project that was likely to end up in the trash. I did continue however because I decided it was already cut and it was good practice. After two squares of applique, several borders and a quilt sandwich I decided that it still didn’t look very good so I might as well practice some quilting. I started and it was really ugly! At this point I was about ready to put it in the trash. I ended up doing all sorts of free motion quilting patterns on the entire piece. There are many inconsistencies in the stitch length and smoothness but by the end it actually improved the looks of the entire piece. I think that the red fabric is so busy that by quilting the white it helped tie it all together. An instance of more really was better.
I put a binding on and it is on my dining room table. It I just go by and glance it actually looks ok. I sure wouldn’t want anyone to look closely at it and I certainly wouldn’t gift it to anyone but for a home product that I thought I was going to trash, it turned out very valentinish.
When I was growing up I was fortunate to have my Great Grandmother move from Minnesota to live nearby with my Grandmother. She immigrated from Norway when she was young and learned all sorts of handcrafting skills. I have several things that she made me and I cherish them all. One of my favorites are these crocheted Christmas snowflakes. I have 18 of them and every year we put them on the family tree. I didn’t realize how much my mother enjoyed them until I got married and they came to live at my house and adorn my Christmas tree. Oh, she really wanted to keep them but did send them to me when I asked. Part of the ritual of the snowflakes did have my husband befuddled however the year that he decided to store different objects in the snowflake box. I went to get them out the following year to put them on the tree and they were missing. Oh, I was upset! He didn’t know what he had done with them. I’m not sure why he put them away that year and not me. Trust me, now the snowflakes always go in the little red box and I eagerly anticipate putting them on the tree.
The time has come to start the holiday clean up. At my house it seems to take a long time. We’ve been married for many years and have accumulated too much stuff. Hubby especially enjoys large quantities of Christmas display. We have acquired a large assortment of Department 56 houses/buildings and then we have the tree. Oh my! This year Jim decided he was going to see how many ornaments he could put on the tree. After many days and maybe getting tired of carrying boxes up and down the stairs he had enough. Oh dear.. now we have to put them all away!
I’ve made it through Christmas. Tomorrow is Aaron’s birthday so dinner again but I love to have the kids around and don’t mind cooking if they will come and visit for a while.
Part of the bigger family Christmas celebration this year was a handmade gift exchange. We each had the name of a family member. The only guideline was something you made. I enjoyed seeing what everyone created for their giftee. I had Kim’s name. The item that I had planned on making didn’t happen. I ran out of time when my mother became ill and ended up with a 5 day hospital stay from the 15th to the 20th. I had finished most of the other projects and knew that I would have plenty of time to create this gift. I’m not going to mention what the gift is. She will probably get this for another occasion because now I have the pattern and all the supplies. My second idea came together quickly. Kim is a knitter and last fall I traded a friend some market bags for yarn that she had spun into a beautiful skein just right for knitting. I passed this on to Kim with a bag that I made for her to carry her knitting in. It’s easy to tuck in a bag or a suitcase. I had also included a little pair of scissors. After the gift opening, I told her that I almost put a ribbon on the scissors and attached it to the bag so they would not be so easily misplaced. She said that she would love that. I ended up opening the side of the bag and attaching a D ring. This D ring is now hard at work holding a clip that has the scissors, a tape measure and a needle book attached. They are all long enough to leave attached to the bag and still be used but the clip can also be unhooked and the tools used. It’s big enough that it will be noticed if the bundle is set down and yet small and light enough to easily live in the bag until they are needed.
