Christmas Finishes

Christmas was wonderful.  My Dad decided almost at the last minute to come and visit the family in MN for Christmas.  This is a sacrifice for him since he lives in Florida now.  ;)  We stayed in a hotel Monday night - found a great burger place nearby, did some swimming, and then played a game we traditionally played at "the cabin".

As always, I had no idea what to get my Dad - someone who can get himself anything within reason.  I had planned to make him a Minnesota wall hanging next year - but then realized if I worked hard, I could finish up my Twister wall hanging and give it to him.

When I had the top done, I wasn't sure what to do with the edges.  I bought the fabric with Minnesota lake scenes with a wall hanging for Dad in mind.  So I added one of my favorite scenes to the top, used pine cones in the corners, and bound it with the birch tree fabric.

I picked him up from the airport Thursday night, and he stayed at my brothers house.  Dad and I did a little shopping Friday (I had the day off as a Holiday and my kids were in school!!!).  One stop was JoAnn's - I told him I needed to get something to finish a Christmas present.  He actually stayed in the car and read a book.  Here is the fabric I found for the back:







We have always had a bird feeder and a bird book handy to identify birds.  I did have a hard time deciding how to quilt this.  I ended up doing stitch in the ditch around the outside edge of all the pinwheels, and then just inside the edge of each gold pinwheel.  Easy enough with a small wall hanging.

I also finished the placemats for my Aunt and Uncle.  But I didn't have a chance to take a picture of them during the day to show the colors in natural light.  Another time.

Last but not least, I made this cell phone cozy for my daughter.  And it ended up being an iPod Touch holder instead since her Dad bought her one.  I used the last minute tutorial on Fairy Face Designs.  Sidebar - do you know of good protective gloves to wear when rotary cutting!?!  I had a little accident while concentrating on the very small pieces.  Boy did that fingertip hurt and bleed, but it ended up not being too bad.  :)

My girl loves Mini Coopers and London, so I was pretty happy to find this fabric.  

All in all, a pretty productive Christmas on the homemade front.  Not too bad for a new quilter!

I hope you have a very Wonderful New Year!

SCHNIBBLES!!!!!!!

I have been waiting for this!

As I started to fall in love with quilting this year, I came across 2 blogs that were sponsoring "A Year of Schnibbles".  It was great to see the different interpretations by different quilter's.  I was already in love with the patterns, and the idea of being challenged to do one a month was something that I knew I might be interested in.  So, the time is almost here!  If you are interested, you can visit Sherri at A Quilting Life or Sinta at Pink Pincushion.

Blessed Christmas to You

Luke 2:8-14

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

 ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When I began this blog, I mentioned that I am a Christ-Follower.  It is such a blessing at this time of year to celebrate His birth, and reflect upon the events that then led to His death and Resurrection.

I pray that you may also ponder the true reason we celebrate Christmas, and if you want to read the entire Christmas story, you can read it online here.

I pray for a very blessed time with your family, and look forward to being back here very soon.

Karen  

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Winner!

I could not believe that I had 183 comments for my little giveaway!  I read every single one, but I have realized there is no way I can respond to that many and still be ready for Christmas!  A lot of people joined me in loving Turkey & Stuffing, many like cookies or other sweets, and some of you like things that I don't even know what they are!  :)  It was wonderful to have so many visitors from around the world.

A special thank you to those who chose to follow my blog.  I found a few new blogs to follow in my travels around entering giveaways.

I couldn't figure out how to show the random number generator.  So I hope you will trust me that the number was 73.  So the winner is:

 James-Linda said...

LOVE BAKING CHRISTMAS COOKIES>LOVE EATING THEM TOO!
THANKS FOR SHARING!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

December 13, 2011 8:52 PM

I have heard back from Linda already.  She lives in the beautiful state of Montana here in the U.S.A.  Linda, your winnings will be on their way to you on Monday.

Happy weekend sewing to everyone!...or decorating...or cleaning..or SHOPPING!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway

I have been looking at all of the giveaways and I am overwhelmed!  I will never be able to enter anywhere near all of them, but it sure is fun to try.  Since I have been blogging only about 3 weeks, I didn't plan to join in...but then I got the bug!  I don't really have a stash, but I figured out a way to host a little giveaway.

http://www.sewmamasew.com/blog2/november2011/GiveawayDay.jpg

I bought a Modern Workshop Layer Cake, thinking I would use it to make a larger sized Schnibbles.  Then I found out you need 2 for most patterns.  So I decided to make charms out of my layer cake and I am giving one set away.  This is all 42 pieces of fabric manually cut into 5" squares.

I also have a pattern to give away - I will have to add a picture later.  I won this in a giveaway, but know I will never use it.  I didn't know what I was responding to one day when I went on a blog and it said the first 5 comments would win a pattern.  I was at work, so didn't have time to check out the details.  Here is the pattern from Amy Bradley Designs -

Next project is place mats for a Christmas Present.  I hope to have a peek for you tomorrow.

To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment about your favorite thing to eat at this time of year.  Mine is Turkey and Stuffing.  Yummy!  International entries very welcome.  The giveaway will end Friday at 5:00 PST with the winner announced on Saturday.  I will try to use a random number generator.  I hope you will read a couple of my posts - the one right before this one is about a giveaway I won!  Any feedback is very welcome!

**Giveaway is now closed!**

Giveaway Prize Made!

Last week, I won 2 fabric giveaways in the same day.  I have entered so many, and have gratefully won a couple in the past few months.  I will show those wins soon!

The first email I received last Wednesday was from It's Sew Kiki.  She had a giveaway for a Christmas wall hanging kit.  The wonderful sponsor for the giveaway was Quilt Kit Market.  I had been looking at the great deal they had at Quilt Kit Market for free shipping, and a free charm pack with purchase just the day before.  So I quickly placed an order and let the owner know so she could ship them together.

It all arrived on Saturday.  Here is a picture of my prize before opening.  Isn't that bag pretty?

Next up, a picture of the fabric in the kit.  A Reindeer Games charm pack and 2 coordinating fabrics - designed by Sandy Gervais.  Won't the coordinating cream fabric make a great binding?

Here is the fabric with the pattern.  It is called Done! by Sandy Gervais.

This was a perfect win for me since I have started making a series of seasonal wall hangings.  Now I have a Christmas one!  I started working on it on Saturday evening, and stayed up late because I was so excited.  I finished all the rows that night.  Sunday after church I bought some Heat n'bond at JoAnne's so I could iron the ribbon on.  Now it is all done!

I plan to do a blanket stitch in gold around the ribbon, and after it is quilted, add some beads or other decorative touches.  It was fast and simple, and oh so cute!  If you have any embellishment ideas, I would love to hear them.

Oh, and here is a picture of my purchase.  I plan to do some Schnibbles quilts next year, and found out you usually need 2 charm packs.  I already had 1 Terrain pack, and have been wanting Hometown since it came out.  The great sale at Quilt Kit Market goes through today if you are interested!

I am linking this up to Love Affair with My Brother - This Week

Friday Quilter's Night Out

Last night was our monthly Quilter's Night Out offered through our local Community Ed.  Since I have little free time to sew, this monthly night out is when I get most of my quilting done.  We had our Christmas 'party' - we all brought a treat to share.  My SIL brought cookies my bro made with a recipe from our Mom.  It was great to have some as it has been a few years.

Before I show you what I worked on, I want to share the top to the first bed quilt I worked one (sorry for the poor color):

It is for my son, and uses some of the black and white fabric I received after the bus trip mentioned in the previous post.  I used a Turning Twenty Simply Sashed pattern.  The blocks are big, so it was a good beginners quilt.  I did some machine quilting, but couldn't handle all of it, so a friend is going to do some simple machine quilting for me on it.

Last night I worked on the quilt for my daughter.  My SIL found the perfect pattern in a quilting magazine.  My girl has colored circles randomly placed on her walls (we painted wallpaper and then cut it out).  She loves bright colors, so we had a lot of fun picking out fabric for a quilt that features circles.  Last night I appliqued many of them onto the squares.  These are a few of the small ones:

And here are a few of the large ones.  I hope to finish the applique stitching tonight so the girl and I can lay it out tomorrow and I can start sewing the blocks together.  More to come on this one....

I received a fun block from one of the other quilters last night also.  She was working on the blocks for our monthly exchange, and both my SIL and I fell in love with the few she was able to make like this.  So we begged to have one of them, and Sherri obliged.  I will have to make a special one for her in exchange.

All in all, it was a fun night, even though I had to run home for the cord to my sewing machine.  :)  Next time I will take some action shots if the ladies agree.

Before I go, I want to share a giveaway I came across.  It is for the newest book in my favorite series - Elm Creek Quilts.  Here is where you can find it:  http://luckypupquilter.blogspot.com/2011/11/wedding-quilt-giveaway.html

What Got Me Started - Little Wall Hanging

I have loved quilts and quilting for a long time.  I just never made the time to get started.  Then my SIL Chellie started making quilts in 2009.  So I finally took the plunge the summer of 2010 and got started myself.  It was a slow start, but I started it off with a bang - the 2010 Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop.  I loved the fabric, and Chellie and I went on a bus tour to visit a lot of shops in SE MN.  We received a charm square at each shop, and I bought some yardage.  Due to budget constraints, I didn't buy much else except some FQ's.  At the end of the hop, we each received 20 half yards of black and white fabric!  It was so fun, and I hope to go again next year.  Our fabric for 2010 was designed by Holly Taylor.

This is my first 'quilt' - a little wall hanging made with some of those charm squares, and the pictures from one of the fabrics that highlight MN in Winter.

I received the pattern on the bus after playing a game.  If I remember right, I stuck my foot up in the air faster than anyone else.  I love pinwheels, which you will see in a later post.  My SIL, Chellie (pronounced Shelly), suggested the flange.  I mostly quilted stitch in the ditch, but I have used my walking foot to do some free quilting in the picture blocks to highlight them.  It took me several months to get this finished - so my first quilt was a UFO for a long time.

Since this quilt is a winter themed quilt, I am entering it into SewCalGal's Christmas quilt contest.  http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/p/christmas-quilt-show.html   I encourage you to visit and look at the lovely quilts everyone has entered.  You can even vote, and leave a comment to have a chance to win a prize yourself!  I don't expect to win, but it will be fun to enter.

Speaking of winning, I found out this morning that I won 2, yes 2, fabric giveaways today.  I also won some FQ's a couple of weeks ago.  I plan to show all of my giveaway wins after I receive the 2 new ones.   I can't buy much fabric myself, so I am happy to have won some!

I almost forgot my last picture.  Here is the furry member of our family curled up on this same quilt inside a box.  You can see a little of the fun Debbie Mumm fabric I chose for the back.  :)  Sorry for the bad color.

My first WIP Wednesday

I have enjoyed WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.  So I decided to share one of mine, and the story behind it.  This is my 4th project since I started quilting a few months ago.  I had not planned to use these fabrics until next year.  :)

Once a month our Community Ed has a Quilter's Night Out.  It has been helpful to keep me on track as a newer quilter.  At the one in early November, I tried to FMQ on my Son's quilt for the first time, but the thread kept breaking.  I was using a machine a friend is letting me borrow since my Kenmore doesn't have a compatible darning foot available.  So I gave up on that, and started to try to do some zigzag on my daughter's future quilt with my Kenmore.  It didn't work!  I had it serviced recently after not using it for year so I was really upset.  For these and other reasons, I didn't accomplish anything that night.  (I figured out the issue with the Kenmore later and it is fine).

The next day was our quarterly Quilter's Day In.  We are able to leave everything at the High School where we meet overnight.  I thought and thought about what I was going to do.  The Singer has a great straight seam, so I decided it was time to try my 'Lil Twister.  I started looking at my fabrics, and realized it would be nice to do the Quilt Minnesota fabrics since it was still fall.  :)  Much of the fabric in this wall hanging is from the Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop this year.  At each shop, we received a 5" square.  I combined the squares I received with some pretty gold fabric and used the small Twister tool. 

Quilt Minnesota is an amazing Shop Hop.  80+ shops participating, bus tours, beautiful quilts made of the special fabric at each.  The artist for our fabric this year was the great wildlife artist James Meger.  Sadly, he passed away just a couple of weeks after the Hop.  How wonderful that his art was displayed all over the state that same month.

Now I have to decide on the binding and whether or not I need a border.  I kind of like it just how it is and may use the birch tree fabric for the border.  Although normally it would be too late to hang a fall quilt, we are experiencing a wonderful fall here in Minnesota.  It may be 50° on Thanksgiving!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday!  This is only my fourth post, so I appreciate comments.  Happy Thanksgiving!

<a href="http://freshlypieced.blogspot.com"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1109/5159705972_49be14a673_m.jpg" width="150" height="150" alt="WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced" /></a>

Also linking to This Week @ Love Affair With My Brother


http://loveaffairwithmybrother.blogspot.com/search/label/This%20Week

Thrift Store Finds

I went thrift store shopping last Friday night after work.  I had seen blog posts of fabric finds so wanted to try myself.

First up is a pretty pansy fabric I found at a store called Hidden Treasures.  I am in a block swap each month of a simple block and needed some fabric for that.  Kind of 80's style, but I like it!

The next one I found is so adorable.  It is only 35 inches wide, but they had several yards.  I wonder if this is an old Japanese fabric?  Any idea?

I would love comments with ideas on how to use this fabric.  Also, if I had a little Etsy shop, would you be interested in buying some?

We had snow on Saturday and the roads were horrible.  But it is pretty outside.  I don't have much to do for Thanksgiving other than to make the family specialty - Cranberry Fluff.  Yum, I can hardly wait.  Turkey, dressing, gravy, Cranberry Fluff and Pecan Pie (along with whatever veggie someone brings).

Have a great Monday.  Linking up with SewHappyGeek's Manic Monday Linky Party!  I would love your comments about my new blog.

TNT Thursday. My new thing? Blogging!

You may be wondering about the name of this blog.  It is a work in progress, so for now I just listed 3 things that are important to me.  I love tea and teashops and that whole genteel mentality.  I am a new quilter who is quite enamored of the possibilities.  And I am on a mission to change my health after having quite a few issues the past 2 years.  I need to lose weight, but I am approaching it more as changing my eating habits.  Along with these, I am also a Christ Follower but won't shove it down your throat.  I may talk about that a little bit also since it is a big part of who I am!

So here are my sampler blocks - I laid them on top of the pillow from yesterday since the pink fabric is the same.  All hand pieced.  Don't you just love those 80's colors?  Dusty Rose, Maroon and Teal.  :)  I actually still like the combo and I am thinking of trying to do one a month - still hand piecing.

Bear Paw - I still really like this one!

Jacob's Ladder?

I don't remember the name of this block.

So far I am enjoying the blogging, and already have a follower!  Thank you Sandi!  I won a pattern and fabric by The Noble Wife from Sandi last summer.  She is a fellow Minnesotan, with a wonderful blog called A Legacy of Stitches.  When she posts about her adventures in Minnesota, I love it because she lives in the area where my Mom grew up and where I visited a lot when I was growing up.  I miss St. Peter and the area around it.

I will be joining the local Quilt Guild tonight.  My SIL has been going for quite a while and I visited last summer.  Would you believe our neighbor from when I was a child is also a member.  It was so great to see her, and I look forward to seeing her again.  I think I will show off one of the items I brought to the Guild in my next post.

Have a great day everyone.  I am going to try to link up to TNT Thursdays at Happy Quilting.  New thing I did this week - I finally started my blog!  Yippee Skippee as Melissa would say.

Look at me, I am blogging!

Hi, my name is Karen and I live in a suburb of St. Paul, MN with my 2 children. I have been lurking on quilting blogs since early summer of this year. I had major surgery and had time but no energy so I read quilting blogs.  My first quilting was done in about 1985. I was working for a local fabric store, and made this pillow for a display.

All of the stitching was done by hand. The book this came from called it shadow quilting. There is a shear fabric on top of the cut out shapes, and then you quilt it. You then get a shadowed effect. I remember I enjoyed it very much, and moved on to trying a sampler quilt. 30 years later, and I only have a few blocks done for that sampler. I will show them in my next post.

My desire to quilt 'someday' was always there, but single parenthood was my first priority. My children are now 11 and 13, so I have some breathing space for a hobby or something. So I chose quilting - my dear SIL started before me (both at the same fabric store in the 1980's and the quilting!). She is very prolific, and may join me on my blog.

I have had fun reading all of the blogs and joining many (too many?) as a follower - especially through the Wantobe Quilter campaign. I am amazed at how much quilting has changed in the past couple of decades.  Be back soon, and happy blogging!