Crumb quilt progress....

Since I got the shopping done on Friday..... I decided to take a me break during nap time on Saturday and got to sew! Yippee.
First, I grabbed the pastel solids and cut them up for the sashing. Then I took the extras of the 30's prints and some new ones and cut some little 2 inch squares.... Then....I got to sew!
This is what I have so far after a couple of hours of sewing.

Then I got to sew again this afternoon and was able to get this middle part all sewn together.... and yes, the log cabins did not end up turned the way I had planned...... but I'm going to leave it as it is.

Em won't care. Maybe I can add the solid blue borders on tonight after they are in bed.... then I get to start making the letters! Right now the quilt measures 44 x 50 inches. It needs to be a bit bigger for a nice lap quilt for her to grow into.

Scrap Happy Saturday....

I've been trying to finish some things up this month from the scrap happy challenge. I finally picked up the needle and started hand quilting this little pumpkin wall hanging from back in October. It is completely free hand - no pre drawn lines for me.


the hand quilting.


I need to add the green leaf to this still and figure out how I want to hand quilt the two borders.... this is one of my first attempts at hand quilting. The stitches are long and uneven... but without practice you'll never get to where you want to be. I do need to pick a better needle than what I was using.... I think I was using a millners needle so will dig and find the smaller hand quilting ones today.

I also want to get this pink quilt finished... which will involve pinning and machine quilting and getting that binding put on. The goal is before the end of the year on this one....for at least getting it quilted.


Go on over to Angela's blog and see what everyone else is working on this Saturday for the scrappy challenge. A big Thanks to Angela for hosting this challenge this year. I had a great time playing with colors and making some pretty quilts. Anyone up for doing this again next year? Count me in.... I still have lots of colors to play with in my closet.

Christmas snakes.....

Years ago when my nieces and nephews were little, I made them xmas snakes one year with 25 little gifts in each. This was a little countdown to Christmas for them. There were 4 of them at the time. I had a great time all that year picking up little things for them everywhere I went. They are now teenagers and 2 are in college. Their parents are in charge of filling their 'snakes'... and yes they do ask for them every year still. I've since made another 3 for the other kids that came along.
This year, I decided to do a shortened version for my little ones....their first year of them! They will have a 10 day count down to Christmas that needs to start this morning! Yikes! How did Christmas get so close so fast? This past weekend Em and I went to the local quilt shop but they did not have cute kid Christmas fabric. The sales person mentioned the sale section...... As it was my second time there I didn't know of it! Well, I put Emily in there and told her to pick out some fabric for her and her brother. She initially grabbed a butterfly one..... until she saw this purple peace fabric. She did not put it down and brought it up to the cutting counter and told the nice lady this is mine and this is Aidan's.... he has a blue fabric with squirrels and ducks on it.
Yesterday during nap time, I was able to sew these two up and then got the little gifts out last night around 9PM and wrapped them up and filled up the snakes. Bright and early this morning (6:13AM to be exact) a little boy came and woke me up asking if his snake was ready and when can he open a present.
Day 1 - they soon found out was play doh! Em has a red one and Aidan a dark blue. Hmmmmm what will tomorrow's present be?

Emily's.

Aidan's curled up under the tree.

Tiny Tuesday on Wednesday...

I got to sew yesterday! I made this cute little midget block - #14 Gem Block. This one was very easy to do. I did modify the color scheme and did pink and brown instead of the green and blue from the directions.

Check out how others are doing over at Jill's blog.

Home sweet Home...

It is so nice to be able to be home this week! Being away for 4 of the last 5 weeks has been difficult but we made it through. The kids were great with Grandma and they had some great memories with her. A big thanks to my MIL for staying by herself with the 2 kids for us. She even took them to a movie! I don't think I would have dared to do that.
The good news... I get to pull things out in my sewing room and not worry about putting things away right off! Yippee.

So many projects and so little time. I've decided to make some progress on the midget blocks over the next couple of weeks and made this cute log cabin block yesterday.

I printed off the next few and have pulled the fabrics for the next paper pieced block on my list. I plan to do that one on Tuesday.

I also was low on the HST's in green and cream so I was busy on Saturday pulling my green fabrics and doing some cutting to restock the HST's and while I was doing that I cut some more 2.5 inch squares for the 4 patches. These are for the Jacobs ladder quilt along - doing 1-2 blocks per week. So far I have 12 blocks made including the 2 I made yesterday.

I am leaving the pile of greens out on the floor (where Sophie has decided to sleep while I am in the sewing room!) since I am sure I will be needing more in a couple of weeks. So nice to be able to leave things out!!!! (Yup, I work best in clutter.)

The next project I want to concentrate on... the crumb quilt. I have 42 6 inch (unfinished) squares from the quilt along with Jo last month. I have decided to use sashing and will do a mix of the pastel colors as a scrappy sashing and will do some cornerstones of various 30's prints. I need to cut these out and sew the middle parts together. Then I plan on a blue inner border followed by the alphabet letters along the side. I think I may do those in different colors..... I'll have to see how the middle comes out and then decide. Just in case... I ordered 2 more yards of the blue pastel from Keepsake quilting and it arrived last week. I may do the letters all in the blue around the outside...... time will tell. I believe Jo has a second reveal sometime mid January... so I hope to have this quilt top completed and quilted and bound by that time.

I also have a graduation quilt that needs to get done by June and shipped to it's recipient. I have the fabrics....I just need to find the black background somewhere in the closet. I am going to do a star struck pattern by Bonnie Hunter over at Quiltville.com. I made a scrappy one a few months ago and think this one will be really striking in M's chosen colors of brights - orange, yellow, pink and red . I think the black will really make them pop. I started cutting some orange for the 2.5 inch squares but need to cut the rest out and start the sewing. I'm thinking the week of Christmas for cutting and sewing the blocks on this one... which means I really need to get the crumb one done in the next 2 week. Yikes.... 2 weeks until Christmas.

On that note... I need to get a good picture of the kids for sending out to family in the Christmas cards. I've got the cards ready to go... just waiting for a picture.

Then... it will be off to the usual holiday baking and cookie decorating over the next week. I think the freezer will be stocked with cookies for the warm months to come down here in Florida when I won't want to warm up the house with the oven. The kids are great little helpers with measuring and stirring... I just know to plan on it taking twice the time it normally would.

Enjoy making some memories with your families. I know I plan to.

Jacobs Ladder blocks....

I am doing pretty good on these blocks and soon will have enough for the quilt I'll donate to my friend next June. I noticed my HST's are getting low so I'll need to make some more next weekend..... when I can really dig into that closet and not have to worry about putting the room back together for company the next day. Here are the two I made last weekend. Do you notice something different?



Yup, I have one HST turned the wrong way... something to fix this weekend.

I just love seeing the progress with little bits of time taken here and there. This is what I have so far....

A midget block....

I was able to sew a bit last Sunday and got this cute little midget block completed.


I started the midget log cabin block as well.... and got 2 parts done. Then the fabrics started to have a mind of their own and I gave up for the day. I hope they are more cooperative today so I can get another one of these midget blocks checked off the list. Slowly but surely I will make some better progress on these through the end of the year. I'd like to be up to #20 by the end of the year.

I have one that I am taking with me that can be done by hand..... if only I remember to take it out and work on it in the evenings.

Have a great week everyone! We're off to do some walking on the nature trails this morning once everyone gets dressed. Some quick shopping for me to restock the house for Grandma for the week and then hopefully an hour or two in the sewing room before I repack (after laundry is done of course!) and head back to Clearwater for the week.