Happy New Year's Eve

I know -- I've been absent for a while.  And I apologize for not letting my readers know that I would be absent.  Trouble is, I didn't know I was going to be absent.  I've been working so many hours, all I do at the end of the day is collapse.  And that's pretty boring.  Soooo.... actually, it's been a service.  Yeah, that's it!  A service!  I've done a service not posting about my boring life.

 So while I was working my tushie off, my darling daughter, along with her friend, made this lovely gingerbread house.  It's really sweet, isn't it?

Literally.  But I think it's pretty cool too.  I like the frosting curly-ques on the front.  And the marshmallow shingles are pretty wonderful.  But I think the hard candy awnings over the windows and the door take the cake.  Or make the cake.  Whatever....







I have been in my studio -- I made this gown for her dollie to wear.  So just so you all know that I know how to dress up for the holidays, I'm posting this picture.


She's holding the tiny sparkly bag I made from plastic fabric

And wearing the tiny slippers also.

Happy New Year to all -- I'm wishing everyone a creative and prosperous new year.  

A Little Progress

...very little.

  I managed to stitch the strips together in pairs, then just a few together to see what they will look like.  I was going to do some sashing with more little squares, but I think it will be just fine without.

A lot of people asked what this fabric was -- it's "just hanging" by Alexander Henry.  It's new -- I got it at my LQS last month (they had already sold most of the bolt last week when I stopped in).  But I'm sure it must be available somewhere out there.

To see other design walls, click here to go to Judy's blog.

Sparkly Fairy Slippers

I made these sparkly fairy slippers for my daughter's doll.  They will match the dress I'm going to make.

For the scoop on how I made them, click here to go to my post at http://andthenwesetitonfire.blogspot.com/

A New Project

The post-Thanksgiving design wall has a new project!  After finishing the top in the previous post, I felt I deserved a reward, so I cut up this wonderful fabric for another baby quilt.

And all these strips.  Hopefully, I'll be sewing them together this week.

To check out some other design walls, click here to go to Judy's blog.

AQS Blog of the Week!

I'm a little late posting this, but last week this blog was the AQS Blog of the Week winner and I got this nifty logo to add to my blog!

In other news, I finished the Dancing Stars baby quilt top.

So now I have to find time to quilt it.  Hopefully before the baby starts walking.  Or finishes college...

I hope all who celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend had a wonderful holiday and all those who don't had a good weekend anyway.  We spent ours with some great friends and I have this lovely photo to share, courtesy of my friend, Kristina.

I just love a holiday that celebrates with food.

Stars and Stuff

My design wall hasn't changed much since last week because I haven't had time to sew together the stars (although I do like the arrangement).  I was hoping to have the borders finished, but last week just flew past and then the weekend evaporated.

It does sport some pretty fabrics on the sides of the stars -- they are the result of playing around with transperse dyes.  You can read all about it in my post here at ...And Then We Set it on Fire.

To check out more design walls, click here to go to Judy's blog.

Dancing Stars

Today's design wall is full of dancing stars.

They're eight inch blocks that will be a baby quilt ---soon, I hope.

And those stars in exile on the upper right? They're over there because I cut them wrong and they're out of step.  Marching to the wrong tune.


To check out other design walls, click here to go to Judy's blog.  

It's Coming Along

My design wall has almost an entire quilt on it!  I finished with the *&#$@!!! sashing.  What a pain -- bias edges and I had to be careful to get the colors in the right places.

Still not sure about the block placement.  I think it's because I don't like all the blocks.  There are at least two, and maybe even three, that I really don't like anymore.  But I'm going to leave them in there.

I worked up a couple more feathered stars in EQ7.  I think Beth is right and they are maybe too much for this quilt.

But I could get rid of at least one of the blocks that I'm not liking.  Of course, I have to make the feathered stars out of fabric first...

To see other design walls, click here to go to Judy's blog.

November BOM Report

Last week, my  2011 BOM group met and showed these blocks.  The ones on the right are last month's and the one on the left is this month.  I did not do this block because I've been working on the sashing for this quilt -- I'll have a photo of the progress on that on the Monday Design Wall post.

This beauty was shown last month, but I didn't have permission to post it.  Ellyn kindly gave me permission when I remembered to ask.  She shrunk the blocks from 12 inches to nine inches -- a math feat that boggles the mind  for some of these blocks.  And she added just a wee bit of red in each block.  The log cabin setting blocks were her own invention.  I especially like the little grey squares she added in the border.

I have a little dilemma... I need one more block for mine.  Should I do a "54 45 or Fight?"  I've always wanted to do one of these blocks.

Or should I do a feathered star?  I love this block and I just can't imagine doing a sampler quilt without at least one.  Or do both and put one on the back... Hmmmmm...

♪♫Two Swans A'Swimming

♪♫ One marbled fabric, and a colorful-ul bag of beads ♪♫♪

These lovelies are from my Sparkly Chicken friend, Jacqui.  She made the swans for me for a "receiver's choice swap" that we're doing and included the lovely piece of hand-marbled fabric and the beads.  I think they're great!

And I have a mystery:  What do this,

 this,

and this have in common?  Bwahahaha!

Happy Halloween!

I wanted to share the scary pumpkins that my DD and I carved.

 Before carving, this little white one looked like, um, well, I will leave that to your imagination.  But it made me smile every time I looked at it.  I think it looks like a cat face now.  I'm trying to decide if I should add some whiskers or leave it a little abstract.


DD carved this one.  I like the curly top -- it seems a little incongruous with the scary face.

And I saw this last weekend.  I loved all the perfectly round rolls of hay scattered across the field.  This is the true harbinger of winter for me.  Sigh.

Design Wall Progress

 I have moved all the extraneous stuff off the design wall and begun the task of sashing.  I still need to make one more block -- but I really wanted to play around with the setting.



Those small NY Beauty blocks are going to go in the corners -- but I think they're flipped around.  I'll play around more with those when I get closer to sewing the whole thing together.

Here is a close up of a couple of the sashing blocks.  I reserve the right to rearrange the large blocks.  In fact, I can see right now that at least a couple of them need to be moved around.

To see other design walls, click here to go to Judy's blog.

HodgePodge Design Wall

My design wall today has a plethora of past and future projects.  The blocks for my 2011 BOM line the left side, ostriches are on the right, with the leftovers from my bag and the itty bitty "Buck A Block" blocks in the center.

 A closer look at the stuff in the middle.  I really like those leftover dot patches -- maybe I should sew them together for a new Nook bag to match the fall bag.  Then I will be totally sartorially splendid!

And the finished sample ereader pattern bag.  I still have to join the photos with the words, then I'll be ready to send the pattern to my testers.

To take a look at other design walls, click here to go to Judy's blog.

Polka Dots Are "In"!

I read it somewhere, so it must be true!  I made myself a new fall bag with these wonderful fabrics.I used my current favorite pattern, the Margo bag by Lazy Girl Designs.  I made it in a mini version -- it's only nine by twelve inches.  This time I made the straps the same size as the full size bag and I'm really happy with that decision.
I used o-rings instead of d-rings for the straps so they would go with the dot theme and I used the stripe that is part of this fabric line for the piping around the front pockets.

For the inside pockets, I used another fabric from the same line -- my daughter calls it "lightning fabric."  So now I am sartorially au courant (something that really keeps me up nights worrying.)

Turkeys and Ostriches, Oh My!

I found this cute turkey made from a leaf block (here).    I didn't have her pattern for the leaf, so I made my own.  I did use the templates for the turkey -- it's sized for a larger block (eight inches instead of the seven incher that I used.)

 Here is the whole table runner -- mine's a little smaller than the pattern because I sliced off a little bit on each end to make it fit the piece of fabric I wanted to use for the back.

I couldn't find the right fabric for the background, so I dyed my own.  First, I dyed a yard with diluted blue and brown.  Then, I stenciled the leaves with thickened purple and greyish-brown dyes.

I quilted it with stylized leaves.

And because Beth will ask, here is the backside.

I finished the ostrich block for the Civil War Bride quilt.

I used all my own hand-dyes for this except for the centers of the flowers.  The ostrich bodies are from a shibori-dye I did a while ago -- it's been marinating on my shelf -- waiting for just the right project!

The flower centers are made from my friend Chris Daly's wonderful hand-dyed silk/rayon velvet.  You can get your own here at her etsy shop.  I'm using the "flora collection."  I think I need to get some of the "brights" now too.  These were really easy to work with -- I cut a template of no-melt template plastic and did a running stitch around the seam allowance of the circle. Then I pulled it up tight and basted it with sizing.  Hit it with a warm (silk setting) iron and it was ready to go.  Easy-peasy!  I'm trying to decide where to use this stuff next!

And here is a shot of the next block.  I have a way to go...

To see other appliqué projects, click here to go to Angie's blog.