Chickadee House

Geff made his mom a chickadee birdhouse for Christmas.  He makes all kinds of birdhouses according to the species he is trying to attract. 

Quick Napkin Folded Christmas Tree

I saw a Youtube video of how to fold a napkin into the shape of a Christmas tree.  Extremely quick and easy way to dress up your Christmas place settings so I folded a green and red for you to see.

Summer in the Park Quilt

I finally finished the binding on my Summer in the Park quilt. 



This was one of the easiest quilts I’ve made.  It uses two jelly rolls sewn in strip sets and some yardage for the border.   Jelly Rolls are collections of (40) 2 1/2" x 44" strips of fabric produced by Moda Fabrics.   I used a jelly roll from the Scrumptious fabric line.  I have another jelly roll and enough fabric for another of the same quilt with a red border.  I don’t know why though…    I must have found a really good deal on the fabric.  A mind is a terrible thing to waste.   

Mrs. Fugate’s Quilts

My cousin Catherine’s 90 year old grandmother Fugate made 19 quilts this year.  She made them as Christmas gifts for her family. According to Catherine “They are very well made and beautiful. Granny does a wonderful job.”   

All of this material was given to her.  She cut every square for 19 quilts.  Her son David helped lay out the quilts and she pieced (sewed) them all.  Absolutely amazing.  (Makes me look like a slacker)   
 
Look how beautiful she still is,  proof that doing something for your family with love and enjoyment keeps you young and happy! 
 
  

Gift Tags

Made with buttons of course!  A real quick and easy way to make gift tags with just two buttons, a little string and a blank tag (or cardstock).  Just draw two lines part way down the tag, use a glue dot to attach buttons and then tie on with a string.   

Battery Powered Lights

Thought I would share an idea for lighting that I wish I had known about sooner.  Geff found some indoor battery operated  LED lights that are great for lighting your mantle, 



throwing in a glass vase of ornaments, on a wreath or anywhere that you don’t want a cord showing.  I’ve been real happy with how long the rechargeable batteries keep a charge in them.  The lights auto-magically turn off in 6 hours then come on the same time the next day which is a really nice feature and they were inexpensive too.   We got ours at Home Depot - Martha Stewart 24 in a box for about $8 and here are some similar ones online:  http://www.homedepot.com/p/Martha-Stewart-Living-9-ft-36-Light-Battery-Operated-LED-White-Ultra-Thin-Wire-Bundle-of-2-BA03-W036-A1B/202371873?N=5yc1vZc3tbZ4tgZ1z11ercZ1z11ery

Snow Globe Pincushion

I made this quick little pincushion with a Buttermilk Basin pattern.  The pattern was for a little candle mat but I made it into a pincushion using some wool I received free for another project but decided to make this instead. 

Winter Door Hanging

I finally finished the winter door hanging that is the last in the series from Quilts and More magazine designed by Kim Christopherson of Kimberbell Designs.  Her pattern is on the right.  I wanted a little more traditional colors so varied it slightly. 

 

 

Winter Window Box

Just got my window box finished, couldn’t work on it yesterday because it rained all day.  I cut trimmings on several varieties of trees and bushes in the yard.  I put so many in the window box you can’t even see it.

Here’s the before picture.  We found this iron window box at Ironic on Kingston Pike (http://ironichomedecor.com)  It just happened to be the right size for the window.  If you’re ever looking for ironwork it is a pretty neat store.  Geff hung it for me which wasn’t easy but he did a great job, it is extremely sturdy even though it is very heavy. 

I put some twigs sticking up behind the box, 3 shatterproof ornaments, some ribbon and poinsettias.  It’s hard to get the scale of it from this picture, it's much bigger in person.




Here are a few outdoor pictures of how I decorated the outside. I went pretty minimal this year.




See my puppies patiently waiting

Nana’s Quilt - My most treasured quilt

My most treasured quilt, well really my most treasured possession.  This quilt in all its perfect imperfection is near and dear to my heart.  My grandmother quilted it for me in her 80’s.  Her mother (my great grandmother) pieced the top all by hand.  It was pieced with turkey red and a basic muslin a long time ago, most likely in the early 1900’s.

Mesh Ribbon Wreath

My friend Karen and I went shopping yesterday.  One of our stops was Hobby Lobby where I got this wire wreath form for $3.   I had some leftover wire ribbon from my Christmas trees and some mesh ribbon I had that I don’t remember what it was for.  I figured I could put my ribbon to use with this form (odd looking sort of a gadget).  You use the wire tinsel to hold the ribbon with. 

Stocking Stuffer ideas

I’ve had several requests for Christmas stocking stuffer ideas like  potholders, dish carriers, counter pads etc.

One of my favorite sites with free patterns is Moda Bakeshop.   Click on any of the pictures below to go to the Moda Bakeshop pattern.

   Pot holder	  Wine Bag
Hot Pad	Casserole Carrier

Fantasy of Trees and Potholders

Jennifer and I went to the Fantasy of Trees this weekend.  We saw many beautiful trees and got some decorating ideas.  However my favorite thing was in the children’s area where they were making crafts.   One booth was making hand print potholders.  I have the potholder Jennifer made with Nana’s help from when she was five.  The potholder hung in Nana’s kitchen for years. 
I talked Jennifer into making me another one 25 years later.   Thanks for humoring me Jennifer. 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

I put up two Christmas trees this year.  A bigger one in the living room and small playful one in my sewing room.  

Here’s the living room tree.  I used a bunch of ribbon this year and just loosely tied in loops then inserted in the tree.   This is an old tree Geff bought years ago at Service Merchandise.  I hate putting the lights on it.  I think I’ll spring for a pre-lit tree soon.  Here's a front views and a close-up of the top. 

Happy Gobble Gobble Day!

One last button project for Thanksgiving, button pumpkin place cards.   Now break out the stretchy pants and enjoy your Thanksgiving! 

Milky Way quilt completed

I just finished sewing the binding on a star quilt. It is a Fig Tree pattern named Milky Way.  I used mostly Moda Avalon fabrics for it because I like the muted colors in the line. 

Happy National Button Day!

Yes, there really is a button day Charlie Brown.  Founded in 1938, the National Button Society recognized button collecting as an organized hobby and today is a celebration day for all button collectors, skilled and novice.  National Button Day is celebrated every year on November 16.   I made a button Christmas tree in celebration of National Button day (and a Charlie Brown tree card)

Button Christmas Cards

 

I decided to make my Christmas cards this year and here’s a sneak preview of a few button cards.  Little button snowmen and ornaments cause you know I love me some buttons. 

 

Christmas pillow

A little Christmas pillow I made with leftover drop cloth and some buplap and buttons. I saw one like it at Homegoods and I figured it would be easy to make. It was.

Moda Chef

Moda is my favorite quilting fabric.  Moda has trademarked precut bundles of fabric that have bakery names like  Layer cake - 42 (10” x 10” squares)  and Jelly Roll 42 (2.5” x 44”  strips) , honey buns, turnovers etc.   The precuts feature each of the designs in a line of fabric so it makes it easy o get a scrappy look without having to buy a bunch of fabric.  The quality of Moda fabric is the best and it can only be purchased in quilt stores (or online).   They have a website named  Moda Bake Shop that features patterns made with Moda precuts.  The patterns are called Recipes and their designers are Chefs.   Kinda gimmicky but they are very popular with quilters. 

You can imagine how excited I was when they picked my clothespin bag tutorial to feature on their Modabakeshop on January 11th 2015.   They even sent me a box of fabric to make it with.  They sent Fresh Air by American Jane which will be available in stores in January.     

Actually, the reason I started this blog was because I wanted to submit an idea to Moda Bake Shop but you need a blog or web store to submit one.   So here's to my blog, glad it worked out. 

Yardstick wheelbarrow

I saw a wheelbarrow made with yardsticks at Whistlestop quilt retreat last year.  I thought it was so cute and had to have one but couldn’t find one.  I decided it wouldn’t be that hard to make.

Me to Geff  “Would you mind helping me with a little project that just needs a few cuts with the saw?”      I’m just saying, he should have known by now not to fall for it...
  

What do you think, add a border or not ?

Baby quilt I made for my neighbor. I started with a panel she had.  

Star quilt

I just finished sewing the binding on my Starlight Express quilt. 

Wash bag for hospital care package

I wanted to take a care package to my mother-in-law and thought it would be nice to put items in a wash bag that she could use for storing her dirty clothing while in the hospital.  

Dresden Turkey

I made a turkey pillow this weekend with Dresden plate tail feathers that I saw on a YouTube video by Missouri Star quilt company at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHBW_VbX6QY

Drop cloth slipcovers

Several people have asked to see my drop cloth slipcovers. Drop cloth makes a sturdy, washable, relatively cheap slipcover.  Here’s a chair: 

Another Pincushion

I blame Karen …



This is a Pincushion kit we got from Mountain Creek quilts.  I just made the September pincushion but they have a pincushion of the month that Mountain Creek will have.  Mountain Creek Quilt shop is in Greenback on Highway 411.  It is south of Maryville  and is definitely worth a trip out there.  It is a small little shop but they have wool and quilting cotton.  Terri the owner has lots of samples made up so you can get plenty of ideas. 

Repurposed ties

A suggestion for my blog from my favorite mother-in-law was for using men’s ties  in sewing projects.   A few ideas I like for using ties are in quilts, wreaths and purses.  I’ll be happy to help with making one of these.   

There are several ways to incorporate ties in quilts, two of my favorite are the Fan quilt and the Dresden Plate quilt.

 Fan quilt

 

 I found a nice example of a Fan quilt made with ties on the Quiltingboard website: 

 

   

 

Button Pumpkin

 

I love buttons so I bought a bag of orange buttons at the quilt show to make a button pumpkin.   It was easy to make.  I just cut a piece of burlap the size of my frame and then ironed a piece of interfacing on the back of the burlap.  Next I freehanded an outline of a pumpkin on the burlap.

My new logo

Geff designed a new logo for my blog and sewing labels.  It combines my love of sewing and his love of bees.  Isn’t it just cute as can bee! 

 

Jewels of Tennessee Quilt Show

My friend Karen and I went to the Village Quilter’s “Jewels of Tennessee” quilt show in Tellico Village yesterday. 




They had lots of wonderful quilts.   Here are just a few of my favorites: 

Repurposed Jeans Quilt

Geff and I had several pairs of old jeans that weren’t good enough to take to the Goodwill so last spring I made a quilt out of them.   I call it a picnic quilt because of the size and weight of it .  It is 63 x 54 (which is a lap quilt size) but it is fairly heavy due to all the denim and would be very sturdy for a taking on picnics. 



I found a free pattern online for how to make it at:  http://www.equilters.com/library/jeans/jeans_gallbaros.html

And the winner is ….

First, let me say thank you for the wonderful ideas and I will try to address them all in the near future.  We had nine entries and I wrote each name on a leaf and put in a bag. 



Geff pulled out the winning name …. drum roll please

Burlap coffee sacks

I am spoiled when it comes to fresh coffee in the morning.  Geff gets the coffee beans green and roasts them in small batches.  He grinds it right before making it and has it ready for me in the morning!  Here is what coffee beans look like green before they are roasted:

More Fall sewing projects

I made this Fall wall quilt way back in October of 2001.   I used leftover fabric from a Fall quilt I made below.   



This quilt was made of 12” maple leaf blocks and is 70 x 85.  It was made back in 2001 also.   That seems sooo long ago.  I think this is one of the last quilts I made that wasn’t patriotic at the time due to  9/11 was that year.