Strip club

The local quilt shop where i work has something called "strip club" every month. Most people chuckle a little when they hear that but its really just a group that gets together to get a pattern for a quilt that uses 2 1/2 in strips. Our theme music is that risque sounding burlesque music that you would think of when you hear the name of the group but its all in fun. These quilts are the shop samples for the last few months-in order; Kitty, Kitty(sept), Butterfly blooms(June), Foursquare(oct), Pines(Nov), and Crosswalk in Paris(Dec). I got to make the December one, and will probably do the one for next march too. We needed pics for the shop of the old ones and i happened to have my camera in the car so i was lucky enough to get to take and print pics to staple to the leftover patterns.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Sami's Birthday! She shares her birthday with her Grandma and got her ears pierced this year her gift. That and 3 pairs of shoes! Kind of hard on my pocketbook but she's worth it to us. We love you Sami!

Stash busting

Super easy runners from Quiltbus. These are just tops so far but all 7 came from stash and i think i'll do a few more because its a great pattern to use up small bits of leftovers. It only takes 3 FQ's for each one not counting backs and binding.
Placemats! I used some more little leftovers and did these up, no batting and just "pillowcase" finishing. I made 6 but none of them match. My kids love them because it makes them feel special at the dinner table and i love them because the help keep my table cleaner.
These were made with orphan blocks. Again, none of the 6 match but no one seems to mind. The plain part on the left helps the kids set the table too, all they have to do is put all the silverware on that part and its good enough for this house.

Stash pictures

This is my stash-at least most of it. There are a few fabrics here and there elsewhere in the unfinished basement that i use for a sewing room. And of course there is a whole other shelf for ufos! The black shelf on the right side of the pic is used for finished quilts and laundry.

cookies

My aunt died this week. She's not been truly well for more than 30 years, but it got worse about 10 years ago when my Grandparents died. She had spent the last 4 or 5 years in a nursing home after a suicide attempt. They were wonderful at that home and helped her deal with her mental issues as best they could. How is that related to the title of this post? Cause Christmas cookies are the thing i've always loved best about her.
She had a HUGE Santa face cookie cutter(6 or 7 inches tall) that she used to make sugar cookies every year. She had some training in cake decorating from my grandmother who used to do wedding cakes so the decorations on the faces were very detailed and the frosting was always close to 1/2 inch think on the beard/mustache/hat trim. She would bag them separatly and each child would get 1 and only 1. At the time it made us all mad, now i realize how much work was involved in making them.
Her only daughter got the old cookie cutter and recipie as is proper. But this week i found a similar sized candy cane cookie cutter. I've always wanted to be able to decorate cakes and cookies. I have signed up for a beginner cake decorating class from our Hobby Lobby so now i can try to give my nieces and nephews a memory of me like the one i have of my aunt.
I've got several different batches of cookies in the fridge to bake tonight and i'll start decorating the easy ones tomorrow.

Gift Chat

Paper Pieced Ornaments

First things first...if you have not paper pieced before there are good instructions here: http://www.quilterscache.com/StartQuiltingPages/startquiltingthree.html

The pattern i used was found here: http://www.geocities.com/pcpiecers/fp-ornament3.html

You can use any 3 or 4 inch paper or regular pieced pattern that you like. I know there are bunches on the web if you dig a little.

For one ornament you will need: one block, one 4 inch square of Christmas fabric, a 4x8 piece of heavy fusible interfacing, a ribbon for hanging, pinking shears if you have them and of course your basic sewing stuff.

Fuse the interfacing to the back of the block and the Christmas fabric. Sew the 2 pieces WRONG sides together. Pink the edges(optional step). Attach your ribbon hanger with hot glue, hand or machine stitching. Date it and hang it on the tree!

This is my new niece-Mia Taylor. Her mommy is my little sis and shes my first niece. You can see her big brother and her daddy in one of the pics too. Little Mia is not so little, she's a little over 8 1/2 pounds! I wont get to meet her till Christmas so i'll have to settle for pics till then.

stocking tutorial

Here's the stocking we are making!

I made my quilted fabric out of 2 Fqs...red print for the outside and blue for the lining. Basted and meander quilt-then cut out a stocking shape.
I sewed them together right sides in with a 1/4 seam then went over the seam with a zigzag to make it a little stonger, after all we want santa to fill them full up!
Measure the top edge of the stocking and cut a cuff piece-5in x your width plus 1/2 in. Sew short sides together using a 1/4 seam.
Fold in half so long edges are together..
Pin cuff to lining. Insert a 4in piece of ribbon to hang the stocking with, making sure the ends of the ribbon stick out the top of the seam like mine. ok, maybe not quite as far, but you get the idea!

Turn every thing right side out and top stitch the top edge to completly encase that seam and you are done!

More finishes!

I got 3 of these done tuesday.
And one of these on tuesday also. I'm trying to get lots of stuff finished so i can do cmas gifts with out having this stuff hanging over me.

Violet nursery tutorial

This is just a leaf snapped off mom's violet. They can also be cut with a sharp knife. Place in a small cup and keep the stem covered with water until you see root shoots starting. This step can take a couple of months.
Once the roots start put the leaf into some potting soil. Do not cover too deep-no more than 1 inch of stem in the soil.
Wait for the baby violets to start growing. This one is almost ready for splitting. When they get a little bigger, take them out of the cup and pull the babies off. Usually the babies are easily separated once you crumble most of the soil off. Most of the time you get 2-4 new plants off one leaf. You can repot the old leaf if you want more babies of the same type.
Newly potted baby violet! This is just in a dixie cup for now until it gets big enough to warrant a regular pot.

violet blooms

Some of my big violets are blooming nicely-i have 3 of the first plant, all in bloom. There is only 1 of the second one but its got more blooms than any other. The third one is almost done blooming and but the other plant like it is about to start. I've also got 3 other violets that are getting ready to bloom for the first time ever. I can't wait to see them. The last picture is my violet nursery where i've got several started both from my violets and from some my mom and some from my pastors wife. I decided that i have too many, or i will when these get a little bigger so i've got an ad in the local paper to try to sell a few. That way i can buy more dirt and pots and grow some more!

halloween trip and pics as requested

This is a partial pile of the things I've finished lately. 9 Halloween table pieces, an old Easter runner, and an experiment using hot fix ribbon.
Jason and Randy getting the guts out of the pumpkin, Jason was not happy to help!
All 4 of us at MIL's Halloween party, geez jason, did ya have to make faces?

The trip home, Sami and Tank took turns using each other as pillows.

week of the finishes!

I finished 19 projects in the last week! However this is the only one i have a picture of right now. Here's the list tho: 2 pillowcases, 5 flannel recieving blankets, and 12 runners/table pieces.

quilty stuff

This is a shop sample for our "quilted holiday" at the quilt shop where i work.
This is a round robin that started life as a 6in block. It came home a few weeks ago. Its now about 20 inches square. I think i'm going to put it on point with more m&m fabric and make a big floor pillow.
These are the blocks i'm sending out for our quiltchat Chritsmas Appy swap. This was fun to do but i can tell i got better by the end of the last one than i was at the beginning. Its a good way to practice my appy.

custer buffalo roundup

This baby still had his umbilical cord attached, he's less than a week old!
the herd before round up. About 1500 strong! Every year they round up, brand, vaccinate, and sort the herd. Usually they do the round up on the first monday of October. They sell off a few hundred to keep the numbers even and to keep the herd healthy. We went out to see the excitement for the first time this year and it was very cool! The other pics are of the other critters we saw that day.
Wild turkeys, they are thick this year.
Big horn sheep. There were about 20 cars lined up to take thier pictures.

Got any treats?

Halloween Project

These are pictures of a new round robin that i'm very excited about! its an 18 in square that i'm starting with and the white is a glow in the dark fabric. It will not be done in time for this halloween but i would have never made this quilt with out a project like this. It will be something like 65-70 inches square when it comes home next spring.