here's my stack for part 2:
my collection of Emma Bridgewater polka dot pieces. a sample baby mug. a dolly tea plate. a wall tile. a medium bowl. all from ebay. my mixture of teaspoons. an old teatowel. an amazing sweetener in agave nectar. my friend January the goldfish who is now one year old. i must remember to buy fish food today. he's been on a once a day feeding schedule for the past week and today we're out. almost everyone i know is getting sick. so i must recommend the tea i drink every winter. Gypsy Cold Care from Traditional Medicinals.
this is my first swap. & Stephanie has gathered some tea related sewing links here. so even if you're not part of the swap. you can still sew some fun.
these are my fabrics.
these are my gigantic blocks from part 1:
i told you not to look.
here's the front of my first practice pieces.
i love it. top left is the scrappy one. i tried to follow Marit's example but still find picking which scraps to use and contrasting a bit exhausting. bottom right is the greens only one. i've always wanted to make a green only quilt with just squares. hmmm.
to be honest. after rummaging through my stash which is all over the place. i quickly emptied 6 laundry baskets and did a quick sort of my lying-around-stash by color. but even after doing this i was still making such a mess. so guess who's going to make a green only spiderweb.
Pamela Joy eventually had to leave and go back home. so i scrambled to document.
she brought me one of my vintage sewing surprises in her luggage. Pam and my sister and i had fun on Xmas Eve looking at it. it was a shock seeing it in person after all these years. i will share pics with you later. Pam brought Miss Roxy with her. Miss Roxy had her own luggage with enough outfits for each day. and brought Princess a new sweater. Champ would like me to stop talking about such things.
this was the best i could do to get all three together.
i wasn't able to finish many of my gifts. but i am having a very merry christmas. thank you Eileen for your groovy owls.
Pamela Joy has traveled up from Florida to join us this year. as she doesn't come very often it's such a treat to see her.
last year's tree was a little bigger. as i keep mine very simple. i adore staring at other's tree when i am visiting. a tree decorated with love and memories is so beautiful.
this figurine is called A Winter Snow. & part of The Jessie Wilcox Smith Collection. see here to see the other figurines.
making 16. that's what i said. finished 0.
finished 6. mailed 0.
do you recognize a pattern here. i did actually finish one gift. a beautiful basket. can't show you the goodies. as soon as i can decide which paper to use i will wrap them all up. until then i have put Santa in charge of keeping it safe. Santa is also going to make sure that i don't keep this one for myself.
despite the amount of work i have left to do. i am optimistic about finishing on time. but in case i am sewing up until the last minute. my gift wrapping is simple and ready to go.
if they have any left i would recommend running out to get some lunch size bags being sold by Whole Foods. they are only 79 cents each and i know that each recipient will reuse them many many times. pretty & practical.
another inspired project from LMP+QG. pg. 29. can't show you the whole thing. it's a secret. but you get the idea. email me & maybe i'll show you the rest.
and this week's scrappy block wasn't going to get done because i couldn't find 12 pieces that i haven't used. yesterday i looked again. hang on to your fabric. because two weeks ago i stole a tiny piece of the candycane fabric from Jessica. and yesterday i stole tiny pieces of these still auditioning fabrics from my sister. i'm getting desperate. but the result is Block #23.
& if you're on Blogger i wanted to share this with you. Pamela Joy pointed it out to me this summer. it's a slideshow of recently published photos. & if you see something that interests you. you can just click on it and go to their blog. i've never seen any of mine on there. so i don't know who chooses them.
i don't know why i thought they were wearing the flannel pajama set i made. but i did "make" their sweatshirts. o.k. i just zig-zagged a rectangle of winter fabric to the front of a purchased sweatshirt. a few times i sewed two different fabrics on the same shirt. let me explain. first sew on a xmas print. then a little bigger sew on a halloween print. after halloween is over. take out the stitches and you have your xmas shirt.
now that i have been introduced to fusible applique and blanket stitching. i probably would go crazy with all the wild patterns they have in the universe. but i think the boys are too old for that now. after these i changed to the pattern i used for ten years+ and can offer some suggestions for first timers.
these really are the patterns i have been using all these years. well some are missing in action. my intention was to sew on the numbers. but it just proved unimportant so the pins have been there all this time. the added benefit to these cotton patterns is that it actually sticks to flannel and you don't need to use pins.
(-3-) if you have a serger and love it. i guess you're going to use it. but flannel is a soft thick fabric. after stitching the seam. i just zig-zag next to that seam. then pink the edges. that's all it really needs.
gathered at Terry's for new recipes. see here and here for my other posts on her Clean Food cookbook. she had really fantastic news but i can't give you any details. so on with the quiet. on with releasing the day. on with the tincha clearing the bad energy. and on with what we really came for. really yummy food.
you can also buy your xmas greens there.
yummm. yes. but this i really did not want to do until January. it was annoying to walk around all those yummy yarns knowing we were just there to pick out a few needed things. but she treated me to lunch a few doors down at The Spicy Bean Cafe. so i did not grumble too much. they really give you spicy green beans with your order. we took it to-go so we could get back to our needles.
2 mags with the best patterns. 2 xmas panels. Nancy Halverson no less. there's 6 stockings on both panels. very cute Mr. Santa. very cute Mrs. Santa. apologies Betsy. not cutting up. not making stockings. always wanted to make a quilt with a panel in the center. trust me. it's beautiful. i'll show you more of it when i start working on it. 1 cute little bird. and then. i opened up the most amazing package of postage stamps. no Pamela Joy. not those kind of stamps. lots & lots of tiny pieces of fabric. always wanted to do this. see here for a PSQ that Betsy finished. she also loves to work with hexagons and cathedral windows. all are on my would-like-to-do list.
i suppose i should share with you some of my xmas sewing. but nothing is finished. so i'll just share what i'm working on today.
i also have a few very nice awards.
this one came from Kathy of Creative Urges.
whatever we are doing right now. it can best be described as busy. so i will not be passing on these awards today. just a reminder that in between the delightful busy-ness of what we are doing. to take a break to rest your thoughts. to rest your hands. and to rest your body.
(-1-). couldn't decide which tutorial to use. this one or that one. i made that one.; (-2-). i made from the leg of a recycled jean.; and, (-3-). picked up at Target. small bin from the Itso collection. it's big enough to hold all of my coming attractions.
i'm getting more of these small bins. i love open storage. i'll get just a few now. then a few more later.
i have also signed up for the Thimbleberries Club which starts in January 2009. at sign-up you get a charm pack. i picked the light version. i can picture a famous bear having a quilt made up in these fabrics. i took out the background square and cut the others into 2-1/2 in. squares and sewed them up into a table runner. when they start putting the fabric on the shelves i will choose one to back & bind it.
always wanted to participate in a blog BOM. Red Delicious is the one i have chosen. i already have some red fabrics to choose from. if you want to join you should grab Block 1 before Esther replaces it with Block 2. there are 11 blocks. but she may release some small blocks together.
and when i saw this pattern i just fell madly in love. Pockets of Posies from Hatched and Patched. it was being offered as a BOM by a quilt shop in England. The Quilt Room. store and blog. Pam & Nicky have a book called Jelly Roll Quilts. and currently have a jelly roll contest. if you're up to a challenge you should read the rules and submit a quilt photo. i just received my first package. and have already completed the little square in square assignment. i will be getting a new package for 10 months. plan to attempt hand applique and hexagons. so i have my work cut out for me.
i'm quite disappointed with the quality of my pics. i will attempt to figure out what i am doing wrong and fix it. my camera just must be missing the summer sunlight that comes in from the windows. or perhaps it's that bulb on the other side of the room that i need to replace.
practice sashing #2
good. i like it. but. not quite right. the quilt that inspired me to work on my scrappy blocks is finished and quilted. although i technically did mine a little different. go look at Melly & Me's tutorial. hopefully it will inspire you too.