My long-lost blog!  No, you are not lost, merely dormant.  Who has such time to devote to blogging when there are children, chores, lesson plans, substitute hours to attend to.  Someday, my friend, we will have time together again!

Handmade sewing caddies/needle folders for friends' winter birthdays

January of 2012 I was busy making gifts for friends.  My birthday is December 24, my s-i-l on January 22, our three friends in February.  We get together to quilt when we can, though I have been on hiatus at times while working on grad school.

I let them decide who got which one, but it ended up being pretty much what I predicted, which friend would pick which one.

Inside pages are made of wool felt, to hold those needles and pins; pockets of coordinating/contrasting hand-dyed fabrics keep smaller scissors, and other essentials.

One of my favorite fabrics, Bolero, I think it's called.

These batik pinwheels came from a UFO tablerunner I got at a quilt store "garage sale" for $2.  I unsewed, then resewed into these:

The Asian print has some shiny gold in it.  I love it.  The red and gold on the bottom of this pic is the one I wanted, and the one that was left for me.  The two blocks came from a local church garage sale.

Now I have to think of a gift for my four friends for this winter!

Batik baby quilt

Yay!  Another quilt that I forgot about, and am posting.

This one is made from batiks.  The baby's name is River, which inspired the color scheme.  The edges are a bit wavy, but all in all a decent quilt.

 I finally cut into one of my favorite fabrics.

It has been sewn into a quilt top, which is languishing in storage.  I may have to send it out to be quilted, because I don't have the time, and my machine is not quite right for the job.

I found Thimbleberries fabrics to go with it.  They have the warm tones and pleasant colors that coordinate with the forest animals fabric.

 



Quilted owl purse

Hoot hoot!  Here is the owl purse I just had to make.  I believe it was from Quilts and More Magazine, from 2011, maybe?  I gave it to our neighbor girl.  It seemed like an easy pattern but I was not overly pleased with how the binding didn't seem to match up nicely on the back.  All right for a five-year-old girl, though--I've seen her carrying it around.

Another baby quilt finished in summer of 2010.  Some scraps were from the Little Blessings fabric line.  It's a floating star, which was the same pattern for the quilt I made for his big brother.

Scrappy backing, using up some little ones, too.

Quilts that were finished in summer of 2010, that I found the photos for!

For a new baby of a friend of my s-i-l.  We finished this in June, 2010.  What was this fabric line called?  Simply baby, I think.

Hoot hoot! Crochet owl hat

Hoot hoot!  I found a free pattern on Lion Brand's website.  Free is good!

The yarn came from the thrift store, brand new, but at a cheap price.  The boucle yarn is perfect for the hat, as it has a good texture, much like feathers.

Here is the happy recipient.  He wears it all the time.  At the daycare he attends, it is often his comfort item, and he insists on napping with it on--they take it off when he falls asleep.

I worked on it in September, and he claimed it before it was an owl--it was more of a brown furry helmet. He wore it right away, even though some September days were still pretty warm. It smelled of sun block on those days.

Snowman pillowcases for the little ones on my list

So, I have a little time now that the semester has ended.  A paper written, the last class attended.  (ooh, I made a rhyme!)

 

I have crocheted a couple things, but am currently working on some snowman fabric pillowcases.

 

 

I got the fabric on sale at JoAnn on Black Friday.

Here are the pillowcases.

 

Contributions to Anna Maria's project

Though the deadline has passed to submit quilt blocks, as I did (my name is somewhere in the last third of the list), there are other ways to still help.  I just wish I could teleport to Nashville somehow to help sew...

www.annamariahorner.com/rainbow.html

Blocks that I sent...

other things finished this summer

Before I forget, I should add that I worked on some other things this summer.  Of course, I'll put up pictures of those as well.  I made two quilted totes, one for me, one for DD.  Both are made from batiks, and have to be seen to be appreciated.  Thanks to Quilts and More Summer 2010 for the pattern.

I had found a pattern for a needle holder on someone's blog, but then failed to locate the said blog again (after numerous attempts).  I finally decided that I am smart enough to figure one out for myself, so also completed a quilted needle holder (almost like a book or folder) with wool felt "pages" for the needles, and some pockets.  I use it all the time, and love having a place to put a needle (not just some random piece of fabric, not the magnet, not the tomato pincushion where they get pushed in, not the package needle came from), and knowing where the needles are.  Such joy from such a small thing.

These first two pics are Grace's bag, back and front.

These are pics of my bag, back and front.

The dolphin/fish batik was a gift from a friend many years ago.  I finally found a good use for it.  I try not to save things so much now, and rather want to make use of them.

thinking about Monday

Today I am thinking about the things I'd like to accomplish before school starts next week for two kids, and myself in grad school.  Gabriel starts the following week, but I digress...

 Blocks for Anna Maria's project

I need to post pictures of two baby quilts finished, as well as some blocks that I completed for donation to Anna Maria Horner's Rainbow Around the Block project, a quilting effort for flood victims in middle Tennessee.  Anna Maria is collecting blocks and/or quilts to complete for distribution to those who have lost their homes due to flooding.  I heart her.

baby quilt from last summer

I found the pictures that my husband's cousin emailed back in February 2010--the quilt was made in spring 2009 for DH's cousin's new baby.

 

This was the first time that I used fabrics all from one line.  Red Rooster's Paisley Party caught my eye when s-i-l and I went to the Minnesota Quilt Show in Duluth.  I first found fat quarters at a shop on the way up (potty stop), and then found more at the show.  I love the colors so much; they remind me of yummy colorful candies.  It's good that I didn't see the other fabrics in the line, because the Paisley part of the Party is just as fun!

 

I used fabric markers to color in this label.  It's from "Make Your Own Quilt Labels!" Volume 4, by Kim Churbuck, whom I got to meet at the quilt show.  She has a bunch of these little books of inspiration for quilt labels--I soooo wished that I had thought of the concept first.  I also wish I'd have seen her booth in the first few hours, not the last 10 min., as I was pretty low on $$ by then, but had enough to buy one of her books.  Thank you Kim, for sharing your talent with all of us!  I will buy more next time I get to a quilt show...

Little Blessings star quilt

One more picture of this one--the other picture is small.

new bath mat

I checked out a few books from the library, and love "Handmade Home" by Amanda Blake Soule.  She has a lot of ideas for repurposing items that you likely have around the house. 

Our rubber-backed bath mat is falling apart, mostly because I have to wash it a few times a week as the family dachshund uses it for potty when nobody notices she needs outside.  Or when it's raining and she doesn't even try to tell anyone.  I am not loving the rubber backed type rugs anyway, because they smell bad when wet, and take a long time to dry!

Amanda has this project in her book to use a towel that is no longer being used, and some fabric--perhaps sheets that aren't used anymore either.  I took advantage of the possibility that I'd find something at our church thrift sale, and I found a towel bath mat (the size of a bath mat, but made out of the loopy towel material), and a really cool print on cotton, but thicker than quilting fabric.

The mat cost $.50, and the fabric $1.  Not bad!  And no more yucky rubber smell.

baby quilt

Here are some more shots of the quilt.  I sewed the label in the "wrong" place, meaning that I didn't intend to sew it on the top of the back, nor "upside down".  I put these descriptions in quotes because it's not like you can really mess this up, as you really never look at both sides at the same time, do you?