Potpourri

I've been working on several things off an on in the last couple of weeks.  I've added more baskets (aka Cake Stand but looks like baskets to fill up to me) to my pile...

I think I have 21 blocks total now.  I'll have to see how many more things I have in my stash in the colors I'm using that will "fill" some baskets. 

These are all so LOUD I can hardly hear myself think while sewing. 

I've also finished all of the letters I need for the words for the quilt I have in mind for them.  The only capital letter I made is a D and it looks like I might have to make that a little bigger. 

I also worked on filling up and stacking some jars for a "preppers" quilt I have in mind.  I have a whole pile of jars made now - probably more than I need. 

And I finished a 12 inch star block in 30s reproduction fabrics as requested by a "birthday club" member.  I have January's birthday block ready to mail. I like to stay ahead of things. 

I recently swapped some 4.5 HSTs with ladies of a Yahoo group and got busy sewing those and some others I had in my box into 16 inch Depression Blocks. 

And I sewed up some odds and ends in my 1.5 inch scrap bin into 3.5 inch butterfly and spool blocks. 

And that's it for my "Make do Design Walls".  For some inspiration from some other Design Walls visit Judy's Design Wall Monday linky at Patchwork Times. 

Some Crazy Stuff

My crazy quilt this year for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2014 will be "Crazy Farm".  This is my finished January block (with a little of the bottom cut off in the picture). 

There will be a lot of flowers on my crazy farm.  (Ooops the eyes are really getting bad...I can see where I stitched the fabrics together by hand). 

I actually grow pumpkins on my little acreage. I grew mini ones this year. 

I don't use a watering can much in my actual garden. I had several pumps installed years ago so I could hook up hoses to water if need be. 

I LOVE roses - especially the old fashioned varieties. Here in Iowa wild roses are a real problem and difficult to get rid of out here in the country. 

Well, these were supposed to be hollyhocks but I don't believe I've ever seen any blue ones. At least I've never grown any blue ones.  I think when I started stitching on these I was thinking of my delphiniums. But, hey, this is a CRAZY farm so blue it is for my hollyhocks!

I've never raised sheep; however, my grandma (mom's mom) did. I remember feeding one of them with a baby bottle when I was a very small girl.  And I have to admit the small girl in me wanted to add some sheep dip to this stitching!!!! 

I tried some broderie perse applique - pear perse. 

Some lazy daisy flowers to kind of match the "flowers" in the fabric. 

All across the block some curvy chain stitches , bullion flowers in 6 strands of variegated thread and some variegated green leaves in can't remember that stitch. 

And now that my new project block is finished I can go back and finish up block #20 on my Crazy Cravings block this fine Slow Stitching Sunday. 

Don't miss what everyone else is slowly working on today at the linky party Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts. 

Ok. I Admit It. I Love Baskets.

I'm going into the new year with many, many UFOs. Three of them involve basket blocks.  I think these are really Cake Stand blocks with the 2 end HSTs flipped the other way. But anyway, they look like baskets to me. I made several blocks last year in red, blues and purples and decided to fill them all with something.  Somewhere along the line I also decided I needed to add some yellows to the mix so made a few more blocks yesterday and cut the fabrics for several more blocks now that I know I like the yellow in the mix. 

Some of the old blocks. (You may see that between the old blocks and the new blocks I made yesterday that I changed the way I make the bottom of the basket. )

Earlier this year I participated in a 30s reproduction scrappy basket swap. But, there's not enough blocks yet to make a BIG quilt like I want...

...so I made more baskets using the extra HSTs I made while piecing blocks for my 30s tulip blocks. 

...I don't have any idea how I will set them but I still don't think I have enough blocks. 

And the third basket block UFO consists of 35+ Banded Basket blocks I won from Block Lotto. 

And that's my "Design Wall" today. 

For some glimpses into the inspiration hanging on other Design Walls visit Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. 

The Crazy Part of Sane, Crazy and Crumby Quilting

I finished block #18 for my Crazy Cravings lap quilt.  I only have 2 more to go before I will start assembling them into my quilt. 

I had just enough embroidery transfers that were suitable for some Crazy Cravings. 

There were only a few long seams to embellish on this block. I did some lazy daisy flowers on one seam to sort of mimic the flowers on the hot cocoa mugs.  Another seam has 2 rows of half circle chain stitch in 2 strands of variegated DMC. I thought the half circles sort of mimicked the chocolate shapes.  Another seam has some lace held down with french knots and herringbone stitch and has a pink running stitch through it.  I laced some gold cording through some brown and metallic running stitches and finally added a cookie jar button to cover where the lace and chain stitch meet. 

This was my crazy quilt project in 2012 - Crazy Basket Case. It is entirely hand stitched.  I hope my Crazy Cravings turns out as nice.  I still have a lot to do on Crazy Cravings but I started on...

...my crazy quilt project for 2014 - Crazy Farm! 

I'm also doing a little embroidery on gingham for another project I have in mind that needs some embroidery. For right now the project is only in my mind and that's where it will stay until next month. 

Before the day ends I might start crocheting a blue scarf for my 4 year old grandson because that's what he ordered. 

For some eye candy and inspiration visit Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts. 

Sugar and Spice for Girls that are so Nice

The final 2 UFO finishes for 2013! 

2 quilts for 2 granddaughters. 

Each is 64x80

Both are made of 8 inch Happy Blocks

Each has a flowery back. And, yes, the backing seam goes about right down the middle like "they" say you are not supposed to do. But, that was the best use of the fabric I had. 

I used all sorts of girly prints just right for 9 year old girls wanting to be all grown up but still playing with dolls and dreaming big dreams. 

Some of them were bordered last year by others in a sort of online monthly Happy Block swap where everyone sends their centers to other members of their group and gets them returned with borders. Bad part is that quite a few times people disappeared from the groups and never returned the bordered blocks. I don't understand people like that. 

I quilted them both with some free motion 5 petaled flowers on my plain Jane Janome.  You can kind of see the flowers on the solid colored borders.   I didn't think I'd ever get them finished. At one point my sewing machine just kept on sewing even when my foot wasn't on the pedal (really!)  After I gave my machine a good cleaning and oiling, and the foot pedal a good shaking all was going well until somehow the needle struck the hard plastic darning foot. Needle broke and left a chip in my foot which kept snagging on my quilt.  My husband took a Dremel tool to it and smoothed it out so I could continue on.

And I made each of the girls a pillowcase too.  I guess it looks kind of like a pink zebra stripe. They seem to like those animal prints so popular these days. 

Linky partying at :

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts. 

And this was my December goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  And I've finished not one but two!

Something New

Trying out some letters ala the book "Word Play Quilts" by Tonya Ricucci. I just bought the book and it was delivered on Friday so I had a few minutes this weekend to make up a few of the easiest letters I need for a phrase for my new quilt.  (Hmmmm, where did the i and the l disappear to? Did I cut them up and use them in another letter?)

I've never made letters before and so far they aren't as difficult to make as I first thought. I have 3 quilts in mind that will need words. 

I also need three ships for my quilt that will have the words.  I made them using a pattern from Block Lotto. 

That's all I have to share today of my quilt that will have words that is on my make-do Design Wall this dreary Monday. 

I'm going to go over to Patchwork Times to see what other's have on their Design Wall today. 

I Think I Need to Settle Down for a Long Winter's Nap

This weekend the  granddaughters finished up the hand sewing on the little pillows they made for their moms and dads. They both just turned 9 and this is their first sewing project.  They actually made the pillows this summer but never wanted to take the time to sew them shut. But, with Christmas approaching they decided they better get to work so they could get them wrapped.   Isabelle was in tears when she noticed that she had a little hole in hers but felt better when I showed her I could easily fix it for her. 

Jacob is only 4 so he hasn't had a turn yet on the sewing machine but he was certainly interested in cousin Kayla's sewing.  I told him I'd show him how to do that when he was a little older but he said...

...no way! Sewing is for girls! 

(Just wait, Jacob!)

Isabelle was proud of her work. She hand picked each scrap she used just for her mom and dad. She thought the pillow might be a little small but I explained to her that it's just right to put behind a back or a neck. 

Kayla is mighty proud too. The other side of the pillow is all Kayla - full of pink and hearts. 

They wrapped their pillows (I couldn't convince them it is easier to use a gift bag)  and the ornaments they all painted for mom and dad.   We made some Christmas cookies, put some clingy decorations on the windows and finished with some other decorations. 

Now that they are gone I feel like I need a nap but it's way too early for bed so I'll just relax with some of my own slow stitching.  

I had tried to crochet a cloche to go with some scarves I crocheted for the granddaughters but it didn't seem to be turning out right and I can't try it on them if they are getting the scarf and hat for Christmas so I decided to crochet a headband for them instead. I figured that would be safe.   I finished one and am almost finished with the other. 

The ruffly scarves they match. 

The funny thing is that they put in orders for slouchy beanies- one in red and the other in green.  And Jacob wants a blue scarf. 

After I finish up the headband  I will be stitching down the binding on the remaining quilt I need to finish for Isabelle...

...and snack on a few of those very sugary sugar cookies the kids made. 

If you are doing any kind of slow stitching then get on over to Kathy's Quilts and join the Slow Stitching Sunday linky party. 

Postage Stamps

I found this little Sunbonnet Sue block made of postage stamp sized squares (1.5 inches)  at the Q is for Quilter blog so thought I would try it with some of my brown scraps I still had sitting out from November's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I think I will make a girl from scraps of every color as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2014.  I am rolling over a lot of projects to next year that  I started this year with RSC 2013.  Early in the year I used a lot of crumbs each month that turned into some cute donation quilts. 

I finished a few more 49 patch postage stamp blocks to add to my collection.    I only have one low volume patch and I was thinking a bunch of those blocks with some lacy old doilies and such appliqued on top would be pretty so I may try that next.