Busy Weekend!

I think this is as far as I will go with this...now to borders and binding choices.

I spent about 3 years with my sewing room set up in a way that just felt wrong....so this weekend I moved everything around...and now I have a much more comfortable setup. And what a mess I made doing that....so I must finish today.

The fabric will be re-organized too....and some will be donated...some sold....this is only a portion of what I have.

COLOR !!!!

I need some serious color after this last couple months....so I grabbed a pile of my most colorful Kaffe and Brandon fabric and just started cutting.....squares and strips





Just having these piles laying on my table lifts my spirits and sets the creative juices flowing.




I decided after pieceing together a couple blocks that the squares were too big in comparison to the strips....so I trimmed the blocks....which has the added benefit of squaring them up beautifully....and left me with the scraps below....they're only about 1/2 inch...but I can't throw them out....yet.

I don't know what size it will be yet....I'll just keep sewing till I either get bored with it, or run out of pieces.

Revisiting an old project.

Many years ago I saw this trivet pattern somewhere and made many of them for gifts. Some people used them for the purpose intended and others hung them up and refused to actually use them. I think that's so funny....some people that I gave baby quilts to never let the baby use them ... they hung them on the crib or bed, afraid that wear and tear wouldn't be good for them....silly people :)




These are made from 3 sizes of circles....some are folded, some are flat. And there is a batting inside that allows for very hot items to be placed on them with no danger to the table. I really enjoyed the process....there may be more in my future.

Tree Play

I needed to find a project that I could pick up easily, make fast, and use up things I already have in my sewing room. I certainly have fabric, batting, thread, crystals, rhinestones, beads, styrofoam, sequins, dowels....and so on.....I have used and collected these things for 40+ years.





And since I love christmas trees I decided to make one...stuffed it....glued it to a "stump" and decorated it. And that led to another and another....each time changing something. Then I found some scraps of already quilted fabric and just had a ball and tried many techniques. Some are sewn and turned....some are just top-stitched (love these the most).

This black one was made from a scrap of pieced fabric that went into a piece that I did in a Carol Taylor workshop...couldn't throw the scraps away and now I'm glad I didn't. The blue tree is made from Elin Noble fabric.

This tree has a cute shisha mirror I got from Priscilla.....love it!

I'm having a blast with these....I can make one in 15 minutes....nearly instant gratification....perfect for my sometimes short attention span :)

REALLY???....3 to 6 inches??????

We got closer to 16 inches!!! And it's wet, so the trees and bushes are taking a beating. These pics were taken before sunrise so they are a bit dark. I was so shocked that the predictions were so far off...and knew there was some serious shoveling in my future. Thank goodness my neighbor gave me a path out the front with his snowblower...he always helps us out.




This is out my back sliders on the deck.

They just said were getting some more tomorrow.........

New Strip Quilt

My latest quilt is back from the quilter....Designing Quilts....and Eileen did a great job once again. I made this from one Bali Pop and added my own sashing and border. It was fun and fast.

The quilt pattern she chose is beautiful...thanks Eileen. www.designingquilts.com

INSPIRATION...some great fabric!

I made great use of my snow day....I finished my bag made from fabrics I have dyed, batiked, discharged, overdyed, screened, shiboried and foiled.




I really have to hone my machine quilting skills...it looks ok but I want better.

I like all the pockets on this pattern.....I have another in mind now....well...I still have this evening :)

SNOW DAY !!!!

It's been snowing since 10 pm last night and is still snowing now at 8 am...so no work today...schools are all closed too! I will be working on my new bag....pics later.

Perhaps I should do some cleaning too...nah...it's a free day...sewing!

New Bag!

I have been doing some de-cluttering in my sewing room and when I came across this fabric I decided I needed to make myself a bag. It will have fabrics all made by me. The front and back are laid out and just have to be sewn together....fused to the batting and quilted....and then the construction of the bag can begin. Stay tuned.....

Halloween Trip

I spent a busy week in Florida helping to decorate for the Halloween party...and of course playing with Logan. The Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts and White Rabbit looked sensational!!! Everyone at the party looked great...so nice to see such clever and fun costumes.





The decorating theme was spiders....this from a girl who called from college to scream that there was a spider in her room...1400 miles away...like I could do something about it !!! :)

The outside was spooky and bright.

WAIT!!!....There's Waldo!!!! HAHA!!!!

We thought Logan would like to be Batman for Halloween day...but he demanded his rabbit costume. I made this about 15 years ago for another little boy. He's in college now.

Another fun year....back to some sewing!

What A Surprise !!!!

I got a wonderful surprise yesterday when I was gifted a beautiful watercolor of our cottage by Nancy...a thank you for her visit this summer....painted by her good friend, and mine, Ruth. I have admired Ruth's work for a long time, so I'm delighted to now own this beautiful painting.

I DO love handmade gifts!!!!

Thank you so much Nancy and Ruth.

Some Snippets of Summer!

Here are my two favorite size 5 models...they got new jackets for school....these were great fun to make!



I had a wonderful Summer at our cottage on Lake Erie....spent about 7 weeks there from June-Sept....now it's closed-up for another year. I will miss those sunsets.



This year Nancy came to visit for the last week and after closing up the cottage we headed for Niagara Falls...the photo above is from our room at the Seneca Niagara Casino....and the building on the left is the Hotel Niagara....girl's dormitory at Niagara University 42 years ago....nostalgia :) My room was right in the middle!!

At 6:30 am on Wednesday we went down to see the Falls....Nancy's first time...it's always impressive. Then we began our 9-hour trip home.

Little Jacket

I had pieced a quilt...had it quilted...and never put a binding on it because I just didn't like it as a quilt....all I could see was a little girls jacket...so I cut it up and made this jacket. And I have enough to make a couple more things.




After I put on this binding I remembered purchasing some great buttons from my friend Priscilla....matched perfectly! She has amazing buttons from all over the world. http://www.priscillakibbee.blogspot.com/

Now I love it!

What a Summer!!!

One of our trips this summer took us to Rochester to see Great Grandma Murphy and the family...Logan thought he'd try out his skills at the piano....virtuoso????

After this whirlwind summer (so far) I had to come home and sew something....so I put together this Kaffe Fassett strip quilt....that satisfies me for now :)

We had such a wonderful time with our grandson when they visited our home on Long Island....Grampa loved taking him for walks around the Village.

Luckily we had better weather this year for the week at the cottage. He played on the beach everyday, helped me find beach glass, played with his friends and cousins at the playground....all of which made for some long power naps! We miss him so much.

Finished Quilts

Something made me just sit down at my machine yesterday and put the binding on my last two quilts....and now they are done! So I'm free to start pieceing some more quilts...but this time I'm going larger....bed size.



I really want to have quilts on the cottage beds next year....I thought I'd have them done this year....didn't happen.....so I'll start now!

I'm running out of the bias binding that Nancy and I had made from our dyed fabric....we need to find another place that will do it for us...it adds a very special touch to the quilts.

Another Vintage Fabric Bag

This is another of the bags I had cut out and ready to sew...so while watching SYTYCD last night I sewed. The blue is bark cloth and the pink is a lighter-weight twill-type fabric.

I put a pocket in this one. I have one more bag cut....but I want to bind my two quilts first....we'll see what wins.

Batik Play Day

Well....here is the result of my fabric from Batik play day. I LOVE the colors and the batik designs. And the process was fairly easy.



We melted soy wax in an electric skillet and preceeded to apply it to previously-dyed fabric using different techniques. Then I placed them all in a red dye bath and laid them out in the sun. WRONG!!!!!!



The wax remelted and left a slightly grease shadow aroung all the designs. I had to boil the fabric twice and was still left with not-so-perfect fabric. But it's usable (most of it) and lesson learned.

Jane Sassaman....quilted.

I'm back on Long Island and had a nice package to open on my arrival. My Jane Sassaman fabric quilt was back from the quilter, and Eileen at Designing Quilts did a great job once again.

http://www.designingquilts.com/



This fabric was bought already cut into tumbler blocks from The Quilt Shop in Danbury, CT. I love having pre-cut projects that I can pick up without much thought and just start piecing together....with great results!
http://www.thequiltshoponline.com/index.html

The backing is a P&B dot.