We have joined another block swap. This one is called Polka Dot Party. Everyone needs to use the black & white and white & black polka dot fabric, but everyone is choosing a tone-on-tone (both light and dark of the same color) in the color of their choice for the rest. So far I've seen them done in red, blue, teal, purple, green, pink, orange. Should be a real fun swap!

Just in time to say HAPPY NEW YEAR!'\

New computer set up so want to see if I can post a picture here.

Looks like I'm in business - this is the towel I did for my daughter for Christmas. I posted the others before, but didn't want her to "accidently" see this one. Everyone loved their designs.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Just stopping by to say MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone. No snow here, but there is still time to get a LITTLE for Christmas - LOL....

Looking back, there was a lot going on this past year. All-in-all, I feel it has been a very productive year and feel like things are headed in the right direction. Lots of quilts done, both for Quilts For Kids, a raffle at the Senior Center, and sold a few. Lots of embroidery done too. Towels and sweatshirts - sold quite a few of these too.

Looking ahead, Betty and I want to move forward with our home-based business of embroidery and quilting. We want to try some new (to us) items. We have lots of new ideas thanks to blogs like Missouri Quilt Co. tutorials and the forums where people show their ideas. I love places that have show and tell threads. People's creativity is amazing.

I also want to re-organize my sewing areas. I know I've said it before and I will say it again!! I did get a good start on sorting my bigger pieces of fabrics. Folded and stacked. Now I need to tackle how to handle smaller pieces. What is the best way to sort them? Size? Color? Should I cut them to uniform sizes? Want a pegboard set up in my sewing area to hang rulers, embroidery hoops, etc. I have a small dresser near my embroidery machine and want to clean out the drawers and use that to store stabilizers, threads, books with printouts of our designs, etc. That will really improve the function of that area. Right now I have a couple of large totes that I have to search thru whenever I need something. So organizing would make things a lot more efficient.

And, of course, the new year would not be complete without the "lose weight" mentality! I do need to lose weight and I know it. Yes, it will be on my list of things to do. There is hope that this will be the year it will really happen for me. I am tired of carrying all this extra baggage. It needs to be a combination of moving my body and watching what I eat. It seems crazy to me to spend all kinds of money joing a gym. I've done it before and it works for a while. Then you get tired of going and gradually stop. Walking is good, and free, but when it gets freezing cold out there, or it rains really heavy, or snows - there is always an excuse to not go. I guess I just have to make up my mind and do SOMETHING!

I hope everyone has a great Holiday and that all your wishes come true.
Talk to you soon,
Jo

A guitar for my oldest Grandson!
I hope everyone likes theirs....

Well, here is Ben's car!

LOL - I'm not sure he will appreciate the humor but we'll see....

Well we have a few flurries here this morning. Very few, just enough to give that wintery feel to the day. I guess that is good because this past week people I talked to couldn't believe Christmas was coming this week. It just didn't feel like Christmas at all with the fairly nice weather we've been enjoying. Don't get me wrong, it was nice to have mild weather and I'd love it that way all winter, but a tiny bit of snow for Christmas would be nice.

I asked my 13 yr old grandson what he wanted for Christmas and he said, "A Car." I just laughed at him and said, "One you can fit in your pocket?"
I know he was just kidding, but I got to thinking.....so I decided the design I will embroider on his towel will be a car! Not exactly what he meant, but it will do. Maybe if I hit the lottery, when he is old enough, he will get his wish.....Maybe! LOL

I hope everyone is enjoying this Christmas season and not too stressed out. As I get more things finished I'll post pictures here.

Wishing everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR.......
(just in case I don't get back here before Friday!)

I stitched this towel for my son's ex-girlfriends little girl. (My son passed away 2 years ago - that time has passed quickly!) His girlfriend has 3 girls. One is away at school so I am doing towels for Jade and her sister. The frog should have been rotated one more turn, but all in all, I am pleased with the way it came out. Not sure what design I will use for her sister's towel yet. The different color yellow is because I wet the towel to remove the stabilizer. It is dried out this morning but was still wet when I took the picture.


This will be one of the presents for my son-in-law. I still have to pick out some of the stabilized (letter A & hook on the tail of the fish). Any I miss will disolve in the wash anyway.
David takes the boys fishing all the time and I thought this would be a good design for his towel. I used one of the large bath sheets and love the way it came out.

Here is the Princess Quilt I just finished. I love the look of it. There are things I would do differently but I am pleased with it. I put lace around the outside and made some yo yo flowers to stitch in the corner of the inside border.

I've been working on some Christmas placemats. Here are a couple of them.

Next year I plan on doing a lot more of these.

I really like the way they came out. Hope I can find fabrics like these next year.

Well my computer is being tempermental this morning. I did at least get this picture to post.

I found a tutorial for this block and thought it was adorable so I had to try it. Love the way it came out. These could be used in a quilt, or as mug rugs, or candle mat, pot holders, or small wall hangings.

What do you think? Are the cats too busy for this design? I love those kitties!

Finally finished this one. Of course they pictures didn't get the whole quilt but you get the idea. Delivered it to my friend who will be giving it to her grandson for Christmas. I was really pleased with the way it turned out. She was delighted with it too.

Here is a Table Runner made from log cabin blocks. My daughter, Betty, paper-pieced the log cabin blocks a while ago and just had them sitting in her sewing stash. I saw them and said those colors a perfect for this time of year, I'll take them. She also had a good amount of the pumpkin fabric too so I made up this table runner and 8 mug rugs from the blocks she gave me. Used the pumpkin fabric on the backs. I really, really, love this!

Red Sox Quilt

A friend asked me to do a Red Sox Baby Quilt for her grandson who is just 1 year old. After searching high and low for Red Sox fabric I was told it wasn't licensed for cotton.

So, I just happened to run into a nurse's scrub in Red Sox fabric so I bought it, took it apart and used it to make the quilt. The star is the front of the quilt, and I appliqued a heart cut from the fabric to the back side of the quilt.

Okay let me try this again! Just posted this and went back to edit and it deleted it. So - - - -

I came across a tutorial for this apron. I was called something like "Apron in an hour". That's the kind of projects I like so thought I would try it.

It used one fat quarter for the main part of the apron and 1/2 yard of contrasting fabric for the bottom border and ties/waistband. When I spotted this fabric I had to give it a try.

I really like it, but it is very "boxy" looking so I think next time I will try adding a couple of pleats or softly gather top before adding the waistband to give it a bit more shape.

What do you think?

Some of the pillowcases I've been making.

Some are toddler size, some are standard size.

Here is the block I am making for the Floral Block Swap I joined. One down, 24 more to go!

Wow, it's almost the end of September already! Where did this month go?

Time to gear up for Christmas gifts and craft fairs. Here are some more of the Tea Towel Aprons I've been making.

.

Kitty Rag Quilt
Kitty tested and Kitty approved!
LOL
Looks to be just about the right size too. I've made 4 of them so far and will do some more to take to the craft fair in October.

Tea Towel Apron

I made this following the instructions on Missouri Quilt Co tutorial. It was very easy to do and I really like it. The picture doesn't do it justice. I need to figure out how to take a better picture of it. The ties came out a good size to fit around a larger size person (me - LOL).

Fun to do!

It has been so long since I posted to my blog - I will try to not be so long between postings again.

This is a "kitty quilt". I've seen some on different sites and thought I'd try making one from scraps. I do like the way it came out, but for the next one I am going to try doing a rag quilt.


Just bought some fabric that I think will make a cute "kitty quilt" and can't wait to get started.

I have this adorable little stuffed dog that I used as a model for this. Actually it would make a cute bed for a small dog. He is showing of the yellow backing for me!

My kitty likes to sit on all works in progress so she should love having one of her own....

Here we have a "Disappearing 9 Patch". My daughter made this for her oldest son. I love the colors. It is completed now, but, I did not get a picture of the completed quilt.

I love the way she used left-overs scraps to make the piano key border.

Did I say I love the "Disappearing 9 Patch"? I will be doing more of them. The endless color variation is amazing.

Well, I had surgery on April 19th so I haven't been doing a lot lately. I am starting for feel better now and anxious to get back to my routine. I'll go back to work in another week and want to get some of my sewing/quilting straightened out before then.

Just finished up the "Fairy Dust" quilt for quiltsforkids. Here is a picture.

My daughter and I are trying to establish a home-based business with embroidery and sewing. Here are a couple of horse blankets that we embroidered a name on. This was a challenge for us but we are very pleased with the results.

Here are a couple more pictures of Angie. She cracks me up! Here she is spread out in the sunshine coming in thru the back door. When I looked over she looked like a seal laying out on the beach. She is so funny and so much company. She can be very independent, you can call her until you are blue in the face and she just sits there. Then there are times she stares out into the other room and I have to look out there too to see what she is staring at.

I am so excited..... I finally finished one of my UFO's. This is a 3D Pinwheel that I started about 2 or maybe even 3 years ago. It was put aside because I couldn't figure out whether to make a wall-hanging or to keep adding rows for a throw or twin size quilt. There was also the decision to make for a color for the border and the backing.

As you can see I kept it the original size and it would make a nice wall hanging or could be used as a lap throw. The dark green just seemed like the best color to use for the border and backing. Now I am happy with the way it came out. One down and a few more to go!

I just have to say how amazed I am at the beautiful work I see displayed on many of the blogs here on blogspot. So many diverse and talented people. They really do inspire me, and I have to say thank you to the ladies that encouraged me to start a blog too.

Well, I finally finished the butterfly quilt for the senior center raffle. The top picture colors are the true colors, the bottom picture came out lighter.

I am really pleased with how this came out and hope it will help raise a lot of money for the center.

Here is another quilt for kids quilt. I can't take credit for this because somone had already put the top together and then either didn't want to finish it or couldn't for some reason. So I took it, layered it, quilted and put on a binding. I do like the look of it.

Quilts for kids will be having a fund raiser the end of this month and 2 of the quilts I did for them will be raffled off. That makes me feel good, that they liked them well enough to feel they would be good for a raffle.

Here is my Disappearing 9 Patch. I really like the way it works up so will use this pattern again.

Betty (DD), is making one in shades of browns and greens for my oldest grandson (the one in my picture) who is heading off to school soon. I saw one block all done and it is going to be gorgous. Maybe I can get a picture of it to post here before she gives it to him.

Disappearing Nine Patch I have to remember they put the last picture at the top when you add them. The top is what my block will look like when I stitch it up. The bottom one is what I started with. Not sure how many I will make at this point, just really wanted to try one. I may add more of the kitty fabric because I really like it and would like it to be a kids quilt. We shall see.

Well, I've done the end rows and the black border. The outside border will be 4" and made from the butterfly material..

I am finally getting to the butterfly quilt. It will be given to the senior center to raffle off for some much needed funds for their many programs. This size with a 4" border will be about 40" square, but I want to add a row to the top and the bottom with a sashing inbetween and around what you see here. Trying to decide if I should use black as the sashing. I think there is enough green, and the outer border will be the butterfly fabric. This will bring it to about 42" x 60" and I think that is a better size.

What do you think for the sashing? And, the extra rows will be 1/2 triangle blocks - should they be green with the butterfly? Or yellow with the butterfly?

Thanks for any comments.

My daughter fell in love with this swirly, crazy print in the middle of this picture. So she decided to do the FAIRY DUST pattern with it. Even though it was tough to match colors to it, I think she did a great job. The Fairy Dust has one large pc in the middle (14 1/2 x 21 1/2) so it's perfect for showing off a favorite fabric without having to cut it up. There will be a 3" border all around and I believe she is using a dark green fabric for that. (I can't remember.) This will be donated to quilts for kids.

I will be trying one of these soon.

Just finished putting on the binding and gave it a quick cycle in the washer and dryer. I always hold my breath when I first wash quilts because I'm afraid the colors will run or it will come apart, but they seem to hold up well. Besides, that is one of the requirements when doing quilts for kids.

They need to be secure and washable. Now I just have to figure out a good place to hang or lay them to take a good picture. These will do for now but I'd like to have better pictures.

This will be dropped off tonight and hopefully will make some young boy happy.

I will continue to make boy ones for now because they have said there is a need for more boy themed quilts, but I can't wait to do a totally girly one too.