Thanksgiving Done, Now on to Christmas...

 First, you need Christmas trees. Here is my modern Christmas Tree quilt from the QAL brought to you by Christa, of Christa Quilts. It's not too late to make one and they are pretty quick to make, even when you go crazy like me and piece all the background.  Let's just say it didn't start out that way, but it evolved.

 Happily, the back is all one piece, so no piecing was needed there. This is wall hanging size in case you were wondering.

 One more shot of the trees and the quilting, which is straight lines in each row of trees, alternating between horizontal and vertical for each row.

 An early gift for me! I really needed a new one of these. I rarely carry a purse any more, so my wristlet got worn and dirty. Well, it was mostly white, so no surprise there.  This time, a dirt hiding color...brown, with a bit of red.

 It holds my iPhone and my i.d. and debit card. I can stuff a couple of dollars in there too and that's all I need to carry with me. I clip  my keys to the strap and off I go.

    One more shot of the back...isn't it lovely? Pattern is by Caroline of Trillium Designs.

 And a new pillow for the couch, not that it needs one, but I wanted to make a Christmas pillow this year. I got the idea for this one on Ellison Lane during a Christmas themed blog hop. I think all the links and tutorials are still available there if you are interested.I have one more pillow form to use and have a plan for it.

 The back is an envelope closure using this cute fabric I bought last year from Joann's on line.

 Here is a close up. I love all the little windows with Christmas scenes in them.

 This is the scene out my back window. I made a bunch of these little red birds a couple of years ago and I love hanging them on the tree, in the windows and just about everywhere. I have 18-20 of them. Yes, I got carried away.

So get your minions and get stitching! There is still lots of time to whip up some Christmas stuff. These are bath mitts for my grandsons, made from a tutorial by Amy Friend at During Quiet Time.

Another Wristlet

This was not the finish I thought to share today, but the other has to wait, for now. Remember last year when I was a wristlet making fool? I made 9 of these bad boys to give as gifts and one for myself.  The pattern is from Trillium Designs.

A friend wanted one when she saw the one I made for my sister. Her droid phone is larger than an iphone, so I had to enlarge the pattern a little bit.  The first picture is the new one, next to my old dirty one, for size comparison.

 I cut the pattern pieces an inch larger in width and length. I hope her phone will fit, but I think it will.

 She wanted butterflies on a black background for the outside and a pink plaid for the inside.  I had a pink zipper, so that was what I used and I think it works.

                         There is a magnetic snap closure on the top fold down flap.

      If you look carefully you will see there is even a butterfly in the zippered pocket.

 And a big butterfly on the back.  This is such pretty fabric.  I hope she loves it.

Through sheer dumb luck, it looks like this is a whole butterfly on the front where the pocket meets the front panel. I assure you, I am not that good.  This is a great pattern and next up I am going to make myself a new one...in a darker color that won't show the dirt.  Have a great weekend! Talk to you soon.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday.

At Last...Christmas Crafting Reveal

I can finally show you all the Christmas crafting and sewing I did.  This will be a picture heavy post and long I'm afraid.  Hang in there.

Remember these little wooden houses?  I made them from scrap wood we had in a crate in our shed from many projects.  I loved painting them and I have them in my kitchen.  I decided I wanted more.

 But I was out of scraps of wood.  So I had my hubby buy me a 2 x 4 and I cut it into the pieces I needed.  Like this:

 And I glued the triangles on the top with wood glue and let it dry overnight.

 Then I painted them to look Christmas-y and put them under my tree.  I gave some to my daughter to paint for her house.

I love these little houses.  If you want to make your own, you need to prime them and let that dry for 24 hours.  Then, it's like a blank canvas.  Most of these are 6-8 inches tall.

Now, for the sewing...

 I know I showed some of these things before, but a brief recap here if I may.  These are the TV cushions I made for the two older grandsons.

                                  I found enough castle peeps in my stash to do this.

                       The quilt I made for my son-in-law for the back of his office door.

                         The quilt for V...Still needs quilting, but soon it will be done.

 My Cherry Christmas quilt.  I used a charm pack of Cherry Christmas to make this.  It's small, but I will quilt it up and use it for decoration next year.

 These were the biggest job for me.  I cut them all out and sewed them when I had time.  It only takes me 90 minutes or so to make one now, not including the cutting and fusing.  They are phone wristlets from a pattern by Trillium designs.

 I made 6 of these babies and now, with the ones I made last summer, I have made nine!!

                                                All different, and all done!!

 I love this fabric and so I made a pillow for my sister out of it.  She loves it, as I knew she would.

                          Another print in the collection makes a fine back to the pillow.

 Here is another small quilt made from charm packs.  This one is Countdown to Christmas.  I had two of these from last year that I never used and some yardage of the green and cream stripe for the sashing.  This will also be quilted and used for next year's decor.

 Lastly, this is the quilt top for J.  I just finished it today.  Sorry for the trees shadows.  It was getting late when I took these.  After the sailing quilt and map for V, I wanted something similar, yet different for J.  Airplanes!  I found this awesome bundle of fat quarters at Fabricworm I think.  I'm sorry I don't know that was where I got them.

 And they had planes and another cool map that fit so well.  I fussed around to figure out how to best use each fabric and I even bought another half yard of the airplanes to feature it better.

I will take better pictures once it's quilted, I promise.  This is one awesome quilt, even if I didn't get it done in time for Christmas.  Thanks for sticking with me to the end.
See you soon.

Labor Day Sewing

It's been a busy weekend here and not too much time for sewing, but I did carve out a couple of hours yesterday and plan on more today.  My sisters-in-law came to visit.  They haven't been here in a long time, so of course we made lots of jokes about once in a blue moon, referring to Friday's full moon.  Lots of chatting and great food.  But I digress...on to the sewing.

I made another one of these cute wristlet pouches from Caroline at Trillium Designs:

 I made a couple for my daughter a while back and they are so handy and easy to sew, I knew I would make more.  Before I start sewing for the folks I want to gift them to, I wanted to make one for me.

 You know how that goes, right?  We get all caught up in making things for others, and we love doing it, but at some point we realize we have none of our own handmade quilts or other items.  Especially if it's a favorite pattern.

 I love how it fits my phone and my ID and credit card.  I daresay I could slip in a couple of bucks and my keys if needed.

 Here it is all closed up.  I love the Children at Play fabric and this is the last of my blue and red stripe from that line.  I am happy to have a little bit of it for my own.

 In my reading of blogs this weekend, I came across this.  I know we have all seen it, as it is not new, but I resisted until now.  I bought the pattern and can't wait to start pulling fabrics for it.  I might even do that today.

The last thing I did yesterday was to play with these pretties which I pulled a week or so ago.  They are all from my stash and the selvedges say some were printed in 2003.  I have been looking at them for a bit, waiting for inspiration to strike.  These are for the Leafs Me Happy block Blog Hop that is coming up in October.  Don't you just love fall?  The colors, the cooler temps...the yummy foods.  Okay, I have lots of sewing to cram in today.  Maybe I'll see you back here later this week.
Have a great Labor Day.

Staycation Sewing

I have been doing lots of sewing this week so far.  I have also gotten lots of housework  done.  And you know what?  I don't mind the housework taking me away from the sewing as much, when I know I have so much more time to do both since I am off all week.  This is great!  So here are some more pictures of my staycation:

 I made another wristlet from Trillium Design's pattern.  Seriously love this pattern people.

 My daughter has been coveting this purple fabric forever.  I had to make her something out of it so she would stay out of my stash.  The green dot fabric is Vintage Modern.  A perfect match.  The purple fabric I tried to find on line a couple of years back to buy more, but alas, it's gone.  So I will use the rest sparingly.

 This is a project I am just starting.   My daughter will recognize it.  It will be a bookshelf quilt.  These are a few of the test strips.  I found a partial jelly roll of an old Basic Grey line in my strip scrap been and it seems perfect for books, with a few others added in.

This quilt is basted and actually on my machine right now.  It is for a recipient in the Comfort Quilts Bee that I am in.  I am loving how it is turning out so far.  I will show more when it is done.

I also made a baby quilt for a friend, but since she sometimes reads my blog, I am going to have to wait to post pictures until I give it to her.

So far, on staycation, that's two wristlets, one quilt quilted and one being quilter and one new project started.  Pretty good progress so far.  I have two other quilts being pieced and one more waiting to be quilted, which I hope to at least start on before I go back to work.

Have a Great Wednesday.

Happy Monday...and a Winner!

Happy Monday everyone.  Day 2 of my staycation.  I have lots of sewing planned for this week, and if all goes well, I'll have lots to show you all week long.  First up, I finally finished my Daisychain ABC's sampler that I bought from Alicia Paulson.  I think I started this in February or March.  Glad to have it done!

I did enjoy doing it, a bit at a time.  This just needs a frame, and it is going to live in the home of my newest grandson.

Next, I made the first of what I know will be many of the Cell Phone Wristlet pattern.  I bought the pattern from Caroline at Trilliumdesign.  I fell in love with this pattern when I saw it on a blog hop to launch the pattern.  I just had to get it.  I could not believe the pattern was sooooo easy to assemble.  I did not expect that, having made many bags and pouches before.  I had all the fabric and fusibles and the zipper.  I just needed the hardware.  I will definitely be making more of these.

 This first one is for my daughter.  She loved the one made with the Ruby Star Rising typewriter fabric.  I tried my best to copy that one.  Not perfect, but pretty good.

Here is the back.  Sorry the picture is so yellow.  Inconsistent flash is probably to blame here.  I was not asked to promote this pattern, but I do love to share when I find something I think is terrific.

Last, but not least, the winner of my scrap giveaway: comment #7 Celtic Thistle!  And here is the bundle going out to her:

This is 2 pounds of scraps just for you Fiona.  Yes, I weighed it on my kitchen scale.  Fiona is in the SMQ Bee, so I already have her address.  I made my post office Monday run this morning so I posted this along with my bee blocks.  The postman said it should get there in 7-10 days.  Let me know, Fiona.

This is the first time I have ever posted anything for overseas.  It was a great learning experience for me and the postman was very patient and helpful.

That's all for now.  Have a great Monday.