A Little Bit of Sewing

I haven't had much time the last two weeks, but this week I got to sew a bit. Yay me! I am trying to keep myself from going crazy here with all the house stuff and work. Sewing soothes me in a way not much else does. I know there are those of you who feel the same way. So this is what's going on:

 This is my little Village from the Penny Sampler Quilt. I had such fun picking the fabrics. I had a few others picked out, but as usual, the fabrics led me to this. Some of the ones I thought would work just didn't seem right when I put them up there. So my village is done.

 This is my mitten all sketch stitched to a golden yellow Dimple Dot fabric. It is backwards. The thumb is supposed to be on the right. But I am leaving it this way. I see no reason to change it.

 This is my clover all sketch stitched to a solid coral. I found that I really like this method of applique. And this completes the February lesson for the Penny Sampler. I am still happy I chose the 12 month class, because I know I will have very little time to sew as the move gets closer. And then my machines will be on a moving van for awhile. So sometime in May-ish, I will have to buckle down and catch back up.

This is the block from Amy Gibson's block along that is following her new book, Quilt Block Cookbook. I bought the book before she announced the block along, and I don't intend to do every block. She is doing a block a week. But I really liked this one. I had a bit of trouble figuring out the paper piecing, but Jennifer Mathis from Ellison Lane has a You Tube video that is pretty good and it helped me out a lot.
Have a great weekend and I hope to see you back here soon.

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.

Studio Spotlight-Linking Up with Ellison Lane

Jennifer at Ellison Lane has been having a Studio Spotlight party this week. We have seen some amazing spaces and some great uses of small and shared spaces. Now, I am linking up my studio space here today.  If you have not visited any of the spaces, go look, and be inspired. In full disclosure I did not tidy up a thing for these pictures. This is the real deal.

 This is where my scraps and older fabrics live. Scraps above and larger pieces of mostly older fabrics below, somewhat sorted into color groups.

                      Books on the bottom. The other two shelves need some organization.

A bit dark, but this is my main machine. I also have a Singer featherweight that was my grandmother's. It needs a tune up to be usable.

                              My sewing table is a trestle style desk from Target.

 Books on the bottom and newer fabrics all folded neatly. I used Jeni Baker's fabric folding method for this. I try to fold all new acquisitions now and put them here. I love the method for any cut up to a yard. She has a video if you want to see. Search her blog, In Color Order.

 A very busy wall and my fold down cutting table from IKEA. Underneath it is an old coffee table full of magazines and fabric and stuff.

                               My design wall is an old flannel sheet hung up with tacks.

 This piece in the corner is newly relocated to hold sewing patterns and other notions in the drawers. The wardrobe side has quilt tops on hangers that are waiting to be quilted and my table cloths as well. This piece I refinished a couple of years ago. It was a baby wardrobe that was my husband's as a baby.

One of the most special things in my sewing room is the photos of my Granny and her sisters. I sometimes talk to her when I am sewing. I like to think she is always with me.

If you want to see what my sewing room looked like two years ago when I first moved everything in there, I blogged about it here.

Thanks again to Jennifer at Ellison Lane for this fabulous series.

Summer Sewing Contest Entry

If you are looking for my giveaway, go here.

I wasn't sure if I could have the time to make anything for the summer sewing contest at Ellison Lane Quilts, but I sure wanted to.  Then, the planets aligned and I was able to get two things of my to do list and actually finished.  This is the first thing I made.  Boy shorts.

 I am using the same pattern I made last year for the slacks V wore in the wedding.  I just cut them shorter.  The pattern was drawn by me, but I used the instructions and the pocket pattern from Dana Made It.

 I used a light grey shad of Kona cotton and the pockets are from the Backyard Baby collection, Bug Jars in Gray.

 I fussy cut the jars to put bands around the bottom of the leg openings.  I wanted to tie it all together.

                                                  As you see, they fit the boy perfectly.

                                                    A view of the back.

And we do love our pockets.  He is all boy, this one.  I have 3 more pair of these to make in three different colors with pocket accents from my stash.  If you have never drafted your own pattern, you should try it.  Dana gives great easy instructions.

More crafting!!

I know, hard to believe after not many posts due to the holidays, but here I am again!  I found this great little tutorial on Nanacompany blog and just had to make one.  That is unusual for me, but what the hey!

 It's a needle book!  I made it in just a couple of hours following the easy tutorial and picking out my fabrics.  I am always searching for needles and heaven knows I have enough of them, just keep losing them!

 The back of the book is a small patchwork.  I used some fabrics from my charm swap I did this summer with Ellison Lane Quilts.  I put my GrammieQ label on one end just for fun.  I thought that was better than trying to put my name on it.

 She suggested embellishing the felt pages.  I also scalloped the edges with my scallop rotary cutting blade.

 I love the fancy little touches in here.  In fact, I have since put some of my tapestry needles through the holes in the eyelet lace.  They fit perfectly.

The little tape measure thing is a piece of twill I got at the Purl.  I am really loving this little book.  Go visit Nanacompany and make one of your own.  Also it would make a great gift!