Little Women Christmas Quilts

How cute is this little Santa mat? I thought I should take the picture with something near it to give you a sense of the size. Candy Canes are about 7 inches long, wouldn't you say? I love the details, the little red scarf on the snowman, the little snowflakes falling..very cute!

Christmas wreath quilt with dimensional prairie points around the outer and inner rim, and a beautiful burlap bow.

Snowmen are really in this year, aren't they!

This adorable quilt above is the result of a friendship block swap. The block on the top row is a "family snapshot."

This simple quilt above calls for 5 fat quarters. Each rectangle is cut at 8.5 inches x 10.5 inches. It's very fast and easy, and perfect to showcase that special fabric you don't want to cut into small pieces.

"Over the Moon, Santa!"

 Christmas Angels, and of course, Christmas Sunbonnet Sue came to the tea party also.

Yumm...everything was delicious! Tea or cocoa to drink if you prefer. Gluten free scones, too, and fruit for the carb watchers.

We all had a great time at our Little Women Christmas Tea. I have more photos to post, so come back tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm shopping online for the guys...hiking socks for son #2 and coffee beans for son #1 to roast at home. I don't know much about coffee beans, so I ordered a variety of 4 different beans. And some Philosphy bath and beauty products for the ladies (and a gift for myself, too!). And since my "fingers did the walking" I have time to go and stitch something!

Till next time, keep stitchin!

Mary

Little Women Photos

Our Little Women group met Saturday with our annual "Christmas Tea Party." We had a great time as usual, and there are so many great quilt photos to show you that I'm going to break them up over several posts. The quilts in this post feature some of our Jo Morton projects.

 The 2 photos above are 2 different versions of "Yankee Doodle."

That's Vickie holding "Framed" (above) and Pam with her "Scrappiness (below)."

Above--Pam's Calico Surprise from a few groups back, and her version of Glimmers--below. And yes, those are 1/2 inch squares in this little guy. Isn't it cute?

And last but certainly not least, the photo above shows the pincushions from our pincushion exchange. One was cuter than the next! The animal kingdom was represented with a moose dressed in patriotic garb, a chicken, a bird, and 2 kitty cats. There are several flowers, a Cathedral window, 2 "pin keeps" (for your scissors, needles AND pins, and a little hatbox with a hat. You all did such a great job with your pincushions, ladies. I am very impressed with your creativity!

I'll post some more photos later today or tomorrow.

Till next time, keep stitchin!
Mary

The Wayward Girls

Another fun sewing day for the Wayward Girls! We meet once a month and have a "sit and stitch" at my house. It's always such fun, and having my buddies there encourages me to press on and get something completed!

This little pinwheel project is Pam's project for December. It comes from the book titled "Pinwheel Party."

She finished the pinwheel blocks; they will alternate with a sort of "pinwheel chain" block for a very clever setting.

Carol is our Thimbleberries group leader. She is working on what will we be our January demo and project. We have decided to make quilts from the Thimbleberries book "Pint Sized Projects" this year. This is the little bear paw quilt. The bear paw block measures 7 inches square.

I've made this quilt in the larger lap size, so that should make for a fun show and tell.

The quilt above is the project I worked on. Doesn't look like much does it? This is from the Country Threads book Return to Charm School. This quilt is called "Always RSVP when you receive an invitation." The original quilt is set 4 blocks across by 4 blocks down (each block measures 8 inches square). I was using a bundle of fat eighths called "Cocheco Mills" and then realized I had bought 2 bundles, so I had more fabric I could use! So I just kept sewing more blocks. I have a large hole in the middle because I would like to put an applique block in the center. Some kind of Whig Rose, I think.

I worked half a day today, and did a little Christmas shopping in the afternooon. My son the hiker wants more wool socks. While buying the socks, I found a great boxed kit with maps and information about the Appalachain travel. I think Brian will enjoy that! Can't wait to get my shopping done so I can wrap the presents. That's my favorite part, that and seeing the wrapped gifts under the tree.

And at Barnes and Noble, they had their British TV show DVDs on sale. I found season 1 of Downton Abbey, and with my B&N membership paid less than $16.00. Hubby and I watched 5 episodes tonight! I'm very glad to have found it, because we didn't watch season 1, and it's filling in some of the backstory for me. Don't you love the clothing and the women's hairstyles? It seems so beautiful! Wish I could have a tea time like they do every afternoon.

Till next time, keep stitchin!
Mary

Design Wall-Kian's Baby Quilt

Here's what my design wall has on it today! I am making a baby quilt for an expected grandson due in January. I better get busy! I've made this design before, and it is perfect for a baby quilt. It comes from the Country Threads book "Charm School." The quilt is called Only Babies Eat With Their Fingers, and it's made (as all the quilts are in their 2 Charm School books) using 5 inch charm squares. I purchased 3 charm square bundles and some yardage of Bunny Hill's line called "Ooh-La-La." (If my LQS doesn't carry what I want, I can usually find it at http://fatquartershop.com) .

The charm pack has pink, blue, and greys in it. I've added some soft green and yellow. Yes, this is a soft yellow, I don't know why it looks so "gold" in the photo. I'm photographically challenged.

Don't you love the toile fabric? It has little sheep, a barn, and the pastoral scenes found in toile fabrics. There was an equal amount of pinks and blues in the charm pack, but I'm using just a few pinks as this is (supposed to be) a little boy.

Here's how to make the hourglass block:  Start with 2 dark and 2 light fabrics cut at 5 inches square. Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the light background fabric, sew a "scant" 1/4 inch from the line on both sides. (When I measure the distance between my sewing lines, I have 3/8 inch, rather than 1/2 inch.) Cut the square apart on the pencil line, press fabric to the darker fabric.

Now put the blocks right side together, the dark triangle directly opposite the light triangle. Draw another diagonal pencil line, sew on both sides of it--again a scant 1/4"--cut on the line, and press this seam open.

I always trim my blocks before setting them together. These are trimmed to 4.25 inches. When sewn together they will finish at 3.75 inches.

Obviously, I'm taking a sewing break to blog for a bit, Perry Mason is on, and they just had a fabulous quilt on the wall! It was an applique quilt in red/bright royal blue/yellow. The episode is called "The Case of the Grimacing Governor." Wish I had a pix of that quilt! I googled applique quilt but oh my, that could really take you down a rabbit trail!

Till next time, keep stitchin!

Mary

2 Orca Bay finishes! (well, sort of!)

Do we have any Bonnie Hunter groupies out there? I follow Bonnie on and off (http://quiltville.com) because to follow her ALL the time I wouldn't get anything else done ;-) Well, I let my friend Pam talk me into Bonnie's November 2011 mystery called "Orca Bay." And one year later (and many other projects in between), Pam and I have managed to get Orca Bay to the quilt top stage.

Here is Pam's:

Pam followed Bonnie's color scheme pretty closely, although her colors cover a wide variety of shades from light to darks. She also used tinier strips than I did. Her reds include some pink, and her light backgrounds include a little yellow for sparkle. Pam's favorite color scheme is red-white-blue, and this really suits her, don't you think! Good job, Pam. Be sure you visit her blog at http://pamsquiltspot.blogspot.com

And this is my Orca Bay. I started with a fat quarter bundle of Mary Engelbreit fabrics in bright red, bright yellow, black and white. It has little teapots on it! This color scheme is not my favorite, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with this quilt. My favorite fabrics are civil-war era reproductions. We are both pleased that we persevered and finished our tops. I'll send mine out to a longarmer after the first of the year.

I did the math on this quilt, and it has over 3,300 pieces in it!

I'm excited about beginning a baby quilt next....and yes, we're talking about Bonnie's new mystery, Easy Street. Hmmm..what to do? so many quilts, so little time!

Till next time, keep stitchin!
Mary

Two Quilts finished this week!

I managed to finish two quilts this week. The first quilt is another "Merry Mayhem" mystery quilt. I call it "Kiwi and Friends." This will be a Christmas gift for my granddaughter. She loves pink! and they have a pet Blue Conyer parrot named Kiwi. I hope you can see the birds in the pink fabric.

Here's a picture of Kiwi! Such a pretty bird!

My second finish is "Little Garden" the summer Thimbleberries project. It measures about 58 inches square.  I still need to add the final border to my fall Thimbleberries quilt and my winter Thimbleberries quilt! Hopefully, they will appear on "Finish It Up Friday" real soon.

Although I am trying to finish projects already started, I do need to start a new quilt--this time a baby quilt! For a baby boy! I'm excited about being a grandma again....this will be our 3rd grandchild.

Have a great weekend, and till next time, keep stitchin!

Mary

Little Women

I do enjoy our monthly Little Women group meetings. This month, as usual, we had some great show and tell. Here are 2 Pottery Shards quilts:

And we had 2 "Framed" quilts. They are made with little 1 1/2 inch 9-patches.

I know some of you will recognize the Generals Wives quilt below. What you cannot tell from the photo is that Carol made it half size! The blocks are 6 inches, not 12 inches.

Carol also made the beautiful paper-pieced rainbow block above. It should make a fabulous quilt, don't you think!

The funny thing about this meeting was no one brought in the project of the month, which was called Bacon and Eggs. Pam, the instructor for the quilt, left hers at home, and I left mine (top finished but not quilted) on my design wall. Guess we'll have to bring them next month!

Stay tuned for more fun from our Little Women group!

Keep stitchin'

Mary