Christmas Tea Party at the Cozy Cottage

I have the best group of quilting buddies! Every year we have a wonderful Christmas party, and this year it was at my Cozy Cottage. To start the party off, we had a very fun gift exchange. Our criteria was to spend about $15, and it had to be handmade--not necessarily by you. I didn't get pictures of everyone's gifts, but these are some of them:

That's Celestia holding the redwork pillow that Linda made for her. Second photo is Chera holding the pansy wallhanging that Pam made. Third photo is Gerri (great smile, Gerri!) holding the tablerunner that Pat made.

A very fun time was had by all! We decided we need to do this twice a year, not just once a year!

Anne wins the prize for best leggings!

Tammy is  holding the tote/purse that Darlene made for her. Fannie made Vicki a Christmas tabletopper with a hexie design. That's my beautiful tote/with separate  small "pocket" made my Anne--in my favorite color combo--blue and yellow. I LOVE it, Anne! 

October/November quilts and stuff

I thought I'd start out by showing you the November project for our Kindred Spirits quilt club. We are going to make the "Flower Baskets" quilt by Jill Shaulis. The quilt is layered and ready for me to machine quilt. It will measure about 22 x 19 inches when finished. The floral design is machine appliqued.

And here are a few more Halloween inspired projects. The "Spooktacular" quilt is made from a panel, and I still have 2 more large blocks to add to it. I made this in an all-day workshop with friends...such a delightful way to spend a Saturday! Thank you, Lisa Adams, for hosting us. I even won a door prize of some more fabrics AND the backing fabric to go with it. What a surprise!

The American Girl doll is on loan from my friend Pat Haines;  she just wanted to join the party! That's a Kimberbell project with the witches shoes pillow. I made the cover as a slipcover, so I can change it out by seasons. 

The next 2 photos are of my coffee table. I enjoy collecting childen's books for Christmas, so I thought I would add a few for Halloween. Mary Engelbreit is a favorite of mine, I really do miss her colorful magazine. We lived in St. Louis for years, so how could I not be a fan of hers?! As you can see, I had fun celebrating Halloween at the Cozy Cottage this year.

I was at a quilt retreat in September and we realized that 4 of us were wearing some of our Pandora charms. That's me on the left with the start of my "Irish
Eyes are Smiling" bracelet, Tammy is  below, Pam is to her right, and I've forgotten who the one on top is! Pam just got started with a red polka dot charm (she loves polka dots!), a puppy love charm, and a Texas charm. If you know who my charming mystery lady is, please let me know so I can label her.  We do have a little fun with our Pandora charms!

Till next time, keep stitchin!

Mary

Sewing for Fall/Halloween

I'm so ready for fall weather to be here! So I thought maybe sewing up some Halloween-inspired designs might help me to cool off. The first three are Kimberbell designs. The top one "Too Faboolous" is a pillow about 16" x 13", from her book "Oh the Possibilities...For Halloween." The green glittery spider is from JoAnns.

 I'm saving this design here just because I think I should make this one too!

This square table-topper is about 23" square. It's ready for me to do some quilting. The border fabric is something I've had for years, and it's one of my all-time favorite Halloween designs.

This mini quilt is 15" x 17". It's made with 2 of the little mini charm packs (they measure 2.5" square). It will go on my coffee table, with perhaps an orange pumpkin.

The Kimberbell bench pillow is about half quilted. When the quilting is finished, I'll add some black buttons to the center of the two candy-corn flowers, and add the rick rack leaves to the big flower on the right. 

What have you been working on?

Mary in VA

June Kindred Spirits Meeting

I've managed to fall behind with my Kindred Spirit posts, so I will attempt to get caught up this week. We had a great show-n-tell in June for our meeting, and I will let the photos speak for themselves.

The photo above is Celestia's row-by-row "Strawberries" done in purple 30s fabrics, and the next row called "pinwheels". Our new project will be a 2-month quilt called "Two Way Street." I've laid my rows out on the green fabric that will be the borders. (My quilt will measure about 16 x 18 inches) Anne super-sized her blocks and made them out of multiple blue fabrics. I love it, Anne! Nice job!

Tammy made a special quilt for a special co-worker who is retiring. She loves to can her garden produce, so Tammy's choice is wonderfully appropriate. I feel very strongly about signing our quilts, so wanted you to see her label on the back. Easy to do, yet it documents the who, the why and the when. Simply use a pen that is safe for fabrics, and include the information on a label on the back of your quilt.

Fannie showed off a beautiful pillow she made using French General fabrics. Nice job, Fannie.

A double 4-patch in red fabrics made by Pat, a great flag quilt made by Charlotte, Pat, is that your sheep? I can't remember! And I'm sorry, I didn't write down who made the landscape quilt....let me know please!

And last but not least, one of my favorite quilt patterns, ever! I was going to pass this pattern onto someone because I thought I'd never get to it, so Pam took it on as a project, and I just love what she did with it. I have put it back onto my "must do someday" list. Great job, Pam!

Thanks for stopping by, and till next time, keep stitchin!
Mary in VA

Kindred Spirits--May 2016

Here's what happened at our May Kindred Spirits meeting.

We had a Split Decision (top) made into a table runner, 

and a Split Decision who didn't want to be split (Charlotte)! 

Followed by a Chasing Friends upsized by Tammy.

We have some Orange Peel rows coming together. Charlotte's has puppy paws fabric, and Celestia's is made of all purple 30's fabrics. Great job, ladies!

Our next row will be a row of Posies. They will alternate a strip of fabric either above the posie or below it. So cute!

Pam's double 4-patch is made with lots of polka dots 

and the cutest flip-flops for the borders.

Miscellaneous projects include the old favorite, Spools. 

Chera brought a commissioned quilt she made out of some ties (above),

and she showed her exquisite hexi quilt, below. Fabulous job, Chera!

And here are some walker bags I made for my 96-year old mom. 

I'm so proud of her! She's doing great, and her walker bags are excellent conversation starters at her retirement home. The top one is made with 

Bingo card fabric, The middle one has pink flamingos (she lives in Florida) 

and the bottom one has Lorelei's nurses. (Mom is a retired nurse.) I was

able to spend Mother's Day with her and my Florida family.

Here's the EQ drawing of our Double 4-Patch.

This quilt is designed to be made with charm packs or mini charm packs.

I hope you enjoyed the show!

Till next time, keep stitchin.

Mary in VA