Merry Christmahanzaquanzicka!!
To you and all your family
Your neighbors and your friends
May all your days be happy
With a joy that never ends
May peace and love surround you at Christmas-time and all the whole year through.
May your lives be filled with sunshine
May your every wish come true
May you find the sweet fulfillment
In everything you do
May your days be blessed with the very, very best
Both now and the whole year through!
And now that the birthday has finally arrived, and the gift given, I can share!
My Honeycomb quilt, that I started back in July, which the youngest daughter, birthday girl, helped me to design has been gifted. It was based on a quilt in Malka Dubrawski‘s book, Fresh Quilting. Amanda and I fell in love with it as soon as we saw the idea of using jumbo hexagons in a random way.
When huge hexagons don’t have a precise color placement, as in a grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt, it takes on an entirely different look.
I love all the different fabrics ranging from Malka’s A Stitch in Color line, Amy Butler’s, creams, white, greens, grays, melons, tone on tones, scraps, pieces specifically chosen and all intentionally placed.
After lots of stressing over how I would quilt it, I finally chose to machine quilt it, using my Acufeed foot, 1/4″ each side of the vertical seams and then again 1 1/4″ from that same seam. Using Quilter’s Dream batting, and this light quilting pattern, created a quilt with a beautiful hand, lots of movement and coziness.
After poking around online to see what other people are doing for shams, I found very few, bed sized, hexagon pillow shams to even consider. I chose Kona Ash for the quilt backing and also for the pillow shams I finally came up with. I used the same spacing for the quilting, on the shams, but I made the hexagons a bit smaller so I could fit more on one pillow. The big, fat cording is the same yellow with white polka dots as what I used on the binding.
I love how the quilting shows up on the back. Flipping this quilt over creates an entirely different, calming look!
Another of my very favorites!!
Honeycomb
~a jumbo hexagon quilt~
machine pieced, machine quilted
Quilter’s Dream batting
90″ x 100″
December 2012
Linking up with:
This pouch work great for taking small stitching projects on the road. Working on these little gifts for some special people. I’ll have to share them when I’ve finished. They are too easy and cute!
I am still plugging along on my Twinkle quilt. It’s been languishing as I finished up several big projects. I just couldn’t decide how to quilt it. I wanted it done now, but didn’t want to machine quilt dark thread over the light stars. How do you handle that, when you are working with highly contrasting fabrics? Or do you just plan differently?
Well last night, I decided to just jump in and hand quilt it. I’ve no other hand quilting projects going on, so why not?
If it wasn’t for using Warm and Natural batting, Kona cotton, and some fabric I had left from my grandson’s quilt, eons ago, I’d be done already! The Kona is a tight weave, then add Warm and Natural which is rustic, and irregular, and the backing feels too thick to be quilting fabric, though it is. I have finally gotten it through my thick head that hand quilting speed is all about the materials used. Quilters Dream, for me, from here on out!! It really does make quilting a dream. Along with a fresh needle.
Recently I had a surge of new visitors. I can tell by my stats. So I dig around to see why. Not the usual Pinterest fried rice or the original gluten-free Puppy Chow or even the surprisingly often searched out Happy Birthday Pretty Girl but, low and behold, they came from Buzzfeed. Huh? Who is that? I didn’t post about them. Do you know about Buzzfeed?
According to Wikipedia BuzzFeed is a website that combines a technology platform for detecting viral content with an editorial selection process to provide a snapshot of “the viral web in realtime.” According to Buzzfeed’s own website BuzzFeed has the hottest, most social content on the web. We feature breaking buzz and the kinds of things you’d want to pass along to your friends.
Not sure why Bubble quilt is currently all the buzz but maybe because it’s been pinned like a gazillion times, on Pinterest? I feel honored to be included alongside these other beautiful quilts! Cool site, check them out! Just what I needed, another time sucker!
The two quilty jobs I’ve been dreading, for weeks, finally made it to the top of the list.
Only today did I discover that I had already attacked them.
You gotta love aging. Woo Hoo!!
I did almost finish another project, but this is all I can share.
Pitiful, I know.
As much as I hate doing cleanup, before I can say a project is finished, I am so glad to be at this point on this one. It has been hanging on for-ev-er. I do love it, don’t get me wrong, but I’ll be glad when it is out of my sight, LOL! Surely I’m not the only one to feel that way!
So on to Christmas decorating. Another WIP…. I bought this huge (18″ tall) hurricane vase last year and have been having fun changing it up for the different seasons. This time I lined it with a tall slender glass vase and filled the in between space with vintage ornaments and fresh pine cones. Okay, maybe the ornaments are not vintage, but they are from my very first Christmas, tree over 30 years ago.
Spent a little time out in nature yesterday, picking up these little baby, less than 2″, pine cones. I then popped then dirty and wet into the oven, set it on convection 180° for a couple of hours to draw some of the moisture out. This is the very first time I have ever used the convection setting. I know, I know…. Well, it worked beautifully for this purpose. With the oven’s fan blowing warm air over these babies and you can save your money on artificial smelling candles, this is the real deal!
Plus the critters, living in the pinecones, shouldn’t come crawling out on to the dinner table! Bonus!
is always the prettiest.
And when it comes on a Saturday morning with no plans, that is even better. The pavement is still warm enough that no shoveling will be required and it will probably all be gone by afternoon, even without the sun coming out.
It also coincides with my finishing the first lightweight book I’ve read lately. It seemed like a coincidence to wake up to snow when the book I finished, last night, was actually about the first snow of a year. Coincidence or no?
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey.
I really enjoyed it. The author does a wonderful job of making you feel like you are right there in the story. You know what it feels like to dance in the snow, to warm up to the wood burning stove and to bundle under a pile of quilts to stay warm.
Actually, I’ve been on a roll with good books and it is about time. Giving up on free Kindle books has helped to increase the odds of a book being good. My financial trade-off is to use the library more often. Not bad, because I can reserve them online and get an email when they are available to pick up. Maybe you do this, too?
As for sewing finishes this week.
I’m not talking.
And the winner of my Traveling Stash box is…
Number 10, from over at Boldgoods!!! Congrats to Nicole! What for my email!
If you aren’t familiar with Nicole’s blog, you should check it out. She always has some sweet eye candy to drool over. I’m especially loving her festive garland, right now!!
::: If you still want to put your name in the hat for the Traveling Stash box get to it! Details and entry here. You have until Saturday at 10:am! :::
Ahh, and finally a finish I can share!
I started this Christmas tree skirt, for my DIL, way back over the summer. Then it disappeared. I searched high and low for it, could not find it anyway, finally moved on to other projects. Thankfully, it turned up again, just a few weeks ago, all neatly folded, in with a stack of green fabrics. Apparently I had a spell of organization. Go figure.
I cut 8 – 45° triangles, 12″ wide at the base and roughly 15″ tall from fat quarters, scraps, just a variety of fabrics. I then slashed them randomly 3 or 4 times and inserted a 1″ piece of contrasting fabric. With 1/4 inch seam allowances, they ended up being 1/2″ wide, leaving the overall measurements, the same as when I started. I love this metallic fabric with dots! I can’t remember who made it, but I thought it looked a bit like Christmas tree balls! And I thought this was a worthy project to use a bit of this stash on.
I then trimmed them up again, making sure to keep the angles at 45°. I added borders, on all three sides, cut from 2 1/2″ stripes of a creamy, gold metallic Christmas fabric. For the base, I added a tree stump, pieced into the strip, from a bark looking fabric. I then batted and backed it, then free motion quilted it, to the best of my ability. I cut a slit and then a 6″ circle out of the center, tracing around a CD, added ties and bias bound it in a striped binding.
Now that it’s finished, shipped and received, how will I ever keep my bronze girl warm???
She gets SO cold this time of year!
Linking up with Amandajean over at crazymomquilts.
Also linking up with:
Same old, same old around here. Still plugging away, just not moving as fast as I would like. An ice pack, hanging on your side, will do that. Or something like that….
Anyway…
Tried my hand an using a single thread for embroidery and really like the delicacy of it.
One thing about hand quilting is that you spend a lot of time with your fabrics of choice. Sometimes, as I’m looking at 2 random colors, lying side by side, it makes me want to go shopping.
I have a pair of mint jeans, this exact color, it makes me want to go find me a caramel colored sweater to go with them!
If you are interested in the Traveling Stash box you can add your name to the hat on this post. You have until Saturday morning 10:00am. Good Luck!
As for finishes this week? Feels like getting a post written should be enough to call it good, LOL! But I did finally get my ice pack cover made that I’ve dreamed about making. And in perfect timing. Now it won’t smell like the freezer when I need it!
And after! Much nicer don’t you think?!
A layer of flannel and a layer of quilting weight fabric, stitched and turned to fit my ice pack which is one of those kind that doesn’t freeze hard, but is moldable. I love this kind, they are perfect to snuggle in bed with when it is warm. Or you have itchies, it stops them in a heartbeat, or even hot flashes, not that I know about those…. But especially good for bruised ribs coming from the seat belt, after an accident. Yup. That was Friday and that is also the reason I’ve not returned texts or calls. My phone is lost in it, locked up in the tow company’s lot until Monday. No real injuries, just soreness. I’m so thankful we are seat belt wearers. You just never know when someone is just going to pull out right in front of you. Can you say T-bone? And though the other driver wasn’t texting, we won’t talk about texting and driving, today. Way too much of that going around, too. Arrgh.
Arnica, anyone?
Linking up with Amandajean @ crazymomquilts
As for the travelling stash box I was to post about yesterday… It arrived just before Thanksgiving. Sorry for the delay of posting, but things happen…. Picture of the goods, coming soon!
I had so much fun fawning over all the goodies in it. I had such a hard time picking out which ones to keep.
Then I added some things to it.
~100 candy pieces, 2 1/2″ squares. Seems like everyone is making quilts using these!
~Leah Day’s guide to free motion quilting. If you haven’t read this it’s a winner. So many great pattern ideas. I had two of them, I won’t give up my copy on a bet!!
~Leah recommends these bobbin washers to help your bobbin thread flow smoother as you FMQ. I’ve used a few of them, they work great. I think there are 5 left in the package and you only need one! Well, unless you can’t keep up for them.
~Three Amy Butler fat quarters.
And some more.
~A hand full of zippers, great for bag making, buying them on sale, I have more than I could ever sew up!
~A spool of red and white gingham ribbon.
~ A handful of antique, metal, bag hardware. I bought a variety pack off Etsy and love it. Then again, I could never use them all! The only way to get what I needed felt like I was shopping at Costco.
With more to come, but I wanted to get this posted, straight away! And play with my ice pack!
Want to get in on the fun?
Here’s how to win your chance to dig through the Traveling Stash box:
1.) Due to quick turn around times, you must live in the U.S.
2.) Must be an active blogger
3.) Must be willing to replace what you take out with similar quality/quantity of items, hold a drawing and ship it back out in a timely manner.
That’s it! If you want to put your name in, here’s what you can do… Leave a comment telling me one of your favorite crafty Christmas gifts to give. For an extra entry, become a follower of my blog and leave a second comment telling me, you do!
I’ll use Mr. Random to draw a name next Saturday and will announce the winner then! The giveaway, or rather swap, will remain open until 10:00 am on Saturday, December 1.
Now back to my icepack. Good Luck!
