Pinkadot Quilts

Keeping It Real

2012-02-26T00:00:00.001-05:00

This was supposed to be posted last week and something did not go right, so here you go! Tears were rolling down my face I was laughing so hard. We loved the one about kissing in church!

Kelly

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Diary Quilt Tuesday

2012-02-21T08:32:00.004-05:00

Ok so this is a little predictable and not too exciting. I have been so busy trying to finish this quilt I am working on, plus this week is Penn Oak's annual getaway. I want to get back to being a little creative with these blocks but it is hard when you have a deadline to meet. All my energies are going to the deadline.

I will stop whining now.

Kelly

The Pattern?

2012-02-20T11:25:00.000-05:00

Joseph's Coat? I cannot figure how it was put together, not a seam in site. Applique on the big piece of fabric?

With circles in the centers. Look how she used the petal shape all the way to the edge.

I love the black random petals.

The fabric on the back.

Kelly

I Fell In Love Today

2012-02-17T15:35:00.003-05:00

I found this today and could not walk away.

It just called my name...

Has that ever happened to you?

I came home and washed it right away. I will post a picture when it is dry. It is hanging on the porch in the sun.

I am going to tell my husband he can give me this for our anniversary which is on the 27th. He will be happy to not have to go to a store. Rationalizing? I think not!

Kelly

Diary Quilt Tuesday - On Wednesday

2012-02-15T15:58:00.001-05:00

I promised that I would post these every Tuesday but yesterday I was sick, so here it is today.
This is what I felt like doing all week last week.....screaming. The very intense quilt I have been working on is nearing the end. I am anxious to move on to other projects but won't until I get this one done.

I sewed three pieces on to all 48 sections only to find out I had the wrong measurements. This represented hours of work, I could not believe I read them wrong. Or so I thought......after ripping out all 144 pieces I realized they were sewn correctly and I had just ripped them all out, and would have to do them again. Now I also wanted to cry long with scream. People in the house are tiptoeing around me, my sewing room looks like hazardous waste area and I am dreaming about sewing on this quilt! I don't know how much longer this is going to take but I am thinking of power sewing Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

On a nicer note my husband Bob gave me some herbs to grow for Valentine's day. I made him oatmeal cookies with raisins. We go for a more low key day, plus I looked lovely after I slept most of the day and never got out of my pajamas, so very romantic!

Kelly

12 x 12

2012-02-15T11:01:00.001-05:00

Here is my 12 x 12 challenge. Nothing exciting and very little quilting. This is a test post to see if some bugs are being worked out.

I will be posting my Diary quilt block later today. I was sick yesterday and am a little behind in my posting.

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2012-02-12T06:26:00.001-05:00

Got to love Betty! When is Mad Men coming back, anyone know?

Kelly

Friends

2012-02-10T09:37:00.000-05:00

Our friend Terry celebrated a big birthday in January. We could not all be together until this past week so we celebrated with lunch and presents! The cover of the gift we gave her was made by Cheryl.

There were hats with pictures of Terry through out the years......

Complete with napkin holders. Doesn't she look adorable?

We made blocks for her, all symbolizing something she likes. Cheryl put them all together in a book for her to enjoy.

Sujata made the elephant, Terry and her husband just came back from a trip to India.

Christine made a cup cake as she loves cake!

Jane has a bird sewing away with a headlamp on. Terry has hiked the Appalachian Trail and has plans to finish the whole thing!

Mine was sunflowers with a little tag that says "friends". Terry has made a beautiful quilt with sunflowers and birds on it.

Terry's 12 x12

We have also decided to do a 12 x12 challenge among ourselves and here are the results....

Cheryl's

Christine's

Sujata's

Jane's

I forgot to take a picture of mine and am having a heck of a time downloading my pictures and editing them. I will post it next time.

Happy birthday Terry!!!

Kelly

Diary Quilt Tuesday

2012-02-07T09:28:00.001-05:00

We have been having a very warm winter this year. Daffodils peeking out from the soil and not covered in snow. The other day I saw an entire garden already filled with snowdrops.
Yesterday it was 57 degrees! On the one hand you can't complain but then it makes you think what is spring and summer going to be like? Freezing cold or broiling hot?

I did stretch it a bit with the hummingbird looking at the thermometer. No hummingbird sightings! yet!

I also pieced the thermometer. Most of what I have done on the project so far has been fused applique so I thought I would change it up a bit.

Another warm day forcasted today and snow tomorrow!!

Kelly

Winner!

2012-02-06T07:30:00.000-05:00

The winner of the pens is Mary of Molly Flanders! Congratulations Mary. You also might want to check out her blog, some very cool sewing going on over there. I love her spider web blocks.

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2012-02-05T00:00:00.000-05:00

Kelly

Selvedge Pin Cushion Tutorial

2012-02-02T08:31:00.004-05:00

Before I start I want to add to yesterday's post about the Frixion pens. I got some emails about them....one said make sure you wash it after you iron away the pen. Another said that the blue sometimes still comes back. Make sure you do a test with your fabric and just know that not all markers come out! I am going to give it a whirl but not on anything that is very dear to me.

My guild holds a demo meeting usually every February. It is a chance to have members show other members a technique, how to use a tool or how to make something. This is my demo.

First you pick out some selvedges and I like to have at least 3/4' of fabric on the edge, you can go smaller but it won't show up as much. I am color coordinating mine but scrappy is good too.

Iron them, you will thank yourself when you are trying to sew them down, plus it makes them look nice too.

Cut a piece of scrap fabric (this will not show) the size of your desired pin cushion. I want mine big so I am cutting it 11 x 11. This will be big enough to sit on the arm of a chair or couch without falling off. Whatever size you pick, cut this piece out about an inch larger than yor finished size.

Cut a strip of fabric 1 1/2" wide and a little bit longer than the width of your scrap fabric. Line the bottom of this strip up with the bottom of the scrap fabric.

Next place your first selvedge strip on top of this making sure to cover the edge of the first strip with the selvedge part of the strip.

Sew right along the edge making sure to catch the edge of the green polka dot strip.

Continue in the same manner until you fill up the entire square. They don't have to be completely straight, unless that is what you want.

You will end up with something that looks like this.

For the last strip be sure that you have ample fabric to cover your square (see the dark blue fabric). You don't want the selvedge right at the top or it will be all stiff when we sew this together.

Turn the block over and trim it down to your size (mine is trimmed to 10 1/2").

It should look like this.

Cut a piece for the back to your size (mine is 10 1/2").

Sew them right sides together, leaving about 3 " to turn it right side out, and clip the corners.

Turn it out and press it making sure to press the open 3" edge good, to give you a nice seam allowance.

I used crushed walnuts shells for a filling, you could also use sand. The crushed walnut shells are available at pet stores in the reptile section!

A funnel helps tremendously! Do not stuff it too tight, there should be a little give so it will take the shape of whatever you put it on.

Next stitch the opening close with very small stitches, you don't want this all over your house!

To make the flower, layer 2 fabrics with batting and just machine quilt a circle and fill it in. Easy!

Cut the circle out, you can adjust it if it is not the right size. Repeat to make 3 more in smaller sizes.

Next do the same thing to make a leaf. Cut the shape and machine quilt all over it.

Glue them down with some liquid stitch.

There you go! Below are some that I made for friends in different colors.

Have fun with this!

Kelly

Miscellaneous Wednesday Giveaway

2012-02-01T09:11:00.002-05:00

Here is something that just might change our lives! I am being a little dramatic but hey you never know! It is a gel pen by Pilot called Frixion. I learned about this from Barb at my class I took last week. Here is the amazing part-----you draw your design (embroidery), pattern (quilting) or whatever you want on fabric. When you are done you IRON it and it disappears!!! I tried it and yes it does work.
Now this goes against everything we have ever heard about not getting heat on any kind of markings or it will NEVER come out.
This being said I am not sure what the long term effects are, so maybe you don't want to use it on your hand quilted Baltimore Album quilt!
Leave a comment, become a follower and tell me if you ever had any disaster using marking pens, pencils etc. I will pick a name next Monday. You will get 3 pens, black, blue and red.

Linda from Flourishing Palms said that you must be sure to wash it after you iron off the marks or they can return. Thanks for the heads up Linda!!

Also have you seen this book? A read an article in the paper and it was real interesting about why certain colors were popular over the decades. My favorite line was "the '60s were a party and the '70s were a therapy session!" A good library pick.

My sewing room is a mess. I am getting close to finishing the blocks of my mystery quilt. I have set a goal that no other projects (except the diary quilt) can be worked on until this is done! My deadline to have this complete is April 1, I am hoping for this weekend!

Kelly

Diary Quilt Tuesday

2012-01-31T09:02:00.001-05:00

This has been a very stressful sewing week. Three times I had to rip out pieces on a quilt I am making for a book because I sewed them in the wrong place...3xxxx!!! My seam ripper and I have become very good enemies.

This is not the real fabric I am using but this is what most of the pieces looked like, being unsewn. Yes they are small too! I thought it would be fun to use it in the block. After I stitched it I put a dab of Stitch Witch at the critical points to keep it from coming out. A little bit of Elmer's glue on the thread keeps it attached to the background Some beads were added to the pin heads and I called it a day.
Back to the other quilt.
Again the pictures are not very good. I am trying to figure out how to get my pictures from Picasa to my blog.....

Kelly

Mosaic Monday

2012-01-30T08:10:00.000-05:00

I took a class this weekend and learned how to make a mosaic! It is so much fun and a very creative.

First you sketch out a picture.

Next you select the colors you think you want to use. At first my flower was going to be reds and oranges but I changed my mind and went for the blues.

Cutting the glass is very easy, I thought that would be the hardest part. There is a piece of contact paper, sticky side up on top of my design. You place your glass on the contact paper following your design.

Here is my design completed, I was super happy the way it turned out. Rachael, just realized it is a blue daisy!!!

Here is a close up before I grouted it. I loved piecing all those little puzzles in place. Kind of like quilting!

Here is a close up of the piece completely grouted and dry. I enjoyed working with glass and might just have to try it again sometime.

My instructor was Amy Bruckner of Piece of Mind Mosaics. As an added bonus she only lives 5 minutes away!! This is a table she made.

Here is a round piece, waves and a mermaid.
This was great fun. If you ever are tempted give it a try.
Sorry my pictures are not that great, learning how to use Picasa. Need some more lessons Sujata!!!

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2012-01-29T00:00:00.002-05:00

Hope this one shows up!

Kelly

Fun Friday

2012-01-27T18:14:00.000-05:00

How pretty are these on a warm winter day? It was 60 degrees here today, way too warm.

I took a class with Barb Persing today to learn how to use this very cool ruler called Leaves Galore

You fuse Misty Fuse on to a strip of fabric (this example show a 2" strip), line up the edge of the fabric on the ruler and carefully trim the edge, as shown above.

Flip it around, line up your dotted line and cut the top edge.........

A perfect leaf! Now I am sure you are thinking big whoop one whole leaf for all that work. What you do is line up 3 or 4 fabrics on top of each other and all of a sudden you now have 12 to 16 leaves!!!!

Next we lined up our leaves on the background fabric.......

Here is what mine look like.........

Blanket stitch around the edge, best part is you don't have to stop and start, it is done in one continous line of stitching (yeah!).

I got quite a few done in class, even if I also did a lot of talking with my fellow classmates.

These are a couple of examples of Barb's quilts that she has made using this ruler. This one is called Hope Diamond. The ruler also comes in 3 sizes.

Love the green!

This was our class example available from Barb Persing and Mary Hoover of Fourth and Sixth Designs at Barb@barbpersing.com.

This was done in batiks. She has a great eye for color!

Barb also does long arm quilting and her quilts are gorgeous. Just look at this detail.

I would never think to do that in the petals.....

Here is a bigger shot of the quilt.
It was an enjoyable day out and a much needed break for me. Tomorrow and Sunday I will be taking another class in something totally different, it has nothing to do with sewing. How is that for cliff hanger?

Kelly

Diary Quilt Tuesday

2012-01-24T00:00:00.001-05:00

I love this block!!! It represents our day at Sujata's last week. From left to right....Jane, Christine, Sujata, Barb and Terry. Of course you all recognize yourselves????

I took some artistic license.....Barb's hair is not that exact color, but that was as good as I could get. Terry's glasses are a little wonky, the hazzards of drawing them on after you make the block!

Sujata I don't know what happened to your shoulder!!!......

Jane I bet you never knew that your hair could look this good!! and Christine your hair looks so much better than this but it is the "essence" of you! I did put you in a red top! (Her favorite color).

You all do look a little like Stepford wives, especially Jane in the "helmet" hair! Terry your legs look a little scary too!
I never claimed I could draw but I really, really love this one! Cheryl don't worry there will be plenty more blocks for you to make an appearance in at a later date. Thank you again ladies for allowing me to make you my focus for the week!

Kelly

How Cute Is This?

2012-01-23T14:35:00.000-05:00

Antique Sewing Caddy

I love all kinds of antique sewing things, especially if they are useful! I bought this today after looking at it for a few months now.

Perfect for getaways and on the go sewing.

There are even 2 pockets inside. It is not big, the size of the fabric is 7 x 9. Some one took the time to handmake this, I just love that! I wonder what things of mine might make some one happy one day......

I am anxious to show you the Diary Block. It's almost done, just a little machine quilting left to go.....but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2012-01-22T00:00:00.001-05:00

Kelly

A Day With My Son

2012-01-20T20:30:00.000-05:00

The other day my son, Dylan and I went to a very cool place called Terrain. It is a garden/lifestyle/restaurant that is very inspiring.

Amazing and cool items for your garden......

expensive stuff.....this terrarium was almost $1900....

we both love gardening, actually all 3 of my sons love to garden....

I guess all those years of making them pull weeds payed off.....

their gardens look better than mine......

love this....a tree hollowed out and soil and plants put inside.....lovely....

How cool is this? After lunch they bring you the check inside and old plant book. It almost makes you not think about how much it cost.
Yes it was a very nice way to spend the day.

Girl's Day Out

2012-01-19T07:44:00.000-05:00

Sujata, Jane, Barb, Terry, Kelly and Christine

Yesterday Sujata invited a fellow blogger Barb from Fun With Barb to come and visit us. We managed to have a great time.

Barb brought some of the things she is working on for show and tell. It is amazing how much more wonderful things are in real life and not a picture! You get to touch them and see the true colors of the fabrics.

Don't you love how she mixed fish fabric with scissor fabric?

This is a gorgeous quilt, one of Barb's favorites and I can see why!

It is made with hexagons some pieced and some not. The most amazing part of this is the unusual fabrics that she used. There is a wonderful richness to this stunning quilt.

This has hundreds of crystals scattered about.....

A very personal quilt with lots of fun folk art shapes. Barb appliqued the dogtooth borders.

Christine has been on a roll making some runners....

this one has lots of texture and a cool stitch.....

red, her favorite color!

Not all our show and tell is ready to be seen yet. Sujata had this antique piece with little mirrors crocheted down. I wonder what she might do with this???

We really had a wonderful day just talking and doing things quiters do, talk about fabric, techniques, quilts shows, eating Sujata's yummy soup etc. I hope we do it again real soon! Thanks Barb for making the long drive and thank you Sujata for inviting us over

Kelly

Diary Quilt Tuesday

2012-01-17T07:53:00.000-05:00

This past week my life was dictated by the moon!!!! It was so incredibly bright I woke up every single night unable to fall right back to sleep.

This is the inspiration picture outside my bedroom window that I used. I did wait until morning to take the picture! Even though in the picture the moon is small if felt much bigger at 2 AM.

All the fabrics are my own hand dyes. I dug deep in my box of fabrics to find the moon, which turned out exactly the way I wanted it to, it sort of glows. It is a little hard to see in the picture but the blue fabric is lighter at the top and darker at the bottom which feels like a moonlit night. This block only took 15 minutes to make. I searched for the moon fabric longer than I did to make the block. The trees are stitched in a dark gray and I ended up filling in some gaps with my black Sharpie to make it stand out a little better.

I am still plugging away on the quilt I can't show you. I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2012-01-15T00:00:00.001-05:00

In light of all the politics that have been goin on of late........

Kelly

It's All About Me

2012-01-14T09:51:00.000-05:00

It's hard to get a runner in a picture! I made this yesterday (as promised) in just a few hours. If I had thought about it a little more I would have put the binding on so I could sew it down by machine and it would have taken even less time.

I am happy with it and it brightens up the kitchen. I used a charm pack by Moda called Stitched in Color. It was machine quilted in straight, though not perfect, lines going across. It feels good to make something quick and fast and useful.

I put this together for Christmas and like it so much I am leaving it out. Just pin cushions in a jar. Even guys comment on it!

Do you think this can last? Maddy wanted to wash dishes the other day..............

Some how I don't think it will.....

This shot is for my friend Suzanne, she loves Hello Kitty too. Maddy said, "tell her they only make these for kids". She is amazed that an adult likes Hello Kitty. Suzanne if I can find them in your size I will get them for your birthday!

Kelly

The Rich and Famous

2012-01-12T07:52:00.004-05:00

I am lucky to hang out with some very talented quilters. Two of them are featured in Quilt Life magazine this month.

First up is Terry Kramzar who participated in 2, Artist In Residence programs, at the Grand Canyon and the Everglades. It is a great article I think you will enjoy it.

This is her gorgeous quilt called Mayapples that won first place in Houston this year in the Art Naturescapes catagory.

Next up is Cheryl Lynch and her article is called Just Around the Corner. It is based on her book Quilt Fiesta! that uses Mexican tiles to create blocks with a secondary design in the corners. Sorry my pictures are not that good, just go get the magazine and enjoy reading about these two friends.

This is some Show and Tell at Calico Cutters yesterday. This is Christine's quilt and she did a fabulous job of machine quilting it.

How about this? Lucille and Kathleen's quilts, same pattern different fabrics. How different they look!
Tomorrow I am taking a break from my deadline quilt to make something quick and fun for myself. My hope is that is will be made and finished by tomorrow night.....I need a reward!

Kelly

Diary Quilt Tuesday

2012-01-10T08:23:00.001-05:00

I loved making this block! It was so fun and it totally reflected my entire week. I spent a lot of time working on a quilt I won't be able to show you for a while.

I have decided that I am going to change some of my "rules". Instead of it being my entire week in 1 block (that is only 6 inches), I am going to pick out 1 thing in my week to highlight. I don't want them all cluttered looking. I think I am not going to hand embroider on them, it feels too heavy to me, now that I have a few made I can see that, but will occassionally use some machine embroidery.

The cutting mat was a fun touch that I had not thought of until the very end. I found a piece of fabric that was very similar in color, stitched some lines on it, covered it with Fray Check, let it dry and then cut out my mat. I know my perspective is not totally right but that is not something I am very good at doing. Just look at the size of my pincushion compared to tthe mat!

Here is some Show and Tell from my guild, Penn Oaks last night.

Suzanne's Quilt

Helen's quilt

Stephanie's quilt

Nancy's quilt top

My friend, Suzanne and I taught an applique class last night at guild. I think everyone had a good time. All the ladies there are such a nice bunch!

Kelly

Yes, Another Project

2012-01-09T08:43:00.000-05:00

Sky Scarf by Leafcutter Designs

I need another project just because I love to torture myself. I saw this on the internet and just thought it was a cool idea. Making one aware of your surroundings and paying attention.......something I need to do more of.
Let me tell you I am not a knitter, I can barely do the basics. The idea behind this is to knit 2 rows every day for a year (do we see a theme here?) based on the colors of the sky.

The colors I have are light blue, bright blue, light gray, dark gray and white. You use 2 strands of yarn to get the colors combinations. For example yesterday is was a little overcast so I chose gray and white. If you want to find out more about this project go to Leaf Cutter Designs .
Now we all know that the sky is not the same all day long. I decided to look at it around noon and that would be what I would knit. Yes, another project but not too intensive, doable and fun.

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2012-01-08T00:00:00.003-05:00

This one is kind of hard to read so I will help you out......

"Some one from the Gyna Colleges called and they said the Pabst Beer is normal.

I didn't even know you liked beer!"

I could totally see my husband taking this message and thinking the exact same thing! They really need us to get through life, don't they?

Kelly

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Gwen Marston Book

2012-01-06T07:57:00.000-05:00

37 Sketches by Gwen Marston

I bought this for myself for Christmas. If you like Gwen you will enjoy this book.

It opens with a few pages in which she tells you why she decided to do this and how she works. Without giving a lot a way, her thoughts are to take a big block of time and work nonstop. That is also why she chose to pick where she lives, no cell service, no internet, a ferry to get to the main land and a self imposed no TV! Not sure could do all that! I am right now playing Words With Friends with 12 people. I like to think I am enriching my vocabulary!!!! and not wasting time.

It is a good one for your library. Lots of inspiration.

Kelly

Diary Quilt Tuesday

2012-01-03T10:17:00.001-05:00

I am really looking forward to making a block that is not dictated in some way by the holidays. I may rue those words in the coming weeks....!
Obviously it is the New Year and then my grandson Griffin turned 7 on New Year's Eve. I asked him to draw a picture of himself so I could include it. He was busy playing with his new toys and did a quick sketch of himself.

Pretty cute!

My friend Cheryl of Cheryl Lynch Quilts is also doing a year long block of places she is visiting.

Here is her first one. It is going to be fun to have a friend do this also!

On a very sad note. Some people that we know lost their house in a fire the day after Christmas. Luckily no one was home, so physically they are ok. The children are only 3 and 8 and lost all their toys, books etc that they got for Christmas not to mention the disruption in their lives.
If you would like to donate something or just follow along on their progress, one of the family members started a blog and you can check it out here Carobine Fire Recovery . I can't imagine leaving my house in the morning and coming home to find everything gone. They are from a wonderful family and I know their love and support will get them through this loss.

Kelly

Slim Pickings Here

2012-01-02T18:17:00.001-05:00

This is all I have to show for my sewing over the weekend. I did sew each day and it is slow going.
It is a quilt for a book (not mine) so I won't be able to show it to you even when I am finished!

Today Bob and I went to see The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo. I really liked it, the actress that played Lisbeth was great! I do think though that if you read the book first it will make a whole lot more sense. Overall I give it a thumbs up!

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2012-01-01T00:00:00.002-05:00

This is who I am spending time with this weekend how about you?
Happy New Year!

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T11:16:00.001-05:00

Procrstination Quilt

Instead of showing all the quilts I made this year I will only show the one that was the most interesting one to make.
I put off making this for quite a while, but really wanted to make it. I was very happy with the way the blocks kind of worked together even though they were from many different "almost" quilts. It was a challenge and I learned a lot from working on it.
It also won the judge's choice award at our guild quilt show which made it even more special. I gave this quilt to my brother in law and his wife for their 50th birthdays, I think they will take good care of it.

Today is my oldest grandson, Griffin's 7th birthday! Happy birthday Griff!!!!!

I am not one to make new year's resolutions but I am going to try and make some positive changes in my life. How about you? Sewing resolutions?
Happy New Year to you all.

Kelly

Shopping

2011-12-30T18:41:00.001-05:00

Today my friend, Suzanne and I went shopping at a place called Burkholder's. It is far away, over an hour. It gives us a chance to catch up on each other's lives as we don't see each other that often.

I some how was able to find a few things that I liked......imagine that

1. Amy Bulter "Nanna Chic" (love that name) 2.Michael Miller "Dumb Dot" 3. Amy Bulter "Ivy Bloom" 4. Michael Miller "Picnic" 5. Amy Butler "Treasure Box" 6. Jennifer Paganelli "Siobahn"

I am going to use these to make some new pillows for my family room, you know in my spare time, which at this point I don't seem to have. I know my grammar is atrocious, please ignore.
The colors don't look that good because it is 6:30 here and dark but mostly they are blues and yellowy greens with touches of turquoise. My old pillows are starting to look rat a tat tat. Soon, very soon I will have new ones, she says very uncertainly....

Kelly

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-28T17:07:00.000-05:00

My weekend sewing project...

Kelly

Diary Quilt Tuesday

2011-12-27T12:34:00.001-05:00

Diary Block #3

I cannot tell a lie. I started this today. It is not my best work but hey it will do. Not every one is going to be a winner!

Christmas Eve was at our house this year......

All these people are my husband's immediate side of the family.......

With a couple of boyfriends thrown in.......

It was over 40 people.......

And I did not feel well.......

John, Ellen and Bob

But everyone had a great time.......

I am just thankful it is over......and I can go back to sewing!

Elliot and Maddy

The kids had fun as they always do on Christmas.

Fallon and Maddy

Griffin

David

David is sporting a tie I made for him out of some vintage fabric. I also have a quilt promised to him that will get made in the very near future.

I gave my husband Bob an iPad. He didn't even know he wanted one, but he does now!

Okay the home movies are over!! I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T00:00:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Kelly

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I Should Be Cleaning

2011-12-23T16:38:00.000-05:00

I really need to be cleaning my house. 40 people will be descending her tomorrow afternoon for presents, food and family. They are just going to mess it up, maybe I don't have to?

Dylan and Nancy

My mother in law, Nancy and her son David are visiting us this week....there is no sewing going on but a little bit of Scrabble play.

A trip to Longwood Gardens was on the agenda.......

This is a gingerbread house with sugar window panes.

Lots of candy....

Gorgeous trees...

Another gingerbread house.

The arrangements are so pretty!

Inside you feel so peaceful.

So cool.

This is a favorite picture I took. I love the white peeking through the red Winterberry, edged by the bright green.

An unusual (to me) black orchid.

An unusual shaped white one.

An herb wreath.

No flowers, just 2 different colored plants, great idea!

Another....

How about these for inspiration?

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

Kelly

Diary Quilt Tuesday

2011-12-19T17:56:00.000-05:00

I have to say this block was a lot of fun to make. This past week I have been busy finishing up my shopping, wrapping presents with some other fun events. My mother in law arrives in about 45 minutes so I am posting this now as I am not sure what the rest of the week will be like and if I will have time to blog.

When my credit cards expired for some reason I just threw them in a drawer. They worked out perfect for this block and this time of year. I appliqued the Target bag to the background and used a tiny hole punch to sew the credit cards on.

I get to live vicariously through my quilting. I love her red boots and would love to be able to shop in them, and run in them as well!
Okay I have a question I will throw out to you all. What do you think about putting the date of each week on the block? There is a part of me that wants to but then another part that does not....feedback?
I am also not sure if I like the embroidery. I certainly don't like doing it at all. Writing with a pigma pen? something else....??? Give me your thoughts.

Maddy was a little crafty this weekend too. Making gifts for her teachers.

She was working on the design wall...check out all the pins. Some have as many as 4 pins in each square!

She got her Hello Kitty sewing machine out and sewed away. It really is enough to make some one not want to sew. I can't wait until she is older to get her a real machine.

Finally she gave up and asked if I would help her make this quilt for her teddy bear. I let her pick out the stitches and we just slapped on the squares and sewed over them...she loves it and slept with it last night!
Kelly

Keeping It Real

2011-12-18T00:00:00.001-05:00

We all know this is so true!

Kelly

I Know You Are Jealous!

2011-12-17T17:41:00.001-05:00

You know you wish you had one of these! One year our kids gave us this for Christmas. There is a movie called "A Christmas Story" and this was one of the interesting things in the movie. Check it out, you will be laughing! It is a funny movie.

Isn't this beautiful! My friend Cynthia, from Arkansas made this for me for my birthday. She is such a talented quilter and sewer. I am always excited to see what she sends me. Thank you Cynthia!!!

Here are my littlest grandchildren, Elliot and Maddy. They are all dressed up for Elliot's concert at preschool.

At the concert Elliot chose to lip sync! For whatever reason he did not sing! Oh well who knows what goes on in the mind of a 4 year old???

I love them at this age and want to hold on to it forever! Notice the sparkley shoes on Maddy!!

Kelly

Handmade Days

2011-12-15T08:43:00.000-05:00

The past 2 days have been a little crazy! I had lunch with my friend Judie, she gave me this beautiful handmade angel. It also has the beach theme going which is a love we both share.

My other friend, Suzanne made this cute pincushion from an egg cup. How cool are those feet?

Christine made this lovely quilt that has silk leaves all over. It does feel like they are blowing in the wind. My granddaughter Maddy immediately claimed it as her's! I stole it back.

Cheryl took a book binding class last fall and made this stunning book for me to write down all my thoughts or ideas in. I love how she personalized it with the "K".

Sujata made these adorable mug rugs in my favorite colors! She even did hand quilting in the center.

Isn't this cute? Jane made this in my colors as well. This is something I really like but would never take the time to make for myself!! It is good to have creative friends!

My oldest granddaughter, Fallon made me a cup for my coffee. I will keep this always as she is growing up fast.

My husband surprised me last month by asking if I wanted to go to an art show and pick out a piece for my birthday. I will tell you I almost fell off the chair. This is not something he would want to do and I so appreciate his thoughtful gift. It is not a great picture but it is a watercolor that suggests trees to me, maybe at sunset or sunrise, you decide. Yellow is a color I am growing to like more and more.

Griffin, Elliot and Maddy made these santas. His beard is numbered and you cut off a slice every until Christmas. They are really enjoying this!

These are my name tags I made for some of my friends.....I took them with the iphone and I don't know how to turn them right side up...anyone know? This is annoying but I will show them to you anyway. Jane I can't find yours!

Kelly

Diary Quilt Tuesday

2011-12-13T07:30:00.002-05:00

Diary Quilt Block 1

So I am now 1 week into my diary quilt. I have already learned a thing or two...edit, keep it simple, don't try to put it all into one block. It is going to be interesting to try and fit everything into a 6" block and at the same time tell a story!
So for this one the first thing that the word "birthday" suggests to me is cake, balloons and when I was little, every girl wore a party dress to any birthday party.

Another thing I want to do is to try and not just write on the quilt, that is not to say that won't happen! A part of the reason to do this is to try and be aware and more creative. I have some old tape measures and decided to use them to put on my birth date. I think it worked out pretty well.

Here is a "vintage" picture of me when I was 3 in a party dress. I can remember hating that dress. The petticoat scratched at the waist, but as you can see it was polka dots! I loved the dress for that and that alone! Gee what's with those bangs???

Last night was our holiday party at Penn Oaks Quilt Guild. We are also celebrating our 25th anniversary. Every member got a pin as a gift, we played strip quilto (like bingo) ate some yummy snacks and had a good time. Congratulations Penn Oaks!

Kelly

Yummy & Easy

2011-12-12T15:25:00.000-05:00

Back in the day I used to bake cookies and make fudge for tons of people. It just takes up too much time (sewing) so I have streamlined it. I now make these combination cookie/candy things that everyone loves!

All you need are some round or small shaped pretzels, some unwrapped Hershey's Kisses and M&M's, I used red and green ones.

Unwrap your Hershey's Kisses, this does take forever, it is the hardest part of the recipe!

Place your pretzels on a cookie sheet and place a kiss on top.

Plae them in a preheated 170 degree oven for about 6 to 8 minutes. You may have to play with this a bit to get it just right but not to worry. You want the kiss to be soft but not melted.

Once done take them out of the oven, carefully you don't want to knock them over. Press an M&M into the center of each one. They should go in easily, if not stick them back in the oven for another minute.

I put them in the fridge (still on the cookie sheet) for about a half hour. Don't leave them in too long or they will get a whiteish color on the chocolate that is just not pretty but totally edible! They will be hard and you can put them in a cute little package to give your friends. This one is from Martha Stewart that I got a Michael's. I am taking some to quilt guild tonight as I know the ladies and gentleman will love them!

We got our tree this weekend too and three of the grandchildren helped decorate. We are well on are way!

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2011-12-11T05:53:00.002-05:00

Love this one!

Kelly

Celebrating Mary Today

2011-12-08T16:34:00.001-05:00

Painting by Rose Walton

Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Mary is one of my favorites religous figures in the Catholic Church. Wouldn't this make a gorgeous quilt?

Kelly

Project For A Year

2011-12-07T01:00:00.024-05:00

My diary quilt

I have decided I want to do a long term project. I want to see if I can be disciplined (hahaha)! At least that is my hope....
Next week, December 13th is my 55th birthday. I am going to make a 6 1/2" unfinished block EVERY week for a year, starting and ending on my birthday. Now there are 52 weeks in a year which does not work out well with quilt blocks, so I will have a beginning block (the one above) and an ending block. The plan is for it to be 6 blocks x 9 blocks.
I will post my new block every week (accountable!) on Tuesday.

Here are my rules for the Diary Quilt:

The blocks will be 6 1/2 unfinished.
It has to be fun, nothing earth shattering. I am not calling it a Journal Quilt, it sound too serious.
I can do whatever I want but the plan is to put things that are happening in my life in the block that week.
New techniques will be tried.
I will try new colors, but will stay with my clear color pallette.
I will add some humor into it.
Each block will be quilted as I go, so when I am done, so is the quilt! Some by machine and some by HAND!
I am going to butt the edges together and zig zag the seams together.
I am really, really going to try and not start the block on Monday night....we will see!
Any kind of material, button, doodad, paint, ink etc can go on the quilt.
I must complete each block in the one week time period....no excuses.

So there you go. I have to give Cheryl credit for giving me the idea, she may be doing something similar.
Anyone else want to give it a try? You could do one a month which is very fun and use a bigger block. Let me know and we can make a list with links to everyone who is giving this a try.

I am already trying to think of what is on the next block that is due 12/20!!!

Kelly

Torture!

2011-12-06T07:06:00.001-05:00

Terrible picture!! Look at the ripple across the bottom!

It has taken me forever to finish this very simple quilt! Just about anything that could go wrong did go wrong and I took the picture this morning before it got light so it is a really bad picture too.

I like the fabrics I chose and some of the quilting looks pretty good. The circle design in this picture is amazingly good (for me). I love the colorful dots in the background and feel they go well with the circle fabrics.

This circle on the other hand looks like one of the grandchildren did it! Look at those bobbles towards the top. Notice I did not bother to take them out....

I really wanted the red dot fabric in the border and I wanted Christmas red, not rust, or anything else that I was finding. I went to Joann's and bought this really crappy fabric......I should have known better. It still feels like cardboard and I have washed it 3 times now. It has distorted the quilt so it doesn't lie flat blah, blah, blah, blah....I will not go on.
It is a quilt the grandkids will snuggle with on the couch and floor and it looks pretty draped on the back of a chair and it's finished!!

Tomorrow I will unveil my new year long project. Come back to see what I am going to do!

Kelly

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative Auction

2011-12-05T08:17:00.000-05:00

If you are looking for a holiday gift this year for a favorite quilter, why not hop over to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative and find a very unique quilt. I will now shamelessly promote mine which you can find here my scrappy bird.

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2011-12-03T20:29:00.000-05:00

The next best thing is knowing there are 2 more sequels to follow.......sigh!

Kelly

Girl's Day Out

2011-12-02T08:24:00.000-05:00

Isn't this beautiful? Our friend Terry went to a wedding in India and brought us each a gorgeous gift. They are the bits and pieces of saris, sewn together, that look a little like a crazy quilt She picked out colors she knew we would love. Mine is pink.

Cheryl's is blue (love the look on her face!)

Jane's is beautiful shades of turquoise, this picture makes it look very washed out.

Sujata's was very her! Some of the designs felt like they had an African influence to me.

Christine's is a very deep purple/gray again my camera makes it looked dull.
Thank you Terry we all love them and will think of you every time we see them.

This was the wedding invitation, that was like a small book. The colorful cards are the activities planned for the guests.....the yellow one that you can't read says "yacht".
Her pictures and stories were amazing, they even rode a camel!

We also had some show and tell. Jane has a kid's quilt to machine quilt and was asking us our opinion on what she might do.

Sujata's Christmas quilt.

Christine's blocks from our playdate with Sujata a few weeks back. I really want to get back to this quilt...no time!

Christine's quilt for her granddaughter for Christmas.

Cheryl is making these to put under a glass table top at her house in the Poconos.

Cheryl's beautiful quilt that hung in Houston. I love the colors!

I have nothing to show because the things I have been working on are gifts!

After a wonderful lunch that Christine made for us, we made our way home and decided we need at least another day or two to catch up! Thanks girls for a fun day.

Kelly

2011-11-30T09:14:00.001-05:00

I took a little break from all of the holiday stuff and decided to make something for myself. It is kind of like buying things for yourself while you are shopping........

I have wanted to make myself a name tag for some time. I put the vintage pink girl in there because I do like vintage things, my old Girl Scout pin just because, and of course a little bit of Barbie and some polka dots. All thing I like.

I was totally inspired by my friend Rachael of Blue Mountain Daisy . I love her banner and want to copy it in the worst way! So go over and take a look at it.

I am cooking up a new project for myself that will be a year long undertaking. I am hoping to tell you about it on Tuesday December 6th. Some of you may want to do it along with me, your own version of course. It could be fun..........

Kelly

M I A

2011-11-29T16:21:00.000-05:00

I have been very bad about keeping up with the blog. Right now I feel like I am in high gear getting things together for Christmas. I have been sewing but a lot of it I cannot show because they are gifts and some of those people read the blog!

There is a blog I check out occasionally called Beach Vintage . I found this awesome tutorial for a cool quick gift.

A little tissue cover using my vintage hankies! It is so simple you will not even believe it.

First find a hankie, vintage or otherwise. Do they even make hankies for women anymore? I always put them in a soak of oxyclean and rinse well. Let them air dry and then iron them smooth. A little starch helps too.

Bring each side into the center and press well.

Sew along the short edge. You may have to play with the size depending on if your hankie is large or small.

Voila! Perfect for a place that you don't want to look at a Kleenex box! I am going to put one in the guest bedroom for my mother in law when she comes to visit in a few weeks.

I had some pretty hankies and made a bunch.

The scalloped edges make a nice touch.

This one highlights the pretty embroidery.

The little munchkins had fun on Thanksgiving.

We all ate too much.

But we needed our strength for......

We decided to give charades a rest and try a new game. I think we will be going back to charades for Christmas. It's hard to give a up a good thing!

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2011-11-26T01:00:00.000-05:00

In honor of all the upcoming holidays, something to make you laugh! I really do love my family!!!

Kelly

Happy Thanksgiving To You!

2011-11-23T11:23:00.001-05:00

As you can see I change the picture on my header. Yes it is a little blurry and old (1967) and I think I like it that way. Life was really good then, I say as I look through those rose colored glasses! This is one of my favorite pictures and I am not even in it! They are my younger siblings, Casey, Flynn, Darcy and Shaughnessy Hogan. My youngest brother, Duffy was not born yet and has since passed away. I love how Shaughnessy has her hair "set" for the big day, my brothers, Casey and Darcy in their plaid robes and Flynn in her fuzzy slippers with a smile that only a child can have on Christmas day.

Casey, Flynn, Darcy and Shaughnessy Hogan Christmas 1966

Jimmy, Kevin, Ellen and Dicky Meanix Christmas 1966

The above picture is of 4 of my husband's siblings (2 guns, a guitar and a baby!). We both come from large families, he has 5 brothers and 3 sisters. I have 3 brothers and 2 sisters. I am very thankful to have all of them. They made us the people we are today. They are the ones we were the closest to growing up and have shared experiences with, good and bad.

As we sit around the table and celebrate this year I will be thankful for each and every one of them!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
Kelly

Bling!

2011-11-22T13:19:00.000-05:00

Mirror mirror on the wall. Here is my crafty project with all the bling I have been collecting. It is a bejeweled looking glass for my granddaughter, Fallon for Christmas. It is really hard to take a picture of a mirror....any tips? It is very sparkley in person.

My daughter in law's grandmother died in September and when they we cleaning out her house there was a lot of costume jewelry and some beads and a little this and that.

I asked Krista if there was any junk jewelry that I could have for this project. I also hit up family members and went to a barn sale that a fellow quilter, Pat was having and found some more gems.

I think the crazier the gems the better. This is a clock for 2000, the one above it is a monogram pin that I think belongs to Fallon's other mom mom.

My sister in law Jan sent this rottweiler pin. They have 2 rottweilers.

An "N" for nana or her name Naomi, her great grandmother. We all called her Nana.

A bee, some cherries, a tacky Christmas ball and a silver hand with a heart, it all works!

A frog completes our tour!

Can you imagine wearing these earrings?
I did fill in with some gems from the craft store. I have seen these on line and they are filled to over flowing with gems and baubles. I chose to "organize" mine because I did not have enough. I am happy with the way it turned out. I think she will like it and it has a lot of memories in it too.

It passed the test of a 4 year old who loved it and wants one too. For now she is happy to run her hands through the leftovers!
Kelly

Knitting and Jewels

2011-11-21T18:49:00.000-05:00

I found this pattern and some great chunky yarn and decided to knit one of my Christmas presents. It is going pretty fast.

Mine is red and this is pretty simple, right up my alley! This is my first time using circular needles, my friend Christine gave me a quick lesson.

Here are some of my jewels that I have collected for another Christmas present. I am hoping to finish it by tomorrow and I will post some pictures.
Kelly

Keeping It Real

2011-11-20T03:15:00.001-05:00

Kelly

Rainy Wednesday

2011-11-16T16:41:00.000-05:00

I love a rainy day, I get very inspired. Today I taught a class at the Quilt Block, a local quilt shop in my area. We did mini quilts today.

Holiday Scene

This is Leslie's

Hollyhocks

Janet's....

Cats in santa hats

and ML's.
I think they all had a good time and they asked me to come up with some more classes! Now that is a perfect end to a class!

My friend Cheryl has opened an Etsy store called Sewing With Silk . She has some gorgeous Dupioni silk and she will give you instructions on how to use it. I know a lot of people are "afraid" of silk but Cheryl will give you lots of good tips, go check it out. Tell her I sent you.

Our guild held a challenge this past October and made quilts to donate to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative organization. We also raised $900 that we sent to them, along with about 90 quilts for their on- line auction. I urge you to at least go and see some of the beautiful quilts and if there is one there you can't live without, put in a bid. It all goes to a good cause.

You can also go here Calico Cutter's Alzheimer's Quilts to see the quilts that my guild members made. Great job ladies!

Kelly

Quilty Monday

2011-11-15T08:49:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was an all quilt day. Cheryl, Christine, Jane and I went over to Sujata's house to play. These are Sujata's blocks we were using as our inspiration. Sujata has 2 blogs, The Root Connection and Basket Full Of Scraps go check them out you will love her work.

It was like being in a store.

Everything was so nicely displayed.

How could you not be inspired?

Sujata was very generous with her stash and we really appreciated it.

We cut strips and promptly went to work.

It did not take long for the beautifully displayed fabric to look like this.

Jane and Christine at work....this is not a blurry picture of Christine, she always moves at that pace!
When the blocks are together I will post some pictures.

Last night was also our Penn Oaks Guild meeting. Our speaker was Jackie Gauker who dyes wool and also designs patterns. She is a very funny lady and had all of us laughing our heads off.

There is just something so nice about wool. Her color selections were beautiful, even some pinks, lime greens and blues that were tempting.

This is a quilt that combines cotton and wool.
If you are interested in finding out more you can contact Jackie Gauker at 610-944-8925 or thequiltpalette@aol.com. She also does custom dyeing, workshops and has a lot of cool kits.

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2011-11-13T01:00:00.001-05:00

I got this one from my son!

Kelly

Really Random Friday

2011-11-11T15:19:00.000-05:00

Isn't this cute? It is a card made by an artist named Anne MacMillan. She is a friend of Judie's who I visited last week.We have never met but I feel like I know her. We are hoping to meet in the near future. Hi Anne!

Even her business card is cute. Email her if you need some cool cards. I am sending this one out to a guild member who is under the weather.

This past week was also the end of an era. One of our very favorite old fabric stores closed their doors. Some of you know it as Hayloft Fabrics, it was also called Martin's or way back in the day it was Farmer Brown's. The best part was that there was a grocery store underneath it. You could pretend you had to get bread and milk, then also sneak up stairs for some fabric and feel totally justified.

On a really random note, for any of you that have been keeping up with the Penn State scandal please know that everyone I know in Pennsylvania is outraged about this whole thing. It seems that only the insulated people in the college area haven't quite got it yet. If you don't know what I am talking about you can google it. It is too terrible to even talk about here. Sorry to be so vague but I feel very strongly about this. I will now get off my soap box......

Kelly

Judie, Judie, Judie

2011-11-10T08:46:00.000-05:00

For the past couple days I have been visiting my friend Judie in Annapolis, Maryland. This is the view from her back porch, talk about inspiring! Every so often we would look out and the color of the water would be different. I enjoy paying attention to my surroundings.

Believe it or not there was an Annapolis Quilt Guild Meeting, so we went! They are a big guild 350 to 400 members! This is a picture of their raffle quilt. I also met up with a former member from my guild up here, Leeanna. She invited Judie to their bee that meets twice a month. Judie is excitied to make some quilting friends.

Sandy Klopp was their speaker and I loved her quilts. She also designs fabric for Moda. She seemed like a very nice person. I recommend her as a speaker if you are looking for one.

My pictures did not come out so good. It kept focusing on the backs of everyone's heads!!!

I LOVE this quilt.

They also allowed other quilds to bring in their raffle quilt. How amazing is this?

Look at the quilting......

We did a little shopping too.

We drove around the beautiful city. If you have never been there you must go. It is very walkable and lots of cute shops. This is the governor's mansion.....Cheryl those shots of the wrought iron are for you!

Judie and her husband Jim also have a boat. I could get used to this......

There was a little sewing. Judie started this cute little Halloween postcard and I helped her finish it. I love how she cut out the cat, the little girl and the owl! Her sewing machine broke so we deicided to talk and have some wine.....the next thing you know it's 1 am! We solved most of the world's problems!!
Thanks Judie for such a good time. I miss you but am happy that you and Jim have found your dream place!

Kelly

Small Things

2011-11-07T01:00:00.002-05:00

Small things make me happy today!

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2011-11-06T01:00:00.001-04:00

Seriously this is one of my major pet peeves!

Kelly

Houston, We Have A Winner!

2011-11-04T08:17:00.001-04:00

Mayapples by Terry Kramzar

My friend, Terry Kramzar won first place in the Art-Naturescapes catagory sponsored by Matingale & Co./ That Patchwork Place! Her quilt is called Mayapples. This is a picture I pulled off their website so it is not that good. In person it is beautiful.
Congratulations Terry, I know how hard you worked on this gorgeous creation!

Kelly

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2011-11-03T17:16:00.000-04:00

This is the quilt I am entering in The Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side . This is a great idea and you can see some very wonderful quilts. Hop on over and take a look, enter your quilt!

I made this using my own hand dyed fabrics along with some that I bought at quilts shows. I love the wonkiness of it and the blue, a color I have only recently started using in my work. This is a lot harder to do than it looks. There is no pattern and you make it up as you go. I did enjoy it and will now be doing more quilts like this.

Kelly

Lost And Found

2011-11-01T18:22:00.000-04:00

What can I say....it has been a hectic couple of days and so there has been no posting, sorry to all you faithful people who check to see what's up. I am feeling like I am in the twilight zone.....

We got about 4 inches the other day and no power for about 12 hours. The power went out just as I was getting ready to dry my hair for a wedding. Hooray for the generator!

The wedding went on, though a little late as people were having trouble with the roads. We also found out they were without power and the entire wedding was being powered by, yes a GENERATOR! What would we do without one.

The bride looked so pretty. Don't all brides look pretty on their special day? I think there is a glow about them. We met some new neighbors that we clicked with right away. They live about a mile down the road which means "neighbor' where we live.

Look at her sash. This seems to be a trend, I have seen quite a few. She said she got it on Etsy. It really made her dress unique. It did help that she was a size 2. On me I would have looked like a float at the rose bowl parade!

Elliot (Batman), Maddy (Butterfly) and Griffin(Scarey Guy)

The trick or treaters had a great time and made a good haul of candy.

Maddy, Fallon, Griffin, Dylan and Elliot

Dylan was a hit with all the little kids who were out trick or treating. They wanted their picture taken with Robin.
I am slowly getting around to getting some sewing done.....maybe soon I will have something to show.

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2011-10-30T01:00:00.001-04:00

Holy Crystal Ball, Batman! How Did You See That Coming?

2011-10-28T07:43:00.003-04:00

Dylan as Robin

Remember the green dyed tighty whiteys? I think he looks pretty realistic.

We went on line and drew up a plan. The red "vest" is a t-shirt that we cut the sleeves off and fused the details on. The belt is a grosgrain ribbon again with fused pieces on it.

The cape is satin, of course and the mask is a piece of felt. All in all this was not too hard to make, though I did not think I would still be making Halloween costumes for my children at 33! He loves it!!! This is the only sewing I have done this week, so far...

So I will leave you with this little cheesey saying,

Robin: "Holy molars! Am I ever glad I take good care of my teeth!"
Batman: "True. You owe your life to dental hygiene."

Kelly

Oh My!

2011-10-25T08:53:00.000-04:00

What a job I have ahead of me. I am doing a quilt that will be in a book. It is not due until May but I thought I should at least make a block to see if my colors work and how long it takes to make one. Well there are 43 pieces in the block, the block is 8 1/2" square and I need to make 48 of them!!!!! Two of the pieces are 1/2" x1/2".

Good thing I am at least starting it because there is going to be a lot of squaring up to do.....what is 43 x 48?! I don't think I even want to know....

Kelly

A Very Random Monday

2011-10-24T01:13:00.001-04:00

What can I say about this? Green tighty whiteys......my son Dylan asked me to dye a Tshirt and these so he can be Robin, Batman's side kick for Halloween. I should be quilting....

Who knew you could sew and play Scrabble at the same time? I am so hooked. Right now I am playing 11 games with unkown people, it's fun. I learned QI is a hot word to use. I should be quilting.....

Played with Maddy....

and Elliot doing crafty things.....

Draped gluey embrodery floss over balloons and let them dry....

Mom mom did hers in red rick rack.....When they are dry, pop the balloon and you have your bowl.

We made some cookies and had a fun day....no sewing got done that day either.

I could not resist this. A retro Barbie pattern from back in the day. I said I would never sew Barbie clothes, but this is tempting me.

Especially this one, Maddy loves it. I love this dress too! I would wear it, only it needs to be a little bigger! I also said I would never make catherdral windows and temptation is at the doorway.
Needless to say I have no sewing to show for this week, but hopefully that will change this week.

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2011-10-23T20:13:00.000-04:00

Kelly

A Finish

2011-10-18T10:34:00.000-04:00

Peppermint Patio

I finished the first Christmas quilt. It looks much better in person.

I am happy with the quilting I chose. It would have been a lot easier to do a simple meandering but I opted for a flame type stitch. I like the texture it gives the quilt.

I used a checked binding which I am also happy with and think it gives it a Christmasy type feel.

I used this that I picked up for $4.00, already to go when I need a binding. It is 2 1/4 inches wide which makes a nice size binding. This is going to last me for a while, it is 10 inches across. I wonder how much yardage it is?

I have started on the next quilt too. I think this is going to be fun. I am planning on a buttonhole stitch around each circle. This one is called Gumdrop.

This made quite a hit the other day. Lots of people emailed me wanting to know where I got it. You can go to Archipelago Arts to buy one. It's only $10! There are some other cool ones there too.

Kelly

Monday Morning's Musings

2011-10-17T07:44:00.000-04:00

I wanted to show you the work the ladies in my class did on Saturday. How cool is this? Paige decided to make 2! yes 2 mini quilts! This has some yo yos (did I spell that right?) which I thought was a great twist. She also used wool for the stems.

This is the other one she made....great job!

This was Christy's.....I like how she used the polka dot type fabric for the border.

This was Diana's and she has not machine quilted that much but did a beautiful job, very nice.

Kathy accidentally cut the edge of hers but fixed it with a nice little ribbon trim (upper right hand corner).

Penny and Christy

I did not get a picture of Penny's because she had to leave early. She almost had it completely finished before she left....send me a picture Penny!

One of the most amazing things about blogging are the friends you make...some you meet and some are only online. I am lucky to have met in person, Barb of Fun With Barb . She won a give away last month and look what she sent me! Thanks Barb it is so cute.

Congratulations to my son, Johnson. A year ago you decided to change your life and we all are so happy you did! Love you!! xoxo

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2011-10-16T01:00:00.001-04:00

Kelly

Quilt Block Class

2011-10-14T11:14:00.001-04:00

Tomorrow I am teaching a class at our local quilt shop, The Quilt Block. I decided today to whip up a new sample. I really do enjoy working on this small scale (8 x 10 1/2). Makes a great gift too!

Kelly

Miscellaneous Wednesday

2011-10-13T07:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was guild day at Calico Cutters. This was our block of the month, how cute is this?

Wendy Etzel was our speaker and her are some of her quilts...sorry the pictures are not too good.

The other day I went outside and walked around my yard as the leaves are just starting to turn. I decided to cut some branches and bring fall inside. Looking at this arrangement makes me very happy.

Isn't this cool looking? It's romanesco, I roasted it in the oven, very good!

Plugging away on the Christmas quilt. I think we will call it Peppermint Patio, that is what Maddy calls Peppermint Patties!

Kelly

Pretty Pretty Pincushion

2011-10-11T13:41:00.000-04:00

Every year in December our guild has an auction. People donate or make items, you buy tickets and put your tickets in the jar to try and win the item of your choice. I always try to make something as it does support our guild. I had not decided what I was going to make until today.

I stopped in Tuesday Morning (a store like TJ Maxx or Marshall's) and found this cute little dish for $4.99. I have been downsizing my stuff in the house so I walked by and then it hit me. I could turn this into a pincushion.

The opening of the bowl is about 4". I cut out 2 circles, one for a lining to put my stuffing in and the polka dots for the decorative outer part. My circles were about 12" across....this is a little experimental depending on the size of your opening. I wanted mine to go up over the top, if you want yours more flush it could be smaller.

Gather the edges of you lining, fill it full (I used crushed walnut shells at the pet store) and stitch it closed tightly. Use quilting thread doubled so it does not break..

Gather the edges of the outer fabric......

......or not. I found that the only way to get it really tight was to use a rubber band to hold it. I think it could also work without gathering. I then trimmed down the raw edges to make sure it fit inside my bowl.

Next I squirted Tacky glue all over the inside, especially on the upper edges.

Place inside and adjust the filling if necessary and add pins....done!
I put a bowl on top while it dried to make sure it made contact with all the edges.
This is a fast project. I think it took me less than an hour from start to finish.

Kelly

Monday Morning

2011-10-10T08:08:00.000-04:00

I forgot to show you the other thing I made at the get away. Cheryl and I bought the clasp and pattern at the quilt show in September. First of all I did not do a good job and it is so small it was practically impossible to work with. The whole thing fits in the palm of your hand.

The outside looks better than the inside, I totally messed it up....but kept on going! I used a feedsack fabric for the outside and love the colors and pattern on it. I am not saying I wouldn't make on again but I think it has to be a bit bigger.

We had a birthday party this weekend for my granddaughter Maddy, her birthday is Tuesday. She was not happy that Elliot was helping to blow out the candles.

There was dancing on the deck, it was a beautiful day. How do they know about break dancing??

A blow up thing.

Silly cousins.

A Barbie Dreamhouse which she has played with non stop. It is pretty cool. Here she is trying to play with it while they are putting it together. Jim had the patience of a saint!
Happy Birthday Maddy!

Kelly

Keeping It Real

2011-10-08T12:06:00.000-04:00

Do you think this could work?

Have a great weekend.

Kelly

Fallish Feeling Friday

2011-10-07T10:19:00.001-04:00

This is one of the things I worked on at the get away a couple weeks ago. I enjoy making a Halloween quilt almost every year. For now this is going on the back burner and will most likely wait until next year....

Sometimes I wonder if I have an attention disorder, fast forward to a Christmas quilt! Every year the town I live in has a Christmas parade. We have talked about participating in it every year and never do, that is about to change. We will decorate my husband's truck and flat bed trailer, come up with a theme and the hope is to have quilts for the grandkids to be wrapped up in to keep warm......I better get back to sewing. Thanks goodness they are still small!

Okay can anyone tell me how you do this and where in the world you would get yarn this thick and needles this big? I know it is called extreme knitting. How cool is this? It is almost as good as a quilt............almost!

Kelly

Winner!

2011-10-06T08:51:00.000-04:00

The winner of the give away is Heather of The Happy Appliquer! Congratulations Heather.

Kelly

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-05T01:00:00.003-04:00

color is a little off....

Not feeling well, enjoy!

Kelly

Miscellaneous Tuesday

2011-10-04T09:17:00.001-04:00

How cute are these? These were sent to me by Nancy who won my give away. I love them!! They are so well made too. Thanks Nancy!

Once again the Henrietta Hankin Library asked us to hang some quilts. They get so many comments on how wonderful they look. I think people are always surprised that a quilt does not need to be on a bed. The book display in front of the quilts are sewing and quilting books, how perfect!

My quilt from way back when.....

Sujata's.....

Christine's....

Mine, made from anitque blocks and new border fabric....

Sujata's....I think she said this was her first quilt.........all hand quilted!

Christine's...

Mine, paper pieced.......the only way the points would be accurate in my world!

Sujata's.....

Chrsitine's...

Mine, one of my favorites. I call it my Thanksgiving quilt because I think the colors suggest Autumn.

Sujata's...

Chrstine's...

Mine...
That concludes our quilt show for today.

Look what Beth from Love Laugh Quilt sent me ( a license plate holder). I have never had one of these, thanks Beth! She has a fun blog go and check it out.

I am planning on getting back to blogging a little bit more regularly after a busy September.

Kelly

Halloween With A Dash Of Christmas Give Away

2011-09-30T08:39:00.000-04:00

My final give away of the month. Just leave me a comment and become a follower, I will pick the winner next Thursday. Thank you so much for all the nice comments and encouragement. It is so great to have a new group of "friends" in blog land.

There are always good ideas in here.......

something I made complete with googley eyes.....

just in case you are inspired to get going on some holiday presents, I will give you a head start. Good luck!

FYI.......I saw this in the new American Patchwork and Quilting! I totally missed out on the Flea Market Fancy when it came out....I won't this time!

Our get away was a lot of fun...Jane is making a commission using a woman's old clothes for her son. Yes we are talking moo moo's.....don't you love the parrots?

I personally think Bailey found the best use of the fabric...a dog bed.

The selection of fabric got aaaaah, more interesting......I can't even imagine wearing this She has her work cut out for her.

Terry finished up her soldier quilt and will take it home to quilt on her new long arm.

Christine power sewing as usual...I forgot to take a picture of her finished top. I will put it in a future post.

Cheryl made 2 casserole holders and a commission piece where she made photo transfers and put them inside the shawl (I can't remember the official name). I think this is such a great idea to be wrapped up with your family.

I will post about my projects tomorrow, I have one that I need to finish up before I show you.

Thanks Cheryl for another good time and good friends.

Kelly

Pumpkin Patch Threads

2011-09-29T16:19:00.001-04:00

My granddaughter Maddy picked the name and the winner of the give away is....Barb of Fun With Barb. Congratulations Barb! I can't wait to see what you make.

The get away was a blast as usual, will post some pictures tomorrow along with the last give away.

Kelly

Leaving On A Jet Plane

2011-09-25T09:11:00.000-04:00

Well not really, in a car....off on a sewing trip for a few days. I promise pictures when I get back.

Kelly

Give Away - Pumpkin Patch Threads

2011-09-23T07:35:00.000-04:00

Are you planning on doing some sewing for October?

This week's give away includes the book, Pumpkin Patch Threads by Need'l Love........inside you will find

a gorgeous quilt, some very cool pin cushions and a cute rug hooking pumpkin....just to name a few things.

This pattern called Gourdy's Gang by Threads That Bind....

So cute! You could also do these in cotton fabrics.....

This is one of my most favorite fabrics by Alexander Henry called "pumpkin party"...I will part with 1 yard! I used this for a backing and the kids love it.
So leave me a comment and become a follower if you aren't already. I will announce the winner next Thursday.

Happy birthday to my oldest son, Johnson...I can't believe you are 35!

Kelly

Waning Garden Days

2011-09-22T16:04:00.000-04:00

Summer is coming to a close and my garden took a beating this year. This is the first time I tried Dahlias, this is such a pretty and intense reddish pink color.

My other favorite is nasturtiums in this pretty vase from Mexico that my son and his wife brought back from their honeymoon. These have the most lovely, spicey, delicate fragrance.

I made this little moss garden yesterday. All you do is dig up some moss in your yard and plop it in a little container that has some soil in it...so simple yet very fresh looking. I hope I can keep it alive!

The purple berries are called Beauty Bush, I think the Latin name is calicarpa. It is so pretty in the fall especially against my sweet potato vines.

The impatients and coleus did well in their pots, I was diligent about watering them.

Even the black eyed susans look kind of cool now and ready for Halloween. The finches are happy to munch on these!

The teddy bear sunflowers will be making another appearance in my garden next year, so beautiful.
Not only do I like the pleasure of digging in the dirt and watching things grow, I also enjoy the inspiration and the color combinations that mother nature provides. What flowers inspire you?

Kelly

Give Away Winner

2011-09-22T03:00:00.001-04:00

The winner of the give away is Alexis of The Quilts of Mimi Park . Congratulations! Please email me your address and I will get it into the mail to you right away.

Kelly

Quilt Show!

2011-09-21T13:00:00.001-04:00

I loved this quilt....they are always so much better in person. It is by Patti Morris of Canada.

Smiles by Sieglinde Schoen Smith

Sandi McMillan

Dawn Prayers on the Ganges by Meri Henriques Vahl....Sujata this one is for you!

Joy Is A Special Friend by Jois Podolny

I love the painterly feel of this quilt. Garden Tritych by Dilys Fronks

Sound of Ensemble by Taeko Okamatsu

Congratulations Sejiu-Shiki by Masae Ogawa

As I was leaving the show there was this couple walking ahead of me....they touched me very much. He is carrying her bag and they are holding hands. I can only hope Bob will be going with me to quilt shows when I am this age, I think he will as long as I bring candy to keep him happy!

Kelly

I Am Seeing The Light At The End Of The Tunnel

2011-09-20T20:08:00.001-04:00

Life has been very full for the past week...all good but it left me no time to post. I miss it and I am behind in reading all my favorite blogs.
I took a workshop with Frieda Andersen last week on machine quilting. I really enjoyed it and urge you to take a class with her if you have the opportunity. She is lovely and has tons of good tips for machine quilting. I will share her best tip...practice! so simple but really the truth. The more you do it the better you get.

She even used our machines to show us it is not the machine but the quilter.....in this picture I turned mine on an angle to try and keep the table from vibrating.....it didn't work.

She had things for sale.....

and lots of eye candy....

Later that day I went to a "Granny's Tea" with Elliot at his preschool.....he loved showing me his artwork and his cool room. They had little treats in a basket and apple juice.

My granddaughter Fallon turned 8 (how can that be?)....

We took a quick trip to LBI (Long Beach Island) with friends on motorcylces and froze.....

Picked what are probably the last of my flowers from the garden and marveled at how well Mother Nature can do color. The next post I will show some quilts from the quilt show.

Kelly

Give Away and AAQI Quilts

2011-09-16T07:50:00.000-04:00

I am celebrating my first year of blogging with a give away every Friday in September. I went to the PNQE quilt show yesterday and found some things I think you might like. The book Scrap Republic and a set of charms called Ruby . All you need to do is leave me a comment, become a follower and then check back on Thursday when I will announce the winner. No reply people you must leave your email or you cannot win so please be sure to do that.
Wednesday was a very successful day for one of the guilds I belong to, Calico Cutters. We had our challenge, that was to make a small quilt for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative . We had 48 people make quilts! They were all so creative and many agreed they were a lot of fun to make!

This is just a few of some of the wonderful quilts our ladies made. We also allowed anyone to buy a quilt for $100 with all the proceeds going to AAQI. We sold 9 quilts!!!! Yes we made $900!!! The rest of the quilts will be auctioned off at their website. If you are interested in purchasing a quilt go check it out. Great job ladies!!!

Kelly

Brights Give Away Winner

2011-09-15T08:01:00.000-04:00

I have been so crazy busy this past week, so no blogging has been happening. Next week I should be back to normal. I feel so out of touch as I have not read any blogs as well!
The Oaks Quilt Show ( Pennsylvania National Quilt Extravaganza) is today through Sunday so you can be sure I will be taking pictures and posting them.

The winner of the Brights give Away is Katherine from Sew Something Good . Contratulations! I will be emailing you for your address.

Kelly

Give Away - Brights!

2011-09-09T07:37:00.000-04:00

Here is my second give away.................1 yard of Denyse Schmidt pink polka dots ( get it Pinkadots?) and

some very usable scraps in bright modern colors and....

a layer cake of OZ and.....

some blue scraps used in my baby quilts that also include some of my hand dyes.
All you do is leave me a comment become a follower and I will pick the name next Thursday. Good Luck!

Kelly

Halloween Giveaway Winner

2011-09-08T15:34:00.000-04:00

The winner is Nancy H!
Nancy I will get your fabric to you next week.

Kelly

Post Card Swap

2011-09-07T08:52:00.000-04:00

How cool is this? It is the post card I recieved from Kate of Trestle and Bunting. I was so thrilled when it came in the mail and it's big, 8 x 11. The entire thing is doodled then Kate colored in different sections with pencils. You can look at it for a long time and see lots of different things.

Here is a close up. Parts of the card are cut out and there is different kind of fabric behind it (see the green, that is fabric). Kate thank you so much I really love it. I think I might even frame it and hang it in my sewing room.

Tomorrow I will list the winner of my first give away for September. Go to this post for details.

Kelly

Rainy Tuesday

2011-09-06T17:43:00.001-04:00

I love a rainy day, I get so much done. It also makes me feel creative and not guilty about going outside and doing things that need to get done out there.
Yes I am a little obsessed with the post cards...but a friend was turning 50 and there was a party this weekend and I knew she would love it, and she did. I really enjoy making something for some one who really, really, really appreciates the time and effort you put into it.

I also made another baby quilt (pattern by Oh Fransson!) for my cousin Mary Beth who is coming to visit this week. It is for her first grandson.

I used a polka dot instead of plain white and like it very much.

I also decided not to use very "baby" like fabrics. I think she is going to really like it.

I finished my part of the Longwood Gardens Quilt. I am not sure if I am allowed to show you the entire panel so I will wait. As soon as it is quilted I will post the pictures.

Happy birthday Judie, Cheryl and Don!

Kelly