Long Time, No See!

My goodness I have really neglected this blog! Partially because I have been sick and it is just dragging on! I have had no energy or ambition to sew or do anything!
My mother in law gave me this poinsettia for my birthday. It really is this pretty shade of pink, so I am going to try and nurse it through the winter and put it our in my garden this summer. Have you ever done that? It seems such a shame to throw them out after Christmas.

Have you heard of this magazine, Curated Quilts? It is more geared toward the modern quilter but still interesting for all.

Last summer one of the editors emailed me and asked me if I would submit this quilt!!! I had recently hung it up in a new spot and put it on Instagram and that is how she spotted it. It's called It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood and was made during a swap with Barb Vedder, Robin McMillen and Susan Hammer. I had those blocks for at least a year before I came up with this idea on how I wanted them to go together. I do feel like sometimes letting it "simmer" is better than throwing it together.

I am in a bee and we did as swap in January. I loved this scissor fabric and just had to use it.

This is the inside. Again another perfect fabric for a sewer!

I like the cross stitch look too!

This is what I got in the swap, how cool is this!?! Thank you Cindy!

Some other goodies came my way as well, thank you Jeanette and Cheryl.

Thank you for all the nice comments and emails about our little neighbor, Julia. She is still hanging on and just finished a week of chemo. She has surpassed their predictions so I like to think all the prayers and good wishes out there are doing some good.
If you wish to read more about this little girl you can go here Julia Adams

Kelly

Perfect Students

I received this lovely book in the mail today. I am saving it for when I can sit down a really savor it. Do you do that too? That will be soon....

My guild, Calico Cutters holds a fundraising auction every year. People offer classes (in their homes) as part of the silent auction. So for $50.00 each, Terry, Gail, Nancy and Christine came to my house for the day to make a Lola pouch. They brought their lunch, I provided all the materials to make the pouch (I even cut it all out!) drinks and dessert.

Poor Christine. Her machine was having problems so I ran upstairs and brought mine down for her to use. Problem solved! She caught up quickly and ended up finishing before some of the others.

As you can see on Nancy's pouch, I cut out the word Maker from some fabric I had to put on the inside where I usually put a "Pinkadotquilts" label.

I chose their fabrics with some hints such as, what colors do you like, a theme, what don't you like. Gail loved her purple and lime green, yay!

Terry's pouch had a garden theme and she put in the very last stitch of the day. They were all done a half hour early, unheard of!!!

Terry, Gail, Nancy and Christine

They were all pleased as was I. They overcame their fear of zippers (well almost) and were very happy to take home a completed project. Some even said they may make more for gifts.

My sewing room on the other hand is a disaster, I don't even have room to sew! I need to get in there and do some cleaning! How does it get like that?

Kelly

Fifty Days of Gray!

Oh my goodness I love a rainy day or two but this is ridicules! I really try to never complain because as a gardener you always want that nice spring rain to get things going, but it is cold too!
Today was my guild's thank you luncheon for our volunteers and it was held at my house. This was my centerpiece and it does make me feel happy to look at it and hope for a sunny day soon.

I started a simple quilt for a baby boy that is due this summer. It was fun to go through all my novelties and pick out "boyish" prints that would be fun for a little child to look at as he gets older. I love the busyness of it too.

My neice is getting married this fall. I bought her some practical needed things but also wanted to give her something more personal. I love these paper pieced lipsticks from Sew Scatter Brained. I thought this might be a fun thing to take on her honeymoon to keep sunscreen etc with her on the beach.

They are pretty small but sewed up quickly.

Hr favorite color is yellow so I went all out on the inside. I love how perfect that zipper comes out every time!

My dogwood trees are spectacular this year! It makes up for all the flowers waiting for some sunshine to bloom!

Kelly

VintageTuesday

As many of you know I love vintage things, both inspired and the real thing. Pyrex has released a line called Vintage Pyrex. While it does have a vintage feel, it is not as good as the real thing (the way it looks). I have the "real" blue polka dot bowl so I could compare. You can get these at Target but I could not find them in the store, only online. The good news is you can order them and they will deliver them to the store for free, no shipping!

This is a real vintage Florida dish towel that I used to make yet another Lola Pouch. I promise this is the last one. It is taller than the pattern directions but I could not bear to cut off the "Florida" or the palm trees. On the plus side I can fit a lot of things in it for my upcoming getaway. I even love that yellow on the flamingoes and decided the polka dots added to the vintage feel. Once I get the binding at the top sewn down I can fill up.
I really enjoy using vintage finds and will be doing more of this kind of sewing!
See you next week with a show and tell from our retreat. Let's see how many things I get done!

Kelly

Miscellaneous Monday

I am hooked on these Lola Pouches! They are so versatile and a really nice size to hold all your stuff!
I decided to make a hexie one for my hexies. It's fun picking out the fabrics!

I chose a bright, bright fabric for the inside that my friend Barb gave me. Look how pretty that zipper looks.....

I decided to make a pincushion to match the bag. This is the result and red won, the pink one will be a gift.

I have not done any hand applique in a while. I wanted a no frills, easy project. I designed a flower that requires no lines to follow. Jut cut out the pieces and fold under whatever seam allowance you want, to get a free form flower. I like that it is a little "off" and it is easy to do while watching TV. The circle is way more perfect than I thought it would be.

The only thing I know for sure is that the center will be that red dot fabric and the background will be low volume prints. For reference the block will be 11 1/2" finished, how is that for an odd ball size! I do have a template to sort of follow for the petals but everything else is cut free hand.

I also made this strawberry from an adorable fabric that is so delicate and feminine. I want to make a collection of these to display in a bowl.
Somedays small projects are just what I need to make myself feel productive. My annual retreat is coming up and I am busy preparing. How many projects do you bring to a retreat? I have about 6 because you never know what you are going to feel like working on. Some are big and some are small.
Next week I will have a post of the Zelda quilt, stay tuned!

Kelly

Snow Day, Sew Day

I love this new pouch I made the other day. It's called the Lola Pouch by Sotak Handmade . It is the perfect size for all kinds of things. I made the larger one but there is a smaller one as well. I am hoping to make another one to store things for an upcoming retreat.
The one tip I will give you is, it is optional to quilt the outside fabric using a fusible fleece. Do it for a nice sturdy pouch that stands up well.

The other thing I like is that it opens real wide! Easy to get things in and out.

The inside is made with a vintage "art" fabric that is so cute!

The pattern was very easy and well written with good instructions. The zipper is nice the way it sits down within the binding. I love her examples too! I think these would make great gifts.

Right now I have stored my templates and paper pieces for the La Passacaglia quilt in my new pouch. A couple of friends and I have decided to take on this very, very long term project. I was planning on showing the ladies at our guild this tomorrow for our Member Demo day. Snow if forecasted so that may not happen. This is very uncharted waters for me as they are sewn together not as I thought.....it will teach me yet another new skill.

    I do love those little lobsters though......

Kelly