Getting Organized

I always wish I was more organized than I am. I showed this cabinet in a recent post and a friend from my guild and loyal blog follower, Lynne asked me if I would show you the inside.
I feel like you will be disappointed.
A little history......my sister-in-law Ann was visiting my in-laws in North Carolina. She found this in an antique shop, called my husband and said you have to get this for Kelly it will be perfect for her 40th birthday. She was so right, I loved it as soon as I laid eyes on it. I have 7 great sister-in-laws who do nice things like this!

The cabinet was originally used to hold embroidery floss. I have miscellaneous threads in here.

This holds my DMC thread. One year for Christmas I asked my husband to get me one of each color, not knowing there were this many! He bought every single one they had in the store.

This one holds more specialty threads that I don't use all that much any more, but you never know...

In here I have a bunch of new & old buttons, some antique buttons and Bakelite buttons. The ones in front all the way to the left came from my grandma Aggie's button box. There are some glass ones in there.

I occasionally do other crafts especially with grandchildren now. This is a perfect place to keep all those little things that have a tendency to get lost.

If I really can't find something and it is small it is usually in here, somewhere.

If you look to the bottom of the picture you can see the hand written colors of the floss. It is also a perfect place to store all the pins I bought back in the day and can't seem to throw out.

This weekend we had a mini getaway at Christine's. Her birthday is in January and this was her gift from me. She already has a spot for it picked out.

It was also Terry's birthday and she has always coveted this quilt. It was one of my favorites but I will make another one. She was very surprised and is hanging it in her studio.

This little painting is very inspirational to me......

and so are these eggs from the neighbors. What is inspiring you today?

Kelly

Never Ever Say Never...

Once upon a time I used to do cross stitch. It is just as bad as quilting as far as the amount of cute things that there are to make. I did very elaborate time consuming pieces. It was when my children were small and quilting took a back seat. It was easy to pick up and put down and could be done anywhere.
Once I got back into quilting, I put my cross stitch away, I was never doing it again. I couldn't be swayed by all those wonderful patterns that were tucked into the Blackbird Designs quilt books, or at least I thought so....
I am limiting myself to a few projects, I am not going to get sucked in, so I tell myself. I. Do. Not. Need. Another. Hobby. Oh and the projects are small.

I got a start on the Valentine pillowcases for the grandchildren. These are for Maddy who is 6 and has bunk beds. The top one is pink, which is the edge of the pillow, the bottom is purple.

Captain America for Elliot.

The Incredible Hulk for Griffin.
Fallon's is on the machine so I will show it later on this week.

I found this magazine and thought I would give it a peruse. I love magazines, perfect reading material for those night I am too tired to read my book.
Snow for us again the is weekend, this is turning into a very long winter!
Have a good weekend.

Kelly

Pacing and Valentines

So quiet and pretty!

It is snowing here today and we are to get a ton of snow. Usually on a snow day, my husband is out plowing and I am home happily sewing away. Today he was home pacing the floor waiting to go out. It isn't supposed to stop until late tonight, early tomorrow morning. Timing is everything when you plow, too soon and people complain about you having to plow twice, too late they complain about not being able to get out (even when there is a state of emergency!) and the number one thing that makes me laugh out loud, everyone and I mean everyone wants you to plow them first! What they don't know is they have a route, think of a paper route and you will know what I mean. Ok didn't mean to go off on a rant....

Today I made my grandchildren some fabric valentines, the same way you would make a post card.

I had some leftover very stiff interfacing. I am not sure what type or kind it is. They were cut off pieces from some post cards that I made, the size is about 5 x 7.

I got out some red scraps for the boys and some pink scraps for the girls.

Backgrounds that were also in the scrap baskets.

I cut out my hearts from un-fused fabric because I was too lazy to fuse them. In hindsight I should have done that.
Notice the background fabrics are over sized and will be trimmed later. You don't want a back on it yet, that will come later. I would fuse these too.

I did a little swipe of glue stick to hold them in place, not much so it wouldn't show through.

Next the hearts were free motion quilted around the edges. I am ok with it being a little uneven as I like that look. It feels like sketching.

This one was more flowy {is that a word?}.

I like the frayed edges.

You could use a walking foot to make them perfect but they are pretty small.....

After the quilting is done, turn it over, trim the background fabric even with the card.

Now use it to measure out a back for the card. By putting the back on now it will hide all those stitches, and give you a nice area to write on. I know some people who have used paper or card stock here too. I prefer fabric.

Now it is time to finish the edges. I used a zig zag stitch set to 3 wide and 1 long on my Bernina. Start in a corner and sew down to the bottom corner, go all the way to the end as shown above.

Turn the card and again start right at the beginning of the corner and continue in this way all around.

You could get real fancy and be a bit more creative than I was here. Add some beads or buttons...

These are not going through the mail as is, but why not some stamps?
Fuse some cute fabric and fussy cut out the motif. Fuse some background fabric {the red and pink}and fuse the motif to it.

Use pinking shears and cut around the edges, I pinked it 1/8" away to make it look like a real stamp.

Cutesy!
I am making them all new pillowcases along with some candy too. A perfect Valentine for my little loveys!
Enjoy this snowy day!

Kelly

Random Monday Musings

I have been doing a little of this and a little of that......our Getaway in February will be here before you know it, a month from today! I need to have lots of things ready as I am not good at figuring things out in the chaos that is a lot of fun.
These are cut out for the Dylan quilt, this is a good quilt to work on while talking, eating, and shopping.

I have the red and white quilt almost all cut out, again a good one to just sit and sew without a lot of thinking to do.

This is what the block looks like. I am enjoying conquering my fear of curves!

I am working on some hand applique block for the class I might teach. The polka dot is not the background...

I am also cleaning out kitchen cabinets. My goal is 2 a day. It makes it much less daunting! Don't you love my colorful Pyrex?

I have found a new quilting blogger friend, Amy from Amy Made That. She is having a Skinny Pincushion Swap.
If you have never done a swap this is the perfect one to get your feet wet.

It is simple and easy, the directions to make one and to participate are on her blog. I don't think you even have to have a blog. So go check it out and give it a try (Lynne and Elaine you know you want to do this.....).
How cute is it and what a perfect pincushion to use at your machine. I am anxious to see what my partner likes and get creative.

Ok now for a total brag....today I deadlifted 5,003 lbs! Now not all at once.... My highest weight was 135lbs. It really does make me feel good. My trainer who weighs about 125lbs can deadlift 225lbs! I have a ways to go.....

Kelly

Miscellaneous Thursday

The week has slipped by me with little accomplished in the way of sewing. This block is from the book "The Best Ever Applique Sampler" from Piece O"Cake designs. It is a block showing machine applique using the buttonhole stitch and or straight stitch. Our LQS, The Quilt Block would like me to teach this along with a hand applique class this spring.

I did finish my tree quilt. It does look much better in person, the colors look a little washed out.

Yesterday I got a surprise package in the mail (love those!). My friend Barb sent this to me. We are both Downton Abbey fans. What did you think about last week's episode? I won't spoil it, but I did not see that coming! So now the burning question is....wine, tea or sherry? biscuits, cookies or crackers? I will have to come up with something very proper to place on my special mat when I watch the show.

Barb also sent me this cool fabric with an owl on it, see it at the top? I will have to think of something special to make with it.

How about this awesome card too! I love the simplicity of this and am always on the look out for unique cards.
I am hoping to get back to some sewing this weekend.

Kelly

Snowy, Freezing Rain, Rainy Friday

We woke up to snow this morning. I decided not to go to Zumba because I have to take mostly back roads to get there. It turns out it was a good idea because there were lots of accidents. So what's a person to do?
I am sure you have seen these blocks all over the place and they are so darn cute! I decided to make one just to see how easy, yep real easy. Too easy, there may be more of these in my future. If you want to make one, or some, you can find the tutorial at  Red Pepper Quilts.

I wanted to show you some potholders that Nancy who is a member of my guild made. She used my instructions and said they cam out perfect! I like how she centered "Merry Christmas" across the center. The polka dot binding is so perfect, the dots look like little snowballs.

I also worked on my Dylan quilt, 10 blocks down, 54 to go.....I like the green and I know he will too.
This weekend it is to be 63*. We are all going to be sick with the back and forth of hot and cold!
Enjoy it!

Kelly