Thursday, December 23, 2010

Moshi Pillow Gone Flat & A Christmas Gathering

Hi everyone! My posting is sporadic and probably will be for a while yet. This is a long post with lots of pictures just to quickly catch you up as much as I can.
The book above has a quilt in it that I am currently working on. If you have the book, the pattern I am using is called "Colors of Autumn". You can see one finished block I have done sitting next to the book.
I am using these piles of strips which are 1 1/2 inches wide. The strips are from a Fall strip exchange my group had a couple of years ago. The pattern actually calls for 2 inch strips. So I am re-working it for this project.
This is what I have done so far! It has taken me a lot longer then I thought it would to get these blocks to this point, but the end is near! I only have about 6 more sets to make and then I can put it all together!! :0)
(My pictures are backwards for how I wanted to post but OK.)
Here are 2 pillows I made last night for my younger daughter. They will go under the tree for Christmas morning. She has 3 "Moshi" pillows which she has had and slept with for many years. You can't wash these things because of the filling inside. ( They smell pretty bad now! Yuck! Not only that, they are sooo stretched out they have become thin and may tear soon which means little tiny balls all over the place) I used my Grandmothers canning funnel to pour the filling into the new pillow forms. (I made these new pillows so the covers can be removed and washed!!) :0)
Anyway! :0) She received one new Moshi pillow as a gift recently from her "Secret Santa"! My daughter decided it was finally O.K. to give me the old ones so I could get rid of them. Well I figured I won't waste the inside filling. So, I am recycling and repurposing those beads. I made her the two new pillows out of fleece. With the colors she chose, black, red and white.
Here is one really stretched out Moshi pillow and the filling from another. (She still has one she won't let me have. Yet.) :0)
A Christmas gathering!! Here are all ( almost all) of the gals in my sewing Bee! They came to my home for our Christmas get together Luncheon. I don't have as many Christmas decorations as some people but I do the best I can with what I have! ( Most years we travel to see our family which live in a different state. This year we are staying home) :0) (By the way, I am the fourth one back on the right.)

Enjoying full tummies! Everyone brings a dish of something good to eat for lunch so it's not to stressful for the hostess.
Sharing gifts! We do exchange gifts with each other.
Sharing projects. We also had show and tell.
A beautiful black and white quilt with red in it. My younger daughter would love this one! (I call her younger....She will graduate this year from High School and be off to college next Fall... Ssssheeesh!)
A sweet soft flannel baby quilt! I love this!
Christmas hour glass quilt.
The table set for my guests before they arrived! ( I told you my pictures were not in the order I wanted them to be in. Hehehe. Oh well. I am just telling you my story in a "different way")
A little quilt.
A table runner.
Beautiful pinwheels.

A signature star.
Two of the gals have been working on their friendship blocks that we exchanged a while back!
I like this one.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday that is Joyous and Filled with Love laughter and fun!
Merry Christmas everyone!! :0)

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Pies, a finish, and a couple of little quilts!

Well, let me tell you I have been very busy today! I have lots to show and some to tell.

Above is a little quilt top I recently finished. I had some leftover triangles from a past project and wanted a small quick something to do, so, I put them together into a "Broken Dishes" block. I am really loving the way this one turned out! :0)
I also recently put this table runner together. It's from a Primitive Pieces by Linda pattern called "Primitive sketches". I have it basted and ready to be hand quilted.
This is another very recent little quilt I did from leftover reproduction fabrics. It's also basted and ready to be hand quilted. These little quilts should take me no time at all to finish once I sit down and do them.
This one on the other hand will take me much longer! A sneak peek of the next large quilt I will be hand quilting. I just finished basting this one together. All these hand quilting projects will keep me warm and cozy as I stitch them through the winter. :0)
And yes, I have FINALLY finished hand quilting this one!! Hooray!! I have been working on this one for a very long time. It's called "Coming Home". I used all Thimbleberries fabrics in it.
Here's a close up view of the quilting I did on this one. I have put the binding on and just need to stitch it down Whoopee!!!
This little house reminds me of the home I lived in when I was living in New Hampshire! :0)
Apple Pies. Pies, pies pies and more pies!! This is what I've been working on today! I wish you could smell them. Yummy yummy. I baked three apple pies and one pumpkin. I only took a picture of the apple pies. Mr. Pumpkin is still in the oven and due out soon. I am taking advantage of the time I have left so I can blog about it. ( Or is that brag about it). It's a lot of work but they will taste oh so wonderful once we dig into them. :0)

Monday, November 15, 2010

Friendship Stars exchange

This past Wednesday at my quilt bee we had our friendship stars exchange. These are the blocks I received! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. I could just leave them as they are and make a small lap quilt from them. (The blocks are 9 inches square.) or I could graph out an alternative. I am always open to any suggestions. :0)
Here are all the blocks laid out on the table. We all picked up our own blocks after they were set out for everyone to see.
Here are some ladies picking out their blocks.
This is a flower memory quilt. One of our members lost a parent not long ago. Rather then sending flowers to her, we each made a flower block and then put them together as a special memory quilt for her.
This is a really neat purse made by one of our members. And below are 2 more beautiful quilts brought in for "show and tell". :0)

I am currently working with 1 1/2 inch strips in "Fall" colors. The strips are from an exchange my bee did a while back. I have finally decided what I'm going to do with them. I have made a test block which seemed to work out with some minor adjustments. So I plan to go ahead and work on making some more blocks today. (I really have been wishing that we chose to use at least 2 inch strips for the exchange.) I had to re-work the pattern I decided to use in order to make these blocks (which I hope to show you soon). It has taken me quite awhile to figure out what I was going to do with them. Hopefully this is going to work out the way I have visioned it. We shall soon see!!
Have a great Day! And happy sewing! :0)

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Friendship

Next week The "Sew n' sews" quilt bee that I am in will be celebrating the 12th year anniversary of when the "Bee" began! Right now we have 13 members in the group. Each member is to make 12 friendship blocks to share with each other. The friendship block above was the first one I made. Then I decided to be funny and do a second one for everyone (Just because! :0) )
Here is a close-up of the fabric I picked out for my "Just Because" block. It has honey bees and spools! :0)
Here are 3 of the blocks finished. I need to hurry up and finish them for next Wednesday. It should be a fun meeting.
These are some quilts from "Show and Tell" at my last bee meeting. Enjoy! :0)


Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The "New Look"

Hello Everyone! I hope you are all having a great summer and staying cool. It has been extremely hot here! UGH! Too hot!!
I wanted to share some pictures of quilts from my last "Bee" meeting. We have some very talented women in our group which I am proud to be a member of. Enjoy!





The quilts from here on are all hand pieced.

The nine patch blocks below were made up of only red scraps.
The Lemoyne stars in this next quilt are only 3 3/4 inches square!!

It's been a very busy summer in my household so I have not had the chance to do any postings here on blogger until now. I hope this has made up for my slacking off over the summer! :0)

****I noticed that my blog background had disappeared and turned into an orange blob. (I have no idea why????) So I now have a new "Look"! My daughter who is going to college for a Graphic Arts major set it up for me. I hope you like it. :0)