Thanksgiving with the family

Happy Thanksgiving!! We are downstate at mom and dad's for the day. My sister and her family came along with my brother, my daughter and her boyfriend... other daughter went to Nashville (Al is taking the pic)
Hope everyone had a wonderful day!

Stitching weather

It's been SO COLD the last few days. It's been a busy fall but when I haven't had to work I head down to the sewing room, turn the heat on high and stitch away. Just can't believe how fast we went from fall to winter!
One of the projects I'm working on is this Christmas purse for my mom's bowling friend. She loved mom's summer purse and wanted something for her mom's birthday which is coming up fast. She said she wanted a "Christmas" bag and these cute santas with the animal print trim on their hats is the fabric she chose. I'm going to make 2 or 3 ties to go though the "belt" loops... one out of a coordinating animal print, one green and maybe one more in a creamy Christmas print. I still have quite a bit to do on this... the bottom of the bag is stitched but the band and ties are just laying there... got to add those on today.

Jennifer spent Sunday at our house and so we did some baking, cooking and sewing. She made a couple of really cute blocks using Figgy Pudding Christmas fabric. She's joining a block draw... Everyone is making a block or two and then someone's name will be drawn from all the block received. The lucky winner will get all the blocks made and will choose the next fabric line to be used in December's draw. This is a block she designed using the fabrics. Isn't it adorable?

New spicy tablerunner and the start of a new quilt

This is a new sample I just finished up last night for the local quilt shop. I think it's called Spicy Spiral tablerunner... I don't remember the designer's name. The pattern makes a 42" runner but I adapted it to use a shorter wedge so it's 36"... perfect for my coffee table. It's going to be hanging in the quilt shop for quite a while so I might just have to make another one. I used mostly batiks in greens and brown. If anyone wants the pattern, contact Sue at www.heartstoholly.com.
I started a new quilt... just the center is done. This is another sample piece for the quilt shop. It's a baby quilt with a medallion center... lots of black and white with dusty aqua and gray. I know I wasn't going to start any more new quilts....BUT... this one will be pretty quick and easy. It'll be displayed at the shop for a year or so and then I'll probably give it to my mom for her church auction or donate it to the hospital up here.. I don't know anyone with a new baby boy..darn.

Finished up with this years round robins

This is Rebecca's quilt top. The last border is the one I added and now it's off to the last person from our group. This was a JOY to work on... such pretty colors and fabrics! I found lots of pinks, burgandy, teal and browns to use with it. Hope you like it, Rebecca!

Halloween Quilt

Here's a little SNEAK peek at my halloween quilt. I appliqued some spiders onto the top and this one block. Don't you just love him?!

Update 5-1-12: This spiderweb fabric is available at Hearts to Holly Quilt Shop in Charlevoix Mi. Contact Sue Miller- heartstoholly@yahoo.com 
She has the black fabric with the eyes on it ... the eyes glow in the dark!
Some of the other fabrics are a few years old and not available anymore.

Batik Pillow Pattern

Thought I would show you my newest project. I just finished making a pillow that will be a class and a pattern. I took a break from some of my current projects to get this done so that the shop could have the sample. Now it's back to working on round robins and a Halloween quilt (hope it's done for THIS Halloween!). BOY, you should see the MESS in my sewing room... a disaster!!

Working on blocks and pillows

Finished up a block for BC. This is our October block swap and I really should have been done with the two blocks by now... but... I had a bit of difficulty with this one. UNTIL I read something online about how to do curved blocks. Pie goes on the bottom, crust on top... Curved pieces fit together MUCH better if you follow this rule. The piece that looks like the pie goes down... and the other fits in nicely on top. Glald that's done!!

Quick and Easy Placemat Pattern

Here it is.. my first pattern! Hearts To Holly Quilt Shop (231-547-2729) has them for $6 . You can also get them directly from me.. my email is on this blog. We sold 3 the first day... I'm so excited :)
If you look back a bit on my blog you'll see them on my kitchen table. I made 4 of them for Thanksgiving but since then have made 8 for Christmas and 4 for spring. They're SUPER easy. I use one large "focus" fabric (I fussy cut part of it) and then lots of leftover strips and squares. The only quilting I did on them was around the edge... wanted them to have a more contemporary look (and make it easy on myself!).

Check off another finished project...

The bathroom wallhanging is finished!! YEAH! All quilted and bound and ready for hanging. I'm still working on the crocheted rug but it's almost there... Just needs to be about 6" bigger. I've decided to do a white shower curtain with blocks of color.. plaids, solids and prints that are in the wallhanging. It's going to have a large sashing of white... kind of like "happy blocks" but bigger. I think this will give it a more modern feel but still cottagey (spelling?..is it even a word?).

Finishing up some LQS samples....

So the other thing keeping me VERY busy is working and making samples for the shop. I have quite a few samples to finish up but I thought I would take a picture of two of them. These were quick and easy. The gingerbread pillow is called cookie time. I found the perfect brown at the store that looks just like gingerbread cookie dough. We're going to sell the patterns and some kits. And these placemats are a class I'll be teaching. One large D9P (disappearing nine patch) plus some strips make these very quick. No hand sewing AT ALL! No binding! I could make dozens of these... but lots of other projects waiting to get finished up. Sew, I'm off to the sewing room again!

Working on the bathroom extras

Al is determined to list our house this fall so I need to get the bathroom finished up. We painted it a nice neutral medium beige/tan and are installing a new mirror. This mirror is much larger and will make the bath feel bigger and brighter.
The wallhanging is going on one wall above the towel shelves. This rag rug is going in front of the sink but since it's only 1/4 of the way done, I've got to get going on it! I also have to make a shower curtain... something to go with this cottage look. Haven't decided on the perfect one yet... any ideas? I might bring in the bright homespuns... I know for sure that I want it bright with lots of white.