MINIATURE QUILT

I have been trying to ignore the closet in my sewing room. It is crammed full of important stuff but is rather disorganized now. You know how you have to move one thing to get to another and sometimes two or three things. And then you don't put things back where they should be because you are waiting to return the item you had to dig out. Well, I just reached in the other day and grabbed the first unfinished project my hands touched and I decided to finish it. It happened to be a miniature quilt, so it did not take long to finish. I don't know how long it has been waiting for the quilting. I know I made two. One was for the quilt guild miniature auction and this one for myself. I imagine it has been three years at least. The quilt is 15 inches square. I did not use a pattern but used Electric Quilt to get my measurements. I had admired a framed picture of a quilt in a catalog that Jo Morton had made and decided to make my own quilt. I do not know what size Jo's quilt was made but for the guild auction, the quilts were supposed to be in the range of 15 inches or less per side. I had intended to hand quilt the piece but decided to forgo that since it had sat waiting for it's turn for so long. It was very quick to machine quilt and then do the binding on.

Since I am in a finishing mood, I have quilted two other pieces. On one, I am sewing the binding down by hand as I always do. The other, I still have to make binding for. I should have something to show later in the week.

Also, I have gone back to my pumpkin blocks from The Great Pumpkin Quilt. The blocks were all ready for the machine stitching part of the applique. I think the group started too late in the year to reasonably finish them for the fall season. I know for me, other things got in the way. I started machine stitching last night. My problem now is that I can't find where I put the pattern. I need it to mark the hand embroidery that needs done on the blocks. I have looked in the obvious places and I don't think it is in the exploding closet. I do know I will find it in the last place I look! Wish me luck.

I am going to the doctor in just a little bit for another injection in my knee. I am trying to hold off getting my second knee replacement by getting the series of injections. The first surgery was a tough recovery period for me, so I hope these injections keep me going another year. I had a series a little over a year ago and am happy that they worked then.

Hope you have a Happy New Year. Enjoy the parades and football if that is your thing. All others, hope you get lots of sewing time in. I know I plan to. We usually stay home on New Year's Eve. It is safer than being out on the roads.

Karen

GIFTS AND MORE

I had such a pleasant surprise delivered by my mailman yesterday. I guess "pleasant" isn't the word to describe my excitement. I received a package from Colleen at Crazy for Primitive Quilts and Gardens. I opened the box and found a chocolate Santa and a wrapped package.


Now I don't know how I managed to do it, but I waited until this morning to open it. I wanted to take pictures in better light and morning is the best time for me to do it. I tried to just put the package out of my mind yesterday evening but it sure was tempting just to tear into it. Look at what I found when I opened it this morning.

Colleen sent me a piece of red wool, which I definitely can use. My current stash of red wool is from a heavy winter coat and really too thick. Also, she sent me a dark plaid kitchen towel and very much to my liking. Charm squares that are Kansas Troubles Quilters fabric from the Cranberry Wishes line. I do like their fabrics! The last item in the package is this cross stitch piece of a reindeer done in a deep red. Colleen has posted that she was making some of these and how happy I am that I was a recipient of one. I love hand made gifts and this one is wonderful. Tiny stitches and done very well. Thank you so much, Colleen! You have made my holiday season very special. I am so glad that you befriended me when I first started blogging!

Last Saturday, I had lunch at my friend Susan's along with friends, Jeanne & Carol (Brown Quilts). Susan's home was decorated for the holidays. I love all of her folk art/primitive decorations. I am sorry that I do not have any photos to show you of them this time. Susan had prepared a wonderful salad, artichoke soup, and served us a wonderful piece of chocolate cheesecake. Susan has Debbie Mumm Christmas dishes and she has silverware that has Santas on the handles. So cute! We traded gifts. Jeanne gave each of us a gift certificate for Panera's. Some good eats there. Susan gave us each a reindeer ornament. The body is made from sweater fabric. It is cute as can be and very unique.

Carol gave each of us a holiday tray. I had been looking at this very one on Farmhouse Woolens website. It is something that I would have liked to have but would not buy for myself, so I am very happy to now have one.

I have been busy sewing, as usual. I finally made myself a stocking. It is from a Jan Patek book and the pattern is "Zoie's Christmas Kitties". I also made quilt top from the same design.





I did some wool projects earlier in December that I couldn't show you as they were to be gifts. I made these wool covers for date books that you can carry in your purse or have by the phone.

I think all but one of the date books went into a Christmas stocking that I had made. I forgot to photograph the snowman date book cover that I made before I shipped it to a friend. It had a lighter blue background.

I thought I would show you the quilt that I have across the back of my living room sofa right now.
I guess that I should explain that the wall behind the sofa is all mirrored. I had to be careful of the angle I took the picture out because I didn't think you would want to see me in my nightgown. I am slow to get dressed this morning.

I want to take time now to thank a few bloggers that have nominated me for awards the last few months. I have been slow to post the awards on my blog. Part of the award process is to then nominate more bloggers for the same award. I kept thinking about what bloggers I would pick. I find I just can't select just 5, 6, or 7 as the different awards stipulated. I have a nice long list of blogs under my favorites that I visit. I would not want to pick one over another as there are so many good ones. I have noticed that others of you have this same problem. I want to acknowledge how much I appreciate someone taking time and thought to select me for the awards. Thank you so much. And to all of my fellow bloggers that I visit, consider yourselves nominated!

Please come back to visit again. Your comments are always appreciated. Hope your holiday season is filled with joy!

Karen

An additional note. I asked for some guidance in my last post about why my photos were no longer enlarging when you clicked on one. I thank all of you who took time to make a suggestion. This time I moved the pictures in the "Edit Html" mode instead of "Compose". Seems to have worked. Evidently I was not moving all the code associated with a photo when doing it in the compose mode.

CHRISTMAS QUILTS

Welcome! With Christmas getting nearer, I thought I would post more pictures of some quilts I put out at Christmas time. The first is what I would call a large wall quilt. I made it for RJR Fabrics to be used in their booth at market several years ago. I think it is all Thimbleberries fabric. The design was inspired by an antique quilt that I saw a picture of. I also made another like this pattern in reproduction fabrics. Lots of flying geese on this one.

The second is a table runner village scene. Many of you will recognize that the pattern is from a Thimbleberries book and is called "Twilight Village". I made it in 1993.

And last is a close up of the Santa quilt I showed in my last post. I was asked to show a close up of Santa in his sleigh.

Now that brings me to a question I hope someone can answer. You used to be able to click on my blog photos and they would enlarge. That no longer happens. I know that I can sometimes enlarge on another person's blog and maybe not on the next one. I figure it is some simple thing I changed in settings somewhere along the line but I don't know what it is. Any enlightenment for me?

Today is lunch at my friend Susan's home. I showed you photos of her fall decorations back in October when she had our little quilting group over for lunch. She goes all out for Christmas decorating in a primitive style. It should be an enjoyable day. Her lunches are always delicious. I am taking a wool project along to work on today.

Last Saturday was another of my quilting groups holiday get-together. I forgot to take my camera. I realized that when I was about 30 miles from home. Rosy had her table all decorated in red, white, and gold. Very pretty. It was a pot luck lunch. I made a squash & corn casserole that always goes over well. Rosy prepared a hot chicken salad. One of the ladies brought cupcakes that were like eating Boston Cream pie. Everyone thought they were delicious. I also took Poteca bread which is a nut roll, so that was my dessert. My grandmother (father's mother) was from Czechoslovakia and she always made nut roll for special occassions. She did not use a written recipe. My mother had her make it one time while she watched but was not able to get an accurate recipe. I came across the recipe for the Poteca bread and realized it looked very much like Grandma's. I have been making it once or twice a year since. My mother said it was the same except for the honey I use and that the honey makes it better. She said Grandma would have been proud of me.

We played some games that Rosy came up with. She passed around a roll of toilet tissue and told us to take just what we thought we needed and would give us no more hint. Some took two little sections and some more. I took a good bit. When it was time for the game, she had has put our hands behind our back and we had to try to tie a bow with our toilet tissue. Now that was a challenge for those who took a very small amount! Her daughter & grand-daughter were there to help with the lunch. They were the judges to choose who tied the prettiest bow. My bow was kind of sloppy. Probably because I had too much paper and who can tie a pretty bow with it behind your back? Fun game and we laughed a lot.

I have been busy working on another stocking and a quilt that is from the same pattern. I cannot show either just yet.

Time for me to get ready for the day's festivities. Come back soon for another visit.

Karen

MORE STOCKINGS AND A CHRISTMAS QUILT

Welcome to my blog! I am having trouble getting photos downloaded from the Kodak software today. The download stopped in the middle and it took several tries to get things going again. I deleted a couple photos and then tried downloading to my blog. Those photos I had deleted showed up again! Then I couldn't get them to delete using the blog edit function. I think I finally got the photos I wanted onto here and rid of those I don't.


I made two more stockings and they look very much like those I already made. A few different fabric choices as I ran out of what I used on the first two, but basically they look the same. This time on the angels stocking, I did not use batting and quilt it. That gave it enough width to tuck in the little gift I made. I can't show you a photo of the gift but I should be able to do that before Christmas. I don't want to spoil the surprise for someone.




I guess I should say that I made three stockings instead of two because I also made a smaller wool stocking. It does not have a lining in it. If I make one again from that pattern, I think I will change the construction method. Maybe include a lining. I will have to think about that.

I want to show you a Christmas quilt I made several years ago. I don't know when I made it because it does not have a label on it but it was probably about 1995 or earlier. I don't know how I missed making a label for it. Santa's sleigh has a little quilt attached. I think I misread the cutting measurements for the quilt pieces because it took many more than it was supposed to. Or maybe the quantity needed was misprinted. There are fabrics in the sleigh to represent bolts of fabric. That's something we all would probably like Santa to bring. I have had lots of nice compliments on this quilt over the years. And a few people have tried to talk me into giving them the quilt. It is funny how I remember many of the fabrics I used. This was a very early applique piece for me. I did it on the machine and it looks like I used invisible thread to do it. Some parts of the buildings are pieced and some parts are done by applique. I didn't do much quilting and it was done by machine. If I were to make this again, I would change some of the construction methods. I have learned a lot during my 18 years of making quilts.

I tried pinning the quilt to the design board for the photo but it kept falling down. I gave up and spread it out on the carpet.


Nothing new and exciting here. I am going to sign off, have some lunch, and then play in my sewing room. I should photograph the room. It is a mess! Me being creative always seem to create a mess.


Karen

POKEBERRY QUILT TOP

I don't usually post two days in a row but I was asked to post pictures of my Pokeberry quilt top. Two of my fellow bloggers are working on the same quilt pattern and are interested in my fabric choices, etc. Be sure to read the previous post, if you have not done so, and see my latest completed projects.

The Pokeberry quilt is a Jan Patek Pattern. The quilt top is large. I don't know the exact measurements. I had to slide a couple pieces of furniture out of the way to lay it out flat. I tried pinning the top to my design wall but it was just too big for it. I stood on a step stool to photograph (my husband does not like me to do that but he was not there to see it). I think I must move a bit when I push the camera button as I sometimes get a photo that is slightly blurry. Hope you can figure out what is what in the photos.








Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Nativity Quilt

I hope all you visiting my blog had a happy Thanksgiving and that you had a wonderful dinner with family and friends. My husband and I had a quiet dinner as our daughter & family went to the Atlanta area to visit her husband's sister. We fixed a small turkey and some of the "fixin's". We did not make as much variety as we would have with company. My back held up okay during the preparation of food but I did have help from my husband doing it. I don't know what is going to fix my back and leg pain, but I hope something does it soon. I can sit fine but standing & walking is not fun.




I have just finished a new project. The nativity quilt is a gift for a friend (non-blogger). I have given her many quilt type things over the years but I can't remember having given her an actual quilt. She likes the same style as me including the use of plaids, so she should like this quilt. The pattern is from the "Christmas or Not" book which is a Red Wagon book. The pattern is titled "Manger" in the book. I did everything on the sewing machine except the sewing of the binding to the back of the quilt.

I also made my second stocking. It will go to another prim lover with a little hand made gift tucked inside. I need to make a few more stockings but whatever I get done is what I get done.

Yesterday, I received 6 or 7 new patterns from Cheri Saffiote-Payne. I got four in the mail about 10 days ago. There are still a few more I would like to have. I also got a stocking pattern from another designer. In fact, I got two of them from two different online shops. I don't know how I managed to do that. Have you ever bought two of the same pattern or book at the same time? I will pass one on. One of the Cheri patterns is the Nativity and I would like to do it soon. Maybe I will end up with a collection of nativity quilts!

I hope to post some photos of a couple Christmas quilts I have made in the past. I will aim to do that on the next post.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Karen