The weatherman said Snow

And we said NO!  So we packed up the car, and drove for two days until we reached sunny Florida.  We spent our first day in and around Miami.  It was a dreary cloudy day for the most part, but it was warm and there was no snow on the ground.

this bird’s for Maria!

Of course we saw lighthouses and birds, and took a tour of downtown Miami on the Metromover.

We went to the Riverwalk, but there’s nothing there.  The highlight of the day was going to South Beach, to see the Art Deco district.

The only stitching that has been done the past few days is some crocheting in the car.  I started a new baby afghan, and hope to get most of it finished before we get home. 

More later……..Sunny

January Blues

I’ve had the blues all this month, but it’s not what you think.  Blue is the January color for RSC15.  The mission, should we decide to accept it, is to use blue scraps in any way that we can.  Angela posts block tutorials each week to make a beautiful star quilt, but I’ve decided on another plan. 

I have taken on a small service project, making place mats for Meals on Wheels.  My goal for this month was 12, but I may end up with only 11.

  These are all sandwiched, and folded in half, and I hope to get them all quilted tomorrow at our Sit and Sew day.  I don’t plan to bind them, but just do the sew and flip method.  Does that have a name?  Many of these started with small orphan blocks – nine patches, snowball, and HST’s.  The Dresden plates that I made were too large, so I just used half a plate per place mat.  I’ve used up nearly all my batting scraps, but barely made a dent in my blue scraps.  I even let my SIL shop my blue scraps.

I found a couple of blue hexies while I was organizing, so I made a few more and now I have my first doll quilt for Get Your Mrs. Claus On for 2015.

And I’ve decided to make a Dresden quilt with all the rainbow colors for the year.  I haven’t decided on the centers or the background yet, so what you’re seeing is my oh-so-lovely ironing board cover.  I’m hoping someone will take pity on me and make/buy me a new one.  LOL!

Are you tired of seeing blue?  I finally finished a baby afghan that I started back in the fall on our trip to Nova Scotia.

I’ve started the next one, so I’ll be able to work on it in the car on an upcoming road trip.  Crocheting is the only thing I can do in the car and not feel sick.

This beautiful postcard arrived in the mail today, from Jeanneke in the Netherlands.  It’s for Sheila’s postcard swap.  Making postcards is a lot of fun, because they’re small and quick to make.  Jeanneke hasn’t received my card yet, so I won’t show it until later.

The little crocheted hearts and button heart are just adorable.  Thanks Jeanneke, and thanks Sheila for organizing the swap.

I’m still plugging away at all my other small projects.  I’ve finished Jenny’s stitchery for the month, almost finished my Bunny Hill snowman heart, done some more cross stitch, and picked out my pattern and fabric for the Gail Pan SAL.  And if that isn’t enough, Val Laird is now offering a free BOM.  Check out the link on my  side bar if you’re interested in some beautiful stitchery.  I’ve got my fabric picked out, but haven’t started stitching yet.

Sadly, I do have to sleep sometime, so I’m off to do that now.  Thanks for stopping by, and

Keep on Stitching……Sunny

Mid Month Check-In

Well, we’re half way through the first month of the new year.  I’ve been working hard on all my projects, so I’ll take this opportunity to share what I’ve done.

Today is the 15th, so it’s time to link up to Gifted Gorgeousness.  My chosen project was a BOM in 2013, and I barely got started.  Since I have all the patterns now, I’m not stitching them in the order in which they were released.  I’m very happy to have the first month finished!

Last month, I made a second Scrappy Stars quilt top.  I’d been hanging onto several strips of red and white fabrics for a few years, and finally decided that this pattern would be perfect for the fabric.

I still have a couple of strips left, so I’ll be making a scrappy binding.  And I found a great backing fabric last week, so this will be going into the pile for quilting.  This quilt makes me happy!

In other quilting news, I finished this a week or so ago.  Again, this was fabric that had been gathering dust for awhile, and finally got put to use.

 

I continue to use up blue scraps, and my SIL shopped the scrap stash last week.  It feels good to use it up!

Speaking of my SIL, we had a sewing day last week, along with another friend.  We each chose a small project from “101 Fabulous Small Quilts”.  This started out to be rectangular, but I decided to make it bigger by squaring it up, and adding a border.  It will be a table topper in the bedroom.

Sure doesn’t look square in this picture does it?  Trust me on this.

Today I went to 4 quilt stores in the Lancaster, PA area, and I accidentally purchased fabric.  It all has a specific use, so it shouldn’t live in the stash forever.  Perhaps when I go on Retreat in a couple of months?

Keep on Stitching…….Sunny

2015 Goals and Projects

I’ve already been hard at work in 2015.  I’ve joined several SAL’s and hope to do some major scrap-busting this year.  First up is RSC2015.  Angela over at socrappy has been running this for several years, but this is my first year to join in.  She chooses a color each month to work with, and also provides tutorials for different blocks.  We can use her block suggestions and have a rainbow quilt at the end of the year, or make any other blocks that we wish.  Since I have a bad habit of making small quilts that never get used, I decided to make place mats for our Meals on Wheels program. 

I spent one entire evening sorting all my scraps by color, and was amazed at how much ‘scrash’ I have.  I don’t remember where I saw that word, sorry, but it’s so appropriate!  I’ll be happy to give credit if I find out.  So far, I’ve made 6 placemats.

I started by using a few small orphan blocks that turned up, and then tried to make them into a usable size. 

I also made a birthday card using some fabric, but I can’t share it yet.  Today I cut our three Dresden plates.  I think two of them will become placemats, and then I think I’ll try to make a quilt, adding a block each month with the assigned color. I’ve never made a Dresden plate before, so this should be fine.  I’m also planning to participate in Get Your Mrs. Claus On Project again, and this month I’m planning a hexie doll quilt.  After all, I had two lonely hexies in my blue bin, so I’ll add a few more and make a quilt.  I’ve barely made a dent in the blues, so there will be more placemats forthcoming.

Another SAL that caught my attention is Jo’s Gifted Gorgeousness.  This is for cross stitch or other stitchery projects in our ‘pile’ that were gifted to us, or the result of a giveaway.  I have the perfect project for this, and will be posting my monthly results on the 15th.  Mine is a BOM from 2013 that I barely started, so I’m hoping this will give me the incentive to finish.  Jo is pretty lenient about what qualifies as gifted, so stop over to check it out if you’re interested.

Martina, who blogs at sunshinequilting is hosting a Gail Pan Patterns SAL.  We’ll be working on our choice of patterns, and linking up at the end of the month.  I always see so many lovely Gail Pan projects in blog land, that I just had to join in on this one.  I’ve already purchased a book, so I’m ready to go.

And of course, I’m working on Jenny’s Vintage Kitchen BOM.  If I finish this post early enough tonight, I’ll be starting on my stitching.

Bunny Hill’s free project this year is 12 months of little snow people on hearts.  The first one is adorable, and I can’t wait to get started on it, either. you won’t want to miss this one.

2015 will be another year in which I strive to use up what I have, and not buy any new fabric unless it’s necessary to finish something.  My record wasn’t perfect in 2014, but I did pretty well.  I’m also planning to get all my UFO’s quilted this year.  Other than a couple of very long-term projects, my only UFO’s just need to be quilted.

If you’re still reading along.  I appreciate it.  I know I haven’t been very good about blogging lately, and I keep saying I’ll try to do better.  I’ve just been so busy sewing!  Thanks for stopping by.

Keep on Stitching - - - - - Sunny

A lot to Share

Did anyone notice that Christmas came and went in a flash?  We joined family members for a fairly low-key celebration, and had a really nice time.  Good food, lots of laughs, traditional card games, and stockings full of goodies. 

I also received gifts from a couple of my blogging friends.  My friend Di sent a box full of fun stuff.

That stocking is very tiny and cute, and the snowman cushion is adorable.

From the lovely Maria I got this cute little tree wall hanging, complete with lights and decorations,  and a Santa ornament.

She even sent the hanger for the tree so I could hang it immediately.

I even received some unexpected gifts before Christmas.  The Fat Quarter Shop had a drawing and I won a fat eighth bundle of Brenda Riddle’s Ambleside collection.

It’s beautiful, and I already have a plan for it.  Coming soon…

One day I commented on Angela’s blog, and without realizing it, I was entered for a drawing to win this beautiful bundle of rainbow fabrics.  I’m planning to participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2015, so I’m well on my way!

As far as the gifts I made and gave, I showed most of them many months ago.  I couldn’t show this one though, and now it’s been received in its new home.

My BIL and SIL collect and grow day lilies, so as soon as I saw the name of this quilt in Primitive Quilts and Projects, I knew I had to make it.  It was brown in the magazine, but I was easily able to change it to blue to fit in their house. 

I’ve already finished my February UFO for guild.

I bought the fabric for this in 2009, and when I finally got around to making it, I didn’t think I would still like it, but I do. 

I have several other projects going, and hope to finish up a couple of small things by the end of this week.  I’m doing some cleaning and organizing in my sewing room (again) and I’m preparing a new Traveling Stash box that will be ready to start on its journey soon.  Stay tuned for a chance to enter a drawing.

I’m also working on my Word for 2015, and making plans to join several online projects in the new year.  more about that later – this post is long enough.  Thanks for stopping by!

Sunny

I’ve been busy!

I’ve also been remiss.  I received this postcard from Lin over a week ago, and forgot to share it!  Lin was my partner in Sheila’s Christmas postcard exchange.  If you pop over to visit Lin’s blog, she gives a description of how she made it – very interesting!

The fabrics are shimmery and so beautiful!  Thanks Lin.  I forgot to take a picture of the card I made for Lin, so I’ll have to wait and see if she posts a picture.

Last month, I did some cross stitching, and finished two projects.  I haven’t framed or made them into anything yet, but here’s what I have so far.

This pattern was designed by my friend Liz over at Sunflower Fields Pattern Co.  Liz no longer designs cross stitch patterns, but instead, she designs the cutest little wool patterns that you’ve ever seen.  If you’ve never been to her blog, you should definitely pay her a visit.  I actually asked her about this pattern when it was in the background of one of her little wooly displays, and she very graciously gifted me the pattern.  Thanks Liz!!  I’ll get it framed soon.  I love all things sunflower.

This is Daisy Lane Cottage by Little House Needleworks.  I think I started it several months ago, and then it languished in the ‘pile’.  I always have to have hand work available when I’m watching TV, and it’s what I grabbed one night.  I think it might get made into a small cushion?  I also love patterns with houses and cottages.

But enough about Spring flowers and cottages.  Let’s jump to the current season.  Our Guild is doing a UFO Challenge, and this was the first UFO that I had to complete.  My goal was to get it quilted and bound, but as I may have mentioned last month, I discovered that I had never put it together.  It took me nearly an entire day at Retreat to make the sashing and get it all pieced together.  I give you Warm Winter Blessings.

This was quilted on my Sweet 16, and I’m tickled pink with the way it turned out.  This is by Primitive Gatherings, and was done as a BOM through my quilt club at the LQS.

There was a LOT of leftover fabric from the sashing, which is scrappy, although it’s hard to tell in this picture.  I got 12 fat quarters, 6 neutral and 6 of the medium blue, and I only used about half of each.  I’ve already made a small wall hanging from this line of fabric, and I have another wonderful snowman quilt coming up soon with this fabric.  So I turned the ‘scraps’ into another quilt.

This was given to our Guild Service project for the Sheriff’s Department.  Sorry about the quality of the picture, but I was ready to hand it over when I realized that I didn’t have a picture yet.  Very simple, but I really like it, and I’m hoping it will comfort a child in need some day.  I thought these quilts were due at the December meeting, but I actually have another month, so I may try to get one more made from y ever growing supply of scraps.  The ONLY requirement for the quilts are that they must fit inside a 2 gallon zip lock bag.

Other than a huge pile of flimsies waiting to be quilted, I don’t have a quilt in progress right now.  I must remedy that soon!  I certainly have enough fabric and patterns to choose from. 

What to start next?         Sunny

(internet image)

FNWF results

I’ve been procrastinating posting, because we haven’t seen the sun in many days, and I have no decent photos.  Rest assured that much quilting, much binding, and much ripping have been happening at Chez QD.

Last Night was Friday Night With Friends, and I managed to produce two very simple little mug rugs for former coworkers.

We don’t normally exchange gifts, but they were very helpful in keeping me sane as my job was ending.  We’re getting together for lunch one day this week.

I also made a small project using this fabric, which I totally love.  It makes me happy, and I hope it will make someone else happy soon, too.

   

If the sun ever comes back out, I’ll get pictures of two other quilts.  The small one is completed, and the larger just needs some more stitches on the binding. It should be finished tomorrow. 

I also have to do some gift wrapping tomorrow, and get two packages ready to ship.  Then Ill have to check my list twice to see if I have everything I need that will be hand delivered.  Almost ready!

Thanks for stopping by!      Sunny