Christmas in November

Well, a beginning of Christmas in November...

See these blocks? I got them already sewn from my dear friend Tonya at Hillbilly Handiworks. I didn't really have a plan for them, but decided to use them and make my first ever, actual Christmas quilt. I started out cutting them up and putting them back together.

And then I added more fabric that I bought from her a while back.

My plan began to form, and this is what the center will be.

I will have to add a bit more solid strips to it, and then use the remainder of the put-together squares on the outside border. I have a plan for them, but as I've been sewing them together, they are playing hide and seek from me and I am struggling to keep them in any kind of order. Still, I think it will all work out and I'll show you the finished top when I get it done. I wanted to use only fabric from Tonya, but the dimensions just didn't work out right for the amount of squares I had, so I'll have to get something to go with it. I know what I want, so to Hobby Lobby I'll be going tomorrow. After all, the wife does need a little "Dear Season" shopping right???

My new quilting buddy Janice and I have decided to do a BOM together. We are going to agree each month on a design and put it together. Each block will be representative of that particular month. Our first block will be for November and we decided on a pattern called falling leaves. These are the fabrics I'm thinking about using. I may swap out the dark brown for something more in the red catagory.

We found this pattern and will do one of the blocks in the quilt. I'm excited to get started. We have our December block and January block chosen as well. But I'll share those later.

Here is the latest photo of my heart and joy. He's growing up way too fast and knows that smile will get him anything he wants.

Enjoy your weekend. My thanks go out to our veterans everywhere!!!

Calico Critters

Surprisingly, I was able to finish another quilt today. I say that because I have been in the midst of getting ready for a yard sale and didn't think I'd have time to sew this week.

I took what I think is rather ugly not so pretty fabric, and used it with some embroidered panels that I colored.

I once again tried my hand at fmq and had to fiddle with the tension, set my rhythm, and just experiment. I did something different around each animal.

Eggs around the chick, bones around the puppy, fish around the kitty and swirlies around the piglet. That was fun but challenging.

The puppy and kitty were printed panels and the chick and piggy were from a coloring book that I used to try and match them. It was a fun process and one I'll probably do again. I hope this simple quilt is pleasing to a young couple who are going through a trying time with their infant in the NICU.

I have been in prayer for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. My heart goes out to them and I am thankful I'm in my safe, warm, dry home right now.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

There is this thing going on in blogland. It's called the Blogger's Quilt Festival : Fall 2012.

 I have been encouraged to enter by two dear ladies who I consider sweet bloggy friends. I debated, simply because after looking at some of the entries, my confidence took a hit. But, I decided to go ahead and do it just for fun.

This is my entry.

You can see it in this post.  It's made from scraps I had in my fabric stash. The toile came from a baby bedding set I bought at a yard sale. The solid pink from an old set of scrubs, the green was leftover from a quilt I made for my son, and the plaid is from one of my mother's old shirts. I have added it to a stack of baby quilts I'm donating to the NICU at St. Vincent's Infirmary in Little Rock.

Finished quilt measures : 36" x 36"

Quilted by: Me (Belinda Winston)

Best Category : Baby Quilt, Scrap Quilt, Home machine quilted

 

Well, there you have it. This festival is going to be very inspiring I can tell. And the sponsors are being very generous!! Good luck to everyone who has entered!

Relief!!

I'm finally finished with my postage stamp quilt and pillow sham. It seems like months since I began...well, maybe it has been because I hand pieced the quilt top.

I spread it on the floor to see just how nice it looks. Warts and all. ;)

The sham neads a little straightening up on the bed.

All put together. Yayyy, now I can focus on something else. I'm still working on hand piecing another top, but I have some other things in the works as well. And since Christmas is sooo close, I really need to slow down on the quilting and do some other sewing for gifts. At least now I can breathe a sigh of relief!!!

 

Animal Fun

I finally finished a quilting project. It seems like I haven't finished one in so very long. This one is another with embroidered panels that my friend J gave me. She also gave me 95% of the fabrics used in this particular quilt.

I didn't realized I had misplaced two of the panels, and thought I only had the six left. Otherwise I would have made it with only four of the panels. The dimensions are not what I wanted, but it would make a nice crib quilt.

I kicked around the notion of trying some fmq around the animals, but talked myself out of it. Maybe on the next one.

My favorite of all the panels is this little elephant. I'm happiest with the way the crayon work turned out on him. I made two more panels to go with the two I misplaced. I used coloring book pages as templates and will put the four of them together for my next project.

First, I'm going to bind my postage stamp quilt, but that will have to be tomorrow. I'm also working on a pillow sham to match it.

I have all the strips sewn together and the quilting done on it, but don't have a photo of that yet. When it's all done and on the bed, I'll give you a look see. Enjoy your weekend everyone!!

Christmas in October

I didn't have an idea on a Christmas project this month, until I saw the decorations going up at Walmart. Already?! Yes, already and I'm torn about that. I like having access to supplies and such, but think we need to wait a little and focus on Thanksgiving first. Oh well, they didn't ask me.

I remembered a little something I saw on a blog last year, and I might have seen it on Pinterest, but I don't remember. When I spotted a little sparkly gold reindeer ornament, it hit me and I had everything I needed except that. So, for $.97 I wound up with something for this month.

This is what I started with:

I got out my Christmas fabric, an old picture frame, some foam board, and a few other odds and ends.
1. Painted the frame white.
2. Covered the foam board with fabric and secured it with hot glue.
3. Set that inside the frame and secured it, then covered the back with more fabric just for good measure.
4. Hot glued the ornament to the board inside the frame.
5. Hot glued some leftover rick rack around the edge of the frame.
(What would we do without hot glue?!)

And.....VOILA!

This could be hung on the wall, but I like it sitting in a frame holder on the table.

I do think it will look better with other Christmas decorations and not my sunflowers. *wink*
It occurred to me that this could be done on a smaller scale with miniature ornaments and embroidery frames. Then they could be hung on the tree. That might be something for a future project.

And that ladies and gentlemen, is my October Christmas project. It took me very little time and very little money. That's always a plus!

How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm...

After they've seen Paris?.....ahem...anyone remember that song? It was before my time, but it popped into my head.

I finished a quilt using embroidered panels that I colored in with crayons. I have to admit, I really like this one. I've dubbed it Barnyard Shuffle.

My new quilting buddy Janice gave me the panels. I colored them in, heat set the ink and coated it with textile medium, and did a quick embroidery back stitch around and through them.

It was kinda fun coloring. I always loved it when I was growing up. Still do on occasion with the little one. Everything I used except for the panels were from my stash. I'm on my way to using some of it up.

I have eight more panels to make into two more quilts and I'm going to continue using more of the red and black in the second one. Not sure what else I'll add to it, as I want it to be different and I am out of the black polka dot.  On the third one, I'll be using some of the fabric Janice gave me with the panels.

This was fun and a quick work up. Thanks Janice for such cute panels and inspiration!