Instant Design Wall

Like many of you I do not have the space for a big or regular type design wall.....I solved that today with the help of a bit of self adhesive velcro and a cheapy $7.00 twin size blanket from my local Wal-Mart.

What I did was to cut 2" strips of the loopy side of the velcro and place them on the door frame of the closet in my sewing room, then I proceeded to hang the blanket on the door. I stretched it a bit so it would be taunt and "Voila....Instant design wall!" I trimmed the blanket to the size of my door and now I have the perfect place to 'try out' my blocks. It's an easy job to pull the blanket off the velcro strips to get into the closet, and there are no nails or hooks to damage the woodwork. This would work well on the back of any door also.

The cute quilt you see on my new design wall is a kitty quilt for my daughters cat 'Lucky'. Since my own cat 'Duke' will only lie where I place his little quilt my daughter asked if I could make one for 'Lucky'...I had some scraps of fabric left over from my Valentine project and decided to use it along with a bit of pink gingham, I framed it in black. It's not finished yet but I do believe that 'Lucky' will love her blanky. I will just back the little quilt with some fleece and machine quilt in the ditch to finish it off. I have all sorts of scraps of fleece left over from my Christmas projects, so I guess you could call this little quilt a "Freeby".

Having a bit of fun with this as it's too darn cold to do anything else but to stay put. That always means me and my 'pet' projects. (Sorry for the pun but I couldn't resist...*LOL*).....

~~Fran...:c)

Sweet Dreams

Well I certainly hope that these pillows will only hold sweet dreams for my two little pussy cats.

It was Belinda at http://browndirtcottage.blogspot.com/ that shared with me the idea for making these for my grandaughters. I was having a brain freeze and just couldn't think of what to do for them for Valentines and Voila!!.... all it took was for a crafty lady to put the bug in my ear and I was off and running. Thanks again Belinda.

I have to tell you that here we are approaching the end of January and (touch wood) I have not bought any new fabrics. Mind, I haven't been near a fabric store, so no real temptations there :c)) These cases were made from 100% of stuff I had on hand, right down to the lace I've been hoarding for heaven only knows how long....I very seldom throw anything away....LOL.... I am such a pack rat, I cringe when I think that someday my family may have to deal with all my 'junk'. Hopefully they will do it with fond memories of what came out of all of it.

~~Fran...:c)

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What's your score?

Are you up for a challenge?

Janet Wickell on About.com Quilting Guide is asking how much you really know about quilting.

Name the Quilt Block Quiz This might be the most popular quiz on the Quilting site. Can you name these thirty traditional quilt blocks? Some are way easy, and a few are a little more obscure.

Name the Quilt Design (or Layout) There's a bonus built-in to this quilting quiz. It's based on twenty quilts, all made by the About.com community.

It's tough and I'm not too proud to say I've got a lot to learn...but...I did pass by the skin of my teeth mind you, but I scored 63% on the first and 65% on the second.

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It wont be hard to beat these scores.

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Take the challenge if you DARE....and let's compare scores.

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I'll be looking forward to hearing from you. Good luck and ....what was it Luke Skywalker use to say?.....oh yea......"May the force be with you".

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~~Fran...:c)

Valentine Contest..Don't miss Out..

Go check out this lovely Valentine Day contest at http://www.golanigo.blogspot.com/.
She has an amazing little contest going on and you could win all the goodies in this picture and more!!
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As much as I've tried I can't seem to make up my mind about what to make for Valentines day this year. Every year I try to make something new....I could maybe try to make something red for the kitchen....hmmmm...that's a thought!
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Since my daughter and her husband usually go out for dinner on Valentines we have the grandaughters over for a candlelight dinner of our own in the dining room. I lay the table with a white cloth and use large red doilies for place mats, Papa's flowers to Nana are the centerpiece and I always use the best china and light red candles. We drink the "champagne" of ginger ales and we have a fabulous decadent cheesecake for dessert. It's become a tradition for the last 5 years. Just 'cause your little doesn't mean you can't be treated to a fancy night out. (At the same time I feel it makes them appreciate the finer things in life). Heck to tell the truth...I do it for me...when else can I use the best china and have a candlelight dinner with 2 beautiful girls and one handsome old man...*lol* (hope he doesn't read this blog). Every year I try and make a craft with the girls for Valentines and this year I'm stumped... If you can give me some ideas I'd be forever grateful.
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I'm plugging along on my Bonnie Hunter Quilt called 'Virginia Bound'. The only way I could get it all in the picture was to turn the camera sideways...so you see my fabric shelf in the back sitting on it's side...*lol* I am trying a new technique of sewing in strips and machine quilting as I go. The theory is when I've done these 2 strips, I will make 2 more and attach them to this one, thus only having 2 strips at a time to quilt instead of a whole big quilt. I'll keep you posted as I go along...hope it works, because I have a few quilts in my arsenal (closet) that need quilting and I get discouraged just looking at the great mass of fabric in each one. Heck if this works I'll even pick out a few rows of the other quilts and try to do them this way also.

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~~Fran...:c)

Tree Napkins

I know..I know...I know...Christmas is over and it's the new year and we should be thinking of other things, BUT...my friend Ann Perry sent me this picture and I fell in love with it. I just HAD to share....I asked her if I could post it on my blog and it turns out that another old friend, Irene Puzinas made these and she very generously shared the pattern with me. You can get it at http://home.att.net/~sewandsew/christmas.html The instructions are clear and precise and you can download the pdf file to your computer. The lady who wrote these instructions is named Dee Barber. So go take a look and if you like them you can write a quick note to Dee to thank her for simplifying these instructions.
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She cut 4 out of 1 yard of fabric, and just look at how beautiful these are. Apparently, Irene tells me that the secret is all in the folding. I can just see these decorating the table for Christmas dinner. For my own table they would have to be red/white or red/green to match my Christmas dishes. I guess I could use a combination of green/gold or red/gold as the plates are rimmed in gold...Hmmm...to the fabric cupboard...
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I was lucky enough to receive a $50. gift certificate for Wal-Mart from my oldest son this Christmas, and when he visited on NewYears day he said "you and I are going to go shopping mom, and I want to see just what I got you for Christmas". He knows me so well....I would have put this in my purse and piddled it away on household stuff and not have got anything for myself, and he said.."I'm not getting you toilet paper or laundry detergent for Christmas. End of story!"
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Anyway to get back to what I was saying...I was lucky enough to hit all the sales on Christmas fabric at 75% off and I loaded up. Now when I saw these napkins I thought ...wow, I can make these for the girls for next year and since they are so easy to make I will spoil myself and make a dozen for me also. Now I can get a head start. I never want to leave Christmas sewing to the last minute ever again.
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~~Fran...:c)

Creature Comforts

And the stockings were hung....on the banister?... with care. (Oh well Santa always finds them no matter where)

Being the smallest member of the family does not mean that you don't get to hang your stocking with the rest of the family...There were visions of 'catnip' dancing in his head, and a surprise Santa if you would..."I've been a really good kitty this year".

Now it wouldn't have been Christmas if 'Duke' had not received his Christmas wish.... a sock full of homemade catnip toys and a 'surprise' quilt of his own! If you take a close up look you will see by the look in his eyes that the cat nip has been put to good use...a VERY mellow kitty, that is after his mad dash around the house and rolling all over his toys...*lol....lol...lol*

I had some crumb squares which have been hanging around for a year or more, and since I only had 6 they were perfect for this little treasure. I figured all those colors would maybe hide the cat hair...*lol*

What??? Do you think all think I'm crazy?.....You may be right...*lol* but of all the members of this family he is the least complaining or demanding one. Now that deserves a reward! And to reward me he has taken to sleeping on his quilt only and stays off the white couch. No more cat hair on the couch. Now that's a bonus...!!

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~~Fran...:c)

Revealed at Last

At last I can show you what I was so busy doing before Christmas. These are "Pillow Quilts" also known as "Quilows" I'm told. I made 13 of these for Christmas presents this year. These are just some of the pictures I was able to find. As I've said in my last post, I am in the process of trying to get all of my "stuff" off my husband's computer onto my own. I've lost a few pictures, found a few I thought I'd lost and have become totally confused and frustrated in the process.

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I am happy to announce that my family were all thrilled with their Christmas gifts. I can even go so far as to say that the grandaughter's were "over the moon". Although I do admit to fussing a bit over those, adding beads, sequins, and appliques, the grandson's were much simpler in that they got none of that 'fancy' stuff...*lol* But man-0-man was that a tough one for me to get done on time. As it was I ended giving up trying to make some for the whole family and my sons and one son-in law ended getting store bought gifts this year. Their turn next year....BUT....I'm going to start those babies in June!

I will continue to post pictures as I find them. My other son-in-law received a Christmas chef's apron and hat, (he loves cooking) . I made a Christmas set of oven mitts, pot holders and apron for one of my daughter-in-laws, and a set of pot holders, oven mitts, and 6 linen tea towels for my other daughter in law.

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I have started a new project and I'm taking this one nice and easy. It's called "Virginia Bound" and can be found in Bonnie Hunters new book, 'Scraps and Shirttails. It's the first one in the book and although she makes it look so easy, I think I am mentally challenged when it comes to making these bits and pieces look as nice as hers do. Well time will tell, and believe me time it will take. I'm giving myself a good 2 months for this one project. As I figure it will take me that long.

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Now if my "N.Y. resolution" holds up, once this quilt is finished my goal will be to finish at least one UFO from last year before starting another quilt. Sounds reasonable and do-able doesn't it?

As I said time will tell.

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Till next time...

~~Fran...:c)

Happy New Year

Hi there, hope you all had a very good holiday season and look forward to a bright and productive new year.

"Santa" was very good to me this year, I received goodies from everyone in my family and one of those goodies was a new computer. We are trying to set this computer up in my sewing/sitting room, and we are experiencing all the fun problems that you can expect when trying to do this kind of thing. NOTHING...ever goes right the first time....or the second...you start making progress around # 5 and that's where we're at. We are trying to put in a wireless router and to have my own 'stuff' up here there will have to be a lot of file sharing between our computers. It seems that I also had to get a new account with Outlook Express. My new e-mail address is ...quilters7@sympatico.ca... All of our picture library is still downstairs in hubby's computer, have to move that, along with all of my folders and quilt patterns and whatnot's, so please bear with me while we try and work this out.

I always say I won't make any New Years resolutions, but as always I broke the rule and made one.
My goal for 2009 is NOT to buy any more fabric until I have used up at least 1/3 of my stash.

I just love scrap quilts and boy-o-boy do I have scraps. I bought Bonnie Hunters book Scraps and Shirttails. It is an amazing book, you should see all the beautiful quilts that can be made from your old scraps. I've made a promise to myself to make at least 3 of these quilts this year.

I also MUST finish my 2008 UFO's, if for no other reason, that the space these projects are in is piling up......{the closet}...it's getting to be like Dagwood's closet, for those of you that remember Blondie and Dagwood... I can't open that closet without 3-4 things falling out...that's pretty bad...*lol*
I've asked Belinda at Brown Dirt Cottage to keep me 'honest'. Have you all had a look at that beautiful baby quilt she's done? Gorgeous and all hand quilted. Big hand of applause for her.

Spent the afternoon at my quilt guild and now I have to go get dinner ready. I think the evening will be spent on trying to find some Irish ancestors. My daughter is doing our genealogy, and doing a darn good job of it but she's reached a snag, and I'm going to try and help. Wish me luck.

Until next time...

~~Fran...:c)