Merry Christmas

Christmas scrappy rectangles squared tabletopper

 I made this for a gift for our party of people I work with....
I used a jelly roll of different Christmas fabrics....
and I made up a very simple design....

 I did machine binding with the buttonhole stitch...
very fun to do....Pat Sloan has a really good tutorial on binding by machine...

 I used decorative stitches along the seam lines...
and wrote messages along the borders....

 here is a photo without flash....
total is 20" x 16"...

close-up of some stitching...
I am linking with Linky Party Tuesday, finish it up Friday and Link a Finish Friday.

smiles and hugs....Caryl

Easy Street, Part 3

Here is some of part 3 of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt....
The turquoise is Ricky Tims dyed fabric I bought over 5 years ago...
I bought fabrics with the jewel colors when I attended one of his seminars in early 2007...
So I will be using some of them in this quilt.

I am glad Bonnie said to test a block first.....the first one was not correct....
It is a tricky little block that is for sure.....
glad I didn't chain all that I have cut and have it be way off!!
I am wondering if I pressed correctly....I pressed toward the white with black
and maybe I should have pressed toward the purple square?

For those who haven't started yet....jump in...it's fun!!
Smiles and hugs....Caryl

let's do D9P

I just finished making these little mats/coasters/whatever you want to call them...
they are about 5 1/2" square......

On Sunday afternoon I decided to make a bunch of these for gifts...
I started with a jelly roll of fabrics that I have had for awhile...

I sewed strips in 3 groups of 3 each and then made 9 patches....
I then cut along the centers and twisted the four pieces to make the blocks....

I quilted them with the batting underneath and then trimmed them....
added a back with right sides together..sewed a seam around...
left about a 2" gap....then turned them...and topstitched along the edge.
These were really fun to make and I have more strips to make more...
or to make something else!  Now it is almost time to go to my party!
Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Christmas HST runner

I finally finished this tablerunner....
I started this project in September when I tried out the Easy Triangle Tool and blogged here

Then in October I blogged about it here

In November I did the spirals from the FMQ Challenge and I blogged here

I put words in the lighter colored areas...
joyful...family...memories...love...celebrate...jolly...noel...angels...holly...

 

I used a variegated thread for all the quilting.  It was fun and easy!
I am linking with crazymomquilts for finish it up Friday.
Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Easy Street, Part 2

 I am doing the mystery quilt with Bonnie Hunter of quiltville.com...
part 2 is the purple geese and I am using the squares method to make the geese....

 I finished all 192 of the 4 patches and most of them are piled in this box!
I used 7 different white with black with the gray for these on part 1...
and so far I have used 4 different white with black for part 2.....

Here are some of the fabrics I am using to make this quilt.....
I just love jewel colors....they make me happy!
Anyone still wanting to start this quilt.....it's not too late to download the directions from her site and get started...
Smiles and hugs....Caryl

another D4P tutorial

 In June 2010 I did a tutorial for D4P....
Yesterday I did a slight change in that method...

 I started with 4 Christmas fabric 5" squares...
I sewed them together....
Here is the difference.......... I cut them 1 1/4" from the seam lines instead of 1"....

I finished the same as 2 years ago....
Keep all the corners in place and move the center outside sections...
L to R and R to L and top to bottom and bottom to top...
then turn the center 180 degrees...
and then sew all the sections together!
This is a fun and quick block to do with 2, 3 or 4 different fabrics in each block!
Be sure to let me know if you try this!!
Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Easy Street - Part 1

 So I decided to do the Easy Street mystery quilt.  This will be my first one!

Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville gave the first clue last Friday.
On Sunday I decided to do it and checked her site for the info.
There she was having a quilt cam session so I had my iPad on my cutting table cutting away
and listening to Bonnie!  The gray is dimples fabric.

Photos are work in progress.  There will be 384 2" twosies.

I

Then the twosies are turned into 192 4-patches.

Tomorrow she will post the next part.
I am linking up to her site where everyone is showing their progress.
It's not too late to follow along or at least print out the directions to do later.

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

 

Creative Workshop Bliss

 This afternoon I set aside some time like going to a class....
I have been thinking about this for a week and thinking of a plan....
I had a few rules....I would do something just being creative...
AND not necessarily for the finished product....
And I would call it "Creative Workshop Bliss".............

 I started with no plan......I drew out a tree and snowbanks with an air erasable pen...
then I forgot my first rule to treat it like going to a class....
or meeting with friends to enjoy a time together....
off I went to clean the bathrooms....oops...when I came back the lines were gone!!!...
so I just started sewing and sewing....deciding as I went along...
with some free motion sewing and zendoodling....
wheeee.....what a fun time....
then I took my Paintstix and put some color on the snow hills and tree....
not sure what I will do with this next....
I will plan some more of these sessions to try new things...
and practice my zendoodling....it is so relaxing......

Here is my batik rails that I have been quilting....
I am writing little messages in some of the light strips....
laugh every day.....
today I will choose joy....  etc
Today I also checked out my new My Memories software...
I had a fun day....how about you?
Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Get your walking shoes on....

Okay...so we indulged a little and that is okay...
Now let's get back and walk those miles....
I really enjoy Leslie Sansone DVDs....
and did 3 mile walk today with this DVD....

Are you ready to get your walking shoes on?  Let's go....
Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Hope it was good....

Pat Sloan had this on her blog today and I did a copycat...

As some of you know I have been diligently following WW since May (this is the umpteenth time on WW) and when I was contemplating what to eat today I read this on twitter from Weight Watchers:
"Eat dishes that are just served on T-Day instead of foods you can have anytime."
So that is what I did....hope you all making wonderful memories today!!
Smiles and hugs...Caryl

Road trip to the mountains

 Saturday we heard it was overcast and cool in the mountains....

 SO we headed to our old neighborhood about an hour away......

 There were deer everywhere.....

 And lots of turkeys too....

AND this former farmgirl had to have a photo of the cows in the pasture...
What a wonderful afternoon it was to enjoy the fall day!!
Smiles and hugs....Caryl

projects, roses and a finish

 Here is a springy tablerunner with Eden charm squares I finished today...

 I blogged about it before in October....

 I changed the quilting with each square and some I followed the fabric design..

 I took a photo of my roses today..the name of the rose is Paradise Found...

 here is my batik rail fence quilt with center quilting started....

here is the same March FMQ Challenge sample with the paintstix I blogged about this week...

but now I used Smooch taffy on the heart...

and on the flower to the right of the heart I used twinkling H2Os fuzzy peach...

I was checking to see what I liked the best....

Actually I like to work with all three of these items!!

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

 



 

 



 

 

Paintstix Fun

I have had my Paintstix for a long time and never get around to playing with them... Today I read a blog with the title "Quilt, Then Paint".....~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ the blog is here........ Sue Kelly does the quilting first and then paints on the fabric. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I decided today was the day to use the Paintstix and I had a quilted piece handy. I used my March FMQ Challenge sample with the flowers and spirals... This is so much fun and satisfies my need to paint and also work with fabric and quilting... Oh what fun to try new things!! Smiles and hugs....Caryl

November FMQ Challenge

The SewCalGal blog has Sara Vedeler this month for the tutorial. She has an excellent tutorial on the spiral. I practiced a little bit on paper and then did spirals in the border around my Roman Holiday HST tablerunner..... I wish I would have not used the red, green and white thread. It would have been better to use all of one color. It is really fun to do and I plan on using this sprial in more projects...................................... Go check out this tutorial. Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Flying geese blocks tutorial

 This is one method you can use to make flying geese.  I learned this method at our guild meeting.
Start with one large square (5 1/4") and four smaller squares (2 7/8").

 Place two of the small squares on the large square and draw a diagonal line.
Sew 1/4" on each side of the line.

 Cut them apart on the diagonal line and press to the small squares.
You will have two of these units.  Place a small square in the corner of each unit.

 Draw a diagonal line and sew 1/4" on each side of the line on each of the units.
Cut them apart and press to the small squares.

AND you have four flying geese blocks. 
This method is fun and easy!
Smiles and hugs....Caryl