“Friendship, love, health, energy, enthusiasm, and joy
are the things that make life worth living and exploring.” ~ Denise Austin

Thursday, November 29, 2012

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
 

Saturday, November 24, 2012

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

Friday, November 23, 2012

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

Thursday, November 22, 2012

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

Monday, November 19, 2012

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

Thursday, November 15, 2012

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
 

 
 

 
 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

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

Saturday, November 10, 2012

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

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

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

Saturday, November 3, 2012

ready...set....go...

I have four projects in the corner of my living room just waiting for me....
I need to make some progress on them before I start something  new....

the four are on My WIP and FIU Projects list on the sidebar:
Roman Holiday HST tablerunner
Eden tablerunner
70 9 patch 2009 crazy mom quilt along
KiwiBerry Bali Pops quilt

I really enjoy looking at so many things that everyone is doing....blogs, pinterest, flickr, quilt mashup, facebook, twitter, etc....got to get busy now...
Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Awesome fun placemats




 I finished the two placemats I started last week...
I decided they needed more than just the buttonhole stitch around the pumpkins...
So I added some Xs on the sides and in the ditch quilting along borders
and then I did some free motion  heart leaves and loops around the pumpkin...
The fabrics I used were:
Awesome by Sandy Gervais
the black is Holly Holderman antique dots by Lakehouse
the orange for the pumpkin was in my stash and the selvage said The Cat's Meow...
I went online to research it and the ad is described below...
The Cat's Meow - Tonal Curls & Swirls - Flame Red
Butter, Orange, Flame RedLooking for a whimsical border, backing, background or quilt block application that is full of movement and joy? This little print is just the ticket! Done with a limited palette and on a small scale, you'll want to include this in your stash of fabrics to have on hand. Larger curls are about 3/4", from 'The Cat's Meow' collection by Bella Lu Studio for South Seas


SO.....I actually finished something.....will add it to my finished project list...
The last finish I did was in May!!
Smiles and hugs....Caryl