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

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Some Christmas finishes

 I finished these two placemats to match the two I made last year using Kate Spain fabric...
 And two potholders with some of same fabrics..........
 Here are the swap blocks from our Sloanie group in 2012 that I finally got into a top to hang...
but will quilt it later....just had to get it hung before Christmas!
 Some of the steps of the Bonnie Hunter mystery..........I don't have very much done so far....

The next photos are family photos and the first one I love of Kali (GGD) looking at our iTwinkle tree that changes patterns, colors, etc using the iPad.
 Kali watching the John Deere train set up on my cutting table....
 Then family on Christmas Eve.....


Happy Holidays everyone.....
I will link with crazy mom quilts and with Freemotion by the River.....

Thursday, December 17, 2015

mini quilt and 4 coasters

 I really like making these foundation pieced mini quilts and I just had to make another one.  It is similar to the one last week and this is a little larger.
 I do simple quilting around the blocks and I used varigated thread.
 Here is the back before I quilted the front....
 Here are four coasters I made from some string blocks I made from scraps of fabric.  Some strips were only one inch wide and ended up ½" in the block or less.  I usually like the look of straight line quilting but didn't like it on the first coaster....so on the others I changed to the #4 stitch at 3.5 wide and 1.5 length.  The fronts and backs are each quilted separately and then right sides joined together and turned and top stitched.  Very fun and very easy.
Here are the backs of the coasters....

Linking to crazy mom quilts finish it up Friday
and Connie at Freemotion by the River Linky Tuesday

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

December Quilty Box

Here is what came in my quilty box this month.  Leah Day chose the items for this box.  She has a video at her site here.  Beautiful Island Batiks in colors I really like.  Be sure to check her site and check quiltybox.com.  Very fun surprise to get in the mail every month.

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Christmas mini quilt and coaster


 Blissful happy sewing................this mini quilt is so fun to make....
I needed a Christmas mini in the spot where I had a Halloween mini hanging!...

sewing on a muslin foundation and no exact measuring of pieces....
finger pressing after each strip....such a delightful sewing project!
 Photos of the front and back before quilting...Laurel Burch fabrics.............
 photo of when it was in progress........
 Coaster where I quilted front and back separately....
 the back was a charm square quilted....separate batting on each piece...

photo before I put the top right sides together and stitched and then trimmed the excess...

So I had two finishes this week (small ones).....a nice break from some of my other larger projects

Some of the other projects I am working on....Allietare (Quiltvile............Another Part of Me (FB Gudrun's Quilt Crew)......Little Wishes (Pat Sloan).....Sloanie swap blocks......

Linking to crazy mom quilts finish it up Friday...
and Connie at Freemotion by the River...Linky Tuesday...

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Friday, November 27, 2015

Christmas tablemat 12x12

 I finished this little tabletopper last night during halftime of the Aztec basketball game.  The game was way too exciting to do any quilting during the game.  And our Aztecs won in a thriller!

About this Christmas mat...I used four-patches that I had left over from 2011 when I made a mat that was similar but it is bigger.  The four-patches were made from charm squares.  I needed a 12x12 mat for an end table with a Christmas theme.  This could also be used as a candle mat.
The fabric is 12 days of Christmas by Kate Spain.
Closeup photo before I did the hand quilting.  The machine quilting is decorative stitch #332 on my
Bernina at default setting (5.5 x3.2).  The thread is varigated Yuletide by Superior and for the hand quilting I used aurifil 12 wt #5006 (tart finishing set from Fat Quarter Shop).

I am linking to crazy mom quilts finish it up Friday.....
And to Linky Tuesday...Freemotion by the River

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Thursday, November 19, 2015

ticker tape mini quilt

I have wanted to make another ticker tape quilt for awhile.  They are so fun to make.
I got a lot of music fabric at an estate sale and it seemed like a fun background for a mug rug.
 These are about the easiest thing to make...and here is a short tutorial on how I made it:
Sooooo.....grab some scraps and start sewing......Place your scraps of fabric leaving some spaces..
I used the music fabric for the front and the back and cut it larger than the batting.  I brought the back around and used it for a self binding.  The photo shows how I folded the back all around and pinned to keep it out of the way when trimming the front and batting.
 Then I trimmed the back 1" beyond the front and folded it in half and then half again....
then brought it around to the top.....
 I used a decorative stitch around the edge on top.  On my Bernina I used stitch #332...
the setting was 2.2 length and 4.5 width

This one is 10 x 5½............AND I will be making larger ones too.
Let me know if you make one of these.........

Since this is a finish...I am linking with crazy mom quilts Finish it up Friday...
Also linking to Freemoion by the River Linky Tuesday...

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Trunk Show

Soma at Whims and Fancies is hosting a virtual trunk show.

So here are some of my quilts.............

This is one I made many year ago using the strip tube ruler.........
Next is the largest one I have made...scrappy trips from Bonnie Hunter's pattern Scrappy Trip around the World.  I used all Sandy Gervais jelly rolls....a lot of them!
Next is my giddy postage stamp quilt............I did this with Rachel at psiquilt..........
Next is string bean challenge quilt from Pat Sloan challenge.........

Next is a baby quilt I made for my great granddaughter.............

Some smaller projects I have done........
Japan Star from Carol Doak's book Mariner's Compass Stars.......

D4P tablerunner.................

I hope you enjoyed my trunk show......
Go check out some of the other trunk shows that are linked.........

Smiles and hugs.....Caryl

Monday, November 16, 2015

Quilty Box for November

Look what came in the mail today?
There might still be some September and October quilty boxes left for those interested.
They mail something different on the 11th of each month.

I have been doing my blogs with my phone for several months (for me very difficult and tedious) and this post is with my new computer.......yipeeeee...............

Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Halloween D4P mini quilt

Simple disappearing 4 patch from Pumpkin Party charm squares.
I am using it as a tabletopper. 
It finished at 12" x 12".
Machine quilted in a spiderweb pattern. 
Quick and fun!

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Pumpkin Harvest placemats and potholders

I finished four small projects this week. Two placemats with Awesome fabric on the sides and top and Harvest fabric in the center to match the border fabric of the tablerunner from last post. I did x hand quilting on one of them. Two pot holders I  used same fabrics and one I stitched in the ditch around the center. The other one I machine stitched along the seams before I turned it.
I am linking with crazymomquilts. 





The last photo shows the foreground placemats from 2012 and the new things I have finished this week and last week. 

Friday, October 23, 2015

Harvest Joy Pumpkin Patch tablerunner


 I am so happy with this tablerunner.  It is 42x15 1/2 and I got the free pattern for the block from Sarah at sewjoycreations.com. The first block of her pattern is what I used and the blog post was August 26, 2015.   I used fabric from a kit for the blocks.  For the outer border I used fabric I purchased last fall in Oak Glen.  Photos taken outside yesterday and I included closeups of each block.  I quilted with black thread on the green squares with x pattern and in the ditch around the pumpkins.  I am using the border fabric for placemats and the sides and top are Awesome fabric to match up with placemats I made in 2012.
I am linking with crazymomquilts