Mr. Liam turns 6

 

Today is Liam’s 6th birthday.   Hard to believe it was 6 years ago that hubby and I became grandparents…..didn’t we just have our own kids?   LOL!  

We aren’t able to be with him today but did have him over here last weekend for a small “party”.

 

He is loving his new cd player.  It has a cassette player too.  So we gave him our kids old cassettes of radio shows like Gunsmoke (Liam says he loves it) and The Lone Ranger (he says those are too scary).   We even had a tape of Papa telling stories to the kids when they were 4 & 2!   Liam loved asking “is that Mommy talking or Uncle Daniel”?  

Happy birthday, Liam!     Have a super duper fun day.                Nana loves you.

Design Wall Monday - Sweet Garden

I randomly post Design Wall Monday entries.  Mostly because I don’t change what’s up there very often…….you’d think cuz I was so darn slow but really it’s cuz I’m so easily distracted by other projects!  
Anyhoo.  I’m currently working on a quilt pattern called “Sweet Garden” by Carolina Patchworks.  I’m using fabric by Aneela Hoey…its her line called “Sherbet Pips”.  So cute.
This quilt is done in big sections.  I’ve sewn one section together and am working on the second one.  There are nine of them.   

See what others have up on their design walls here.

McKenna Ryan

Last month I got to take a fun trip (as part of my work day, no less!) to McKenna Ryan's new showroom on Bainbridge Island.   Mckenna is a quilt artist/designer who has been in the quilting world for 10 years.  I love her designs.

Here we are at the showroom in front of two of McKenna's Christmas quilts.  

This was how one of the rooms was set up:

This is one of my favorite set of designs...in a fabric color way that I hadn't seen before:

Another view of the showroom:

  If you're ever coming to Bainbridge Island, be sure to give yourself plenty of time and include McKenna's showroom in your visit. 

Knitted Fingerless gloves

I tried knitting some fingerless gloves in the round this fall.  It was slow work…all those double pointed needles were tricky.  I got the hang of it and managed to get one glove done.  But decided I didn’t like the pattern so took it all out    I was determined to have fingerless gloves this year, though!  So I dug out a pattern called “Waffle Stitch Fingerless Gloves” by Jill Toporkiewicz that I got on this site.   They are done flat and seamed up the side.  Wow!  So fast.   This is the way to get it done.  

Here they are:

And here is a close up:

Beach Projects

I just had 3 fabulous days of fun at the beach with my Yaya's.  This was our tenth time to go to the Washington coast for a girls get-away.   We spend our time creating, eating, laughing, walking on the beach (though, this year the weather didn't cooperate much), hot tubbing, dancing,  talking....and talking....and talking.  :)

I was more productive than usual.  Here are pictures of two of my favorite finishes.

LOVE this bag!  This is a pattern by Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk called "Mail Sack".  Isn't that fabric gorgeous?

We all made fabric wrapped clothesline bowls this year.  Mine is the bright long skinny one in the foreground.   I added a fun circular embellishment on the side....and may add some beads, not sure yet.  I made one of these bowls before....super easy.

Every time I finish projects I'm always motivated to finish more.   It's time to start digging in my unfinished project bins.   :)

Machine Lace

I joined the Machine Embroiderers of Oregon and Washington (MEOW for short) group this year.  I have a wonderful Viking sewing machine that can do amazing things besides sew a straight seam.......except I don't know how!   I figured years of ignorance was enough and it was time to learn new skills.   This group is all about machine artistry. The ladies do incredible work and I am excited to see what the year holds.  

The project this month was machine lace.  Cynthia Keim was our teacher.   She is truly an inspiring woman who makes spectacular quilts despite major physical limitations.  

Below are some pictures of Cynthia's lace work in quilts.  Some times she cuts holes (yes, I said holes!) in her quilts and then creates lace work in the opening....and some times the shapes are created separately and tacked on the quilt afterwards.

I only worked on creating shapes in a hoop.....no holes in quilts for me.  :)     The thread work is done on water soluble stabilizer that is put in a embroidery hoop and free motion stitched.  As you can see by the picture below I have a long way to go in learning this technique!   :)     Fun class!

Pillowcase dresses

We had a sew-in day at Pink Chalk to help Emily make her goal of 100 little dresses for Africa.   Emily is a senior at North Kitsap High and chose this as her senior year service project.  I don't remember how we at Pink Chalk became involved but I'm glad we did.  It was such a fun project.

This is Emily and her Mom:

And this is a small sample of the dresses we made:

I had to leave early (had grand kids to go play with) but I guess about 35 dresses were made.   Way to go ladies!  

These dresses are super easy to make and you can find directions for them at the Little Dresses site (link is above).  And they also need Britches for Boys (shorts).   

Stack of Yumminess

I cut this lovely stack of color today at work -- the biggest order I’ve cut so far.   I love cutting solids…reminds me of crayons….and who doesn’t love crayons?   :)

White House Quilting Bee

Who knew?  LOL!

This makes me laugh!

New Block of the Month

Bunny Hill Designs has a new free block of the month program starting called "Henrietta Whiskers".   I love Bunny Hill's appliquéd quilts.  LOVE them.   This will be the third year I've printed off the block of the month patterns.  The first was called "A Tisket, A Tasket".  I decided to wait until the whole years worth of block directions were printed before starting it.   Bad move....cuz then I saw the first block of the next one ("Snowbound") and liked it better....again deciding to wait until I had all of them before starting.   This time I avoided going to Bunny Hill's web site so I wouldn't be tempted.  I had learned.   :)    I bought the background fabric for Snowbound and made other fabric decisions, like wool for the snowmen.

 And then today....blog surfing.....just wanted to take a peek....just a wee one.....big mistake.....Miss Henrietta is so cute.....so cute.   I guess what I really learned is that I have no resistance.   

Winslow Market Tote

I made this bag for my daughter-in-law for Christmas.  The pattern is called "Winslow Market Tote"...also by my boss, Kathy Mack.   :)     This bag went together so fast and is pretty big.   That black and white Paris fabric is a pocket and there is one on the other side too.   I used mostly fabrics from the "Matisse" line by Alexander Henry.....I wanted a french themed bag and those worked well.  

Crochet Hook Holder

Now that Christmas is over I can share some of the things I made.  For my daughter I crocheted a lovely lace scarf....but forgot to take pics!   Oops.   But I did remember to take pics of the crochet hook holder I made her.  I used the Pencil Roll pattern by Kathy Mack and adapted it a teeny bit for the hooks (just made it shorter in height).   Easy and fun.....just like I like.

Here it is all rolled up:

This is the outside of it...such cute fabric:

This is the inside with the flap down....covering the hooks:

This is it all opened up...I left room for her to add more hooks:

I think this pattern works well for any straight items.  And its easy to adjust the height and width if needed.   It sewed up pretty fast so would be a great pattern to have on hand for a quick gift. 

Fabric Wrapped Rope Basket

I made a fabric wrapped basket for the first time for a friend a while ago.  I wasn't able to blog about it until her birthday....which was this month.  :)   It turned out really cute.    These baskets are super easy....and easy is what I like!!!  

I didn't take pictures of the wrapping part but it wasn't complicated.  I bought 100% cotton clothesline cord that was 3/16 inch.   I cut my fabric strips one inch wide, no need to be exact.  Then I started wrapping at an angle....gluing at the start of a strip and every 5 inches or so.  I only wrapped a couple feet at a time.  Then sewed around and around and around and......!

I sewed with a wide zig-zag stitch. (4.5 width and 2.5 length on my machine)

To make the sides, I just tipped the piece up like this:

And there it is all finished and filled with pretty goodies for my friend.  Can you see guess the color theme of her gift?  Hee, hee.  

I have lots more cord so will definitely be making myself one.  

String Snowmen

I just saw these on Spidatter's Blog.....LOVE them!   So simple and so cute.  Thought I'd share.   :)

Odds-n-ends

Since I can't seem to motivate myself to think of blog post ideas, I thought I'd post some random pics I've taken lately.

This one is indicative of what we find after the grand kids have been over for a visit:

Surprises behind doors!   This was a Beanie Baby that was hiding...and a rat of all things!   :)



Miss Heidi with one of her precious smiles.  Mommy and daughter are beautiful, if I say so myself.

And this frequent visitor to our suet feeder - a Pileated Woodpecker.  

 The pic is blurry cuz I have to take them from inside the house...through the window.  

Portable Changing Pad

I bought some laminated cotton for a project and my boss at Pink Chalk asked me if I wanted to take extra and test a pattern for her.  I said ok.  :)      It's called "Time for a Change" by Melanie Hurlston of Melly & Me and is a really cute portable changing station.

This is the one I made.   I had some trouble with the laminated cotton.  I was sewing with it on top with a regular foot and it just didn't want to move.  I turned it over and it worked better.   A friend told me she uses a Teflon foot with laminates....gonna have to check into that.   Also the pattern had a teeny boo-boo...the directions for putting in the flaps are opposite of how the pattern front picture shows it.  Not a big deal but it really needs to be like the picture so that the wipes & diaper can't fall out the sides.

 
And this is mine all closed up.    See those puckers along the curved edge?  That's my mistake.  I made regular straight grain binding instead of bias.  Not sure where my head was!   Doesn't look too good but I wasn't about to rip it out. 

Pretty cute, huh?  

What you can learn at the gas station

Color

I love color!    It energizes me.  Makes me happy.  Lifts my mood.

Aren't these pretty?   I have a yellow one....so much happier than boring old kitchen white.

How about these colorful bowls?  I gotta get some of those!

Or maybe some of these?   They would go great with my Fiesta dinnerware.

Yesterday I was at the mall looking for some new tops.  And this girl wanted COLOR!  What I saw was noticeably low on color.  I saw loads of black, gray, browns and olive drab......but not much of this:

That rainbow display of tank tops was just this last July.  Why oh why is it absent from the mall 3 months later?   Sigh.    Maybe it's time for a trip to Hawaii......the land of gorgeous color.   :)

Blankets

I always crochet a new blanket for the grand babies.  I finished Heidi's a while back but didn't want to post a picture of it, as it's a nice surprise for Jenn when she gets to see it.   We never know gender so I have to pick colors not knowing.  For Liam I did a white with some variegated colors.....for David I did purple.  This time I chose this rich yummy blue.   Its gorgeous and looks great even for a girl.    :)

Here's Miss Heidi with the blanket and big ole' yawn!

I also make a baby quilt which I can now show.  I don't do anything fancy since they get washed a ton.  The four patches use flannels that are in all three of the grand kid blankets.   The other print is new to this baby.  Again I was forced to pick a color........unfortunately I didn't find a neutral pastel in flannels locally and went with blue.....thinking we'd be welcoming a Peter and not Heidi.   Oh well.   Quilts for her from now on will be definitely feminine. 

My latest distraction

Heidi Anne and Nana.   Sweet love.

New job

I started my new job today!   I am working for Pink Chalk Fabrics....an online fabric store.   Check out the web site to see all the gorgeous fabrics I get to cut up!   :)    Kathy Mack is the owner and she also has a nice blog that you want to be sure to visit cuz she gives away fat quarter packs every Tuesday!  There are only a few employees and no customers so it was quiet, much different than a "brick & mortar" quilt store.  I enjoyed processing orders and imaging what the buyer was gonna make with the fabrics! 
 I didn't want to spend my first day taking pictures....wanted to make a good impression.....hee, hee.  But maybe next week I'll bring in my camera and get a few to show you the company.

Just for Laughs

Gathered Clutch

I sewed this clutch yesterday at Yaya day.   Directions are at this blog and looked really good and thorough. There were lots of pictures so I felt safe in trying it.   Unfortunately sewing experience is assumed in the tutorial.  Some times the pictures didn't match the text and I didn't know which to follow and some times the directions didn't make sense.  Thanks to my uber experienced Yaya Melissa!   She knew exactly what the gal wanted and I was able to make the clutch....which is so cute.   Now that I've made one, I feel confident in making more....which I'm definitely gonna do!   :)

Fun with Glass

I took a glass class a little while ago with some other gals.  We went to Calypso Glass Studio in Bremerton for a few hours of fun.  This was a first for me...I've never worked with glass before.   After spending a little time on learning to score and cut the glass we were set free to create.   I created like a quilter!  Hee, hee.   I had my scraps of glass just like my scraps of fabric....cut and designed till I had some thing I liked.   We left our creations to be fused in the kiln and picked up later.

Practicing; Bins of scraps in the colors I was using; Fellow creators

Final creation.

My finished plate after fusing....too many bubbles means I didn't clean & dry well enough, I think.  Boo hoo.  My son likes the bubbles, though.  Maybe he should get this for Christmas?   :)