ABC

I am in love with my ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWYZ quilt!

To quilt, I outlined each letter and then did an all over stipple.  It was quite fun.  The back is an incredibly soft red flannel with dark specks.  The border is a solid back.

My goal setting post was here.

These ABC blocks can be found across a series of posts on Temecula Blog.  I used my stack of  AMB solids.  There were so much FUN to assemble.

The quilt finished at 29" wide x 34" - a good baby size! This will a quilt for a new baby.

This was my ALYOF goal for December. I'll be linking up here.

Happy Stitching!

The last 2014 Schnibble

This pattern for our December challenge was Sheri's Mini Shine quilt.  I found some fabric that would work for Christmas and also into January.  Decided to make a 4 block version - I think I'll make another version in spring colors.

I stitched in the ditch around the stars and the sashing.

Nasty weather here today so I had to go for an indoor photo.

I've participated each month in ALYOS - here is a mosaic of my finishes

Top row - Coloring Outside the Lines (January), Buttons (February), Sparkle (March)
2nd row - Tapestry (April  - now lives in France), Doodle (May), e (September)
3rd row - Christmas Star (October), Mini Stems (November), Ice (December)

What fun!

Parade time later this week on Sheri's blog A Quilting Life and Sinta's Pink Pincushion blog.

Happy Stitching!

Grand Illusions clue 5

Clue 5 (link here)  from Bonnie's mystery called Grand Illusions are a couple of easy 4 patches

I am making roughly 25% of the block required - once the mystery is reveled, I'll decide how big I want the quilt to be and then start making more blocks.

Pretty 4 patches from clue 5

Blocks from clue 4

Block from clue 3

Block from clue 2

Block from clue 1

This is my 3rd year making her mystery quilts.  She often speeds up delivery of the clues post Christmas - can't wait to see the big reveal!

I'm linking up here.

Happy Stitching!

Handmade holiday gifts

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas day!  Ours was really nice.  Started with brunch at 11 and the day finished with this yummy yule log my daughter made.

In between there were presents, plenty of cooking, a walk in a beautiful sunny afternoon and a settle down on the couch for the Doctor Who Christmas Special.

It was nice to have a family Christmas with all three kids at the house.  Plenty of laughs and hugs.

With the planning and wrapping all done and behind us, I wanted to share some of my handmade gifts.

I did several boxy bags (tutorial here) - one for my mom and one for my sister-in-law

Plus one each for the men in my house - husband is a runner and my son a math geek (his fabric is Elementary line).  (These were made from start to finish on Christmas eve.)

Each of my sister's got one of my Pretty Trash Bags - pattern in my Craftsy shop.

I also made one for my Dad - this fabric is from Spoonflower and created by taking a photo of his VW bug and some photo shop magic from my daughter.

Have a great day!


Happy Stitching!

Merry Christmas!

Best wishes to you and your family for a wonderful Christmas!

Happy Stitching!

Christmas knitting

I found the pattern here on Ravelry for free.  I cast on 88 stitches which gave me the right gauge for the ribbing.  I reduced to 84 stitches in the knit part.

 I tried this cast on and it seems to give a nice stretchy edge.   I am blending two sports weight yarns.  The first is Nature Spun in Burnt Sienna (100% wool).  The second is Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino in a gray.  This one is a mix of wool and cashmere and something called 'microfibre'.  Not sure if that is sheep or rabbit.  :-)

I really like the color pattern that mixing two strands of wool gave me.

Loved this one so much, I've cast on another for me!

Happy Stitching!

Grand Illusions

Clue 4 was fun and easy (posted here) from Bonnie's mystery called Grand Illusions!

I am making roughly 25% of the block required - once the mystery is reveled, I'll decide how big I want the quilt to be and then start making more blocks.

For this block, you needed 2 version of broken dishes blocks.   So far, I've ten of each variety.   Paired up with clue 1, there are 3 different version of broken dishes block in the quilt - so far!

Blocks from clue 4

Block from clue 3

Block from clue 2

Block from clue 1

This is my 3rd year making her mystery quilts.  She often speeds up delivery of the clues post Christmas - can't wait to see the big reveal!

I'm linking up here.
Happy Stitching!

Knitting dilemma

Less then a week to go....

We put our Christmas tree up last night.  It was a lot of fun - we've such the collection of ornaments - many of them are handmade from when the kids were young.  I've one that used to be at my Grandma's house that I just love to hang every year.

One more run to Target ought to close down my Christmas shopping (!!!).

I am obsessively tracking the 4 packages I mailed off on Monday.  Two of them arrived at their destination, one should be delivered today.  The final one - the one with all the handmade goodies - shows no tracking progress!!  At this point, I'd just like know where it is in its travels ... just to know it is somewhere and not stuck in the corner of the post office!

Now, the knitting dilemma.

I am making finger-less mittens for my daughter. 

I am almost but not quite done with the first - they knit up very fast.

Here is the problem.   When I weigh how much I have left - I've 1.9 oz.

and compare to how much I used so far ....

and subtract off the 3 needles at 2 oz each, I've used 1.9 oz and the first one isn't yet done.

UGH!!!

They are turning out really, really nice. So soft.  Such a pretty color.

Maybe a little big though.   Maybe big enough to fit the hand of a really big guy and certainly way too big for my 16 year old.

So off I go to rip, go down a needle size maybe even shorten the cuff to try again!

And speaking of a bit big - isn't our gingerbread cookie man cute?  My daughter went to town decorating him.  That is her petite sized hand in the photo illustrating the point that I've got to start over.

Have a great day!

Happy Stitching!

Grand Illusions Clue 3

Clue 3 is here!

Bonnie posted clue 3 for this year's mystery called Grand Illusions!

I am just loving the green and the brown - made 30 of these.  We've now cut into all the colors.   I'll be linking up here.  (color is more true in the first photo.)

Block from clue 3

Block from clue 2

Block from clue 1

I have chosen a set of fabric from the Moda Somerset line - I just love the rich colors.  While this doesn't map to Bonnie's colors, I think it carries the same element of rich and luxury of the hotel.  

Happy Stitching!

From the farm - blocks 64 - 66

I got my farming done on schedule but never got around to posting my blocks last week.

Block 64 -  Peace and Plenty - is a lot like one from last week.  Different color and fabric placements make it look quite different.  I almost skipped it but decided that I really wanted to make all 111!

Block 65 - Peaceful Hours - this block wasn't as hard as it looks because of the paper piecing.  (I do seem to have collected quite a few too many threads!)

Block 66 - Periwinkle  - This block was fun and easy to assemble

Have a great week.


Happy Stitching!

The busy weekend

This is probably the busiest weekend for me in the holiday season.

There is gift knitting to do.....

cards to send, boxes of gifts to be mailed....

Tree will need to wait until next weekend - photo from last year!

And a giveaway winner to announce....  congratulations Taryn!   I've sent you an email.  It was so much fun reading about the weather from everyone's comments.  




Now back to finish my knitting.  Have a great week.







Happy Stitching!

Grand Illusions Clue 2

Clue 2 is here!

Bonnie posted clue 2 for this year's mystery called Grand Illusions!

I used option 3 of her assembly methods leaving behind a whole bunch of 2" HST to be used in another project.

4 1/2 block from clue 2

4 1/2 block from clue 1

I have chosen a set of fabric from the Moda Somerset line - I just love the rich colors.  While this doesn't map to Bonnie's colors, I think it carries the same element of rich and luxury of the hotel.

I'll be posting my progress on Bonnie's blog here.

If you haven't already entered, i've a giveaway underway for a charm pack as part of the SMS giveaway.  Lots of blogs are participating.  To enter my giveaway and for more information, please see this post.  


Happy Stitching!

SMS Giveaway Day 2014

Welcome!

Glad you could stop by!  

Today I am giving away this cute charm pack of Moda Persimmon by Basic Grey!

I'll mail anywhere in the world.

To entry, just a few quick guidelines:

1. Leave a comment and tell me where in the world you live and the weather right this instant!
2. (optional) be a follower of my blog and leave me a comment telling me where you are a new or old follower
3. I must be able to contact you by email to tell you about your winnings!

Giveaway closes Friday, December 12 at 8 pm EST.

Comment quickly and then off you go to enter more and more giveaways!  Here's the link to Sew Mama Sew giveaway page for links to more giveaways!

Happy Stitching!