Birthday Mug Rugs

I just realized that my SILs birthday is the same day as my GD....this Saturday...

Since I will be at a b'day party for my GD, we decided to take my SIL and BIL out to eat tomorrow.  So I had to come up with a quickie present.

About a year ago she was visiting liked some 9 squares that I had left over from a quilt way back in memory land.   I am finally getting around to making a couple of mug rugs for her.  I sewed two blocks together and added a border, then batting/backing and I was done.

They have a winery and can use little things like this all the time.  I was lucky that I ran across them in my moving things around on new shelves activity this last week or so...

I'll be whooping it up with Sarah on her blog on Friday...watch for it there also....

Sewing Room Non-Sewing Antics....

There has been activity in my sewing room....

Some with sewing, some not....

I have started more blocks for my CCC quilt..[Catch as Catch Can]..not enough for a picture, don't want you to be bored, but it is a decent amount.

Also, it's hard to sew in a room with this going on...

It has been at least 3 weeks since the light fixture has gone out in my sewing room...actually, 2 lights were not working. I still had 2 working and I was getting by.  My secret weapon, DH, ordered several new ballasts (transformers? whatever) from Ebay.  By the time they got here, my 2 sets of shelves were ready to put together.  The shelves got the priority and this weekend my other 6 shelf unit was put together by DH and I.  It had been in a box on the front porch for quite a while.. It is placed and I have started loading it up.

Today, DH did his electrical magic and now 2.75 of my lights are working....one bad bulb needs to be replaced before the cover can be put on, but it still lights up it's portion of the room. When DH's arms are rested, he will tackle the other light.

Oh, do you want to see the other shelf?  

It's being used ....for non sewing stuff right now... DH says it is very convenient for his tools and supplies..

I am being patient....all this is away from my sewing area....Now the 2nd light....wellllll....let's just say I'd better stop posting and start sewing while I can...

Bye, Ya'll......

Sewing Closet Cleanout Saga.....

I wasn't going to post again until after the weekend but I've got to let you know about this.

You've cleaned out closets...I know you have....

and every time you did, I'm sure you found something that you lost/forgot you had/didn't know you had....etc.

Same thing here.  I decided to cull out the closet before the new shelf was put together so I wouldn't just be jamming everything on them..

I have already thrown away 2 medium size white garbage bags of stuff  and I have just emptied 2 corners and a partial large shelf.

Had a couple of surprises.....

I knew I had a lot of batting pieces and planned to splice them together and use them before I buy any more. I had hoped to put most of them in a large thin container that originally could fit under my bed.  I was going to put it on the bottom of the new shelf.

HA!

Look!

Granted, the pieces in the B & N plastic bag are somewhat small and may be tossed,,,,,but then I think of all the mug rugs and placemats, and little things for Christmas.....

and I have decided to keep it. 

I am guessing that I will be basting a lot of these together pretty soon.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Digression:  And I was so hoping for an excuse to go to the LQS.....

I came close to caving in today - I may have found another quilt shop in another town about the same distance as the one I frequent...only the opposite way.  DH and I were going to play detective and see if we could find it...but I decided not to go..

I was brave.....Kudos to me.....{sob, sob}

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Back to the closet......

Still reeling from the first discovery, I found next, on the very bottom of a throwaway stack of stuff, a container full of......

embroidery thread!

Those of you who have been following the Mini-Giveaways for awhile might remember the one where I gave away about 3 deep narrow drawers full of thread to about 4 people ....a lot of thread...

I had forgotten about this pile........

I do plan to keep it for awhile.  At least until I catch my breath.....

......and I'm not finished cleaning yet!

What else is in there?????

Start of Catch as Catch Can Quilt

I am going to Whoop! it up with Sarah on Friday, but I finished these early so here they are....

I randomly selected fabric from my stash and ended up with 19 different pieces....as of now.  I'm still not sure that they will blend in together (see 1st row - fishes), but will hold off on deciding until I get them finished... I am making a set of 3 of each piece.

(19 x 3 = 57 blocks)

Don't know what I will do with the quilt once it gets done, but it will come to me...I have faith....

Maybe I should call this my I Don't Know Quilt instead.....

Now to pay attention to my house and yard, and maybe get that other shelving put together....

See ya later.....

Next On the Agenda......

Every once in awhile I Have to Start something New....

Just to keep my eyes from getting bored.....

So, even though I still have a lot to "Finish".. here I go again....

I may call this my Catch as Catch Can Quilt....These tidbits range from fabric I have had from 5-7 years ago to the present.  They are my Random Choices and will be coupled with white rectangles to make a block.  I do plan to use a planned design that I have listed, but I may add more variety to the mix.  We'll see.  I think I'll make the blocks with what I have right now and see what develops..

This is the kind of quilting adventure I love!

Almost There.....

Am continuing to handstitch the binding to the B/B quilt. Almost to the last corner

.....then.....

I'll be pinning the hand embroideried label to the back of the B/B quilt after adding 2 framing borders,,,the binding will frame the other two sides. 

Am I ahead of the game or what? 

I Didn't, Really Didn't....

....buy any fabric...I remembered my promise to myself and didn't even go into the LQS.  But because of a wreck on the highway in town/refund check coming, we stopped by Sam's to while away the minutes and bought this and another regular shelf.

I know, I know, excuses, excuses....but I was really thinking about doing this anyway....

It fits in the corner where this was: 

Hopefully a visual improvement will be seen after I finish loading up the shelves.  I put my GoBaby/dies on the bottom shelf and freed some space elsewhere.

I did go to my quilting group and we all made a thread catcher ( check out whoops!) . 

 So I am continuing to make little stuff for my room. 

Winner of Giveaway #27....+ Town Trip

The winner of this MiniGiveaway is.....

Mike Pearson!

Wow!  Lucky guy!  The package will be on its way after I e-mail him and he tells me where it is going. 

Went to town today....bought odds and ends (no fabric!)...all fine until we were heading to the highway toward home...it was stacked with nonmovable traffic as far as the eye could see...lucky for us we saw it in time and did not join the mass... We went to Sam's instead....bought a couple more items to while away the time, but still saw the same traffic (possibly the same vehicles, who knows)...found out that an 18 wheeler turned over (jack-knifed) and the highway was closed who knows how far.  We had a navigator in our car so we headed away from the affected area.  We continued to go until it stopped telling us to turn around towards the highway and gave us another route home...we saw so many back roads...still don't know exactly how we got back, but we did...

pooped we are.....

Anyway, congrats to Mike and will talk to him later....

MIni-Giveaway #27 - Music Fabric

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5/16/12 - 2:00PM (CDT);  Edited Update:  A trip on the 17th has come up....so I will be announcing the winner of this giveaway as soon as I get back (probably sometime in the mid/late afternoon). Don't usually like to be away on Giveaway Results time, but this could not be helped.....


The 10:00AM ending time to enter is still in effect....

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We are up to #27 now. How time flies when you are having fun.

I have allocated about a yard of this music fabric as giveaway for someone. Long ago I bought it from WalMart, probably; it has Not been washed.  Just sitting, waiting, for someone to turn it into something great......

Depending on the instrument, the image size ranges from about 3" x 3" to 4" x 4" ..of course the tuba and trombone and drum may fit in a little larger square/rectangle/etc....

I know there is someone with desire and imagination that would like this....

Just comment and be sure I can contact you...DH will do his usual thing after 10:00am on May 17 (CDT, that stands for Central Daylight Time....A new one on me) . 

Good luck to all.......

Is it the New Year Again? - and a Decision Result

First,  Happy Mother's Day, everybody!

Unless it is absolutely necessary to finish a project, I am not, I repeat NOT, going to buy another piece of fabric this year....

Don't get me wrong...I am happy with my purchases....it's just that I have spent enough to last me....ForEver!  

 The only thing is I still have 3 spaces on my card at the local LQS....

6 visits/spaces filled with $$ spent on purchases = free shopping spree up to 10% of total $$ shown.  And the amount I have spent in the last 3 months.....wellllll...but it will have to wait....unless I can sneak in 3 small purchase visits....hummmm

I have several dreams that I can make come true with stuff I have here .Don't get these confused with the list over <- there.... This is just a casual stash/lookthrough of ideas while sitting at my computer and not even digging...

1) flannel quilt- I have cream and white flannel behind this as well...

2) braided rug- long term project, on low priority...

3) apron - Definite Christmas gift....more in later posts

4)  Stonehenge kit- again - eventually....

5)  Another shirt plaid quilt...I found (for free) some green plaid to go with my stash... one will probably will go as #6, one for one of my male GC...

6) Several more Comfy Cuddle Quilts

7) Mug Rugs (need I say more???)

 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Right now, however, I am kneedeep into a project which is nearing its' completion.  I decided to take my B/B quilt to a LongArm Quilter to quilt...it is done, and now it is up to me to finish the label and binding. This can be easily done in the time frame allowed. It will take as long to make the embroideried (sp?) label as it will to bind it, but it can be done by June 15th (have to have time to wash this monster and let it dry).

Ok,,,now let's see how long I can hold out......... 

Folded Bag

I bought a pattern for a folded bag a while back and I made one yesterday...

Not sure what I'll do with it yet.  I wanted to practice because the pattern has different faces to put on the flaps if you want...snowman, Santa or pumpkin.  You can also add some handles to make it an Easter Basket.. or embroidery names...there are a variety of ways to use this...May make more...

Also, it is sitting on my new table top pad to protect my wooden table. Made it this week also... 

See Sarah's blog for more Whoop! Whoop! s........

Some Things are Simple

BEFORE

Waaayyyy before...side extensions are out...they can tuck and slide under to be even with the middle layer shown.

AFTER

Staged, of course...

I finished my table mat.

 It is a simple mat, with plenty of poof to protect the wooden table I love.

 No design, no piecing, just a simple 3 layer sandwich.  I would say I practiced machine quilting with it, but in reality I simple sewed enough lines to be sure it stays together through time.....

Sometimes you just have to be practical. I needed the mat Now, I didn't want to be creative.....Maybe I'll make another one later on with a little more pizazz....

Oh, BTW, I am linking up with Amy's One Thing One Week this coming Monday...I just finished this one early....

Cutting, Measuring, and Embroidery

This is a quickie post.  We had rain and a power outage last night, so not much sleep.  I'm heading for bed for a rare morning snooze when I finish this.

We should be getting more rain later, so my plans today are to stay away from the still  unplugged sewing machines.
Instead, this is what I have planned, unless we have another outage again...

I need a full mat to cover my wooden table holding my sewing machines.  The small ones won't work,,,,there are too many tools around to mar the surface. I plan to sandwich and machine quilt this soft denim-like fabric....it should do the job.

    

I need to pick out the thread and fabric for a label which will go on my B/B quilt.  Hopefully will get this decided today.

Finally, these are just some of the pieces of fabric I plan to cut and use on my Odds and Ends Quilt I am planning.

I have decided on the design, but don't know what it will end up looking like because I am just going to pick fabric from my stash at random, kinda.....These I have had for several years and it is now their time to shine...maybe.....

See you later.......

Finished the Placemats...

(edited to add another picture)

....to go with the Goodie Food table runner I made earlier...

All I have to do now is hide the ends of the threads.  This will go to my DS & DDIL for their family (8 in all)...12 placemats should be enough to go around. 

I added batting and a stablizer to the inside of each, top stitched around the edges, and added two diagonal lines in the middle for strength.

I hope to wrap this right away so I won't be tempted to send it to them 6 months early....    

This is what I have left over from the FQs I started...

I think I can make a few mug rugs or something for someone else....maybe me????

I'm linking to Sarah's blog to get a Whoop! Whoop!.....

Hearts and Gizzards

For those of you who read the previous post:

Hearts and Gizzards is sometimes known as Dutch Windmills..

http://thegoldenthimble.com/heartsandgizzards.pdf

This is for a 12" block, which is kinda big, but you will get the idea...

*****edited after looking again:  whoops, it is a 16" block

Also found a different version that doesn't have any curved lines.. it's called Turkey Giblets. 

http://www.quiltersnewsletter.com/webextras/quiltersnewsletter/feature84/index.html

Personally, I think the curved lines give the original pattern a softer, nicer look.  But wanted to show it to you anyway...
I quickly googled other sites, but this was the only free one I found.  Jinny Beyer had one under the name of Dutch Windmills but when I looked, it was a different version completely....

If anyone comes up with another free smaller version, would love to hear from you...