Happy Grand Illusion Day!!!

What?!?!

Oops!  Some of you have NO idea what I'm talking about.  It's the Kick Off day for Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt.  You can find her (and the mystery) at quiltville dot com. 

I've always wanted to do one of her mysteries and this year I simply couldn't resist.

I started with these fabrics (not necessarily in Bonnie's color palette):

Then Needleb came over today with her half-square triangle die and her die cut machine.  That little machine made cutting a SNAP!  We were done before we knew it and were ready to move on to the next step in Clue 1.

Too bad she didn't have a square die, too!  Here are the squares that I cut.

The verdict is still out whether I cut the right number of pieces for my half-sized quilt or not.

 Monday is Link Up day, so you'll have to wait until then for this week's reveal. 

Sorry...

It will be here before you know it!

Until then...
Happy Quilting!!!

2014's Happy Thanksgiving

The preparations began late last week.  The location was set, as was a rough draft of the menu.

Sound familiar???

I feel quite certain that this same scenario has been played out all over the country in the past two weeks or so.

My list of assigned tasks?

The list included "traditional" pumpkin pie, "traditional" cake, and rolls.  The in-laws are on a health kick so my list was expanded to include sweet tea and "traditional" mashed potatoes.  Instead of their low-carb mashed potatoes... 

What does that even mean?!?!

Well, we came to understand that low-carb mashed potatoes actually meant mashed cauliflower.  That's fine.  We like cauliflower, but we don't try to pass them off as good old mashed spuds.

I bought the rolls on Tuesday.  I made the pie and tea yesterday morning.  I baked the cake last night.  The icing was prepared and applied this morning.  All that remains is the "traditional" mashed potatoes...

Here's where my problem begins.

Since I only found out THIS MORNING that I was supposed to bring the spuds (my DH apparently volunteered me for the job) one question jumped to mind.

Real or boxed spuds???

We like both.  We have no potatoes in the house.  I told him that (since he volunteered me) he could go to the store, if he thought that the family would prefer real ones.  He mulled it over...

And after (seconds of) consideration, he deemed that a trip to the store on Thanksgiving morning was unnecessary.

Doctored up boxed spuds, it is!!  Problem solved.   :o))

Hope the family likes them...  Although, BIL claimed that no one would eat the "traditional" spuds, anyway.  Whatever!!!  Three of us will and we will enjoy every bite.

Have a happy!

Dresden De-Lite is Done!!!

Back in May of this year, I was feeling inspired to start a new quilt.  (Thanks to Kris7 and Jrnylst on Ravelry!!!)  You can read about it in THIS post.

For those of you who don't care to link back, the quilt started off looking like this:

This background was smaller than it should have been, but I used all of that yellow on hand.  Then, I added the circles, anyway.  (I figured that I could add a border after the central portion was done.)  After deciding on the color order and adhering the circles together, I then chopped them up and sewed the pieces down on the background in a rather unconventional form of machine applique.  (At least, for me it was unconventional - for you it may be just plain old raw-edge applique!)

That step is shown in the post linked at the top of the page.  I'll skip that part and you can see what how everything turned out in just a second.  For now, know that it was quilted and then sat awaiting binding.  For a very. long. time.  Months, even!!!

At one point, around about August, I even chose the fabric for the binding.  It's pictured below:

And, if NeedleB had had her way, it would have been RED!

Today, I decided enough was enough and it was time to bind.

This shows the "hanging corners" that I added when I realized that I had forgotten to attach a sleeve while sewing on the binding.  These are true fabric savers.  It only took two 3.5" squares!

Speaking of the binding...

I sewed it to the FRONT and flipped it to the BACK.  That means that I ended up spending an additional 45 minutes finishing the quilt... BY HAND!!!  Time that could have been spent starting this blog post.  :o((

When I sew artsy-type quilts, I often tend to attach the binding to the BACK of the quilt and then flip it to the FRONT and sew it down by machine.  It's faster and produced a fairly nice finish (most of the time.)

I generally save my hand stitched binding for gifts or large quilts that I will keep.  I could have done so with this little quilt.  I noticed my error before it was too late, but chose to continue anyway.  Here is the outcome:

You may notice that the quilt is just 10" x 10", meaning that the additional border never got added to the quilt.  Oh, well!!!  I guess it wanted to be a teeny tiny quilt.  :o))

A close-up of the center portion of the quilt.

I'm considering adding a little more quilting to the center circle...

What do you think???  Knowing me, done is done.  Further quilting would be a (very) rare thing once a quilt of mine is deemed complete, but you never know.  I might get a wild hair and determine that those swirly wheels just need to SPIN!!!

Until next time...
Happy Quilting!!!

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like...

A quilt now!!!  :o))

A special THANK YOU to Gayle Sparrow for the lovely quilting job.  Thanks, again!  I really appreciate it.


I'm SO excited that I'll show you more pictures of various parts of the quilt, but the full view will have to wait until the binding is on (and sewn down.)  You may or may not want to read about the various segments.  Skip the captions, if you don't care to know the story behind the blocks.

See the teal block on the right? Those fabrics came from my award-winning Fair Quilt.

These are the fabrics that I used for DS2's 3rd Grade Teacher Quilt.

This blue block came from Anita's Wedding Quilt. (I added a few extra blues to it.)

My "Donation Quilt Buddy", Angela, gave me the orange batik scraps.  We had some FUN times at CQG!

I wonder how many non-quilters will be saying, "How'd she DO that?!?!"  LOL

Christmas, anyone??? Not exactly...

These fabrics were used in a quilt for the Quilts of Valor program. (We have women soldiers, too. I thought it might be nice to make a patriotic quilt with a feminine flair.)

Hey!  There's a chunk of my Easter Jacket.

Coffee, anyone?  (Sue, how about YOU??)

Say... a donut would go GREAT with that coffee!!!

The block in the center came from a "Test Quilt" that I made for a quilt designer on Ravelry.  Afterwards, I used it for a donation quilt to be distributed by DOQ. I'm STILL not sure why I decided to make a baby quilt in neutrals.  SO not like me!!

 I love how the quilting shows up on this block.

If you are a member of DOQ, you MIGHT recognize some of the fabrics in these blocks. Guild members were EXTREMELY generous with their scraps! I was able to use TONS in this quilt.

Do you see the little ballerina on the left?  She was part of a donation quilt challenge. (If only you could see what Jean F. did with hers. Think "paper dolls" only done in fabric...  It was INCREDIBLE!!!)

Remember those generous guild members that I mentioned? One of them even passed along a completed quilt block! An extra? Didn't turn out the way she had hoped? I was pleased with my luck and incorporated it into the quilt.

Here's a block made from pieces of Gabby's Jacket...

And the cat print in this photo was the back of her baby quilt. If you look closely, you can see another snippet of Gabby's Jacket. If your memory is as good as mine, you'll see more squares from Anita's wedding quilt, too. What?! You didn't recognize them???  :P

That small indigo square bit in the center actually came from Africa. Thank you to M.D. Freeman for sharing her special fabric with me!  Look at that, there's a piece from the back of DS1's Kindergarten Teacher's Quilt. (It's the blue and yellow piece with circles.)

Finally, I incorporated some fabric from my knitting buddy, Shannon.  She decided that she had given up quilting for knitting.  (Kind of like me and cross stitch.)  Most of the fabrics in these last two blocks came from her:

Thomas the Tank Engine, Number One for DS1...

Thomas the Tank Engine, Number Two for DS2.

Over the years, both boys spent many hours "driving" the little train around the track. Whether it be in the (long gone) train store in Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, (the recently closed - June 2014) Tom's Train Station in South Hills Mall in Cary, or in their very own play room (once Mom, Dad, and Grandpa got together on the gift nearly 15 years ago. Can it really have been that long ago?!)



I hope you enjoyed your tour of my nearly done Crumb Quilt.  Thank you to Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville.com for teaching me the technique.  That was the MOST FUN quilt class EVER!!!  Who knew you could turn GARBAGE into a QUILT?!?!? I absolutely LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Recycling at its finest.

Until next time...
Happy Quilting!

Custom CK Bags - The "Second Sewing"

I have good news, if you are one of the 3 people from the original order who are still waiting to hear about your Custom Criminal Knits Bag!  The "Second Sewing" was completed over the weekend.  Here are the pictures:

Interior of Red Bag #3

Exterior of Red Bag #3 (before the final press.)

Notaprincess Tote (completed in time for U.S. mailing!)

Interior of "Closest thing to Purple" Bag...

And the secret 3rd pocket!

The last of the "second sewing." (Note: These bags are Caribbean Blue.  NOT Pool Blue as they appear on my screen.)

Interior of the monochrome bag.

Interior of the black bottomed bags. (With a hint of handle shown.)

I'm very happy to have ALL of the bags from the original order complete!  I still have 3 more bags to make in the next week or so.  There were two delayed orders and I need to make a replacement bag for TBF.  I gave her the better of the prototype bags, but it's MY color... not hers!!!  I'm making her a new orange one so that I can have the lime green one.  :o))

I will stop by the post office tomorrow, since today is a Federal Holiday.  (Happy Veteran's Day.)  The required shipping charges vary depending on distance from where an item is shipped.  Funny!  I always thought it was X amount based on weight alone for those express mail type services.  Anyway, the bags should go out in the mail by the end of the week.

A special thank you goes out to BooBoosMom for the use of her serger.  Mine was being stupid (or it might have been user error) and she let me come over for a Sew Day to get these bags finished.  Thanks, again, Tif!!!

Until next time...
Happy Crafting!

2014 SAFF Haul

Friends and I recently spent a fun-filled weekend just outside Asheville, North Carolina at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival (SAFF.)  This year's dates were October 24 - 26 at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Fletcher, North Carolina.  Next year...

It may turn into Snow-vember!!!  Why???

The dates for next year's event have been pushed a week later.  Thus, the chance of snow is greatly increased.  GREAT!!!  A chance to wear more of our hand knit wonders.  :o))

And this year's SAFF haul:

Spinning fiber for Phoenixfire from LunaBudKnits.

Yak and merino spinning fiber for me!  (A friend offered to spin it into yarn.  Thanks, Tracy!)

The rest of the haul.  A nice combination of purchases, door prizes, and freebies.

I made a few purchases each day.  That extended the shopping pleasure and kept me from going (too far) over budget.  :P

I missed out on the "Sock Scarf" again this year.  One of the vendors makes ONE per year.  It was still there when we left for the hotel on Saturday afternoon.  When I looked for it on Sunday morning, it was GONE!!!  I was sad, but the shop keeper said that the person who bought it wrapped it around her neck and stated, "It MUST go home with me!"  When I wrapped it around my neck I thought, "I'll get this, if it's still here tomorrow."  Sometimes... when you snooze, you lose.

I purchased from some "old standards" (Miss Babs) and some "new-to-me" (Copper Corgi) vendors.  I bought for specific projects (Viajante) and I bought just because I just HAD to have that color (The Verdant Gryphon)!  I replaced my lost umbrella with a sheepy one and I got a mini skein-winder "just because."  All told, I came home with $100 of the dollars that I went with.

The weekend was a complete success!!!  (And, did I mention, TONS of FUN!!!)

Custom CK Bags - The "First Sewing"

Threebagsfulled placed a T-shirt order in the Spring.   We had discussed the possibility of offering custom tote bags.  The prototypes were made, but I wasn't quite ready to begin (what could potentially be a BIG project.)

When she placed another order in the Fall, I decided not to waste a minute!  I posted my bags in her group on Ravelry.  I offered a limited color selection made up of shirts that I had on hand.  (Those SOLD OUT in the first 12 hours!)

I also suggested that after the initial supply had been depleted, people were welcome to select a color from those offered with the T-shirt order.  These orders would have to wait for the "Second Sewing."  (I had to wait for the shirt orders to be filled before beginning on those.)

First step:  Prepare the shirts

Second step:  Make the handles (Posted as a teaser on CK group.)

(Cut to the chase!)  Completed bags!

Interior shot:  Red bag with blue denim.

Interior shot:  Red bag with black denim.

Interior shot:  Pink and black bag.

Interior shot:  Orchid bag #1.

First completed bag ready for SAFF delivery.

Second bag waiting for post office run for shipping quote.

This has been quite an adventure.  Tomorrow, I'm hoping to have time to do the initial post office run and get the "First Sewing" bags off to their new owners.  I've already begun working on the bags for the "Second Sewing."  Most of the bags have the first few steps taken care of...  Almost time to begin stitching them together!  :o))

Someone was "late to the party", but I had ordered a few extra shirts.  The CKer who placed that order, along with the one who placed an order at SAFF, are in line for the "Third Sewing".

Take heart!  I have fabrics chosen for those orders, as well.  Only a couple more bags to finish before yours will be prepped and sewn.

Thank you to all of the wonderful Criminal Knitters who ordered Custom CK Bags from me.  It has been my pleasure to create your one-of-a-kind tote bags.  For those CKers who "missed the boat" this time around...

Spring is just around the corner!  You will get your chance to order your own bag when TBF posts next year's shirt order.  Until then...

Happy Crafting!!!