QAL Progress for January

The weather outside is frightful...and will carry my blocks away in the wind if I try outdoor pictures...sigh...

Please excuse the photography but a bit of sewing has been happening around here...

 This first block of a multi layer cake is from Fat Quarter Shop's Snapshots QAL to benefit St. Jude's Children's Hospital.  You can find all the details here along with the link to donate.  I am using my scraps and stash of Kate Spain fabrics along with a black and white dot fabric for the background for this quilt.

These are blocks 1-3 from the Harry Potter Bookcase QAL known as Project of Doom 2015 which can be found at Fandom in Stitches here. My link will actually take you to week 4 but I still have that block in process.  I am using scraps for this one and am not sure if I am happy with these blocks, still trying to decide.

Here is my one block for the Aunts QAL with Thimbleanna.  Oh my, not even going to tell you how far I am behind on this one but look to her blog for the others' wonderful work :)  I had plans for using Denyse Schmidt fabric on this one and have lost my inspiration a bit, January has been rife with winter blahs...excuses, excuses...

Also, there is another Sew WE Quilt hop happening now in support of Breast Cancer Awareness the link to which can be found on my sidebar or here.  My day is February 4th.

Hope your Friday is Fabulous :)

Happy Quilt on a dreary day...

The weather outside is very cloudy/grey/dreary and just not good for outside photos so I thought I would dig out my favorite thrift market find quilt and show you a few blocks...

 I have had this quilt 15 years or more.  I bought it at a Christmas Craft Bazaar at a local church for 40 dollars.  I call it my Happy Quilt because the colors and fabrics just dance, I love it so.  Ironically, it also makes me sad because although it was lovingly made and hand quilted there is no label to tell us who made it and when.  And some family sold their heirloom seemingly not interested in it's tie to their heritage.  My uneducated guess is maybe the 1940's or 1950's?

 I hope it brings you a smile, as it does to me...I will try to get a full picture of the whole thing when the weather is better, if you like?

Tammy For All Seasons- My Day!

I am so grateful to be included in this first Sew We Quilt blog hop of the year!  A great big thank you to Mdm Samm of Sew We Quilt and Sew We Stitch  as well as to Mary of I Piece 2 for getting us all coordinated. 

 The designers for this blog hop are Madame Samm who designed the wonderful Tammy Bag pattern; Brooke Nolan of Brooke Books Publishing who designed the quite detailed but "beginner do-able" cross-stitch patterns  and Cori Blunt of Chitter Chatter Designs who designed the oh-so-cute Pinnie patterns.

Here are all of our Hop sponsors with active LINKS....

BEAM N READ ( personal led light)

Brooke's Books ( seasonal vintage counted cross stitch designs)

Chitter Chatter ( applique and embroidered pinnies)

DMC ( threads, bobbins,needles and aida cloth)

H.A.KIDD ( monaco fabric)

MsAppleHeart ( Tammy Bag Pattern and Stick with Me Magnet)

READERS ( best readers on the market for those who need to see their patterns up close and personal) 

SNAP SOURCE  ( great gadget for adding snaps to our bags)

Yarn TREE  ( q-snap frame)

 Harry Barnett laptop hoops (beautiful fold-up frame)

 Here are few of my new gadgets...I wanted the yellow Clover Readers to match the first Tammy Bag I made for an earlier hop...now I have "need" of a red pair to match my new Tammy, lol!!  The Stick With Me magnet is so strong it easily holds my pattern folded small enough to see my place and can still hold my sewing needle as well when I need to park it!!

The Q-Snap frame was a joy to stitch with, lightweight to hold and good tension without leaving marks on the fabric.  The 14 count Aida is perfect for a beginner like me to try my hand at counted cross stitch, and the plastic bobbins and organizer ring keeps the wonderful DMC floss organized and neat withinin my Tammy.  The Beam N Read light combined with the Clover Readers made the cross stitch much easier for my 40 something eyes to complete.  I love that there is no frame on the top of these readers as I can peek about me over the top of them as I stitch :)

And here is my completed Summer Tammy and Pinnie in the snow (only my second Tammy bag but I can tell there may be more!)...pretty obvious why I chose the summer design, is it not, lol!!!  We have several inches on the ground and have had bitter cold.  Can we just pretend we're at the beach and it's 80 degrees F? Please?!

Ah, yes...this is the cold reality here in Indiana...freezing frost...it is beautiful though.

Anyway, back to my Tammy!!  I used some little seed beads in a couple places for embellishment and left off the bathing cap from my stitchery...not sure why but it felt more "me" that way...

A closer look at the pinnie..

I used wool and tiny buttons to embellish...Cori's instructions made it so simple to make my first ever box pleats!!

The back of the pinnie is a great place to store pins or needles and any stray threads as you work...

Here is the back of my Tammy...

Thank you for visiting with me today and please go see all the others sharing the day with me below and give them some great comment love!!

January 19, 2015

krislovesfabric<--you are here!

Ga's House

Secretly Stitching

Creatin' in the Sticks

Grandmama's Stories

WHY-KNOT-KWILT
CeLynn's Sunflower Patch

Brrrrrrr....when will Spring be here, I am ready!!

 It is really cold here but once in awhile this happens....freezing fog....ahhhhh.....sooooo.....beautiful!

Happy Belated New Year...Time for a new project!

Oh my!  Is it really January 7th??!!  I am a bit tardy to the party but Happy New Year all!!

Our family went through a couple weeks of flu stuff the last of the year into the first part of this year...ugh!  All better now though and ready to CREATE  :)

My first project of the year is this block from Fandom in Stitches, it is the update to the Project of Doom QAL which is a Harry Potter Bookcase Quilt.  I envied this first time around but did not think I had the skills to complete it at the time.  After the Doctor Who quilt finish last year I am much more confident to do this, ha!!

Project of Doom QAL 2015 Block 1

I believe another read of the series may be in order, as well!  The first time I read this book was when my son was an infant...he is now going on 15!  My husband and I took turns reading this and the other first few books to him out loud...yes, he enjoyed it even if he had no idea what we were saying!  My husband and I would try to outdo each other with our voice imitations and inflections and other such silliness...ha!  I believe that is why I am drawn to make this quilt..happy memories!

Anyone else out there tackling this QAL??
 
Now that I have dipped my toe back into paper piecing, I have another project left over from the end of the year that I need to get back to...