Holiday Lane Blog Hop

Today is my day to join in with the Holiday Lane Pillow Blog Hop.  
Thanks again to the great Mdm Samm for her inspiration and guidance through all these fun hops this year and thanks to the lovely Pauline for organizing and making this one a complete success :)

Now I must preface this with admitting that I didn't make a pillow, (hangs head in shame,lol!)...

I thought I would be more likely to use a table topper so I went that direction...and had a bit of fun with it...

  
Here I added little minibulbs to the corners...

I used reds, greens and blacks from my stash, added some top stitching to complement the raw edge fusible applique then added some sparkles and bobbles to accent it.  I tried to make it "minimalist with bling"...is that possible?

These are the minibulbs I used, they came from Walmart...

This pattern for this project / pillow can be found here and much thanks to Jill for providing it!

Please be sure to visit all the other ladies that are sharing this posting day with me and enjoy this last day of the hop!

Friday November 30

J Kafer on the Net

Busy as Can Be

Dachsies With Moxie

28 Peppermint Grove

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Kris Loves Fabric<--you are here!

Linda - that other blog

Dora Quilts

Shedding the Wolf

Quilting, Sewing Granny

Creative Notions

Chickadees Country Cottage Crafts

Madame Samm @ Sew We Quilt

The full schedule of posts can be found on Pauline's blog here.

Grandmother's Choice BOW #13 Done!

 

So this is Barbara Brackman's Grandmother's Choice BOW block #13 called Everybody's Favorite.  The pattern and history lesson to accompany can be found here.

This is an exercise in learning more about the fight for Women's Right to Vote as well as an exercise for me personally to try to like purple more...nope, even after 13 blocks...purple's still not my thing, lol!  

I went with this color scheme to mimic the American colors for Women's Suffrage...gold, purple and white.  The fabrics are playing nice together but there is sure a lot of purple here...I will show the first two rows complete and together after we do number 14 this weekend.  Then there will be 5 more rows to go, still easily do-able to catch up and join us as we are only on 13 of 49 total blocks.

Happy Mail and A Favorite Christmas Quilt

 I recently got my Christmas Sampler quilt back from a local long-arm extraordinaire, Cathie...it is from  The Fat Quarter Shop's Mystery block of the month for 2010.  It uses Kate Spain's The 12 Days of Christmas line and I thought I loved the top but getting it back...well, now...I'm definitely smitten!  Cathie and I both admire Angela Walter's style of quilting and are fans of her books and I thought she really translated it well to this quilt.

 There is a different quilting motif for each block as befits a sampler...

 Details such as windows, doors, and roof shingles...

 And, oooh, aaahh, pebbling!!!

Ribbon candy in the borders...

 I love everything about this quilt :) and it was a joy to piece as the pattern was clear and very easy to follow.  I did do my own thing with the finishing as I did not use their finishing kit but chose to border it with a couple trees in the corners.  And I love it with the red binding!

On a different note, I got a wonderful package in the mail from bloggy friend, Barb...I won her 1 year blogiversary drawing, yay!  Congrats on a year Barb!
She said she would send me a charm pack but she went and sent me this pretty pot-holder as well...love it!  Thanks so much :)

I looked up Cioccollatto and, as I suspected, it means chocolate and so this is perfect for me and my lightweight coffee drinking.  I only drink Mocha or Pumpkin Spice coffee :)

Sew.Bee.Create November Blocks Done!

Made these colorful beauties for Jo for her November month of my bee Sew.Bee.Create.  They use the Moda Bake Shop tutorial here.  I had printed this pattern out to make for me too...great minds and all that...I love the colors that she chose, I'm sure her quilt will be striking!  And, she drew us the most wonderful diagrams :)  loved working with those!

I Got In, I Got In!! :)

So on the off-chance I would get in to the latest Doll Quilt Swap, DQS13...I signed up and somehow was lucky enough to make it into round 13, yay! lucky number 13 for me!!

This is a fun chance to sew for a partner and receive a bit of wonderful-ness back from another partner...so exciting!

(for photo credits, please go to my Flickr page here)


This is the inspiration mosaic I created to help my partner with what I like, so many beautiful projects in Flickr...so hard to pick a few!
I can't wait to get my partner assignment so I can start sewing :)

Grandmother's Choice block #12

So here is block number 12, good thing this is a mystery BOW...I would have thought twice if I had realized there would be several with set ins and templates, lol!!!  This one isn't too bad if you take it slow although my "pants" didn't come out perfect in the intersections.  It is extra obvious because of my fabric choices. 

Purple pants is what I have named this block but the name on the pattern is Little Boy's Breeches...you can find the pattern and history lesson here if you'd like to join us.

Here is an extra pic of construction if anyone finds it helpful...

 Start from the outside and work into a 1/4" from the inside edge...

 Lastly, do up the middle pant seam...

Press the pant seam open and the other seams "up" to help everything lie flat.

Here Comes Santa

So I have a list of projects to start and complete at least 2 miles long but Marjory, evil temptress that she is, posted this cute pattern that I absolutely was forced to play with today...don't know if I will do the whole project but I had great fun with this block and only slightly modified it and used fusible steam a seam 2 lite and raw edge applique. 

Grandmother's Choice BOW #11 Done

This one is called The Little Red Schoolhouse but I guess mine is the Little Purple Schoolhouse...

I am still embracing the idea of using colors that are symbolic to the fight for women's right to vote (which in America were gold, purple and white) but I have to laugh when the pattern specifically calls out red!!  You can find the patterns and history lesson from this QAL here.  Another enlightening week, really makes one appreciate the educational opportunities we have today.

November Block For Hello Sun QAL Done

Another fun block from April for the Hello Sun QAL, I took a little liberty with the owl feet but followed her pattern pretty closely this time.  You can find it here.

Had a close call yesterday with 3 friends with a deer collision.  Thankfully, my friend kept a clear head and was able to stay on the road.  Her hood popped up and made a barrier between us and the deer and it did not go through the windshield.  All four of us are well, with no injuries and we feel very blessed.  Unfortunately, it killed the deer and heavily damaged the car.  Makes me feel especially appreciative of all my many blessings, God is good.  Thank you for reading along and sharing this quilting journey.

Grandmother's Choice BOW QAL block #10 done

Slowly recovering from whatever flu / cold / general nasty bug claimed my family for the last week or two but I am able to start back in on some sewing today!!
I finished the Grandmother's Choice Block of the Week QAL block for this week #10 called New York: Susan B. Anthony Breaks the Law.  It looks a little wonky in this picture but not in person, I'm wondering if it's the print in the lighter fabric making it look that way, a bad photo, or a combination.  I added the star to my version because purple and gold didn't really read "flag" to me, lol!

Again, if you want to follow along with the history lesson and / or make the blocks, they can be found here.  All this has been very timely with the election happening tomorrow, hope you all in the U.S. make time to vote!

And Mdm Samm and Katherine have another blog hop going right now if you want to follow along you can find the schedule here.  I am sitting this one out as I need to play some catch up with all my WIPs.  But I am enjoying seeing what others have created, be sure to cheer them on!!

Wicked Winner

Sorry this will be a quick housekeeping post, I am down with a wicked cold and am hacking and sneezing away...lol...not good for my keyboard!  I need to announce the winner of my Wicked Blog Hop Giveaway...
1/2 yd of this awesome texty print...



Congrats to Mr. Random's choice...Charlene S lucky number 42

Charlene SOctober 29, 2012 10:43 AM

Wicked choice of subjects! Crowscare awesome noise makers and really quite beautiful. Your quilt showed that.

Charlene, I have emailed you on your win and promise that it was already tucked in the envelope last week and I just need to add the address...so your fabric does not have any contact to my dread sickness...lol!

Thanks to all who left such great comments, I enjoyed all your musings on crows, Vincent and The Birds...

We are praying for all of you that were in Sandy's path...stay safe.

Have a good November the 1st everyone :)