Last Minute Christmas Sewing

 I decided to use today to play with a pattern I bought from Wendi at Shiny Happy World...you can find it here...

 She turned out pretty good, the pattern was easy to follow although with my newest cold my sewing has been slow going...

 Her tutu and wings are removable and sparkly...

I also have been plodding along on my hst's for Bonnie Hunters Mystery QAL...many more yet to go...

Hope you all are having a good day and finding time to sew...it's very foggy today...raining and our white Christmas hopes are melting away. 

Quilting Along in Between Getting Ready for Christmas

I am sorely behind on quilting projects but there has been an abundance of Christmas cookies flowing from my kitchen...so I'm going to give myself a pass :)

These are for the Quilty Fun QAL...find all info here...

And I am most of the way done with the geese...but..ummm...I'm supposed to be working on chevrons for the QAL this week!!

 The thing is, I started another QAL to use up a fat quarter bundle of Hello Luscious by Basic Grey that I have had for quite a while.  It told me it needed to be made into a quilt...NOW!  I won it from the wonderful Fat Quarter Shop during another QAL so it seemed fitting to use it for Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice QAL...the thing is...this seems to be fairly ambitious for a Christmastime QAL.  I am doing the small 75 x75 version (her large is a KING size!) and I have found it to take a day to cut and a day to piece for each week's installment which is a bit more than I have been able to shoehorn into my schedule.  Oh well, here is where I am right now...all pieces are cut for week one and week two...

 Funny enough, chevrons are this week for this QAL too and I have 10 of the 100 needed done...I like that these have a red and green Christmas theme though it wasn't on purpose.  I changed Bonnie's suggested colors from Orange to Pink and Yellow to Red because that was what I had in the bundle to work with...the other two colors are blue and green and I am using those as Bonnie suggested.

 And I have week one's triangles using the Tri Recs tool done...there are 188 of these...

Another clue (yes, this is a mystery quilt) will be out tomorrow so I may be officially behind on this QAL as of tomorrow unless I sew like a fiend :)  If you want to do this one, you can find the info at Bonnie Hunter's site here (look under Celtic Solstice).  It is only posted on her blog for a limited time, so be sure to print it out soon so as not to miss out.

On another note, I joined the DQS14 and this is my start...my partner's taste of colors and style are my inspiration but it seems to be universally popular within the swap group so I'm glad I picked well.  Hope to get this done soon after Christmas, it's due in January...it will probably be a 4 x 4 mini.

Having A Bit Of Quilty Fun

So I have been a crazy lucky girl this week...I joined the Quilty Fun SAL hosted by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet and The Fat Quarter Shop...the link to the Flickr group is here.  The first block/section and probably my favorite in the whole quilt was the Apples

 You need both the pdf download and the book to get all the info for making these sections as this quilt along is making a Sampler Quilt which is a bonus quilt not included in the book. You can order the book here and the free pdf link with the additional necessary info is on Kerry's blogpost.

The Fat Quarter Shop is hosting great giveaways every Monday as we go through completing this sampler and your entry for each giveaway is posting your sections in the Flickr group.

I was lucky enough to win the first giveaway...I know, so lucky...Thank you, thankyou Fat Quarter Shop!!!  It was a Rolie Polie from Lori's Gracie Girl line and I was thrilled to find it in my mailbox yesterday...The Fat Quarter Shop has amazing quick shipping!!  I was really pretty stunned at how quick it came!

 This strip set contains  3 1/2 strips of the Gracie Girl collection...I was planning to use my Polka Dot Stitches fabric from Lori's earlier line for this Sampler and adding this Rolie Polie to the mix will give me lots of Lori Holt fabric goodness to choose from.

So late last night I got straight to work making my stars for this week...care to join us?  If you get your stars in the Flickr pool by Monday maybe you will be crowing about your win next ;)  Good Luck!!

So Let It Snow Already...I'm Gonna Quilt!

 I guess it's November so I shouldn't complain about an inch of snow...just play with triangles instead of rake the leaves, eh?

I think I like where this is headed...

A Little More Doctor, Please!

So I skipped to block 9 in the Doctor Who Along hosted and designed By Soma and Caroline...my, I am still many blocks behind...

 Meet a far from perfect but well-loved Cyberman...I skipped to this one because I am behind anyway and my son made this for Halloween...

 Yes, he carved the word UPGRADE into his jacko'lantern...

Also, somehow I was the lucky recipient of Soma's giveaway...well, let's say it like it is, lol...my son is the recipient...Soma even wrapped it fancy!

A Dalek keychain/LED flashlight and a River Song Tardis journal...fantastic!

These are my other Who Along blocks so far...

For the Boys Hop - My Day

Thanks to Amy and Mdm Samm as always for including me in another fun hop.  They are so good to keep offering up fun design prompts and keeping us organized and on the proper days!!  And the inspiration, ah, well...you all know what fun it is to see all the different projects on these hops...

So, onto mine...

First off, an apology...I had visions of 9 18" finished blocks in a finished quilt top...it.didn't.happen....I only have 4 blocks done and life got in the way...unfortunately.  I hope to show it soon but it's just not in the cards for today.

So, I have a fun project to show you instead that I think little boys would find to be fun to play with...if the way to a man's heart is his stomach...the way to a little boys may well be through pretend food!  You can find the pattern and directions here. 

 As you can see, I have a little bakery box to put this felt cherry pie in...

And the lattice crust adds an extra fancy touch.  I have made many of these for nieces and nephews and took to reducing the pattern down so that I could put them in mini metal tart pans purchased at the store.

P.S. this makes a fun pincushion too!

I hate to say anything because it looks like she's shut her business down from the search I did but this pie originally comes from this lovely business and below are a couple other things made with her patterns...I suppose you could still make them with your own inspiration as she has beautiful pics here....I wish I had bought more of her patterns while she was in business.  I've made boxes of this type of play food for nieces and nephews and it has always been a hit.  The boys especially like the pancakes, bacon, and fried eggs, I've found :)  Another special request I have had is Chicken Mcnuggets which I suggest if you make these to get a container from McD's to put them in as they look like something else otherwise....ummmm, nuff said!!

 Peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a slice of cake...

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

Thanks for letting me show an oldie but goodie from my past crafting!

And, please visit everyone else who is posting today...

November 7^th

Amy's Crafty Shenanigans

Ridge Top Quilts

Creatin' in the Sticks

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Meadowbrook

Malinis Quilts

Just Let Me Quilt

Kris Loves Fabric<---you are here

 

Catching Up and baking with apples

So I am finally getting back to the paper pieced blocks in the Doctor Who Along hosted By Soma and Caroline...my, I am so many blocks behind...

And this is the block that "stalled me"...it is from one my son's favorite episodes SS Madame de Pompadour so it was a "required block".  I have to keep it real and say that while I love the looks of paper piecing, I do not love putting together all the tiny pieces, lol!!  This was a challenging block for me and after I got about halfway done I put it to the side and concentrated on anything but working on it for awhile.  Once I got back to it though it went together pretty easily...I guess I just needed a break.  There are so many more blocks released in this QAL...I am re-committing to getting them done now.

A friend asked for this recipe and I just so happened to have made it this morning.  I think I've shared it here before but here is the link again if you missed it.  We still have lots of apples left from our small backyard orchard and this is a yummy way to use some up :)

And, yes...that extra large piece missing was very good...not such a healthy lunch but it brings a Bill Cosby skit to my mind as I tell you there ARE apples in the cake so it must be good for me...and now I have the energy to get back to quilting...

Wicked Blog Hop - My Day!

 

Thanks goes to Mdm Samm and Wendy for hosting this wicked good party!  They have done an awesome job of keeping us all in line once again...and I am looking forward to seeing more projects to come!!

 Here is my Wicked quilt top...I used a pattern called Spools by Fig Tree Quilts.  She had a kit a couple of weeks back that I purchased here.   Her version uses more cream background, with more cream sashing between blocks.  I changed the pattern to put the spools right next to each other.  I think this makes the design appear to be more masculine which makes it more friendly in my household of husband and teenage boy...I think it is a beauty either way!

 It is so windy in these pictures, I apologize for the quality...had to take extra bright sun over rain and wind...I felt like Pooh-bear in The Blustery Day...now for some honey, lol!  Hey, no kidding we got our first honey harvest this year from our bees...

 Anyway, here's another photo with my ceramic pumpkin which SO matches...

 And, for fun, I made a wool applique pillow to match...I used this pattern although I only have this one block...I got this at a local quilt shop going out of business and they only had this one...it is a BOM pattern so somebody must not have picked this month up?  Their loss was my gain, though it makes me want the rest of the patterns!!  Don't you love her cute lil' behind on the broom?!

Thanks for stopping by, be sure to go visit everyone else today...

 October 23^rd

Becki hosted by Why-Knot-Kwilt

Bumbleberry Stitches

Nini & The Sea

Dancing Moon

Create In The Sticks

Negligent Style

Rose Creations

Krislovesfabric <--you are here!!

A Geeky Crafty Life

My Quilting Journey

The Recipe Bunny

October Bee Blocks Done!!

I had to stew about these blocks a bit to determine proper color placement...hope I got it right!

The first is called Boston Streets and it is for Bethany in my Beejeebers Bee...she had some definite ideas on color placement and the tutorial can be found here: http://sewimpressed.blogspot.com/2013/09/beejeebers-for-october.html  Did I get it right?

The second is called X Marks the Spot and is for Julie in my Color Bee Shocked Bee...the tutorial for this one can be found here: http://www.sewcraftyjess.blogspot.com/2012/06/x-marks-spot-block-tutorial.html  Couldn't resist including a bit of marigold in the photo...they match well, eh?

These blocks were both fun and easy makes, they both chose great scrappy stash busters!

A Fairy Princess...Elephant edition

So I fell in love with a pattern from Shiny Happy World recently posted...I am mostly a quilter but Wendi makes it sound do-able so I figured a fleece softie for my niece for Christmas was in order...

This was the trial one...

 Oh, mister elephant...I love you...but my 3 year old princess loving niece may not as she prefers PINK!!

So I made another in pink fleece!  Here are the two together...had to move mister's ear so you could see hand-holding...

 And here is Miss Pink twirling in her fairy princess tutu in the grass...I used this pattern for the tutu but, ahem...enlarged it and, um... shortened it for Miss Pink's more ample but short posterior...who says elephants can't be fairy princesses?

Now, here's my dilemma...after visiting said niece this last weekend...I have discovered that she is currently a large fan of a certain Disney princess mermaid...can you imagine this pachyderm with a finned tail? no?  me either...hopefully she will appreciate Miss Pink sans mermaid tail!

I highly recommend the patterns on the Shiny Happy World site, Wendi makes it very clear and easy to make a great softie...even for a novice at such things like me!  I had a lot of fun with this one!

When a Good Strawberry Goes Bad....

So I joined another Flickr swap Strawberry Pincushion Swap and of course, wanted to take a trial run of the Strawberry thing, having never made one...I used the tutorials Erin suggested.  All went well, and I decided to make one that was "unripe" in texty fashion...I used a bit of my new fabric purchased from Hawthorne Threads...Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements...

And the strawberry went together well...it's about 2 inches long.

And I did a bit of embroidery on the wool felt top...

 And then my 40ish eyes READ the strawberry...

Ahem....does my strawberry say disembowel?  Never thought I'd write that on the blog...

I'm planning to make another more appropriate strawberry for the swap, lol!

Pin it Pin Cushion Blog Hop - My Day

So today is my day to share a pin cushion in the most recent awesome Blog Hop by Madam Samm and her lovely cheerleader extraordinaire Kristen.  Much thanks to them both for letting me play along today!

Between family activities and an unpleasant summer cold a lot less sewing has been happening around here lately but I found my inspiration for my pincushion from the garden and my favorite fabrics...

 My pincushion is 3 inches by 4 inches.  It is filled with ground walnut shells and uses a 1" x 2" wool applique sunflower from a Primitive Gatherings pattern called Little Buds. The full pattern is on my "to-do" list for this winter as I purchased this kit from the Grand Rapids Quilt Show a couple weeks ago...but I couldn't resist pulling out the sunflower for this quickie-now project!!

 I stitched around the flower with 40 weight Aurifil thread since the flower was so teeny-weeny...

 And used a Robert Kaufman Quilter's Linen around the edges...

 The text print is my all-time favorite from Moda's Sweetwater line Mama Said Sew...

 And the back is Flea Market Fancy Grey Seeds.

This little pincushion fits well in my hand and happens to match my Tammy Bag ...


Thanks for stopping by and please be sure to visit the following who share my day today...

September 11

Vroomans Quilts

More Stars In Comanche

Dancing Through Threads

Jackie's Art Quilts

What About Rheema?

Stekje

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Just Let Me Quilt

Patchouli Moon Studio

Bea Quilter

Quilting Lines

I Piece 2 Mary

Quiltingbydawn

Nati's Little Things

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Krislovesfabric <---you are here!!

Bquiltin