Friday, November 21, 2014

How *NOT* to make a quilt block

I've been following along with Lori Holt on Instagram (@beelori1) as she releases blocks for her new Christmas sampler.  Some are from her Quilty Fun book, and some instructions are only available on Instagram.  I've had quite an adventure with the mitten block.

I had this cute Santa fabric, and I thought it would be perfect.  But really it's just too much white with a white background.  The mittens lose their shape.  Also, having the cuff stripes go that way makes them look like jar lids. 

How about this pretty flower fabric?  And just to get wild, how about flipping one of the mittens?

Ugh.  Looks just wrong.  Doesn't look like a pair any more.  Time to grab the seam ripper.

So now they look like a pair, but why don't the borders fit?  What the heck?  I had cut the mittens the wrong width.  I could rip them again and put a wider background strip in the middle, but it was time to move on. 

Try #3.  The fabric is a little less interesting, but they're the right size and I like the pink background.  You can see a few more of the blocks in this picture.

The excess mittens will probably go into the back of this quilt.

Despite the overthinking and mismeasuring, I'm really enjoying this project and can't wait for the next block to come out.

She also released a cute turkey pattern on her blog that I whipped up into a pillow:


Rainy days make me happy to be inside sewing!



Monday, November 17, 2014

Animal Advent #7

Here is the dapper Peter Penguin.  Hard to see, but he has a martini glass in each hand.  I think I will pick out the white stitches and make his glasses gold or silver so they show up better.  I love his little eyebrows and the way he leans on the number 7.  Apparently he's flirting with the animal in block #8.  I'm working on her right now and she's adorable.

You can find the free pattens for all of these advent animals at Brooks Books.  They are being released one per month, and they don't take too long to stitch.

I have a lot of projects going on right now that I can't blog about.  It's the season of secrets.  My hands have been extremely busy though!  Christmas starts early for crafters.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Farewell Halloween, hello Thanksgiving season


 True to form, Jungle Boy created his own Halloween costume again this year.  The legs are "cat tails" from the costume store and a girl at school helped him figure out how to sew them to his shirt.  


We had a great Halloween here.  Lots of the teenagers stopped by our party.  I cooked for two days and it was all worth it.  I'd rather have the kids at my house and know where they are and what they're up to than have them running around who knows where.

Later in the evening they got together a game of Clue.  I was sitting in the next room and I could hear the whole thing.  Between the rampant cheating and the kids who just didn't know how to play, it took a lot longer than it should have for them to figure it out.  I felt like shouting "Miss Scarlet!  In the library! With the candlestick!"  I think I had as much fun listening to them as they did playing.

I fired up the chocolate fountain and made maple bacon skewers for them to drizzle in the chocolate.  It was a big hit.  Find the recipe here.  Well worth the time.

Now I've got all of the Halloween decor in boxes ready to squeeze back into the garage.  I have a few quilts and decorations for Thanksgiving.  I'm one of those people who doesn't like to get Christmas started until Thanksgiving dinner is absolutely over.

I took a little time between cleaning dishes on Saturday to make this little quilt.



 I love vintage postcards and this just makes me happy. 



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