How cold is it?

Well, if I thought last Monday was cold, this Monday is really cold! When it goes below zero and stays there, then that is too cold for me! But, is there anything I can do about it? No, not really but as long as I can sew then it doesn't really matter how cold it is. And obviously, we have plenty of quilts to keep us warm at night! :-)  And even though I have plenty of quilts, I always love to make more! As I mentioned last Monday........ I've been busy sewing quilt blocks for a block of the month I designed several years ago. I do plan to share a photo tutorial for all of them very soon. I'm also busy with a couple of projects for church and our library and then family stuff so I'm not being a very good blogger. I've also been doing some sorting and finding stuff in my sewing room. It's always fun to see what has been set aside and forgotten. Lots of new/old projects to add to the "to do" list. And speaking of projects, I have a free one for you today and a story, too. First, some "show 'n tell" with photos of the little project. Take note of the green pincushion with the blue flower on it, and the one with the pink flower..............

I love to take a bit of wool or woolfelt or scraps of cotton and make a pincushion or cover a box to hold sewing supplies.

I can't knit or crochet but the pincushions in the photos below are made from crocheted jar lids that my mother stitched. That stack of felt is bamboo felt from National Nonwovens and it is super soft and easy to stitch!

Long ago, I shared my pattern for the little rose pincushion (the green one with the blue or pink flower in that first photo above) with members of our quilt group. One of the members, quilter Sue Hecker, recently posted that one of her projects she was going to finish this year was a  bunch of those pincushions. Check out her blog here and you can see those little pincushions in progress. She had signed up for Judy Laquidara's Get-It-Done challenge and it's one of the projects she plans to "Get-it-done". Check it out here.
Now, I said there was a story so here it is.............Sue sent me an e-mail saying that one of her readers was interested in my pincushion pattern. I offered to send it along for free. She didn't mention who it was but I said I'd be happy to send the pattern to her reader.  Guess who the reader was? It was Judy Laquidara! So, I sent her the pattern. She said she really liked it and wanted to make something other than quilts this year. Said I should put it for sale on my blog. I thought about it but then I thought.........I designed this years ago, have sold it many times over and also given it away. Let's give it away some more. And so, if you go here, you should find a free copy of the pattern so you can make my little Turkish Rose Pincushion. And if you do, send me a photo and I'll share it here on my blog. :-) Okay, that's all for today...........back to my sewing..........
Have a good Monday and a great week!
Sandi

What's on the line?

Nothing new "on the line" today and that's because it's just too cold to get to my clothesline! Yes, the temps here in Minnesota are in the single digits, just barely above zero!!  Even my sewing room is hard to keep warm when it's this cold. It's a big room over our garage and I love the space but the floor is often sooooooo cold!  Extra insulation was added a couple years ago, but still the cold air makes it's way into my room. My little space heater works hard to keep the room warm so I do a bit of ironing and turn on the TV and computer and all the lights to add warmth. LOL! 

This week, I am busy working on blocks for a project for the quilt group that I belong to in LeSueur, MN called Kindred Kwilters. I am going to share my BOM from 2002 that makes this quilt..........

I'll share more about this project later this week along with those Christmas pics I still need to get to and also a visit from some quilting friends. Lots to do. Back to the sewing machine..........
Have a good week!
Sandi

Secrets are safe.......

My sister, Judy, gave me this cute little woodblock for Christmas. It made me chuckle because, yes, I often cannot remember my secrets or secret hiding places. And neither can many of my friends. LOL!

The woodblock was wrapped in brown paper and tied with the red and white woven ribbon. Judy wraps her gifts with such care that I almost hate to unwrap them.......but I did. And, after I unwrapped the package, I put the ribbon around the woodblock and liked the look.  Then I snapped this photo, I took it up to my sewing room and set it on my bookcase shelf. There it will remind me that my secrets are safe. I can't remember if I have any secrets right now, but if I do.........they're safe.  :-)

I have a few more Christmas photos to share but I am a little behind in my blogging right now. I am enjoying this start to the new year........chatting on the phone with family, visiting family, planning some church events and library projects, having friends out for a potluck, watching 1930's John Wayne movies with my husband, sewing rows together on my Mary E crazy quilt, doing some mending chores, cleaned the bathroom cupboards, made more fudge, catching up on sleep, and sooooooo........I just haven't had time to think about blogging.  I'll get back in the rhythm of blogging soon. Til then, have a good week!

Sandi

The finished quilt and it's new home..........

A Christmas Wish Fulfilled!

That's right........I was wishing that I could get this little quilt finished before Christmas and I didn't quite make it for Christmas of 2012 but guess what? I am really early for 2013!!!

Hmmmm....there would be a picture here but Blogger is not letting me upload. Got plenty of storage so not sure what the issue is. Will try later...........

And later........ in order to load the photo, I had to switch to HTML mode. Uh oh, I am in unfamiliary territory when I get into the tech side of things. Will figure out the problem this weekend. Need to call in smarter folk than me.  :-)
Have a great day and a lovely weekend!
Sandi

P.S. The little quilt is a design that Gail*Pan shared in a free BOM in 2009. You can check out her blog and designs here.

Happy New Year!

It's here! Yes, a new year is here and I am ready for the fresh start that a new year always offers!  And that's because it gives one a chance to catch up on things we didn't get done last year or the year before or the year before that!!  LOL!  And that brings me to this project...........

 

Some of you may remember seeing the little door pillow shown above and reading about it in this post ........here.   That was back in January of 2011.  I made the little door hanger and was going to make one for each month. And then a funny thing happened. I misplaced the designs I drew for each of the months. I had looked through my stack of sketches many times and then .........Guess what?  When I started making new plans for 2013 and going through old planners to see what I should have finished and didn't........... I found them in my planner from 2010! Oh, boy!! I guess I left them there after I made the first design and didn't look there again when the new year of 2011 got going. And soooooo.......Guess what I'll be making each month this year?  That's right, a little door hanger or project with those designs and I'll be sharing each one with all of you. I promise I will not misplace the designs again!!

And speaking of catching up on things, that's exactly what I did today. Back in 2009 (go here for the first post I did about these blocks), I stitched the blocks that Gail Pan offered on her blog called the Christmas Wish BOM (check out her blog here). I have a number of projects that I have embroidered or pieced while waiting in doctor's offices or hospital waiting rooms due to all the health issues for my parents, then me. But getting them sewn into completed quilts never quite seems to happen. But look at this............

All the blocks are sewn together into a little quilt top and I just have to add the batting and backing and it's ready for machine quilting!! I am going to have it finished by the end of January. In fact, I'm going to finish a number of things this month, and next month and right on up to the end of 2013. And motivation for this is coming from Judy Laquidara over at Patchwork*Times. Check out that link and you'll see that she is making a list and checking things off as she finishes them. I'm going to participate in her challenge so I need to list the things I want to finish this month.
And sooooo........the things I really want to finish this month of January are......

1. Machine quilt the Gail Pan Christmas Wish BOM top and completely finish it!
2. Sew my embroidered Angel Connection Blocks together.
3. Finish hand-sewing the rows together on my Mary E. Crazy quilt.
4. Finish the little January sampler quilt I started two years ago.

And four more for good measure..........

1. Work on the Patriotic quilt in memory of my dad.
2. Sew two blocks of my Sampler quilt in red and white (or maybe blue and white).
3. Embroider months for my Seasons of the Heart sampler quilt (one each month and I'll be done at the end of the year!).
4. Sew at least six blocks on the Candy Dish quilt from Heidi Kaisand's class.

It's a long month, so with any luck, I should be able to accomplish this list. We'll see when the end of the month rolls around.

I hope you all have had a good start to this new year. Have a good week!
Sandi