Happy Town stitching!

First things first...........the winner of the panel and fabrics from my previous post about Jacquelynne's Happy*Town fabrics is..........Diane Wild. She lives only a few miles from me. How cool is that?  You can find Diane's blog here.  Diane makes lovely memory bears and is an amazing quilter. I know she will do something awesome the Happy Town fabrics.
So now, what have I been doing with the fabrics? Well, I cut a bunch of charm squares and the a bunch of smaller squares (2-3/4" to be exact) and began stitching the smaller squares to the charm squares............

And when I was done, I had three chain-stitched sets of squares.................

And then, because I hate to waste fabric, I stitched along the corner of each square.........

and then snipped of those little triangles and opened them up, pressed them and I have bunches of little block sets like these on my ironing board.........

And that's where I'm at right now. Have to set the project aside for a couple days to tend to other things. Will get back to it on the weekend and share my next step.

I haven't shared a picture of Kaiser in quite awhile but thought you might get a chuckle out of this one. During our recent cold weather, I had three quilts on the bed to keep me warm. Our weather is warmer now so the other night, I tossed off the top quilt and it fell to the floor. When I woke in the morning, guess who was sleeping on that quilt?  Kaiser said "who me? I wasn't sleeping on that quilt!"

And then he promptly put his head down and said "well, maybe I was and this is so comfy that I think I'll go back to sleep again".  Actually, he has been not well, so I let him stay there. Husband Steve, had to take Kaiser over to the vet as he seems to have developed some hip issues. That would be Kaiser, not Steve.  :-) Our vet prescribed a doggie aspirin regimen and it seems to be helping. I don't like to see any animal in pain and Kaiser was clearly in pain. So much better now!

That's all for today. Back soon!
Sandi

I live in a Happy Town!

That's right! I live in a Happy Town.........Henderson, MN!  And so when I saw Jacquelynne's fabric line called "Happy Town", it just made me smile! The fabric reminded me of a project I made for my son many years ago, and then one for my grandson where they played with their cars and trucks. Jacquelynne shared some of her fabrics and I'm also going to share some of them with one of you. I have a panel for me..........and one for a lucky winner! Keep reading and you might be the winner of this panel.............

In addition to the panel, there will be a few fabrics from this bundle that she included with the panel. Jacquelynne's fabrics are from Henry Glass and I love feel, the "hand" of the fabrics. Always soft yet firm and so nice to sew! Check out this link for free patterns for the "Happy Town" fabrics......

Those fabrics are so colorful and fun!! I have plans for at least five projects ...... a little something for my daughter's daycare center and four little items for three nieces and one nephew who loves buses and cars. The first project is going to use the panel and some charm squares. I set up my GO! baby and started cutting charm squares.........

In the photo below, Jacquelynne added a striped border but I have something planned with the charm squares and some smaller squares.  I'll be working on it the next few days and will share next week. Going to be cold and snowy here so what better weather can you have for sewing?!!

Here are some details on the "Happy Town" fabric line..........
If you go here, you can see a color card of the entire line. All royalties from the sales of this fabric line will be donated to Quilts for Kids (QuiltsForKids.org). Plus, there is a contest for making something with the "Happy Town" fabrics. Any quilts entered in the contest will be donated to hospitalized children through Quilts for Kids, and the winning quilts will be displayed at International Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon in May. The top prize is $500 cash, second prize is $250 cash, and there is a special category for quilters under age 16.  The contest rules are here. If you want to purchase the fabrics, you'll find them at the Fat*Quarter*Shop. And now............if you would like a chance to win the panel and a bundle of fabrics so that you can create your own quilt, then here is what you have to do..............

Just tell me what Happy Town you grew up in! I grew up in Lehigh, Iowa and it is my favorite little Happy Town!  Leave your name and the Happy Town where you grew up and then on Sunday evening, February 24th at 8:00 p.m. CST, I'll have my Random Number Man draw the lucky winner. Good luck!

I'll be stitching and will be back soon..........

Sandi

 

 

A winner and the bag link...........

The winner of the little square of sewing themed fabric is Beth at MyCreations blog. Congrats, Beth!
I had some questions about the pattern for the totebag that my friend Sue made and that led to all those projects in my last post. I e-mailed her and asked for the name of the pattern. It's called the "X" bag and is by Four Corners Designs. You'll find the bag info here.  It's a great bag, just the right size and the right length!
Back soon with quilty stuff.............
Oops........one more thing.......someone asked what the "H" stands for and it's for Henderson, the little town where I live!  :-)
Sandi

Planning my days.........

I keep a daily planner. Nope, not on my phone. I love a paper notebook planner. But funny thing about that planner..........I misplace it........a lot! Without my planner, I really have a hard time remembering all the stuff I get myself involved in, so when I misplace it.........oh, I am in trouble! And because it's just plain black it is easy to misplace. So, I decided I had to make it more noticeable when I am searching for it.  :-) About a week ago, I took a whole day and just had fun making a cover for my planner.........

My friend Sue will recognize the fabrics. :-) That's because most of them are the scraps from this cute bag that she made for me a couple years ago.  Sue is one of my Tuesday Crazies quilting friends and one year she made all six of us bags in fabric suited to each of us. I've used my bag just a few times, saving it for special occasions. As with some other items around my house, I've decided that I should stop waiting for special occasions and just use some of these lovely things!!

The bag has three pockets. My planner is a perfect fit in the center pocket of the bag!
I pieced a variety of scraps for the outer cover of the planner, then I added pockets to the inside of the cover for special notes, receipts, etc.

And there is one big pocket on the inside of the back of the cover for brochures and other items.

I had so much fun making the planner cover that I stitched up a little zippered bag to hold a tiny sewing project.........

And then I had one of those black and white composition notebooks so I made a cover for it so I can make notes about quilting and crafty projects. It's just plain on the cover.........

but again, on the inside I added a fancy pocket and glued a flat heart button in place for a pocket to hold patterns, sketches, etc........

and then a plain pocket on the back for notes and stuff.

I still had scraps left, so I made a cover for one of those tiny flip-top notepads where I can make a note about supplies I need for projects..................

And here's the inside of the top of the little notepad.........

I loved that musical print fabric so I made a cover for another tiny notepad where I can make notes about music projects..........

and again I glued a flat button in place and kept using different scraps on the inside covers.

The scraps were dwindling but I had odds and ends to make a sewing kit...........

One long strip that was 5" wide did the trick for this little kit............

There's even a little coin pocket where I can stash dollars for buying quilting fabric!

The needle-nest is a square of woolfelt and there is a pocket for needles. So, did I use up every scrap? Not quite. There is still about a 10' square of the red and black sewing print fabric that could be "starter" fabric for someone else's project. Maybe one you would like to make. If you can find the "H" that is in one of the projects above, then leave a comment and tell me where you found it and your name, I'll draw a winner of the little square on Monday evening, February 18th. 
Feeling like I'm catching up a bit. Block projects coming up this week and a giveaway! All for now. Have a lovely evening!
Sandi

What a nice Valentine's Day!

 

If you enjoy the tradition of Valentine's Day, I hope you are having a lovely day. It is one of my favorite traditions. While it is generally thought of as a holiday for lover's, I like to send Valentine's to lots of family and friends. I think of it as a "holiday of friendship". I always send Valentines to my kids and my mom every year.  And I also send some to quilty friends and other family members, although, I'll be honest, I don't remember to send a card every year. This year, I added something new to Valentine's Day. I proposed the idea for an "Old-Fashioned Valentine Party" at our church, St. Paul's UCC here in Henderson. I thought it would be a fun family activity and in the process, we could color some Valentines for members and friends who are in nearby nursing homes and assisted living facilities. I had these Valentines that I drew several years ago and used for after-school kid's classes. There were 24 designs all inspired by Valentines that I remember from my childhood in the 50's. And then I added stickers, glue, markers, construction paper, etc. to the mix.............

and, then, of course, there was GLITTER!! I love glitter!!!!

There were yummy treats for us to enjoy, and yes, that is a popcorn ball cake and it was delicious. Ruthann made it and I will share the recipe in a future post.

I even had a couple doorprizes for two lucky winners. I found the bears for just $1.50 each at the local thrift shop in Belle Plaine. Brought them home and gave them a trip throught the washing machine and they were good as new! (I buy lots of stuffed animals to donate and send them through the laundry. I figure you need to make sure they are clean before you send them off to a new home.)



Our date for the event was Sunday afternoon, February 3rd, the same day as the Super Bowl. I thought it was a good idea for the afternoon but it snowed and travel was yucky and folks were busy with Super Bowl parties. But...........those of us that came to the Valentine party were busy, too, and we had a lovely time. And while not many came to party, the end result was amazing. Keep reading and you'll see why.
There were just nine of us that Sunday afternoon but we enjoyed coloring and chatting and eating those goodies. Here's Timber, Pastor Brigit's young son and he is working so hard on coloring his Valentine.............

My friend, Sue, is holding Pastor Brigit's daughter, Terra. They had fun coloring and glittering together. And with just two little kids in attendance, can you guess who went home with the teddy bears? ;-)

And this is David and Maryann Tesch who colored lots and lots of Valentines!! David said he couldn't remember sending Valentines as a kid. Since David is a great one for teasing, I'm not sure I believe him.  ;-) 

Timber had Maryann read some of the Valentine messages to him and he thought they were kinda funny..........like the one that has a bee on it and says ........."Bzzz.......I really like you!"  I wondered if Timber was thinking........"why would a bee like me?" 

Hard work was put into coloring these Valentines..........that's Amanda Lamp on the left and Pastor Brigit on the right.

And that's me on the left and Carmen Wigand on the right.

By the end of the afternoon, we had colored 89 Valentines!!! That's right.........9 of us colored 89 Valentines! Now while all this coloring was going on, we were discussing the nursing homes where we might deliver these Valentines and I thought maybe we could cover everyone in our county. I had bought mini M&M packs and treats to add to each Valentine and thought maybe 100 would cover it. But then David mentioned that might not be enough, so I did some calling the day after our party and found out there was a need for about 175 Valentines. I got busy coloring more and then Ruthann and Joanne picked up some at Women's Guild meeting last Thursday and colored a couple dozen each. And I set a goal to color 50 and completed them just in time. And sooooooooo, when I put them all together, this is what 181 Valentines looked like on our dining room table...........

In this photo, notice those two brightly colored Valentines that David did........

They're awesome!!!

This close-up is of the those that I colored.

How many of you think that coloring is relaxing? I sure do. And perhaps here, I should tell the story behind the Valentines. I originally drew about six of these designs and reduced them in size to fit my 1"-1' miniature Valentine scenes. I spent many years in the Midwest Miniature Guild creating lots of miniature projects. You can see my miniature Valentine boxes in this post, just click here. You will notice tiny Valentines in the scenes. The designs were inspired from memories of Valentine Day parties when I was a kid and my kids were young. I just started drawing and the ideas/memories popped into my head. The "ice cream" design is one of my favorites and reminds me of my kids saying......."Ice Cream, You Scream, we all scream for Ice Cream!" And then there are the King and Queen Valentines. I drew the King thinking of my friend, David Griggs, who was Valentine King in 3rd grade. I thought of me for the Queen card and the memory of my mother who was upset that I voted for myself for the Valentine Queen. But I really wanted to be Queen so why not vote for me?! LOL!

Valentine memories can be very special and the thought that many residents of nursing homes probably had lots of sweet memories (well, perhaps there was a bittersweet Valentine memory, too) and would enjoy a Valentine card, led me to "cook-up" this party idea. And while only a small group colored Valentines, they were delivered to area care centers and hopefully today they made lots of folks smile!!

I sent thanks to those who colored Valentines and am already planning for next year and many more Valentines. We didn't quite cover all the residents this year but next year, we will for sure!!  The thank you notes below are made by fusing pretty Valentine prints to blank white cards, then fussy cutting sections to line the envelopes. Very simple to do!

I had such a nice day yesterday delivering those Valentines. It made me smile all day and into the night.  The Valentines and their treats were so appreciated by the staff at each care facility. And an added bonus for me was meeting many new people, in addition to visiting with friends from church. It was just a very fun way to spend my day! And while I was out delivering Valentines, my dear friend, Doris, dropped by with this little sweetie and a card as a thank you for doing this project. She's a button doll and is adorable. Her name is Maggie and she has a perfect spot in my sewing room.

While I make a big deal of Valentine's Day, my husband would probably willing tell you that he does not and some years he just plain forgets. And so it goes, but this year my Valentine gift from my husband was my new phone which I got a couple weeks ago. Plus, there are always Hershey bars. I love Hershey's kisses and Hershey Bars. His favorite treat is sugar cookies and when I saw these giant cookies at Crossroads Bakery in Gaylord, I had to get them for him!

And while I thought that nothing could top chocolate, I was wrong because my friend, Sue, brought by this friendship treat..........

and the strawberries (gluten-free) are for me and the cookie is for Steve. And let me just say that those strawberries are "to die for". No other way to describe them. I ate one right after she dropped them off this afternoon and it was all I could do to refrain from eating another one......or two right away. We are having left-overs for supper tonight but they will be topped off by these treats!

So, you can see that we have had a very good day here and I hope you are, too! Have a lovely evening friends!

Sandi



Thinking of Mr. Lincoln...........

Time is flying by and yes, I've not been blogging but that's just because I've been busy stitching and a whole lot of other stuff. I'll share my projects soon. In the meantime............Everyone of you that quilts, sews, stitches or crafts knows that there is not enough time in the day for all the fun stuff we love to do. And so here's another bit of fun stuff to add to that "to do" list!  I received an e-mail with a link to a free e-book from Fons and Porter and it's full of log cabin projects.........perfect for celebrating this day.......the birthday of Abraham Lincoln!! Now I'm not saying that the Log Cabin block was named for him but Honest Abe is often featured in a log cabin setting. He built his log cabins from logs..........we build ours from strips/logs of fabric!
In the book......"Build Your Best Log Cabin".....

you'll find everything that one needs to know to make a Log Cabin quilt ......or a Courthouse steps variation and more. My favorite quilt in the book is the first one pictured called "Barn Raising Log Cabin". It reminds me of an old quilt that my Aunt Marian made in the 1950's. Take a few minutes and check out the book here and see which project you like best. You might just find a project to add to your "to do" list!
Have a good day! I'll be back soon.
Sandi