DWM - 1/13/14

My Design Wall has a hodgepodge of things on it (and around it!) this morning...

Block #10 - Vintage Valentine

My mom and my sister both asked for a Vintage Valentine block for their table topper frames for Christmas (see below picture - didn't it turn out cute???)  I did have to leave off the top valentine from the original design so it would fit in the frame, but it still looks beautiful, doesn't it?

I decided since I was doing this block, I might as well go ahead and make one for my quilt too, right?  All the pieces are fused down on the block and ready for machine buttonhole-stitch applique.  I believe that will make 8 of the 12 blocks complete, plus I have the center medallion fused down and ready for applique as well.  Since this is one of my Dinosaurs, I'm glad to get refreshed on it and know that I am this far along!!!

And speaking of Dinosaurs.... it's time for me to "bag" one - 

isn't that what the big game hunters do?  LOL!!!

Dinosaur UFO #1

Rag Circles Doll Quilt

These blocks are a REALLY old UFO!!!  A true Dinosaur!!!  One of my earliest, actually.  In my first year of quilting, I took part in a Guild sit-n-sew where we were given instructions to make so many raw-edge circle blocks from our scraps, like this one .....

And then we cut them up into fourths and swapped with others.  We then sewed the fourths together to make a new scrappy circle.  I got mine sewn up to halves in class ... I remember it being a fun day!!!

Of course, swapping with others that meant that not all the circles lined up perfectly, and some sewers made better circles than others, etc.  Part of the package in a swap, right?  But with rag circles it really doesn't matter because the edges will ruffle and lose definition when they are washed anyway :*)  And I think the wonky connections will add some edginess to it.

I used this Easy Circle Cut ruler for my circles, and it worked perfectly!!!!

This was originally intended to be a lap quilt, but I've decided that I don't really like it enough to spend that much time and energy on it.  I'm going to sew up the blocks I have - 12 - and make a doll quilt for my nine-year-old granddaughter, Reaghan.  She still loves baby dolls and I think this will make a lovely birthday gift for her.  It will go quickly, and that will be the demise of my first Dinosaur UFO!!!  I'll keep you posted :*)

January NewFO & "Let's Book It" Challenge

Rose Medallion

It was SO MUCH FUN to finally open this book and begin to work on this project!!!  

I made copies of the templates for this project yesterday and began to prep them for hand applique.  I had originally decided I didn't want to take time to do hand applique, but the more I looked at this gorgeous burst of colors, the more I knew that machine applique was not going to get it.  And besides, I've really begun to enjoy hand applique since I learned how to do the starch method, and these pieces will not be that difficult to do.....

I also prepped the hearts and other pieces for the Miniature Heart Blooms UFO at the same time.  I actually managed to get a lot done yesterday during the football games, even though our Carolina Panthers fell to the 49ers :(

And for those of you who may not know Morning Glory Designs, Reeze has announced a new FREE BOM design for 2014.....  there's a contest going on right now to name it and you can win some lovely fat quarters if you suggest the winning name :)

Isn't this a GORGEOUS design????

....Block 1 is available HERE now if you are interested in these lovely blocks!!!  But you must hurry, because after January, it will no longer be free.  Don't you love that border?  Reeze is famous for her borders :*)  PLUS - if you sign up for her newsletter, you will receive a Bonus Block each month - absolutely free!

I'm going to download and save the patterns, but in the effort to work my SIMPLIFY mojo this year, I won't start on this one now.  One day, though - I can definitely see this quilt in my future!!!

So that's it for me .....

What's on YOUR Design Wall?

I'm Linking up with Patchwork Times
& Connies Tuesday Linky Party

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Bertie is in the House!

Before I show you the newest Bertie BOM, I just have to share with you the GORGEOUS cross-stitch piece my talented daughter made for me for Christmas.....

This project took her quite a while to work up - how's that for Slow-Stitching?  I had purchased the pattern (see photo below), fabric and flosses - and then they sat in my studio for ages waiting for me to find time to get to it.  Of course, it never happened.  I mean, when there are a million quilts in the world that I want to make, what's the chances I'm going to work on cross-stitching?  So when Christy - who loves to cross-stitch - had some time on her hands and was looking for a project to do, I passed it off to her and asked her to make it for me.  She started working on it last year, but she hadn't gone very far before it hit her that she could make it fit ME a lot better with a little tweaking.

Original colors.....

Peace, Love, Joy & Life Quilt Sampler
Picture from Cross Country Stitching magazine

Although the original is beautiful, Christy thought it would be even more beautiful in my colors, so she changed out the flosses to make it in Moonglow colors!!!  Black, purples, aquas - YUM!!!

Moonglow by Teresa Raleigh 2013

And then she took the redesign even further!  She designed new and more complicated designs for most of the blocks!!!  Oh my!  This proud mama is SO tickled with this sweet Christmas present :*)  Now I have to decide how I want to finish it.... Wall-hanging?  Pillow?  Needlework box cover?  I'm leaning toward mounting it on canvas as a piece of wall art, so it can hang in the bedroom where Moonglow lives :*)

So, now, on to my own Slow Stitching.....

I received my February kit for the Bertie's Year BOM a few days ago - how cute is this?????

 I am smitten with the sweet, shy - dare I say coquettish? - tilt to her head ♥♥♥

And I suppose in the bird world, these bleeding hearts serve the same purpose as mistletoe in ours?

January Bertie is almost done..... sorry - another night picture with a glare :(

All the hand stitchery is done except for the snowflakes.  I used the sharp tip of my needle to "draw" a line to stitch the center seam on the leaves.  I really like the shiny brightness of the threads - it gives it a little color punch :)

Then I used my favorite marking pencil, the Clover White Marking Pen to mark 1/4" marks on the seams where the white Fly Stitches outline the HST border....

I was having trouble keeping those stitches uniform without marking.  I love the way this pen's marks disappear when you iron the fabric, but with these stitches, the marks don't show anyway :)  This Fly Stitch actually took much longer than I imagined it would.  There was a definite learning curve - I kept making the stitches too fat in the beginning and had to pull them out several times.  And it took a lot of thread too.  And while I'm whining, let me say that I would have called this a chicken or turkey track stitch :)  This doesn't look like any fly I've ever met!

Now all I have left to do is sandwich it and lightly quilt it.  There is no mention of quilting in the instructions, and I'm not sure if that's because it won't need quilting or because they just took it for granted that I would??  At any rate, I've decided the little white snowflakes all over the center will probably be all the quilting that is needed.

The instructions also call for an interesting "false" binding and the envelope backing method.  I'll try to take good pictures and show more about how that is done next week.  Hopefully this little quilt will be hanging on my wall by then :*)

And guess what I just found last week while doing some cleaning in the studio????

Another Dinosaur UFO!!!  

This is a hand-stitch applique project from this 1992 Miniature Quilts magazine below .... you can see their finished project there in the middle.... of course mine is done in jewel-toned batiks ♥

I started it several years ago to practice my needleturn skills after Mary Sorenson came to our Guild.  I love the fact that each flower is made from a circle of hearts ♥  I got 3 flowers done, and apparently something more exciting must have come along and snared my attention - can you imagine that?  LOL!!!  I'm thinking to make some templates and finish it up using the starch method that I have come to prefer.  It would be a GREAT little carry-about handwork project!

Now for those of you who have hung around for all of this, I offer the reward of some 
Stash Enhancement!!!

I picked up these pieces at Little Blessings Quilt Shop in Crossville TN on my way home last week.....

LOVE that sewing fabric!!!   I told my husband I want a sewing machine like that!!!!!
And of course I'm always ready to add blacks, whites & grays to the stash ♥

I had been really good about not stopping at any of my favorite quilt shops on this trip, but I was bone tired and getting sleepy, so I had to stop for a bit.  (You know of course that the way home is about twice as far as the way to somewhere, right?)  And it just so happened that I was near the Little Blessings exit, so.... yes, I swear, all a coincidence my friends!  And that's my story, and I'm sticking to it :*D

And my acquisition of these luscious dots is all the fault of my friend Deb over at A Simple Life Quilts!  

She posted about these Spot On dots by Robert Kaufman on her blog - and she showed pictures!!!  Now how am I supposed to resist that?  I ask you?  Really?  Dots??????  And colorful, fun, happy Dots, at that!!!???  I jumped over to Hancocks of Paducah and pulled a few of these into my shopping basket lickety split!  And I have to confess, I'm glad I did too :*D  These are so beautiful and will enhance many of my projects going forward!  You'll be seeing these again soon my friends ♥

Linking up today at:

Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday 

Patchwork Times

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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The Owl and the Pussycat LOL!!!

Yesterday, I got to play for a little while in my BLUES for the January Rainbow Scrap Challenge - YUM!!!  There are several blocks I want to make this year, starting with this oh-so-cute little owl, created by Shayla Wolf at Quiltmaker magazine....

"Hootie" debuted in the 7th volume of 100 Blocks...

Here is a mock-up of how it will look to include owls of all the different colors :)

My background fabric is a very dark blue with gold stars in it, so I have to be very careful about the BLUE fabrics I use for my owl so he will show up.  Either that, or I need to put the blue owl in the moon instead of the purple one - hmmmmm.......now there's an idea!!!  These are the fabrics I'm currently considering, but the picture is not great and the colors are somewhat washed out ..... it would help if I could remember to take pictures before it gets dark :)

I also want to make my own version of this Thangles Cat quilt that I found on Pinterest....click HERE to find the pattern and more information.  I wanted to do this one last year but never got to it.  This is the year!!!

I'm planning to work on some blue kitties today if I can find time in between NFL playoff games :)

And my jars of colorful crumbs really do "runneth over"!!!

I'm thinking of just sewing them all together and making a big block from each color, something like this picture from Pinterest which indicates it was taken from Craftsy ....

or .... I really love these wonderful diamonds being used for the 2014 Olympics in Russia ....

In addition, I still have to decide on setting ideas for the Fantasia and Lone Starburst blocks I made for the RSC last year and get them assembled into flimsies.  I really don't want them to become UFO blocks!!!

Come along and join in the Rainbow fun.....
       January projects are HERE!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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On the Needles - 1/10/14

As always, I overestimated how much knitting I would get done this past week while traveling & visiting family:)  For some reason, I found this little guy much more fascinating than yarn.....

Do you think he looks a little exhausted from all the cuddling he got from his Grandma?

I barely touched my red socks - boy have they been neglected!!!  But I did get another wedge applied to my Wingspan shawl....six of eight wedges complete now :)

This project is pretty much a mindless knit, so it's perfect for traveling and visiting with family.  I'll be sad when it is finished.

One thing that made knitting on this project much more enjoyable was my new Dreamz interchangeable needles!  I was so excited and just couldn't wait for a new project to try them out, so I traded out the old Clover circular needles for these....

So far, so good!  I love the feel of them and the fact that the yarn moves easily along the needle but doesn't threaten to fall off.  I've heard stories of interchangeables coming unscrewed or having a "catch" where they join, but so far these are working out beautifully :*)  I'll be able to give a better recommendation after I have used several more of the tips on other projects.

And since Winter seems intent on making us all miserable this year - (Polar Vortex????  Really????) - I thought I would go ahead and start my next crush - the Swing Cowl by Angela Meinz (click link HERE to see this free pattern on Ravelry).  Note:  If you are not a member of Ravelry, you may not be able to see it, but signing up is free, easy, and without any interference in your personal stuff (like spam!), so you may want to sign up just so you can see all the pretty yarn projects... just sayin' :*)

I was inspired to make this Cowl by seeing Denise's HERE!  Since I don't want to show her pictures or those from Ravelry without permission, I'll just show you how my pattern looks on my Kindle...

I just love the way the pattern moves in this Cowl!!!  And I LOVE the rainbow colors Denise used in hers!  My first reaction was to go find that yarn and make one just like it!!!  You know how that feels, don't you?  Please say you do! :*)  But then I remembered my resolve to SIMPLIFY this year... which meant that I needed to see if anything in my meager stash would work for this project.

And Eureka!!!  I have this Noro sock yarn that I originally purchased to make my Dreambird shawl, but then I found the blues/aquas colorway that I really wanted, so this went back in the stash for something else.  Hmmm, something else like maybe a Swing Cowl?  Yep - I think so!!!  It is not the true rainbow colors of Denise's, but there is a lot of color variety and I think I will be very happy with it.  I also had enough black left from Dreambird to use as the background on this - double perfect!!!  I love knowing that I will be using stash yarn and not just buying more for this project!

Workin' that SIMPLIFY plan - YAY!!!

And one last share for this On the Needles post ..... I was finally able to present my needled Christmas gifts, so now I can show them to you....

Crocheted scarf and matching knitted hand warmers for my daughter
Also, a soft face cloth in the palest shade of her favorite color, purple :*)

Knitted hand warmers for our oldest granddaughters, Emma (18) and Sara (15)

Both of these granddaughters are now driving - Sara just got her learner's permit - so these hand warmers will be great for them this winter as they drive.  Of course, and perhaps more importantly to the girls, these also leave those finger tips free for texting and playing games on their phones - hopefully NOT while they are driving :*)

What's on your needles today?  

Please share or just go look at all the yarn pretties at Patchwork Times!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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KISSing the Dinosaurs

I've decided that my motto, or "word" if you like, for 2014 is..........

My plan is SIMPLE (couldn't resist that pun!) - I want to SIMPLIFY every area I can in my life - pare back, sell off, streamline, clean up, eliminate piles of stuff, stop collecting, stop buying more, use up what I have, slow down, take a breath, enjoy my gifts ..... well, I'm sure you get the picture! =^..^=

I've already started working on targeted areas in my house and my life.  For instance, the other day I sat down with my pile of CD's and went through them, pulling out the ones I no longer care about or haven't listened to in ages.  Those are now in a box ready to go to Goodwill.  Yippee - I feel lighter already!   I'm going through my books - two boxes went to Goodwill a couple weeks ago.  Cleaning out drawers, one at a time.  Giving away extras.  Asking myself before a purchase, "Where in the world am I going to put this????"

My Quilting world is also going under the microscope!  I've been doing a major clean-up/organization in my studio, and the pile of stuff to giveaway or sell has grown like a mountain :*)  I even bagged up three UFO's and sold them at a recent Guild yard sale.  (And I may do it again soon!)  I'm going to pass on most of the QAL's and blog hops - but there are a couple of blog events that I can't pass up, like the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and the NewFO Challenge :*)  My one BOM will be Berie's Year - and really, who could resist Bertie?  I'm just sayin'....  

I'm sure you've all heard of KISS - which stands for Keep It Simple Stupid..... except that I've learned not to call myself ugly names, so for me it will stand for Keep It Simple Silly! ♥)  Well, in order to get my quilting life back into some kind of order, this year I'm going to be KISS-ing a lot of very ugly, nasty Dinosaurs!!!  I explained in THIS post what I call a Dinosaur - a UFO that is older than the dirt Adam walked on!!!  I'm going to work on these old Dinosaurs until they are Extinct!!!

I've listed my 12 Dinosaur UFOs for this year on my side bar.  And to avoid complications (keeping it SIMPLE!), I think I'll join A year of Lovely Finishes in 2014 to keep me on track with working these UFOs each month.  I always do better when there is some form of accountability.

 

Right now, these projects are not listed in any kind of order because I want to be flexible enough to be able to choose a small project in short months (like this one) and then choose a large project in months where I have much more time to devote to it.

Since January is going to be a short month for me, I've decided to do the Rag Circle Flower quilt for my UFO this month instead of The Blue Collection, which was my first choice for January.  There's no way I could finish TBC this month, and the RCF blocks are going to be used for a doll quilt for my granddaughter, so it won't take too very long to finish up :)  That's the kind of flexibility I need to have in order for this to work for me.  I'll be sharing pictures of this project soon!

I'm really excited about this because several of you have indicated that you plan to join me in making your old Dinosaurs extinct!  Projects are always much more fun when we work together :*)  I'm looking forward to hearing how you all do with making your Dinosaurs extinct this year!!!!

So that's my New Year's goal!  I'm concentrating on making some Dinosaurs EXTINCT and my quilting life SIMPLIFIED!!!  Most of all, I'm looking forward to expanding good relationships and valuing the wonderful people in my life!  I'm hoping to make new bloggy friends and deepen my friendships with so many of you who are already friends :*)  Come along, let's support each other & have an amazing 2014!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

We've Got Company!!!!

Sugar donuts for breakfast!
Hey, at Grandma & Grandpa's you can have anything you want, right?

....... so needless to say, there won't be a lot of blogging going on around here LOL!!!

Lots of running, and jumping, and make-believe.....

I can jump THIS high!!!!

What does the Fox say??????????

He loves his Boombox he got for Christmas....

...... this child has music in his bones!  Any time he hears music, he starts to dance :*)

He was really tickled when he discovered that Grandma and Grandpa have TOYS at our house!  

These were all the favorite toys of our older grandchildren -- the oldest is now 18!!! -- and they were bought at yard sales & flea markets even back then, so that will give you an idea of just how old these toys are.  You just can't find toys like these anymore.

We all fell over laughing when he tried to sit on this tiny little potty LOL!!!

I'll be taking Hudson and his mommie home to North Carolina in a few days, where I will finally get my hands on the cutest new addition to the family, Cooper!!!  There will be much love shared with his big brother and sister too :*)

And for a HUGE bonus, I'll get lots of quality traveling time with these two sweet granddaughters...

I'll be putting up one more post later today listing my Dinosaur UFO's for 2014, but after that, blogging will take a little break and pick back up after grandbaby time ♥♥♥

So for now, Pooh Bear says, "See ya later!"  

**************************

PS - Just in case any of you were on the fence about signing up for the oh-so-cute Bertie's Year lazer-cut BOM, the sign up fee is now 50% off through January 5!  Click HERE to check it out....

Hug & Blessings!

Teresa

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