Rainbows and Winners!

This time of year is always so BUSY!!!  

I know you all know what I mean, right?  Getting ready for loved ones and grandbabies coming to visit.... putting up the tree and decorations.... Christmas parties and pot-luck luncheons with friends and guilds.... shopping for the perfect gifts.... putting the last stitch in this year's newest Christmas quilt... the list is endless.

It's a lot like babysitting the grandbabies - I love it, and it's always fun, but I'm always glad when it's over too :)  Frankly, at my stage of life, fun can be exhausting!

Of course, quilters cannot live by family and responsibilities alone, but by every stitch they can sneak in when no one is looking!  Am I right?  And I seem to remember that I did promise you the 9th Hootie recently, didn't I?

Well, wait no more......

Introducing Rainbow Hootie 

and boy, does he have ATTITUDE!!!!

If the sun ever comes out, I'll get some better pics!

Rainbow Hootie is the Hippee Flower Child of his family LOL!!  I've decided to name this quilt, "Whooooo's Your Daddy?"  I mean, can you see all of the other owls looking anywhere but at Rainbow?  No one wants to claim him as family LOL!!!  Not that it seems to bother him any - he's chillin' and sportin' that whole "Make Love, Not War" attitude :*)  He's just happy to be hanging out with the crowd and doing his own thing!

I'm almost finished sewing all the feathers down, and next I will assemble the "limb" sashing strips and the tree trunk on the left.  I'm having second thoughts about the brown - it makes the whole quilt look dark I think.  I hate to say it, but I just may have to go shopping!!!!  Eeeek!!!!

I have no idea right now how I will quilt it, but I just can't wait to finish it now that I'm this close!  Everyone doing the Rainbow Scrap Challenge over at SoScrappy this year is trying to finish up our projects for the end of the year, and this will be my second finish if I can pull it off.

And speaking of finishes, did you notice my Partridge in a Pear Tree table-topper in the blog header???

Oh, I really love how this turned out!

It dresses up the fireplace area nicely, and adds a pop of color :)

I think the partridge turned out really nice!  The striped batik worked perfectly for his wing.  I re-designed the black striping around his face from the original pattern design (you can see the original pattern picture here if you are interested).

 And the pears cut "broderie perse"-style also worked perfectly.  I used this fabric....

Ironed light fusible on the back, and then cut out the pears and fused them to the background.  Then I just did a simple straight stitch around all the edges.

I even used some of the leaves from the fabric (the ones with gold in them), as well as the ones I cut from my own green scraps.

Don't you just love that red print for the border???  To me, it looks like bright red Christmas bulbs :)

I'm very happy with it and look forward to many years of enjoying it during the holiday season!

♥♥♥♥♥

And now to take care of a little business .... 

I really want to thank everyone who came over to visit during the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day :)  So many lovely comments!  And I have some new followers too - Yay!!!  Welcome aboard :)

And so, without further ado.....

    ♥  The WINNER of the 100 Blocks Volume 4 issue from my Giveaway Day with Sew Mama Sew is - Cathy who blogs over at A Quilting Chick!!!  You should pop over and visit her blog - she is making Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion mystery quilt and I just LOVE her colors and fabrics!!!!


    ♥  and - I realized I have never officially announced the WINNER of the Sew Sweet Simplicity Giveaway (my bad!)  Congratulations to - Kathy E!  Kathy blogs over at Sparkles, Sprinkles and Everyday Crap - cute name huh?!?  She's a fairly new quilter and has challenged herself to make the SSS blocks - and doing a great job of it too!  Kathy has already received her pattern package from Jacquelynne Steves :)

Now don't despair if you didn't win - there will be several more prize packages to come in this fun BOM before it's over!  Be sure to go to Jacquelynne's blog to sign up for the free patterns if you haven't already HERE!

And I know you want to grab a copy of the Christmas Edition of her E-magazine!  I just received mine the other day in my email inbox - wow!!!  Such lovely inspiration!!!!  You don't want to miss out on that either, so while you're there, sign up for the FREE e-magazine too HERE :)

And for those of you who act fast, Jacquelynne is giving away a FREE PATTERN right now on her blog HERE for this oh-so-cute and classic Red and White quilt...

Photo courtesy of Jacquelynne Steves Facebook

Now I'm going to watch some football with My Guy 

and play with my Patchwork of the Crosses blocks for a while.

Today is Slow Sunday Stitching with Kathy's Quilts after all :)

Also linking up with the Tuesday Linky Party at

Wishing everyone a lovely Sunday!!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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From NewFO to UFO .... and hopefully soon Done!

It's SOOOOO nice to be home again after traveling for well over a week!  Thanksgiving with our family was amazing - it always is!  But My Guy and I both brought home a pretty nasty cold, so we've been taking it pretty easy since we got home.  This is my medicine of choice....

Picked this up yesterday at Tuesday Mornings - I love it!!!!!

So, I'm taking it a little easy on the sewing front.  Just a little light prepping and stitching as I feel like it.  I came across an old UFO yesterday - looking for something else of course! - This was a NewFO Challenge project linking up with Cat Patches waaaaaayyyyyyy back in October 2012!

The pattern is from Pearl P Pereira's Baltimore Christmas - Partridge in a Pear Tree.

A local quilt shop, The Quilter's Path, featured this cute little block as a standalone quilt, using that wonderful pear fabric above for the pears - and it turns out SO cute!!!  Well, it did for her anyway.  I haven't touched it since then :(  I consider this one of my Dinosaur UFO's, even though it's not listed over there in the sidebar - I had actually forgotten it, that's how neglected it was!!!

I decided it needed to be worked up quickly and displayed this Christmas on my hanging Ackfeld Wire table stand frame.

Somehow, the Cottontail Bunny quilt seems a little out of season LOL!!!  I think my little partridge has waited in the "wings" long enough - like that pun, did you?

I love using my scraps for applique - all those small pieces of lovely leftovers are simply perfect for this type of project!  I pulled out my greens and chose a nice range for the leaves.

Then I took quite some time choosing the right gray-browns for the partridge.  I don't believe I've ever seen one in real life, and I had to pull up some pictures from the web.  Apparently they come in all kinds of colors - from grays to browns and everything in between.

I decided these were the most common coloring.  The example in PPP's cover is very gray with no stripes on the wing, but I felt these pictures indicate some brown in there and a definite striping design in the wings, so finally I pulled these fabrics ....

The soft brown is a scrap that I think will be perfect for the body, and I still need to choose between the two striped ones for wings.  Of course that little black scrap in the upper right from my crumb jar is perfect for the black stripe on it's face.  On the left is the fat quarter of dark brown I pulled for the tree stems.

All the pieces are drawn on fusible, so I just need to spend this evening finishing up with the fusing, cutting and placement.  I doubt I'll actually get to stitch them down tonight, but hopefully it will be done by the weekend.  Like I said, I'm taking things a little slow :*)

I'll be linking up with SoScrappy for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this week - we have Angela's full permission to play with whatever color scraps we like this month - woohoo!!!!

And as promised, I am steadily working on my other RSC project - Hooties!!!

These are all getting their feathers stitched down so I can begin letting them nest comfortably on their limbs :)  Come back in a few days to see my progress!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Hootie Races to the Finish Line!

My poor little Hootie quilt has been quite neglected lately -

Hootie?  Are you a little stressed there, sweetheart?????

As most of you know, Hootie is one of my 2014 Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects, sponsored by Angela at SoScrappy blog.

I've made one cute little owl block each month, using fabrics in the color Angela announced at the first of each month.  Last month was dark neutrals (blacks/browns/grays), and this month is light blue - none of which worked for this project - so I've been taking a little break from it in order to concentrate on some much needed planning and pattern writing for upcoming classes.

But this past week I was able to clear my schedule a little and got back on track with these fun little guys!  As I shared earlier HERE, I was very unhappy with the mushy look to Red Hootie, and decided to change out his feathers.  Here is the new, improved version....

Yes!  I'm much happier, and I think Red Hootie is too :*)

Then, as I was on a roll, I quickly pulled fabrics and dressed Orange Hootie in his feathers too....

Isn't he just simply adorbs????  

(Is that even a word?  If not, it should be!)

I just LOVE that wings fabric!!!

I've also begun stitching down the applique - FINALLY.....

I have to wait on the bottom layers because the little feet need to be added in under there when I get the limb applied for them to sit on.  And I'll do all the eyes and noses together so I don't have to keep changing threads :)

I gave quite a lot of thought about the color for the ninth Hootie.  Gray was just too boring with all the other colors.  Browns didn't work for me either.  Some suggested emerald green, but I didn't have enough of those fabrics to make one that I liked.

And then finally it hit me!!!  What if I made the last one ............ But no, I'm afraid you're going to have to wait to see the finish!  Oh, I know - I'm SO MEAN!!!!  At least I gave you a hint in the first picture, right?  Believe me, it will be worth the wait :*)

As I've shared before in the early stages of this quilt, the Hootie block is a design by Shayla Wolf of Sassafras Lane Designs - one of my favorite designers!!!  She designed this block for Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks #7, and I was lucky enough to win her giveaway copy of the magazine that year!  (See her block for this year HERE)

I'm delighted to share that I won a copy of this year's Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks #10 from Teresa at Fabric Therapy!  You'll want to be sure to go over and see Teresa's block - she does some amazing things with applique and hearts :*)

Thanks so much Teresa!!!  I am absolutely thrilled to win and can't wait to drool over all the wonderful blocks inside!  This is one magazine I never miss - 100 great blocks in each issue and each one is an original, designed by some of the most creative quilters in the business today!  

Quiltmaker is hosting a Blog Party with lots of giveaways RIGHT NOW!  You could win your very own copy of this super magazine, plus a lot of other prizes too :)  Go check it out now at Quiltmaker's Quilty Pleasures Blog!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Scrapping and Stitching!

Sunday is the day I always enjoy sitting and stitching with my friends over at Kathy's Quilts.....

And today I'm still working on finishing up my Bertie's Year blocks.  Above is the November block - all ready for sandwiching and quilting.  And October is done too.....

I have to say, I'm not as happy with this one.  It just seems dull to me.  I looked at maybe using the orange fabrics for the border, but that was too much.  And with 3 more still waiting for their embroidery and embellishments, this one will just have to stay the way it is!

I'm currently working on the embellishments for July Bertie.....

All the stitching is done except for Bertie's claws in gold.  The seeds and fly stitch on the watermelon were a lot of fun!  If you look closely, you will see that I had already done a decorative fly stitch by machine, not realizing that the pattern would call for that in off-white by hand later.  After the hand work is done, I'll pull out that green machine stitching.  (And then again, maybe I won't *vbg*)

I also did a little touch up work on the berries.  The sample picture shows pretty blueberries in a nice blue-purple color......  you can see the original looks like actual wools, not flannels :)

Original sample quilt by Bonnie Sullivan

But the flannel they sent with the kit is a blah gray.  I really didn't want to have to take them off, find another fabric, trace ..... right - all that nonsense!  Then, last night I spied my colored pencils on my desk - the pencils I paid a fortune for last year because the teacher in one of my classes at Quiltfest required that we bring this exact brand of pencil, and we NEVER TOUCHED THEM! - yes, those pencils :)  And I thought, why not color them a brighter color?

I think it worked just fine!  You can see in the picture on the right where I had begun to color them, first with a bright blue, then a purple over that.  The bottom left berry just has the blue and is waiting for the purple top coat :)

I hope to get the hst borders on this one today, and that will leave only these two for me to embellish.

If I work quickly, I  may even get them done before I receive the last December kit!  Of course, they all still need to be sandwiched and quilted, but that really doesn't take very long.  One day ought to do it :)

I've also done some machine sewing!  I've joined in on the Scraptastic Tuesday fun with Nicky at Mrs. Sew and Sow and Leann at She Can Quilt  - here are the two blocks I made the other day out of my RED crumb jar....

Aren't they cute???

You can read HERE about my determination to empty out my crumb jars.  Since I've discovered that no project ever gets done unless I actually start the process of working on it, I thought it a good idea to pull out one of the jars and get to it .... amazing how that works, isn't it?  LOL!!!  

So I dumped out some crumbs....

..... and began haphazardly sewing a few pieces together - working two blocks at a time so I could chain piece of course :)

And before I knew it, I had sections big enough to trim down to a uniform 6-1/2 inches!

Wow - this was really, really fun!  So freeing!  No worrying about whether the fabrics "matched" or were the "right size" or even about having a perfect 1/4" seam!!!  Just put a couple of pieces together, sew, and repeat.  I loved it!!!

This is my November NewFO Challenge project - getting in there early, right?  For sure, this will be my Rainbow Scrap Challenge project to use up my crumbs next year!  I may even have to cheat and do a few more before then :)  They are like potato chips, you can't make just one... or two .... or .... well, you get the picture!  Be sure to check out the other projects linked up at Scraptastic Tuesday!  And don't forget the RSC at SoScrappy - November projects are going to be in Baby Blues - and you know I love me some BLUE!!!!

Linking up with:

Rainbow Scrap Challenge
November NewFO Challenge

Slow Sunday Stitching

Design Wall Monday

Tuesday Linky Party

Scraptastic Tuesday

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Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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October Rainbow Scrap Challenge

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge colors for October 2014 are going to be the darks - BROWNs, BLACKs and even GRAYs.  And believe it or not, I'm quite happy with that!

Miniature Rainbow Pineapples
Rainbow Scrap Challenge project for 2013

As most of you know, BLACK is a favorite background for me - my beloved bright jewel colors POP against it so beautifully!!!  But I also love black/white prints - probably for the same reason.  Here they are in my Soul Searching quilt top, with my BLACK block in the center to tie everything together.....

Notice how the colors in the BLACK fabrics move around the block with the colors that surround it? I LOVE IT!!!!

For this month, I plan to add the BROWN limbs (sashing) to my Hootie Owls - after I finish up the last two blocks of course :)

And then I hope to make one of these adorable Shark Pencil Cases from Patchwork Posse in GRAYs ..... I've seen these made in some of the cutest fabrics!!!!

What will you be working on for the RSC this month?

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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