How I said Goodbye to 2016 .....

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  

We had a lovely Christmas and, as is our habit, a nice, quiet New Year's.  Although we have no family near us, we are surrounded by good friends and fun things to do during the holidays.  I was especially happy to have a few days filled with nothing but puttering in my studio - it was heaven!!!  I managed to finish out the year by cranking out a few little Christmas projects and even a couple of finishes.

My favorite finish is Hello Mr. Moon - I made two of these!  One was a gift for my sister and the other I am keeping for us. =^..^=

This adorable little quilt is designed by Teri Henderson Tope, and you can find the free pattern at Bernina's We All Sew site.  I loved the freedom of the "messy" outlining she calls for around the cat and moon, and it was great fun learning how to do the swirly quilting design in the background.

I also made these Christmas Tree mug rugs for my Quiltfest group, using my buddy Kevin the Quilter's tutorial but eliminating the bottom row of the tree so they would be small enough to fit.  Thanks Kevin!!! 

The blue one is for Belinda who shares my love for all things BLUE!!!  (Yes, I have a blue one cut out for me too!)  And Joanne is my bird-loving friend, so hers has a beautiful seasonal bird fabric on the back.

This was a really fun project, challenging myself to use only my crumb scraps for the pieces.

I even pulled from my brown crumb jar for the tree trunks... who knew there could be so many colors of brown?????

One more of my Folk Art Album blocks is finished....

This is the 10th Folk Art Album block completed!  I have enjoyed this hand Applique project, especially finding ways to make it a little bit special...

Can you tell that I used metallic thread for the red buds?  I also added those french knot clusters in the center of the three-leaf section that looked a little boring to me before.  I have to admit, I'm ready to be done with this project.  Only 2 more - this one is next up for stitching.  Don't you just adore that hummingbird???

I shared my January Christmas UFO project, I Believe, with you in THIS previous post.  Since then I have finished two more blocks ....

I Believe Block #4

I Believe Block #5 - Yikes!!!!

Of course, as soon as I pulled this photo into Blogger, I saw the mistake!!!  That will have to get fixed first thing tomorrow morning :*)

In order to finish this top assembly in January (from start to finish!), I've committed to making a block per day on the days I am at home.  This week has been impossible - I've had activities every day!  Starting this weekend, this project and my En Provence blocks will be getting lots of love :*)  I'll share more about my thoughts on EP in my next post.

En Provence Clue #5 complete

Some friends are coming over to sew tomorrow, so I need to go get things set up.  As I type, it has begun to snow, so hopefully we won't get "snowed" out!  Actually, we're not expecting anything more than perhaps an inch at the most.  I'll be back this weekend to share my January goals with you.

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=

Hello Yellow!

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for June is the audacious YELLOW!!!

"Audacious?" you ask?  Absolutely!  What other color unashamedly takes over quite the way yellow does?  And what other color is the color of the Sun, around which our entire universe revolves????  And what other color can make you smile, just by looking at it?  Yes, I think YELLOW knows that it is special, and it is audaciously smug about it too :*)  But you just have to love it, right?  It's like puppy dogs and kittens and babies - what's not to love????

But before we continue with our love for YELLOW, I have a little unfinished business to attend to....

Ta Da!!!  

Here is my GREEN Soul Searching block, finally finished!!!!

I was determined not to let this block slide - I've been really good about keeping up with my monthly blocks and I didn't want to fall short now!  I just love this GREEN one - such rich color!!!  And for once, I didn't have problems finding fabrics with interesting things going on :)

As soon as I had Soul Searching caught up, I happily dove into the YELLOWS and began washing them up so they could be ready for some serious playing!

It didn't take too terribly long to wash this color, considering I don't really have that many of them.  Which is a problem since I'm making my Happy Dance quilt in the Pink/Orange/Yellow colorway!  I'm finding that yellows are quite hard to find in something other than plain and boring.  However, I did run across these fun yellows while traveling a few weeks ago....

All washed but not yet ironed :*)

I found quite a lot of the yellow and black combination (top row) - so fun!!!  Don't you just love those glasses on the end of each stack on the right?  And those FUN bees?  They make me feel ready for summer!!!! 

I bought only quarter yards of these sweet prints.  I simply couldn't afford 1/2 yards of each at today's prices, and the shops did not cut fat quarters.  I think next time I'm in that situation, I may spring for at least a third yard.  Those quarter yards look so tiny!

I also picked up a few black-and-white prints - you can never have enough of those, right?  My favorite?

This fun monkey print - it makes me laugh!!!

(May camera makes some of the monkeys look stained black, but they are not :)

I haven't had time yet to begin with my usual RSC blocks for this month, but I've already begun to play with the new yellows, putting together the pieces for a Happy Dance block....

I've recently finished two more HD blocks....

This is going to be one bright and happy quilt!!!!

And remember the picture I showed you yesterday of my latest sock project?

I want to thank you all for your kind comments *blush*

And I've decided to name these my Happy Dance Socks!!!

I thought you might also like to see something I won the other day at Guild - it has YELLOW in it as well ...

A lovely mug and mug rug made by one of my favorite people in the whole world - Starr Howell!!!!  Can you see here that she even hand quilted around the flowers?  I'm not sure how I can be expected to actually EAT anything off of that lovely quilt!!!!!

Starr always makes everything so wonderful with her special touches!

And did you notice the beautiful green spatula in the above picture?

It came in a set as a gift from my lovely friend Lynn, who recently visited from Seattle!!!!

(They are not yellow - but lime green and aqua always win with me - every time!!!!)

While she was here, I loaned her one of my machines so she wouldn't have to bring hers on the airplane.  She was able to sew at retreat and then all the following week at her sister's house.  

And I was delighted to be able to help of course :*)

This week I hope to get my YELLOW Soul Searching block done.

But tomorrow will be more work in my sewing studio - if I have time I'll share some photos with you!

What will you be working on?

Check out all the fun projects in YELLOW at

SoScrappy's Rainbow Scrap Challenge

And see more Stash Enhancements at

Judy's Patchwork Times

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

=^..^=