Christmas Sewing ... and baby pictures!

I already blogged about the John Deere quilt I made for a friend's little boy.

 This is the purse I made for my daughter-in-law.  The fabric is from the Norwegian Woods line.  I love this fabric.  My mom tried to take it from my DIL.  :-)

It is lined in an owl print from Hancock Fabrics that has the exact same color scheme.  I also made her a little zipper pouch to match. 

I whipped up a couple of these pillow cases for Gabbie-Lou-Who; one for her house and one for my house.  The penguin fabric is flannel and she is all about anything that is 'soft and fuzzy'.  

I also made Gabbie a quilt for her new baby doll, and a taggy/lovey for  Sadie Mae and a matching smaller one for the baby doll.  No pics.  It was down to the wire and I just forgot.

Here is our Sweet Sadie Mae.

And with her Momma and Papa.

 

Gabbie-Lou-Who is not opening the presents; she's not even looking in the bags.  She's just rearranging them.  From table to couch and from one end of the couch to the other.  She kept this up for about a half hour.

I was (for a change) just so caught up in what was going on and having fun (and playing with Sadie) that I didn't even get any pictures actually during Christmas dinner or opening presents.  But later my dad and I helped Gabbie put together her Minnie Mouse floor puzzle that Justin and Ashley got her.  My dad had a real hard time with that irregular edge -- he kept trying to pick out all the edge pieces to put together first like you do with a 'real' puzzle.  

We had a really happy Christmas.  I hope all of you did as well. 

I'll be doing a post later this evening showing you my great Christmas presents, one of which I have been putting to hard  use today! 

Cool Kids in Warm Hats!

My son's friend posted on facebook a crocheted toboggan her mom had made.  So BoyChild says "hey Mom, I need one of those - in hunter orange!"  Well, of course the recommended style/brand yarn did not come in hunter orange, so I just got some good old Redheart worsted weight yarn in 'pumpkin' and made him one.  He liked it.  The first day he wore it over a visor - the second day he wore it over a thin fleece toboggan.  

I had plenty of yarn left so a made another one. Miss Gabbie-Lou-Who wore that one a time or two, but it was a little big for her.  Her Pop (my BabyBrother) wanted one, so she gave him hers and I made her a more 'kid-sized' one (and used up the last little bit or orange thread. 

Then BabyGurl saw all the hats and she wanted one "but not hunger orange".  So she will be getting a blue one (made from the recommended LionHeart Homespun yarn).  But I let Gabbie model it for her so I could send her a picture of it when it was done.  

And here you have ... the hat gallery!!  

Got 'Er Done!

The John Deere commissioned quilt is all done!  

It is pouring rain and is supposed to pour rain for three days, so this is as good as it gets for pictures. 

Crappy phone pictures in crappy artificial lighting.  

The label says 'From Santa & Mrs Claus - 2013'. 

 It's all soft and crinkly and when I took it out of the dryer I almost snuggled up in it instead of putting it away for it's new owner.  

Finished size:  approx 60 x 80
John Deere Fabrics from Hancock Fabrics
Quilted with Coats and Clark 30 wt cotton thread
Warm and White batting

Check my right-hand sidebar for links to all the great blogs I am linking up with this week!!

I Got Mail !!

The small package is MY package.  I will make something for ME.  I have been wanting this fabric for a while but have had difficulty finding a complete 'set' of it ...

This is "Keep It Sassy" by Olive Sandwiches.

I ordered it from Green Fairy Quilts on Cyber Monday.  

(Right now they still have one bundle available)

Joann's was running a 50% off batting sale, and FREE shipping!  So I decided this was a good time to try the 'Warm' batting I've heard so much about.

I still have one package yet to come.  Charm squares (Sunnyside) that I want to use to make my mom a quilt.  But it will not be for Christmas!!  

Linking up with Lee @ Freshly Pieced, and Heather and Megan @ Quilt Story, and Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation. 

Have you considered joining ebates?  Cash back for online purchases you were going to make anyway!!  

Black / Cyber / Sale / I ate too much food and bought too much fabric /Weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving. 

Prior to heading to my cousin's house, Gabbie and I watched a bit of the parade.  You will notice I had the exact same view this year that I had for last year's parade.



Most of my dad's family were at my cousin's house.  And for the first time in a long time we had babies (two) there. 

 

I was too busy eating food to take many pictures. 

 

I did get one of Sweet Sadie Mae and her lovely Momma. 

 

And Gabbie-Lou-Who took one of Baby Hannah.

 

Not even any of Gabbie because she had possession of my phone most of the day showing everyone the dozens of pictures of her that are on there.  (I mean you know she only sees many of these people once a year, so there's lots of stuff she has to share!)

 

I stayed home in my pj's all day on black Friday (I'm not crazy!), I have however bought from several a couple or three  online shops over the black/cyber sale weekend so I should have some great pics to show you in a few days. 

**

 

If you do very much online shopping at major (and some minor) retailers, you should consider signing up for ebates.  Sadly they do not affiliate with Etsy and eBay (yet) but they have hundreds (thousands?) of retailers that offer cash back rewards through ebates. 

 

It's not a get rich quick scheme, but seriously, you're going to make that purchase anyway, so anything you get back is savings, right?  Most stores offer between 2% and 6% throughout the year, but right now many stores are offering up to 10% and 12% cash back. 

 

Anyway, at the very least, go read up about it, see how it works, (it's totally free!) and if you feel so inclined, please use this link to sign up.  Yes, I get something from them if you sign up and make a qualifying purchase.  Also, once you  make that qualifying purchase you get a $10 gift card to a major retailer (you have several to choose from), so really, even if you only ever use it once, you've made $10.

 

The catch is .... (this is the really hard part for me to remember) you must login to ebates,  and then click through to your 'store' via the ebates site.  Doing it is really easy, remembering to do it is the hard part for me. 

 

(I didn't mean to turn this post into an ad for ebates, but it is something I use and love so I wanted to share, and yes I want my referral bonus too!) 

Pics of my fabrics will be posted as soon as they arrive!

:-)

 

 

 

A No Sew Week ...

Haven't done much sewing this week.  Well, I did make Sweet Sadie Mae a couple of bibs (no pics, I already gave them to her mom).  At four and a half months she is drooling constantly.  I think she may be getting close to getting a tooth on top.  It hasn't broken the skin yet, but the gum is awfully hard in one spot. 

This is a little video of her Daddy playing peek-a-boo with her Thanksgiving.  (Wearing a store-bought bib I might add!) LOL.

She's not too sure about that part where her face gets covered up!
 

 

And here are Sweet Thang's school pictures.  (Scans on my crappy office scanner).

 

 

 

This weekend it will be on to quilting this top.  It has to be done in time for Santa to deliver it!

  

John Deere Top Done ..

Finished up the top last night.  Now for the not so fun part of basting. 

This is my largest quilt so far.  And my first commissioned quilt.  Looking forward to the finished product.  

Linking up with Lee @ Freshly Pieced today.

Baby Love ....

No sewing was done at my house this weekend. 

But much baby loving was done!!

 

Little Things ...

I can share the Christmas presents that I've made now that they've been mailed and (mostly) received.

 

I made Linda a tea wallet from this tutorial. I also made her a couple of mug rugs.

 

 

 Peg got bowl buddies from this tutorial. (I had a hard time getting decent pics of the bowl buddies in a way that you could see the bowl shape!)  She also got mug rugs (no pic, sorry, but they match the bowl buddies).

 

Debra and Julie got wine coasters from this tutorial.

 

 The each got a Christmas set and an 'every day' set. 

 

(Top row, Debra; 2nd row, Julie; 3rd row, Linda)

 

 

And an extra set .... for me? ;-)

 

 

Still got lots to do, like finishing this John Deere quilt .....
(I have the top half done!)

 

 

Won't be much sewing going on this weekend with both Gabbie and Sadie at my house!  Gabbie will be there all day Saturday, and Sadie will be coming to spend the night!  Lots of playtime and fun in store for Aunt Paula / Gamma!

 

Linking up with lots of great blogs this week.  Please visit the links in my right-hand sidebar!!

 

Tuesday's Tales .... Circus and a WIP

Didn't get much sewing done this weekend.  Was just too busy having fun with Sweet Thang.

 

She went to her first circus.  She is not fond of 'characters' (in this case clowns, but she doesn't like Santa either).  Elephant rides were available, but she preferred to watch rather than ride.

 

 

Same with pony rides.

 

She did get her very own red nose.  But that's about as much clown as she wanted!

 

 

And this is my current WIP (and will be for a while).  This is my very first commissioned quilt.  My instructions were "John Deere / twin size".  I have free reign on the rest of it.  This (indoor, late night) picture doesn't really portray the true colors.  I'm having to keep it hidden from BabyGurl lest she steal a 3-year olds Christmas present!! :-)

 

I'm mostly only getting to work on it for a couple of hours in the evenings because I get to spend a lot of time with Sweet Thang, and this coming weekend I'll be spending lots of quality time with Sweet Sadie Mae.

 

*Real name, Sadie Lynn, but Gamma likes Sadie Mae better.  :-)

 

Linking up with lots of great blogs this week.  Please check my right-hand sidebar for links, and show them all some bloggy love!!

New Projects ...

Got a couple of new things going on.  Well, almost going on; I bought the fabric today.

First up is my second quilt-along with Polly ... This one is Nativity In The Trees.  She has posted the first lesson and it is fabric selection and yardage requirements.  So it's definitely not too late to sign up to quilt along with us.  I'm looking forward to it.  Polly's instructions are very easy to follow and if you have any questions she responds promptly with her answers.  

This is my fabric selection in the basket in the cutting line this morning at Hancock's (they had 50% off almost everything in the store!)  

(This is my first trip to the cutting table.  I made three trips.  The ladies at the cutting table and I are great friends now!)

And here it is all laid out (as the day's light was fading, but the colors are pretty true)

 Closeup of what I'm planning to use as backing.

And for another project, my first quilt "for hire".  

A friend's little boy wants a John Deere quilt so I picked the fabrics today - I got some of every JD fabric they had.  Would've loved to have another couple of selections but I can work with this.  

I'm planning to make it similar to how I have it laid out here.  Large squares of the four prints, sashed with (narrow) strips of the yellow, and bound in the blue check with the tires for the back.  

This will be my first quilt that was specially ordered but she gave me free reign with it as long as it is John Deere.  So at least I've got that covered!  

(And while I was posting this she text'd me to ask if I had any luck finding fabrics and I showed her this layout and she replied with "Oh my gosh! I cant wait!"; so I guess I did ok.)

I also picked up some random Christmas fat quarters for $1 each.  I'll  make coasters or mug rugs or something out of these.  Or I may be so busy with the two quilts that these just sit til next year!

And, this cute owl fabric.  Who could resist this at 50% off? :-)

I also got other miscellaneous items such as zippers, thread, interfacing etc while there was such a great sale going on.

Linking up with Marelize at Anything Goes Mondays,
and Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday,
and Connie's Free Motion By The River,
and Randi at Show and Tell Tuesday
and Lee at Freshly Pieced.

WIP - Christmas Presents ....

Okay, I can't show the actual projects / gifts, because the recipients follow my blog.  But I can show you some of the fabrics. 

I've made one gift from this fabric, and am making a second (different) gift for another recipient.
(That blue is a brighter, more turquois color than this pic shows) 

And I've made one gift from this fabric, and a second (same) gift for another recipient from other Chrtistmas fabrics (all used up so no leftovers to photograph).

I'm enjoying matching gifts and fabrics to the recipients' likes and personalities.  I hope they get as much pleasure from receiving/ using them as I have gotten while making them.

I will show pictures of the finished products after they have been gifted (I'm sure I'll have them in the mail to said recipients around Thanksgiving; patience is not one of my virtues!)

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday

and with Kelly for Needle and Thread Thursday. 

Baby Quilt

Of course I forgot to put the label on ... but I can still add that ... I'm going to call this one "Confetti".  The top is made from the leftovers of Playmate.   The back is flannel.

 There are a couple of spots where my points didn't match exactly ... but for a first time HST quilt, I am happy. 

"Confetti" is for sale in my Etsy shop.

You can also follow along on my Facebook Page for mini updates.

Linking up with Marelize for Anything Goes Monday 
and with Connie at Free Motion By The River
and Show And Tell Tuesday with Randi
and Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday
and Michelle's Let's Make Baby Quilts.