Year End ....

2014 saw a lot of big events for the babies in our family.

Our first baby started Kindergarten this year.  She is doing wonderful and loving every minute of it.  Her speech is improving daily, and she's growing up so fast.

We added this sweet baby to our family this year ......

And she is already so grown up!

And this sweet girl found out she is going to be a big sister!  So we are really looking forward to 2015!  

Getting them all to sit still for a pic on Christmas Eve was quite the chore.  And next year we will have another one to add in the mix.  Yay!  This has been a very good year for this Gamma!

Here's to 2015! 

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! 

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!!

 

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. 

Lot Of Firsts ...

I followed this tutorial for the Cookie Plate Crumb Catcher from The Crafty Quilter.  

I still have to give it a final trim and bind it - probably in solid red, which I don't have any of.  I think the red/white print would make a good binding but I don't think I have enough of it left.  Not without a whole lot of piecing.  

Lots of firsts in this for me.  First time for HST's, square in square, and pinwheels.  Also, I didn't do just straight line quilting.  Well yes, all the quilting lines are straight (or relatively so), but it's not just lines all the way across the whole thing.  

I had trouble visualizing the layout and getting my colors where I wanted them - in retrospect I wish I'd reversed the fabric layout between the black triangles and the green squares.  But still, not bad for a first go.  And it's made with some random fat quarters I picked up at Hancock Fabrics last week for $1 each, so it was a thrifty little project.  

I also used different color threads top and bobbin.  It turned out ok, but I'm not sure it's something I'd do for a bigger project.  At least not without a lot more practice and some major finagling with the tension settings to make sure the threads don't pull through.  The quilting doesn't really show up with the red bobbin, but I am glad I didn't go with the white in the bobbin.  Maybe some gold would've been nice?  

I recommend this for a quick easy project. 

Getting my Whoop on today with Sarah.

EDITED TO UPDATE:

I just couldn't leave it alone.  But wow, binding this little bugger was a chore!

And .... since I actually finished it, I'm also linking up with Richard (&Tanya Quilts), and Amanda Jean (Crazy Mom Quilts)