Working as An Elf for Santa

I wonder how many of the women who read this blog are the primary “Santa’s Helper” for Holiday merrymaking in their family? I used to love to do it all; decorating, shopping, baking, wrapping, sewing, writing cards or the “annual letter” - and all while being married (hubbies can be work too, amiright?), raising three kids and holding down a full-time job. I bet many of you did, too. Were we wonder women or something?

For Bruce and me, our respective first marriages failed, and together we blended the last of the unfledged teens into a new family. In time, they too fledged and we were empty nesters. It was easier and simpler as the years passed to downsize the tree, decorate minimally, and hand out cash and gift cards at Christmas to our kids and ever growing list of grandkids. And forget the baking, cooking and sewing! 

But we’re changing things this year. It’s been an expensive year with the move from the old house to the condo, and the subsequent remodeling and furniture purchases, etc.. Bruce and I both agreed that it’s now the time and season -literally and figuratively - to slow down, be more deliberate and enjoy the spirit of Christmas. This December, we’ve reached our stop on the Big Spending Train and we’re getting off. 

We started by cutting our gift budget to about 1/3 our usual amount and informed our adult kids. Surprisingly, or maybe not-so-surprisingly since we tried to raise good humans, they were beyond cool with it. One asked me to bake biscotti, another one requested a quilt (done!) and another one wanted some old family pictures and such. 

And so that’s the theme of this post. I’ve been working as a secret elf for Santa! 

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In the Sewing Department of our Santa’s workshop, Elf Cathy finished sewing together this quilt top of bright scraps:

The size is 40.5” x 50.5”, and the top has been put on the Sewing Department Schedule to be basted for quilting next week. The eventual quilt will be donated to Quilts for Kids. 

Next, the assignment was to complete between 10-12 quilted zipper bags for gifting over the next couple weeks. Elf Cathy was able to completely finish seven of them the first week. They’re all box-bottomed and of varying sizes. Shown below on their sides, not the most flattering view. 

The remaining five zipper bags are all cut out - fabric, fleece, lining and tabs, and ready to be assembled next week. 

As for the Cooking Department, the elves have worked out a four-variety selection of biscotti, a modest ingredient shopping list, and a timeline. And already a whole turkey sits in the freezer, waiting for its turn to shine golden brown. (Oooh, I’m making myself hungry!)

The Decorating Department sent an elf to help the North Pole Homeowners Association decorate their clubhouse. As a reward, an old wreath with jingle bells that was being thrown out was brought home by said elf to be used on their front door. 

The seasonal merriment has just begun here, and life is good! How are your elves faring?

Linking to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Good Fortune Pt. 5, Zip Pouch and Merry Christmas!

I’ve been stitching along with Bonnie Hunter’s Good Fortune Mystery Quilt-along. I’m only doing half (or slightly more) of the counts she’s giving us, but I’m keeping up. After the reveal, I can decide how large I want my quilt to be. Anyway, here are my Part 5 pieces. I really enjoyed making these! Come check out everyone’s participation over at the Mystery Monday Part 5 Linkup!

Yesterday I started on a new quilt, Saguaro Sunset, a free pattern by Kairlee Oakes.  This will be for my sister- and brother-in-law when we go to visit them in Arizona in February. They love and collect cacti.

The quilt contains 12 cacti, set four across and three down. Instead of a solid background, I’m using an ombre fabric and hoping to piece it to (roughly) represent an Arizona Sunset. So, the top four cacti will have the dark purples and oranges.  The middle four cacti will have the orange-reds, oranges and orange-yellows. And the lower four cacti will have the range of yellows, medium to light.

I hope I can pull it off. There is sashing involved, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to need to get more fabric. But the piecing itself is fairly straight forward.

Today, in addition to baking cookies (just enough for a small family gathering), I made myself a long-awaited zip pouch for my colored pencils. I use the pencils a lot when designing quilts (like Lattice Birds, and All You Need is Love), so with the new year around the corner, I knew it was time to corral these pencils in something cute.

I used that way cute colored pencil fabric (by Tamara Kate, “kayajoy” on Spoonflower) on the outside and quilted it with s simple loop design. The inside is a piece of regular pencil fabric I got who-knows-where.

And the pencils fit great. In fact, there’s enough room for me to add to my collection. Santa, are you listening??

Finally, I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I appreciate you all reading along and commenting and just being great friends. May your Holidays be wonderful and filled with love and good health.

Darla and Alfalfa would also like to add their greetings, especially to Molly and Buddy, Trixie,  Smitty and Sadie, and “cousins” Emmett, Bella, Pashmina, Teddy and George. Alfie says he’s been as good as he can be and promises that this will be him and Darla tonight:

HA!  Bruce and I know better. We’re pretty sure that as soon as we go to bed, THIS is what Alfie and Darla will be doing:

Owls, Gifts, Donations and a Finish. Whew!

You know that when I write a mid-week post, I have a lot going on to write about. Otherwise, if it’s daytime I would be sewing and if it’s nighttime I would be reading or watching Netflix. That’s my life in a nutshell. Not really, of course, but let’s pretend.

First, let’s get the business out of the way. I finally finished the details on the patriotic quilt pieces. This is goal/item #9 on my Quarter 4 Finish-Along list for this year. To recap, this was once a patriotic quilt made by my ex-husband’s grandmother, Georgianna Ryan Muir (“Annie”). She was my children’s great-grandmother.

The quilt came into my life in 1982 when my mother-in-law, Mary Muir Flox was widowed and my brother-in-law packed up her household in North Carolina and drove a full U-Haul truck of her belongings to our Idaho home. He used the quilts as dunnage to wrap the furniture with. When unpacking, he just threw the quilts in our trashcans. I rescued them; there were three.

One of them, in pink and white, I donated to the Sandy City (Utah) Museum in 1998 with the full provenance provided. The second one I still own. It’s mostly white with peach tulips and light blue leaves that have faded a lot. I added a wide eyelet ruffle around three sides and used it in our guest bedroom for a decade or more in the 1990’s. Some day I would like to reproduce it in fresh fabrics. The third quilt was holey and beyond salvation. These three stars were the only viable pieces I could salvage. So, I trimmed and bound them in varying blue Kona solids and  added hanging corners and a pocket to the back of each. They’re about 14” square. In the pocket is a printed copy of the story of the quilt from its maker to the present day. They will be little gifties (stocking stuffers at Christmas) for my three adult children, Ryan, Shane and Megan.

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A couple weeks ago I donated three quilts and 9 pillowcases to a local quilt shop, Thimbles and Threads, for the Hurricane Relief Effort (Harvey, Irma and Katia). They snapped my picture when I dropped them off, and I was surprised to see it turn up in their next newsletter and IG post.

So that’s what my hair looks like in real life. Miss Clairol and I parted ways last year....

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Owls. I love them, always have. I used to collect them back in the sixties and seventies (not real ones - just owl things). A few years ago I used to make and sell owl softies (among other things) at boutiques. I would take magazine pictures, online pix (not sure if Pinterest existed then) and combine bits from here and there to come up with my owls. I learned quickly that owl feet were problematic to attach to softies and could be skipped altogether.

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I rediscovered some of my leftover owl parts in a plastic case. Most of the stuff went to Cousin Kim, but I kept one or two. And then I decided one would be cute appliquéd to a 12” block to include in my Autumn quilt. Here he is:

That just reminded me of something.... appropos to nothing..... when I was a kid we had a cat (one of many) that I got to name. I named him Oliver Wendell Livingston (initials O.W.L.). Ollie was a great cat........   but I digress....

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And I saved the best for last.  Today I got a great package in the mail from my friend Diann of Little Penguin Quilts.  We had planned to meet up (with other friends) on our Colorado trip last month, but plans fell through at the last moment. Anyway, I sent Diann a zippered pouch and some fabric and a couple little things. Well guess what? She sent me a zippered pouch and fabric AND a cute pincushion that she made! The pincushion is already in use, and I am here to tell you that one can never have enough zippered pouches. (Forget shoes - zippered pouches are where it’s at).

I loved Diann's little pink penguin fabric when she showed it on her blog, and can’t believe she was willing to part with some of it to send me! The spool fabric will go with some other sewing-themed fabric I have to make a sewing machine cover - a project for this winter sometimes. I hope. Anyway, thank you, Diann!! You rock!

That’s it for now. I’ll be back on Saturday with my Pink Scrappy Progress Report.

Pink Scraps Under the Needle and a Quilt Top Finish

Hi all, and welcome to the first pink Scrappy Saturday in October. I’m going to link this post up to Angela’s So Scrappy blog for our weekly Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Join us for some great quilting ideas and eye candy! I have so much to share that this is likely to be a long post, but at least there are a lot of pictures. Some things, though, I’ll save for a mid-week post. Let’s get started!

In my September scrappy summary, I mentioned a quilt I’m working on (off and on) that will take about 450 -  2.5”x5” lozenges. These will be cornered with 1.5” white and black pieces (it is a Bonnie Hunter pattern taken from a vintage quilt). The link will take you to her Free Patterns tab, where you can find a couple of posts regarding the cutting and construction of the quilt. Anyway, after finishing most of the cutting (I think I saved about 50 lozenges to cut from next year’s scraps to avoid too many duplicates), I cornered 40 lozenges. Obviously, I haven’t started applying any of the black corners yet....

So let’s talk PINK, shall we?  I had one 8.5” strings block from last year, and it takes 4 of them to make one big 16” (finished) square. And I am going to need 20 squares altogether. So, I sewed up 11 more string blocks to finish up the three large blocks. That gives me 15 of the 18 required.

And then it was time to focus on selvages. My Rainbow Selvages quilt calls for two pink columns; one light pink and one bright, hot pink. Done and done.

And sewn to the other finished columns it looks like this:

All that’s left is one column to the very right of the purples. Originally I planned a black/gray column. But now I think I will add two columns next month when we do dark neutrals. One will be the black/gray and the other will be browns. It will add another 4” of width, which I think this 72” long quilt will need, making it 60x72”. Stay tuned.

And the last of my pink scrappy sewing this week was my favorite - the bookcase quilt AKA Reading Rainbow. I needed two 12” pink blocks to finish up the red/pink row (you can click on all pictures to enlarge).

And since the only thing left for the bookshelf was one dark block for the bottom corner. So, I went ahead and made a black/gray block of books. I LOVE how this one finished, especially that Egyptian fabric (a scrap left over from making boxers for one of my sons when he was a teenager). And it has the perfect title - Timeless Treasure. Is that serendipity  or what?

And then I assembled all the books, rows, shelves, borders, etc. Oh my, what fun!  Here it is hanging on the design wall.

I know it’s not a very good picture, but we just didn’t get outside for a photo shoot.  This one is planned for pin basting on my new tables in the coming week. It will be the first quilted that way, so I am rather looking forward to it. And then the quilting will begin. I’m planning to do just some basic stippling or loops - a basic allover design that won’t detract from the action on the shelves. This quilt is about my favorite ever!  Hopefully I’ll have more to share on this next week.

And I am still making progress on my Autumn Farm Girl quilt. This week I finished up the Indian Corn block.

I’m almost done with the owl block, too, but I will save that for my mid-week post.

Finally, I wanted to share a recent make for my friend Diann of Little Penguin Quilts. Diann and DH Mike were going to join us on our recent Colorado trip for a couple days, but due to a death in Mike’s family, their plans changed at the last minute. So, I mailed this off to Diann when we got home from our respective trips. Now that she’s received it, I can share.

It’s just a little quilted, lined zip pouch stuffed with some little goodies. It’s quilted with a lefty vine motif.

A couple Christmases ago I made dozens of these for gifts, but this was the first one this year. And it seems that I was a bit rusty and could've used a refresher course! The first pouch I made (below) used my first fabric picks and colors.

But, I forgot the lining! OOPS! See the batting showing on the inside in the picture below. Sheesh.

If I had a dollar for every sewing missssssnake I’ve ever made, I’d be wealthy.

Finished Zippy Pouches - Do they Multiply in the Dark?

I have been sewing merrily away on Christmas gifts over the last couple weeks. After completing lots of pouches (I lost count because some have already been gifted or used for other things) I thought I should probably snap a picture or two and declare this goal for my 4th Quarter Finish-Along Challenge completed. Item number 6 on that list was to finish six zip pouches (in addition to the three pictured in that list).

So here (above) are a dozen pouches that have been constructed so far. This does not include the ones I used for gifts already or those that are in progress (another six or so).

My son Shane is an artist who likes to paint cityscapes. I thought this fabric was plenty masculine and so constructed a long pouch for him to carry supplies in. Most of the pouches  will be stocking stuffers and will likely have other small gifts tucked inside.

Two of my daughters are getting these sweet pieced pouches of Lori Holt fabrics (Modern Minis). I love the sentiments on them!!

We have baseball fans and hunters and all sorts of other interests within the men and boys of the family, so all interests were covered. If nothing else, I’ll tell them these make great storage cases for cords and rechargers for tech gear when traveling. In addition to the pouches, I have sewn six individual pillowcases for grandkids. Next up I will start on the pairs of pillowcases for the couples. I started these on a whim to use up fabric (I’ll talk about that in a minute) and they are not on my goal list.

So, the zippy pouches become the 4th finish (of 10 goals) for this quarter. My Rainbow Orbs quilt has been backed and basted and I hope to begin quilting it this week.  It is looking as though that will become finish #5 when it happens.

I have decided to go on a “Fabric Diet” for a few months (with the exception of end-of-year sales where I plan to pick up on some solids for backgrounds).  So far in November, I bought two quarter yards of special interest fabrics to finish four pouches. (+1/2 yard), but have already used 9.5 yards in fabric for the gifts and 6 yards to back Rainbow Orbs. I will do a full accounting of my fabric ins and outs at month-end.

Finally, I am listing some older fabrics in my Etsy shop. No, I will not be counting those listings/sales in my Fabric Diet. They were selected for listing weeks (if not months) ago, and I am finally just getting around to doing it.

I will be back later in the week with a post about my bright green blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge November color of the month, and a progress report on the Rainbow Orbs quilt itself.

Enjoy the lovely autumn!

Another One Bites the Dust

LOL..... I always liked that song, especially when driving.  And, dear Kerry, if you are reading this, it always reminds me of you......

Anyway, the title of this post refers to another project from my 4th Quarter Finish-Along List for Adrienne’s 2015 Finish Along.   This finish is #8 on the list, and my third (of ten hopeful) finishes for this quarter.

What is it?  It is a quilted play mat (about the size of a fat quarter). The fabric is called Dress Me Up! and it is from Dear Stella. The link leads to a tutorial. There was the companion fabric that had little clothes printed on it, and that is what I used for both of the sets I made. The first set, shown rolled up in an organza drawstring bag near the top) was completed last quarter and will be a Christmas present for my granddaughter Remington. This second set was my goal for this quarter and will be a Christmas present for my granddaughter London.

In the tutorial, they used scraps of fabrics to make their own clothes for the bunnies, bears, cats, raccoons, etc), but I stuck with the companion fabric. The hardest part of this whole thing was cutting out all those pieces!! And you can see that there are outfits (and shoes and accessories) for both boy and girl characters.

I know I would have loved something like this (out of FABRIC, not paper) when I was a young girl, back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. It would make a great quiet-time activity.

Because this second set is for London, I chose London fabric by Dena Designs for the mat back and binding, as well as the zippy pouch that holds the clothes and the rolled-up mat.  The pouch is lined with Squared Elements from Art Gallery Fabrics.

Yes, I sewed the zippy pouch, but it is part of this set, not part of my goals for my zippy pouches for this quarter.

Both Dress Me Up! play mat sets

I will have another finish to show later this week (or next) of some of the zippy pouches I have made for another Finish-Along goal. I think my goal was to make six, and I am already at 14 and counting..... so I don’t know if I will wait until they are ALL done or if I will show what I have done to date. Still thinking on that.

Until next time,

Quarter Four Goals for 2015 Finish-Along

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry over the list I have prepared for myself of Things to Finish for the fourth quarter of this year.  But Adrianne has encouraged us by reminding us that there is no punishment for not finishing them! It is just a guideline or roadmap. So, maybe if I list more I will be more productive.  Last quarter I had 5 goals and finished 3 of them.  In my own defense, however, I had several other finishes that were not on my list. PLUS one of the projects was was totally written off and given away as an orphan for someone else to love.

But, my creative juices are flowing, and I am nearing the end of completing the two major quilts that I have been working on for the majority of the year. So, without further ado, here we go.


1.  Black needlepoint and crazy patch quilt. OK, I saw you roll your eyes! Yes, it has been on my list all year. Every. Single. Quarter. But I will tell you why I am going to finish it this quarter. Because I have a deadline. And no excuses (like “it’s summer - too hot to work on black and wool!"). The stitching is done and the top is sewn together.  The batting and back are all ready to go. A couple hours and it could be done. And so it will be, before the weather turns and I lose all opportunity of taking decent pictures outdoors.


2.  Rainbow Orbs.
I love this baby. It has been an all-year project working with Angela and her Rainbow Scrap Challenge for 2015.  The top is all pieced and mostly sewn together. The picture at the left shows exactly half of the top. The bump under the dark green patch is Darla. Alfalfa is on the nightstand watching her.  The quilt is made up of 30 - 16” blocks.  If it were just a matter of adding a plain backing, quilting and binding, I could finish it next week. But, I am adding a fancy back to make it reversible, and that backing is complicated. It is a Hoffman digital cityscape print (see HERE) and there will be quite a bit of piecing around it to create a gradient of color. I have not yet decided if I should piece those colors in squares, rectangles or crazy-patch.  Regardless, it is still just a part of this one project.

3.  Pillow Shams for Rainbow Orbs Quilt.  We have two large Euro-shams that I will cover with one giant orb each. Bruce has requested red (his favorite color) and mine will be orange and pink, bright. These are separate from my quilt, and therefore I am counting them as such.  :-)

Scrappy Farmgirl Pincushions

4.  Scrappy Pincushions.  These were on my list last time, and I have sewn on them. The problem is I have to put them away for our weekly sewing circle (with my cousins) because the pincushions are for them. Then I forget to take them out..... excuses, excuses. One good hour and they would be sewn, stuffed and embellished.


5.  Helen’s Garden Quilt.  This is another carryover from my last quarter’s list. And I have changed the pattern that I am using for it. the prints are so large that I wanted a pattern that would show them off better. And I want to finish it this quarter, because the only quilt I have for me to snuggle with in the living room is a Christmas Quilt. That is fine for this quarter, but I don’t want to go another year without some variety!  I LOVE this line by Tamara Kate (called Helen`s Garden, after her mother) because my mother was a Helen, too. And that dragonfly print!!!! It will be a happy quilt.

6.  Six Zip Pouches.  I love zip pouches. They are easy, versatile and so useful. I have already made five of them since Labor Day.  Two were sent off to my daughter in Seattle (no picture) and the other three finished ones are in the right part of the picture at right.  But I have AT LEAST six more to make, so this one list item is for six pouches.  Those pincushions above? They are going to be gifted in the zip pouches along with some other goodies, so those are 4 of the six right there.  Isn’t that bird fabric cute? It was a sample from Spoonflower, and that one will be for me. The baseball ones are for guys in the family. We have found the zip pouches to be a handy way to carry along chargers and cords for phones, iPads, tablets, etc when we travel.


7.  FARM GIRL QUILT.
The Farm Girl Quiltalong by Lori Holt started in May and just recently wrapped up (although we are going to keep going on other Farm Girl stitchy pursuits).  I need 49 12” blocks to finish my quilt, and currently have 45 done. I will show my latest blocks in a separate posts.  The final blocks I will do are: bumblebee, hand mixer, another  apple or two, and ??. Anyway. These will be sashed, with cornerstones, which has me doubting my sanity. But there is a first time for everything, and the point of this quilt (besides being fun and making a bed-sized quilt) is to grow and learn.

8.  FARM GIRL PILLOW SHAMS.  Since this will also be a bed quilt, we will once again have pillow shams to consider. This time, they are long (picture king pillows), although I do not have the exact measurements handy. Bruce wants a tractor, and Lori Holt has a great tractor pattern that will fit.  My sham will consist of 2 - 12” blocks; a house and a flower.


Are you still with me??


9.  Doll Dress-up Play Pad and clothes.
There is some cute fabric out there by Dear Stella called Dress Me Up.  Check out the tutorial for a cute play mat (quilted fabric) and clothes here.  As you can see in the picture, I have made one set of these already.  I originally bought enough to make 4 sets, but two sets are going to the young sewers in the family to make as gifts, so the last one, which is my goal #8, is for my granddaughter London. And the fabric on the back will be a lovely pink floral from my stash called, oddly enough, London, by Dena Designs.


10.   Aria bed quilt.

This is a line of fabric from earlier this year called Aria by Benartex (not the blue one). I am in love with it. (PSA: another line of fabric named Aria by Kate Spain will be coming out next year). The pattern will feature big blocks of the multi-colored paisley print, and my plan is for the broken sashing (which is shown in the pattern in white) to instead be done in orange and teal. that may change if it looks bad, but we will see. This should be an easy cut and sew once I get started.


11.  Lighted Christmas Tree Wall Hanging.

This is a kit I purchased last year from Missouri Star Quilt Company and should be a fairly easy sew.  Naturally, I would like this one done by the end of November so I can hang it in December.  I have everything laid out and ready to quilt, which is the first step (unless one adds to it). But this will be hung on an interior door, so I don’t want it too wide.

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So, that’s it. Ten items on my list. Ten doesn’t seem like a very high number, but there is a lot of work involved in each one. Truthfully, I will be pleased if I get 6 or more done.  And now, I am off to get working on one of them.......

Linking up to Adrianne’s blog, On the Windy Side, where we are all setting out our goals for the 4th Quarter Finish-Along.

Until next time,