Friday, December 31, 2010

Prairie Point Christmas - Le Petite #3


Here is my version of Prairie Point Christmas for the Le Petite Small Projects.
I made a very mini version. It measures 9.5 x 15 inches.
I had a whole pile of Christmas fabrics already cut into 2 inch squares so I decided to go ahead and use those.
It turned out pretty cute, but it also turned out a little shorter and fatter than the original.
I think I spaced my prairie points too far apart on the first row and by the second row when I realized things weren't going according to the picture, I didn't feel like ripping it all out, so I have a short fat tree.
  Right now it is only spray basted because I am not sure how I want to quilt it.
I don't want to rush it and screw it up, so I will think on how to quilt it for awhile.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Gift for a Friend


I made these dishcloths for one of my friends for Christmas. Two are knitted and the other two are crocheted. I made them earlier in the year but didn't want to post about them until now because I know she checks my blog from time to time.  I didn't want to spoil any surprises.  

It was a good thing I made them earlier this year, because the 4 quilt project I took on in December took up most of my craft time for the month.  It left me with hardly any time to make anything else.  I am still working on one last Christmas project.  I suppose it will have to be a New Year's Gift instead.

~~New Year's Resolution  -  Schedule my time more wisely in the coming year.~~




Monday, December 27, 2010

4 Quilts All the Same

I spent most of my December making 4 quilts for my neighbor.  She wanted a photo of all her children in the quilt and my husband suggested we add names as well.  I designed the pattern I wanted to use in November and the fabrics were delivered right before I left to go out of town for Thanksgiving.  So I had a little less than a month to get all 4 quilts cut, sewn, basted, quilted, and bound in time for Christmas.

I cut out all the fabric for all four quilts at once and started assembly line sewing pinwheels, but then I decided to work on one quilt and get it finished so my neighbor would have time to mail it out.  I finished that first one on the night of December 15th.  Since it was dark outside, Hubby held the quilt for me while I took an inside photo.  


 The last three quilts were all finished on Wednesday, December 22 and I gave them to the neighbor on the 23rd.  Please forgive these bad photos, my son dropped my camera right as I was about to take pictures of the last three quilts and the lens fell out. I wasn't able to get it back together right away, so I had to resort to using the camera in my phone.  Luckily I got a brand new Camera for Christmas which makes me want to hurry up and make a new quilt just so I can take a fancy picture.  :)





Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas!!


Merry Christmas!!

These are a few of the Christmas postcards I sent out this month.  

Hopefully they all made it to their new homes in time for the holiday.



My daughter started the Snowman Card and I took it over for her and finished it up.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Gifts for Teachers and Friends

Today was the last day of school for the year. YAHOO!!
No more getting up at 6:30am to get kids out the door.  - well at least not till next year.  

I made jars of hot chocolate mix for my sons to give their teachers.
I only needed 4, but I went ahead and made all 12 jars that came in the case.

I put the four jars inside these cute little treat bags that my daughter helped me make.  Since 8 of the bags were for her to her friends, I really put her to work on this project.  She actually did a lot of the machine sewing and even hand sewed all the turning openings.
 We stuffed her eight bags with Monster Cookies, chocolates, and candy canes.

The pattern is from Happy Zombie and you can find the pattern here.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Mystery Challenge Postcards





Art 4 Mail had a Mystery Challenge postcard swap.  Two of these are for my partners, one is for me.  When I signed up, I had to pick 5 numbers between 1-50.  Each number corresponds to a different item that has to be added to the card.  When sign ups closed and partners were assigned, I received an email stating the 5 items/techniques that had to be on my postcards.


My assignments were:

Applique Something - I did fusible appliqué and added some green holly leaves and circles
Add Single Thread Stitching  - I used a green thread to go along with my green holly leaves and did a single line daisy stitch
Add a Sketch - the whole card is a sketch with some green shading in places to match the green holly leaves - perhaps I went a little over board in this section.  :)
Add a Strong Vertical  - I am hoping the green thread stitching, flanked by two black lines, works for this requirement.
Add Something Very Dark or Very Light (or what the heck, both!!) - the muslin background is light, and the black edging surely qualifies as something dark.




Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Poinsettia Postcard





It is was hard to get a photo of this card that really satisfied me.
I wanted to catch the gold thread and the glitter in the red poinsettia which was difficult.
The first image is from the scanner.


This one is outside at in the shade.



This one is in the house without a flash.



Sheen following me around while trying to find a good place to take a photo.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Winter Wonderland Postcards - Set #1


This postcard was made for the Stashbuster's Winter Wonderland Swap.
I used leftover scraps of fabric with wonder under already on them.
The white was the left over remains from when I punched out some fabric clouds with my sizzix.
I cut all the pieces into very small shapes and ironed them onto the card.  Unfortunately, it is really hard to see all the white scraps in the photo.  I scanned the first photo, and then took the second one outside, but neither setting helped improve on the detailed view.


After I ironed all the scraps, I laid down some big snowflake sequence all over, even in the white snow, then covered it with white tulle and meander stitched over the whole thing to keep the snowflakes in place.

I made two of these and shipped them out at the end of November, so they should have arrived at their destinations by now.  I have another set of Winter Wonderland Themed cards that I have to make for another group, but they aren't due till later on in the month, I better get crackin'.  :)

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Butter Churn - La Petite Projects #2


Here is my version of Butter Churn for the La Petite - A Year of Small Projects Challenge.
Again this pattern called for charm packs, but I still don't own any more than I did last month. I just don't buy pre-cuts, so I used my scraps.  Some of the scraps came from two Christmas quilts I made years ago. You can see them here and here.

I did need some extra light colored fabrics though, so I cut a few 2.5 inch strips from some of the other holiday fabrics in my collection and that gave me enough to finish this top.
Now I just have to figure out how to quilt it.