Category: CRAFTS & DIY PROJECTS

Quilt Camp Update – Makes me Smile

We stayed up late last night reading, chatting and watching an old movie so Am is getting a bit of a late start today on her quilt. It makes me smile though. We have her all set up at the kitchen table with my old sewing machine, all her cut squares, her instructions, the ironing board nearby and she is singing away to her iPod as she creates her squares. She is making great progress.

Her first finished square ever.

final blog signature.

QUILT CAMP

Our ‘niece’ will be visiting for a couple of weeks and helping to organize around here. We will find some time for fun too though. We’re going to take the Shipwreck tour and see the Madeline that will be in port a few days.

The one thing she wanted me to teach her, was to quilt. She picked out this pattern, a great beginner pattern and then from my quilt stash she picked out these fat quarters as well as many others for her quilt. Then she learned how to use the quilt bug to narrow down the fabrics to just those that went together well, which I personally always find exciting. To these we added a great border fabric and solid backing that she picked out when we went to town.

Today Am learned how to cut out her pieces using the quilt rulers and got a taste of the tedious part of quilting. The pressing and cutting take so much time. Tomorrow she can start sewing.

She’s getting her summer reading requirements accomplished while Sady keeps her company and reads along. And yes, Am is wearing a turtleneck in July – it’s been chilly of an evening here.

QUILT CAMP

Our ‘niece’ will be visiting for a couple of weeks and helping to organize around here. We will find some time for fun too though. We’re going to take the Shipwreck tour and see the Madeline that will be in port a few days.The one thing she wanted me to teach her, was to quilt. She picked out this pattern, a great beginner pattern and then from my quilt stash she picked out these fat quarters as well as many others for her quilt. Then she learned how to use the quilt bug to narrow down the fabrics to just those that went together well, which I personally always find exciting. To these we added a great border fabric and solid backing that she picked out when we went to town.

Today Am learned how to cut out her pieces using the quilt rulers and got a taste of the tedious part of quilting. The pressing and cutting take so much time. Tomorrow she can start sewing.

She’s getting her summer reading requirements accomplished while Sady keeps her company and reads along. And yes, Am is wearing a turtleneck in July – it’s been chilly of an evening here.

A Crafters AHA Moment ~ and the Decision it Dawned

I had a rare and unusual afternoon to myself and I did the girly girl thing and went shopping. For those of you that know me, you know this is not something I do. I have a list, I check it twice, I’m in and I’m out, end of story! Here in the North Woods, the choices are limited and nothing like what I always had available in SO CAL, but on this particular rainy afternoon I had a very short list and decided instead to browse where I could. I did the department stores (there’s only 2) and then the boutique and specialty stores (only a couple of those too) and thought WOW, I’m done. Then I came to Michaels on my way out of town. It was raining so hard I almost didn’t stop, but I’m glad I did.

Michaels was where the AHA moment struck. I had been having a fairly relaxing afternoon until I walked in there and started thinking about all the unfinished projects I have to do, all the bits and pieces of craft tools that I have and that I actually don’t enjoy some of them like I thought I would, but feel obligated to complete them.

SO my AHA moment was enlightening as I made a mental list (I am a serious list maker) of the crafts I like or love (quilting, stained glass, scrap booking and photography) the crafts I want to try (candle making and altered canvas) and the crafts I want to give up forever (crocheting, rubber stamping, doll making after I finish these last 2 and everything else that’s not in the above 2 lists)!

I remembered what my Rhuematologist said when I first got sick. “It is okay to give yourself permission to not be stressed whether that is giving up a person, a place or a job”. Since I’m a caretaker kind of person I always feel bad about not being ALL things to ALL people, but am learning it really is okay to say NO and please just yourself once in awhile.

When we moved, I donated a ton of stuff to the girl scouts for crafts, even shipped several boxes back to my old troop the next year, but it obviously wasn’t enough. I’ll be donating all the rest of the crafty bits and pieces and tools to the local after school program for the kids and not feeling one bit guilty about it either!

Sunday Accomplishments

Hubby has been making me take Sundays off and do just what I want. He’s worried about me working too much. I guess I do have a tendency to over-do so I appreciate his worrying about me. So last Sunday I got this far on the wall quilt. I’m still thinking about another border before backing and binding it, but just can’t decide.

Sunday Accomplishments

Hubby has been making me take Sundays off and do just what I want. He’s worried about me working too much. I guess I do have a tendency to over-do so I appreciate his worrying about me. So last Sunday I got this far on the wall quilt. I’m still thinking about another border before backing and binding it, but just can’t decide.

SPRAY PAINT is like DUCT TAPE and is my new best friend

I love spray paint lately!! It’s like a woman’s version of duct tape. This house needed some re-decorating, but unfortunately there’s no budget for decorating since it was used on the forced remodel from the mold.

So, I’m getting inventive. I found this old berry basket in the trash they left behind. It was stained and horribly dirty, but I vacuumed all the cobwebs out, washed and let it dry for a good long while and then grabbed my spray paint can of silver hammered paint. After that coat dried I did a quick once over with bronze hammer paint. Now I know spray paint is not environmentally friendly, but I figure the small amount of paint I used is so much better than throwing something old into the trash. I have also salvaged all the old registers from the house that were rusting and peeling and with some elbow grease and copper colored Rustoleum hammer paint now have restored new ‘old’ well made heat registers.


I even used it on the claw foot tub. It was painted a sick seafoam green and peeling. So I scraped the peeling paint and grabbed the Rustoleum bronze hammer paint and voila! It looks really beautiful. I can’t wait until the rest of the bathroom is done. Updates to come!

Snow Day ~Holiday~ quilt projects!

We’ve been having quite a bit of snow here the past couple of days and I mean cold snow, wind blowing and teeth chattering kind of snow. So, I decided to take a snow day for me. I mean I wasn’t going outside for any reason and I’ve been working on this house non-stop for the past 16 months, it’s MY TURN kind of snow day. SO, I sat down at my sewing machine yesterday and tried to remember how to turn it on. Then I picked up a started project and tried to remember what I was going to do with it and then just let my fingers take over. This is what I accomplished:

A baby quilt top for my new 2nd cousin/niece/nephew.

J & S are doing it the old fashioned way and waiting to be surprised so we don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl. I went with bright primary colors and a Noah’s Ark theme. J is due in April, but I’m going to visit in July while S is away working and I’ll take it with me then. I still have to make the chenille bear or bunny (I haven’t decided which yet) to match. I made G~man a bear, so I’m thinking this new one might be a bunny.


A while back I pledged to make next year’s Christmas presents

by hand. I got a start on 3 gratitude wall hangings.
Since I haven’t decided who is getting what yet or exactly how they’re going together, I’m not ruining any surprises. Now, I’ll be able to get back to work tomorrow with a better sense of accomplishment since I spent some time just for me!

~*~QUILT UPDATE~*~UPDATE~*~

Okay, as an attempt to complete some of my unfinished projects and start the year off right, I’m listing the already started projects and their respective pictures to help kick myself in the butt.
These top two are wall quilts I started for Katie and Lulu as college graduation gifts. Unfortunately, these were started during hubby’s last deployment and our lives were all tied up in military red tape. I need to get these finished ASAP. I have the sashing, borders, backing and binding all picked out, I just can’t remember whether Katie was red or blue and I can’t remember whether Lulu was blue or red. They have since graduated from graduate school and are now working in their respective fields.
This multi-colored one was for my ‘old’ house. Fortunately, it will match this house too.
These 2 are in preparation of Jenn What I Did At School Today and the new baby. She is pregnant and is doing it the old fashioned way ~ they’re waiting until the baby is born to find out the sex. So, I’ve made 2 separate quilts just in case. One is for a boy and will be backed with sage green Minky and one for a girl and will be backed in purple Minky. I just have to decide on the sashing and border.

These are baby quilts to have ready. The nieces and nephews have been having babies A LOT lately.
These are from my Patriotic – red, white, and blue phase. The 1st one was my very first quilt. The 2nd one is a red, white and blue Courthouse steps. This one is still in squares, but the shams are done in the background. The 3rd one is all the sampler squares that I made in my first quilt class. I’ve made them into a table runner. It is backed and quilted, but still needs binding.
These are random ones I started. The 1st is a calico log cabin, the 2nd is an extra large Log Cabin. They both still need bordered, backed and bound.
This last one is the easiest crazy quilt (called Kwik Krazy Quilt) I’ve ever done. I’m still deciding on sashing, border, backing and binding, but it’s on its way.

Major Catch up Time

We went to California for a surprise (and boy what a surprise it was) birthday party for my sister-in-law Bobbie (White sweater with sister Marilyn) and ended up staying for Thanksgiving. We really enjoyed our time with Bobbie and the family! With all the travel time and both events, the month just got away from me.

As soon as I got back I had tons of laundry, cleaning, Christmas prep like wrapping gifts & shipping packages, and like a fool I signed up for a 4 day stained glass class in the midst of it all. But the worst was that I came home sick and proceeded to get even sicker before it was over. Today’s the first day I feel like a human being again. I do like the stained glass piece though and am happy to have found a new hobby that hubby and I can do together.
During this time was the end of a 3 month long swap that I was participating in. I had a great Sweet Goodness Holiday sister Jenn. She sent me the pictures on the left (Thanksgiving box and the Christmas box with place mats, tea towels, hot cocoa, potpourri, cookie cutters, icings, cider mixes, chocolates, corn, knitting needles, chocolate coffee, peppermint bark, ornaments and more) and I sent her the pictures on the right for Thanksgiving and Christmas (snowman candle holder and tree like taper candles, knit cap, snowman ceramic buttons, snowman dip spreader, snowman cookie press, 2 quilt patterns, tea towels, leaf coasters, mobile, cat tails, dip mix, cookie cutters, tealights, First magazine and for her birthday a combined copy of the 2 cookbooks I’ve written for the family).

I was also participating in a Christmas garland swap for GAGA for Garlands and had a great partner Fanny. She sent me this wonderful peppermint themed garland that fits just perfect around my mantle. I went with the jingle bell theme and did a looped quilted garland with bells for her.
So, I’m fairly up to date for now and will start fresh with the new year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all…

FINISHED QUILTS


These are my most recent quilts. I was really hoping to get them finished and others started this past winter, but the “new” house had other ideas. The pink and green is for my mom. The red, white and blue for my aunt and uncle and the orange and yellow is a “copy” of one I made my cousin so we’d have matching quilts. They all just need binding, so maybe I’ll finish them yet this month. The last one is fire themed and I made it for my stepson last Christmas which was also his birthday. The backing was doggy paw prints that matched the Dalmations on the front.