MAKESHIFT DESIGN DOOR

After my DH's doctor's appointment we stopped at Dollar General for a minute. I saw a lady buy some Christmas tablecloths and I remembered some ladies at my guild said that the back of these can be used for a design wall. So I bought 2 tablecloths - just 30 cents each! Last night I draped one over the closet door behind my sewing chair and put up the blocks of this doll quilt. It was so nice! I don't really have a large enough blank wall to have a design WALL, so I might just use the door for small quilts.

This picture didn't turn out very good, but I took it after I sewed the blocks together. This doll quilt will be for my new granddaughter when she gets old enough. I'm also planning to make a doll and the doll dress will be made out of the same fabric as the setting squares. We'll see how the doll turns out. I've never made one before.
Here's another doll quilt that I will put on my Etsy site that I just started. I only have one item on it so far, but plan to put some more on soon.
Hope ya'll have a good week!

DOLL PILLOWS AND SHOPPING

I received a gift certificate for Christmas, so Saturday I went to my favorite quilt shop to spend it. I purchased these fat quarters and charms. This shop specializes in reproduction fabrics.They also have a bin with odd shaped pieces for sale at lower prices and below are the pieces I got for a bargain price.
I made some doll pillows with this cotton fabric printed like "ticking." I had been looking for ticking, but I found this at Hobby Lobby. The pillow is about 7" x 4 1/2".
Then I made some pillow cases for the pillows. It didn't take very long to make these.

One will be sent to a great-niece and I will save some for other doll quilts I'm planning to make.

A LITTLE BIT OF THIS AND THAT

I thought this looked like a fun BOM. This is the first month and there will be 8 more for a Christmas quilt. Go here for the pattern.I received some neat mail last week! This is from an exchange with Sigrun in Norway! She sent me this star and I hung it in my sewing room above the calendar from Australia (below).

I did another exchange with Leanne from Tasmania, Australia. It is so neat to make friends around the world! She sent me these great Australian fabrics as well as the calendar featuring Australian wild flowers.
Thanks so much, Sigrun and Leanne!
Here I am playing with some tiny pieces left from cutting my tumbler blocks out of charm squares. I'm trying to figure out how to use the little pieces and might sew these together for a doll quilt.
Not too much accomplished. I seem to find myself jumping from one thing to another.

SOME PROJECT COMPLETIONS AND GIFTS RECEIVED

I received a painting from one of our Spanish interpreters for the court where I work. Mike carries a pad of paper with him so he can draw if he has to wait a while. I asked him for a picture, but I told him I didn't want any weird picture. You will know what I mean if you check out his site on artbreak . He and his wife go to Spain every year and this is a picture of some scenery over there. I love it!
Below is a gift from my #1DIL's father - a nice box of tea bags. After we use up the tea, the box will come in handy! I made some tea this morning in my new mug with a quilting picture on it (from my sister). Another gift (1000 piece puzzle) is in the background.
May Britt in Norway has this free pattern on her blog. I loved it and decided to make 6 of them for Christmas of 2009. They are finished! This will be my first finish for 2009. See the "One Project a Month Challenge" picture on the right side of my blog. I don't think that will be too hard to do. I guess it depends on how big the project is.
Here's a closer up picture. BTW, I have NOT taken my Christmas decorations down yet! No offense, but I don't understand people who take their's down the day after Christmas. I will probably get around to it next weekend. Tee Hee Hee!
These pennie pockets are my second finish for the month. I know they are both small things, but a finish is a finish! This pattern is available at thehappyzombie.com . I've made 12 of these and will use them next Christmas also!
Good luck on your projects for 2009!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, fellow bloggers!

2008 had many challenges and joys for our family. Our granddaughter was born on Dec. 27. Abigail weighed 8 lb. 3 oz and is a healthy baby. We have seen pictures of her, but won't be able to go to Florida to see her in person until DH recovers from his neck surgery which just took place on Monday. He is still in the hospital and may come home tomorrow - we're hoping.
Two grandchildren born in one year! Wow! What a blessing for our family!

The day after Christmas I decided to see if I could find any bargains. The pictured tin welcome sign is one of the bargains I found. I also bought some Christmas fabric! Big surprise there, huh?
Abyquilt has posted a stitchery pattern and I decided to make some Christmas ornaments for family members for this year, 2009! I am tracing 6 on my light box. The felted wool heart will be appliqued in the middle. (this wool is from the jacket I bought for 50 cents at a resale shop)

When I got home with the Christmas fabric (which I bought to make pillowcases), I got to thinking that I might as well go ahead and make the pillowcases up right away and be done with it. So, I made 8 "adult" pillowcases (on the right) and 4 "child" pillowcases (on the left). I like to give Christmas pillowcases to family members when they come for Christmas. I put them on their beds and when they go home they can take them.

I can't believe I did that! But, I have a lot on my "TO DO" list for 2009 and I need to keep ahead of the game, so to speak!

Below are the latest blocks I have finished for the Noah's Ark BOM by Lynette Anderson . I'm enjoying these a lot!

READY FOR CHRISTMAS?

I think I'm ready for Christmas. Of course, we aren't doing much, but I did put up quite a few decorations anyway. I saw these cute mouse cookies on The Little Red Hen site and thought I'd make some for our party at work. My sister sent me the Mr & Mrs Santa Claus S&P shakers and told me to open it early! Aren't they cute?
A few years ago I got this panel and I hang it up at Christmas. I hand quilted and embellished it.

I saw a box similar to this at a craft show so I decided to try making one for a friend. I got some pages from a Reader's Digest condensed book to cover it with and I'm going to try some other boxes too.
In this picture you can see some piles of wool that I felted. I was walking by a resale shop I saw a sign that read "women's blazers - 50 cents" so I went in and bought 3 blazers! I plan to use the red for some Christmas ornaments for next year. I'm putting together some more 9 patches. I had some left over pieces of these from when I made a couple doll quilts, so I thought I would make some
When I was checking out my button situation to see if I had any other buttons I could use, I decided to get out my big button box to see what is in it. GUESS WHAT I FOUND! I found my Quilting DVD that had been missing since I was straightening up before house guests came in October. I must have tossed it in the button box without thinking about it and I never thought to look there! I looked and looked for the DVD and was beginning to wonder if I would ever find it. I started hand piecing my tumbler blocks together.
I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

PICTURES

On our vacation with our son, DIL & Jonah, we took pictures, of course, and in my last post I said that I would post more pictures as soon as they were received from our son. Well, I must confess that I didn't get them posted as soon as we received them, but here they are now.

Jonah loves his jumper swing!
Since we won't be with them for Christmas, we gave them their gifts early. Jonah seem very interested in this Shape-O ball!
But, the sack is very interesting also!
Our Son & DIL received the quilt.
Three generations of men!
We had a very informative tour of President Eisenhower's birthplace in Denison, TX.
We are busy preparing for Christmas and for the birth of our new granddaughter. Her parents are anxiously awaiting her arrival! Merry Christmas to all of you if I'm not able to add another post before then!

CHRISTMAS STOCKING FINISHED

I finished Jonah's Christmas stocking this morning! Yeah!! My car wouldn't start and we had to call AAA to get it towed this morning. My husband had a doctor's appointment, so I decided to stay home because the judge is in Mexico to transfer some US citizens in jail down there back to the US to serve their sentences here instead. I'm so glad I got this finished, because we could be called at any time to go to Florida because another DIL is due to deliver on Dec 29, but who knows, the baby could come any time now! I'm trying to get my ducks in a row, so to speak, in case we need to go earlier than expected!
Here's a doll quilt I made for a craft show on Saturday.

This doll quilt will be sent to a grand niece for Christmas. It is a cheater quilt, but I hand quilted it to make up for using a panel! I made one like this for my first GD years ago before I got too involved in quilting (she's 16 yo now).
Better get busy on some other projects! Happy quilting & decorating to all!

FIVE DAYS WITH JONAH!

After a slow start, we were able to go to a resort with DS#3, DIL & Jonah! Here's a picture of him in his daddy's hat! I will put up a few more pictures as soon as I get them from our son! We had a really good time with them just relaxing (DS had a cold & DH's back was bothering him, but it was good enough to take the trip).
Since we won't be with them for Christmas, I gave them the finished quilt and they were very happy with it!Lea at Simple Pleasures asked if anyone had a lunch box. Well, I had packed my Howdy Doody lunch box (purchased at a garage sale) with some supplies for my trip.
While Jonah napped, I worked on cutting out my tumblers from 5" charm squares and marking the sewing line for hand piecing them together.
These two stacks of left over fabric from the charm squares will be used to make some doll quilts. I'm not sure, but I'll probably make little 9-patches or 4-patches out of these scraps.

Now that we are back home, I will try to get ready for a craft show next Saturday. Wish me luck!

THANKSGIVING FOR A YEAR OF MANY BLESSINGS

We are thankful to God for his many blessings to us this year. First of all, the birth of our grandson, Jonah, then my DH's improving health, and of course the expected birth of a new granddaughter, Abigail in December.

We are going out to eat today and will celebrate Thanksgiving with our #3 son, DIL & Jonah at a resort in North Texas on Lake Texoma. We leave tomorrow and will be a whole week with them! Yippee!!!

This double nine patch quilt is for #3 son & DIL for Christmas. I took it to be quilted last week and didn't think it would be finished in time to take with us, but the quilter called yesterday and I was so happy! I sewed the binding on last night and will have to finish the hand sewing part after I give it to them. I'm so glad it is finished.

Some of the pictures are too light because we took them in direct sunlight. We'll take some more when it is totally finished. It is done in all civil war reproduction fabrics.


This is the Christmas quilt after I quilted and bound it. I used the meandering quilting design because that is about all I can do now except for straight lines & stitch in the ditch. Tee Hee!

Here is Jonah's Christmas stocking. It isn't finished yet, but I just have the outlining to do on the cross-stitching - maybe you can see where I have done some of it. It really helps to make the picture stand out. I'll work on it during our vacation.
Then I'll have to get the cuff sewn onto the stocking. I really like the plaid fabric that I found for 40% off!
Hope you all have a wonderful holiday and maybe get some time for quilting! Thanks for all the comments. I try to respond, but I know I miss some. I appreciate all the visitors to my blog and enjoy checking out your blogs also.