DOLL CLOTHES FOR ABBY

My 7 year old granddaughter, Abby, got a new doll for Christmas.  Below you can see her 18" doll on the left and the new 26" tall doll on the right.  So, as a sewing grandma, I thought I would make some clothes for the new doll.  But, there aren't any patterns for doll clothes that size, so after seeing some information on adjusting patterns, I thought I would try it.  

Of course, I had to make an outfit for the 18" doll too.  The fabric with bicycle wheels seemed to go with the pink bicycle fabric.

I didn't have enough of the wheel fabric, so I chose something else for the large doll.  Her capris aka peddle pushers are longer than they look in photo because they are hidden under the top.  I hope the blouse and peddle pushers fit.  BTW, my "model" doll was purchased at a garage sale for 50 cents.  Someone cut all her hair off!

I had to share the article about our town that was in the paper on Tuesday.  If you can't read it, it states that our town, McMinnville, OR, is on the list of "Best Places to Live in the West" in Sunset Magazine's February 2016 issue.

If anyone reading this plans to attend the "Stitches in Bloom" quilt show at Oregon Gardens in Silverton, OR this weekend, the quilt on my header will be there.  I haven't decided which day I will be going yet, but would love to meet any bloggers that might be there.

QUILT OF VALOR TOP

I've been wanting to make a Quilt of Valor and when I saw this quilt of valor pattern on someone's blog and decided it might be a good one to make.  The top is finished as of yesterday.

There is one basic block that measures 8 1/2" and it's very easy to make.  The strips are cut to 2 1/2" and then submit to 2 1/2", 4 1/2" and 6 1/2".  A dark blue and light HST and a brown and light HST are in opposite corners.

When you sew 4 of these together with the blue in the middle, you get a 16" block with a blue pinwheel in the middle.

Put together into 4 blocks wide and 5 blocks long,  it comes out to 64" x 80" which is within the correct size for a QOV.  A friend of mine goes to the QOV meetings every month and she said she will take it in for me when I get it finished, which I plan to do this month.  

I'm also working on my Dear Jane blocks for January - Row H.  Thanks for visiting!

NEW YEAR 2016!?!?!

My sister visited us for the New Year and she left today after one week.  Wow!  Weeks do fly by, don't they?  We had a good time together.  On Tuesday we drove out to the coast to see the Meares Lighthouse.  It is a short lighthouse of only 38' tall, but isn't the shortest one in Oregon.  It was cloudy and kind of cold, but actually pretty nice for viewing the lighthouse and the beautiful coastline there.

Cape Meares, 38'

Haystack Rock, Pacific City, OR

Oregon Coast viewed from Cape Meares

 I have 21 blocks that my grandmother made (probably in the 40s) with feed sack fabrics and I finally decided to get some fabric to put them together.  I hung the fabric on my design wall and placed a few of the blocks on it to show how it will look when I sew the sashing and setting triangles on them.
I'm thinking about using black for the cornerstones.  What do you think?

Here's a close up of the fabric.

I finished Row G of Dear Jane after January 1, 2016 and I'm happy about it.

Here's the first three blocks of Row H.  Hoping to finish the Row this month.

I haven't had a chance to think any more about yearly goals, other than to get as much sewing done as I can - is that a good enough goal?

Hoping that you all have had a good start to the new year and will enjoy more quilting and blogging!

NEW GLOVES FOR CHRISTMAS!

Not winter gloves - quilting gloves.  See them below.  My old pair was practically shredded!  I asked Santa for a new pair and he did it!

Here's a few other items I received.  Smoked salmon!  A couple books!  I even found a recipe for smoked salmon quiche in the recipe book.  I think I'll make it!

I also asked for a boot cleaner.  When I go for walks my hiking boots pick up all kinds of stuff and it's very hard to get it out of the grooves on the bottom and the sides of the boots.  This should do the trick!

Time to make some more Dear Jane blocks.  Besides these three from Row G, there are 2 more prepped.  I might be able to squeeze a couple more in before the end of the year, hopefully.

Amazingly, I am finding it easier to get these done, probably because practice makes perfect and I have been doing a lot of PPing and appliqué with the first 6 rows.  I'm thinking about setting a goal of getting a row finished each month.  There are 6 more rows after this one (which I doubt I'll finish by Thursday), so if I set that goal and meet it I would finish the center blocks by the end of June.  I haven't set the goal yet, I'm just thinking about it.

I'm going to think about some other goals for 2016 as well.  Are you going to set goals? 

CHRISTMAS TRADITION

I think I've had this wooden Christmas tree from Norway for about 50 years and it holds 9 candles - the Angel Chime size.  This year I was determined to find candles for it, because when we moved, and put all our belongings into storage in Texas, I didn't save any candles because they would have just all melted in the heat.  Therefore, I didn't have any of the candles when we came to Oregon.  So, I went looking all over town looking for Angel Chime candles - Walgreens, Walmart, Winco, Dollar Tree, Good Will, Albertsons.  I asked a girl working at Albertsons if they had a Jewish section with menorah candles (the lady at Walmart suggested that they might work).  They didn't, but she offered to check with another Albertsons store to see if they did.  Guess what!  They did!  They are a little fatter than the other candles, so we pared down the bottoms to fit in the holders.

The tradition we have is that we light all of them for our Christmas Eve supper.  I am descended from Norwegian immigrants and growing up we also enjoyed the home made lefse that my aunt or grandma made.  I made some on Saturday and put it in the freezer - after testing it to make sure it was good!  Yummy!

Notice beside the tree are my 2 Christmas S&P shakers - gingerbread houses and Mr. & Mrs. Santa.

I got the ten minute block table runner quilted and bound this weekend.

I can't show the other Christmas gifts I've made, but I can show these mug rugs that I made for the girlfriends of a couple of my DIL's nephews who will be coming by their house on Christmas Day.  One is in nursing school and the other is already an RN.  I had some of this medical fabric on hand and made these so I would have a little gift for them.

Saturday, I went to a thrift shop looking for a kitchen item and found these two porcelain dolls for a good price.  As you can see, one of them has a crocheted dress as well that needs buttons in back.  The other one needs re-stringing and some clothes.  The one in the dress can stand up.  They were made in 1980 and are in perfect condition.  I think I might make some clothes for them and might try to sell them in my Easy shop.  Don't they have sweet faces?

Thanks to all for your many comments over the year and for so many wonderful posts about quilting and other things.  I have enjoyed my blogging adventures over the last about 7 years and look forward to many more!  Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!  

TEN MINUTE BLOCK

I've made this block before and when lived in Texas my guild had a workshop to make donation quilts out of this block.  So, now that I'm in Oregon, I offered to demonstrate how to make the block in my guild here.  In February, I will be doing that, so I decided I needed to make a couple samples to show them.

The first one is a table runner made out of a charm pack.  It is super easy and with a charm pack, I didn't even need to cut any fabric!  This charm pack had been in the bottom drawer long enough, and the fabric is lovely - Hemming House by Bannock & Patek for Moda.  It took less about an hour to put this top together.

This next top will be a donation quilt, as the guild I belong to donates to a few different places, a hospital, for one.  I cut all the pieces for this to 8" and each block finishes at 15",  so it is 45" square.  

I will quilt these before the demo and have sample blocks in various degrees of progress to show how it is done.

On my daily walk, I pass this tree, which always amazes me because of its size and the covering of moss.   I wonder how old it is.

I think I have finished all my Christmas sewing and the shopping is almost done.  I have some cookies and appetizers in the freezer already and more to make.  My sister will be visiting after Christmas!  How are your preparations going?

CHRISTMAS PREPARATIONS

I know we are all busy getting ready for Christmas, but if you had the time to come over for a cup of tea and some cookies (which aren't baked yet), this is what you would see at my front door.  Under all the greenery is an old watering can that sits on an old short step ladder.  The greenery was picked up on my walks and the ice skates were obtained at a garage sale a couple years ago for 25 cents!  I love Christmas decorations and hope I don't ever get too decrepit to at least put something up.

Many years ago, my MIL made this jewel tree out of some of her old jewelry and it has been one of my favorite decorations.  It has some lights in it to make it sparkle.  I took the first picture with a flash and the second without the flash so you could see the lights better.  We have had this for at least 30 years, but I think even longer than that.

Without Flash

I finished this cross stitched piece in 1998 and made it into a quilted wall hanging.

Actually, last year I posted my Christmas decorations and they look the same this year.  You can see them HERE.

I would love to see your decorations too!  Now I better get busy finishing up some Christmas gifts.

PILLOWS!

I finished a couple more pillows, this time for 2 sweet little boys.  Jonah is 7 and Eli will turn 5 on Monday.  I made the pillows to be the size of travel pillows and the pillow covers are quilted on the front and can be removed for washing.  Their names are outlined with glow in the dark thread!

I'm just about ready to mail some Christmas boxes!  Are you ready for Christmas?

NOVEMBER DEAR JANE BLOCKS

Last month in this post, I indicated that I might try to finish Row F in November.  It seemed like a lot to do, but I had encouragement from some of you, so I decided to work on them extra hard.

Row F Completed

Of course, I worked on other things as well, some Christmas gifts, etc.  which I will show you when I can.  I think some of these blocks were the hardest of all the ones I've done to date.  Especially F-11 (3rd block in 3rd row).

I don't think I would be able to figure out how to do some of these without the help from this blog.
For the most part, I follow the instructions step by step and then I am able to make it.

December might be a different story, but I'll try to get at least a few blocks done.  I want to finish the quilt before I die!

Thanks to all who encouraged me - it means a lot.

BUSY WORK ON PROJECTS

I started quilting on this scrappy quilt and have about half of it quilted.  Then I stopped because there was a section that didn't turn out very well and I needed to take the stitching out, as well as turn my attention to some Christmas/birthday projects.

I made 4 of these outfits for 18" dolls.  One will be for my GD Abby for her birthday and the other 3 sets she can use a birthday gifts for friends.  I'm leaning towards giving her the one with the plaid blouse.  I really like that plaid fabric (which I got at a garage sale).

Here it is close up.

I like this polka dot blouse too.

I also made Abby a small pillow (travel size).  The cover comes off for washing.  I plan to make a couple for my 2 young GSs also.  In "boy" fabrics of course.

In the mean time, I have been working on my Dear Jane blocks and will post them soon.  In this post, I said I might try to finish Row F and that's what I'm working on!  I think I'll make it!

TREES, BOW TIES, ETC.

The trees have been beautiful this fall, but now the leaves are falling fast.  This picture was taken about a block from where I live and it's a maple variety with tiny leaves.

I participated in a Bow Tie Block Swap organized by Barb at Fun with Barb.  Here are the 4 1/2" blocks I received recently - all 82 of them plus 2 mini blocks from Barb.  I sent in 82 blocks that I made and then Barb distributed the blocks she received from everyone and we got back blocks made with a huge variety of fabrics.  Amazingly, most of them were with fabrics I had never seen before!  Now I just have to figure out how I want to make them into a quilt!

This "I Spy" quilt is a cheater cloth that I won from my guild in Texas a few years ago.  I decided it was about time to get it put together to donate.  It was very easy to quilt as I just quilted along the lines and I like the way it turned out.  I didn't even have to put a border on it.

The backing fabric is some that my GD gave me - I think she got it at Good Will - and it is perfect for this quilt!.

This is what I have on my design wall now.  I saw this pattern, Oak Leaves and Turkey Feathers  by Jan Patek several years ago, ordered the book and started it.  Then, it went into a box and sat marinating for a couple years.  I'm finally making some progress on it - I just added the pieced border and the skinny 1" inner border.  I have the final border cut and it needs to be appliquéd with a vine, oak leaves and flowers.  I was hoping to get it finished this month, but kind of doubt I'll make it, with the other things I have to do.  BTW, it will measure 78" square when finished.

Oak Leaves & Turkey Feathers

I finished the table runner that I showed you in my last post.  It is all quilted, bound and listed in my Easy shop.

In the mean time, I also quilted a queen size quilt and have been working on that.  I'll probably set it aside to work on the Oak Leaves & Turkey Feathers border.

Today, I'm going to a local craft fair and then to a quilt show and Artist tour in Willamina, OR, a town west of here.  I've never been to that town before, so it should be fun as I love seeing small towns.  I hope you have a nice weekend!  Thanks for visiting my blog.

SOME CURRENT PROJECTS

Here are some things that I've been working on lately.

This first one is a table runner that was on my design wall a couple posts ago and this morning I sewed it together.  I have it in the "basting" department now.

Somehow, I got the urge to make some "10 minute blocks" and this is the result.  Here is a link to a tutorial on how to make them.  These aren't sewn together yet.  Each piece of fabric was cut to 8" and each block uses 5 pieces of fabric.  The black in the middle is also 8" when you begin.

This one is going to be a "quilt of valor" hopefully.  I saw it on another blog and it looked pretty good - these aren't sewn together yet either.  I will need about 70 blocks and I think I'm over half way there.  It's a leader/ender project some of the time.

This is what each block looks like and it measures 8 1/2" square unfinished.  When you put them together they form pinwheels in opposite corners.

Hope you are sewing this week too.

OCTOBER DEAR JANE BLOCKS

I am happy that I got 9 blocks completed on my Dear Jane quilt!

E-6, E-7, E-8, E-11, E-12
F-3, F-4, F-7, E-13

That means I finished Row E and while I was at it I picked a few of the easy blocks from Row F.  I'm going to try to get Row F finished this month.  Can I do it?

Don't forget to vote for your favorite quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival - I'm not sure how long voting is open.