crazy'boutquilts

~~Wishing you Peace and Prosperity~
  ~~Health and Happiness~~
      ~~~Love and Joy~~~

And ALL the best 2012 has to offer!

I have so many unrelated things to post about that I thought I'd just do one catch-up post. :-)

Thimbleberries Sew Day....

...was yesterday and joining me sewing were Kim of Kim Sherrod Studio, and Karen at Briarside Lane. Please be sure to visit them and cheer them on. :-)

I continued to work on my log cabin blocks for the Double Duty quilt in 'Miss Rosie's Spice of Life Quilts'.  I am so happy to report that I am nearly finished with the little buggars! LOL :-)  I ran out of strips and had to cut about 20 more last night. I will sew them on today and next month I can start putting it together! :-)


I can't show you a photo of the blocks on my design wall, because this quilt is filling it now...




and I need to get it together. :-) My friend Lindsay and I led a block of the month program on HGTV Quilter's message board last year, and this is my 'Stars in the Barn Door' top~ partially sewn together. ;-) The star blocks all came from Quilter's Cache, but we did re-size some of them into a 6 inch block for the center of the barn door block.  My plan is to put a border of HST's around the top once I get it all together.

Row Robin sewing

I also need to work on one more row robin~



Last night I finally was struck with inspiration, and although I won't be able to show you what I add to this top (I know the owner of this row visits my blog) ;-) , I will be able to show you all the completed row tops in the fall.  :-)


Gifties~

Remember all the 'secret sewing' I was doing before Christmas?  These scarves were part of it. I made them for family and a few friends. They are layers of flannel that are sewn together and then cut into chenille... after a washing and drying they fluff out so nice and are so warm!  These are the last two for my kiddo's. :-)



I am off to sew on something! LOL I do have a few choices, don't I?  I'm going to finish up the log cabin blocks first~ ;-)

Until next time~
Happy stitchin'!!

Yes indeed, I had a great day sewing!
But it was so dark and rainy this afternoon that i couldn't get any 'good' photo's. I'll try tomorrow~

Have a great evening!!

Tomorrow is Thimbleberries Sew Day!! :-)

Will you sew with me?  You can work on a Thimbleberries pattern and any fabrics you choose, or you can work with your Thimbleberries fabrics and any pattern you choose... sound fun?  ;-)

Hope to see you tomorrow! :-)

...Christmas!!!  :-)  I received my last gifties in the Santa Sack 2 Swap yesterday~ and I feel so blessed to have had Cyndi as my partner.  :-)  Look at the adorable stocking she made for me!  And inside there is a little paper crafted kitty that I am guessing she made too.  I am waiting until Christmas Eve to open my gifts, but just wanted to send a big {{{hug}}} and thank you to Cyndi!


DD surprised me with this dried arrangement last night~ isn't it beautiful?  I haven't decided where to place it yet and have been moving it all over the house. LOL I just love all the different flowers in it.


Today someone has been playing tricks on me! ;-)  Last night our icicle lights went out. It's an older string so I thought it was probably just time for new ones. We got some today, tested them~ all of them lit, hung them~ only half of them lit! :-o Tried the bunch we had taken down~~ they all lit!! :-o Good grief!  What is up with that!? LOL So we started fiddling with the new string and I got them to all work, one little bulb had come loose. It took us over an hour to change them out and get the new ones working. I'm sure glad it wasn't freezing!! :-) LOL

I hope it is beginning to look like Christmas at your home too.  Thank you to all my followers and friends! I so appreciate your visits and comments.  I hope you each have a very Merry Christmas!!

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!!

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get back!  Thank you for all your wonderful comments on my angels and Santa.  They were both fun to do and really put me in the Christmas spirit! :-)

So what is keeping me so busy now?  Well, along with all the holiday general stuff, I've got 3 row robins to work on and get in the mail by January 7th.  I am doing these with the ladies on the HGTV quilters message board and dare not show photo's because we aren't suppose to reveal them until September 2012.  I did show you the three rows I sent off~ HERE is one of them.  Hmmm, I didn't find the other two. Maybe I didn't show you? This one~



Or that one?  They are off on their adventure~ having rows added all over the US.  :-)

This is one I received to work on~  last night I started. And I can't show it. :-(  Don't worry, next September I'll have loads of photo's for you! :-)


Today I am tea dying~  I'll let you know how it turns out. ;-)


And remember these two sticheries from here~





Last night I finished the stitching.  The one on the left, I printed a reverse image on the back with my printer, instead of tracing the design.  It worked great. I used only black ink and I have run a sample piece through the washing machine and the ink did not bleed or run.  The one on the right I used Transfer Ease. I still need to rinse it out, and then I'll let you know how it worked.  My question for you is this~~ would you make little wall hangings or small pillows with them?  I always get to this point and then can't decide how to finish them!  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!~ and no, I am not letting them leave my house, LOL :-)
Both stitching patterns are free at Red Brolly~ I love that site! ;-)

That's all for today~ back to check on my muslin.
Have a great day!
And happy stitchin'!

Since I can't show you most of what I am making for gifts, I thought I'd show you the ornaments I've been making.  I found this pattern years and years ago in a magazine and altered it just a little bit. I no longer have the magazine, but I love making these. ;-)


And I finally finished my December hanging.  From Nancy Halvorsen's Count On It book.~



I guess it is about time to finish him. LOL  I hope this finds you busy preparing for Christmas too.


Happy Stitchin'!!

Not me, the days! LOL  ;-)  Doesn't it seem like yesterday was Thanksgiving?  I can't believe how fast the days are flying by! :-o

And I am flying a little high  ;-)  ~ I won this wonderful giveaway from Anna at Woolie Mammoth!  I love the wooden bowl!  And I've already started tracing the pattern for the little snowball ornaments pillow. Isn't it cute?  Thank you Anna!


I've been sewing too~ but can't show you the gifts I'm working on.  Sorry. :-/
I can show you Steps 1 and 2 of Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay mystery~


I haven't started Step 3 yet. ;-)  Guess I should get back to work!

I hope you are finding sewing time!
Until next time~
Happy Stitchin'!!

Every year Darlene at Insights from SewCalGal has a Christmas quilt show~ You will be inspired beyond words when you start viewing all those wonderful links!



 I'm a little late in joining the fun this year, but would like to share this little quilt with you...
 I made these two mini's a few years ago and sent one to my friend, Bonnie,  in a swap.  It was so fun to sew a 'secret' and we gave each other convoluted little teaser peeks as we went along. :-) Every year when I get mine out, it brings me wonderful memories of our little exchange.




This is the cute mini Bonnie sent me~~ I love it!  See the little label she embroidered?  It is these wonderful gifts and exchanges from friends that make this time of year so special.  Thank you again Bonnie!! :-)



If you want to see more lovely Christmas and winter quilts, visit SewCalGal!



Thank you for stopping by!
Have a happy day!

Whoohoo~ I got the 80 Flying Geese blocks finished! (Get it? Flying High? :-) )  I couldn't resist!
I just have to trim off the wild feathers (bunny ears) ;-)
I didn't take another photo, but wanted to share my progress.

I hope you also visit~

Karen @ Briarside Lane

Jayne @ Jayne's Quilting Room

Barb @ Bejeweled Quilts by Barb

And I discovered Monica @ Diary of a Quilt Maven is sewing with us too!

Thank you for joining me ladies!! :-)

And since no post is complete without a photo~


I am headed back to work on my Orca Bay step 2 (link in my sidebar)

Have a happy evening!!

Today is Thimbleberries Sew Day!  And I am sewing!!  I've been working on Double Duty from Miss Rosie's Spice of Life Quilts book one day a month for a while now. Today I counted my Log Cabin blocks~ I have 78 complete; I need 26 more.  There are also Flying Geese in this quilt~ I got 28 made this morning. I need 80. I know I won't get them all sewn today, but it is good to pull it out every month and make a little progress. :-)



Are you sewing?  You can use a Thimbleberries pattern and your stash of any fabrics you want, or use any pattern and your Thimbleberries fabrics.  Either way~ you are sure to have fun! :-)

I'll be back this evening with an update on the Flying Geese.

Please be sure to visit these gals who are sewing with me today~ :-)

Karen at Briarside Lane

Jayne at Jayne's Quilting Room

And Barb at Bejeweled Quilts by Barb

Happy stitching!

Thank you, Karen, for the reminder!! LOL  I can't wait to see what you work on! ;-)

Ladies~ tomorrow is Thimbleberries Sew Day!  Won't you join us?  You can use Thimbleberries fabrics, or your own fabrics and a Thimbleberries pattern. Let me know if you have a project to work on and I'll be sure to stop by for a visit! :-)

I'll be pulling out the log cabin blocks bucket once again and working on those. ;-) ~  one of these month's I will have the pile I need for the Double Duty quilt in Miss Rosie's Spice of Life Quilts book.

Hope to see you tomorrow!!

I love to embroider. The part I don't like is tracing the design. I usually use a pigma pen and light box and trace. But some patterns are so detailed I get hand cramps~ but I love the patterns!  What to do? what to do? :-)

I've tried Transfer-Ease before and liked it, except sometimes I don't want to have to wash my project.... and the last time I used it, I took such tiny stitches that it had to soak a long time to come all the way out.  I printed the design on the left on the Transfer-Ease and I'll embroider and rinse it out.  But then I got to thinking.... uh-oh!  ;-) (I know, that is scary! LOL )  The design on the right I printed right on the back of the fabric using freezer paper on the fabric, and making a reverse image.  It works! I can see thru the fabric enough to do the embroidery, and I won't have to rinse anything out. :-)


You can kind of see the design thru the fabric here...

I also did a test sample and washed it to make sure the ink didn't run or do anything funny in case I did want to wash my project later. It didn't do a thing.  Now I have another way to transfer embroidery designs without having to trace, or rinse later. :-)

Both of these designs can be found free at Red Brolly. I am going to use star buttons on the one I started working on. The other is going to be done all in red.

That's all for today~

Have a happy weekend!

Or maybe I should say 'mindless sewing'. :-)  I decided to do Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay mystery.  ( She has a tab at the top of her blog where you will find all the info and Step 1).  When the first step turned out to be 224 QST's I did pause for a minute! LOL  But she says we are getting the worst over first, so away I went.

I don't collect 1.5 inch strips, and don't have a stash of those. Actually I don't have much of a stash of black fabrics at all~ I used them up in my last B&W quilt.  So rather than cut my remaining pieces down to 1.5 inch strips, I printed out sheets of Triangulations papers and cut rectangles.  I know a lot of quilters don't like having to remove the papers, but it is the easiest and most accurate for me. I love not having to do any squaring up when the units are 2.5 inches or less. ;-)


Today I sewed ten sheets~ which will be 120 QST's when I sew the halves together. It went really fast, and I can pull the papers when I'm sitting in my easy chair tonight. :-)  At this rate, this step is going to be done before I know it! :-)

Have a happy weekend~
And until next time~

Happy Stitchin'!!

I thought when the time changed we were supposed to gain an hour~ where did it go?  Do you find you get busier instead of having more time too?  ;-)  If you found my extra hour, would you send it back please? :-)



I've been sewing up gifts ( no peeks yet), working on getting a top together and working on F8 blocks.  I thought I'd tell you about my F8 blocks today. 18 of the ladies on the HGTV quilting board each sent a F8 of their chosen fabric to the other participants. Then we got busy making blocks for each other. :-) It has been a lot of fun!~ Seeing the different fabric pieces and trying to decide what block to make. I've made Christmas blocks, and summer blocks and 30's blocks and every thing in between. Unfortunately I didn't think to take photo's of the blocks I made for the other ladies.  :-/ BUT! I do have a photo of the blocks I have received so far.  I sent out the tan batik and asked for blocks in ocean colors (a favorite theme of some of my quilty friends on the message board ;-)  LOL)  Yes, I was copying a previous swap. :-)  Everyone knows I love stars, and I am just thrilled with the blocks I've received! :-) Aren't they beauties?

I hope you are getting in some sewing fun too!
Until next time~
Happy stitchin'!!

 Thank you! for all your wonderful comments on my 600th post!!  I couldn't write back to each of you, but I so enjoyed reading your comments! I wish I had prizes for all of you!!  {{hugs}}


My random number generator~ in this case DH, :-) picked a number and I counted down to Shelley!  Congratulations Shelley!!  I'm not going to tell what I've added to the magazine, hopefully you like surprises. ;-)

Today is my birthday! And I have been spoiled to bits!  My sweet girlfriend made this reversible table runner for me. Love it!!  :-D



I had joined a birthday FQ swap this year and this is part of my FQ gifties~ I love batiks!



I also joined a birthday swap, and my swap partner sent all of these goodies! Wow!  I feel like a kid in a candy store!  :-)





I hope you are having a wonderful day too!  I am off to work on some secret gifts. ;-)
Until next time~
Happy stitchin'!!

Whoops~ I didn't make it back to report on how the Creatopia fabric adhesive worked~~ fantastic!! It was like sewing through butter, no gummed needle, no lifting of the applique, I am happy. :-)  I also cut out a few shapes with some old Sizzix dies we had for scrapbooking and put adhesive behind them~ worked beautifully. I think I am going to be looking at applique in a whole new light now. ;-)

And today is celebration day!! This is my 600th post!  Can you believe that? I sure can't!  That is one of the reason's I didn't post sooner~ I was trying to 'save' 600 until I had something you might like. :-)  Today I found this new magazine~

So for my 600th post giveaway I am going to give  this copy (sorry for the glare~ we are having a sunny day!) and I'm going to add a few surprises.  To be entered just leave me a comment~ anything at all.  I'll draw on Sunday and mail it out early next week.

I'm off to enjoy the sunshine.

Have a happy day!!

...at my door! :-) :-) :-)



What could it be?

Whoohoo!!  A really special arrival! :-)



Thank you so much for the fabulous giveaway Amanda and Xyron for sponsoring it!!  :-) I feel so very lucky!!



Of course, you know I had to play!  :-) I put in the fabric adhesive cartridge~ it is acid free and it says it is repositionable.  Since I had most of my December banner done, I did the letters with the Creatopia. I cut out the fabric, ran it thru then cut out the letters... next time I will try it the other way, cutting out the letters first. (I love to play!)  (I did hint to hubby that I am going to need some alphabet dies~ I don't think he got it though. LOL)



It worked great, the adhesive was quite sticky, but I could reposition the letters until I got them where I wanted. The book also says it won't gum your needles for hand or machine sewing~ so today I am going to sew around them. I'll let you know how it goes. I will say this though~ the adhesive behind the letters is so soft, it is like I didn't use anything to adhere the fabrics together. I like that! :-) I don't like stiff fusible stuff, so this may be my applique dream come true!  The booklet also says anyone's dies will work in the Creatopia. I need to get a different cartridge, and then I'll slide some of my older scrapbooking dies thru and see.  I know when my DD comes home for break, she is going to love scrapbooking. ;-)  I see loads of fun in our future! :-)

I'll be back tomorrow!~ :-)

Sinta and Sherri asked that we post our Le Petite projects from the past year on our blogs today.  Easier said than done since our hard drive was replaced last month, but I'll see how many I can come up with~~ Since I was in the Schnibbles group last year too, I adapted some of this years patterns to other things. ;-)

First up was Paganini a Schibble pattern from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co



Next was Butter Churn from This and That patterns

Prairie Point Christmas from the Moda Bake Shop


Mon Ami~ a Schnibble pattern, I made into placemats



Sweet Spot~ Schnibble pattern


Endless Summer ~ a Scnibble pattern I made into a little topper



Brocante~ another Schnibble pattern



Candy Bar~ Schnibble pattern



 Ric Rac ~ a Schnibble pattern I made into pillows




George ~ another Schnibbles pattern I turned into a kitchen wall hanging



Honeycomb ~ a Schnibbles pattern I made into a bag ;-)

Full House ~ we had a choice this month and I chose this Schnibbles pattern.

Hey! I found all of them!  It was a fun year!  If you'd like to join in the fun, I hear that Sinta and Sherri are going to start again in January. ;-)

From 'Count On It' by Nancy Halvorsen

Have a spooktacular day!!! :-)

Over the past couple months I have been the very lucky recipient of some very nice giveaways, so I am taking today to give thanks!  ~~

In September Quiltingnana at Creative Urges had a great giveaway for a pattern and fabric. I had two choices and I chose this autumn themed mini as I love autumn!  Little did I realize that Kathy and her friend wrote the pattern!  How cool is that?!  Thank you Kathy!


Jocelyn at Happy Cottage Quilter was celebrating National Sewing Month with a giveaway every week in September. I was so lucky to win week one~ this beautiful fabric and pattern. :-) Thank you Jocelyn!



And Chris at Dye Candy was giving away this book. I have been looking for Claire O'Donohue's books and hadn't found them at my library, so I was thrilled to be her winner! Just imagine my surprise and delight when she tucked this beautiful rainbow of hand dyed squares in the package as well! Thank you Chris!!



Today was a rainy day here, so I was tucked in with my new book and loving it!  I feel so very lucky to have all of you as my dear blogging friends and readers!  I hope you had a wonderful day too!