Friday, November 30, 2012

In YOUR Words bumps Nancy Drew

WELLLLLLLLL, seems there's been a problem/delay in getting the Nancy Drew Fabric to your LQS, which in turn has forced Madam Samm to postpone Nancy Drew Get a Clue hop until later.  Sewwwwww, Madam Samm and her team of cheerleaders have rallied, because you just know she has a whole list of ideas tucked in her hat, up her sleeve, taped to her wall, hidden in a puter file somewhere or typed into her smart phone for future hops and the woman is amazing, less than an hour after she got the message about the delay, she rallied her troops, (the amazing cheerleaders) juggled the schedules and tumbled the cheerleaders around and over each other, and this new hop emerged!!!
IN YOU WORDS, anything, can;t ask for anything better than that, any quilty sewing media item, as long as it has a word or words on it, an important word or words that represent YOU.  Linda of buzzingandbumbling blog is the bee-utiful cheerleader, contact her if you want to play. 

Thank you to all of the wonderful comments left on all my BLOG HOP posts!!  This has been a fun learning experience and I met a lot of new friends along the way..........what a great time Madam Samm created for us all!!!  am off to plan!!!!!!  B-D




Wednesday, November 28, 2012

My Holiday Lane projects

HOLIDAY LANE Pillow Blog Hop 
Jill Finley of Jillilly Studios created this cute pillow pattern to share called Holiday LaneMadam Samm at Sew We Quilt, Blog Hop Events Queen, fell in love with it and so did I.  It so cute, and I had a lot fun making it.  Thank you Jill for sharing such a cute holiday pattern, I'm sure everyone had a great time making them turning then into all sorts of things.  I would have like to put it in a quilt, but not this year....maybe next.  A big THANK YOU to Madam Samm, of Sew We Quilt ,our cute blog hop events coordinator, the most organized, crafty person ever for choosing all these fun hop ideas.  And an even bigger Thank you to the ever cheerful Pauline of Quilt 'N' Queen  fame, our Holiday Lane blog hop cheerleader who literally battled her way through, sick with the flu and a computer that bit the dust and people....well there are some everytime, who are no shows, but I think she had more than her fair share of those not honoring their commitments this time. I am trying to making extras for those who did not.   I hear from Pauline that she, along with some other hoppers, caught the flu.... I really do hope all of you feel better soon, big germ free cyber hugs to you :). 

Okay sooooo although I am in love with of all the colors.......... a few colors really appeal to me,  lime green is tops , but red is one of my favorites too.  I think that is why I fell in love with redwork and the red & white quilt collections.  I also love candy canes and peppermints, always have, probably always will... have a few of my grand kids that like them too.  So when I thought about doing a version of Holiday Lane I kept thinking about the holidays and candy canes and peppermint candies ( NO, no not the new-fangled jolly rancher versions of candy canes that my kids like either ).  And I pulled a bunch of Christmas fabrics and a few non-Christmas blenders and put them in a visible pile to simmer and hopefully come together in a great selection.   And they sat there simmering as I occasionally stirred the pot, (i.e.-stacked and re-stacked the pieces), patiently waiting, until I was done with a few other things... and one of those things was to stitch up a sample block from my licorice twist pattern....I mailed that off last Monday, until then I hadn't done redwork in over a year and this got my itchin' to stitch fires kindled and last Wednesday while I was grocery shopping for Thanksgiving I decided that that's what I wanted my Holiday Lane pillow to be.....a stitched one..........well why not, a couple of times over the years I have appliqued embroidery designs, why not embroider an applique design?? And for some crazy reason I thought I had to have it done by Monday so I could put a post together for Tuesday................checked this Monday morning (it's the 26 as I write this post).........I have the 29th oops......I'm done early.....mark that on your calendars people, it may be the first and last time I was ready two days in advance.
Anyway I 've been wanting to do a red & white Christmas for several years and I am collecting things here and there including "pinspirations" so that one of these years I can have a red & white Christmas.  Red & white ribbons, paper, dishes, tree and table decs, candy canes, peppermints.............etc  until I collect all that here is my version of Jill's cute Holiday Lane pillow.  I kept to her original dimensions, applique pieces and layout but I did add a few bits like extra windows, starlight mint stars and some simple patterns stitched on the houses so it would give the general  illusion of fabric houses, adds a little fun to red stitching.  It took almost 3 (2.75) skeins of floss.  I drew it up Thanksgiving night after we got home.  But after making food for two places and about 70 miles of window time, stitching was not going to happen that night. So I started stitching it Friday on my lunch hour.  I stitched Friday night when I got home from work 6 pm -12:30 am, all day Saturday 7 am to 9 pm and about 4-5 hours off and on Sunday finishing it up, flanges and all, about 5:30 Sunday afternoon.... soooooooo since I'm done, NOW what do I do, I know make more??

I'm going home and see if I can make another one in a different style or maybe two ?? but different........you'll have to wait and see.  There may be more later????
in the meantime ...... just keep reading.....

Below is a picture of some of the owls Carrie stuffed. ( I think there's 13 here).  These are the ones I mentioned that I was making for my friend, who doesn't sew, but loves cute things.   I sewed them and she stuffed them.  And just like always, I didn't count as I was cutting and had way too many in progress before I counted........she ended up with 21 (plus some extra parts ;)) instead of 17, lol... and now I'm making more.  They are so cute.  I found some polka dotted cuddle fabric to make some out of for grand kids.... and another friend...
Christmas is coming soon you know      :D


Another thing I am going to make is from a prize.....


 Yea I actually won something, out of the clear blue sky ( actually drawn from a pile of comments, lol) THANK YOU to Madam Samm and Connecting Threads, queen of Blog hops and marketing,  had a giveaway.  It was from Connecting Threads, and was for a stack of Big Sky Flannel FQ's.......aren't they pretty?  I am going to make a Zigzag/chevron/rickrack quilt out of large HST's  I was going to do it last weekend but things happen and I lost my window of opportunity to cut the pieces.  Now I'll have to post it next time. 

Okay look what I got done last night....
 Holiday Lane Extras
here's version # 2


It measures about 7" across and 3" tall. :D.
And I have the pieces semi done for yet another version............if I get it done before post time it'll be at the bottom because that's where my iphone puts them, if I knew html or something maybe I could put it where i want , but sadly no!?

A giveaway? Instead of a contest where only one or two win, I prefer to give away something to everyone.....today's freebie is an old pattern but it's a quick and easy one to stitch or applique and seasonal.  I have done it both  ways.  I wish I had some pictures but I don't think so.  I gave it to you so please do not re-sell it in pattern form.  You can find it underneath the hop schedule below.  Happy Stitching!


There are about 80 participants that made their own versions some of them quite unique and different yet all reminiscent of Jill's design and are sharing pictures for all to see on the Holiday Lane hop.   I have the schedule listed below from Pauline of all the remaining participants for the last two days (only today and tomorrow ) of their showing..... Some will have giveaways, or tutorials, or freebies, you just never know, but lots of blog happiness for you to check out!!  If you missed the first of the hop Madam Samm has a link to a pinterest page with all of the entries.

Thursday November 29
Elaine - that other blog

Friday November 30
Linda - that other blog
Madame Samm @ Sew We Quilt : the best for last!
it is she who makes all this creative blog hop inspiration possible!



If you would like to join one of Samm's hops, the next one is in January, it's  
Nancy Drew Get a CLUE anything made with the Nancy Drew Fabric and she has a whole year's worth of fun events coming up so you can jump in on if you keep an eye out on her blog.  Next month she's having a book event all month, reviews of books by women for women and all sorts of subjects. 

I am having a font issue today and it's driving me crazy!!!!
Hopefully, one more Holiday lane pic will show up below here, if not, rest assured I am still stitching it!!!!

so :) see you soon  or :D  I got it done !?! But I cannot crop & edit the photo from my phone sorry! I will fix it tomorrow from a computer with Internet access. It is a free standing Holiday Lane for daughters fireplace mantel, Yea! The houses are the exact same sizes as the pattern.
Thanks for hopping by.  Come back when you can stitch awhile, Cyndi



 

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

HOLIDAY LANE PILLOW BLOG HOP

There's a new hop beginning........... are you excited.........cuteness awaits you everywhere.

Jill Finley of Jillilly Studios created this cute new pillow pattern to share called Holiday Lane.  Thank you Jill for sharing such a cute holiday pattern, I'm sure everyone had a great time making them.  And a big thank you to Madam Samm, of Sew We Quilt our cute blog hop events coordinator, the most organized, crafty person ever for choosing these fun hop ideas.  And thank you to the cheerful Pauline of Quilt 'N' Queen  fame, our Holiday Lane blog hop cheerleader.  I hear from Pauline that she, along with several other hoppers, just caught the flu.... I really do hope all of you feel better soon, big germ free cyber hugs :).  There are close to 100 particpants that are going to make their versions of Jill's design and share pictures of them for all to see on the Holiday Lane hop.  I have the schedule listed below from Pauline of all the particpants and their day for show..... November 21, 2012  is when you can start hopping.  Some will have giveaways, or tutorials, or freebies, you just never know, lots of blog happiness for you to check out!!  My day for the hop is the 29th. I'll see you then if not before....  :) 

Wednesday November 21

Thursday November 22

Friday November 23

 Monday November 26

Tuesday November 27

Wednesday November 28
Mary Jo - that other blog
  
Thursday November 29
Elaine - that other blog

Friday November 30
Linda - that other blog
Madame Samm @ Sew We Quilt : the best for last!
it is she who makes all of this possible!
 
thanks for hopping by.  Cyndi







 

Monday, November 5, 2012

UR Priceless in more ways than one.

This is my day for the UR Priceless Blog hop.  I  joined up on this blog hop because I like to try new techniques.... And gave me an opportunity to try several.  At first I was going to make the coin purses out of cute fabrics for my granddaughters.   And when I got the pattern form Madam Samm I started grabbing fabrics and sketching ideas....but that name UR priceless kept rolling around in the back of my brain, partly because of the spelling...  it kind of irks me to use UR of you are.  But the thought of You ARE Priceless kept tugging at my heartstrings....... so we're going to take a little side journey...

This is my second daughter Elizabeth, and her daughter, Kylie.
While this is not the best picture of them, with what I had access to while typing this post, it will have to do.  Elizabeth, aka "Bethie", she got that name form her twin (who is younger by 4 minutes).  When they were first learning to talk, Sarah called her Elizabeffie and eventually it got to just Bethie.  This picture of them was taken at a St Louis Cardinal baseball game this summer shows the fun loving mom and daughter they are.   Isn't that priceless?  It was a girls' day at the park. all 3 of my daughters and their daughters went to the ballgame. 
Elizabeth has been dating this guy, for more than  four years now since before Kylie was born.  Although not Kylie's father, Randy and Kylie are best buddies.  Definitely priceless
Long story short, on Mothers day Randy asked Bethie to marry him and so next year the week before mothers day, they are going to be wed.  This will  be the last in my priceless family to get married.  So while all these other hops and sewing projects have been going on,  wedding plans and ideas have been bouncing around in my brain too.  And if I would even think about tucking that event in to the back files,  Bethie keeps it up in the front by tagging things on Pinterest or texts me pictures of things she wants or wants to to do for her..  : )
SO....with all this wedding stuff floating around in my head, about a week after I got the pattern I knew what I wanted to do. 

 A very special coin purse that could hold the small treasures of a new bride or the new bride's daughter the minature because both of them are priceless.  I have been wanting to do some different fabric techniques and this gave me a chance to experiment and do some odd, possibly interesting effects... and hopefully produce something special for one of the priceless people in my world for her special day.

You ARE priceless.
For you on your wedding day because You ARE Priceless!
There are small pearl beads inside those gathered fabric bubbles above and glass seed beads for flower centers.  Does it look bridal to you? 
Did you notice the beads in the lacing area on the hardware? 

SIDE VIEW... silk hydrangeas between satin and a shimmery chiffon.  She is having real hydrangeas so that will be a rememberance but a surprise lining, not the color I had intetended.  I had the wistera/eggplant colored satin to use which is in the background on these pictures but because of the lighting (is dark and raining outside.... no natural light to soak up) it  appears to be very dark purple and yet is not..... but it alsowould have made the inside quite dark. I opted for this color below...... and those who know me well will laugh.  What can I say I like green although for me this is rather tame.

DON"T look real close.  I usually pride myself in being neat but the inside is going to need some work to hide some stitching before May.  ( yikes!)
Below are some of the process pictures.  note flower drawn on pattern PLEASE NOTE:  The flower is on the WRONG pattern piece and I ALMOST cut the gathered floweres with those pieces, WHEW, carpenter's rule applies is sewing too!! Measure twice, cut once, always check twice before cutting!!,  The flower drawing is basically what I used for the flowers, run gathering sitches and pull the flower center towards you (is the back of the work) leaving the other 5 bumps on top of the work(the right side).  Fill the low part of the flower center with some beads.  I think what's drawn on the pattern is drawn with dimes.  But they were TOO big and after experimenting..... eventually what I used was a shirt buttons to draw around and then gathered the fabric around the small pearl beads.  See the flowers layered for the side gussets below?  I dabbed a little glue stick to the back of flower center to hold in place while I sewed a single glass bead to the center(each center was done separately and knotted because I figured some may fall in my sewing area and I did not want to sew over them or have the foot catch them.  I had to clip a few off because they fell in my basting area for the pattern.
(all edges of pattern were basted and pinked), see below  (basting kept things together and gave me a line to match up to and sew inside. 

Now I had intended to have a couple of other purses for three priceless little cuties.....
BUT......


one of my friends, (?am re-thinking that, : D ) asked to help her out with some owls pillows, and her time was short.  She had bought a pattern on the internet and was having issues.......(her "issues" were, she doesn't sew...lol) and could I help her out with just a few,  sure I said and she handed me a LARGE bag of Minkee in various colors, the pattern she bought and said I'll email you the list of what I need..........I got that list 17, SEVENTEEN!!!  4 girls and 13 boys, chicken no wonder she wanted to email me the list, she was not in hearing range, LOL!!!!!  It's a Good thing I like her!!!
so here are some sneak peeks at the some of the possible ideas?  Corduroy beaks, stuffed or not?  Although cute stuffed, thank goodness she opted for not stuffed, one less process!! 

Eyes, all kinds but she didn't want the lidded sleepy eyes, she wanted big and bold or big and crazy.  Do these qualify?

I will be up with the hoot owls tonight finishing as many as I can and will finish the rest tomorrow night. 

NOW, Thank you to Katherine, my cheerleader divine,
and to Madam Samm for her creative mind,
and Andover Fabrics for gifts so fine, sharing a selection of a of a great fabric line!!  Thank you, Thank you I'll say it again, Thank you to all, this is the end.

OH, NO, I'm sorry I forgot to do a freebie stitch thing, ugh I feel awful!!  If you're new here,  go down to the labels/tags lower right and click on HOW or ORNAMENTS.  It's getting to be that time and there's a whole bunch of hexagon ornaments to stitch (Hexagon Of the Week=HOW).
Sorry for re-runs.

  I hope you had fun,  Look Below to see who's next, Hop over there to see they have created for the UR Priceless Blog hop... creative goodness awaits you. click on......

from being a frog on Halloween.