We're Stripping This Year

I love participating in swaps of all kinds but I don't always have the time. Each year the ladies over on the TTMT (Talk To Me Tuesday) blog do some type of swap. I haven't joined in yet until this year. This year's swap is more about your own creativity. We are cutting 2.5" WOF strips from some of our fabric fabrics from our own stash. Then we send them into our creative leader and she will mix them all up and send each of us our own TTMT jelly roll. It is going to be fun to see what each person makes with their fabric strips.

I don't always have yardage in my stash but I've recently struck up a barter agreement with someone who has inherited her mom's and another quilter's stash. My part of the barter is to knit several items that are going to be fun to knit.  In return I receive some fun fabrics. These fabrics will come in handy for my charity project this year.

I grabbed some of the brighter fabrics and added in a black and white fabric. I thought that maybe someone might need a contrasting fabric for their project. I chose 10 fabrics and then cut 4 strips from each fabric.

Rolling the fabric strips up neatly is near impossible.

While I had the fabrics out I decided to go ahead and cut 1 strip from each color for myself. That way I can add to the strips that I receive.  I haven't decided on a pattern yet but it has been fun looking at different designs. I might just go ahead and do the jelly roll race since I may be the only quilter who hasn't made one yet. 

Do you participate in swaps?  Have you made a jelly roll race quilt?

Baby quilt top

I've been slowly working on putting all my loose blocks together. These blocks are from when I was part of the 3X6 Bee swap over on flickr.  They all worked well together so I turned them into a baby quilt top. Next step is to get it pinned and quilted. Hopefully that will happen this month.

The fence is my neighbor's and I have tried hanging quilts up there before to take pictures but I never had any clips strong enough or that opened wide enough to hold the quilts. Last month Hubby and I were wandering around Target and I happen to see these fun clips hanging by the beach towels.

The fishies are meant to clip your towel to your beach chair so it doesn't blow away. They have a very strong spring in them and they open wide enough to clip over the thick boards on the fence. They had flamingos too but for some reason they were almost 3 dollars more. Since I bought 3 packs I wasn't willing to spend the extra money. They came two to a pack.

Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year's. We usually stay home. The roads get real crazy around here so it's safer to celebrate at home.

I joined a new swap over at Jane's blog. This time around we are swapping bright wonky house blocks. I've been practicing my hand appliqueing. Last night I was able to finish the appliques and today I added the grass and trimmed them up.

I am pretty happy with the way they turned out. Add some black sashing strips and it would make a fun quilt. I can't wait to see everyone else's houses. A few people have been working on theirs too. You can see them in the flickr group Jane set up for us.

We are also making siggy blocks. I plan on using them on the back of my quilt.



Have you made any resolutions for 2012?  I've made some simple goals for myself.

1. Finish all projects from previous years. I need to get better about finishing what I start.

2. Use up scraps and turn them into something useful.  I have way too many little bits of fabric that is shoved in too many drawers. I don't mind the pieces of fabric that are a fat quarter or larger sitting on the shelves but those little bits drive me crazy. Plus, they seem to multiply faster than I can use them.

3. Organize my house. My Grandparents raised me from age 2 until I was 13. My Grandmother was a pack rat and I picked that habit up from her. I have a bad habit of saving EVERYTHING. I've gotten better over the years but I still have room to improve. We are no where near hoarders but My Grandparents grew up during a time where you saved everything so it can be used again. Grandma used to save bread bags and ties, empty coffee cans, shoe laces, tiny pencils...you get the picture. I've gotten much better about saving household things (unless I can use them for a specific thing now) but when it comes to my craft supplies I'm still pretty bad.

That's it. Not a long list but it will keep me busy all year long. I need to go through my UFOs and take some pictures. That way I can see what needs to be done and I can get that little thrill when I check things off the list.

Feeling spoiled

I recently received this amazing quilt from my DollQultSwap10 partner Kati. Kati blogs over at from the blue chair. I've actually visited Kati's blog a few times in the past.

I LOVE this quilt! I have always been a fan of black backgrounds (as I'm sure a few of you already know) and the aqua is a new favorite of mine.

The back is stunning too. Love the quilting lines and the label looks great all crooked.

Kati also included some goodies. She used some of her leftover scraps to make this hot pad. Thanks Kati but I don't think this will used in the kitchen. This one will be going up on a wall somewhere too. I also received some fabric to play with. See that simple looking roll with the red tie? I wonder what is in there....

Kati also made these pins. She told me that this was her first time making pins like this. I'm guessing they are clay. I think they turned out great. I especially LOVE the rose! I know how hard they are to make in ribbon, I don't want to even think about how hard they would be in clay.

Thanks Kati!!! Everything is amazing!

Barb's Neighborhood

Earlier this year Barb convinced a few of us to join her in a Row Robin swap. I recently finished the last row on Barb's quilt.

Barb made the top row of houses. She also sent along the blue and green fabric that you see we all used in our rows. Barb used it in her row as the sky and grass.

I decided to make a row of flowers. There was one large piece of blue fabric that was just the right length for the background of my row. Perfect! I used the green as one of the stems and the leaf  in each flower pot.

I fused my pieces to the background and then hand appliqued everything down using floss and the buttonhole stitch. I wanted the flowers to have some dimension so I made yo-yos for the centers.

This was a fun quilt along. Thanks Barb and all the ladies that worked on my rows. I can't wait to see my rows and get them sewn together into a cozy quilt!

3X6 Bee 4th Quarter

These are the blocks I came up with for the fourth quarter of the 3X6 Bee. I waited until almost the last minute to work on these. I just couldn't pick a block design. I think before the next round starts in January, I better order a bunch of aqua fabric. My stash is seriously lacking aquas and everyone seems to want that color. After seeing the blocks that everyone has been making in aqua and red, I actually chose those colors for next year too.

Mug Rug Received

Aunt Pitty Pat recently held a mug rug swap over on her blog. I received my package this past weekend. My partner was Leslie but I'm not sure if she has a blog.

Here are all the goodies. I was so surprised and pleased to see the sequin ornament inside the coffee mug. My Grandmother and I used to make ornaments like that back in the 70's. I have a couple dozen that Grandma passed down to me before she died.

I love the mug rug. I really enjoy when the quilting outlines the applique. Then you have this nice shadow on the back.

The mug is cute! Santa and his reindeer are Texas Armadillos. Thanks Leslie!

Oh Deer Oh Deer

This November's theme over at YOE was reindeer. My partner was Sherry this time. Sherry send some wonderful things.

The most important lol. The boys were quick to fight over this. Of course Momma won and it is still sitting on my TV table FULL. Ha! Take that boys.

Aren't these cards precious? I would love to make handmade cards but I really don't need a new hobby.

These guys look like they were made from scrapbooking paper.

I LOVE things with jingle bells.

These are wooden ornaments. I was looking for something like these at a craft store but didn't see any.

Reindeer and Christmas lights. Love the fuzzy nose and eyelashes.

Matchbox ornaments. More jingle bells :0)

and a cute little deer inside.

Thanks Sherry!!

November's reindeer

This month's theme over at YOE is reindeer. My partner was Sherry. I went a little cutesie this month. I crocheted a couple ornaments. Then I found the bead snowmen ornament kit and thought they would be nice ornaments so I made a couple of them. I also found the reindeer bag as a kit and thought it would be sweet to hold everything. Sherry has some younger kids and grandkids so I thought the reindeer craft kits would be fun. Next month is elves. I already have one ornament done.


Don't forget to stop by tomorrow for the stocking give away!!

Mu Rug Swap **Spoiler Alert **

Aunt Pitty Pat is hosting a Mug Rug Swap over on her blog. When Aunt Pitty Pat holds swaps there are always a few people who are from Facebook or who don't have a blog. I think my partner is one of those people.

We were to make a mug rug 6" X 10" or somewhere around there. I chose to use one of my English Paper pieced hexagons on the red background. It looks like Christmas but can be left out longer if my partner likes. We also needed to include a favorite recipe (chocolate chip cookies), a candy cane (cherry) to stir with, coffee/tea/cocoa, and a mug. My mug has cocoa in it plus I included 3 packs of coffee. I also included a gingerbread house clay ornament I bought.

I used this fun Santa fabric for the back. I love the peppermint binding fabric.

These mug rugs are fun to make. I actually have 3 or 4 more waiting to be finished.

Christmas strings

I wasn't going to join anymore swaps this year but I felt drawn to this one.  This swap is being hosted over at Quilting Around The World. I whipped these up on Saturday. It was a nice relaxing way to spend the afternoon. I was determined to make all 24 in one day and I didn't stop until there were all sewn. I planned subs for dinner so I didn't have to worry about feeding anyone.  I like sewing days like that.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Not only did I do the Halloween block swap with Aunt Pitty Pat but I also joined in on the Christmas swap. Once again we were able to choose our theme. I had a plan in mind so I went with stockings.

Not sure how well the colors show up in this picture but the light colored squares are a light pastel purple. For the stockings I started by cutting out a stocking shape from regular lined school paper. I like how easy it tears when it is time to remove the paper. Then I grabbed a bunch of my Christmas strip scraps and went crazy at the sewing machine. Trimmed the stockings, removed the paper and Viola! mini stocking appliqués! I used the same stitch to sew them down as I used on the candy corn. It's kinda like a bunch of Xs and I like how it covers the edge but it isn't as dense as a satin stitch.

Another swap done. Two more left.

More swap blocks

These are the six blocks for the 3rd quarter of the 3X6 Bee. I used the charm packs of Canning Day that I picked up from Connecting Threads. I really like these colors so I think I might need to buy some more. I love the look of these blocks but they do take some time to make. I'm thinking a quilt with some of these 36 patches with alternating solid color blocks would make a nice quilt.

Butterfly siggy blocks

Over at the Patchwork Posse we are doing a siggy block swap. Aunt Pitty Pat is hosting. APP is the Swap Queen! I am in 3 swaps that she is hosting. I still need to add the signatures to these blocks but otherwise they are ready to ship. We are using this pattern. These were quick and easy to make and fun too. I think I might need to add this quilt to my to do list.

August is for Octopuses

This month over at the YOE swap the theme is octopus. My partner this month is Michele over at Something Special. You already saw the crocheted octopus stuffie...

I also made these ornaments. I used Future Girl's tutorial. I love working with felt :)

Three By Six Bee

These are the blocks I made for the 2nd quarter of the 3X6 Bee over on Flickr.  I found the pattern here.  These were fun to work on but now I am ready to move onto something else. Not sure what block I will pick for the 3rd quarter. Maybe something applique since I haven't done that yet.

Owls and 9 Patches

I received my blocks back from the  It's A Hoot     swap over on  Pins and Needles the other day.

 

There were 11 of us in this swap. We each made 12.5" 9 patches from fabrics of our choice...

...and 12.5" owl blocks. We could make the owls any way we wanted too.

This was such a fun swap! I can't wait to get started on the next swap!!

April's YOE swap goodies

My package from Kerry for the YOE Swap arrived today! Boy was I spoiled! I thought I would take you on a little tour.

The box felt very heavy for an ornament swap. My son (11) was so excited to open it to see if there was any chocolates in there that I made him wait until I opened up all the other mail first. When I opened it all I saw was PURPLE! WooHoo! My favorite color!

I gently took off the top layer of shredded paper and found this. I saved the shredded paper to recycle to use another month.

Inside I found these two adorable birdie jars with Mike n Ikes and jelly beans. Of course we had to stop right here and try the candies. Just to make sure they made the trip safely of course. These jars are so cute they will be staying on my sewing table with buttons once they are empty.

Four wonderful coasters. I have one at my table by the couch, Hubby has one on his side, Robbie (11) has another on my table and the last one went to my daughter's (19) room.  See how Kerry carried the birdie theme throughout so far?

Such a pretty birdie with jingle bells. I love jingle bells! There is something about the sound of jingle bells and wind chimes that make me smile.

Another sweet birdie. Robbie thought this one was made of chocolate. I think he has been craving chocolate a bit too much lately lol.

Was that it?......

Nope! This is one of those iron on embroidery patterns that I love so much. This is perfect timing too. I have a swap coming up that involves birdhouses and these will be perfect!

My Kerry made scrapbook. I tried to explain what a scrapbook is used for pertaining to this swap but he just didn't get it. I'm obviously not a scrapbooker so it isn't something he is used to.

Last but not least...some gorgeous fabric. If you look closely you can see a little butterfly charm. I love butterflies and dragonflies so this was fun to see.

Thank you Kerry for everything! You have gone above and beyond.




This is what I sent Kerry.... (pictured borrowed from the YOE blog)

I had so much fun embroidering the pillow and ornament!