A couple of answers

I got a couple of questions from readers who were “no reply”, so I’m answering them here. 

I showed this picture of a quilt Marsha made when I was at her house for Christmas.   She also made me one.   Some of you wanted to know what pattern it was.

Here’s the quilt at Marsha’s.

And here’s the one she made me, hanging in our den.

The pattern can be found in this book by Art to Heart.  (thanks for the info, Marsha)

Then I was also asked what the pattern is for the quilt on the design wall next to my CHAIR! ;-)

The pattern is by Bits and Pieces and it’s called “Stars around the Garden”.  The center of mine is a cotton background with wool applique.

It can be finished two different ways. 

This way…

or like this…

I’m going to finish mine like the bottom picture if for no other reason than to use up some of my stash on that outer border.   I’ve been cutting 3 1/2 inch squares like crazy. 

I’ve finished the pieced blocks and am almost at the stage of putting it all together.   Now, THAT will feel good!

 

Another question I had was from a reader who wanted to know where I got these Santa spools.

Well, I honestly don’t remember where or even WHEN I got them.  It was many years ago.  They are carvings by Eddie Walker and were distributed by Midwest of Cannon Falls.   I guess you might search eBay for them. 

I think that’s it.   If I’ve missed your question, just shoot me a quick email.  If you post a comment, make sure your email address is there for me to be able to reply to you.

Hugs, Anne

Am I crazy?

It’s been really hot here for the past week or so.  Temps in the high 90’s and possibly hitting 100 today.   So, “what are you working on, Anne?”, you ask?    Why WOOL of course.    I think the heat has gotten to me for sure!

I finally got the center of Stars around the Garden put together and made the decision to use wool for the applique.   Here it is all prepped and ready to sew down.   Hmm, cotton and wool.  Now where have I heard of that?   ;-)

And my other project is some Christmas stocking kits that I got from Primitive Gatherings.  Maybe this is just my attempt at “thinking” cooler weather.  Or…I'm crazy!

Now, I have a question for you.    Santa’s beard and cuffs are supposed to be attached by “needle punch”using naturally curly roving.   I haven’t got a clue how to do that and I don’t want to invest in supplies I may never use again.   Does anyone have an easy lesson for me or a better idea?   It would be much appreciated. 

What should I work on next?  Snowmen you say?   Glad you’re thinking cool like I am!

A Tisket a Tasket block 4

These blocks are just so much fun to make and I look forward each month to see what Anne has come up with. There's still lots of time to join in on this Block of the Month. Just click on the Tisket a Tasket picture on my sidebar and it will take you right to the pattern.

In this picture, you can sure tell where the natural light was coming from. Unfortunately I couldn't fix it in my photo program. Oh well, you get the gist of it! The actual color of the background fabric is on the right side.

Same thing happened here. Maybe I should be using a flash. Anyway, I got another block of Winter Wonderland finished in the car on our trip to and from California. I think I only have 3 more blocks. Wheee!

I also did one more block on "Stars around the Garden". It's the one in the lower right corner. I only have 3 more blocks of this one to finish and can then start on the center section. I'm trying really hard to only work on UFO's and not start anything new. Boy, that's no fun at all!

Try, try, again

Last November I showed you a bunch of UFO's that I was going to work on by "power sewing". Well this project was one that I never got around to. This week I decided to tackle it. It's called Stars Around the Garden and there were two blocks that I wanted to re-d0. Here's the "before" picture. I didn't like the way the two with the light grey/greens turned out. They were jumping out at me screaming..."change me, change me"! I probably don't need to point them out, but in case you're wondering, the first one is the second row, far right, and the other one is in the third row, center.

This is the "after" picture with an additional new block at the bottom. Unfortunately, the road getting to this picture was not smooth at all.

This is one of the ones I didn't like, so I gathered up my fabrics, picked out what looked like a great combination and started cutting and sewing.

And this is what I came up with. It doesn't look too bad in this picture, but when I had it on the design wall, you couldn't tell what the pattern was supposed to be....at all! I called hubby into the room and asked him which block he thought looked better. Unfortunately..he said the first one. He said this one looked like 2 rectangles intersecting. Well, as much I didn't want him to be right....I knew he was. So, off to the drawing board...or fabric shelf...to pull more fabrics. This time I paid attention to VALUE...you know, that thing that our beginning quilting teacher taught us?

Came up with this one. I know you're going to say that this looks just like the first one that I didn't like, but trust me, it really doesn't. I'm much happier with it.

Then I got gunshy about remaking the second block. I agonized over my color choices because I didn't want to have to remake it more than once.

So, here it is and I'm happy with it, so it's going to stay! I have to say that sometimes it's just worth buying a kit from a store! LOL. Only 4 more blocks to make and then I can start on the center.

These are the two finished versions of the quilt. I still haven't decided which one I'm going to do, but right now I'm leaning toward the one with the applique on the borders. I'm planning on doing all the applique in wool.

Oh, speaking of wool, in the next couple of days, I plan to do a tutorial on working with wool. If you have anything you want me to address, just let me know and I'll try to find the answers if I don't have them.

One more thing... many of you have posted comments and asked me a question. I try to answer each of them, but if you haven't set up your email , then I can't get back to you. I don't want anyone to think I'm ignoring their questions and Purple and Paisley has a great post on how to set it up. Go on over there and see if that helps you.

Works in progress (WIP's) and a challenge

Last night I was reading Carrie's blog and saw that she had posted some quilts she was working on. One of them is a top that I also started about 2 years ago and never finished. It got me thinking about all the WIP's I have going and so I decided to get them all out, take pictures of them for you, and give myself a deadline for finishing them. In my mind, my deadline was going to be Thanksgiving. Well, after pulling out too many to count, I realized that Thanksgiving isn't a very realistic date. So, I decided that I'm going to give myself until next Sunday (the 23rd) to get as many done as I possibly can. I know Thanksgiving is AFTER that, but I thought if I "power sew", maybe I can get them down to a manageable amount and then set another deadline. So, my challenge to you is...get out all your WIP's, UFO's, PIG's (projects in grocery sacks) or whatever you want to call them and either set a deadline for yourself or "power sew" with me for the next 10 days and let's see how much we can get done.

Here we go with mine.


This is "Birds of a Feather" by Blackbird Designs. It needs the applique for the borders prepped and sewn. I'm doing this one by hand.

Block of the month - Block #1. It's Jan Patek's latest Girl Gang project. Karen and I are doing this and keeping each other on track. We have to post a picture on Dec. 5th of the finished block. Want to join us? Just go to The Quilted Crow's website and order it for yourself.

Block of the Month - Block #1. This just arrived from Farmhouse Woolens and I want to keep up with it. I love working with wool.

This one still has some machine applique to finish and then it needs to be quilted.

All I have to do on this is prepare the backing and then it will be ready to go to the quilter. This is "Jo's Whig Rose" by Jo Morton.

This one has been finished for about 2 years. It needs backing and then quilting.

Even Jack is wondering what's going on with "Quilting the Garden", another Blackbird Designs pattern. It's supposed to have scalloped borders and I just keep putting off doing the marking before it goes to the quilter. The backing on this one is already done. It's just so large that it's cumbersome to work with.

This little one is another Jo Morton design. I can't figure out what design to use for quilting. Any ideas?

"Winter Wonderland" by Crabapple Hill has been in progress for over a year. I usually work on this when we're traveling. We'll be traveling for Thanksgiving, so I'll work on it some more then. I still have lots to do on it.

This one is called "Stars around the Garden". I'm not happy with the fabric I chose in a couple of the blocks, so am planning on re-doing them. Aghhhh!

I don't know why I haven't worked on this one in awhile because I really love it. It is "Reminiscence" by The Rabbit Factory. It's all hand applique.

Another Crabapple Hill design. Ready for quilting.

Emma wants a Minkee pillow. This one shouldn't take too long. It's for Christmas. (THIS year).

And don't forget the Tee Pee I showed you in the last post that's also for Emma for Christmas.

Just need to add the french knot berries and then make it into a little pillow.

While I was working on the little pillow, I started thinking about a project in this book that I've been wanting to make. It would be darling for Christmas... Should I forget it for now?

I just looked over at my machine and look what those little wool pennies have done. Do you think they are trying to tell me to get off the computer and start "power sewing"?

Wow, I'm so overwhelmed, I just might go out and join the wildlife that is in our yard.

So, that's what I have to do. How about you?