HO HO HO

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I received the top and backing for this fun little quilt from my friend, Diane, of Persnickety, a couple of years ago. I know she had some help from mutual friends, thanks friends! I decided this was the year to quilt it up. Isn't it a great graphic little quilt?

I wanted to quilt it in a way that would emphasize the HO HO HOs of the piece.


Diane sent this cute fabric for the back.


This is a little quilt I made for my Grandmother, Gertrude, many, many years ago. It has a rushed rose and is hand quilted.


And now for some decorations. Here is my newest little tree. I found the green/silver tree at Homegoods (love Homegoods!). I also found the little feather-tailed birds and pine cone ornaments there.




I makes a nice little vignette on my front hall table. Yea, all the cards are ready to post!


Here is the Living Room Mantel. Last year the Cupcakers had a glitter day. We purchased these Martha Stewart little paper houses. I painted mine sherbet colors and glittered them. I also made the cone trees out of paper plates.


The Dickens' Village is displayed on the piano.


It has gotten to large for the piano, so my little desk serves as the David Copperfield and Christmas Carol display. It looks really sweet at night all lit up.

Today I endeavor to finish decorating the Angel tree in the living room and the pink tree in the sewing room.

Hopefully I'll also find a little time to sew. I'm working on this years' little Christmas quilt.

A few more turkeys

 
Two turkeys are having thanksgiving dinner. One turkey asks the other, "would you like some more pumpkin pie?"  

The other says, "No thanks, I'm stuffed."

It's a little slow out here in Indiana but I wanted to show Barb that I decorated for Thanksgiving.  My Mom made me the turkey on the left and Barb gave me the one on the right. I love 'em.
Mary

With a Little Help from my Friends

Lucky us! Kathie, of Inspired by Antique Quilts was on hand to take photos of the little quilts.

Here is a nice little group. Beth made the "packages" from the card trick block. The Molly quilt I made for my daughter's American Girl Doll. It also matches a full size twin quilt that I made her. The R&W chain was a gift from my friend, Mary C. in Illinois.


This is Beth's fireplace scene. Isn't it great? She pointed out that it was constructed log cabin style - so clever! The fabric really looks like marble and brick. I also love the "monet-esque" painting.

This is a "big girl" doll quilt I made Hanna 2 years ago, when she was 14. She loves all things Asian.
A close up on the quilting

This is one of Hanna's from 2003. I have been making them for her for many, many years. I'm not sure when I started and one year I made a red work pillow instead. This one has dogs on the back - she was all about the dogs and cats.


My friend, Sheila, made this for Hanna when she was obsessed with 101 dalmations. On the back is the cutest flannel dalmatian fabric.


I'll share more of my Christmas doll quilts over the next couple of weeks.

Hope those who celebrate are enjoying shopping, decorating and finding time to sit back with a glass of wine during this busy, rushy season.

Needlers Holiday Party

Yesterday was the Needler's Holiday Party. Needlers is a small group of friends who meet 3 times a month to sew together at the Parsipanny Library. We are an off shoot group from the Garden State Quilters, although you do not have to be guild member to be in the Needler's group.

I made my favorite potluck dish; deviled eggs.

Here is a little trick I use when I have to remember to bring something important. I put my car keys on top of the item to bring. In this case, it was my eggs, which were in the fridge. I hate to admit, but there have been times when I've left the house forgetting something, and this trick really works for me.


At the party, we enjoyed lots of great food:

Here is the grab bag table. This year we decided to exchange gently used quilt related books. It was a really great idea and didn't require any shopping - yea! Under the table are bags of food that we collected for the food pantry.

Here are quilts that we brought to decorate our room. I can't believe I did it again. I forgot to take a photo of the display of little quilts! Darn! I thought I was doing well, but I must have gotten distracted - again. :(

Here is Sue's tree skirt:

Shar's snowball:

This was pieced by Shar's son.

This is mine, made several years ago.

Janes's little tree skirt.


Barbara C's collection that she decorates her mother's room with. Cute pink and black Christmas fabrics.

Barbara C's elegant blue quilt.

Pretty blue trees on the back.

This is Mary Ann's quilt for her grand-daughter. So cute! and original!

Getting ready for the book grab bag -


Thanks for a fun day ladies!

A Few Good Turkey's

To all of our stateside friends a very Happy Thanksgiving!

I made this middle turkey several years ago, like maybe 18. Over the years I have found patterns on ebay and various other outlets. They crack me up! The pheasant was an especially great find, I think.

The turkey on the right I picked up at a small guild quilt show in the boutique. It went un-noticed and unloved until it was tucked under my arm, then everyone wondered where I found it. The early bird catches the turkey?

How is this for vintage kitch. I surmise that they were made circa late 50's or 60's, it hard to date a thing this precious. My small group friend, Jane, actually gave me these popsickle sticks decorated with fabric and felt to make a lovely, and do mean lovely centerpiece, or in this case stoop decoration. Thanks, Jane!

And lastly, this is a little quilt I made a long time ago. I used patterns from a much larger quilt, and then hand quilted it. I'm happy to see this old friend every year.

Wishing you all a happy gobble day!

Cupcake Update

November's Cupcake meeting was at Jill's lovely home.

Here is her fall decorated hutch. Does she have the best way with display, or what?

We were trying out a new product for our hat box quilt project. Misty Fuse, it's light, soft and hard to get. We liked the way it worked and we're working on getting some.


Lunchtime - Jill always sets a beautiful table.


We enjoyed Pumpkin Soup and Quiche -oh my!

Look at these cutest ever little mushroom cookies. Short bread stems and chocolate tops, dark and milk chocolate. Wouldn't these be cute with a Yule Log, or a Gingerbread House display?


Poor Riley, wasn't feeling his usual bouncy self. He is the sweetest labradoodle I know.

I'm always thankful for the Cupcake Club - but we're still missing Mary and her ray sunshine.

All About Bill

Hi all-

I'm behind on my posting and I do have a few to catch up on. The recent fabric shortage had me in a design frenzy, but I endeaver to catch up now.

Recently Bill Kerr of Fun Quilts came to pay a visit at the Garden State Quilters.

His presentation was on the theory of "luminosity" in quilting. It was very interesting and enlightening (rrr).

I attended his workshop the next day. Here are some quilts that display luminosity that Bill brought to share with us:





Such serious students....


Here is my friend, Lori's, quilt. I love this quilt. See the luminosity the light yellow created? cool...This is a quilt I made a few years ago, and it has luminosity also. It has to do with color and contrast. It's a formula of sorts and that is what we were trying to identify and create.


Bill's such a nice person. I may be biased, but aren't most mid-westerners?


Bill gave us each a photo copy of a painting that showed luminosity. Our assignment was to create a color block that represented the proportion of color.

Here is mine:

Susan's:
Lori's:Darn - don't remember who's, sorry!

Bill suggested that we make a little quilt using just half square trianges in a broken dishes setting with this study. So here is my work in progress:

And finished. Rich suggested that I place the trianges to really represent the painting, so I did. He also called "dibs" on this piece, as he really liked it.



here is a close up of the quilting. I just did waves in brown thread.

and finally, the back, left over really broken dishes....
It was a great creative exercise. One that I really thought about, as opposed to my intuitive way of working.

Selvages:
This is my quilt project so far: (sorry, forgot to crop - nice vent)


And these are little pin cushions that I'm making to thank friends who have been extra generous with selvages.

I hope to post again tomorrow -