More January finishes . . .

January has flown by but maybe that's because I've been busy!  I have finished the Crosses Mourning quilt for the Small Quilt Talk group. 

Binding, label and everything! This one is about 17 inches square.  It is machine pieced and hand quilted.

Another little finish for Valentines Day:

This little quilt measures about 13 X 17 inches, machine pieced and hand quilted.  I found the pattern on this blog .  It was a quick, fun little project for Valentines Day.  I added the embroidered hearts to the plain blocks. 
And finally:

The binding is on and this quilt is finished!

I decided to call it Flying Peppermint Pinwheels!  It is about 60 X 70 inches.  I machine pieced and hand quilted it.  For quilting I just stitched in the ditch inside each of the white triangles and around the geese.  The backing is white flannel with red polka dots.  You can see little bits of it in the binding picture above.  I saw a quilt on Nan Slaughter's blog Pots and Pins a while back and I asked if she would mind if I made one for myself.  Sweetheart that she is, she said she wouldn't mind.    I don't remember the exact post where she showed the quilt but her blog is full of wonderful recipes and lots of fun stuff, plus quilts!  

I have pulled out our swap quilt and am in the process of finishing it.  I have two final blocks to make, attach them to the rest of the top, sandwich and start quilting!  It will take a little while to get it finished but I am started on it.  February 1st Kathy Tracy will tell us what the small quilt of the month for February will be so I can have a little project to work on as well.  There are a lot of BOM's out there that look cute, too.  So many ideas and never enough time to sew!

First finish of 2012

It looks like everyone has been busy stitching!  I love seeing all the things my bloggy friends are working on.  It gives me too many new ideas, though! ! !

I have been busy, too.  I finished the Temecula Quilt Co. 12 Days of Christmas mystery.  It turned out really cute, IMHO. 

I used some of my Fresh Off the Farm fabrics to make this.  I made my borders a little different than they did, but I just followed where the fabric led me.  I like this better than the way their directions said.  It finished at 17 1/2" X 21", a nice little size.  This one I machine quilted in the ditch around the blocks.  Each block is 3" square.  I tried using one of the decorative stitches that my machine does in three of the sashing strips.  It worked OK, but I don't think I will do that again.  Maybe on the flimsy before it is quilted but not through all the layers.  It is a bit wonky.  This was a great little project to start off the year, a fun mystery and a quick finish.
Next, I have a finished flimsy.  This is for the Quilt of the Month challenge by Kathy Tracy of The Sentimental Quilter for her Small Quilt Talk group.  Each month Kathy will choose a quilt from one of her books for the group to make.  For January she chose the Crosses Mourning quilt. 

This will finish at about 17" square.  All of the fabric that I used is from my stash.  I like that, I am going to try to use up some of my scraps this year.  I hope to have this one quilted before the end of the month.

I am still making progress on the red and white quilt.  I have one full row and about eight blocks in the other two rows to quilt.  Then I need to decide what to do with the red border.  I can't wait to get to the flying geese border, that will be fun and it will mean I am almost done. 


Here is another fun little project I made.  We were invited to dinner at our friends home the week after Christmas.  I saw this on someones blog, sorry I don't remember where, and thought it would make a great host gift.  They are "rein-beer" ! ! !

It takes some pipe cleaners, jiggly eyes and pom-poms.  Just glue them onto the bottle!  We used beer for the adults, these can also be made with root beer for kids.  The couple we went to see had just remodeled their kitchen, so she got some new dish towels and hot pads.  They were impressed!

I am anxious to see all the fun things everyone else is working on!

Happy New Year to Everyone!

Wow, it is hard to believe another year is gone!  I want to wish everyone a Happy, Healthy, Blessed and Prosperous New Year!  I really enjoy all of my blog friends, I don't know what I would do without you!

We had a very quiet New Year, I quilted a bit, we watched a movie and went to bed around 10:30!  It was very nice!  Yesterday was a busy day though.  We ran some errands in the morning, I baked a cake, one of my husbands friends stopped by to chat, we took the cake to our neighbor to celebrate his 72nd birthday, took a couple of books and leftover dog food to another friend's house and then came home to have dinner and relax. 

Today DH is out for a motorcycle ride with some friends.  I love to ride with him, but it was just the guys today.  I stayed home and sewed.  I am working on the Temecula Quilt Company  mystery quilt.  It is a free quilt along for the 12 Days of Christmas.  Today is day eight.  We make a 3 1/2" quilt block each day and have a mini quilt when it is done.  It is not too late to join in if you want.  I actually made all eight of my blocks today, there are four more days to go.  They will leave the directions up on their blog if you want to make it later.  Here's what I have so far:

I have seen on several blogs and through the small quilt group that lots of people are making it and I finally had to give in and do it, too!

I had a wonderful quilty Christmas, too.  Santa brought me five new books:

I can't claim I don't have any inspiration to make something!

He also brought me a light box for applique and embroidery designs.

I have no excuse to not be creative this year!

Last of all, my daughter sent me a $30 gift card to JoAnn's.  With it I bought that rotary cutting mat.  It is 24" X 36" and I love it!  The best part is, when I went to JoAnn's the mat was on sale for 40% off plus I had a 15% off total purchase coupon, sales items included.  With that, I still have almost $4 left over on the gift card for my next trip.  I was soooooooooooooooooooo happy! ! !  Love a good bargain!

That is a very quilty start to my new year!  I am making great progress on my red and white pinwheel quilt.  I have completed six of the rows of pinwheels in the center of the quilt, just five more left, then I can start quilting the borders.  My fingers are calloused and my skin is so dry, but I am loving the process of hand quilting it.

I hope you are all having a great day and doing some sewing!  Enjoy!