Happy Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween Everyone!  Do you have anything good planned today?  DH and DD have packed their day, so I'm the support team.  Aka sew until they show up and need something.  Sure sounds like a fun day to me.  Be sure yours is safe as well!

DD is what she is calling a nice Vampire.  That's what we call 30 minutes of hair, 25 of makeup, and half an hour of misc. support.  I wonder what that would equal if I was being paid in fabric because it sure made for a lot of joyful screaming!

Break for Doggie Dresses

Two fancy dresses - black has a bubble skirt

 I didn't take a picture of the last 8 dresses I made, so luckily you can see one of them there in the pink oriental print.  That one turned out really well last week.

On the left that you will find a black Stretch Velour bodice with a bubble skirt.  The picture doesn't really do it justice.  This dress had me concerned about how well it would turn out, but when I stitched that skirt on and flipped it open, even I gasped!

Three tiered dress with hand sewn feathers
Miss Princess dress in upper right

Above is a three tiered skirt dress, the purple tier is top stitched with glitter thread.  The bodice is lined so it has a nice weight.  The feathers were hand sewn because I knew the sewing machine would just mash them down.  Of course I figured out that there is a trick to it when I was three quarters of the way done - which will be good to know for the next time!  

DD deserves a bit of credit for the pink dress.  She opted that the white dog princess button should be sitting on the purple cushion (another button) and that the house button should be below.  I knew when I sewed that one together she would have the best answer for where to put the buttons!  When I was finished she also opted that I make and attach a bow in the princess crown ribbon.

Stretch Velour dress and lady bug dress

This red dress is another stretch velour number with a paw print skirt.  Both of the dresses on the left are lined.  The green dog dress is covered in lady bugs, even the buttons are glittery ladybugs.  These I opted to sew on in random directions ask though they had minds of their own, and I also used a little trick to making the bow that I saw on YouTube the other day.

Earlier this morning, I  made a little fang pouch for DD's Halloween Costume.  Its purpose is to blend with her dress and to help keep her from forgetting them on her lunch tray or the like.

My next step?  On to Calla Lilly and Toadstool Applique for Lilly's Garden Quilt of course!

More Wisteria Leaves

Let's look at these together now shall we?  I added more leaves to the Wisteria, and now I'm just not sure.  There is at least one of the newly added leaf clusters that I really don't like but I'm not certain where to move it to.  I really need to get all these leaves settled so I'll be able to move this piece out of the way to work on some other things before moving on to the bottom of this same border, the one that has the toadstools and the Calla Lillies.  Currently I have fused all of the upper leaves, all the Wisteria blooms, and of course the branch.  It's in there somewhere I think.  LOL, no it really is fused but the layers are certainly making it harder to see.

My sister, and as of yesterday evening mother to my first niece (okay the first one I didn't marry into having), suggested a hummingbird might be collecting nectar near the wisteria.  I was thinking perhaps in that bottom right corner there, but now I wonder, what about hidden in the cascades of flowers?  I found some nice embroidered patches, I might try one of those.  What do you think?  I do worry about plopping it down in the center though as that will have the large 20" embroidered center there...

And thank you yesterday for your kind works about all my leaves.  That sure felt nice after three days of cutting them.  Oh I'd stop and place some and then say "ugh, need more" so back I'd go...

Wisteria Leaves Update

Hello there.  How have you been?  I've been busy making dog dresses, and have come back around to working on Lilly's Garden Quilt.  The leaves are slow going, but I think I have enough now.  What do you think?

All of the individual flowers as well as all the details within the leaves will be quilted in later.

Diaper Stacker al la Butterflies

I had been wanting to make a diaper stacker for my sister, but hand't actually set my nose to the grindstone. After all when you have a list of things that needs doing, items not on the list rarely get done.  But all that aside I did find time yesterday afternoon to make this.  The directions I found said it took the person half an hour.  Well clearly I wanted more than they did, so mine has piping and a gathered ruffle as well as the butterfly and dragon fly patches.  It was worth all the extra work of that I'm certain, but it took all afternoon, half an hour - right would have be nice.  Anyway inside is a sleeve and within the sleeve is a piece of my old hand-me-down cutting mat that had split.  That holds it open so no need for a bent piece of cardboard like my stacker had.  What do you think, to much?  Just right?

CQAL: My Pincushion Winners!

Okay well we only have two entries for the orange pin cushion and two for the blue.  Really.  So my winner for the blue is Joanna, and my winner for the orange is Reenie.  Gals if you can pass along your mailing information I will get these in the mail to you.

A special thanks to everyone who joined us yesterday.  I had a good time, but only carved away at my to do list, by working on some alterations for a neighbor.  The good thing is I got them done so I can work on something else today!

Quilt Sue was a busy lady as always and headed out early to to teach a workshop (so fancy!) and then came home and sewed a slew of blocks together to make a Christmas quilt top.

Donna was busy terrorizing her cat, not sure what became of her Jacob's ladder quilt she was planning to work on, likely she ended up having her fabric stolen and it's under the bed now with the cat!

Reenie had a very productive day taking bags and bags of scraps ironing and cutting them into beautiful piles, that look like expensive bundles that you'd find at your LQS.

Joanna is a busy woman working on a deadline, she made amazingly beautiful sleeves for her newest Granddaughter's Christening Gown.

Mrs. Pickles had big plans for sewing with us. when her DH said he would be arriving home early, so she did all sorts of other things, and yet somehow found time to get all of her Mystery Christmas Quilt-a-long blocks sewn together and they look great.

Christmas Quilt-a-long October Lunch

Well ladies, how are your projects going?  I myself have only just finished wading through my morning emails and so forth, so I haven't had the joy of stopping by any blogs yet, let alone sat down in front of my sewing machine -how is that for a Halloween Horror?  I'm so glad you're here.  Why don't you join me for a spot of lunch, it's hot here in Sunny Florida though so take off all your Autumn gear, it's 80 degrees and the sky is bright blue with puffy white clouds, if it weren't for these decorations, you'd never know it was Autumn!

I believe everyone who had visited so far has entered in my little pin cushion giveaway, but if you haven't just dart over to my Mr. Linky post and leave a comment.

Christmas CQAL Mid-Morning Check In

Halloween is my daughter's favorite holiday.  For the life of me I don't understand it.  I was always a fan of Christmas myself, but she loves this time of year.  I imagine someday she will own one of those brightly decorated amazing houses filled with plenty of Halloween Fun.  So when Sue said, who wants to host and gave me the choice of October I knew I had to seize the opportunity.

How are your projects going today?  Did you remember to leave a comment on the Mr. Linky post so that you can win one of my pin cushions?

Well grab a snack, or whatever is left from being picked over from breakfast and I'll join you for a cup of bloody raspberry tea.   I'm just now getting up so I'd love to hear what you've done so far.

October's Christmas-Quilt-a-long

Welcome!  Come inm come in!  I am so glad you could join me this month for October's installment of our Christmas Quilt-a-long.

I know how some of you are over on the other side of the pond are early risers and so forth, so I have laid out breakfast for you.  Nothing like grabbing a bite of something and sitting down in front of the sewing machine is there?  Help yourself, but try to keep it down because some of us are still asleep - like me.

Now since you're here and nibbling so quietly, I want to tell you about the giveaway I have planned.  You see I made these delightful year round quilter's wonky pincushions, which you can see below.

The rules are simple.

1. State if you want the orange one or the blue one.  Any "I don't cares" will be awarded into the pincushion with the lowest entries to increase your chance to win.

2.  It doesn't matter where you live, anywhere on Earth is okay, but it you live someplace else you'll have to pay for your own shipping and provide detailed shipping directions.

3.  Who can enter?  Any of my blog regulars, these would be the ones who know who they are and so do I, as well as anyone who has done at least one month previously of the Christmas Quilt-a-long.  Everyone else is just out of luck and if I'm not sure if you qualify I will be checking with Sue our Supreme CQAL hostess, because this isn't about a giveaway; it's about having a little fun with the gals I spend so much PC time with!

So if you're here for the CQAL enter with the Mr. Linky below.   Those that qualify may enter in my pincushion drawing by leaving a comment.  I'll be selected the lucky winners Sunday.  Oh yes and it would be nice if the winners would give me a plug when their pin cushions arrive, but hey I'm a firm believer of you want do whatever you want with your gift so if you'd rather not I'm okay too.

What are you working on today?  Anything good?  Holiday orientated perhaps?  Hehe.

October's Christmas Quilt-a-long

Good afternoon everyone!  I am Miss October and my month has finally arrived!  Of course it arrived when I am covered up in projects but that will just make our day together that much more fun don't you think?!?

That said in honor of being the hostess for the CQAL this month I have made some goodies for you and unlike candy, these will be good all year.  I made wonky pincushions!  Who doesn't need another pin cushion, especially one painstakingly made by a non-crafter like your's truly?

Now the rules are going to be simple.

1. Say if you want the orange one or the blue one.  Any "I don't cares" will be awarded into the pincushion with the lowest entries to increase your chance to win.

2.  It doesn't matter where you live, anywhere on Earth is okay, but it you live someplace else you'll have to pay for your own shipping and provide detailed shipping directions.

3.  Who can enter?  Any of my blog regulars, these would be the ones who know who they are and so do I, as well as anyone who has done at least one month previously of the Christmas Quilt-a-long.  Everyone else is just out of luck and if I'm not sure if you qualify I will be checking with Sue our Supreme CQAL hostess, because this isn't about a giveaway it's about having a little fun with the gals I spend so much PC time with!

Do not enter now.  Pop back in tomorrow (regulars need not attend the party, simply stopping by is good enough) and enter then by leaving a comment on the post with the Mr. Linky (I will mention it in that post too).  Clearly at that time if you don't leave a comment I will not know you wanted to be in the draw so no comment = no count.  The giveaway will be open all day long and I'll be pulling out the winner on Sunday.

See you tomorrow!

Free Fabric for Life!

Lots of thinking not much doing today, at least until I found the latest Keepsake Quilting Fabric giveaway.  Have you seen their catalog?  It is filled with beautiful expensive fabrics that I'm sure we'd all love to own, and I have often daydreamed of being one of their gold members.  Anyway all that aside they are giving away A Lifetime of Fabric.  Yes, that's what I said.  Now if you follow this link when you register I'll get an extra entry for each person that enters the contest through my link.  http://ck.upickem.net/r/6xPaDr7TAZp?r=102073  On the odd chance that I win, I clearly will have some formerly fabric ear marked funds for giving back to a little to my followers, and if you win of course you can just dance around and be happy and I will applaud you.

Wisteria Branch Growth

...And I don't mean plant growth.  Now I thought I was settled on pink Wisteria blooms but now I'm not so sure.  What about both purple and pink?

Progress on Lilly's Garden Quilt

The Beginnings of Lilly's Garden Quilt

Today was a delightful day to be holed up in the sewing room.  If you were in yours I'm certain you understand and if not, hey maybe next time right?  I have been working on the Lilly's Garden Quilt.  After fretting for a while, I overcame my fear of cutting the embroidered fairy blocks wrong; you know a slip of the blade or reading the mark wrong.  My fears were unfounded and everything flowed nicely from there.

For floor space I have shown the top and bottom together, but in fact there is a big garden scene planned for the center that is missing and the teal fabric border will go all around that.

I have started on the applique as well and have made the Wisteria branch, but at this time it looks more like a large chunky log and is rather boring so you'll have to look at that after I add the leaves and depending on how that looks perhaps not until after I add the flowers too!  Did you sew anything today?  Here on the Gulf Coast I'm certain it is hotter than it was even in July, yuck!  Good thing for air conditioning hu?

October NewFO's

It's that time again!  What did you start in September?  Oh I'd love to hear!

I made oh gee how many? I made 12 Doggie Dresses for my friend's therapy dog.  Together they are both turning heads everywhere they go.  Two of the dresses were my own design.  This one off to the left with the butterflies and then one that looks like a mermaid.  Tigger doesn't do the later justice though.  So if you're lucky I'll remember to post it when I have a picture of the rightful wearer in it.

I also made a baby quilt for one of my sisters, who is due this month.  The quilt is reversible pink safari themed with raw edge applique butterflies.  It is quilted with loops of the butterflies flight patterns, the baby's name, hearts and a couple of stars.  It was a really quick and easy quilt so it's okay if it ends up loved to pieces.

I also put thread to fabric on this delightful quilt backing, which is part of my Lilly's Garden Quilt Project.  This back went fast but the front will surely take longer.  I have started cutting the fabric for one of the borders on the front but haven't actually started sewing the it yet.  I have another fabric order that needs to arrive first and there is one last embroidered block which is the center point that I don't have.  I'm worried about accidently cutting one of the embroidered fairy blocks to small so I've been putting it off.  Likely tomorrow or Monday will be soon enough.

Does anyone remember this?  It's my wall hanging River Art Quilt, showing our minor Florida rapids. I started it in June, and finished it this month. Everything is applique with just a little bit being raw edge, to give a more organic look to things like the palm tree in the upper right corner.

I've already completed 6 doggie dresses for this month, so time will only tell what I will have to share next time.  Until then, happy sewing.

Lone Star Day: October Afternoon

Lone Star Quilt awaiting Swirl Art

I got the Lone Star Quilt all squared up!  What a job that was!  I marked everything first and then went back and trimmed.  Thank goodness I did that, or when I did what I thought was a quarter turn but was really only an 1/8th turn I would have cut a corner right off.  With the way my glowing rays radiate you see the corners look quite a bit like sides.

This quilt is a behemoth!  I thought the final size would be something like 100" square.  Not on the life of this quilt apparently.  Instead it is 112".  What a big beast!  At least it will look good on someone's bed in the future.  I don't even think this will fit my quilt frame at all.  I believe the advertised width max. is something like 106" square so I'll need to measure that and find out.

After I finished squaring this bad boy I realized that if I have the printer print one side of each scrolling edge instead of the entire corner the printer will not have to be as wide as I had thought.  Instead of needing a printer that can print 42"+, something that will print 18"+ (most likely the more common 24" printer) width would be fine.  So now I just need to check my assumed measurements to the quilt scrolls to be sure it will fit how I was hoping and if not scale the scrolls up a little (Eegads!).  But that is surely a job when my arms ache a little less...

I've been so busy with other sewing projects that it really was nice to spend a bit of time on this quilt that otherwise would have stayed put away for another time.  Just think I can check off "Square Quilt"!  That alone will make it a more welcoming project for next time!

Jayne says she's hoping planning to have her Lone Star done by the new year.  Isn't that a marvel?  Personally if I have the scrolls done by the New Year and thereby the flismy top will be done I'll be a happy camper.  There just isn't enough time once the holidays start hitting.

Lonestar Day: October

Good Morning!  How has everyone been?  As you may have noticed I've been busy.  I ordered my Fabrico pens from a company whose "reading between the lines" reviews said "buy only if it doesn't matter when you get your stuff".  Well the price was something I couldn't pass up, so I went with that.  I was delighted that only a week or so later here came my two Fabrico Pens, I truly hadn't been expecting them yet.

These are much nicer than I had imagined.  They fit in my hand well, which will be good considering how many hours I'll spend holding them.  As you can see the wide cap flares so you don't need to be paying much attention to tell one end from the other.  They aren't fat like a prismacolor marker and I will be looking forward to working on the scrolls.

That wont be today though.  Yesterday I made 3 doggie dresses and have two more to do so those are all over the sewing room table.  I am hoping to square up the Lonestar Quilt today, which is a challenge I have not been looking forward too.  I'll check in later to let you know how that went.  Happy Sewing!

Lilly's Garden Quilt Back

Lilly's Garden Quilt Back Flimsy

The first shipment of fabric for Lilly's Garden Quilt arrived Saturday, right after I'd put Earth Turtles on the quilt  frame, so I knew I needed to hurry up already so that I could work on something new and more fun.  I don't have the embroidered garden centerpiece for the front of the quilt so I went ahead and pieced the back first.  These are 16" pinwheels on point, but instead of putting the blocks in the center and using plain setting triangles I instead made pieced triangles.  This added a bit more math and effort but I feel the results are worth it.  The fabrics I selected for nearly the entire quilt are wonderful batiks which were very nice to work with.  The swirl and the large block fabrics both had more purple in them than I realized from their swatches but the effect works well together.  I also think that my choices of quilting threads will pull the tones of this back one way or another depending on the colors I select.  What do you think?

Earth Turtles Are Finished!

Hawaiian Applique Earth Turtles

My Earth Turtle Quilt is finally finished!  I started this quilt as a concept long before I put thread to fabric, but   the actual applique work began May 2011.  Talk about a Good Finish!  It is reversible as you can see below.  Everything is raw edge as taken from it's twin my Hawaiian Ocean Applique Quilt which you can see here.  This time I quilted it to look like grass in the background, with echoes over the border and only in the ditch for the turtles themselves.  This gives them that little pop that is so nice.  This quilt is a different color palette than I normally work with and I feel this quilt is that much more intense for the change.

Earth Turtles Reverse

This quilt is a nice twin/twin XL as you can see it runs edge to edge on my full size bed, easily comfortable for an adult or child sleeping in a twin size bed.  It is an Hawaiian Applique Quilt in that the fabric is folded multiple times and then cut as you would a snowflake.  The fusible web I used made it a challenge to cut, so it was good to have DH's help with that.