Various, Assorted, & Sundry

My post today is about a little of this - and a little of that - hence my title.

In a couple weeks my little quilt group will have our annual Christmas gathering. Normally we each make a small ornament and swap them around - each person going home with one treasure that someone else has made. Our numbers have dwindled to only six this year, so we decided to make ornies for each person in the group and we'll go home with one from everyone. I got my ornies made a couple days ago, but couldn't decide how to wrap them up - after all - presentation is half the fun sometimes!  I ended up making my own little gift bags by cutting up paper grocery sacks and stitching, stamping & stapling them till they were just the right size to fit snugly.

I made the ornies using old wooden thread spools, scrapbooking paper, and a few glass beads from the craft store. I'm pleased with the way they turned out and sure hope the other gals like them too!

A few days ago I received the newest issue of BH&G American Patchwork & Quilting in the mail and I devoured it - I think it's the best issue they've ever done! There was tons of stuff inside that really caught my attention. First, the incredibly beautiful & unique work of a gal named Odile Gova from Toronto Canada. She creates wonderful stuff using recycled wool sweaters & metal teeth zippers, and sells them in her Etsy shop. You can visit her shop here, and check out her Flickr album here - lots of eye candy to look at!

I especially like the paisley brooches that she makes

You can buy her instructions on how to make little wool felt beads

There are instructions in the magazine on how to make this delightful bracelet, so you'll have to check it out for yourself!

On the cover of the magazine is a cute quilt that I decided to tackle using all my favorite colors. Here is a bit of it that I have hanging on my design wall so far - can't wait to get more pieces cut and start stitching it up.

The magazine has 30 suggestions from quilt designers for getting organized - the picture of Polly Minick's wool stacked neatly in an antique cupboard is yummy.

I have promised to teach a couple neighbor girls how to sew recently, and I had planned to help them make little quilts. Then, I read about the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge that the magazine is sponsoring, and I decided that a pillowcase would be the perfect project for a sewing novice to tackle, so I'm going to sort through my stash and find some fun fabrics that they can use to stitch up a few - THEN we'll tackle a quilt after they get some practice at sewing straight seams. I know their mom will like having them do a service project while learning a new skill, and I think they'll have fun doing it.

Today hubby & I bought supplies to start updating our 30 year old kitchen cabinets and I'm so excited to get it done!  I'm taking pictures as we go and I will share them eventually.