Miniature Quilts

I only subscribe to one quilt magazine now, but I was looking through some others at Barnes and Nobel the other day when I saw an advertisement for a website that I had to check out when I got home to my computer. This gal makes and sells some amazing miniature quilts - and if you can't afford one of those you can buy a print or a note card with a picture of one of them. Thought some of you would enjoy looking at the work on her site. Wish she had a blog so we could visit with her and maybe see the process she goes through to make these small quilts that measure 8" x 8" finished. Website is here - Nine Patch Studio.

In another magazine I saw an advertisement for a Mini Madness Quilt Along on McCall's Quilting's website. Supposedly they will be sharing instructions for making several small quilt starting on March 13th, but after checking it looks like some are already up? They're supposed to be available for free during the first week, and after that you have to pay to access them, so it sounds like a good deal - some of them are quite cute! Website is here.

 Miniature quilts were in vogue several years ago and maybe they're making a comeback? Fun!

Got a Lot Done!

It was a three day weekend for hubby - often that means I get distracted from my projects to do something with him - but we couldn't think of any fun outings so he worked on a new painting and I worked in my studio and got a lot done. Wanted to show you a final picture of my little bee skep rug - I sized it down just a bit to fit the opening of this carrying case I have for my Fraser cutter and I love the way it looks.

 The top lifts off to access the cutter that is mounted to a wooden pedestal.

I used twill tape and whipped it on with yarn - I haven't done the edge like this before but it makes for a nice finish.

And then I sewed Velcro to the four corners of the rug and used self-adhesive Velcro on the wooden part - it's very strong and I don't think there will be any problems with it falling off. Sure is hard to sew by hand through Velcro though! Sheesh!

Hubby & I are always annoyed when we heat leftovers in the microwave because the bowl gets too hot to handle. Then we try to juggle it into a pot holder without dropping it or burning ourselves and it's just a nuisance. I saw a tutorial to make a bowl cozy and stitched up a couple for us to use.

Think they're going to work really well for us! Completely washable if they get dirty.

I made 48 arrows for my grandson's twin sized birthday quilt - then I sewed them into 12 blocks and then pieced all of those together till it looked like this.

Today I added the borders and stitched the quilt backing so it would be big enough. Now it's ready to be quilted and I still have three weeks to go, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. I like the splash of navy - I will use that fabric for the binding too.

MUCH Better, Yes?

I met with my Salt Lake Rug Group on Tuesday and got a good start on redoing the background of this little beehive rug - it is SO much better now that the hooking is done. Still need to tweak a couple of the flower centers, then get it pressed & bound. And I actually figured out a great use for this, which I will share when it's all finished.

(edited to add: you can see my earlier attempt on this rug in the previous post)

Three Projects

Well, I've worked a bit on the background of the bee skep hooked rug that I shared in a previous post. But I'm not loving it, so I think I will be pulling it all out and trying something different - just not enough oomph .

Last week I found a pile of hourglass blocks on my cutting table that were leftover from a previous project and decided I might try stitching up a quick little quilt. I decided to make it red, white & blue.

So I pulled out my strips of red & cream fabric - - -

and made up a bunch of scrappy 9-patches - - -

Then auditioned different settings that combined the two blocks - - -

Decided on this one then tried out some fabrics for the borders and binding - - -

Got it all sewn together, quilted (not very well), and washed, so now it's all done. Finished size is about 16"x20". Funny thing is that I made WAY more 9-patches than I needed, so now I have lots of THOSE leftover to make another project with - sheesh!

I've also been making some hexies and sewing them together like Kristie at Quilting Cowgirl - it's such a great project to work on in the evenings while I'm vegging in front of the TV - thanks for the inspiration Kristie!

Now I need to get myself in gear and make a twin-sized quilt for my grandson's 8th birthday on Feb 14th. He chose the colors and a design that he liked. Then I 'had' to go shopping for the fabrics since these colors aren't in my stash (poor me)...

and I have a start on it.

Oh, and just as a side note, I tallied up my book list from 2014 and discovered that I read (or listened to) 59 books last year - yay me!

Stash Enhancement

My stash of quilting fabrics has increased nicely over the last several days. I have heard good things about the fabrics that are sold at Connecting Threads, so when I saw a spectacular sale just before Christmas on some, I took the plunge and ordered half yard pieces of several. I paid $2.96/yd and they seem to be very good quality - I think I'll be ordering from them again. These are from their Country Essentials Collection.

My mom gifted me with these lovely fat quarters....

....and DD#2 gave me another bundle of FQs, a Gingher rotary cutter, and a nifty sewing organizer.

DD#1 gave me this darling sweater with sheep on it - fits me perfectly - both size-wise & style-wise! My family knows me well and always gives me the most thoughtful gifts geared toward my interests. Sweet!

And speaking of gifts, hubby & I made this book lamp for DD#1 who loves books and reading, as well as bright colors. I collected the books from thrift stores over the course of the summer, then hubby drilled holes in them and assembled the floor lamp. This picture is kinda blurry....

...but this close-up of the various books is better. The subject matter of the book didn't matter to me when I was shopping - they only needed to have bright bindings - so there are medical books, novels, textbooks & I think even a cookbook. It was a fun, fun project and the only handmade gift we gave this year.

News Story

It's not too often that rug hooking makes the news, but my friend Sharon shared this article with me yesterday and I thought I'd pass it along. A Canadian rug hooker made this rug as a thank you gift for the political cartoonist who drew the picture - it captured the poignancy of war loss.

She spent three weeks working on it and I think the rug captures the drawing perfectly. Read the whole story here - it's awesome!