Catching Up

Last summer when hubby & I were vacationing in Montana, I found this set of sewing machine drawers at an antique store in a small town - I think I paid $25 for them. There was no top, because they used to be attached to a sewing cabinet, so I knew I would have to do something about that.

I could have added a piece of wood  to cover the opening- cut to size and stained to match.

But I decided to hook a little rug for the top. The hooking has been done for months, and my mom helped me put it all together while she was here last week. Those two extra hands were very helpful.

The wood was a little worn, so I sanded it lightly and brushed fresh stain on it - very pleased with the way it turned out.

I made another heart quilt for Valentine's Day, but didn't get it finished till today. So now it'll be ready for NEXT year! It's kind stiff cuz it's heavily quilted. I'd like to soften it up by washing it, but I'm kinda nervous about the red bleeding.  Not sure what to do.

My grandson's birthday quilt is all finished. We'll be taking it to him next Saturday.

The back is kind of fun with his name appliqued on there - and I embroidered my name and a message on the letter 'O'.

I was very lucky that a friend let me use her longarm machine to quilt this on. It was a lot of fun and only took me about three hours from start to finish.

I received a Quick Curve Ruler for Christmas, and although I won't be able to make a quilt with it for quite awhile, I wanted to stitch up one block just for fun so I could see what it's like. The gal who designed this is here in Utah and most of the quilts made using her method are Modern Quilts,  but I think it's going to work just fine in my dark & dirty scrappy style. Her company is Sew Kind of Wonderful.

Lovely Stuff

This is what I pulled together to decorate my dining room table for February.

                                             

Most of it is newly made in the last couple of weeks. After making my little RWB quilt last month I had leftover 9-patches, so I figured out a way to use them in this strippy quilt.

I put them up on my design wall.

Then added the setting triangles and auditioned a fabric for the sashing.

Added the striped fabric between the rows.

And ended up with this.

I tried to quilt some feathers in the striped sections and while they turned out okay, I decided they're better if they're curvy - hopefully I'll remember that for next time.

I saw the simple little heart quilt that Cheri shared on her blog so stitcheded this one up one afternoon. I kinda wish I had added a bit of embroidery the way she did, but I can live with this.

I was in a gift shop one day and noticed there were several items for sale made with string - remember that stuff we used to do when we were little? So I came home and found a block of wood and painted it a cream color. Cut a heart shape out of paper and taped it onto the wood.

Then hammered in the little nails following the outline of the heart.

I had a ball of red crochet thread I bought at a thrift store ages ago and used that to wrap from nail to nail till the inside of the heart was covered.

I promised to share a picture of the rug I'm working on right now, so this is it.

My mom is here visiting from California and we've been having a good time, but I think I'm running her ragged compared to her usually sedate schedule. Hope she survives! LOL

Rug Group

The 1st Tuesday Rug Group met this week and we had a great turnout of 11 gals - plus some really wonderful show & tell!  I think Jeanette stole the show with this adorable little seat that she bought at a thrift store for only $8. She painted it a cheerful red color and then hooked a floral cover for the seat. I love it! We all scolded her for keeping it in her closet where no one can really see it - she sits on it when she puts her shoes on every morning!

She started a new project at our meeting and is trying to use up a good supply of her accumulated worms. We'll see how that works for her - I feel like I usually end up with MORE worms after a rug like this! LOL Each block will have a red square in the center, surrounded by assorted colors.

Sandy has finished hooking an anchor rug that her granddaughter requested. For some reason that straight row hooking really appeals to me!

She made this adorable little wool-covered treasure out of an empty cheese box! It measures about 4" across.

Her delightful spring quilt was admired by all of us - she's really ahead of the seasonal curve!

Several of the gals were working on the little hearts that were started at the Guild meeting on Saturday. Marliss switched up the colors by using a hot pink, turquoise and chartruse green...

....and Kim made hers yellow/gold and green.

Shelly is a new hooker who met with us for the first time and is doing a great job on her 1st project.

Tonia is working on a Maggie Bananomi design that she bought in Maggie's class last year.

Sharon took this design from a vintage prayer book that she bought at a thrift store - inspired!

It was a lovely morning spent visiting with some of my favorite people!

Quickies

I made two new projects over the last couple of days. First up was a fabric cover for a regular old composition book you can buy anywhere for a dollar or so. I fussy cut some heart & hand motifs from a piece of fabric I had in my stash,  and centered them in three square-in-a-square blocks. I made this to take to church with me each week so I can jot down notes about the lessons and talks that I hear - then I can re-read them later to think more about what I learned.

Yesterday was a meeting of the Utah Rug & Fiber Guild. Jennifer graciously shared a design with the group for a cute little Valentine flower pillow. I got all the hooking done before the end of the meeting, then stitched it together and stuffed it that evening.

I still want to add the cute loops around the edge like Jennifer did below, but I didn't have any beads in my stash so need to buy some one day soon.

So fun to have a quick couple of projects to do!