Melony's table runner!

My niece made this tonight!  She fused, appliqued, quilted and machine bound it all while I watched!  She was easy to teach!  Her mom gave her a sizzix cutter so I wanted her to make something right away.

Cute, right?

Happy hands:happy attitude!

Snowman frenzy finished!

I made a few snowman table toppers, towels, etc. for my girls and my BFF, Debbie.  I just finished them minutes ago.  Here are the towels...

Ali's snowman collection...

Evy's snowmen...

I have to put buttons on the two by themselves.

Well, I can put the sewing machine away tomorrow (for the day) so I can set the table for dinner.  I baked tonight and I have to fill the almond cookies with the cream cheese and cherry filling now. See you tomorrow!

Blue work snowmen

I am making some runners and table mats for Rob and Ali this week.  They have been married for 6 months already! Can you believe it?  Well, I am doing blue work for their items, which I am liking!  A lot!  

I love the snowflake fabric I got today for the background.  These are the fabrics I'll use in the blocks around the runners. Some of the fabric is from the Downton Abby line.  

I'm looking forward to seeing these done!

Oh!  Here is the snowman I made Evy at the basket class.  We even wove the basket bottom!  Fun!  

This one is Debbie's!

This was a fun time!  No one knew what they were doing at first but they came out great!

Cute snowman pillow

Kenny was jealous of the snowmen I made Evy and Pat so I made him this tonight.  It will be a pillow in a few days.  Evy cleaned all of her clothes and stuff out of our house today.  All that's left is the furniture which she will take this weekend.  It will be nice to organize everything this winter and clean it the rest of the way.  I also have to purge tons of stuff.  I am looking forward to that.  

I love this snowman picture!  I guess I am getting over my snowman aversion!

A snowman couple

I am making Evelyn a few things for her new house!  She has purchased an adorable place in a great town, but they won't move in for a few weeks so I thought I'd do snowmen for her instead of Christmas this year.  This will become a runner.

These towels are hand embroidery.  I am working on one more.  I have to add trim to the bottoms.

I made the little ornaments at a rug hooking class.  It was fun but not a full time hobby for me!  

I made a snowman basket this weekend but left it at work so I could paint it with my friends.  We all did it together and had a wonderful time.  I'll show it tomorrow.  

Thanksgiving table runners

I made a few runners this week using my embroidery machine.  My daughter is buying a house this month so I will probably give these to her when I see her tomorrow.  I have to quilt and bind two if them in the morning.  Since this is the first time in over 20 years that I am not doing the dinner here, I can sew without worrying about cleaning up for company!  

Bargello table runner done!

This was a project started many years ago, but I put it away in the attic after I did it in class.  I was cleaning the other day and there it was!  Only needing a binding (I dislike putting bindings on, but I'm working on that) so tonight after work I put one of the store bought kinds.  It feels great to actually finish things.  I Even thought about it when I went to bed last night.  I went to sleep with a feeling of accomplishment!  Maybe it's a new trend! :)

Quilt label

Friday night I got Rob and Ali's quilt finished.  I only had to finish putting the binding on and it took like 8 months.  I had put most of it on and then my mom was put on life support and then died.  Guess I just couldn't bring myself to take it out and bind it.  I made the label today and will put it on the quilt tonight!  Isn't it cute?

Christmas quilt and pillowcases

I made this quilt last summer with some good friends and finally got around to quilting and binding it this week.  The fabric was a Christmas layer cake (can't remember which tho!) but it doesn't look too Christmasy to me now.  But, since it's already very cold here, we will be happy just to have it on the couch!  

At school we have to do these crazy things called SLOs and I always get stressed out about it so last Friday the special education teacher I work with helped me do mine.  Seriously, she forced me to get it done!  Sat me down at the computer and said, "let's get it done right now!"  She was not taking no for an answer!  I am so grateful to get them done so I made her these pillowcases.  One for her and one for her husband.  What a friend she was to me on Friday!  I am lucky to have her with me this year.:)

Swoon quilt with Flea Market fancy fabric!

I finally found a good quilt to show off this fabric!  A group of us went to a quilt retreat a few weeks back and I got it mostly done.  Today I put it all together.  I love it!

The blocks are 24 1/2 inches which means you only need 9 for. Big quilt.  Don't you just love the fabric?

Out poor Penny had cancer again so she had another surgery this week.  Now she's a conehead for a while.

Lily doesn't care for it at all!  Well, that's all for now.  Be back soon I hope!

Stitchers garden blocks almost done! And a good book!

Well I have been busy doing a lot of nothing this summer.  Playing with the dogs, sewing and reading have been my days for the most part, but that's been good.  Went away for a few days here and there, but nothing like I usually do all summer!  It was good staying put most days.  Here is the second to last block for Stitchers garden.

I didn't do the bobbin work on this one.  I feel that this quilt will be busy and quirky enough so let it go.  Right now this book is taking my days!  I love Fannie Flagg's writing and was thrilled to see a new one by her!  Totally enjoyable and fun once again!  Almost hate to finish it.

Rustic plate chargers and trivets

So I got an email from Michael's the other day and there was a pretty picnic setting with log slices used on the table! Of course I had to have some!  I told Kenny and he just happened to be taking a few trees down for a client so log slices would be in my hands the next day. Yay! Funny how things come together sometimes.  Kenny showed me how to use the planer to make them smooth.

Here he is instructing me properly!

Here he is taking over!  It didn't bother me that he finished the planing.  I need more practice at "feeling" how it works so that I don't leave ruts.  I am going to have to sand them on my own and do the finishing as well.  It's fun when Kenny gets involved in my ideas.

I drilled the holes in the center where they had started cracking (in one night!) to help slow that down.

I hope that the holes will keep the cracks from growing too fast.  Now I will let them dry out for a week or so before I sand them and put a varnish of some kind on them.  Won't they look pretty with fall flowers and pumpkins on the table?  I was thinking about some plaid fabric for napkins and ribbons for the fall holidays.  I'll let you know how they look in a few days.

Mason jars in green!

I love mason jars and I love green so I had to have a 6 pack of them.  We have company coming for dinner so I set the table with them for water and then I put flowers in the rest.  So easy and pretty!

Stitchers garden block 4

I have chosen a different color scheme for each block so I did this one purple and green.  It's cool because you use a twin needle for several stitches and to make the center of the bigger flower.  That is pin tucked fabric which I made with the twin needle.  It was easy and fun to do.  I think I only have two flowers left to do, then I can put it all together!

Another Stitchers garden block.

It's been hot and humid so after I clean for a few hours I take my dogs swimming in the river.  I read while they play around.  Right now I am reading Killing Jesus which is very good.  At night I sew for a while.  This block was cool because I used Rick rack and I used my fringe foot.  

Another Stitchers garden block done

I'm on a roll now with this quilt!  I cleaned my kitchen all afternoon and then got into this block.  It's a rainy Fourth of July, so it was perfect for cleaning and sewing.  I enjoyed this block very much.