Pinwheels!!

I adore pinwheel quilts! You can do so much with that type of pattern. Here are a couple of quilts that I recently finished using the pinwheel pattern as my base.

The first picture is of a baby quilt that I made for the shop where I occasionally work. Sharyn Craig designed this quilt and asked if I would test it out using her new Cutting Corners Ruler. Fabulous!! If you're a quilter, then you're more than likely very familiar with Sharyn. She is a joy to work with and not only full of creativity, but full of life as well. When she's around, the whole place simply lights up! I felt it an honor to work on one of her new patterns and try out her latest ruler. Fun!!

Here is the quilt:



Here's the ruler:



When I was president of a local quilt guild several years ago, one of the many ways in which we raised money was to sell 'stitch and wins' to our many members for $1.00. The gals loved buying these 'stitch and wins' and would willingly buy as many as they could in hopes of winning all of the completed blocks. In case you're not familiar with 'stitch and wins' let me explain. Each of us, as members of the guild, took turns every other month coming up with an easy quilt block pattern that we felt everyone would enjoy making. The one in charge of the 'stitch and win' for the month would also purchase a challenge fabric that she felt would go nicely with the pattern that she had chosen. She would then place a copy of the pattern, as well as a piece of the challenge fabric, in a small sandwich baggie and sell them to the members who were eagerly waiting to buy them. Once a member got home with her little baggie, she was to read over the pattern, find any fabric that she had in own stash and sew the block together. (Because each of us used our own fabric and then added it to the challenge fabric it guaranteed a block that was unique and one of a kind.) Once your block was completed, you simply brought it with you to the following meeting and you were given a ticket for each block turned in. I normally purchased at least two baggies of 'stitch and wins'. And, like everyone else, always hoped that I would somehow win all of the completed blocks that these wonderful quilters had made.

The following picture is of one of my 'stitch and win' quilts. I was blessed to win a group of 'stitch and win' blocks twice!! As you may suspect, some blocks that would be turned in would be quite pretty and some would be....... Anyway.. with this quilt I used all of the blocks... well... except for one. The gal who had come up with this 'stitch and win' drawing gave me all of her left over challenge fabric... (yippee!) which I used on the outer border. I purchased the darker fabric for the inner border and binding. I decided to give the quilt a scalloped finish due to my love of scallops!



If you have some blocks that you don't know what to do with, lay them out on the floor and put your creative mind to work and have fun!!

Thanksgiving!!

Last Christmas, I shared with you some kitchen towels that I had made for my family as gifts. I decided to make a few more towels for Thanksgiving. There is a wonderful design company, Vermillion, that makes gorgeous embroidery designs that look as though you had taken the time to do some cross stitch. I love how these designs come out on the fabric. Even on this waffle weave fabric, the cross stitch design comes out perfect.



Here is the design packet that I used... I can't wait to do the turkey!!



I've used these designs on several of the stockings that I have made in the past. So, so pretty!



And here are some great designs to stitch out on towels:



I was playing around with one of the designs above and decided to add the words below the design.



One of these days, I's hoping that I will be able to make the pictures a little more clear for all of you. ;-) In the meantime, simply click on the pictures for a closer view.

Have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving with those you love.. I sure am!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

I have always loved the song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'.... even more so after I read about its actual, historical, origins several years ago. Did you know that it had a very serious purpose when it was first written? Because Catholics were severally punished and often times put to death for practicing or sharing their faith..... privately or publicly... they created this musical allegory to instruct their young people in regards to the great love that God had for them. What a way to witness and carry the message of Christ on to future generations! I may not be a practicing Catholic, but as a christian, I admire their determination to teach the message of the Good News of Jesus to their young and to those who still don't realize just how "good" this news truly is. Here's some of the words to the song along with their original intent:

1. Partridge in a Pear Tree= Jesus Christ, Son of God
2. Turtle Doves= The Old & New Testament
3. French Hens= Faith, Hope & Charity
4. Calling Birds=The Four Gospels, which sing the song of Salvation
5. Gold Rings= The First Five Books of the Old Testament
6. Geese= The Six Days of Creation
7. Swans a-Swimming= The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit
8. Maids-Milking= The Eight Beatitudes
9. Ladies Dancing=The Nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit
10. Lords a-Leaping= The Ten Commandments
11. Pipers Piping= The Eleven Faithful Apostles
12. Drummers Drumming= The Twelve Points of the Doctrine in the Apostle's Creed.

Maybe some of you are already familiar with the original meaning and intent of this song, but as I shared above.. I wasn't until several years ago and it has made me enjoy listening to this particular song even more so today than when I was a little girl.

So now... after sharing this information with you, I thought I would share one of the latest projects that I have been working on. I saw a book, written by Fons and Porter entitled, "Best of Fons & Porter Tabletop Quilts". I thought that the picture on the front cover was pretty cute, but I wanted a more elegant table topper for the holidays than what was presented in the book... hence, my version of this table topper is shown below.. notice the Partridge in a Pear Tree:



I used quite a bit of metallic thread in each design and had no problems at all as I used, "The Amazing Thread Guide" that I shared with you in a previous post. (I did not even need to use a metallic needle or slow my machine down!) It worked beautifully!

Here is the book that I was referring to:



More to come in future posts Have a great day!