Hand Applique 2012

As I stated in my last blog... I do enjoy hand applique. However, if I know that I need to have something done rather quickly, I will revert to appliqueing by machine. Any appliqueing, quilting, embroidering, applying binding, etc. by hand has always been very relaxing for me.... some hate it... I love it.

Pearl P Pereira is a wonderful applique designer whose designs are awe inspiring. Take a look at her website and you will see what I mean. I used one of Pearl's patterns to make a little travel case to carry all of my hand applique tools in.... in fact this is my second one that I have made.

Here's the first one:



The inside:



On my second one, I decided to embroider my initials. The outside:



And the inside, which holds all of my tools:



Two of my favorite tools, also designed by Pearl, are a must for hand applique. I gladly share them with you:



Those interested in Pearl's pattern I will gladly share it with you below. It is very easy to stitch together and just as easy to embroider whatever you want on the outside to make sure that no one tries to snag it from you. Happy stitching!!

Block of the Month 2012

I decided to do something very different this year... at least something different as far as quilting is concerned. I have always wanted to participate in one of those block of the month clubs that the various, on-line, quilting shops offer. One can also find BOM's offered in different catalogs, magazines and sometimes in shops located in your very own neighborhood.

The BOM that I wanted to participate in however, was one where not only was the pattern sent to you each month, but the fabric that went along with it as well. (This is highly unusual for me as I am one who would rather choose her own fabric and not copycat someone else's ideas or choices!) Well... I finally bit the bullet this year and joined a BOM. My blocks are sent to me from Shabby Fabrics, a shop that I truly love. The name of my BOM is The Great Pumpkin. I must say... I am really enjoying each block so far and can hardly wait so see the finished quilt on my bed. BTW.... this is an applique BOM. Now some of you may not enjoy doing applique, but I am doing all the work on my machine. Those who know me know that I enjoy doing handwork, but I knew that it would be easy for me to get behind schedule and I wanted make sure that this quilt would be completed by the year's end.

Here is a peek at the pattern:



Here is a peek of my first completed block:



Can't wait to share each block as they come. Blessings, Debbie

Holidays 2011

Wow.... it has been awhile hasn't it??? I thought that I would share a few pictures this time around... pictures of the fam and our time together over the holidays.

Since we had not celebrated a holiday together in ten years, we decided to snap a shot of the nine of us together for our memory books.



My mother-in-law joined us for Thanksgiving this year and below is a shot of her with Paula-girl.... the following shot is Elizabeth and I in the kitchen.... eating. (Is there anything else one does at this time of the year?)





Casey and Rebekah do like their wine.. I just have never seen such a huge bottle!! And then there's Cash boy.. too cute!



CHRISTMAS... my favorite holiday. Here is our tree.. we actually got it up this year!!



We have added an additional tradition to our holiday celebrations by going back to Kansas and having a 'December 24th" day with them... we had the best time!!



The kids love it when we take them ice skating and since Randy and Elizabeth are usually helping out one of them, Jim quickly snapped a shot of just the two of them.



Of course we had to take a trip to the candy store...



And a place we all love is, Big Mama's. Great cinnamon rolls... not nearly as good as yours Nicole... but good none the less.



We ate at an incredible Irish Pub in the coolest little town...



And finally finished our day at The Cheese Cake Factory. I get the biggest kick out of all that the kids order. Last year Ryder shared with a homeless man who was outside in the cold. Ryder has got to have the most tender of hearts. (I miss all of those kids already.)

Back to San Diego....

Celebrating the 24th here in San Diego started by having breakfast at Cafe Coyote in Old Town. Yummy!!



Next, we took the train to Solana Beach. If you've never done this, you are missing out BIG time!



The kids LOVED the train.





Again... the candy store. This is a must at both celebrations... Jim and I pay dearly for this... or I guess I should say our waistlines do.



After we gorged ourselves on candy, off we went to Viejas Bowl. Mom and dad watched all of us make complete and utter fools out of ourselves by pretending to be the professional bowlers... that we definitely aren't. (I hope no one was watching!)

!

John and Michael... thinking that they were so hot..... tee hee.



Michael throwing the ball... to who knows where...



Someone needed to inform Nicole that you actually have to let go of the ball.....



Lindsey, showing them how to throw.... her problem?... she just couldn't seem to knock down those pins.... sorry Lindsey. ;-)



I'll end this little photo session with Cash resting safely in his grandpa's arms.



Thanks for stopping by.... I hope you enjoyed my little memory album.

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!

One-Block Wonders

I don't know if any of you have ever made one of these beautiful quilts before, but I absolutely love them! It is similar to making a stack and whack quilt in which you stack the fabric on top of itself where it repeats, then cut. My friend Sharon made this particular quilt. I think it's simply beautiful! I loved her fabric choice , and I especially loved how she laid out each block to get this particular look. One fabric choice made all the different looks you see in this quilt.... one fabric. Hint... if you want to know what the fabric looked like before she stacked it up and cut it... check out the border. (Click on the picture itself for a closer peek.) Incredible isn't it?



Here's the book. More books have come out since this one was published, and the designs that one can come up with are endless. Take the initiative and get your creative genes flowing..... you might be pleasantly surprised!



Happy quilting!! Debbie