I've been cyber surfing!

Craftomaniac

 Has this wonderful give away! Go check out the site and enter to win, but I must say if you get the loot you have to share the cupcake sign!

Hope you enjoy!

Happy Valentines Day!

You will be so proud, I did better at taking pictures of the project I made. I know it is not even February yet but I'm ready to get out the decorations and start spreading some LOVE!


So I started with these fabrics I pulled out of my fabric cupboard. i was looking for pinks, reds and other types of valentines days colors.

Once I picked out my colors I started cutting, I just cut without much paying attention to the widths. I just wanted to make sure I had enough fabric.  Once I had them laid out I was able to sew them together with 1/4 inch seams on each strip.

Once I pressed my fabric I made the edges meet and hand drew my heart on the one side of the fabric. I must say it was not perfect but here is my logic, every heart is different so it is what it is!

Once I got my heart cut out I had to pick a color to put it on, I choose a different color of pink that I had laying around. I pinned this down about half an inch from the edge. When I started thinking about this pattern I wanted the edges to be rag type. Don't get me wrong it could have been blanket stitched easily.

I quilted around this heart twice, both in the heart shape. As you can see I left the edges raw so that they would make the rag type I was looking for. I did cut down the background fabric, I will have to measure everything and get a pattern in case someone else would like to make one.

I choose to add the wording LOVE to the center of my quilt, I did this after I had finished the quilt but actually did it as an hand embroidery stitching. Which I must say was very tricky not to get the backing fabric while doing this.  I'm thinking about looking for some Valentines buttons to add to it but we will see.

This is the finished product, I used extra fabric left over to make my binding for the quilt. Please pay no attention to the small string under the e. Pay more attention to the raw edges that I love on this quilt! 

Please stay tuned as I will upload a PDF file on how you can make one of these of your own.

A New Project Started.....

Today my Mom and I went to Pleasant Mountain Stitchery and enjoyed our first class on the Baltimore Christmas block of the month.

Of course this is the whole quilt, our first block is the Angel Wreath (left side, second one down). I have done applique before but I must say not at this level. I think so far I have cut out at least thirty pieces to this first block. I'm sure it will end up being great when I get it done but I sure do have a lot of work cut out for me.  To check out more on this pattern please go to Baltimore Christmas site.

While I was down at PMS I found this awesome pattern called Jack and Jill by Izzy and Ivy Designs. Izzy and Ivy Designs

They do have a sample of this hat at the store but I have seen it on other blogs and fell in love with it long before seeing it in person. I got so excited when I found this pattern and of course gave mom that face so I now have the fabric to make one. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to start this and finish it tomorrow.  So stay tuned to see how things go!

While you are out and about in blog land stop by lila tueller designs for a great give away Below is a picture of what she is giving away.
                                             
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Another give away is going on over at Polka Dot Chair Blog she is giving away a few things including fabric and a book! So what are you waiting on hop right on over there and join in the give away!

Ladies Lead In

Have you ever been to a fair and seen very nice outfits made out of wool with ladies or gents wearing them? Of course they have lamb with them. This is what ties the whole thing together. A long time ago I use to do this even dressed up the lamb too! So JoAnn's had patterns on sale so I scooted out there and picked up two one for a jacket and another for a dress.

This is the dress I picked, I think it is adorable and would look good with my body style. I would like to do the print in the color of black wool and the trim in either the green, pink or printed wool below.  Pattern 5640 McCalls

The pattern I picked has two choices of jackets, I can not decide which one I like the best. I'm leaning towards the one with the smaller collar. If I choose to use this pattern I will do the large part in black and the other to correspond with the dress. Pattern 5424 Butterick

I'm in love with this green wool! In the race for the outfit I think it will be this one but we will see.

This Burgundy is also beautiful, although I'm not sure it is what I'm wanting.

This one I'm just not sure.......

The biggest thing is finding a sheep to use for the lead in!!!!

Please tell me what you think? other options? They prefer that most of the outfit be made of wool.

So I'm really bad at .....

taking pictures as I make something. We had to change all the locks in our house due to a breaking in issue. So we had to get new keys... if you look close there is one with Mickey himself on it.  But anyways back to what I did make, a new laynard for my keys.

I often find myself looking for my keys when it is time to go somewhere. Yes I have a basket that they go in but sometimes they don't always stay there. You would think I live with little kids that pick things up but no it is just my husband.

Some directions on how to make this easy inexpensive laynard.

Supplies:

1 Key Ring

1 Piece of fabric 31/2 inches by wof

2 strips of fusible interfacing 3 inches by wof

Iron your fusible to the wrong side of fabric, fold each end of the fabric in and press to make sure not to leave any raw edges showing. Once pressing is complete place right sides of the fabric together and sew a scant 1/4th inch seam down the side. Then comes the fun part turning it right side out.

During this time my husband asked me at least fifty times what I was doing and why I was doing it.

Once the fabric is turned right side out press wrinkles out and sew along all edges of the fabric allowing a finished look.

To place fabric on the key ring fold both edges together and place them through the key ring. Then sew to keep in place. I sewed over mine three times to make sure it won't fly off. I tend to stand around and twirl my keys and it could happen.

Hope you enjoy.

Next time I will take better pictures!

Winter Wonderland!

So during this winter wonderland I have been busy! Today I was able to finish my 4-H bag! I can't wait to make another one, it went together easily.

I put my name on it so no one can steal it from me!

The bottom fabric has three different colors of 4 leaf clovers then a strip of black and green with black polka dots!

Don't look to close I didn't like the large circle so I cut it down and almost cut off part of the writing.... good thing it is mine!

Then I did some hand stitching on a snowman for the front door, I might get it done by next year!

After dinner I got a burst of energy and got one dog pillow done!

Lets just say Haylie was not happy about the photo shoot! I woke her up off the couch to test out the new bed! I found a premade blanket at Joanns the day after Thanksgiving, then I sewed around it and stuffed it so I will be able to throw it in the wash for any just in case problems. I just got a report Izzy has curled up into a ball on it!

While you are out in blog land check out Jerusalem Notes they are having a great give away that ends January 16th!

What have you been up to?

 Me and the girls had a small photo shoot in the house the other day when the sun was shining. The picture above is Haylie our newest baby!

This is Lucy, she was a drop off when I lived with my parents. Long story short she was so cute as was Dad so I got to keep her!

This is Kylie she started out as a puppy with my brother, then she went to live with my sister. When we moved into our house my sister came to live with us so now she is part of the clan.

I know this is crazy but I even have two more dogs that are not in this post.

So anyways back to the point, what have you been doing? Digging out from a large amount of snow? Maybe staying in and sewing? That is what I have been doing. I found a pattern made by Whistlepig Creek Craft Patterns, it is called BYOB II. One pattern has six different size bags in it.

I'm doing the large bag with three different colors, the bottom will have four leaf clovers, then a black strip and a green polka dot. Instead of putting just an initial on it I used the embroidery machine and put Country Town 4-H on one side and my name on the other. This way all my 4-H stuff stays in one bag!

Since it is snowing/sleeting/other nasty cold winter stuff I am hoping to finish it today. As soon as it is done I show you a picture of my finished product.

Good Bye 2010 welcome 2011

Check out what I have been doing this year!

This is a small table decoration that I hand stitched for the local quilt guild. It also won third place at the county fair open class quilt show.

This is a quilt I made for a raffle, I suffer from a rare disease called intracranial hypertension. I was able to raise over $900.00 for research.

 A mystery night at the lqs, when I first made it I hated it even tried to sell it. Then I quilted it and won't part with it.

 This blurry picture is large pin wheels made using the large twister.... this is still a UFO

Wilbur, If you know me I love pigs, I have a ton of them as decoration. The quilt guild had a contest lights action camera. So I choose to do Charlotte's Web. I won second place with this quilt from the contest and second place at the county fair quilt contest.

This is how I feel some days, thought it might make you laugh!

Are these pumpkins cute???? I made about 20 of them, gave some away, sold some and kept some! They are easy to make and very inexpensive.

The witches....... they turned out so cute I can't wait to do another one for a different holiday. Notice the crazy guy standing in the background..... I don't know him :)

This is a simple wall hanging I made for Mother's Day that was given to my God Mother.

My grandmother has a place in her hallway where she hangs something up for different seasons. I hand stitched the sunflowers and added yo yo's to the center to finish out the sunflower.

This is a panel, also the first thing I quilted on the HQ16 that me and my mother share.

Please check back to see more of what I make in 2011, if I get some followers I would love to do some giveaways!