Thanksgiving Day Cards I made

Prior to Thanksgiving, I made some Thanksgiving day cards for some of my closest friends and family members. I made 11 in total. 

The most complicated but fun card I made was a stand-alone basket designed by Karen Burniston. She is a very creative designer and has an engineering background so many of her card designs have moving parts. In October I made this basket for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It is a very versatile design. I have Valentine's card design in the back of my mind. 

My Thanksgiving Baskets.

My Halloween Basket.

My second card was also by Karen Burniston. This is the inside.

The outside.

Some of the other cards I made I used the wreath maker by Gina K Designs.  She designs mostly stamps but the wreath maker is a lot of fun. I meet her last year (2018) at the Scrapbooking Expo here in Mesa. A very nice and talented lady. 

Here are the cards I made using the wreath maker.

The last design I made I used a stamp from Gina K and dies from Karen Burniston. I really liked how this one turned out.

These were fun to make and the receipts enjoyed them, 

so I have been told. 

Happy stitching, paper crafting whatever you do, enjoy your day!

Another Blogiversary

On November 27th in 2008 I started this quilting blog. I have neglected it some in the past but it isn't forgotten. I do want to post more but my quilting isn't my main focus anymore.   I have been doing more scrapbooking and card making. I haven't posted about that hobby, but that is really silly. So I will try and post more about whatever I am working on. I used to enjoy showing progress reports on my quilts, so why won't I enjoy posting about the scrapbooking and card making. 

So on the 27th this year I was busy preparing for Thanksgiving, so I forgot to post about my Blogiversary. 

Happy Belated

Blogiversary!

Here is a picture of Little Bit making the cranberry sauce for us and the families we minister to. So for six families. That is why the pot is so big. She is now age 14.

Here is Bigger Bit cleaning up a storm. She is trying to earn extra money so she did some cleaning that is done occasionally. And yes she was standing on the TV Credancsa. She is now 16. 

Thanks to all you who check-in and see what is going on. I appreciate it. 

My Blog Stats as of today. 

All-time pageviews are up from 191,871 from last year!

Thanks again for stopping by. I hope to post more often in the coming year.

Yo-Yo Quilt Blocks

Remember the Yo-Yo Quilt, that I have been working on forever, well almost forever.

On Saturday March 23, 2019 at 1:38 PM,

 I put the last stitch in the last Yo-yo in the last block. 

Yeah!!! What a great feeling.

So here it is on the design wall with all the blocks. 

I did change some of the Yo-yos on some of the blocks, too much yellow or orange. I am not a big fan of yellow or orange but I know you need a little to help make a quilt colorful.

Next step of sewing the rows together will be happening soon.

Happy Stitching!

Those Teenagers

On November 16th we celebrated out 6th anniversary of the girls coming to live with us and my retirement. 

What growth experience and I must stay the Lord has helped me a lot to care for them. He has blessed with strengthen, energy when I need it, words of wisdom when I needed them, patience even when I don't feel like it. Grateful for the experience, even if it wasn't what I had planned. I will be glad when they realize what we have done for them. Right now we are public enemy #1. 

I guess that means we are doing a good job as parents. 

This picture was taken in February and this is Bigger Bit. 

Age 14.5 Now 15.

This is Little Bit, she didn't want to take a picture on the day I wanted, so here we in March.  Age 12.5. now 13.

Thankfully they are good girls, one is a mouthy and will push the edge of the envelop so she is in trouble a lot. The other one is very helpful and is seldom in trouble. One works hard at school and the other one doesn't. One is always having drama with friends and one is not. One doesn't want to go do things but has a good time when she does, the other wants to go, go, go. 

They are as opposite as day is from night. 

They do keep me busy.

Well off to enjoy my me time while they are in school. 

Blogiversary and a Finished Wreath

Oh My Gosh, I just realized my Blog is 10 years old today. 

Where did the time go? I am not as frequent a writer as I was before. Just so busy with life and teenagers as a 70 year old. 

Life is good they keep me young and on my toes. 

There are few dull moments, except when they are sleeping or at school, then it is peaceful. I enjoy those moments.

Here are my blog stats as of this morning. Thanks to all those who check in every now and again. 

I wanted to let you know I finished the project I started in March and I am working on the binding of the mini version made from the scrapes of the twister. 

Here it is finished and hanging on my wall. 

A friend did the raffia bow for me, since I am a total bow failure. But I know my resources and I am not ashamed to use them. 

Take care and be happy no matter what you are doing.

Second Project

After I finished the pillowcases I started a project I have had for a couple of years and I felt like it was calling to me to make it. 

Here are the fabrics and the pattern, all laid out for me to press and cut the next day. I started cutting on March 1st, 2018.

These little sticker dots came in handy to label the fabrics. I won them at a Get-R-Done meeting. I added a third brown, I didn't want the same color touching each other like the pattern had. 

Close up of the pattern. This is a twister pattern.

Here it is all sewn together before the twisting started.

Here it is with five rows twisted. I just think the twisting gives it so much more texture and interest to the fabrics. 

One night I made a rookie mistake and cut out a square to twist with my twister tool upside down. 

Which made my pinwheel backwards.

Luckily for me me it was the first block on the row, so I only had to ripe out two blocks and some of the border to fix it.

This was how I fixed it at first. I was trying to be lazy. But as you can see I needed about 1/8" more fabric. I did some more ripping.

And fixed it correctly. I was then able to continue without any difficulty. Luckily I no more cutting mistakes. I did make a sewing mistake. I reversed two pairs of blocks in one row towards the bottom, and my pinwheels didn't match up. Luckily I found while I was pining the row to the next row, so I quickly ripped those blocks out and turned them around.

I am going to do something with all these scraps. 

So last night 3/16/2018 I had the top constructed.

I love all the texture in the wreath.

The name of the pattern is Twister Harvest Wreath, I purchased the kit from http://www.needllove.com/default.asp

Happy Sewing!!

Finally Sewing Again

Yes it is true. I have done some sewing. It has been over a year since I had my machine out. I finished one project and have started another. I have really missed sewing. 

Of course, that means I am not doing any scrapbooking. I can only do one hobby at a time in my room. 

My first project was for a little pillowcase to cover my mini pillow I place between my knees when I am going to sleep. My old pillowcase that I have been using for ages was threadbare and getting holes in the seams. 

The old small pillowcase. My big pillowcase the colors are reversed. She how much this was loved and used.

A close up of the cuff. I heard it ripe one time when I was turning over. That was the time I thought I better get the new one done.

Starting the French seams for the new pillow case. I purchased this fabric ages ago. When I was still going to Quilting get-a-ways and I wanted a new set of pillowcases for the get-a-ways. Then life changed and I don't go to get-a-ways anymore. It's all good.

Here it is all finished. I made it in a couple of hours or less. 

I don't really time myself. 

The next night I made the big one for my head pillow.

The cuff is really going to be big.

Close up of the cuff to show off the cats and the cute sayings.

The Big One. 

Both of them. 

Tomorrow I will share my other new project. 

Until then Happy Stitching!