Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.   May 2015 be happy, healthy & prosperous for all.

Christmas Ornaments

The scarf has 2014 for my nephew's first Christmas.



I love the designs of the Dove and Bunny and they are easy to make.  The Dove pattern is designed by Val Laird  www.val-laird.blogspot.com . 
Mr. Rabbit is a design by Michelle May at www.TheRaspberryRabbits.com   .  Michelle has other free  ornaments and patterns you can  purchase.   Paul Penguin is cute, cute, cute!!!

Noel Family Sampler

The embroidered "Family Sampler" is a pattern by Red Brolly and the cross stitch "Noel" is by Alita Designs. It is machine quilted.

RedWork Birthday Card

Happy Birthday Miss Frances (My Granddaughter) born in 2000! This is a pattern from  Jenny Elefantz  www.elefantz.com  It works up quickly using size 5 threads.  I always use a light weight interfacing for support in working red work. On the back I made a pocket for a card and $. Also made triangles by folding a square in half and sewing to the edge. Love this idea for hanging mini projects. I sewed the two pieces right sides together and turned out under the pocket. The seam was closed with iron on fusible web.

 

 

Miss Tazzie

 

Miss Cinder

Wonderful pets who get a long well. The other day Miss Cinder was resting along the treadmill and Miss Tazzie walks on top of her to get on the treadmill.  They use the treadmill more then us. A good place to see what is going on outside and they like to sleep on it!

Block of the Month Quilt

Our Block of the Month blocks are finally sewn together! Now to start on the borders. We had a very long 2 days of sewing and wonderful get together. Nice, small quilting retreat in our small town and go home at night to sleep in our own bed!!

Fall flowers have been beautiful and lots of blooms. My White and Pink cosmos are 6 feet. Lots of beautiful rain this year!!

Applique Hearts with tatted butterflies and A Tatted Doily

Applique block with tatted butterflies. Butterflies are patterns of Jane Eborall and  Adelheid Dangela.

Love this thread color!!! It is Lizbeth 40 Latte Foam.  The doily is a pattern from Eileen Stafford and the edging is in Ben Fikkert's book, A tatting Adventure. Lots of neat patterns in this book.

 

Round Robin Crazy Quilt Blocks 2012

Finally finished two Round Robin Crazy Quilt Blocks from 2012.

Fair Exhibits

Won a blue in the Quilting Department and Best of Show in the Embroidery Department

The group of ribbons on the left side are from the Flower Department. Blues on potted Basil, potted Lantana, flower stem on White Cosmo and  small Zinnia and a red for a large Zinnia.

Red work Christmas Stocking for my Nephew. It has a tatted rocking horse, ship, stocking, tree and edging.  Below is the inside Label.

Tatted Doily, pattern by Nancy Tracy

Tatted Edging, pattern by Mary Koiner

Tatting ...Rocking Horse, Angels and Crosses

Tatted rocking horse is a pattern by Pam Palmer. The book was discontinued in 2011. It is tatted in size 80 with Lizbeth root beer. It will be added to a Santa Christmas Stocking.

Tatted angels and crosses are for a local shop. These are quick and easy so one does not have to charge a lot and they sell very quickly.  The Angel pattern is in Patty Duff's book of Motifs and tatted with size 20 Lizbeth threads. The crosses are a pattern by Eliz Davis in 1998 and they are tatted with  different brands of size 10  threads.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving our country.

 

 

 

Easter Eggs, Bunnies and a Chick

Front and back of  satin eggs. The tatting pattern is Snowflake 9 in the book, "Festive Snowflakes  & Ornaments", edited by Barbara Foster. The egg on the left is tatted with Lizbeth 10 Purple Med #632 and Rainbow Taffy #153. The egg on the right is tatted with Lizbeth 10 Xmas Green #638 and Fruit Fizz #139.

My Nephew Aedan's  first Easter! He was born April 2, 2014. The pattern is from the Raspberry Rabbits by Michelle May.  The chick is a pattern from Ulla's Quilt World.

 

 

 

Applique and 1930's Snowball Quilt

Finally putting together last year's Block of the Month from our local quilt shop. I took four of the blocks put them together without sashing. Made a border with flying geese and squares in the corners. The next border is white where I have added applique and butterflies. The butterflies have been appliqued down and will do a button hole stitch to make it pop. The leaves will all go in one direction so the eye can follow the blocks all the way around. Below are the different ways I applique. The butterflies I have back based and needle turn, Stems are sewed on the bias and used the bias bars to iron them flat with seam in center. To the side you will see the nifty Clover Bias Maker, however, I could not find my 1/4 inch. The leaves and circles I use Karen Kay Buckly's method using a plastic template and iron the edges over with spray starch and paint brush. The circles are the same using a plastic disc found at a Hardware store.  Sometimes I use a glue stick just to hold the applique but still like the tiny applique pins. Not a big fan of gluing my pieces as I find it to be too stiff to needle and messy.

 



This lady is looking for a person to hand quilt this beautiful snowball quilt. It was made in the thirties by her grandmother. I gave her some good advice and people who hand quilt in our area. I do not have the time to start another adventure!!! The first advise is to make sure there is a label sewn on and that she  writes everything she knows about this quilt. And yes that is a brass bed!!  She also had a complete set of dish ware from Penny's back in the 30's. I had never seen this pattern. It was beautifully display and in perfect condition. My girlfriend, Peggy, went with me and it was an enjoyable afternoon.

Blue Earrings

Pretty Blue Earrings. Sue Anna from Tollway Tatters sent me the threads and beads for Christmas. Below is a picture of the different beads and threads she sent plus other delicious goodies!!  The Threads are hand dyed by Marilee Rockley, it was hard to choose a color for these earrings. The pattern is by Nancy Tracy.

African Violets are blooming. They grow fast and need repotting. They are the easiest indoor plants to grow and rewarding with their blooms that last a long time. Very easy to start with only one leaf  and about 4 months you will see baby leaves coming up.

Shamrocks

Frilly Shamrock pattern by Susan Taliaferro

I cut out sparkly felt shamrock and sewed the tatted shamrock on it.



Finally came up with a frilly lace edging. Beginning at the base of shamrock Petal  I looped the chain thread through a needle and insert it through the felt to make a shuttle join (picture below). Chain stitch 4 and repeat joining to felt. * Chain 2 P (4 times) 2 and join to felt.* Repeat to last P ch 2 Join to Petal 1, ch 2.  Repeat to the last petal near the stem you will chain 4 and join to felt. 

These are a few edgings I tried but didn't like them. The first is tatted with sulky size 30 and the other two with size 80 Lily Thread.

Here is a 4 leaf clover tatted with size 20 Lizbeth Leaf Greens.

Pattern by mariyas-tatting.blogspot.com

Sailing Ships

My first ship in blue (size 20- 664 Ocean Teal Med) was sailing smoothly till it dawned on me the last 2 rows is the hull of the ship. So I thought I clipped back to the beginning of where the hull is to start but still missed a row. So the main sail has a larger billow!

The second ship (size 20 - 153 Rainbow Taffy and 180 Honey Drizzle - chain), I followed the pattern and added a bead at the top.

There are a lot of different techniques in this pattern with great instructions on how to tat them. For more information please visit Jane Eborall at   http://janeeborall@blogspot.com

Thanks Jane for the tat along during our Winter snow, sleet and bitter cold in the USA.

Soupcon Quilt Along

January 3rd Faries and Fibres (www.fariesandfibres.blogspot.ca/) started Soupcon Quilt Along (QAL).

 It begins with a hexagon block and one can add as much  embroidery as they like. Karen has lots of great tutorials on embroidery and how to make bees and other bugs.  I have been working on another project so I am way behind.

 

To see more eye candy from the other ladies go to www.flickr.com/groups/soupconqal/

 

Desert Rose 2014 Block of the Month

 Our local Desert Rose Quilt Shop started a new BOM the last week of January. These are all Moda Fabrics.

 Here are the two blocks for February.
The above Pinwheels  are made with the half square triangle and introducing more color.
Below are the flying geese using the technique "Fast Flying Geese". There is no changing the method you use. These are all cut out and ready to mark and sew.  It is a great way to learn new techniques. I asked if we could use E Burns Quilt in a Day Ruler and was told yes and make sure it is the small one. Well I didn't realize there is a size 2 1/2 x 4 and my small ruler is 1 1/2 x 3. The first goose I cut was not the right size. Should have read twice and cut once. Checked online and there is the other ruler. Ms Desert Rose gave me one of her demo goose.

I went to Lowe's and purchased a 24"w x 48"L finished board for around $18. Put it on top of my regular ironing board and covered it with an extra large bath towel. Now I have a real nice ironing board for quilting. Happy Camper!!
Should have looked sooner instead of struggling with a V shape, tiny space for ironing large quilts.
I have several Yahoo Groups that Yahoo will not allow satellite users to access them. It was fine till last week and they shut us off from all groups.  So I have to go to Mickie D's  to look at the files, chat and download information. What a pain but the coffee is good and afordable...$.52/cup!   I have now switched most of my mail to GMail.