I owed myself some time.

Time to recharge, time to relax, time to sew. I stole away Saturday afternoon and evening, plugged in a movie or two I could watch but still do some work, and then picked up all the cut pieces to this handy little purse insert I started from a pattern purchased at the October quilt show. I got it done!

It took a while, but now that I have one done, I want to do more. I used a great Sulky iron on medium weight stabilizer, and it gives it a very professionally done feel. The colors are bright and cheerful. I think I'm going to now take these fabrics and a coordinating while on black piece and see if I have enough to make a coordinating purse. BTW-the pattern is from Studio Kat designs, and is their Portapockets purse insert pattern #01400. There were a lot of pieces to cut, and that took a while, but the directions were great. The worst part of the work was adding the binding to the outside edges but that was my fault, since I went a bit too small on the binding fabric width. I could have used some guidance on how wide to make that. But I got it to work.

A break from quilts...just temporary

My nephew Tony and his wife Kamryn are having a baby next spring. Imagine my pleasure when I was told that Tony would enjoy having a stocking in the same style I made for him and his brothers so many years ago. So the search was on for the perfect kit. The ones I did in the past were made with felt, and I remember my criteria: they had to have Santa on it somewhere, and the gaudier they were, the better. This is the one I chose:


So I've spent my TV and quilting time in the past 10 days or so adding all the sequins and beads to the pieces. Now I'm doing the embroidery. I hope that this weekend I can start to cut out the pieces and start to applique them down and stuff sections to add dimension.

One change I found with the new stockings is that they have such a small place to add the child's name. In the past, they just had a top border where you couched down the gold trim to spell the name. I may need to wait to see what Tony and Kamryn will name their baby boy before I actually finish this. I can always add my own name border at the top if necessary. Names more than five letters may not fit on that one gold star.

So that is where my sewing time has been spent. I'll see if I get this out of my system before the holiday break, so I can get back to that t-shirt quilt that is still taking up design wall space.

Christmas memories

I had a huge stash of small things from my grandmother and my father. Little trinkets of costume jewelry, buttons, broken jewelry, trims. I had them stashed here and there, in childhood jewelry boxes, basement junk boxes, sewing notion boxes. They wanted a home, I wanted to keep them, and lo and behold, three years back I found the perfect place for them. This is a simple Christmas tree wall quilt, that has a string of mini-lights. The pattern was a sinch, and the fabric was mostly stash. The fun part was adding all the trinkets to it, carefully pinning or sewing each memory in place. Now it comes out for just one month a year, so I get to see the memories again, but don't tire of them. This is the shot of it in our entryway this morning. Kind of dark.

Then this is it with the lights turned on-they blink and follow a random lighting sequence. I'll have a timer on it so it comes on with dusk and turns off at bed time.

See the sampling of memories? 1960 era lapel pins from my dad, cool buttons and earrings from Grandma. Even beadwork left over from my weddin dress. I can feel the love.

Plans for a new baby quilt!

My nephew Tony and his wife Kamryn are now expecting a baby boy, due in mid-spring. I'm so excited for them and my brother, who will soon be a grandpa. I'm also happy to be starting a baby quilt for the baby-to-be. I just have to corral my ideas and come up with a pattern. My daughter thinks I need to keep it in the style I've used for Jackson and Brady-kind of old fashioned with good colors, but sort of muted. But that's what their mom likes. How about Tony and Kamryn?


I still can't help but begin the consideration. I think I'd like to keep a classic block, but maybe change it up with modern fabric choices, bright colors.

Something with stars? Maybe with baby prints in those fussy cut squares?


I've found a great strippy, easy to do quilt, but while I like the modern feel, it doesn't say 'cuddle up, baby'.

I'll keep looking.