Piles of Nickels-Help Me Help Me

I have managed to swap nickel squares,(5" squares) with an online group, for a couple of years now. I have a stack as high as the eye can see, but haven't ever really done anything with them. Well, until a few weeks ago, that is. This little project was from an afternoon sew in, at our local sewing shop. It was a good motivator to start using up some of these things that seem to loom over my sewing area. Too bad it wasn't a really big project though. I have enough squares to make a table runner for most of the free world it seems!!! LOL

I did pick up a book called "Loose Change" that has a really cute quilt it in, made out of nickels. The plan to start on it was in my mind, but then, I got to wondering. What would any of my internet friends do with all these guys. Does anyone have any ideas they would like to share? Please post a comment and let us know. I am sure there are plenty of us, who could use some inspiration. Lets all share ideas, and see if we can come up with something that will ring our bells!

Summer is over and the time is about right to start those fall quilting projects. After all there is nothing better than curling up under a quilt when it is cold to do the binding, right? I love those nights!

Look forward to seeing what suggestions we have for each other. Until then I am dreaming of the chilly nights of binding ahead.

Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend. As for me, I spent it in my sewing room. Yep, didn't have to work the holiday for once in a very long time. I did manage to finish up orders for 2 more professional totes, and I finished up my Alaska Shop Hop quilt. As soon as the binding fairies come, and finish that up, I will share photos! hehehehehehe
Have a great week.

Fall Already?

Can you believe it's September already! Where did the summer go?

My goal, the past couple of weeks was to finish up those projects that I started this summer. With the holidays just around the corner, I wanted to clear out old projects before I start on new! With luck that will mean less "PIGS" (projects in grocery sacks) laying around. Notice I didn't say, no "PIGS", that would impossible in my quilt room! :-) Less is the best I can hope for. LOL!!

While I was quilting up a few tops, I ran my embroidery machine. With only a few thread changes and long runs, it was very managable to do while I was quilting.

Hoopsisters

has made it fun and easy to make great quilt designs on embroidery machines now. What a nice change of pace, I don't have to make sure seam allowances are the same thru out. Happy dance, happy dance!!! After careful consideration, I might want to tone it down a bit next time. This one requires sunglasses if you look at it too long!!!! "Screamin' Green" is it's name! Seemed so fitting.

But I have finished up a couple of quilt tops. Here is one of them. It's from a class I took earlier this summer.

It is the "Island Star" from M'liss Rae Hawley's, More Fat Quarter Quilts. I am pleased to say that every thread in this quilt came from my stash. I had to purchase nothing to complete this. Now that's a red letter day for me, let me just tell ya!

I have also started on my Alaska Shop Hop quilt. I hope to get some photos posted soon. You won't believe how wonderful it is. Great combination of techniques! Hope this keeps you guessing for a day or two!

:-)

A bit of a Braggie

Early this year I took a class with Karla Alexander the creator of "Stack the Deck" method quilts, and emailed her a photo of the finished product. It was so much fun to do, and I love the quilt, and wanted her to know that.

Who out of the blue calls this morning but Karla herself. She is taping a segment for "The Quilt Show" with Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson in September and would like to have my quilt for the show. What a thrill for me, I have to say. The offer came with an invite to the taping, but unfortunately I do work that day and it is one of those days I just can't miss. We bid for shifts for 6 months at a time, and I have to be at the bid! :-( I am so sad that I can't be there. I have been lucky enough to attend a taping a couple years back, and it was really fun. They load you up with lots of goodies too! Fun Fun.

So I need to get a quilt label on it, and send it on it's way. I will keep you posted as to the air date and hopefully if your members you can watch for it. For those who are not, if you have high speed internet, it's the best thing out there. I get so much motivation from the show, and I can watch it any time day or night. Better yet for those nights of insomnia! But that won't be for tonight, I am seeing a good sound sleep and visions of quilt plum fairy's dancing in my head!!!!!!

:-)

Fairies and Fireweed

When I came across this wonderful piece of silkscreened Fireweed fabric in Alaska earlier this summer, I knew just what I had to do with it. I have a friend who is crazy over Fairies. It would be a perfect match. The fabric piece I bought was small, and I wanted a lap size quilt, so I played around with some scrap batiks that I had purchased. "Yes" scrap, when have scraps ever been the perfect answer to your problem, huh? It was a red letter day! I searched thru Embroidery Library for Fairy designs, and this lap quilt was born. It was one of those, "I really have to give this one away" quilts. If only I had bought more of the Fireweed fabric. Darn! The quilt went to Kelly yesterday for her birthday and she was thrilled with it.

As a quilter you can't ask for anything more. I think I enjoy, the joy it bring others, much as I love the making of the quilt its self. Guess that is really what life is all about. If only we could all adopt that kind of attitude, just think what kind of a world this would be.

This week find "something" you love to do and share it with someone. You will be surprised at how wonderful it makes you feel. If we keep passing it along to others, maybe we can change the world a thread at a time!

Happy Stitching!

Ole time Paper Dolls

If your as old as I am, you well remember our beloved paper dolls. You can imagine just how excited I was, when they brought them back to us in fabric form. I had to get my hands on some of these great little gals. I wanted to give them a little bit of an updated look, so I cut out the little darlings, and appliqued them to some bright colored fabrics. With a little playing, I was happy with the end results of this project.

My favorite part was the quilt label that I turned into a closet, so to speak. I put all the clothes in there for easy access and storage. I did find that a closure on the top was in order to keep things inside the pocket. Velcro would have been great, but would have shown after the quilt was quilted, so I used a heavy duty snap. It did the job. A word to the wise, if you choose to use nothing, everything falls out every time you move the quilt. :-)

A little tip that I picked up at my local quilt shop was to iron Deco-bond on the back of the clothing pieces. It give you just enough stability for the clothes to nicely stay on the dolls while playing. It worked like a dream.

This was delivered to my favorite little Alaska girl who turned 5 this week. I sure hope that she enjoys them as much as I did when I was young.