2012 in Review

I've been reading lots of blogs the last few days with round ups of their year. As I was thinking about how creative I had been over the last year I wasn't coming up with much. Then as I was looking back on some of my posts I realized that hey! I did actually accomplish something this year and besides that I took 5 college classes and managed to get A's in every one. It's been a year full of challenges and change. My daughter graduated from college in May and moved to Pittsburgh in October and in November my husband was forced into an early retirement! 

This year I managed to do the following:

I made two table runners - one was a wedding gift for the daughter of one of my wild thread friends Dian and the other one was a fall runner that that I had wanted to make last year! I made a cute pin cushion as a gift for my friend Chris, one baby quilt for the daughter of one of my mom's friends, and six mug rugs as gifts for my aunts. I made a queen size quilt for my daughter as a graduation present that includes blocks made by my friends in my quilting group. I made a 'thankful' quilted picture, painted a tree for my family room wall, made a design wall for my new sewing room, started on a Snoopy quilt for my good friend Melanie, and FINALLY added my sweet daughter in love Megan to our Snowman family.

Praying that you have a blessed new year filled with all the things that make you happy.  Make time for the things that matter: family, friends, neighbors, and the strangers you meet along life's way. Love deeply, forgive quickly, laugh often, be kind and gracious, and pray for others.

Blessings,

My New Design Wall

I know not everyone has the luxury of their own sewing room but if you do you might want to consider making yourself a nice design wall. I purchased a 4 by 8 sheet of insulation at Home Depot for under $10.00. I had to cut mine down to about 6 1/2 feet because of an intake vent high up on the wall. I just measured it and cut it with an exacto knife.  First I bought a package of batting and put in on by taping in on the back with duct tape however I was not happy with it.  It was too fluffy and I wanted it to be more like felt or flannel. I took it off, went back to JoAnn's and I bought batting off the roll. It was very wide so I only needed a yard and 3/4's. I laid the foam insulation on my dining room table, laid the batting on top, and then trimmed it so it was about 4" longer on all sides than the foam sheet. Then I rolled one side up, used spray adhesive on the foam and then rolled out one ended, smoothing as I went. Then I repeated for the other end. 

       

I used duct tape on the back to anchor the edges before it was hung on the wall. My husband hung it for me using nails with a washer into the stud.  

I took a circle of batting (actually the corners that I trimmed from the batting as I was taping it to the back) and using a small screwdriver I just carefully pushed the edges under the washer to disguise them!

Different view of the design wall.   I still hadn't covered all the washers when I took this picture.   

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy and healthy new year!

Blessings,

How About Some Font Love?

I know I am a little crazy but I do love fonts. I came across Font Squirrel this morning and have been downloading to my hearts content. I am actually on a hunt for a manuscript font that has a tail on the q for a bingo game at the Montessori school where I work. I have not been able to find it so I will keep searching. Here are a few I downloaded today. Fun right?!

Hope you are enjoying the holidays! 
Blessings,

Snoopy 4 & 5

Here they are.  Numbers 4 and 5!  

 Friends!

Joe Cool!

I have pretty much decided to do a chevron zig zag at the top and bottom of the quilt to make it Charlie Brown'ish'.  And I think I will make it a nine patch. I am still in the planning stage. I do have a new sewing room which is very exciting!  I will post more about that later. 

Blessings!

Thankful Wall Art

I saw this adorable quilted 'Thankful' framed project over at The Three Sweet Peas blog and knew I had to make one. I found an old oil painting in a great frame at an awesome rummage sale in Pittsburgh last year with my daughter. 

I spray painted the frame black. The original at The Three Sweet Peas was square and used a mat but since my frame was rectangle and I didn't want to spend a fortune on getting a mat cut, I just used white fabric as a border to mimic the mat. 

  I used fall colors of red, orange, and yellow. After I sewed the block together I fused it to a lightweight fusible batting and then did some quilting on it. I used my cricut machine to cut out the letters backwards and adhered them directly to the back of the glass. I cut a piece of cardboard for the back.  I totally love it!

Happy Thanksgiving all. I hope you are able to spend time with friends and loved onesk over the holiday and reflect on all the things you are grateful for!

Blessings,

My Fall Table Runner

I bought this fabric last year and have finally used it to make a fall runner for my kitchen table!  This fabric is Gobble, Gobble by Moda.

 Here is it hanging on my deck.

 A close up of the appliqued leaves and my FMQ little leaves.

 On the table!

Happy Fall!

Blessings,

Snoopy Numbers 2 & 3

I have to apologize for my bad quality photos. It's either me, the camera, or my sewing room. It could be a combination of all three. Here are numbers 2 and 3. I am just loving them!  I am getting excited about actually figuring out what the quilt will look like. This is as far as I've gotten in the planning process!

I've finally finished my English research paper so hopefully I can get some sewing in between History assignments.  Happy Sewing!

Blessings,

Snoopy Beginnings...

After many years of frustration, tears, and prayers my good friend Melanie is having her first baby! She wants a snoopy themed nursery so I began planning a baby quilt for her. Here is the fabric I found at the Hershey Quilt show. Isn't is perfect for a Snoopy quilt?  It's called Down Under by Mint Blossom. I also gathered a bunch of different solids to go along with them.

 Next I decided to be crazy and try my hand at what people are calling 'thread painting'. I found pictures online, printed them out the size I wanted and traced the design onto the white fabric.  I used an iron on stabilizer and then just free motion stitched all around.  I think it looks like it was drawn on which I actually like. I have four other pictures to do.

I just ordered a few new colors of Robert Kaufman Kona solids from Pink Castle Fabrics which came in the mail Monday!  Azure, Jade Green, Bahama Blue, Candy Green, and Cactus.  These could be contenders for my Mystery Row Quilt Along!

Happy sewing friends!

Blessings, 

Rowing Along with the Wild Threads

My quilting group the Wild Threads is doing a Mystery Row Quilt-Along.  My friend Lisa aka 9patchnurse, is the brains behind this project.  You can play along with us if you want!  

At our last sew in I brought three different piles of fabric because I couldn't decide which to use.  Lisa and another friend Jennilyn went to town mixing all my piles together!  Horror! :)  

Here is my first row.  I am not 100% sure about block number three with the green.  I guess I will get a consensus at our next sew in this month.

Happy Sewing!

Blessings,

A Mug Rug Parade

I made these mug rugs in July as gifts for my aunts at our annual family reunion.  

 Aunt Jane's - she lives in New Bern, NC and loves to go sailing with my Uncle Lloyd.

 This one is my mom's.  I couldn't give all the aunts a gift and not have one for her. 

 She LOVES cardinals.

 My Aunt Anne's - she is now the Matriarch of our Meade family so I thought something 

like a family tree would work for her.

 This one went to my Aunt Jo - she lives on Belle's Island, NC where my family has spent many wonderful vacations. She has lots of bird and squirrel feeders there.

This one is my Aunt Muriel's. She has gone through quite a lot of health issues, her own and my Uncle Vinny's. She never loses her sense of humor. 

 Whoops!  I made this one for my neighbors birthday!  She is a Virginian and loves birds. 

The mug rug with the birds is a close look alike to one made by Kimberly aka bahamadawn.  I changed it a bit and asked her if it was ok to share.  

Enjoy the parade!

Blessings,

Wall Art

I saw this piece of art at Target last year and really liked it but didn't like the $80.00 price tag. I took a picture with my cell and thought I would try to make my own. Here is the finished art work hanging in my family room. 

          

I bought a 3 foot long, 12 inch wide piece of pine at Home Depot. My husband cut it into three pieces and that was all I did until this week!

 I painted the sides a green similar to what I have on the wall in my family room. I choose three different colors of scrapbook paper that I thought would work and modge podged them to each piece of wood.

 I printed out a copy of the picture from Target and used my handy dandy Tracer projector to trace the tree on each piece of wood.

I used black acrylic paint to hand paint the tree. When the paint was dry I used a clear acrylic spray to seal them.  

 Here they are together before I hung them up.

My wall had been naked for over a year.  I am happy with the result and it probably cost me $10.00!

Blessings,

The Bloggers Quilt Festival

I just realized I never posted about this baby quilt I made.  I am taking an English class and a History of the United States class this semester and I am doing so much writing in those classes that unfortunately blogging hasn't been high on my priority list.  Today I found out about the Bloggers Quilt Festival that Amy's Creative Side is hosting so I thought I would enter this little quilt.   My mom asked me to make a quilt for her close friend Lena's daughter who had a very premature little girl.  Little Ella was 1 pound 15 ounces at birth.  I actually babysat for Lena's children a long time ago when I was a teenager. My mother asked her prayer group ladies to come over and they all prayed over the quilt before my mom sent it off. I am happy to say that Stephanie loved it.  I got the sweetest thank you from her that just made me cry. 

 The front

 The back

One of the fabrics I bought had a flower pattern large enough that I was able to use them for appliques in the center of each block. Each block is the same I just rotated them in each row.

Blogger’s Quilt Festival Stats

Finished quilt measures : 44″x 58″

Special techniques used : applique

Quilted by : Kathleen Weber

Best Category : Baby Quilt

Blessings!