Raggedy Ann meets the butterflies!

"We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone"— Ronald Reagan

When I went to meet my new grand daughter I was very pleased with the theme my son and daughter in law had chosen for her room......they incorporated the Raggedy Ann Quilt I had made for her with a Butterfly theme.......

My son had showed me the plans for a mural he will paint on her wall.........he used one of the Raggedy Ann embroidery panels in the quilt as a guide and added a butterfly net and showed me this pattern he made....
 
...they had a crib set which included a butterfly theme curtain topper that was a little too short for the window so they had used it on a 48 inch shelf instead....and they also had the butterfly mobile....(This is a stock photo from the manufacturer)

 I was excited to add some machine embroidery to the topper for the Raggedy Ann theme and my son also gave me the dust ruffle because they were using the Raggedy Ann dust ruffle I sent with the quilt on her bed instead...........so anyway...........here is what I came up with..........I used fabric from the dust ruffle and added length to each side of the existing topper.....added some embroidery and......voila! It looks pretty good over my fireplace so hopefully it will look as good over the window......lol............

 Then I used more of the fabric from the dust ruffle to make a cover for the shelf, complete with Raggedy Ann, butterflies, and Lili, (their Black Lab)....here it is already up in Iris Emma's room! (The train was made by my Dad and given to my son a few years ago)

They had also asked me to make something for the mobile so I made a Raggedy Ann Face and a little Lili:

 

they removed two butterflies from the mobile and replaced them with Raggedy and Lili..............

 Here are some closeups of the embroidery I added..........(Yes, I still LOVE my embroidery machine!)

And I have saved the best for last.............here is a photo of Miss Iris Emma next to the Raggedy Ann that Nana made for her......

 You might recall that I made 3 dresses for Raggedy Ann so Iris could change her clothes when she played with her............Daddy decided that this next photo will make a great one to show her when she's older........check out the outfit that Raggedy Ann loaned her friend to wear!  I'm in love.............

  

So that's it for this time.......I am off to make a birthday cake for my Mom who is 94 years old today!  I am blessed...........

Ta ta for now....................................

  

Gifts and Blessings

"Family is not an important thing. It's everything" — Michael J. Fox

I was just about to post about some finishes I had to show you when I saw this unfinished post entitled "Gifts and Blessings" so I decided this post needed to be a "finish" and I will show you those other finishes in my next post...........

So the gifts:  First is a fabulous gift from my little Sis, Barb.....for Christmas....sorry I am so slow...I have been wanting to show this off since December......All my family knows that I am Gaga for the Wizard of Oz and Barb painted this jewelry box for me!  Here is the front and back........

 the sides..................

 


and last but not least.....the top and even an extra on the inside! I am Gaga about my new jewelry box!
 

 
















.....As I said........my family knows I'm Gaga for the Wizard of Oz......just check out what I got from my son, Jeremy, for Mother's Day!..............I did not even know that the band Electric Light Orchestra had made this album! Jeremy framed it for me!

 My son also knows how I love to sew and he was able to find me some more Wizard of Oz fabric to continue my "There's No Place Like Home" wall hanging  (which has now become a UFO...)

 I promise it will soon come back into the WIP pile.......but first....

Do you remember the Raggedy Ann doll and quilt I made for the grandaughter I was waiting for????............Well  here she is!
This last photo is both a gift and a blessing.......Hello Miss Iris Emma!

Til next time.........I am off and will say Ta-Ta for now..............


 

Hands to Help.....

  “When we recall the past, we usually find that it is the simplest things - not the great occasions - that in retrospect give off the greatest glow of happiness.”― Bob Hope


Back in 2012 I rescued an unfinished quilt top at a second hand store while visiting my kids in Dallas.  Here is the link to that post........At the time I had planned to finish the quilt for a charity and finally....three years later....here it is! This quilt goes to Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo.....

 The top looked like this before I started and I knew I wouldn't be able to match the contrasting fabric......

   so I added some gingham yellow circles to the middle of the yellow blocks and some contrasting squares from a log cabin "cheater" fabric to the blue blocks.....then I used the yellow gingham and solid blue denim color for borders..... and the blue cheater fabric & blue denim color for the backing...finished it off with some random stippling and machine embroidery...

Hands2Help Quilt Challenge

 So I also made a little flannel and cotton baby blanket from a kit I found and in retrospect I wish I had filled it with batting but since the directions didn't ask for it I left it out........It is really quilted because I added some machine embroidery to each block but I think it is really more of a Doll quilt or baby blanket.........it is about 30x36................

  I wanted to stay true to the pink and green theme so I used pink and green embroidery thread and it is really hard to see in the photo above but here are some photos of some of the blocks.....

 



 So I guess that's all I've been up to.........I have some photos of my yard to show you but I'll wait til next time........

 Ta-Ta for now.....................

Have a Blessed Easter!

Disappearing Hourglass Blocks have Disappeared....Spring is Here...and a baby in the house.............

  "Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it eludes you. But if you turn your attention to other things, It comes and sits softly on your shoulder."- Henry David Thoreau

I showed you a couple of finished disappearing hourglass blocks on my last post and was undecided on one of them.......a beautiful floral print because I thought it might be too busy to show the contrast and now I'm sure of it...........here are my first 6 blocks..........

I think that for sure the lighter whiter blocks are great and that I can probably even work with the two others but I think the pattern gets lost with the florals.   Unfortunately I  think I already have one or two more florals already cut but I'm sure a table topper or other project can be beautiful using them.......

Look at this sweet little baby turtle......his/her name is Charley.....(either Charles or Charlene)...........she is presently living in the planter that sits at the entrance to my home which usually has silk flowers or some sort of seasonal decoration.  Now it is Charley's new home for awhile..........the plastic lid that Charley is in is about 3 inches in diameter....


 
 Yay!  my Irises are blooming and so is my periwinkle and I have leaves (and mulberries) growing on my Mulberry tree.......Spring is here!

see you next time...........Ta-ta for now.................




 

PNG Quilt Collective update....a sweet gift and some disappearing blocks..

In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.— Albert Einstein 

 

About a year or so ago I blogged about my friend, Gina's, project for babies in Papua, New Guinea..........(Click here for her info page)

So anyway.........I made a couple of little baby quilts and a fleece blanket and sent to Gina back in 2013.......this was one of the quilts I sent:

 

Imagine my delight when I saw Gina's post from last October which showed a group of the Patea Tribe who received some of the quilts.  There at the far left is the little quilt above being held up for display! Now THAT is a display wall!  My heart was singing when I saw the photo.

I also wanted to show you a sweet little gift my Sis gave me last week.........She heard me going on and on about all the little zip-lock kits I had been making for everyone else and that I still hadn't made one for myself so look at this!

 

Irene's "signature" hexies on the front and extra pockets and zip-lock bags on the inside!  Thanks Irene.  You know how much I love it!

 

My next project is the disappearing hourglass quilt.  I saw the pattern on my friend, Mary (Needled Mom)'s blog..... I am using a layer cake of Fairy Tale Friends by American Jane with some teal contrast....here is my first block........first you see the hourglass block....then the disappearing block created from it.....

 

 

The second block I'm still not sure about....I'm thinking the floral fabric may be too dark and I may go back and just pick out the lighter fabrics from the Fairy Tales Friend layer cake....opionions anybody???

 

 Ok then......time to get this post published and wind down from the weekend graveyard shift....I'm back to work dayshift tomorrow so Ta-Ta for now......


 

When Hexies go bad....or "I know what I'm doing"...........

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” - Thomas A. Edison


So you all have heard me talk about my Sis at Hilachas , and many of you are followers of her blog, as well, so you might remember how much she adores hexies of all kinds............
Well I had a jelly roll in my stash that I'd had there for quite some time and it just happened to be in the colors of her kitchen so I decided to "kill two birds with one stone", so to speak,  and do a jelly roll hexie project..........I found a great pattern called "wrapped in roses"at e-patterns central.com/
The pattern includes the table topper and coasters.................
Okayyyyyyyyyyyyy......................now I have to remind you about how my sis and I have been sewing since we were 8 or 10 years old and we "know what we're doing"............soooooooooooooo..............we are not always at the front of the "following directions" line..............

Well, in addition to this beautiful jelly roll.........I also had some matching charms so I decided to use a charm to cut the center hexie.............and since "I know what I'm doing" and all.........I didn't use the pattern I bought....I just cut the "hexie" out of the charm using my own brain..................

I didn't stop to realize until I had already sewed one row around this "hexie" that I had actually cut an Octagon!  Oh well.........I'm not starting over so finished it out............
I will show you the finish, which I am actually pleased with..........although getting there was a bit of a challenge......

 Originally I cut this into a round shape but  Oh my Goodness! I could NOT sew the binding on right!  I sewed and took it out THREE times.....first it was pulling up at the sides making the topper look like a bowl...I took it out and re-sewed it THE SAME WAY......then I took it a third time and stretched the topper a bit and ended up with a ruffled edging before surrendering............I cut away the circle and made the whole thing an octagon and was finally happy.................

 here is the back...........

So anyway.........I did finally accomplish what I had set out to do and that was sewing something with a jelly roll and also doing a hexie? (I call it a Hexie plus two) project....lol

Ok then.........I'm off to "not follow directions" on my next project..............TaTa for now!