God's Valentine....

There's been a lot of baking going on in my sewing room.....

“Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again.”― Saint Augustine


Yes I have been baking up a storm in my sewing room lately.......I had seen the cutest little pin cushion pies online somewhere and had been wanting to try making one so the time presented itself with my SWF swap.  I decided (at the last minute, of course) to make a pin cushion pie for my partner but I didn't want to have to wait for the pattern, which was only available as a paper mail only pattern,  so I tackled it myself.......The biggest problems I had were finding the right fabric that would look like fruit and then finding the tart pan for it but after finding solutions for all those problems.....here it is......................looks good enough to eat, right??

I wanted to package it up to send to my partner, Sharon, so it would look like it was sort of in a picnic basket so I made this  little fabric basket

wrapped the pie up inside a blueberry checkered scarf

 and Tada!  It's ready to send off to Sharon......

and look at the fabulous pin cushion thread catcher that Sharon made for me...............she must have somehow seen the mess I always have on my carpet with all the thread on the floor....lol....and it even has a little hanging tool bag attached.....Love it!

So since I was in a "baking" mood..................I decided "why not make some cupcakes?"  While I was looking for patterns for the pie pin cushion I came across a downloadable machine embroidery pattern for a cupcake pincushion that is an "in the hoop" pattern.  I have so enjoyed my embroidery machine since getting it last January.   It is one of the best toys I have ever had and continues to bring me joy everytime I create something new with it..........check out this cute little cupcake............isn't that the sweetest thing?

and they are so fast to make that I decide I might as well make  some more.........................I made a half dozen total and have already given a couple away..........and they definitely satisfy my yen for "instant creative gratification" ..............

 they really do look good enough to eat but they are glued to the silicone cups with bathroom caulk so they definitely DON"T smell good enough to eat......lol.............but the smell does go away as the caulk dries so I might try one later...haha

ok then........................I'm off to do something.....don't know what but anyway Ta-Ta for now......................

Live Long and Prosper!

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in the quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.

— Mary Jean Irion

As I promised.......here is the photo of the Star Trek Tote for my Trekki friend...........I have used this pattern three times now and I really love it......I actually used the idea from another pattern but used my own measurements for the sides and pleats....I can buy a half yard of fabric and cut it into 4 pieces, then I add a 9 inch contrasting strip in the middle for the pleat.....
This time I decided to add snaps to the sides so that it can be used for large or small loads..................here is the bag with the sides open all the way...........

 

 Below is the bag with the sides snapped together.... Did you notice the fabulous Star Trek Command Insignia I found to embroider on the inside of the pleat?....The blue color you see is actually gray, by the way......I love this look with the sides snapped, don't you?

 I also found the Star Trek Medical insignia which I embroidered on the opposite side............I took this photo  last night and it actually shows the gray color more as it actually is.....

................and, of course....a label which is doubles as an inside pocket.............

  

I also whipped up a quick hanging towel to give to the third co-worker on my shift.... she is relatively new to the shift and I tried and tried to find out from her what her likes are and she just really couldn't tell me much more than she likes beiges and rocks and natural colors....and "eclectic" so I will have to wait til I get to know what she likes before I can make her something more suited to her personality.   I had to rely mostly on purchased items for her this year........

I did find a fabulous rock from my own collection to give her though!! My sister's ranch has tons of these gorgeous rocks....the holes formed by dripping water....

Well, as some of you might remember......this is Friday and the start of my work week tonight....................so I am going to go back upstairs and try to sew some more before it is time to get ready for work..........................Ta-ta for now........

 

Belated Christmas Gifts......

 “One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do." ---Henry Ford

My Christmas holidays were wonderful......had such a good time with family and friends and I count my blessings..........and I am only too aware that not everyone is as fortunate as me.......

One of my co-workers lost her husband right before Christmas this year....he became ill right before Thanksgiving so her Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year were probably the worst she has ever had.......due to that we postponed our little Christmas "party" that we have during our shift and decided to celebrate at a later date....

That being said.....I waited to finish the gifts I was making for them until this week.................one of the ladies I work with love ALL things "Day of the Dead".....so I made her these two ghastly items.....lol.....I just happened to see her admiring an apron in a catelog one day and then heard her say how she was looking for a tortilla cozy but didn't like any of the ones she saw......she will like these!

 My other co-worker loves Star Trek memorabilia so I found a fabulous Starship Enterprise Fleece throw kit and tied it up for her.............I am still working on her Star Trek Tote bag, which I will show you as soon as I'm done.........

I hope you are all doing well so far in 2014.........I wish you all the best wishes for a wonderful year!

Shifting into High Gear.......

You can never do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.  -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Two more projects done for Christmas.....I guess it's true what my Sister says, that I am at my best under pressure.....lol....I will be getting my Christmas company on Saturday and my sewing room will become a guest room so I have to get what I'm going to get done within the next 3 days!

Here are a couple of golf towels I made for my Bro..........he got his first hole-in-one this year during tournament play!  Yay Big Al!

 Today I hope I can get some more hanging kitchen towels made....and I still have to wrap presents!   Onward!



 

Is it the last minute yet????

Give freely to the world these gifts of love and compassion. Do not concern yourself with how much you receive in return, just know in your heart it will be returned.  --Steve Maraboli




...............Is it the last minute yet??? Nah.....I still have another couple of weeks, right???

Well anyway............here it is December already and I am frantically trying to get some of those "last minute" projects done......last year I was working on my sons Dresden quilt!  (Yep, I got it done!)

This year (so far anyway) I am just finishing up some small projects like these two hanging towels I made this week for a couple of my co-workers.....................  I found a couple of "just perfect" Machine Embroidery patterns and combined them with my hanging towel pattern and there you go.............on the left an adorable Hello Kitty wreath for my friend Priscilla, who loves all things Hello Kitty 

 




and then, for my friend Maribel,on the right is a Christmas "Biker Chick" for her kitchen...............I gave them to my friends last night and they garnered all the appropriate "oohs and ahs" so I am happy.................... 


I still have a few projects I want to finish but it isn't the last minute yet so I still have plenty of time........ta-ta for now.....

Special Ornaments......

 We are all ordinary.  We are all boring.  We are all spectacular.  We are all shy.  We are all bold.  We are all heroes.  We are all helpless.  It just depends on the day. --Brad Meltzer

Every Christmas season all the boxes of decorations and lights usually make their way down from the attic over the garage the day after Thanksgiving...........
One year I had been to a garage sale earlier that year and had found several boxes of gorgeous dusty blue and mauve ornaments in all sizes............and so I decided that for that year I was going to create one of those "decorator" trees using only red and blue lights and these marvelous ornaments.......I also bought rolls and rolls of gold ribbon and made dozens of beautiful gold bows to add to the mix "like they do at the big department stores".....

After spending hours on the tree I stood back and looked at it and my heart dropped........I didn't see the cherished ornaments my kids had made at school with the pictures of them glued on.....I didn't see the ornaments we had all sat and made together.......I didn't see the ornaments my sister had made for me....nor the ones my friends had made or given to me.....in other words.....I didn't see MY Christmas tree!  I went to my boxes marked "Special Ornaments" and pulled them out....added some colored lights to the tree and when I finally looked at the finished product...there was MY tree!   

I have gone from a 7 foot tree to a 4 foot tree over the years because pulling a huge Christmas Tree box from the attic got a little harder....but every one of those special ornaments fits on that little tree!

(ummm....I bought a 2 foot tall urn to put it in and....Voila! It is now a 6 foot tree!)

so let me show you some of the ornaments that are so special to me...

 
First here are the ones my sons made at school for me......and the ones we made together over the years.....

 and the ones friends made for me or gave to me...... The Santa, angel, stocking a snowman were those "cookie dough" ornaments that were baked and then painted by a co-worker way back in 1985.....I had a dozen of them to start with but over the years a few have broken....

 My Sis, Irene made the ones on the right and my sweet Grandsons send me a new ornament with their photo each year like the ones below....

So, tell me, with all that love I just showed you why would anybody want a decorator tree at home????

Have a wonderful Christmas everybody.....ta-ta for now.....

More Instant Gratification.......

Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.

— Robert Fulghum

So before I became a "quilter"........I used to sew up a storm......back in those days I would whip up a project in just a few days because (like most of us) I've always had to squeeze my sewing time in between raising kids, going to work, cooking dinner.....you know the drill.............

I've missed those "instant gratification" days and so this week I made some "in the hoop" Christmas ornaments and a mantel scarf and I even squeezed in a quickie thread catcher and replaced a zipper in my Dad's thermal vest!

Here, first, is the mantel scarf.....made from machine embroidery patterns called "Blue Nativity".....I used a piece of gold velour I had had in my stash for years.............

 I added the extra Star and Lettering to the top of each of the panels....................(guess who spelled "Myrrh" wrong?)

 After adding the gold trim to the edges, I notice they are a little curled but they really don't look as curly "in real life" as they do in the photo.....I may just leave it like that..........

 Here are the "in the hoop" ornaments...........front and back...............I used felt on the round ones and fabric on the other two...............I have been experimenting with different fabrics using my machine embroidery........

 

and last, but not least..............with all the ME I've been doing, my floor is constantly full of thread cuttings so I quickly fashioned a thread catcher to place right by the machine......

It will also serve as a "pre-catcher" for all the stuff that seems to fall from my hand into the trash can below.....you know, the spool guard.....the needle threader......embroidery spools......can't tell you how many times I've had to go fishing in the trash can to find something I dropped.....lol......

and I guess that is all I have to show you today..........I'm off to work again tonight so I'll talk to you again later...............
Ta-ta for now.................



 

A quick finish...................

A good friend is a connection to life, a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world. — Lois Wyse I have had this piece of fabric in my stash since before I even knew it was called a stash.......it was a pretty Christmas border print that I knew would make a beautiful tablecloth but none of my tables were ever the right size for it since it was just about 45 x 48 inches......... But I realized last week that it was the perfect size for my Mom's kitchen table!  She uses a tablecloth everyday and this will be great for the holidays. The fabric is a Christmas motif by "The Kesslers for Concord Fabrics, Inc" and depicts a lace tablecloth and lots of beautiful desserts in lovely serving dishes.... and pretty china coffee cups.....looks like an afternoon ladies tea party, complete with wrapped gifts, flowers, and christmas cards......I would love to be invited to this party, wouldn't you? I found some red fabric with gold stars for the back, which was not quite as wide as the Kessler print so I added some gold fabric to the ends and then just followed the diagonals when I quilted it in the center and followed the scallops for quilting the edges.........(you can't really see the quilting here because of the busy print......) This was really one of those really quick projects.........not much to do but sew three or four seams and.......ta-da.............which is how much of my sewing history had been before I got the "quilting bug".......but it really is kind of fun to do one of these "instant gratification" projects........... Tonight, since I work the graveyard shift.....while all of you are enjoying an extra hour sleep.......(sad violin music, please).....I will be awake and working an extra hour!  LOL.....this happens on my shift twice during the year......in the spring they make it up to us by letting us work an hour less......so I guess it all works out in the end............so off I go to get ready.......ta-ta for now.............

Bringing Joy to Nana..............

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.

— Louisa May Alcott

 I finally finished the two "Pre-Christmas" Christmas projects I was making for my Grands...............you saw the Grinch quillow on my last post................

 This went out, together with the 12 Days of Christmas Play Mat,  in Nana's yearly Halloween package..............

..................and this is what makes it all worthwhile..............
 

Greetings from the edge of the earth.........

Every piece of the universe, even the tiniest little snow crystal, matters somehow. I have a place in the pattern, and so do you.

— T.A. Barron

No......I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth............just seem to have hit a little blogging slump......I've been doing some sewing though........still working on my Grandson's 12 days of Christmas hanging......just need to sew up the sandwiches.....and in the meantime, I started and finished the Grinch quillow for his little brother......I am planning to send them both when I send them their Halloween package so they can use them for awhile before Christmas gets here...

I bought a panel for this and then used my embroidery machine to make two additional blocks.....(top left and 3rd row, right) 



  I won the house block on a lotto and used it for the pillow pocket....and added a couple of machine embroidery patterns to it, as well.....

I have made and received a project in my little sewing with friends group.....this swap we made a needle case for each other.....my partner has already received the one I made for her so I am posting it today......as you can see, I am still loving my embroidery machine......I used two fabulous crazy quilt patches for this....one on front and one on back.....

 and it opens up to hold all your hand sewing tools.......

 
and now I have saved the best for last.....look at this adorable turtle needle case I received from my partner, Mary.....

and filled with all these goodies......life just doesn't get any better.......Thanks so much, Mary......it is perfect and I love it!


......so now I'm off to see if I can finish 1st Grandson's 12 Days of Christmas hanging so I can get it sent off............TaTa for now.......