In Our Garden Block Of The Month Blocks #3 And #4

Amy at Sew Incredibly Crazy has definitely created a fun blog hop for all of us

with flowers, critters, and other fun garden happenings for you to sew.

Thanks, Amy!

The first day of every month a designer will be releasing two patterns.

One pieced block and one applique block, all with a garden theme.

The garden blocks I designed have blooming flowers, a happy bird who's ready for 

warmer weather, and a worm (or snake depending on where you live.) It's a very busy garden!

The Busy Garden blocks

Pieced Block #3

Appliqued Block #4

Want to make these blocks? 

I've got a PDF available for free this month at Craftsy HERE or 

 email me that you'd like a copy and I'll send a PDF to you:

I was so lucky to get fabric from Riley Blake to sew with...thanks Riley Blake!

My fabric stash is full of their fabric, so this gives me a chance to use it in my blocks.

Chevrons, dots, blenders, stars, gingham, and stripes...I love them all!

Oh boy, oh boy, there's an amazing giveaway today from...

The Fat Quarter Shop!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here's the schedule for all the blocks:

February
Amy – Sew Incredibly Crazy
You can find Amy's Block #1 and Block #2 HERE. 

I had so much fun putting together Amy's blocks!

March
Carol – Just Let Me Quilt - This is me!

April

Doris – Quilting Queen Online

May
Carla – Creatin’ in the Sticks

June
Sue – Super Mom No Cape

July
Joan – Moosestash Quilting

August
Kris – Kris Loves Fabric

September
Pat – Life in the Scrapatch

October
Vicki – More Stars in Comanche

November
Lana – It Seams to be Sew

December
Jan - Sew and Sow Farm

January

Amy – Sew Incredibly Crazy– Final Blocks and wrap up

There's a Facebook page, too! Share your blocks and/or see what everyone else is making.

CLICK HERE

A Monkey Boy Interrupts My Sewing Just A Little Bit

The three-year-old Monkey Boy has been hanging out with us for a few days,

so my sewing has been just a little bit interrupted. It's worth it, though!

I love having him around, especially with all his "help" in my sewing room.

Attempting to do some straight-type quilting on some of my "Isabella" Penny Rose Fabric.

It's gorgeous fabric...love it! 

I really like using painter's tape for straight lines. No marks to wash out!

The Monkey Boy thought he should help. 

Luckily, he didn't shove me out of the way while he sewed.

His monkey side came out while climbing/sitting on my cutting table. 

Yes, I let him sit like that on a high table close to the edge. Bad grandma!

He liked the green thread. It took me a minute before I noticed he had pulled

a large length of thread off the spool. He thought it was fun. Hmmmm...not so fun for me.

A 3 year old + scissors + pins = a dangerous situation! 

I have to admit, I let him take the pins off the magnet and put them back.

No blood was shed during his playtime with pins.

This face, resting his head on my shoulder while I sew, is priceless to me.

Such a happy boy! Lucky me!

Six days until my block time in the In My Garden Blog Hop...getting excited!

Making Old T-Shirts Into A Sweet Memory Quilt

Do you know someone (or maybe it is you) who is holding on to a treasured box of old t-shirts?
Well...it's time to drag them out and make an easy and memorable t-shirt quilt!

With graduations fast approaching, a t-shirt quilt would make a great gift.

I'm over at the ThermOWeb blog today showing you how I made this quilt.
I used Therm O Web's Heat N Bond Fusible Interfacing to stabilize
 those stretchy t-shirts to make it easier to sew them all together.

Sweet Memories T-Shirt Quilt

The finished quilt measures 54" x 68" - finished blocks are 12" x 12"

The PDF instructions are on my Craftsy page HERE.

These t-shirts were my hubby's who had slowly been throwing away his old shirts, but for 

various reasons couldn't part with some of these. He still has enough left to last him a lifetime!

Now he has this treasure and totally loves it!

He's been riding bikes FOREVER and has the scars to prove it.

(Let me just say there was one of the above t-shirts that had to have some major trimming 

done to it to remove the blood stains from one of his overly adventurous bike rides.)

His right arm is even bleeding in the 2015 photo below, but he's still smiling!

Head on over to the Therm O Web blog to check out how to make a t-shirt quilt

and to get other amazing ideas for using their products in your sewing/paper projects.

Garden Blocks And Other Things

My "In Our Garden" blocks are ready for March 1st and it totally goes along with the weather we've 

been having...in the 70's! It's hard to believe that just a few weeks ago we had this kind of weather:

I loved that snow, but not wearing a jacket is definitely a nice thing!

So, are you making blocks for "In Our Garden"?

It's time for tulips and my March block will definitely scream, "Garden weather!"

A little snippet...

You have plenty of time to sew Amy's blocks like I did.

Check out the "In Our Garden" Facebook page for other blocks HERE.

Marian at Seams To Be Sew has another blog hop coming up. You don't have to make 

anything for this one, just share something about yourself and your sewing adventures.

Do you ever wonder where the day has gone?

I feel like I'm moving in slow motion all the time. I know I've been doing

 some sewing lately, actually lots of sewing, but I have nothing to show yet. 

What I really want to know is...

What the heck happened to that young, skinny, and energetic girl I used to be! 

This is me with my lifelong Valentine a long, long time ago when I had enough energy to clean the

 house, sew curtains or dresses, paint rooms, make homemade cinnamon rolls...all on the same day! 

Where has the time gone!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope your day is filled with love and sweet treats!

I Started To Make A Pillow

I started to make a pillow, really I did, and the next thing I knew I had a Valentine table runner.

What the heck! Do you veer off and have that kind of thing happen to you, too?

Here's the story of the pillow turned runner:

A couple of days ago...

As I was snuggled under a warm quilt looking at a couple of blogs on my computer, I saw a really 

cool pillow at  5 Little Monsters. It had a glittery heart on black and white striped fabric.

I had black and white striped fabric and Deco Foil for the heart. I could make this!

Yesterday...

I realized that, yes, I did have black and white striped fabric, but not enough.

No problem! I'll just border it with some other fabric to make it the right size.

But, I needed to run to town before I started sewing.

There was a store next to the store I was shopping at. 

Are those shiny objects in the window? Yep!

There IT was, calling my name.

It was red like my couch, about 2 feet long, and made of heavy wood.

My coffee table needed this, I'm sure of it. 

Back home...

Poor thing looks a little pathetic and lonely on my black table. 

Decision made...no heart pillow, I'm making a table runner!

Today...

Finished the runner this morning by stitching in the ditch and around the hearts.
Quick and easy!

A day trip with the hubby to take photos...fun!

The hearts are really, really shiny, but the camera didn't want to see it.

This photo kind of picks up the shine.

I ran my ThermOWeb Hot Melt Adhesive and Deco Foil through my laminator to make the hearts. 

It happily connected that shiny red foil to my fabric. Loved it!

No photos of that process, sorry, but here's a cute video to watch using an iron, not a laminator.

The daughter of Amy at Sew Incredibly Crazy made it...adorable and informative!

Of course, my red long bowl needed a photo shoot, too. Now it just needs to be

filled with something and set out on my new table runner that was meant to be a pillow.

Happy sewing to you!

I'm Nuts About The Dreaded Dresden

Marian at Seams To Be Sew created a blog hop called Nuts About ? 

We had to replace the "?" with something we were nuts about and show it on our big day.

Since I'm nuts about a lot of things it was tough, but I narrowed it down to

THE DREADED DRESDEN!

The first time I made a Dresden was for a blog hop. I totally freaked out about making it.

Then I realized how easy they are to make and I fell in love with them!

Using Missouri Star Quilt Company's Sunburst Dresden idea, I made this quilt.

The Dresden Love Quilt

The fabrics are First Crush by Sweetwater for Moda.

It measures 39" x 39" and is perfect for a lap quilt, table top, or as a wall hanging.

Or, it could cover a big rock if you wanted it to!

The other thing I'm nuts about is creating a center block (which is the Dresden in this case) and

then adding different sized borders until it's a size I like. No pattern, just sew those borders on!

I used Spray N Bond Basting Adhesive to place the Dresden on the fabric so I could stitch it in place.

The spray also sandwiched my quilt to prepare it for some quilting. So easy and no pins!

I used my favorite iron-on adhesive, Heat N Bond Lite, to make those hearts stick to the 
center so I could sew them down with a blanket stitch.

Oh, and did I mention I'm nuts about giveaways? Well, I am!

a Rafflecopter giveaway 

There's two more sweet giveaways at AnyPattern.com...I love these flowers!

Click HERE to go to AnyPattern.com for their giveaway.

There's more of us "nuts" out there during this hop...check them out!

A big nutty THANKS to Marian for organizing this hop and getting some incredible sponsors!

February 4, 2016

Words & Stitches
Moose Stash
Vroomans Quilts
Quilt In Piece

February 5, 2016 - Today!

Just Let Me Quilt
DesertSky
Lulu & Celeste
Marjorie's Busy Corner
Tea Time Creations

February 8, 2016

Batts In The Attic
Life In The Scrapatch
Quilting Affection
Ravelly's
In The Boon Docks

February 9, 2016

Quilting Queen Online
Elizabeth Coughlin
Bumbleberry Cottage
All Things Sewn

February 10, 2016

MeadowBrook
Sew Many Yarns
From This To That
Seams To Be Sew