Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Some Sewing, Knitting and Decorating

I feel like since I got back from our retreat up in Shipshewana, I've hit the ground running.....and I haven't stopped.   I've done some Christmas decorating.  I sort of do that all month just taking my time and enjoying all of the decorations.  I really enjoy all of the homemade things:  the Christmas quilts, crocheted tree skirts and afghans are some of my favorite things.  


I have the stockings hung and another small tree by the fireplace.  Do you remember bubble lights?  The ones in this photo have been around for a lot of years.  You can see Tiki on his purr pad.  He is waiting for someone to give him some fresh snack in his china bowl on the mug rug in front of the fireplace.  I still have to finish quilting his Christmas quilt for in front of the fireplace.  



On Saturday my daughter and I went downtown to Mass Ave Knits for a Christmas make and take.  I made this tiny scarf in a glass ornament.  

This afternoon I finished the gold four patches so I'm caught up with the Bonnie Hunter Aletaire mystery quilt for 2015.

I also finished the last of the nine patches for the Yes Kevin, I Can Do Scrappy mystery quilt done by Ann at Attic Threads & Quilts blog.

This is the tree in my sewing room.  Tiki's box is at the left, and he likes to sit on the stool at the right while I sew.  


I know it's a busy time for everyone, but I hope you take some time out for yourself to do a little stitching or something else you enjoy.  Tomorrow I'm going to sew and have lunch with friends.  I hope to finish the friendship stars so that I can put the Yes Kevin, I Can Do Scrappy mystery quilt top together.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Mystery Quilt Madness

As you probably know, Bonnie Hunter has started her annual Mystery Quilt.  She posts the clues every Friday starting the Friday after Thanksgiving.  This year's quilt is called Allietare and has a rusty red and gold plus black, grey, and neutrals.  I love the finished quilts from her mysteries, and I love the colors she is using this year.  This is my Orca Bay mystery quilt from 2011.  The pattern can be found in Bonnie Hunter's book String Fling.


This is my Roll Roll Cotton Boll, Bonnie's 2010 mystery.  The pattern can also be found in the book, String Fling.  I really love these two quilts with string blocks, and I hope there will be another mystery using strings again soon.


I finished these blocks at the retreat I just attended.  This is (or will be) Easy Street, Bonnie's 2012 Mystery Quilt.  I was hoping to get the other 9 blocks sewn and have the top sewn together before this year's mystery started.  I missed a couple years of mysteries because we were getting ready to move.


Here are the parts of my Allietare mystery so far.  All of my cutting is done, and I hope to find some time to sew everything this week so that I can keep up.  My grey looks like a light blue in this photo for some reason.



I'm also doing the mystery in honor of Kevin the Quilter called Yes, Kevin, I Can Do Scrappy.  This mystery is done by Ann of Attic Threads & Quilts blog.  She has dedicated this mystery quilt to Kevin because he challenges her to get out of her comfort zone and love scrappy quilts.  This quilt is cut from 2 1/2" strips.  I used parts of a couple of Christmas jelly rolls that were in my stash.  I have a lot of Christmas fabric and cut a few strips for this mystery from my stash.  The finale of this quilt should be posted this month so I hope to have the blocks sewn together soon.



Here is Nancy M.'s Grand Illusion mystery quilt from 2014.

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This is Trudy's Jamestown Landing.  The pattern can be found in Bonnie's book String Fling.  

This one is Tumalo Trail also done by Trudy.  She finished putting the top together at the retreat.


I've been working on these 3 mystery quilts for awhile now and have been busy decorating for Christmas.  It's not too late for you to get a start on these mystery quilts, too.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today! 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Retreat Show and Tell

The highlight of our Shipshewana retreat is always Friday night Show and Tell.  I can't keep track of all the quilt makers and still take photos.  I thought I would post some of my favorites from the evening.

This Dear Jane is made of 2 inch finished blocks.  Barb Larson is the maker.




Lori became a Goddess and got to wear the crown to have her photo taken with her first Dear Jane quilt.


Val made this beautiful Dear Jane.  


Patty Harrants made this quilt.  I believe the pattern or something very similar is published in Brigette Giblin's Feathering the Nest book.


Patty's version of Dancing Dollies.



A beautiful applique' quilt made by Deb Rammelsburg.


Barb Larson's beautiful applique.  


Edith Shanholt's Affairs of the Heart quilt.

Nancy Martzolf's applique quilt.  The pattern is by Rosemary Youngs.

I don't know who made this quilt.  This is Antique Sampler pattern by Sue Daley.  

Rosemary Youngs is the maker of this quilt.  I believe it is a reproduction of an antique quilt that she either saw or bought (or both).  The pattern is available from her.  

This is my Antique Sampler quilt based on the Ohio Collection book by Anita Shackleford.  Anita was our guest speaker before show and tell.


My twisted bargello.  It has been a UFO for a good many years, and I finally pulled it from the stack and machine quilted it.  I still need to stitch the binding down.



This is a small hexagon wall hanging that I made as a challenge from Michelle, one of my friends from English Paper Piecing.



This Halloween quilt is from my UFO stack, too.  I would pull it out and add a little to it every October, and then it would go back in the stack.  This year I stitched the binding on and made the executive decision to machine stitch the binding down.  It is just a fun quilt, and I enjoyed having it out for Halloween.  The center redword witch is from Gay at Sentimentalstitches.net   



If you'd like to see other photos from our retreat, here is the link to my photo albums.

https://loosethreadsphotos.shutterfly.com/

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Shipshewana Retreat

I returned home from a fun filled week in Shipshewana, Indiana, on Sunday afternoon.  I've been at the Jane Stickle Quilt Retreat at the Farmstead Inn located there.   It was so much fun to reconnect with old friends and to make new friends.  Here are some of the photos from the Farmstead.

This photo was taken Saturday during a snow storm.  A lot of us had packed winter coats and gloves with us.  A lot of us didn't have snow boots.  I spent a lot of time drying my socks and shoes and cold feet over the heater in my room.  It was really beautiful though.  We shopped during the day and ordered pizza delivered to the sewing room our last evening there.  




This was taken on a day when it was sunny and beautiful but cool and windy.  





The next few photos are the Farmstead Inn decorated for the holidays.









This quilt is huge and is hung on the wall behind the stairway.  

This beautiful cabinet is in between the doors by the front lobby.  The Amish made furniture is just beautiful.  

This is a sign down by the breakfast room.


I'm working on getting my retreat photos up on line where you can view them.  I'll post a link when I figure it all out.  I'll post more photos from my fabric shopping and show and tell.

I hope you are finding some time to stitch today.  I will be spending time in the kitchen the next couple of days preparing for our family's Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Mostly Knitting

I haven't done a lot of quilting over the last month, but I have been doing a lot of knitting.  This Zick Zack scarf was on the needles for a few months, and I finished it.





This is my Colts scarf for this football season.  Whenever we score points I knit that number of rows in blue.  Whenever our opponent wins, I knit that number of rows in white.  You can see that we aren't having a winning season.   This is similar to the temperature scarves that a lot of knitters are making.



I started this scarf and am making it similar to the way the Colts scarf is made.  It's knit in the round forming a tube using leftover sock yarn.  Whenever I'm finished, I'll Kitchner Stitch the ends together.



This pair of socks was on the needles for well over a year.  I finished those and.....

I started and finished another pair.  The blue ones above are done with sock yarn on size 2 needles.  The pink ones below are done with heavier yarn on size 5 needles.  I've discovered a short row heel that I really like to use.


Here is the pair that I finished last week.  I really like wearing knit socks in the winter, so I have another two pair on the needles now.  


I know this is mostly a quilt blog, but this explains part of my absence from blogging.  I thought you might like to see what I've been working on anyway.

I'm heading to Shipshewana to a quilt retreat.  I'll check in from there.

Thanks for visiting.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

On Easy Street Again

Hello     I'm working on my Easy Street quilt again.  Easy Street is the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt from 2012.  This is the last Quiltville mystery that I've done.   We were selling our other house, packing, and moving during the last couple of mysteries, so I didn't even start those.   I'm excited about this year's quilt.  Bonnie's colors are rusty red, gold, black and backgrounds.  I have lots of those colors in my stash, so I'm ready to go.  I thought I should try and get this top put together before starting to cut out the next quilt.  






I took the Halloween decorations down and put the pumpkins and fall decorations back out.


Thanks to my husband who put the holes in the pumpkins for this pumpkin topiary so the dowel rod would go through them and hold them in the pot on the front porch.



I made this Halloween post card for my favorite trick or treater.  

Here he is:  My favorite UPS guy having a snack on Halloween night.


I hope you are finding some time to stitch today.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

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