My Last Design Wall Post......

......For the year 2013. 
These last couple of weeks was a steady pace of pre-cooking ~ baking ~ cleaning ~ laundry ~ shopping ~ wrapping and all those 'must do' things to get ready for our family Christmas Celebration.
We had a wonderful time of course.  Like we do every year.
My kitchen was filled with enough food to feed an army.
I'm not kidding!!  I cooked soooo much and the girls brought their dishes to add to the mountain of food.  Topped off with the traditional sweets and cookies.
Oh yeah ..... we were all stuffed.

And then the FUN really started for the kids.  Opening the presents.
And then..... that excitement was topped off by our traditional "Christmas Clue Hunt".   I've been making up clues for 13 years now.
I start by reading the first clue for the oldest.  When that clue is found the next clue is read to the next child and then the next child on down to the youngest.  When all clues have been found.... it's a race to the stockings to find out what's been added this year.   

Since this is the end of 2013 I thought I'd share all of the Christmas Snuggles that I made for the girls this year.  Some of them you have seen.  But several I didn't want to post about because they might read my blog.  So here's the run down......

Alivia's Snowmen

Bethany's.  There was another 2" green border on this. 

This is Gina's. 

And Jessi's. 

Debbie's

Kianna's

I gave this one to Evelin because she loved it so much last year. 

So that's the show.  All seven of the girls now have a Christmas Snuggle made by me.  I was going to do the same for the boys next year.... but after a few discussions with some of them they assured me that maybe I could save some fabric and a lot of work and think of something else.  LOL 
Gotta love my guys. 

I sure hope you all had a wonderful 2013 and wishing all the best to you in the New Year. 
Now I'll be linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday for the last time this year.

Happy New Year!! 
 .....Linda

Merry Christmas

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

How I feel lately.....

 

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Hexie Update.....

Here's a quick short update on my Hexie project.  
I haven't worked on it as much as I had planned these last couple of weeks but I did manage to get these four 'blocks' made.

 I've gotten a lot of basting done and I've sorted some of them into groups for the 'blocks'.   Eight more ready to go. 

And still more ready to be sorted.  This is where I store the basted hexies until I get ready to work them up into the blocks.  

I'll be linking this to  HELP for Hexie-aholics over on Sarah's blog.   But I might have to wait until she gets the linky posted.  

Back to Christmas preparations......
I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Design Wall Monday....

I finished my Easy Street top last week and now I'm working on a border that I want to put on mine.  I didn't want to just slap a piece of fabric on it and call it good so as I was sewing the blocks I started pondering what I could do.   It didn't take me long to decide so I'm hoping it won't take long to get it sewn together.   This top (so far) was so big that my design wall wouldn't hold it so I had to lay it out on my dining room floor.  Once I get the borders added I don't know where I'll be able to take a picture.  Oh well I'll figure that out when I get there.

I'm linking over to Judy's Patchwork Times on her Design Wall Monday.  

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Back Home....

Last Wednesday we went to Joplin to spend Thanksgiving with our daughter and her family.  Of course the day was filled with fun and lots of yummy food.

This year our oldest granddaughter will not be coming home this Christmas because she'll spend it with her fiance's family.   So I took her Christmas snuggle quilt to her so I could give it to her in person.   Now that she's seen it I can show it here.    Yeah she loved it!   (I had to giggle when I saw this pic with her peeking over the top).

Jessi & Grant's wedding will be next Oct and she wanted to wait until I came down so I could share the dress hunt with her & her mom.   See the little pink paper heart in the center/top of the picture.  Behind those mirror doors is her dressing room.  It didn't take long at all.  #4 was The One!!  She looked so beautiful!!

The next day Deb had scheduled a pedicure & manicure for us.  Believe it or not but I have never had either one before.  I've always done my own nails and have never polished my toes.  How Fun.  Made a believer out of me.  haha  I will absolutely have both again.   First was the pedicure then came the manicure.  What a sweet little gal that worked on me.  

BTW.... see my feet?  Those are called flip flops now.  NOT thongs!  (As those of us of a certain age used to call them).  I cracked everyone up as my daughter corrected me.  LOL  

Now we're back home and I'm starting to get back into the groove.  Spent yesterday doing a bit of cleaning.  Then back to my studio to sew on a binding.  One more binding to do today and I'll be ready to get all the snuggles washed and wrapped for Christmas.  

It's been a wonderful week.   Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Design Wall Monday....

Happy Monday this Thanksgiving week.  I hope everyone will be having a safe, wonderfully blessed week.  Very little machine sewing for me this week but I will be enjoying my hexie's for sure.

These last few days I've been working on my Easy Street trying to get most of it completed before the next mystery comes along.
I have all the blocks finished and two 'rows' sewn together so far.   Maybe I can get a few more blocks sewn into rows this week before I stop to enjoy my family over Thanksgiving.

Linking over to Judy's Design Wall Monday.
I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Hexie Friday....

One more post to show off the progress of my hexie quilt.  
It is definitely taking shape now and from here on I'll be concentrating on making more 'blocks' of the many different colored fabrics that I have cut.  
It may be awhile before I post another update.

On the machine side of my quilting this week I've been sewing together the last 20 blocks for my Easy Street.  One more block to make and then I can start sewing the rows.  I'm hoping I can at least get the top finished before her next mystery starts.   That's probably wishful thinking since I've decided I want to put a pieced border on it instead of a plain one.  But it's worth a try.

So today I'm linking to A Quilting Reader's Garden Hexie Friday.

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

My week.....

I pretty much did no sewing this last week.  Instead I gladly unfolded and refolded (on the comic book boards) each piece of fabric on my shelves.  Even the FQ's.   And it was a pleasant surprise to find some of the fabrics that I had completely forgotten about.    Here's a merged picture of my nice neat stash if you're interested.  lol

Only fabric that measured 1 yard of more was folded on a board.   The small center shelf holds FQ's and less than 1 yard cuts.
Do you notice the Yellow?  Not many to see there huh?  LOL
Maybe I'll start collecting yellow.

Now you know what I did last week.
I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Something Old is New Again....

 Last year I was working on Bonnie Hunter's Easy Street mystery and for some reason I reached a stand-still.  I put it all away to do something else.
 
Soooo since it's about time for her to start this year's mystery (and because I have my stash all organized nicely) I figured it would be a good time to get it all back out and see how far along I can get it.

I have all the pieces cut and sections sewn together already.  All that is left to do is sew up the blocks.  I don't think that should take me too long to do.  hahaha

Linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday.
I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

What I've been working on.....

It may not seem like much but I have been stitching each evening and I've made some advancement on my hexie project.  It's now starting to really take shape and I'm soooo enjoying these hexies.  I still haven't chosen the color for the star centers and that first border.  Maybe today.

I decided my fabrics needed to be cleaned up and organized better so I started yesterday.  I've ordered comic book backing boards to use for my fabrics to help them stand firmly on the shelf.   So far I've used 300 and still have probably another 100 different fabrics to do yet.  When I get it all done I'll show you how nice it looks.  Stay tuned.
For now I'm back to folding....... right after I link over on Needle & Thread Thursday.
And .... I'm linking to BillieBee's Hexie Friday Blog.

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Hexie Friday....

I've been working on my hexie project a little bit this week.  I want to see how the first section will look after I have some of the cream hexie's surrounding the blocks.
This will be the left corner.
Then I want to try to get some of the borders on.  I've decided to match the first colored border to the center hexie of each 'star' but I just haven't made a decision on the color yet so that will have to wait.
That's why I still have a hole.  ;o)

(edit: Nov 12)  I'm going to link this post to a new linky party that I just found.  So if you love hexies like I do follow me over to Splish Splash Stash "In Hand EPP link party".
I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Hot Bowl Hot Pads.....

I was reorganizing my sewing room just a bit and came across this pattern.

So after I finished cleaning I decided to make one of these.  One thing led to another and I ended up making three.

This will enlarge if you click
the picture.

They were so easy and fun!  The hardest part was trying to figure out how I wanted to quilt each piece.
OMGosh!  It's been such a long time since I've done any free-motion quilting and I'm very very rusty.  Thankfully the fabric patterns hid a whole lot of really bad quilting.  lol

See how cute they are....

Small Cereal Bowl

Large Cereal Bowl

Serving Bowl

There is also a pattern for a bread basket but I don't think I'll make one of those.

The pattern is super easy and only requires a Fat Quarter per side (a bit more if you're going to bind them.  I chose to birth all of mine instead of cutting and sewing binding and I like them better this way.

There is also directions to make a top for each one.  But I'm absolutely NOT making them.  Can you imagine the mess?  They do recommend using the vinyl coated fabric but I just don't trust the vinyl in a microwave and my food.  Nope!  I'll continue to use my large coffee filters thank you very much.  

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Monday Design Wall....

My last Christmas Snuggle quilt is finished.... This years #7.... whew!!
After pondering several border designs I finally settled on this one.

Because of the design layout of the center (way longer than wide) I knew I didn't want to add the same border around the whole quilt.
So after adding that first block border I came up with the two extra block borders on just the sides.
That did it!  Exactly what it needed.

Now this top will go to my quilting gals and I'll pick up #6 that they have finished quilting.

Gosh!!  Maybe I can play around with a few small things I've been wanting to get made.

And today is Monday so I'm linking this over on Judy's Design Wall post.
I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

My Quiet Sunday Stitching.....

I really dislike having to change the time.  I don't like it in the Spring and I don't like it in the Fall.  It just messes up my internal clock.  And I don't need anything else to mess with me that's for sure!  heehee


So I think I'll get out my Hexies today (while I'm cheering our Chiefs) and see if I can get a few more sewn together.  I really haven't worked on them much these last couple of weeks even tho I have managed to sew these three blocks together.  It's a start anyway.


And I'm going to link over on Kathy's Quilts.  Let's go see what others are working on today.

I hope you're having a great day.
 Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Number 7....

The last Christmas Snuggle (number 7) has been started.  I'm using my favorite Go die.  (The  Tumbler) and had originally thought I would lay the pieces out like I always do .... all mixed up.

And I did.

But then I thought "What if"??  Soooo I started rearranging the tumblers and quickly had this layout.
What do you call these shapes?
My brain sees a martini shaker (block #1) and the other one looks like an hourglass.  ;o)
Well ... whatever they're called I love this layout!!

I'll be adding a ½" strip of Kona White to separate the tumblers.
And I have the border figured out too.
Of course that could change any day now ..... but for now I'll be adding more tumblers to get this the length I want.

And....I'll be linking over to Judy's Design Wall Monday (yeah I know yesterday was Monday)....

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Bindings....

I've had these Christmas snuggle tops finished for awhile now so it was time to start getting some of the bindings done.   On the snuggle quilts I make I finish all of their bindings now by machine.  Considering the wear and tear and washings they go through I've found they hold up better than hand sewing the binding.    And besides .... it's faster.  
These three are finished....

One more quilt still at the quilters and another top ready to go to them.  I still have one more to make (or possibly two).
Stay tuned.  ;o)
I hope you're having a great day.
 Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Table Topper...

After I had made the Halloween placemats and runner for our guild auction I had a lot of the fabric and scraps left over.


So the other day I started playing with some of the leftover blocks and came up with this.

Aren't those skeletons cute?
I had just enough of this fabric left so I could cut them lengthwise without having to piece them.  I'm still thinking about what I want to make to use the rest of this fabric.   I do know I'll be making some coasters but they certainly won't use up much fabric.

<<<This is the final table topper.  Size 39"x39".  Just the right size for my dining table.

I'm heading over to Judy's Design Wall Monday.
Let's go see what wonderful things have been made.

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Hexie Update.....

I haven't worked much on my hexies lately trying to finish other projects.  But I do have two more 'blocks' to show.

  Goodness!!  I really need to clean off the strings on my design wall.  lol  Please act like you don't see them.  ;o)

   

I hope you're having a great day.
 Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Quilt Auction....

 Our Quilt Guild Auction is now history.   Our members had some very nice items to sell.   Even though the attendance was down our Treasurer thinks we still made our goal in sales.  A lot of work by a lot of dedicated quilters!

I hope you're having a great day.
 Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Have you made a list?
Are you checking it off?
Do you think you have plenty of time?
Really?
Do you want to know how many

>>>   Days 'till Christmas  <<<

 

I hope you're having a great day.
 Glad you stopped by.....Linda

One new snuggle....

coming right up.  I've taken the last one that I made to the quilters and have since cut the fabrics for this new snuggle, marked and sewn the light and dark fabrics together to make half square triangle blocks.

Here's a small sampling of the blocks.  There will also be greens added to this pile soon.
And this will be the only picture I'll post about this snuggle because I don't want to take the chance that my granddaughter will see it before Christmas.





However I do want to tell you about a new gadget I have that makes squaring up small blocks so easy.   This will help you trim a block from 1½" up to 6½".   It's a June Taylor cutter.   I have her large one that cuts strips every half inch and I love it.  So when I remembered that I had this one I dug it out of the drawer and put it to work.  Perfect squared 6½" blocks every time.
Line it up on the square and cut each side.  Turn the block to line up the other two sides and trim.  You can tell by this picture that I didn't have much to trim off but by taking this extra step it sure makes a difference when sewing blocks together.

I'm heading over to Judy's blog to link to her Design Wall Monday.  Come join us.  

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda

Hexie blocks....

Just for fun I decided to lay all the finished blocks together in sort of the plan I'll be using.
I'm still not liking that one block.  Looks out of place to me.  I tried to find some different fabrics so I could incorporate maybe one or two wild brighter blocks .... but no luck.  At least nothing that I like.
I want this quilt to be calm and quiet and that block just kinda rock & rolls a bit too much.  lol   I'm pretty sure I'll be unsewing that one.

And....I'm a day late but since yesterday was the 17th of the month I'm heading over to Sarah's blog so I can link to her HeLP for Hexie-aholics

I hope you're having a great day.
 Glad you stopped by.....Linda

I'm at the home stretch....

I've been slowly working on this in bits and pieces and now I almost have this snuggle top together.  The bottom border still needs to be attached and then just a couple more simple borders to add.

All the quilts I make I design with EQ7.  Then I'll print out the quilt and use the rotary cutting printout to cut the borders.  That works perfectly for a plain border .... but not so much with a block border.  I'm not sure what happened but even though I used the right number of blocks (cut the right size) I had to adjust my seams on the block border just a smidgen to get the right lengths.   I guess I should have sewn a fat ¼" instead of my normal scant.  Amazing how a small detail like that will make such a big difference in the end.
I'm planning to finish this top today and get the next Christmas snuggle cut out.  It sure feels good to get back into the studio and sew.

Since it's Wed I'm linking over on Esther's WOW -WIPs On Wednesday.  

I hope you're having a great day.
 Glad you stopped by.....Linda

New Week starts.....

I have absolutely NO appointments - meetings - games etc. to go to this week.  I can't even remember the last time I had a complete week free to do whatever I want.  Right here at home and I intend to enjoy it!!  
The super HOT temps have broken and we've even had rain.  Just a couple inches but soooo needed and definitely welcomed.

So until I head back to my sewing room I thought I'd show you the latest on my hexie project.    I now have eight 'blocks' made and a whole lot of individual hexies basted and ready to go.
I know I'll be working on more hexies today as we watch KC Chiefs play.  It's so good to be excited about them again.  It's been a long time coming and they may not be a powerhouse this year but at least they give us something to cheer about.   Go Chiefs!!  lol

I'm going to link to  Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday.

I hope you're having a great day. Glad you stopped by.....Linda