Bunny Snack Table Runner

It is Spring and with the turn of the season also comes for our family the Easter season.  It is always a time of sadness for what our world caused for the one we call Lord to endure but greatest joy as to what our God gave us in the resurrection of our Lord.  No matter a person's belief there is still the beauty of Spring with the budding of a fresh new world after a sleepy Fall and Winter.  The Easter Bunny also has a big job of getting the eggs delivered and candy and gifts.  Bunnies can get hungry what with all the hopping so we leave snacks to keep the bunny going.  Jelly beans, cookies, carrot cake, chocolate...well most anything sugary yummy and we want to make sure the bunny can see quickly where to hop and snack.  To ensure the bunny sees it I made a giant carrot from the pattern All People Quilt  (After seeing how cute I made 4 more for my kid's families and my BFF)  A big plus with this project is I got to use a lot of orange fabric scraps and using scraps is always a good thing. 

Flip & Sew Carrot Table Runner

http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/quilt-patterns/table-runners/flip-sew-carrot-table-runner

Stash for orange fabric

Strips all cut ready to sew

All done - one of five I made

back looking good for this quilt as you go pattern

one already delivered, three to be mailed and one stays with me...the Bunny needs a place for snacks here too.

Medallion Center for Fort Worth MQG...behold the rainbow

The Fort Worth Modern Quilt Guild has a medallion quilt "round robin" going. It is not a round robin where others add borders but every month we add a border, to our own center to get our name in for a drawing each time and there will be a grand prize at the end.  It is nice as there is no pressure to have to do a certain amount of borders or a certain style/pattern but the idea and an example to follow or embrace is on the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild site as they did this last year. I love the rainbow/color wheel quilts with a bit of color blocking and began mine with this in mind.

“This quilt was made using an Autumn Street pattern.” link to the shop:  www.thingsforboys.com/shop

the center block is 18" finished

Now working on the next round...

Being Square is Quilting Fun

A  baby is the very best reason to make a quilt.  Boy babies are a bit more challenging as I can't just use pink, girly it up and be done.  Boy quilts take a bit more thought at least for me, as girly girl is easy being a girl and all.  So enter the book Dare to Be Square Quilting by Boo Davis. Book link The grandparents are our friends and they have always had doxies, so their daughter I know loves dogs and grew up with doxies so this is what I chose....tons of fun!

Like the tree back

tagged back

signed back

Enjoyed showing it at the Fort Worth Modern Quilt Guild meeting where chuckles were lifted.  #FWMQG  

Can you say nitenite...pillowcases

Since last post I completed a baby quilt but no pics yet...I have done a medallion block for the Fort Worth Modern Quilt Guild but no pic yet.  I have completed two quilt tops for Lutheran World Relief but no pic yet.  I see a pattern here...no pic yet.  I do have a pic to the 12 pillow cases I have cut out ready to sew for the Fort Worth Modern Quilt Guild...a challenge was given to complete 100 this year for the guild's charity project

I am ready to sew.  Off I go.

Behold---New Tote for Trip to Costa Rica

My DH and I are going to Costa Rica with some friends the last of January.  This is a gifted trip from our friends as a thank you for their living in our home while were were gone for 5 months and their house was not completed to move into.  It all worked out perfect and now a week on the beach will make it all better than ever.   I of course decided a new tote was in the cards.  The pattern I have loved every time I see it is The Laura Tote by Scholosser Designs (www.erinschlosser.com ) created in collaboration with Iza Pearl Design ( www.izapearl.com ).

I chose material from my stash and was insistant with myself that I buy nothing to make my bag...stash stuff only!  Behold the stash picked for the tote:

I made a few changes to the pattern like adding a zipper pocket in the back and putting in magnetic closure.

Got to sewing and when all ready to put it together I love using the clips vs pins.  The clips makes sewing go smoothly with no pricks or pain. 

Top Stitching

After a couple of days sewing it is all done ready to head to the beach in Costa Rica.

White hair for me! I'm good with loving my hair color and the world of retirement.

Water in the background gets me in the mood for the ocean...bon voyage. I like my bag.

Yes, everything came from my stash (some material a few years old). I like to think of it as a "free" bag but we all know stash is not "free" ...but it seems free?

2016 WORD FOR THE YEAR

Each year a word comes to me to give me encouragement of sorts.  I like words a lot and play a lot of word games that challenge my mind to increase vocabulary and if only I were better at spelling sometimes.  A word this past Advent kept coming to my mind....Incarnate...To become flesh, to give a body to word, to become something from a thought, to form something real from what one cannot truly see but can give birth to and then hold it and see it and feel it and give it a place in our lives.

Learner's definition of INCARNATE

[+ object] formal

: to represent (something, such as an idea or quality) in a clear and obvious way : embody
She incarnates the fabric's real purpose. = The fabric's real purpose was incarnated into her quilting.

But Incarnate seemed a bit "heavy" for me even though I find it a word to ponder.  So...

BEHOLD took my attention as it is a word of wonderment.  Behold denotes: look at this; wow did you see this?; oh my what am I looking at; come here , come here and see this; seeing this is something great...
 Definition:
 see or observe (a thing or person, especially a remarkable or impressive one).

verb: behold; 3rd person present: beholds; past tense: beheld; past participle: beheld; gerund or present participle: beholding

synonyms:

see, observe, view, look at, watch, survey, witness, gaze at/upon, regard, contemplate, inspect, eye;

 I do see this word a useful one and gives expression to seeing the year in all kinds of places and ways.  Behold can stand alone or it can carry along other words to an ending... Thus my 2016 Word

BEHOLD

Applique on the Road

It has been so long since I paid attention to the blog, oh my.  Traveling in The Rectangle has taken my focus off the internet and on visiting places new to us.  I have, however, been working on applique that has been in my bag of applique for two years.

 The grapes from the last post are ready to go so I started working on the grape leaves. These were fiddly so decided to do the Sharon Schamber stabilizer method of tuning with glue down and am happy I did as they would have not gone so fast if just needle turning.  Sharon's Secret Foundation link

15 cut and ready to turn onto the stabilizer

 Got them all turned and pinned onto the wreath. Have to say I like them.

I am using the embroidery method to secure just to give some play to the leaves.  This is not as easy or quick as I had thought with the small ins and outs of the leaves but pushing forward gets me to where the end will come and they will be done.  It is still quicker than needle turn yet the glue down of the edges took a lot of patience and time and wine.  The end result is so worth the effort but at the time I wondered if the glue down would ever end.

The leaves are all secured and the veins completed on each. 

The wreath looks fab and I am happy with the results.  Grapes are next and I am starting to experiment with placement. 

Thresholds Through Our Motorcoach (opps this is a republish?)

We are traveling for several months (left home Aug 1 to return mid December) through the Northeast having gone up the Midwest to Michigan and Wisconsin and New York and Massachusetts and then other places yet defined and home.  The main goal of this trip is to attend the Wool and Sheep Festival in Rhinebeck New York and see a few leaves turn and have some cool fall nights.  The take along on this trip is applique to do after I finished the lobster towels.  I am in the process of making 110 grapes for a Baltimore Album block of a grape vine wreath.  Here is my pics of this using  Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circles www.karenkaybuckley.com  and method only not doing the starching as I do not have any with me.  It is like making a hundred yo-yos in miniature.  It is easy but then my travel iron burned up, yes literally started smoking and about to go to flame when I got it unplugged and outside the Motorcoach (fire alarm going off due to the smoke).  So much for making grapes till I buy a new iron.  Have taken out my other applique I brought so will share that later. Oh, I currently have 42 grapes done.

Lobsters for New Year's Eve favors

Each New Year's eve family and friends come to the house for lobster and Dom dinner. Something to take home is always on the menu. A few years ago Martha Stewart had lobster dish towels to embroidery in a kit and a discount internet site (no longer in business) had them at rock bottom price. I bought 15 and set them aside...fast forward to now and all 15 are done ready for the New Year 2016.  Simple stitching all done while traveling in The Rectangle   www.livinginarectangle.blogspot.com 

Doing 15 of anything the same can seem endless, but they went by quickly and I know they will look great on the tables this year to ring in the New Year.

Rainbow FWMQG Trade

The trade for the Fort Worth Modern Quilt Guild was issued a few months ago to trade in September a mini rainbow quilt. I knew I would be on a Fall trip for several months so had to get it done. It was a really hard decision on a pattern but with no time to tarry I got to choosing. Wow there are a lot of choices but with it being a mini I knew I could not go too crazy. My attention was drawn to the fact my swap partner liked batics and abstract. I have always been drawn to the Arcadia Avenue by Sassafras Designs  http://sassafras-lane.com/products/arcadia-avenue-bom-book  block of the month as I saw it on Internet sites and had it in my pattern stash. Paper piecing is not my always go to but I really liked the patterns and the size of each block would make for a nice size mini.  I chose block number 4.  

Color choosing 

Looking like a Rainbow

all done starting to  quilt

center quilting like flower pedals

back quilting effect

quilting done and binding made

All done!  May there be a pot of gold at the end of our Rainbows.