FNSI Results - A Coin Purse

I had a head start of Friday Night Sew In because last weekend I pieced these cute 5 inch blocks.  During the week I got the zippers prepared.

I did get home from school earlier than usual on Friday afternoon, because we had a teacher convention going on and it was held just a few blocks from my house.  I was able to convince my husband to drop me off in the morning on the way to his work and then I walked home after 2:30.

Here are the finished results of the cute little coin purse.

These are the pieces for the next version of a coin purse!  I thought it was really fun to put together.

Pink Lemonade Doll Quilt Along

I have been drawn in by the Humble Quilts blog that Lori writes. I especially have enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm for her quaint little doll quilts she has been designing to share with the blog world. Shown above are the tops for "Strawberry Fields" and the latest, "Pink Lemonade".

I used only fabrics from my stash to piece this cute little treasure.  Most of the parts are scraps leftover from my Thimbleberries club quilts.  I happened to have yardage for the pink background and the yellow setting squares.  Those 2 fabrics are patterned, but read as solids, since the print is so subtle.  I don't think I would have ever used the pink in anything else, but it was just the perfect hue for this little replica!

My Pink Lemonade Top

Cheddar Cheese and Crackers, in progress

 The piecing on the Cheddar and Crackers has been a fun challenge.  I need to keep looking back at a computer photo I saved for a reference.  I also have a pen and ink sketch I made to leave by my machine for a cheat sheet, because I'm finding it a bit tricky.

working on blocks

More blocks and corner pieces; Need more Candy!


Pink Lemonade has been such a breeze to piece.  There were no challenging parts to this, just simple, pleasurable sewing.  I could be very relaxed while stitching this one! LOVE IT!!!

I will take care of the quilting in the month of February  and hope to get a binding on it to use in my classroom for a decoration.  I have several 3rd - 6th grade students that admire new projects I bring in to share.

Wordless Wednesday

Jelly Roll 1600 Quilt

If you haven't had the experience to make a fast jelly roll quilt, you may want to take the opportunity to do one up at your next retreat or weekend sew in!  I found the directions on the Internet from the Great Jelly Roll Race!  The video was my introduction and then I went to the website to see more details on the process.  Check it out if you might be interested.

It was my plan to sew the 40 some jelly roll strips together during my holiday break and I did just that.  However, I never got around to posting in my blog about it.  The process sure was a lot of fun and one evening I could hardly help myself from staying up way too late into the night. 

The first evening I got all the strips ready.  I was using up odds and ends from a jelly roll, so I cut many of my own strips in the same yellow and blue color scheme.  That went along OK.  I counted them out and bundled them in groups of 10 strips each until I had 4 piles.  I threw in two extra to be sure it would be like a full pack. 

The next evening was reserved for piecing the strips end to end on the diagonal, just as for binding strips.  That went quickly enough. 



Flannel print for the reverse side

During a Sunday night after supper I started to piece the longest seam.  I thought I had a way to keep it from tangling, but it was not successful at all!  I had a wicked mess of the longest seam.  I am not sure how to do it differently to avoid such a tangle.  The only thing I can think of is to pre-measure and cut that long strip in half. 



Needs to be pin basted with safety pins

I'll be doing the quilting soon and getting it bound with some blue and yellow print.

Stretched out on the floor

When that is complete, I'll check back in on the blog with more photos. 

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

I love Christmas baking, but this year I didn't get too much done in the kitchen.  At a friend's house we made a double batch of pecan and shortbread cookies that were rolled in powdered sugar.  They were quite delicous and disappeared mysteriously.  There are other favorites I'd like to bake, but I'll probably get around to it the week before New Year's. 

Here is how the tree turned out this time.  I like it a lot, but haven't used this one for 3 years in a row. It was a little more work setting this one up, but the full shape is so beautiful. 

This is the tree skirt that I made many years ago, but it still serves its purpose well.  It can open out a little wider to show all 6 points .  I have one section overlapping another in this photo.

Hope you enjoyed the holiday look around.  Enjoy your Holiday Season!

Time to go and wrap a few gifts that we will take to my sister's tomorrow.

Rotary Lights Exhibit 2011

The beauty of the lights display has been a tradition in town for many year now.  Each year the display has grown.  This year we took in the opening parade and the party that was held on the Century Tel deck.  It was overlooking the park, so we had a wonderful view.

Rotary Lights Party

Next Rainbow Scrap Challenge

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge will continue for the new year.   Angela of So Scrappy has designed a new button for our blogs.    I want to participate as  much as possible, and I look forward to following along to see what other sewers are doing each month.  I loved the color suggestions that Angela chose for last year.   I think this challenge will keep me motivated once again.