SSS - Sewing Small Stuff

This is so true,

especially for makers.

I've pretty much only been sewing small

since my adventure with doggie blocks

and my two week visit to North Texas.

Playing.  Puttering. Using up scraps.

Brought home this pattern from a visit to a LQS last weekend,

Anything But Boring

and made Crafty Daughter this cute little snack bag.

It's a really fun pattern, has four sizes,

and is quite simple to put together.

But it took more than two hours!

I made the second size,

and lined it with laminated fabric for moisture resistance.

I'm looking forward to making one of the larger sizes

as soon as I find just the right fabric.

I've always been fascinated with granny squares,

and couldn't resist using up some scraps

to make these.

Unfinished, they measure about 4-3/4".

I have no idea what I'm going to do with them,

but they sew up quickly,

so I'm just going to keep making them

and see where it leads.

Crazy Mom Quilts

published a scrappy churn dash block tutorial

the other day

and I couldn't resist! 

I copied her quilting, too!

It was the perfect way to make Crafty Daughter 

some fresh, new pot holders.

When I showed them to her, she said,

"I wondered if I was ever going to get some new ones!"

So, thanks, Amanda Jean!

I really loved making them.

It was difficult not to make more for a quilt,

but I showed restraint.

And it's a good thing I did,

because that same day, CD bought a travel shoulder bag pattern

for me to make her for her annual trip to Washington, DC

with her students.

Sew Much Ado

It will be a challenge.

There are a few things I've never done before.

Just cutting out the pattern and taping it back together

was a monumental task.

I'm excited to start sewing!

I took a page out of Linda/Scrapmaster's book

and made a new pillow from my little bitty triangle scraps.

These were saved from my blog hop quilt with Tilda Fabrics.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture,

but I quilted it with mint green thread.

And last but not least,

I prepared a wall hanging, to gift a very special little girl,

for my hand work during my travel back east for the summer.

Once I embroider the word circle,

I'll applique the dresden plate.

~

Oh, oh, oh,

I almost forgot!

Yesterday, I saw a Great Horned Owl for only the second time ever,

and was able to snap a quick picture of it.

As always, if you click on any of my pictures,

they will become larger.

Thanks for popping in!

Enjoy your week!

~karen

Again and Again

The international on-line community of quilters

never ceases to astound me.

Bernie's 'Spread the Love' campaign

has been an amazing success,

and I have no doubt that Amy is 

overwhelmed with doll quilts to augment 'A Doll Like Me'.

For stats and an update,

please take a moment to visit Bernie's latest post.

I think you'll be astounded, too!

I am proud to be a participant,

and, as I declared in my New Year's post,

my intentions are to use my scraps as I generate them,

so I see this as a perpetual project.

From my scrappy Tilda Fabric corners,
after making Sweet Reminiscence

for the blog hop, I fashioned this sweet pinwheel quilt.

I included some of the larger scraps for doll clothes,

and slipped it into yesterday's mail to 

A Doll Like Me.

On my recent visit to North Texas,

my quilter friend generously donated some already made 3" blocks

that she had acquired from the estate of another quilter.

Since I couldn't wait to get my hands on them,

I whipped up a second doll quilt that would be suitable
to accompany a boy doll.

A peek at the backing.

Again and again,

when the word gets out,

quilter's respond!

Amy of A Doll Like Me should be all set for awhile!

Way to go, Bernie!!!

~

I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate the winners

of my little give away from my blog hop post.

The random number generator chose:

Carol S.

Lee

CalicoJoan

& Ioleen

to each receive a Fondle Your Fabric decal.

They have been contacted by email,

and their decals will be sent out in Monday's mail!

If you'd like a Fondle Your Fabric decal,

please contact me by email.

The Etsy shop is out of stock at the moment,

but that doesn't mean we can't take care of you!

They make great gifts, are easy and inexpensive to mail

(just slip them into a card),

and look great on mugs and water bottles, too.

Enjoy your day!

Thanks for visiting,

karen

A Very Special Delivery

Mission accomplished!

My daughter and I delivered doggie quilts, etc.

to Second Chance Farm in Granbury, Texas

on Saturday afternoon.

Second Chance Farm has a storefront,

so we weren't actually able to 'go to the farm'.

We met up with the lovely Valerie,

and after telling our story,

began showing her what we brought
starting with the smaller items.

Here is a wallhanging,

donated by a sweet woman from Calgary, Alberta, Canada,

(no blog) called "Raining Cats and Dogs".

Valerie was beside herself.

But wait!

My daughter then pulled out sets of placemats,

and she couldn't believe it!

Next, we unveiled a wall hanging donated by sweet Tish

(Tish's Adventures in Wonderland)

and she couldn't believe her eyes!

Out came a quilt.

Valerie was floored!

Here she is checking out the back.

Finally, the last quilt for today.

Valerie said, "Now, let me get this straight.

These doggies were made by people all over the world?"

She couldn't believe the generosity

of all you quilters!

A very special thank you to everyone who made this possible.

We couldn't have done it without you!

Thank you to my Quilty friend, Jill, for the use of her machine,

and to my other Quilty friend, Miss Susie,

for the opportunity to have a photo shoot on her beautiful property.

I spent one week with each of them.

We used to teach school together 27 years ago!

I moved away 20 years ago,

(my how time flies)

yet we still remain close.

I'm a lucky girl!

I have been working on doggie blocks
since the first week in December
and I'm ready for a break.
Time for a new project!

xo,
karen

My Day to Put a Little Love in Your Quilt!

Welcome to my stop on the 

Put a Little Love in your Quilt blog hop!  If you’re new here, 

just a little about myself.  I am a snowbird, dividing my time between Texas and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.  

I have the best of both worlds!  

It seems as though I’ve been quilting all of my life, 

yet I learn something new 

every day.

I have had a lot of fun preparing for this special day 

and I am glad you are here to share it with me.  

I don’t often participate in blog hops, but every once in awhile, 

one comes along and grabs me!  Such was the case with this one.

Last winter, I acquired a new pattern 

from Loft Creations called PaperDolls, 

but I knew I wasn’t going to have time to make it.  

I did, however, piece two dolls to test the pattern 

to see if it was as fun as it looked. 

Oh, yeah!  

I knew I’d revisit the pattern in the near future.  

The thought of paper dolls evoked 

such pleasant memories from my childhood.

Right about that same time, there was a call 

for heart blocks by Cluck Cluck Sew, 

so I whipped a few up and sent them off.  

I knew immediately that I wanted to combine the Paper Dolls 

with the heart blocks one day.

When Carol asked for hoppers, 

I couldn’t resist seeing this as my opportunity
to combine these two blocks somehow.  

Now, I’ve always had a fascination for Row quilts.  

I even collect them on a Pinterest board for that 'someday' that seldom seems to come along 

because there are just too many patterns and blocks and designs, 

and I want to make them all.  

Ahh, yes, another perfect opportunity!

At the same time, I won a fat quarter bundle
of Tilda Fabrics 
from Red Pepper Quilts, 

and when they arrived
in the mail,
everything fell into place.  

Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?

So, with a nod from Stephanie (it’s always nice to ask), I set to work.

Voila!  Introducing Sweet Reminiscence!

To thank you for visiting my blog today,
I do have a little give away.

I will use the Random Number Generator
to select four comments to win
"fondle your fabric" vinyl decals.

(As shown on The Scrapmaster's sewing machine!)

Being quick and easy to slip into the mail,
these allow me to open up the give away to international visitors
without having to be concerned about the rising costs of postage.
(I won't be choosing winners
until I return from a two week visit with friends
on February 19th.)

Please be sure to visit the other talented blog hoppers
on today's schedule, the last day of the hop,
as listed below.
I'm sure you'll be in for some great surprises!

A great big thank you to Carol
of Just Let Me Quilt
for a wonderful job setting this all up!

February 8

Sew Incredibly Crazy

KaHolly

Moosestash Quilting

Kwilt Krazy

Kwilty Pleasures

Patchwork Breeze

Home Sewn By Us

Sew Many Yarns

Seams To Be Sew

Just Let Me Quilt

Enjoy your day!
Thanks for stopping by!
XO,
Karen

Put a Little Love in Your Quilt Blog Hop

I have completed my second Dog Gone Cute quilt!

Measuring in at 46" x 54",

it will make a good lap quilt.

A little glimpse of the backing,

and the binding.

The third flimsy will travel to North Texas with me tomorrow
and will be FMQ'd on my friend's machine.
I grew a little weary of straight line quilting with a generic walking foot
on a teeny weeny little and old portable Singer,
although it's done me well!

It's already layered, and the binding is prepped and ready!
There's a lot of negative space,
but I'll keep the quilting pretty simple.
I'm going to try a binding with a flange on this last one.
I can't wait to present all these dog gone goodies
to the pet rescue later this month!
I hope they do well at auction.

In the meantime,
I've also been preparing for the blog hop!
That quilt will be quilted at my friend's, too,
and like the other,
is all prepped and ready to go.
My day is February 8!

Here's the line up for the whole week!

February 5

Life in the Scrapatch

Freemotion by the River

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Vroomans Quilts

That Fabric Feeling

It’s A T-Sweet Day!

Elm Street Quilts

February 6

Creatin' in the Sticks

Quiltscapes

Bejeweled Quilts

Creative Latitude

Fabric Scraps

Just Sew Quilter

Ms P Designs USA

Made By Marney

Beaquilter

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

February 7

Kris Loves Fabric

What About Rheema?

Bumbleberry Stitches

Selina Quilts

Quilt Quest

Hazel’s Daughter

Quilt in a not-Shell

Words & Stitches

Sunshine Reflections

Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

February 8

Sew Incredibly Crazy

KaHolly

Moosestash Quilting

Kwilt Krazy

Kwilty Pleasures

Patchwork Breeze

Home Sewn By Us

Sew Many Yarns

Seams To Be Sew

Just Let Me Quilt

Lastly, I want to share a bird picture with you!
I know, I know!  It's been a while!

This is a pair of Crested Caracaras.

I've been trying to get a decent picture 

of them for years,

but they are always either too far away,

or fly off just as I'm ready to click.

In the US, they are only found in 

Arizona, Texas, and Florida.

Described as a tropical falcon version of the vulture,

they like the open country.

They are about 20" long,

with a wingspan of almost 50".

Oops, I almost forgot!
Thanks to Anja
I've found the perfect photo editor!
Ribbet!
It's Kaholly Approved!
Thanks, Anja!

See you at the hop,
next week!

xo,
karen

Pet Rescue Dog Blocks Update

It's just me,

popping in for a very few minutes,

to share a finish

for the Pet Rescue Dog Blocks project.

It's still my birthday!

And all because of YOU!

A peek at the backing....

...and the binding.

*

Thanks to a few suggestions from readers,

today I tried a new-to-me photo editor

to replace PicMonkey.

I went to BeFunky

and found it pretty easy to use,

except for using the text.

Next post,

I'll try another new one.

It has to be pretty simple, as I'm not one to spend a lot of time 

clicking all around 

trying to make sense out of something.

*

I wanted to remind you about

My day is February 8th!

Hope I'm ready!

Enjoy your day!

Thanks for popping in!

XO,

karen

A Very Special Quilty Gift

I've never, ever bonded with my laptop,

so by the time it boots up and begins to behave,

I've lost the impetus to write up a post.

Such is the case today.  

Besides that, I miss PicMonkey.

I might have to splurge and purchase a subscription.

I'm not exactly tech savvy, 

and PicMonkey makes it so darned easy.

I wanted to share a quick update on the doggie blocks

I have been working with.

Quilt flimsy number one is being cross hatched as I type.

I miss my Janome!  But, this will do.

I found some cute doggie themed flannel 

at Joann Fabric's most recent sale,

60% off.

Couldn't resist, although I don't often purchase fabric there,

but I picked up 3 different lengths.

To date, I have 2 sets of placemats finished

and 3 flimsies sewn together.

I'm making progress!

Did I mention,

I miss my Janome?

Crosshatching is time consuming,

so I thing organic wavy lines will be used

to quilt the next flimsy.

I've been meaning to share this beautiful quilt

that was gifted to me on my birthday last fall.

My quilty friend, Pat, (on the island)

invited me over for show and tell one afternoon,

not knowing it was my birthday.

After we looked at all her beauties,

she pulled this one out and said,

"I really want you to have this one."

It was a very bright morning,

so, it actually photographed better from the back

with the sun shining through it.

Pat's quilts are very special.

To begin with,

most of her fabrics are upcycled linens

from local thrift shops.

As if that isn't special enough,

they are almost all hand pieced,

hand appliqued, 

and

hand quilted.

I was over the moon,

because no one has ever made a quilt for me before,

and, as I said,

it was my birthday,

and she didn't even know!

It looks very pretty on my bed,

really brightening up my room.

I know you read my blog from time to time,

Pat, so thank you from the bottom of my heart for being so sweet.

(Over the years, I've often been heard telling people that

when I grow up, I want to be just like Pat!

She's a dear!)

That's all for today!

I'll try to do better next time!

Stay warm, stay safe!

XO,

Karen