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

A New Year's Challenge: Consider the Children

Already, we're a week into the new year!  My, how time flies when you’re having fun.  Happy New Year everybody!  I’m 'sew' inspired from reading the many year end/new year posts, I haven't been able to stop sewing long enough to write a post of my own!

First up is a Dog Gone Cute block update!  I’ve been working diligently, and am confident I’ll make my self imposed deadline to have everything completed and delivered by midFebruary.  I can’t tell you what a pleasure it’s been working with all of your blocks!  I’ve pieced group quilts together before and have never had every single block be so perfect!  Thank you all!  Pictures will definitely follow in a future post.

Next, I’m excited to tell you that I am participating in a blog hop next month, and I hope to see you there!  In between working with all those cute pups, I’ve been stitching away on my project, and the more it grows, the more excited I become.  My day is scheduled for Feb. 8, so be sure to pop in for a visit!

This post wouldn’t be complete without talking about some goals for the new year, except I don’t really have any.  But I do have some plans I hope to follow through with during the year.  I always pack my largest piece of luggage with fabric and needed notions for my summer sewing season up on the island.  This year will be no different, except instead of buying random fabric just because I like it, I’m going to choose three to five patterns I’ve either purchased or won, and kit them up.  It will be novel to have everything I need at my fingertips.

Finally, I’m determined to use my scraps as I generate them this year, instead of letting them build up to overflowing, which leads me to my New Year's Challenge: Consider the Children. 

Quilters are the first to respond with compassion to the catastrophic events that occur over and over again.  But what about the silent sufferers?  Those victims we hear little to nothing about?  The children. The children who are exposed to crime, domestic violence, abuse, fires.......the children who are removed from a scene by the police for their safety, the children who don't have a voice in the media.

My plan is to make as many Owlivia pillows as I can, from my scraps, to donate to my police department, for them to have on hand, to give to children for comfort when they are frightened and need something to hug.

I have made several of these easy, sweet pillows in the past, many as gifts for family and friends, which I've coupled with storybooks about owls.  I've even enlarged the pattern and made bigger ones.  A few years back, I donated a box of them for my local RCMP department to distribute among their cruisers to have on hand for such occurrences as mentioned above. 

They are no bigger than an 8.5 x 11" sheet of paper, and each one has it's own personality.  And did I mention, easy?  With all of the bright, bold, colorful fabrics being marketed today, the possibilities are endless.

Dare I challenge you to consider doing the same, or something similar?  Do you belong to a group that's looking for a year long project?  Can you spread a little love and give an innocent, frightened child a perpetual hug to help navigate through a difficult situation?  Will you Consider the Children, too, when generating scraps from your quilty projects?

I'm looking forward to a wonderful, funderful new year!  

I hope you are, too!

XO

At Last!

Greetings from Texas!
Finally!

There was no time during this past month

for blogging or sewing, and I only managed to read a few blog posts.

I stayed with my elderly family friend

and she has a very large family.

I certainly got my family "fix", and now I'm totally drained,

so it might be a few days 

before I set up my sewing area(s).

I'd like to thank everyone who checked in with me
during the month!
You're all too sweet and I am very blessed.

During the summer, one of my goals was to learn to sew curves.

And here's my final project,
hanging sweetly on Crafty Daughter's wall.
I tried to include a little glimpse of her drapes so you could see how well it matches.  I am stunned every time I step into the room.

It measures 30" square and was constructed using Free Spirit Solids.
Each block is machine quilted differently and I think if you click on the picture you will be able to see the quilting a little more clearly.  It was lots of fun to make.
I have named it Urban Crop Circles.
I got the inspiration from Quilts My Way,
although I didn't use her templates.

And that's all for now,
until I settle in and spread out!
First up?  Dog Gone Cute blocks, courtesy of all my lovely quilty friends!

Hope your month is off to a grand start!

December already.
Geesh!

Scraps Equal Lots of Little Gifties

 Last night was Halloween.

We don't get kids anymore.  They all grew up.

So sad.

Well, since finishing Linda's birthday surprise quilt,

(Happy Birthday, Linda!  Today's your special day!)

I've been winding down my sewing,

and getting ready for my annual migration south.

My summer scrap baskets were full to overflowing,

so thought I'd make a few zippered pouches

to gift my very large extended family

in Massachusetts.

17 pouches later,

they didn't make a dent in my scraps.

Either that, or they kept multiplying each night

while I slept.

Here are a few closer up.

If you click the pictures, you can enlarge them.

I've also finished up some small projects

that kept getting shuffled to the bottom of the pile(s).

Sometimes even for a couple of years,

shame on me.

This little 12" square mini

is called The Forgotten Five

by Easy Patchwork.

It was fun to make and was a flimsy immediately.

But it took me all this time to quilt it.

I played "What If" and tried making a Granny Square block

with 1.5" squares.  It measures roughly 4.5" square,

was fun to do, and I will definitely be revisiting it again!

And I threw in a couple of key fobs,

just because I could.

Actually, I needed one.

The family I'm gifting the pouches to have 10 daughters,

and one older teenage son.  I had to make him something, too,

and I wasn't too sure he'd appreciate a zippered pouch.

Well, maybe if it was made from camo fabric.

(I showed the Ranger my yard of camo fabric, and it disappeared.

Hmmmm.)

Speaking of gifties,

there are still a few retractable scissors keepers left

in my daughter's Etsy shop.

Free shipping in the US.

Christmas is coming!

I love mine, 

and don't know how I lived without it all these years.

That's enough for now.

Next week I head to Boston for a few weeks,

then on to TX for the rest of the winter.

Hope I decide on a good hand project between now and when I leave

because being away from my sewing machines for almost a month

is going to be excrutiating!

Oh, one last thing!

Check out this adorable Raggedy Ann that

Sheila made for my great niece!

She made one for big sister a couple of years ago.

Some traditions are worth keeping alive!

Thanks, Sheila!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

XO,

karen