Valentine Fabric Postcards

I just finished these fabric postcards for a Valentines Day swap. I am calling them "A CANDY HEART VALENTINE". I hope everyone that I made them for likes them. I made them on Michael Millers "Fairy Frost" fabric. I am thinking about sending one of them to my Grand-daughter but not quite sure as she is only 3 and she may think that they are candy and try to eat one.

I am going to start my DJ Birthday Siggies later today. Got a new stamp for them. Can't wait to see what they are going to look like. I also have my stamp for the big swap picked out, and want to order it, but I want to wait and be sure there is going to be one this year.

It sure is a beautiful day. It is 56F, and partially sunny. I can't wait for spring.

Well I guess I had better get busy.

W.)

I have another new hobby, as if I needed one, but oh well, ya only live once. My newest hobby is fabric postcards, I enjoy making and trading them. I made one and that was all it took. I am not quite as addicted to them as making siggie quilt blocks, but I am getting there. Almost makes me want to get a embroidery machine, or embellisher, but I'm not even going to think about that until after I get my quilting frame. Here are some pictures of some of the postcards I have recieved. They are all so special. I can't wait to trade some more.

I got a package yesterday from my Secret Pal 2009', she made me this very sweet DJ friends cut out. It is so cute. I am going to put a hanger of some kind on the back and hang it in my sewing room to remind me of not only her but all of my DJ friends, and what a close group we all are. I have been working on some mystery quilts, and need to finish them. I love a good mystery, and these are turning out great. I just need to learn to finish what I start before starting another one, but oh' well that's not going to happen. I always have several works in progress, and it just doesn't seem to change. I always do finish them but not always in the order that I start them in.

I have been enjoying making fabric postcards. For some reason I never remember to take pictures before sending them on there way, but maybe later I will post some pictures of some of the ones I have received. I have also received several siggies from the international swap list, and I love them all. I have signed up for this year Birthday Siggie Swap, but there is a much smaller group of ladies on it, 23 compared to 103 I believe from last year. I also need to finish my Christmas siggie quilt, when I get a chance it will be my only Christmas quilt, and I really would like it to use next Christmas season.

It is very cold here today, -14F when we got up now it is up to a whopping 4F with a wind chill of approximately -25F a good day to stay inside, and quilt.

W.)

Last 3 quilts tied for gifts

Here are the last 3 quilts that I tied to give for gifts. I liked how all of the Christmas quilts turned out. I can't wait to start some new ones. The Red and Black quilt is a Mystery that I did with the Quilts by Kos Yahoo group, designer was Tara Kos. The Carpenters Star is a Mystery Quilt called Tamara's Choice, I did this quilt with the Pocketful of Mystery's Yahoo group, this quilt was designed by Dorothy Young. And the last one is a quilt that I made the top for in 2002, after losing my Father the previous year, and breaking my leg in 2 places, and dislocating my ankle at the same time, the following year. I pieced this top with my cast on, and I named this quilt "Putting together the pieces", and I am giving this quilt to my youngest son Matthew, as he was a teenager at the time, and we were all putting together the pieces.

W.)

2 Christmas quilts tied and bound

Well, I just finishe these 2 quilts for Christmas gifts. The blue one is the crumb quilt that I made for my grandson Kyle, and the other one is a Mystery Quilt that I made with the quiltvillechat yahoo group of Bonnie Hunters. This quilt is called "Orange Crush". It was the April fools mystery quilt this year. I am giving it to my oldest son John, as he was born on "April Fools" day, so I thought that it was only fittin that I give to him seams it was the April Fools Mystery. I only have 2 more quilts to bind, and they will be done, and just in time, as we are having our Christmas on Sunday. I am going to post pictures of the other 3, one of which is already finished, after I finish the last one.



I got another lovely pachage from my DJ Secret Pal yesterdy, her identity was revieled to me so "THANK YOU" Penny Jones, for being such a great Secret Pal. I hate to see the year end. Everything you sent this year was great. Well, time to get back to work on the quilts.

W.)

DJ Secret Pal Gift

This is a little teapot pincushion, that I recieved from my Secret Pal. I just love it. It is probrobly my favorite gift from her yet, although it is hard to say for sure, as all of her gifts have been great, from the January Calendar, to the snails trail scrap quilt pattern, to the Angel paper piecing quilt pattern. Actually I can't choose which items are my favorite, as I love them all. She has been an absolutely great SP.



I am still working on my Christmas gift quilts, that I am tying. I think I will make it, but only time will tell. We went to our son's for Thanksgiving yesterday, after I got done with work. The dinner was delicious, and the company was great. I had a great time visiting with our Grand-daughter Lexi. She sure is full of energy, but most 2 year olds are. She knows all of her ABC's and can count to 20. She knows all of her shapes, including rectangles, triangles, and octagon's. She is a sweet heart. Time to go, and works on quilts.



W.)

I haven't posted for a while. Life has been so hectic. This is a mystery quilt I made the top of last year. I made this with the Quilts by Kos, yahoo group. I had originally planned to machine quilt it, but never got to it, so I decided to tie it, and give it to my sister in law Sharee, as a Christmas gift. I hope she likes it.

Today is the first day of Deer season in our area, and there has been a lot of traffic the last few day's even if I do live on a dirt road. The weather is miserable and raining, so today there hasn't been a lot of anything going on.

DH and I just got back from Olean Joann's, and I got a new cutting mat, and also one of the rotating cutting mat's. I have been wanting one of the rotating ones, but they are quite pricey, in my book anyway, so when I got to Joann's to buy the regular cutting mat, and realized that they now carried the rotating ones, I couldn't resist with all cutting mat's being 50% of this week, with an additional 10% off your total order even sale prices.

I really want to get started on some siggie quilts, but I have a few more quilts to tie for Christmas gifts.

I had an inspection by the state yesterday at work, the inspection was to check my paper work and to be sure, I was keeping accurate records. When we were threw with that part of the inspection, until it was serving time I was taking a little break with the inspector, and as we were talking, I was nicely surprised to find out that she was also a quilter. She said she tries to stop at all of the little quilt shops in the area she is currently at, as she has to drive several hours to get to the area she is inspecting at for the week. She was telling me that her husband says Oh no, more fabric every time she comes home.

Til' next time,

w.)

Crumby Sunday

Well, this was a crumby Sunday, in a quiltie sort of way. Here is a close up of the crumb quilt I am currently working on. This is my first crumb quilt but it definitely won't be my last. This is a good relaxation quilt, as it is a mindless sewing project that you really don't have to think much about. There are so many layout possibilities. I have another layout in mind already for my next one.

W.)

Quilt Finished

I just finished Lexi's Christmas Quilt I think it came out quite nice. It was a mystery quilt that I did with the stash mystery group. I tied this quilt, and then used one of the decorative stitch patterns that were on my machine to stitch the binding down rather than doing the stiching down by hand. The thread has all of the focus fabric colors in it and was perfect for doing this. I chose the heart stitch, as I call Lexi my "Sweet Heart", so it seemed fitting to use this heart stitch on the binding. I am going to name this quilt quite simply "Sweet Heart", and it should look really sweet on her Dora the Explorer bed.

I got my Secret Pal Package yesterday, and I loved everything in it. It is always a surprise when it comes as for some reason I always forget about it until it shows up in my mail box. Yesterday was a double surprise, as I also received my fabric postage stamp swap pieces. I have been using these 1.5 inch pieces of fabric for my leader / ender project while I am sewing. For those of you who don't know about leader / enders you really should visit Bonnie Hunter's quiltville site. I have the pattern all picked out to use these tiny 4-patches in, and this is a quilt that I intend to keep for myself. It is now time work on couple of other quilts. One is my April Fool's Mystery called "Orange Crush" for my son John as a Christmas gift as he was born on April Fools Day, and the other is my Grandson Kyle's Crumb quilt.

W.)

Case Forum Round Table Swap

I recently participated in a Round table type swap on the Case Collector Club forum that I belong to. It is a very active, and fun group, and it seems like there is always something going on. Anyway 2 of these knives, I received from our friend Greg, who got my name in the round table drawing. The first is a breast cancer awareness Rough Rider small stockman knife. and the second knife is a "County Doctor" limited addition Doctors knife by Case. I love them both and they have been added to my collection, and are considered 2 more of my prized possessions. The third knife, I received from our friend Lynn, he was the keeper of our round table, and he organized everything, and handled the drawing for everyone to send there knives to. I won this Red/Rose small stockman for guessing what he was thinking of to do next, and I guessed round table.

We just received our Collector Club Magazine from case which featured the Case appreciation weekend. We had a separate dinner for the forum members, and in the magazine my quilt that I made was shown, along with a case I made from memorabilia from the week-end. It all has been quite an honor, and I can't wait to see the quilt on display in the museum when they get it hung.

W.)