Home at last

After being on the road for almost all of January (over 5000 miles in the car) I am home at last (well at least for a little while) and trying to catch up with the mountains of laundry, grocery shopping and errands.  This little project is what I took on the road with me, some happy hand applique to work on in the car during stressful times.  It is to be a surprise project but if posting spoils the surprise, well so be it cause I really have nothing else to show for my time.

This sweet little project is from the book "Critter Caboodle" by Brandywine designs and has really helped to lift my spirits.  The happy little faces make me smile as does working on a project for a special someone.

I have a few more of these blocks completed so come back soon if you want to see more.  It has been so nice getting back to the sewing room, I had forgotten how much I use my quilting as therapy!

Happy Stitching

More travels

Well, not much sewing going on these days as we have been on the road so much this month.  Thanks for all your concern about my dad.  The cancer is progressing and we hope he can stay comfortable.  We just got home from Florida where my DH had a job interview. Fingers crossed that we get some good news on that.  But all the travel means quilt shop stops, after all you have to stop for food, gas and potty breaks so you might as well plan them around quilt store locations. :-)  Anyway here are the purchases from this week's trip.  I love this new line of fabric by Michael Miller fabrics called Backyard Baby and I purchased some of every fabric in the line.  I'm not usually a fabric line kinda gal but this one spoke to me.  I also picked up some  random pieces of fabric that will blend in and will be adding lots more from my stash.  Now to figure out just what to do with it.

Home for a few days and out again on Sunday for another week on the road.  Better get more hand applique ready.  I hope to show some of that project soon.

I am missing my time in blog land but catching up when I can.  Unfortunately this new Android tablet often won't allow me to comment on blogs but I wIll keep trying to figure it out and if any of you know what I might be doing wrong please let me know.

Happy stitching!

Busy days ahead

It has been quite a while since I have posted with any regularity and I am afraid that is going to continue for the next few months. Lots of stuff happening in my personal life that requires time and travel so there really isn't much time for doing much posting.  I tried posting on my new tablet but the pictures are somewhat grainy and I'm still not feeling real comfortable with typing on it but I will keep trying.

Anyway, I did get a chance to finish the quilt for my son's friend.  He and I are happy with how it turned out and hopefully he will get a chance to give it to her this week and she will like it.  The colors are so much prettier in person and we agreed that it was not too "little girlish" for a college age girl.  Having 3 boys I really don't have much opportunity to sew fun "girly" stuff so this was extra fun for me.  Gave me a chance to use colors that I love without wondering "what am I going to do with it".

In the close up I tried showing the overall quilting pattern.  It is a sorta paisley pattern that I use in lots of quilts.  I love the movement that it brings and the modern look that it has.  And done as a small background filler on applique it is wonderful. 

Not much else to show for now.  I am working on getting some hand applique ready for our road trip to Canada to visit my Dad who has cancer.  I really hope that we can avoid any snow and I am just dreading the cold weather.  I haven't lived in the north for a few years and probably don't even fit into any winter clothes right now!  I will just have to keep a quilt nearby to snuggle in.

The apple of my eye

I've spoken before of my son who was in a near fatal car accident.  Well he is the youngest of 3 sons and we now laugh that he is now spoiled and the favorite.  Here is a photo of the little pincushion that he made me for Christmas.  He is a very talented sewer, and is actually studying costume design and construction and whipped this thing up without a pattern.  I guess you could say he is the apple of my eye, but in truth all my sons are!

A quilt for a friend

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday.  After hearing that one of his friends was having a tough time, my son and I decided it would be fun to work together to make her a quilt. We pulled several fabrics from my stash and these are the blocks we came up with. They still need some arranging but we are well on the way.  The picture isn't very good cause I am trying to post using my new tablet (a great Christmas gift if I could figure out how to use it).

Missing in action!

 The craziness of the season caused a minor quilting scare late last week.  I had a few extra minutes and thought I would do a little applique on this block for my quilt based on Chinese embroideries.  I had forgotten to bring my silk applique threads home with me after my son's surgery, so when he arrived here for the holidays I was itching to stitch.  Horror of horrors, the quilt block was nowhere to be found!  I spent much of a day looking in all my bins of fabric (and trust me there is a lot of it) and even resorted to calling my SIL who had been here in late Oct. to see if she had scooped it up by mistake.  I was pretty distraught cause I didn't think I had enough of the fabric used in the flower to fussy cut the petals again.  But as often happens, another idea of where to look came to me in my sleep and I woke up ready to look again.  Sure enough I found it folded inside some backing fabric that I had been auditioning recently. It was a relief to find it but I think sometimes I am going crazy, misplacing stuff even though I try to stay organized.

I finished the block today and am so happy that I found it cause I love the way the lotus turned out.  Only one more block before I need to figure out borders.  I love the Christmas projects but it is nice to get back to other projects.

Christmas presents

This week my little sewing group had our Christmas get together and we exchanged gifts. I made these little owl pincushions and matching needlecases.  It was so much fun putting the fabric together and making these that I may have to make one for myself.

And here are the lovely things I received. A wonderful handmade ornament (looking forward to the tutorial for this one), a personalized pot holder is not only quilted but embroidered too and a cute little snowman plate. Thanks ladies for these treats and especially your friendship.