Tea Cozy

I have been searching Pinterest for a tea cozy pattern. I found one I like but it didn't have a pattern. So I made my own just by looking at the picture. Here is the result.

Decorating, well just removing things

We recently removed the fabric toppers from these windows. We love the light that comes in now. The toppers were in a dark burgundy fabric which made the room seem dark too. I added the plates on each side and the game board above the window to finish out the space. I love the look.

Cross Vine

This is what is blooming in our garden today. The common name is Cross Vine. It should attract hummingbirds very soon. It is a rapid grower that likes to climb but we keep it trimmed back so it will spread out. It is on three supports for the weight of the vine. The plant is evergreen and deer resistant, unless they are very hungry.

Is it March already?

Here it is the very last day of February and I see I haven't posted since December, 2015. I have been busy knitting as you will see, so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! I have three finishes to show you.
The first is the Raglan top-down sweater that I started in the Fall. I loved knitting it from top-down! No seams!
















The second finish is a cowl I knitted during the month of February, (actually, in about 2 weeks). It is the Hoxey Cowl from Interweave Knits magazine, Winter 2016.

The third finish is a little table top quilt I made for a friend. She shared some of her fabric stash with me. Her parting words were, "let me see what you make with these". So I used all the fabrics she shared plus whites from my stash, and made her this.

Mug Rug

I made this Mug Rug for our sister-in-law for Christmas. She is the choir director for her church and also directed the Living Christmas program there too. I used music themed fabrics for the front and the back and drew the musical note freehand. I think she liked it. I added a mug with her initial, some shortbread cookies and a package of coco mix to the gift.

Chicken Enchiladas

What do you cook while waiting for Christmas to arrive? Why, Chicken Enchiladas of course!! This is my own version of so many different chicken enchilada recipes, but it is one that we like a lot.

Another new project

After I finished the eyelet sweater set, I started on a top down raglan. I've always wanted to knit one, so now is the time. As you can see, it is coming along very well. I added the "baby cables" to the front for interest. I'll show you the finished sweater soon.

What I have been knitting

This is what I've been knitting all summer. It is a sweater set (short sleeve eyelet sweater and sleeveless shell). I just put the colors together with really no thought to it. It turned out great! I finished this the first week of October, 2015. Ok, I know I'm a slow knitter, but with small needles, it took a long time.

Happy 4th of July!

Have a great independence day! Remember why we celebrate, and fly your American flag.

Knitting a sweater

I'm knitting this cotton sweater and I hope I have it  finished before Summer is through. It's knitted in the round up to the arm holes, then knitted back and forth. I'll do a 3 needle bind off at the shoulders and then pick up the sleeves and knit down to the cuffs. I'll give you a look when it's done.

Iris Garden

This lovely Iris is blooming today for the first time in my garden. It was from my Aunt Ruth's garden. My cousin Pam generously gave the cousins some Iris from her mother's garden. Some of the Iris in that garden were from my Grandmother's garden too. I am the third generation to grow some of these Iris. What a treat to have in my garden!! Enjoy and I'll show more when they bloom, maybe next year. Thanks Pam!

What is the name of this?

I received a pass-a-long plant from a quilt friend a few years ago. She didn't know the name of this plant but said it would bloom with lovely flowers. She was certainly right! It's growing as a house plant and looks like it belongs to the Iris family. I can't find the name of it but I don't mind...it is so lovely. The bloom only lasts for about 8 hours and only blooms in the daylight. I placed the bloom on a pink towel so you could see it better.  Do you know the name?

Healing Hats

I made this for a friend who is going through a difficult time right now. The hats are to cheer her up. The top hat is an "I'm ok", the second one is "I'm happy" and the third one is "I'm on top of the world Baby". I told her to strive to "wear" the last hat and smile when she looked at the little quilt. I hope this will help her.

Baby Burp Pads

I found this idea on Pinterest. The burp pads have a diaper folded in the middle for extra absorption. Great idea! I made these for my niece who is expecting a baby girl any day now. I also made a flannel blanket too. Just thought I'd share.

Cat beds

I recently repurposed an old quilt into "beds" for a no-kill cat shelter here in town.  Our furry babies slept on this quilt and we slept under it through the 30 years we had it. I cut 32 beds out of a queen size quilt. I ran out of fabric for the binding but used other fabrics (I'm sure the cats won't mind). The cats in the shelter sleep in cubbies and the hook side of Velcro was already glued down in the cubby. All I had to do was sew the fuzzy side of Velcro to the quilt. In all, the quilt beds came out great. I used the under side of the quilt as the "new" top of the beds since the quilt top was so worn. What do you think?

Copy of a quilt

I made this little quilt from seeing it on Kim Diehl's Facebook page. My star and bird are different than hers but I like how it turned out. It was a fun quilt to make. The colors are brighter than they seem, because the picture was taken in full sun.

New quilt

Yesterday, I finished a quit that was started awhile back. I finally put on the borders and finished quilting it. It is now on our bed. It is a Kim Diehl pattern. My quilt group pooled fabrics together and 6 of us made the same quilt, each looking somewhat alike but different. I added the borders with no pattern to go by, just winged it. Ron and I love it. It is not perfect (the quilt police were on vacation, ha) but it will serve our needs just fine.

New picture

Yep, this is me. A knitting and quilting friend gave me this for Christmas. It is me, pins in my mouth and all!! She did a wonderful job and she is so talented, thank you so much Susan!!

More little quilts

Here are the last 3 little quilts I've made this year. They are part of Kim Diehl's Simple What-Nots Club. Hope you enjoy them.

December already

Hey there! It is December already so I changed my header. This little quilt is a Kim Diehl pattern that appeared in a magazine last year. I love this little quilt. Hope it helps get you into the Christmas spirit. Merry Christmas!!
I'll be back soon with new little quilts to show.

Simple What Nots class

I am taking a Kim Diehl, Simple What-Nots Club, class at my favorite quilt shop. The class runs for six months and I've completed 3 little quilts so far. It is a fun and rewarding class but the quilts are so little!! Piecing half square triangles that measure finished at 1 inch is about to do me in!! But here are the results of the class so far. Enjoy.

Poppy Repost

Remember when I told you about the 8 Poppy quilts that my group had made? Here they are altogether. See the post "Finished Poppy" from June 29, 2014 to see what I'm talking about. These 8 little quilts are fabulous! You can click on the picture to see it enlarged. Enjoy.

Tea towels

I made these tea towels from Susan Branch's teapot pattern. Today she posted the pictures on facebook.  The towels were so much fun to make. Here's a link to her facebook page.

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-Susan-Branch-FOSB/102900461659

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day America! I just finished this little wall hanging and I love the colors! Hope you will too. Enjoy!

And here are the decorations I have for my front door this year. Love how it turned out!

Finished Poppy

Seven of my quilt friends and I have completed a group project. We each started with the original design you see here.

 

Then we cut the design into 4ths, and shared with 3 other people. The only "rules" we had were theme, colors, and size. We could embellish it or not and add anything else we wanted. Here is my finished flower. All eight finished quilts are now hanging in a quilt show for the month of July and they look fabulous together! I'll try to take a picture of all of them soon to show you. Such a fun project!

 

 

 

 

 

Before and After

I needed to recover the cushions for our rocking chairs on the screened porch. I had some tea towels available that I bought with this in mind. Of course I didn't have enough for both cushions front and back so I improvised with some fabric from my stash. It worked perfectly. The tea towels are the ones on the upper cushions in the after photo.

Before

 

After

A new Iris

This Iris is a new one we planted last year. Today we have the first blooms and it is lovely! It is in a bed with yellow Daylilies, white Shasta Daisies and Lavender.

Monkey quilt

This is what I've been working on the last few months. A before and after picture, the theme was Monkeys. I've already put it in the mail so it is on it's way to the new baby, who is my great nephew. I included a John Deere fabric in memory of my Dad who liked tractors. The monkey fabric is corduroy for an extra texture. New binding technique, a flange added.

 

Old Birdbath

What do you do with an old birdbath? One that has rusted some on the bottom and is very hard to clean? I had my hubby drill a few more little holes in the bottom and then I planted it with succulents that don't need much moisture. Here is the finished product, in front of the blooming azaleas. Nice touch to the garden along the pathway.

New project

This will be a new project. My quilt group is working on this and I'll show you the outcome later on. Just wanted to share with you the "before" picture. Stay tuned!!

Little things

Just some little quilt items that I've completed since January 2014. I have more in the works but I'll report on them later. Enjoy!