Pincushions for Christmas Through The Year

I've been making little pincushions for gift giving through the year. I'm linking up with Christmas Through The Year HERE. One of the reasons I've decided to make some pincushions is the simple fact that we have a huge box of crushed walnut shells that my DH thought he would use to sand blast his jalopy. As it turns out black diamond sand works better for his project and he ask me, "Do you have anything you could use crushed walnut shells for?" I used stuffing in the Cathedral Stars though.

Recognize that little house? I paper pieced a few of them weeks ago. I've decided that I made plenty and now will use them for this project. "My home to yours" sort of gift.

The spool pincushion is a free pattern from Laundry Basket Quilts that you can find HERE.

The star below is a leftover block I had laying around from another project. When I saw the pincushion at Merumo's blog I just had to make it.

This one bothered me because it didn't have that aged look. The background shirting was just to "white" for me and now I know why it didn't make the cut into the quilt it was intended for. The pincushion was already made and stuffed with shells so I couldn't exactly tea dye it. So here is how I "age" alot of my projects. Wow...what a difference!

No Ordinary Monday

So my day begins with tree trimmers taking out several of the neighbor's trees.

They also took out my mailbox! While I'm upstairs quilting I hear a big bang and sure enough the tree did not fall according to the plan and now I've got a tree in my driveway and one of the limbs smacked the mailbox. On Mondays my car is normally parked at the end of the drive while my DH works on his jalopy on the driveway in front of the garage. DH had to work today so thankfully my car was safe in the garage. I now have a new mailbox.

Then just when I'm coming down to the last bit of thread on a spool the mailman rings with my delivery! I'm back in business.

This box doesn't look very colorful does it? These are the colors that I tend to use the most. It's time to get back to quilting.

Cathedral Window Pincushion

When Moda Bake Shop posted this little pincushion I just knew I would have to make one.

My guys took off to see a movie this evening so I took advantage of my alone time and whipped this Cathedral Window Pincushion up in less than 30 minutes. It took me more time just to figure out which fabrics to use for my "trial run" and I am pleased with the result. Of course now I'm thinking if I made a bunch of these up to place in a wooden bowl how cute would that be?

Did you see Riley Blake Designs has a bunch of pincushion tutorials? I've got my eye on this one!

Birdie Stitches Quilting Peek

Mary's "Birdie Stitches" is on the frame and being quilted now. This quilt is just so cute that I had to show a peek.

This was a free BOM pattern from Little Miss Shabby.

Enjoy your weekend!!

Fun Day and Fun News!

Sandi and I made a trip to the Forsyth Quilter's Guild Show this past Friday. It was wonderful to see all the quilts and meet up with some blog friends. Carrie P., Cathi and myself; Sandi was our photographer. (Thanks Sandi!) We are all standing in Cathi's booth of gorgeous wool! I wanted it all but was good and just bought some black for now. Cathi does mail order too.

I'm sure Carrie will be blogging many of the tops so I will leave that task to her. However this was too funny for me not to share!

See that little block there in the middle? That's me!! I swapped blocks quite some time ago and hadn't done a thing with mine. I was walking through looking at quilts and even told Sandi, "Hey...I did a swap similiar to this one."

This swapper finished her quilt....and it was quite fun to see my name in it!

Cheryl Wall's new book is in production and will be released in June! Woo Hoo! I'm so excited because I was the lucky one who quilted many of the quilts in her book! You can take a sneak peek of the quilts at this link. Be sure to click on the little arrows below the book. Which is your favorite?

Ohio Star Quilt

Here's a few photos of a quilt I just took off the frame today. I thought you would really enjoy seeing this one. It seems all my photos turned when loading them onto the blog.

This Ohio Star quilt is only 30" x 30" finished.

Feeling The Warmth of Spring Time!!

I finally took the last stitch on the binding of my walking rabbit quilt top that Karen gifted me. I hope you can see that I also added rick rack trim under the binding along with some ladybug buttons in the grass, a bead on the eye and also button on his collar. My son said I should add an elbow patch. Karen had stitched all the wool work and I already had it quilted before my son's suggestion. I guess I could add the elbow patch now and it wouldn't matter on the back since it is a wall hanging. But done is done!

Our trees are in full bloom, the warmth in the air devine and I feel great! Woo Hoo!!

Already Friday? Where Have I Been?

I quilted this little top weeks ago in with a bunch of other small ones and finally got it bound. I missed Darlene and Cheryl's Christmas Through The Year for February and will submit this for March with (hopefully) some other finishes for gift giving.

I missed the date because I've been busy quilting others and then somewhat ill again. For those who follow me and remember my episode last July...something similiar again. I've been nursing myself and drinking ALOT of water.

I wanted to show the back of this little quilt and a very simple and inexpensive way to hang it. You can place a slim dowel rod under those corner flaps and then hang on one single hook or nail.

Gift or not, I had to model the latest finish around my home for fun. It is now safely tucked away in the gift giving box that Darlene and Cheryl suggested.

This is another sweet finish. Carol gifted me this tiny top ages ago. I finished the binding on it this week too. This little quilt is only 12" x 13" if that. I love chestnut quilting all over for fun texture.

I hate when photos turn but there it is. I wanted to share a photo of the tiny iron shoe that I've had for years. I don't know a thing about it besides its discovery when my parent's home was built way back and it was found in the dirt.

A nice surprise showed up in the mail this week. These are Marcie's latest patterns fresh from the printer! Aren't they wonderful? You can see more of her designs at Patchalot Patterns.

I spy a sweet giveaway at Carol's blog too so I'm spreading word. If you are interested in winning the book called, "Sonoma Rose" get on over there and tell her I sent ya!