Friday Finish: Red and White Christmas

I love the film "White Christmas." It's been a favorite for a really long time. Love it when Bing and Danny Kaye dress in drag and do the "Sisters" number.

Go ahead. Watch it. I'll wait.

But the finale is my favorite. Makes me cry, every time. And I love that everything is red and white. Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against green, but red and white are my Christmas colors. The tree gets to be green. Everything else is red and white.

I finished two red and white HST quilts last year.

This top was in the works all year. I've been hoarding the last of this Holiday Hostess fabric.

If I could, I'd make myself a dress like this one. I'd wear kitten heels. Think I'm kidding? I also would love to recreate Vera Ellen's dress up there. Nope, not kidding at all.

Now, normally I wouldn't love such a matchy matchy quilt. I've actually come to adore scrappier looking quilts. But for Christmas, and for this fabric, I'll make an exception.

And when it's backed in red polka dot minky . . .

And bound in red and white stripe . . .


Well, it's going to be hard to share.

Checking this one off the 4Q FAL list. Eleven down, ten to go! Ooh, and this one is on the 100 Day Hustle list too! Hallelujah!

Linking up with Sarah at Confessions and Amanda Jean at crazymomquilts. 

Make-A-List Monday: We need a little Christmas . . .

What a week that was! I made a quick trip to my hometown on Saturday, so that cut into my sewing time a bit. I was supposed to come home yesterday, but there was some seriously thick fog that I did not want to drive through. Not with all the crazy college students returning. So I stayed an extra night and drove home this morning. It was a nice visit, but it meant that not a lot got done.

How did you do? Here's an update on me:

• Quilt and bind Holiday Hostess quilt

Nope. Gotta get this one done right away and mailed this week!

• Make my tree skirt

It's official. My tree has cuter Christmas clothes than I do!

• Baste, quilt and bind Easy as Cake Christmas quilt

It's basted. I'll finish this one up this week too.

• Work on my, erm, Halloween Spider web quilt 

The strips are sewn and pressed. I've got to get the cutting done. Later. Those Christmas quilts are top priority now.

•  Make my Christmas gift bags

Three are done and waiting to hold gifts. More to come, but I can check this off my 4Q FAL list.

Less than a month left until Christmas. I've got WAY too much planned. Here's my list:

• Seven new stockings
• Five sets of dragon wings
• Five different softies: a dolphin, a shark, a sea turtle, an alligator and an owl
• jammies for my husband
• The rest of the gift bags
• Five dragon softies for my little dragon lovers - I'm SO excited about this one 
• Library bags and zipper wallets for my niece and nephews

So, for this week:

• Project organization
• Quilt and bind Holiday Hostess quilt - ship it off!
• Quilt and bind Easy as Cake Christmas quilt

That's it. When those three are done, then I'll get to this stuff:

• stockings
• gift bags
• softies (I'll start with the owl for my baby girl)
• library bags

What's on your list, fellow elves? Linking up!

RED Friday

I don't do Black Friday, for the most part. I've done it once, at JoAnn's, and it was a nightmare. Great deals on flannel, but not necessarily worth my time.

So I declared a Red Friday, crafty Christmas style. I stayed at home, in my comfy clothes, with my Christmas socks, Christmas music and Christmas movies (and leftover turkey and pie), sewing Christmas crafts.

A tree skirt. Or maybe a tree petticoat? Whatever it is, it's done and in need of a tree. And off the 4Q FAL list officially! 10 projects down, 11 to go!

Seven stockings. Which means chain stitching a whole lot of HSTs.

Gift bags. I'm loving the gift bags this year!

Oh, and watching my University of Washington Huskies lose the Apple Cup. I should have called it a purple Friday. :)

How was your day?

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

(some of my favorite Norman Rockwell images)

Happy Thanksgiving to all, American or not. We have a Thanksgiving book that my husband started on our first Thanksgiving together. This is our eleventh Thanksgiving and it's so fun to look back on the things we've been thankful for over the years.

What I'm writing in the book this year:

My family

My healthy children

A home

My amazing sister-in-law, who is more of a sister every day

My Juki

Fabulous blogging friends!

Turkey

My talents

My country and the men and women, past and present, who made and keep it free

Hope you have a lovely day today!

Make-A-List Monday: Bring on the Turkey!

More like Make-A-Menu Monday! Do you have your menu all worked out? We're staying home, so I'm in charge of everything. I'm really okay with it. And since it's one of my favorite holidays, I'm going to share my menu first:

• Turkey (this recipe) and gravy
• Dressing (I'll be using this recipe)
• Mashed Potatoes
• Cranberry sauce
• Sweet potatoes
• The best carrots EVER (this recipe)
• Rolls, rolls, and more rolls
• Orange Jello ring - my mom has made it my whole life!
• Ambrosia - if only just for me, because I miss my Gran

That's dinner. Then there's the dessert menu!

• Coconut cake - again, because I miss my Gran and it's my favorite
• Pumpkin pie
• Chocolate bundt cake - for my boys, because they don't like anything else
• Lemon tarts - for my girl, because they are her favorites

Yum!

Okay, but as for non-Thanksgiving things. My list last week:

• Baste, quilt and bind the Max and Whiskers quilt

Done. I've got enough left over fabric to make the little man a pillowcase too and a toddler bed sheet.

• Quilt and bind James' quilt

Done. I've got enough fabric from this project to make one more, just no panel. That's okay. Snuggle quilts are snuggle quilts in my book. Cross this one off the 4Q FAL list as well.

• Piece my Gypsy Girl top 

Didn't get to it. Weekender bags took over my brain!

• Finish the lining of my Weekender Bag

Done. Boy was that a tough finish!

• Cut the felt circle for my tree skirt

Didn't do it. See Weekender Bag comment above.

• Maybe, just maybe, make some of the Christmas gift bags

Bags are cut out and ready for my Red Friday fest. Instead of shopping on Friday, I'm going to be sewing. In my jammies. Listening to Christmas music. So it's gonna be a Red Friday. Anyone want to join me?

On to this week's plans:

• Quilt and bind Holiday Hostess quilt
• Make my tree skirt
• Baste, quilt and bind Easy as Cake Christmas quilt
• Work on my, erm, Halloween Spider web quilt 
• Make my Christmas gift bags

I know what you're thinking. Halloween quilt? But I wanted a bigger one, so I got another jelly roll so I could make more strip sets to make more triangles to make more spiderwebs. And since we're moving next June, I'd rather move with finished quilts (or at least quilt tops) than pieces. Just me being crazy and OCD, but there it is.

I'll be checking in later this week, but have a Happy Thanksgiving my American friends. And my non-American friends, have a nice Thursday!

Vacation, anyone?

I need a vacation.

Not because I do anything more difficult than anyone else. I'm a mom to five kids. I homeschool. I bake my own bread. I hound kids about piano practice. I read stories. I fix dinner. I do laundry. Lots of laundry. I do dishes. I buy groceries. I help my law student stay focused. And I sew.

But that's not why I need a vacation.

I need a vacation so I can use this gorgeousness:

I love this bag. Everyone says that, right?

And, don't hate me, but it wasn't all that difficult. Maybe because I'd built it up in my mind as some sort of sewing Mt. Everest and it was totally manageable.

A few things:

• Buy a cording/piping foot. A narrow one. Way better than a zipper foot and I could get so close to the cording and keep it really tight.
• I used the steam-a-seam tape for the piping. The ONLY way to go.
• I lengthened and widened the handles a bit. Good move.
• I made a inside zipper pocket, my first EVER, and I love how it turned out.

• I didn't break a single needle, and I didn't use a special needle. I should say though that my machine is a beast, and super strong. And I went very slowly.
• Since I was using directional prints, I had to piece the top panel dandelion pieces. I also wanted to match the patterns, which took some figuring out. It would have been nice if there had been some small pointers on doing this in the pattern.
• I attached the lining by machine at the zipper opening. Just followed along the original stitching and it's just fine. I put on some old Downton episodes and hand-stitched the rest.Give yourself time to do the hand-stitching. It's worth it.

I've got requests for more for Christmas, so this won't be my only one. And I'm okay with that. In fact, I've got my second one cut out and ready to go! On second thought, maybe these should be birthday presents . . .

So where should I go? Just for fun, here are my most realistic fantasy vacation spots of the moment:

Source: creaturecomfortsblog.com via Jennie on Pinterest

A treehouse in Issaquah? Near my favorite city with my favorite bakery and Greek restaurant? Um, yes please?

Source: runoftheriver.com via Jennie on Pinterest

Or a fabulous B&B near Leavenworth, Washington. They have a fabulous Christmas festival. It's a great little Bavarian village in the Cascade Mountains. Love it.

I just need a babysitter for a weekend . . . I have the fabulous bag covered now!Oh, and I'll need a somewhat fabulous wardrobe to go with the bag. You know. Because that's important.

The Official stats:

• Fabric: Premier Prints Small Dandelion Candy Pink/White (it's on sale right now for $5.98/yd.), Ticking Stripe Azalea/Ivory
• Lining pocket tutorial
• Zippers purchased here

Marking this one off the 4Q FAL list and linking up!

Friday Finish: A Little House Christmas

I love Little House on the Prairie. We have all the seasons on DVD. But this little Christmas episode is one of my favorites. They didn't have lots of money for gifts, so they all snuck around and made gifts for each other, or earned money for them doing all sorts of things. Charles built wagon wheels to sell, and made Mary's fur shawl. Laura dyed yarn to knit a scarf for her Pa. Mary worked with the local seamstress to make a shirt for her Pa. And Laura sold her horse to Nellie Olsen to buy a stove for her Ma.

Well, I don't have a horse to sell, but I'm working on some homemade gifts this year. And the first one is done:

A quilt for my little nephew. He's 20 months old, so it's plenty big enough. It's backed in chocolate Minky for extra snuggle factor. And I have extra fabric, so I'll make a couple of pillowcases and crib sheets for his toddler bed.

And crossing this one off my 4Q FAL list.

My extra lining fabric arrives today, so I'm going to get that Weekender Bag done right away so I can link up this weekend. Hope to see you tomorrow!

Linking up with Sarah and Amanda Jean. Have a great Friday!

Well Hot Dang!

See that awesome book up there? Skip the Borders? Yeah. I won a digital copy of it. So stinkin' excited about this book.

I used to be a borders girl. I thought they were required or something. Like pantyhose. But then I see quilts all over without borders and it's a little shocking at first. But then you see the practicality of it, combined with a little bit of, "Why not?"

I think this one will be my first:

I like the e-book format. I can print off the pages of the quilt I want to make, and it doesn't take up shelf space. Win-win!

WIP Wednesday: Weekender Wednesday

Why does it always come down to the wire with me? The link-up party for the Long Weekend is looming and I'm sitting here, twiddling my thumbs, waiting for fabric to arrive. Tracking information says it will be here by Friday. Yeah, down to the wire and twiddling thumbs.

Well, not twiddling my thumbs, really, but certainly not working on my Weekender bag. I've quilted Richard Scarry part zwei. I'm binding it later today.

I also had a terrible. awful, no good, very bad dream last night, so I was up early. Figured I might as well get my nephew's Max and Whiskers quilt finished too. Binding happening later today as well.

The I spotted this tutorial and knew that it had to go with my other Christmas gift bags. For bigger items and all. So I cut up some fabric for a few of these as well. I'll be making a few minor changes to the construction that I'll share when I'm done.

So that's what I'm working on the rest of this week. And I might baste another quilt tonight, just because I can (and should!). I've got to get this 4Q FAL list whittled down even more because I've got big plans for Christmas gifts. And they look like this:

Source: feelincrafty.wordpress.com via Jennie on Pinterest

My kids are crazy for dragons. Last year I made dinosaur tails (here's the tutorial - if you have little ones in your life, make them! If only so you can giggle watching them tear around the house with them on!). It's gonna be awesome come Christmas morning!

Linking up!

Fabric Tuesday: Disappearing Act

I got kinda ambitious yesterday with my list. But I've had such cooperative children lately (for the most part), I had to make the most of it. Once the first cold hits, I'll be entertaining sick kiddos for quite a while. At least they have quilts to keep them warm.

So what do I have to show today that I didn't show yesterday?

How about these:

Do you ever see something on Pinterest, or flickr, and say, "I have to make that now!" And you even have the perfect fabric for it? That's what happened to me. I saw this quilt and fell head over heels for it. I just so happened to have some Mama Said Sew charm squares, and some Bella solid ones and I figured "Why not?"

I've seen disappearing 4-patch quilts before, but they were always too busy for my tastes. Too many have too much going on, but this one, with the neutral spaces really highlights the fabrics and gives you a place to rest your eyes. This one is going to be fun to work on.

These are all the blocks I had fabric for, for the moment. I ordered more Bella charm packs to finish it, but since I have to wait, I'll get back to my list. I've got quilts to quilt!

Make-A-List Monday: One-Upping Myself!

Do you know a one-upper? Someone who always has to top you?

I got to one-up myself this last week:

• Quilt Mr. Henry's Busytown quilt - bind it too

Done and isn't he cute and happy?

• Start piecing blocks for James' Busytown quilt

Done, along with the entire top pieced and now it's basted.

• Sew handles and pocket pieces for Weekender bag

Handles, pockets, and then the entire outer bag. Love this bag. Can't wait to finish it later this week.

• Resist the urge to play with my new fabric that arrived on Saturday 

Other than visiting The Intrepid Thread a few times to look at the bundles, I did marvelously! Hooray for me!

On to this week! There is no "I need to clean the house (especially the bathrooms) because I have visitors coming" mentality this week, so I can relax a bit. And since I had to clean my sewing room/guest room, I have a floor! Which for me means making a bigger list!

• Baste, quilt and bind the Max and Whiskers quilt
• Quilt and bind James' quilt
• Piece my Gypsy Girl top
• Finish the lining of my Weekender Bag
• Cut the felt circle for my tree skirt
• Maybe, just maybe, make some of the Christmas gift bags

 There? Overly ambitious? Heck, there was this one time . . .

Have a great week! What's on your list? (And I mean it - tell me! In fact, maybe it would be fun to make it a linky party - your thoughts?)

Friday Finish: My Secret Source of Power

Source: tribaltattoos24.com via Suh on Pinterest

Hee hee. I love Wonder Woman.

I've had, like, eleventy hundred (okay, maybe five) comments about how I get so much done. This makes me laugh, because boy do I feel like I never get anything done. But I guess I do. So I got to thinking: how do I get so much done?

Let's not consider that the laundry doesn't always get sorted. And sometimes I'm loading the dishwasher right before dinner. Or the fact that sometimes my youngest son spends most of the day in his underwear. Hey, at least he's not naked. And in my defense, he does have clean clothes. He just refuses to put them on and I don't feel like fighting.

It's nothing magical. Just organized.

First, it totally helps to have a designated crafting space. With a door. I can leave my project out and go back to it when I can find five or ten minutes. Chicken nuggets in the oven for 15 minutes? Sew some blocks, or work on some binding, or quilt a bit of a quilt. Older kids working on lessons? Cut fabric at the counter.

I also live by lists. I love my lists. I make a "to-do" list for each week. I put everything on it. Dinner plans. Lessons. Piano practice for the kids. Sewing things I want to get done. It's all there. I love crossing things off my list.

I deviate from my lists, but being organized lets me play fast and loose sometimes. Take this past week as an example.

My husband accidentally broke my ironing board. I know. How can you piece a quilt top without an ironing board. Don't ask. He got in some serious trouble for that one.

Fortunately, I had just basted a quilt. So I wound some bobbins and got to quilting while he got to fixing (that is his super power: fixing anything and everything!). By the time Henry's quilt was finished, my ironing board was back.

So here is my official finish for the week:

Used the Slideshow quilt pattern (although I omitted the outer border). Used a FQ bundle and panel of Richard Scarry prints from the Fat Quarter Shop. Quilted in a meandering loopity loop, because that's what I do quickest and best. I stuck with reds, blues, greens and oranges for the accent colors. Some pezzy prints, some Essential dots, some stars. All boy-ish, in my eyes. I tend to lean towards girly quilts, and my boys don't mind them, but they need something manly every now and again.

The Pickle Car and Apple Car are my favorites.

Scrappy binding, green Minky back.

My quilt model/holder was at school, so this is the best I've got for full shot.

Here is the happy little owner of his very own quilt:

Checking this one off the 4Q FAL list. Slowly but surely, it's getting done. And now I can claim my string quilt back. Phew.

I also worked on this:

Isn't she purty? I got my fabric allowance and ordered the rest of the fabric I need for the lining. I also ordered the liner for my umbrella girl bag, so I'll be getting started on that soon. I've got interfacing to cut in the meantime.

And I have to give a shout out to my Prince Charming, who slayed dragons and went on a late night run to Walmart to get me binder clips. He didn't even bat an eye when I said I needed them for a sewing project. He's awesome that way.

Hope you have a great weekend. I have to go turn my sewing space into a guest room for my parents. I might sneak in some cutting though. Can't help myself!

Linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, who once again proves how awesome she and her sweatshop of sewers are by helping out whenever they are needed. Read all about it!

And linking up with Amanda at crazy mom quilts, because I've got a finish to share!

100 Day Hustle: Halfway!

 

There are other things going on today, big (my oldest son's birthday) and small (presidential election here in the U.S.). But this is a quilty blog, so let's talk about the 100 Day Hustle.

It's halfway over! Only 50 days left in 2012! That's crazy!

Here's what I've marked off my way-too-long-list:

R2D2 quilt - it's gotten really cold lately and so this is getting LOTS of use.

The Sunshine String quilt - I can't stop staring at it!

Halloween zig zag quilt - my son won't let me pack it away. Guess I need to make him another quilt.

Trick-or-treat bags - that are empty now! I just let the kids eat all the candy right away. With three birthdays right after Halloween, we just get all sugared up. Detox begins tomorrow!

Further progress on the list, but not finished:

My Lucy Crab Shack triangle quilt top is finished. It's, um, big. I think I'm going to fix it up for my husband. He's 6'2", so most "lap" quilts qualify as napkins for him. He likes to tuck quilts under his feet, like most of us I think, and a 60" quilt isn't going to cut it. I'll order some navy Minky to back it in and give it to him for Christmas.

I've got the squares cut out for the Gypsy Girl patchwork quilt. Just need to lay it out and piece it together. I'll have to order the binding and backing, but it's getting closer.


My tree skirt is cut out - that's progress, right?


I'm struggling with the stockings. I was just going to do plain ones (as in, no patchwork) but that feels so boring, and not me. So now I've got to make some patchwork ones and line them with the "plain" fabrics. More work, but more satisfying!

I have the red with white polka dot Minky pieced to back my Holiday Hostess quilt.

The red string quilt will be for me and I'll send the Holiday Hostess quilt as a gift. That's the only progress I made - that one big decision!

No progress on all the rest, but that's okay. I'm making dents in my 4Q FAL list, so progress is progress, right?