Teapots and Quilts

Spring is due in March but it is still cold enough to REALLY enjoy a hot cup of tea.

 As my regular followers probably know I READ A LOT.  I almost always have a book handy.....  So when I saw this teapot available on ETSY I thought how much I would love to have it.  Unfortunately it is a big pricey for me but I do love it.  They also have a single cup style that is a bit more in my price range.  I wish I liked it as much as the first one. We shall have to see.  But meanwhile here are the two teapots I am talking about.  If you want to learn more about them and the seller click on the picture and it will take you to the sale page...........

 The classic authors tea pot...

The Poetry Books Teapot

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As February draws to a close I continue to be amazed at how fast time flies.  Must be having a LOT of fun as the saying goes.

This past week I started a new quilt project.  It is a Block of the Month style, ,(this one actually has 3 blocks a month.)  Because I am on the continuing mission to use up my stash of fabric this is a perfect one.   It will be comprised of 30 squares and I am making them "scrappy" to use up my existing fabric but they will have the one common denominator.....  a cream colored fabric I had bought a lot of awhile ago and never used. And various blues and reds.

Here are the first three blocks that I finished this past week.  Now I have to wait a few weeks before the next pattern arrives!   If you think this is something that might interest you, you can  check it out on Craftsy... (and, no, I am not getting any payment for mentioning this here.)  See below for the link for Craftsy.  (It is a relatively inexpensive project. (if you use fabrics from your stash!!!)  Just $2 USD a month for 10 months.  You will get the pattern for three blocks each month.

Here is a link.........   Simple Traditions BOM on Craftsy..........    And if you decide to do this.... you can join the facebook group to get lots of fun inspiration.        Simple Traditions Facebook Group.   You will have to join the group to read it but it has been worth it so far!!!

And here is a picture of a few of the bulbs coming up in one of my garden areas.  That means Spring MUST be near.........  And YES, I think that hole in upper right part of picture leads to the "home" of the resident chipmunk.  LOL

 

I am joining with the following Tea Parties and blog parties.

  These may not be available every week so check to be sure.

Hope you will visit them too.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME 

 Martha at Martha's Favorites *

Bernideen's Tea-time Blog *
Ruth's Antiques  Teacups *

Share your cup  Thursday*

A quilted Pine Grove

 A Happy Thanksgiving wish to all my American friends.

Continuing on with the "showing off" of my recent quilt projects. This quilt is called Pine Grove.  It is sitting on a table in my living room that will hold a small Christmas tree that I put up AFTER Thanksgiving.  Prior to that and afterwards it will hold this bouquet and the table will hold some family pictures which I won't show now.

 This quilt project was from the Connecting Threads website and is called Pine Grove.
 Here is a link to the site if you want the pattern.  They don't have the actual kits anymore.

                                                                 Click here for

                                   Pattern for Pine Grove

 This quilt will now put me in mind of Maine.... the Pine Tree State..... where we lived for many years before moving south to Pennsylvania.     The scent of pine trees will always be a special memory.

 
 Because it was a kit and because there was fabric left over I decided to make the back using those leftovers.  Because they were left overs things may look a bit "wonky" but I will love the way they turned out.  And I didn't have to buy any more fabric.  I am doing this more and more with my quilts.  Using fabrics from my stash or from a kits that I already possess.  I just don't like going out and buying new fabric when I have plenty available here.

The fall leaves are just about all down.  After my husband removed a very large amount again this past weekend he said he is DONE!  The other leaves get to live here until the first mwoing in the spring I suppose.     It is now time to start getting ready for Thanksgiving AND to start thinking about Christmas decorating.  

      BUT NOT YET...............  I personally like to wait until AFTER Thankgiving.

             I am joining Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage for her special new blog party...............

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

             Be sure to join me there.  There are MANY wonderful posts to see..............

More quilt projects!!

The Quilts keep coming..............


 AND so do the fall leaves. My husband is cleaning them up a fast as he can. This is the second load he has raked to the road.  And will probably have one more in a week or so.   Yes, all that is showing is from our yard.... Our township comes around with a truck that sucks them up and takes them to a recycling area to make mulch every week or so.

And here is that truck doing its thing.

  They keep falling and falling.......  There are still a couple of trees full of leaves.  Hope they are finished by Thanksgiving.    We can't leave them on the ground as some might suggest.  We have so many trees the ground would be thickly covered and the grass would die. We live on the edge of a woods and there are plenty of leaves there for the wild critters we see here....  The deer, BEAR, raccoons, wild turkeys, and on and on.......

This past Saturday I completed the third class of a Machine Quilting class.  I hope during the next year to learn a lot more.  They just say it is practice, practice, practice.  I don't expect to ever to do full quilts.  Don't have the set up for that but certainly can do runners, table toppers and such which are what I seem to do more of these days anyway.

Up to now my machine quilting has consisted of "stitch in the ditch" and cross hatch.  I tried some stippling and it will take a lot of practice.  As time goes on I hope to show you some of things I accomplish.  But just don't hold your breath... LOL

Here are a couple more recently finished projects.

This week I am showing two season runners.  I finally got them quilt and bound even though started quite a while ago.  The first would for the fall season and the pattern was called Autumn Spice.  It is from the September 2001 issue of McCall's Quilting Quick Quilts.  I started it back then and put it away.  The original pattern has some flowers and vines around the edge.  Perhaps I will someday add them but I wanted this done so here is it.  It is bound with the dark green.

   For this one I  used the "stitch in the ditch" method of quilting.   If you want to know what that is and how to do it here is a tutorial............... I imagine You Tube has lots of videos too.

How to "Stitch in the Ditch"

This next runner was  made using a pattern I found on line.  I like the colors for Christmas time but you could use it other times as well.  It was also quilted using "stitch in the ditch."  I found this quilt pattern on Quilting Bug.             I know I found it quite awhile ago and this might not have been the site where it was located. According to the pattern this was done as a charity fund raiser for Cystic Fibrosis.  But when I checked this time and clicked on the link I couldn't find any current info.  

For the final quilting on this one I also used Stitch in the Ditch.  It will be so nice to get beyond that one of these days soon.

 

So that is my sharing for this week.  I hope I may have inspired some of you to take your UFOs out and finish them.  It feels so good to have them done!!!

Come back next week for MORE.

I am posting this on a new link party at the home of one of my former Tea Cup Tuesday hostesses, Sandi.  Her blog Rose Chints Cottage is such a beautiful site. I am posting this on Fridays but will be adding it to  the link below on Mondays when she holds her party. 

 No Place Like Home

Be sure to visit. her and see all the other great blog postings.   

And check back next week  to see more of my recent quilt finishes. 

I do appreciate your comments.  Thanks so much for caring to do so.

Quilts and more quilts

 This is my dining room table centerpiece for fall.  The runner was one I made several years ago. I found the inspiration for the runner in the fabric department at Marden's, a favorite store in Maine.  The gourds all came from Leesport a couple of weeks ago.



Fall is definitely full under way...although we are having a bit of Indian Summer this week.  It was so warm Wed. we even took a trip down to the Leesport Flea Market....  My husband has been out clearing leaves for the past several days.  We have close to 40 trees on our property and after the pretty colors comes the ground cover..............
  Speaking of leaves, I took the first two pictures when I got into my car a few days ago.  "Almost" frosted over windows.  I thought they were so arty I took a picture of each side of the windshield. I may try to use them in some art journaling soon.

The leaves are from our pretty little Japanese maple tree.... so pretty and then they are gone.

 I did say I would show more recent quilting projects this week so here they are........

I found this pattern for a Candy Corn mug rug and knew I HAD to make it.  The pattern is free from the website called Craftsy.  Here is a link.  http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/10/free-candy-patterns/
There are some other patterns on that page too.  I was lucky to have most of the fabrics in my stash!

This next project is what has now become one of my all time favorite quilts.  I now use it to cover up when I watch tv on cool evenings.  It is from the book pictured here.

  By Heather Mulder Peterson

It is still available as an e-book at Martingale Press. I was able to purchase it back when it was a real book. There are over 20 bed, lap, and wall quilts shown.   All fun to do I imagine. There are still a couple in the book I want to make.

 

I had done another strip quilt lately and it was so much fun I decided to try this one.  This definitely used up a LOT of scraps though I did have to buy the black.  I did each square on muslin instead of paper like some strip quilts suggest.  It made it so much easier because I did not have to rip the paper off after.  I just left it in place.

I still have lots more recently finished projects to share so be sure to come back next Friday and see what I have to show you.

Catching up and Quilting

                   Happy Fall, Happy Halloween,

 (I won these letters as part of an etsy contest.... from Char at http://www.someplaceinthyme.com/ )



I KNOW I haven't been here in quite a while.  Life sort of got in the way!!!!!

I had a health issue that resulted in surgery and then 4 weeks of eating practically NOTHING... lots of liquids and soft stuff.  I am fine now, thank the good lord, and finally feel like perhaps I should get back to my blog!

During that time I missed out on my yearly trek to Maine and New Brunswick which was very sad.   And didn't really go anywhere to far afield as driving for long periods was uncomfortable so..............  I did a LOT of quilting.

I found I could sit at my sewing machine for awhile and then get up and do something else when I got uncomfortable.  As a result..... I finished a number of projects that were just sitting around half finished....  I thought today I would begin to show you the results of that marathon effort.  I did some of the quilting myself but the big ones got sent out to my long-arm lady.

Today I am starting out showing a quilt that was  part of a Block of the Month project with a group of ladies on the Connecting Threads website.  It is called Lasting Legacy and featured reproduction Civil War fabrics and .made with beautiful, traditional blocks within a classic setting. I finished it mostly as the kit  said but several of the ladies just used the pattern and did their own thing.  All turned out terrific.
Here is that first finished quilt. (folded a bit because I couldn't get it all in this picture... as it sat on my dining room table.)

 For the back I simply used all the left over fabric I had from the project.  It is almost another quilt of its own.  I was in too big a hurry to make any sort of design.  Just added pieces as I picked them up to fit the space.  But I really like the way it turned out.

The next quilt I am showing is one completely different!  I found the pattern in the magazine called
 Mc Calls QUICK QUILTS magazine July 2001.  It is called Secret Garden.  I started it right away when I bought the magazine but obviously was a bit slow finishing since I finally got it done in August of 2015.  I made it out of a lot of pastel scraps I had in my stash and some I picked up at yard sales.  The rick rack was bought at a flea market in Lewisburg, Pa at the time I was considering doing the project.  It was already QUITE vintage at the time.  The pattern calls for over dye but I didn't do it.  Just left as is.  I noticed some of the fabric was from old blouses I used to wear.  It is a good way to use up some of your fabric stash.  I now use it as a lap quilt when watching tv.  I may make another using darker colors, just don't hold your breath!

So that is it for this week.  Next week I will show a couple of more.  I figure I can keep this up for several weeks.  I lost count of how many projects I actually finished but it was quite a few.

Check in next Friday and see what else I finished.................

I will eventually get back to "TEACUP TUESDAY" posts too.  But that may take awhile. I am sort of out of the habit and need to find more tea cups to feature.

Happy New Year.

                       HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!


For all my followers.... I will have to apologize.  I have not been here for ages.  Things change,  and life happens.   In the past year, since I was last here I have had surgery on my left hand to make the PAIN GO AWAY.  That took awhile but things seem back to normal now.

After that was resolved I seemed to get into quilting in an even bigger way, also more paper arts and just generally keeping busy, busy, busy.    We did a good bit of traveling this past year going to two Nascar Races and three Bluegrass Festivals.  Also a big trip to Maine and Canada and a few side trips to visit my daughter.  But for the next few months we are HOME and I plan to do a lot of sewing.

So...... back to quilting.
I did actually get one finished this past fall to give to my daughter for her birthday.  She, like me, loves Coffee so that was the theme of the quilt.  I used a pattern from a Fons and Porter Love of Quilting magazine and then made it my way.  So it is similar but different.  Instead of coffee cups in each square like the original pattern indicated I appliqued coffee "sayings" that I had created with my   embroidery machine.  If you click on the whole quilt picture you can see it better I think.

My next goal is to finish the TWO  block of the month quilts I have been working on during the past year.  Just a few more squares and I should be able to put them together.  Then I can send them off to my finish quilter.  I was going to try and do my own machine quilting BUT I know if I want to get them done in this life time I will have to break down and do that step.  I love the sewing the top part way more than the final stage!  And my quilting lady does a great job!!!   So this way I should have several finished quilts by the end of  next year.
    I made a master picture of where the finished quilt pieces will go and then added in pictures as I went... until July when we started traveling in earnest and I just never had time to take pics. I did add a few more but still not complete.

This first picture shows how I am working on the Block of the month project from Country Threads.  I still have a couple of squares to make and a LOT of strips to put in other places, but haven't put the rest of the completed squares into this picture yet.  It gives you an idea though.

And the next picture shows the quilt I am working on from Craftsy.  (I take a lot of classes from Craftsy.)  I am also nearly done with this one, just haven't taken a picture is a while. 

Both of these Block of the Month quilts helped me reduce "some" of my stash!.  Lots more still available though.

Meanwhile I have started a new Block of the Month quilt with a group I belong to on line. That is coming along fine.  We started in Nov. and I have finished those blocks and the Dec. blocks as well.

I always say I will make some resolutions and then never keep them.  This year I have made some "suggestions" to myself and hope I can go beyond the Suggestion level.  I found several little projects that have been sitting, patiently, waiting for me to work on them.  No promises but if I actually finish them I will post as I go along.

My sewing machine will be humming today.

 My January Dining Room Table Centerpiece

     This centerpiece is made up from a few things I bought from a favorite country store. 


    They have a small shop at my favorite flea market in Leesport, PA
   The small tray they are sitting on was bought for just 50 cents from an outdoor vendor there, and I painted it to go with....

TIME TO GET BACK TO QUILTING

Over the past couple of weeks I have been working on getting some projects ready for machine quilting.  The two that I will be starting on today and for over the weekend are fairly simple ones.
One is a small table cover, the other a runner.

Here are pictures of the finished piecing part.

This first one is made using fabric from a collection from Connecting Threads.   (A great online quilting shop.) Just click on the name to go to their website.  The name of this collection was Circle of Friends.
I checked there today and they are already pretty much sold out of alot  of the fabric.  It really is beautful stuff though the camera doesn't do it full justice.
  

 

 This second one also suffers in looks from my camera.  Don't know why.  The four larger corner squares will have flowers, leaves and stems appliqued on as part of the quilting process.

It is a pattern from "This n That" pattern company called Prairie Star.  I was using what I had in my various collections of "charm" pieces and didn't have any gold like the pattern showed so used lighter colors instead.  In case you don't know "charms" are 5 inch squares often cold in coordinated groups.

I admit to using this pattern to "use up" some of my stash.  Although it doesn't show well here for some reason in person it is great.  (sigh.....)

 

You can see that I have the pieces pinned with my fancy topped pins.  That is why there are little specks of color all over that don't really look like they belong on the items.

By next weekend I hope they are done and the binding will be ready to go on.

Think I can do it?

Leesport rewards me again.....

Last week we managed to get to our favorite flea market in Leesport and while I was supposed to looking for things for my antique shop I OF COURSE was looking for things for my quilting hobby.  This week I found some fabric and a few pattern and idea books.  And this one called Pockets of Hearts really hit my heart!

 Over this past weekend I actually made a couple of projects from the book.

 On the cover you can see the mini quilt I ended up making. 

 Actually, I still have to quilt it but the applique is done.

In addition I made some wood felt pockets and filled them with  flowers.  The dried rose in the pocket on the right is from a bouquet I received from my husband.  I need to hang them up somewhere to enjoy them more.

If you are interested in the book I imagine it may no longer be in print but you might be able to find it on etsy or eBay.  It is published by Vanilla House. 

Another day, another finished quilt project.

 I was UNPLEASANTLY surprised to discover I have Lyme Disease.  Too much time spent outside I guess.  But I wanted to and needed to work in my garden.  I guess I will have to be more watchful.  It was caught pretty early so a three week course of antibiotics should take care of it....  At least the doctor thinks so.
So back too better things.... like my sewing machine!

The little quilt I showed a few days ago is finished.  I have to admit it feels awfully good to be able to say finished!
 And here it is....  now, what shall I work on next..............................

I am using it as a table topper next to my bed.  I really like it and I especially like it that it is DONE!

In case you are wondering, most of my projects these days are small.  I don't need any bed sized quilts and don't have room to quilt them easily so will continue to work on the smaller sized things.

Some little quilting projects finally finished.

Last week I attended a class at my local quilt shop and FINALLY learned the really proper way to bind a quilt.  Now mind you I didn't take a big project to the class.  Just this small runner.  But I learned, it is done and I am happy with it.  The project itself took me in a lot of directions.  I saw one like this last summer when I was in Maine.  Someone had made a sample runner with a similar look and it was on display in the fabric dept.  of  Marden's department store in Brewer. Maine.  I loved the idea but they didn't have any patterns.  So I had to figure it out myself.

I did buy the fabric from Mardens to make it and once I got home I started my plan.  Here is the finished project and after you see that I will explain what I did.  Click on it to see it bigger.

 The original one had oak leaves that sort of left the edges so I decided to do the same thing.  I had to find a pattern so I went to google and found a picture which I enlarged and printed out to use as the pattern.
I decided to just machine applique them onto the base and did so using variegated threads to make it a bit more interesting.  I included the batting before I did the stitching so it was actually being quilted at the same time as I was appliquing.

 If you click on the picture to see the image better you will have an idea of what I did.  I used a different stitch to make the stems on the leaves and used a light brown so it would show up as a stem.

By doing this I also cut back on quilting I might need to do.

Finally I knew I needed to "fill up" some of the open spaces so decided to use a pattern for an acorn.  I printed that one out from Google Images as well.  And I found a decorative stitch that I think looked almost like the edge off an acorn would look.  So this is the result.  I am happy with it.

  

 And it is finished, bound and waiting for the fall to go on my dining room table,

In addition to that project, I also started and finished this little mat.  I had seen some place mats like it and I wanted to see two things.  1.  Could I make it  and 2.  Would I like them if I did in my own colors.

 I don't know why the colors look so different in the two pictures.  If you click on this close up one you can better see the little stitches I did.  They serve as quilting but also are nicely decorative I think.

I decided to use some fabric I already had and figured out how to make my own pattern.  Finally after sewing together all the parts I looked through my stitches and found one that I thought would look good.  So here is the end result.  I don't think I will make anymore but I am glad I tried it.  And our phone now has a mat to sit on.

Well, not to just sit back and rest I am now working on a couple more projects I hope to be able to show
you in the next few weeks.  More table runners....  I like them because they aren't such a big project and they are also easier to quilt.

Be sure to come back to visit next Tuesday for Tea Cup Tuesday.  Not sure what I will have to show you yet.  But I have a lot to choose from so it should be good.

This and That

   Enjoying all the pretty flowering plants and shrubs.  We planted these forsythia a couple of years ago and they are doing better each year.

Perhaps it was because Spring has sprung and we had a nice vacation. But for the past week I have been getting very industrious.  Actually finishing or nearly finishing some projects.

I have mentioned that  I have done a lot more sewing lately but seemed to have trouble finishing things up.  This past week was different.  To begin I made this mat.  I saw a place mat on line that I liked and decided to make my own pattern and see if I could do it.  Here is the result.

Now that I know it turns out ok, I will probably make it in colors more suitable for my dining room table.  I just had these purple scraps and decided to use them.
       
The next project is this tote bag.  Last fall I went to one of my favorite fabric stores where there sell lots of scraps of upholstery fabrics for REALLY CHEAP.  I bought quite a bit and this is made from some of those.
I used a lot of the special stitches on my sewing machine, also did a bit of machine applique in the middle.
So here is that result.

And the final project is a "fall table runner."  Last summer I found the idea in a fabric store in Maine and brought home the idea to replicate.  I bought the fabric at that store but the rest is my pattern.  I went on line and found a picture of an oak leaf which I enlarged, worked on and made it like I wanted it.  I cut out the four different colors of leaves and machine appliqued them onto the base piece.  The thread I used was a variegated one using the colors of the different leaves.   I also found a picture of an acorn on line and used it to create a pattern.  I printed up enough, pinned them to the base and stitched over the stop to served as quilting on the piece.  Then I ripped off the paper.
     You will notice there is no binding yet.  I will be doing that in a class I will be taking later in the month.

If you look closely you can see the "outlines" of the acorn that make up the quilted areas.
I will show again when I am completely finished.

Meanwhile I have been doing a bit of cleaning out in my garden.  I was NOT a happy camper when I discovered that the deer had been dining on my freshly growing hostas!  See picture below.

You can see the little places where they bit off the spikes.
I was reading a gardening book recently where they suggested that you put up little pinwheels in the areas where you want to scare off deer....  So I found one and put it up.  It doesn't go constantly but it does move.  I do hope it helps.  If it doesn't, well it looks cute anyway.

Come back to see me on Tuesday.  I have another tea cup Tuesday blog entry planned.

Decluttering and quilting

The Decluttering continues.  This past week our new couch and love seat arrived so before it could be put into place we did a lot of "decluttering" in the living room.  Actually DH did most cause he had the most to do.  I had already done a lot in the previous two weeks. We did get rid of an end table cause it doesn't fit anymore.  It went out to the shop and is already sold!   We got rid of 24 Nascar magazines and 45 issues of the Bluegrass Unlimited magazine.  They are going to recycling.  Also I filled a big kitchen trash bag of junk from my studio.  I spent at least 10 minutes a day, each day this week getting rid of stuff.  I hope I get this done before I leave it all for the kids to sort through some day.  LOL  He filled a box with catalogs, old magazines and other stuff to go to recycling.   So I will just count that as 1. So if I count the magazines and the table and the trash bag and his box that means another 72 items gone from the house!  So I am now up to 203 items total, just 163 items to go. At this rate I will be done by the end of March.
 I don't think I will do as well this coming week cause DH wants me to get some stuff ready to go on ebay and that will take my spare time.  But in a sense that is decluttering too cause he is getting rid of some more "stuff."

I have been practicing my machine quilting too.  It certainly does take practice.  Expecially using the darning foot to do free motion quilting.  Wow, I really thought I was steadier than that!.  No way will I show you my "examples.!"

 I have started a little paper pieces wall hanging too.  It is slow going cause I am trying to fussy cut the center squares.    Good it only has 9 squares.  I have one finished to show you and several squares underway. These squares about 4 inches wide.

    Hope to get it finished by next weekend when I have another wall hanging waiting to be worked on.
Now I have to run and make Caramel Corn (my daughter's MIL's recipe) to take to a Daytona Race viewing party tomorrow.  Never a dull moment.

Quilting class

Today I went to a class at our local quilt shop to "attempt" to learn Machine Quilting.  I am pretty sure I have a really long ways to go but it was fun and with practice
I might be half way decent.  As we were working along my instructor commented that in every class she had a "miniature" quilter and it was me.  Of course that didn't seem so strange since i have been working on miniatures and doll houses for a long time.  I finally realized that I was doing my designs very small and most everyone else was doing big ones.......  hmmmmm..... wonder why that is.  So I guess I will now have to make a quilt for my current doll house....    And then, learn to do "larger scale work" for regular quilts.      LOL
No pictures to share at this point. Maybe when I get a bit more confident.

Decluttering, Quilting and whatever............

 A few things to share from outside.  Here are the visitors that came to "feast" at my garden (well the birdfeeder really)

And I am not real pleased to see all my daffodils popping up out of the ground.  It has hardly been winter here yet.  So I guess they don't know it isn't time yet!  Hope they don't get really messed up.  I love to see the pretty fresh faces of the daffodils when they do bloom.

I am still in the decluttering mode.  This week I managed to get rid of 24 piece plastic dinner set we used to use in our camper but don't use anymore.  (it went to SA) Also went through 25 magazines, tore out a very few things I wanted to keep and sent the rest off to recycling.  And I sent 10 books off to the library sale!  So for a quick total that is 59 more things gone.  So my total is now............. 124!!!!!!!   Only 242 things to go.  This is easier than I thought it might be! I have a feeling I will have more than enough very soon.

Another bigger decluttering will take place in April.  We have signed up to take stuff to an auction.  That will include things from the house and my antique shop.  That should make a big difference in the way things look around here.  I can hardly wait!

Tomorrow I am going to take a class in Machine Quilting on my newest sewing machine, a Janome.  I still have the Brother machine but it doesn't do nearly as well as this one does.  I will keep the Brother to try and master Machine Embroidery but the new one is for quilting!  I did a lot of quilting back in the 70s and early 80s but not so much now.  This should help a lot!

I will report on the class and what I learn later!