Post Holiday Wind Down

They are over. Every year, I look forward to the holidays. I love the season of giving and being thankful for all our family and friends.

Pre-Christmas goodie bag I won at Colorful Yarns! More projects!

Then I get all stressed out buying gifts, making gifts and just general planning.

But this year was different because I had to ship so many things. I haven't had to do that before. I had to ship to my son and his wife in Scotland. I had to ship to my son in Florida.

And I had to ship myself and hubbie to Connecticut! Along with the gifts for everyone back there.




So what did I learn?

Gift from Son and Daughter in law in Scotland- cute!

One- ship earlier to Scotland. Even though we sent stuff out early, it did not make it for Christmas Day.  So, next year, much earlier. Maybe in November.



Two- ship presents to Connecticut- DO NOT CARRY on the PLANE!!!

In retrospect, this seems like a simple idea and not rocket science. In my defense, I can only say that I knew by flying on Southwest I could get two checked bags for free, so why pay for shipping?

My body respectfully requests I ship next year.



Three- do not carry a sewing machine thru an airport. OMG. That was painful. I know- there are great rolling bags. I even have one. However, since I have a rotator cuff injury, I decided I could not lift a bag up into the overheard compartment. So it had to fit under my seat. What I neglected to consider was the effect on my shoulder of CARRYING THE HEAVY MACHINE from one end of the Chicago airport to another. Bad, bad plan!

At least it is now in CT to stay so whenever I head back there, I can sew with friends. Thank goodness.

Adorable ruffled scarf made by my daughter!

Four- I love my family and friends!

We stayed with a great friend of mine that I have known since junior high. We lost touch for a while when we got busy with jobs and kids, but I am so grateful we are back in each other's lives and good friends. She is a very warm, generous person and opens her house to me and hubbie to come and go as we please. I am blessed.




While I could not be with my boys on Christmas, we got to speak and I know they are following their dreams and and I thrilled for them.

And we were able to spend the day with our daughter who is such a fun and amazing person.

Life is good.

I will post pictures soon of the felting I did while in CT with a good friend of mine. It was really fun to do something different.

Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.

happy quilting,
Kate

P.S. Five- Unpacking is worse than packing!

Sew Fun!

What a great day yesterday!

I spent the day sewing with my cousin and my daughter.  Any day sewing is fun, any day spent with my cousin is great and any day spent with my daughter is amazing. Put all three together.... WOW! We exhausted ourselves!

First Irene worked on some binding for a quilt she is finishing for the holidays. then we got down to making pillowcases for Sandy Hook children.










We made them out of soft flannel- aren't they fun?

Then we made blocks.
Lots of blocks.

















96 to be exact!

We are in a block exchange and we got a little behind! So, now we are done! We caught up and got the last month, January done!

Who's better than us?

Off to see some friends, pick up hubbie at the airport, see more friends...

happy quilting!
Kate

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays everyone!

Far East Holiday Quilt

Wow- I can't believe Christmas is a week away. And I leave tomorrow for my hometown of Hamden CT. I am so glad to be going back to see family and friends; and I am so sad for all those grieving families in CT.

If you haven't heard, Becky at Quilter's Corner, a CT quilt shop, is sponsoring a pillowcase drive for the students of Sandy Hook School. She is looking to collect 600 pillowcases. If you are interested in making a pillowcase, you can send them to the shop. The address is:
312 Dannbury Road, New Milford, CT 06776.

And Joan Ford of Hummingbird Highway is collecting quilts for the families.
Visit her blog for more details.

Have a wonderful holiday and thank you for all your support this year- I love knowing folks are visiting with us!

Lily says Merry Christmas!

Happy quilting!

Kate

Side tracked or on track?

So the other day while I was trying to get a new quilt sewn and some Christmas sewing and shopping done, I realized I was going to my one and only Denver area Christmas get together. And, I needed to bring something for the attendees. Uh-oh!

My friend Shirley and her gang get together a couple of times a month, sew, chat, visit and generally enjoy one another's company. And they have extended their group to include me. Very sweet. Every year they draw names to exchange gifts at the holiday gathering. Since I was not around when they drew names, I was not participating.

But I couldn't go empty handed!

So, I made a bunch of cute little holiday coasters, picked up adorable glass mugs and some fancy shmancy hot chocolate at Starbucks!
Viola!
Done.

And sew quick.
Sew fun!

Aren't they cute?

Need a quick gift?


So easy peasy to make: so here goes.

Cut: (1) 5" square of fabric for the inside
        (1) 5" square of fabric for the outside back
        (4) 5" x 4 ½" pieces of fabric for front.
This can be 2 of two fabrics or four different fabrics. I did 4 different ones.
        (1) 5" square of light batting or flannel or heavy interfacing- your choice.

I like to use light batting. If my cup is a little leaky, it absorbs nicely.



Fold all the 5" x 4 ½" front pieces in half, wrong sides together so each piece measures 5" x 2 ¼".

Lay the inside fabric down, wrong side UP. My inside is the cream fabric.
Lay the batting on top.

Lay the outside back down, right sides UP. My back is the winter cardinal fabric.

Layer the front pieces down, raw edges to the outside, one along each side of the square.

When you get to the last piece, be sure to tuck the last edge under the first piece.

Sew all the way around.

I backstitch at the corners. That's just me. That way they are less likely to pull apart when you turn it around.

Clip corners to reduce bulk.

Turn, press, done!

I use a nice long handled wooden pokey thing to push out the corners. They won't be perfectly pointy, but that is OK.






Of course, if you have a serger, you can get a nice finished edge. But no worries, no one sees the edges unless they turn it inside out. They are tucked away inside the coaster.


Another option when sewing is to angle the corners. I made marks about ⅜" up from the corner and sewed across that.

That is what I did with this group.

Or you could round them. Ahhh, the options abound. I made these just to show on the blog.
So I guess now I have another present done!

I am not sure if I like the front

or the back of them better!

If you want a little more of the inside showing, cut the front pieces to 5" x 4".

Ok- I am off to wrap presents for my son and daughter -in-law in Scotland- they may not make it there by Christmas but... I am trying! I had to wait for something I ordered and of course, it was backordered! Did not plan on that.

Then I need to wrap presents for my son in Florida and get them in the mail. So I better get going!

Happy Holidays!

happy quilting!
Kate

p.s. If you need a quick gift, check out my Nutmeg Hill Etsy shop- I have some rather adorable placemats there. And a few crocheted washcloths. And a lovely bag or two. I leave to go back east next Tuesday, so don't wait to order!

Silliness

So, do you ever sew stuff so completely wrong and then just want to mash your head against the wall?

I hope I am not the only one.

I was working on another of the new Cat Nap patterns and I completely sewed the center of the blocks wrong. Really!
And the directions are just fine- it was all me!

And since I was chain piecing, I did them all wrong!

So after spending last night "unsewing" and today re-sewing, the center portion is back to where I was yesterday.

Phew. Blocks done, ready to press and move on.

I wish I could hit rewind on the sewing machine.

happy quilting,
Kate

Meet Huey Louie and Daisy Mae!

Yippee!



They are finally done and shipping!






What am I talking about?


Sorry- I am just so excited! Our two newest patterns, Daisy Mae and Huey Louie are done. Quilts made, patterns tested, retested,  printed and oh so cute!


They are part of our new series called Cat Nap Quilts.


Cute name, huh? They are called that because they are named after our cats.


Miss Daisy Mae Duke is one of my daughter's kittens. She is cute, a little chubby and a snuggler.

She has the sweetest little face!













And here is her quilt.

Daisy Mae

Her brother is Huey Louis and the News. He is quite needy, a little whiney, looks like a panther and loves to snuggle.

He is harder to get a picture of because he is almost all black- except for a spot on his chest and his little white belly and armpits. He really is very sweet.

And here is his quilt.

Huey Louie

Love them!

The quilting on them is amazing- they were quilted by Laura McCarrick of Always Keep Quilting and she is a master.

Quilting on Daisy Mae

Quilting on Huey Louie

Huey Louie is kind of a little wonky log cabin block. I made him in all solids, which I love!, but you don't have to. He almost has an Amish quilt feel in the solids.

Daisy Mae I made using some bright fun batiks. Did you see the turtles? Of course, you don't have to use batiks for her.

The fun part about both of these quilts is that you can change the look just by changing the setting of the blocks and/or the style of fabrics. Each quilt is made of one block that you can turn and change and really make the quilt the way you want!

Each pattern has two different size quilts-
both are perfect for snuggling under- especially with a kitty!

That is Miss Lily- you will meet her and her quilt soon. For now, she is snuggling up with Daisy's quilt!


In some future posts, I will try to show you different versions that others have made. It is so fun to see what you can do with them.

I hope you like our two new kitty quilts. We love them! We like to say they are Fast, fun and done!

happy quilting,
Kate

p.s. If you are interested in purchasing either of these patterns, just email us. They are so new they are not at a distributor yet!

Presents

Hi everyone!       Happy Holidays!

First I want to say Thank You to everyone who visits our blog. I appreciate you spending a little time with us!

Today, I am excited to show you a few little gifts I made the last few weeks.

First is this adorable little tree-

The tree is from an old pattern I designed years ago- I pulled it out and made this cute banner. My son and daughter - in - law don't have many holiday decorations with them in Scotland- they went over there with a couple of suitcases each. So I thought this little quilt would get them started.

I threw on a couple of holiday buttons to dress it up- I am going to need some more if I make it again! Which I will- it is cute, fun and so quick!

Then I made this cute Santa-

I sent it to my daughter- and she opened it with her birthday presents. Good timing! 

The border fabric is from Blitzen by Basic Grey (again! I know- but what a fun line of fabric!) Luckily, she loved it!

Here is a shot of the Gifts Galore I made with the Blitzen. 

This is the one that started my little Blitzen obsession! It is not done- I still have to get the "Merry Christmas" embroidered at the top- but since I don't have any embroidery machine, well, we will see what happens. Wont' it look great with the stockings I showed you?

This is what the embroidery will look like-

So cute!

Oh, and I also made a notebook cover for my cousin's daughter. I had made her mom one a while back.

I love how it came out!

The inside fabric pocket with the crosswords is just too fun!

I hope you have a great week!

happy quilting!

Kate

p.s. there are lots of giveaway's going on over at Sew, Mama, Sew! Check it out here.

Busy Season

Wow- this is a busy season, isn't it? How are you doing with it all?

I am feeling a little behind- I have not started my Christmas shopping yet. And I have to send presents to Scotland and Florida this year- so I think I need to get going! I am very excited that we will be heading to CT for the holiday and seeing family and friends.

On Saturday Jim and I went to the Denver Art Museum. It was great- at first Jim could not get me out of the art museum store! There were some amazing items in there. And art books. And cards, prints, jewelry, and.... just wonderful stuff.

Once he managed to drag me out, we wandered around the museum. There were two exhibits that were ending this weekend, so we made sure to go see those first. There is also a great exhibit on Van Gogh, but we need to get special tickets for that.

Have you ever done Zentangle? It is a very relaxing drawing method using structured patterns. I love doing it- I always bring a book and pens on plane rides.

Here is one of the drawings I made on my last flight.

And here is a piece of bark cloth at the museum-
Zentangle on bark cloth!

After the museum, we went to a couple of stores- a yarn/quilt shop called Fancy Tiger Crafts- love that place! and Snappy Quilts, another great quilt shop. So many fun quilt shops around here.

And then down Main Street in Littleton for a little shopping and lunch/dinner. Lunner? Early dinner? Late lunch?

We got home just in time to run back out to the park to take some shots of the sunset over the foothills.

The sky was amazing with the clouds and the color.

I will leave you with two piles of fabrics- 

both from the line Simply Color 

by Vanessa Christenson 

Version A- lighter

of V and Co for Moda:

Version B- darker

Which should I use in my next quilt? I am working on another new pattern and I love them both! Background is solid off white. 

Choices, choices- such a great line.

Good luck with all your holiday preparations- shopping, cooking, decorating... and wish me luck!

happy quilting,

Kate