Happy Christmas and other things ~

I've been pretty busy lately what with getting ready for the Holidays and all ... so much sewing and knitting to do, parties to attend, friends to hang about with, that I've totally neglected my little blog. Got a reminder from Blogland that I need to keep it up more often so it's on my list of things to do more often. Now that I'm not having the crunch of getting things ready, I'll do it more!

In the first picture you see are some zip bags I made for a swap at my local modern quilt guild, also known as PMQG. We traded fabrics, took them home and made something (zip bags in my case) and brought them back the next month. My swap gal loved her bags! I got a lovely bag for my knitting needles. I'll post it another time.


This is my little Christmas tree! Think it may be the smallest I've ever gotten. Got it at a local grocery store, put it in my cart and then put it on that moving belt to pay for it. Do think it turned out lovely, especially with that little monster sitting on the table!
Haven't named him/her yet ~ any thoughts on names?


These are two little pin pillows I made for the wonderful women who own 'Cool Cottons', Pam and Marie ~ where you can find the most wonderful fabrics! They both made me feel so welcome when I first moved to Portland. Just a small token of my appreciation for such lovely ladies!



The other day ~ Tuesday ~ was my knitting group Secret Santa party! My secret Santa (Tamera) gave me the lovely bowl you see at the right of the photo, made from fabric! she also gave me a cute pencil bag, some fabric and yarn!

Also, one of the women (Melinda) who works at my most very favorite yarn shop, Happy Knits, made me the lovely boxy zip bag in green and lavender with tools to make yo yo's some fabric! was so touched by her kindness.

Sarah (owner of the lovely yarn shop, Happy Knits) gave me some wool fabric! A big surprise!

Also, my wonderful quilting friends, Annie, Kathie and Carol and I exchanged gifts ... purses, fabrics, flashlights, embroidery, soap!

I'm blessed by these friends.
It was lovely to spend time with these wonderful friends! A good time was had by all!



My son, William and his lovely wife (my d-i-l) Brandie took a class at a local craft shop, Collage here in Portland on painting with paper. This is what I did! I'm so pleased with it and looking forward to doing more 'painting'.

Collage is not your average shop for crafting or taking classes. If you live in the area, you should check it out! They offer a wide array of classes and have great tools for almost every craft!





Wishing everyone Peace, Love and Grace this holiday season. May you be safe and comfortable with your family and friends.
I am blessed with much love from my family and friends, thank you for all you have given me.
elsa

This is the first thing I saw this morning (besides my kitties) ~ not the greatest photo ~ but beautiful! It's a wonderous clear day with the sun shining today ~ and the weather man said it was going to snow ~ silly guy. It is cold tho ~ 33 degrees and frost on all my neighbors roofs! Brrrrrr ...


There are a lot of craft fairs here in Portland this time of year and I went to one last weekend and got this cute little bird and tree by one of my favorite crafters, Laurie Romanaggi of Magpie Ethel. She does all these cute vintage decorations that I adore!

At that same craft fair there was a rummage sale too and got that great handpainted bowl for $5! It's one of my favorite fairs, so many creative people there.





This is a shawl I've knitted for a friend ~ think one of the easiest and fastest I've done to date ~ with worsted wool and size 9 needles. Still needs to be blocked and I'm calling it Big Orange. It will keep her really warm and sure hope she likes it!



This little angel is from the handicraft of Kajsa Wikman from her book, Scandinavian Stitches. Her hair is made from metallic thread that I hand stitched in little loops in a really bright pink. Doesn't show up very well in the picture, but she's a cutie, gave her to my d-i-l.
Kajsa's projects are so cute and the instruction are very well written and fun to make.




I have this wonderful, creative and most generous friend, Annie. She knows I love all things bird and so she made me this lovely bag ~ it has two outside pockets and inside pockets as well. Just love it and can put a ton of things in it too! I'm using it for carrying around my sewing projects at the moment, but that could change at any moment to knitting or wool work.

Thanks so much Annie! I love this bag!



I looked at my last blog the other day and saw that I have 15 followers! what a surprise! It's so nice to know that people like what I do and then say really nice things about it ~ I have been really remiss about blogging lately (well really the whole time I've been blogging).

I read a lot of blogs, mostly for inspiration as there are so many creative people out there in blogland and I forget to do my own blogging. Going to try to do more, especially next month as it's my birthday month! I'll be doing a giveaway sometime of something I've made just for it ~ I'll give you more details later.

Hoping everyone is well and looking forward to Thanksgiving.

been busy

this is what I've been doing lately! this bag was for an exchange I did through Sew Mama Sew, a blog I read ~ loved making the bag ~ think it turned out pretty nice!


this little zip pouch was made for a friend, Sarah (who just happens to own Happy Knits here in Portland, Oregon and is the best place to get together with friends to knit!). she loves things that are cute and kitchy so I thought this fabric was right up her alley! and it turned out really cute! and ...

... this is the bag that goes with it! love how it turned out! this fabric is the cutest! got it at Fabric Depot ... comes in a green and purple/blue also (at least I think so ~ tee hee).



this quilt is for my friend Annie ~ she celebrated a birthday this month! being a quilter you don't often get quilts as gifts, so I just had to make her one. there are no repeats in the fabrics I chose! and she loved it.


this last project is a little pincushion that looks like a footstool! got the pattern from Penny over at Sew Take a Hike! she's a very creative person and love all her designs!

the little block on the top I got from my friend Carol ~ a bunch of us went to her house for a sewing day, she was giving away all this fabric and I managed to find a couple of pieced blocks! just happened to have the checkered fabric and it looks pretty cute!

I gave this to Annie for her birthday as well! she liked it too!


I've got a bunch more things I've done lately but couldn't post them ... guess I'll have to do it on another blog post!

hope everyone has a lovely day today! I'm going sewing! really all I have to do is turn around and there's my sewing machine!

Wool Squares, Isy and Fabric

This is what I've been working on the last few days ~ it's a block of the month from Pioneer Quilt shop down in Sunnyside. Actually it's more than one block a month, but because they're so small we get 6 (there's 57 total)! It's been fun to put them together and looking forward to next months blocks ~ tho don't get them till October 15 ~



Here's my little Isybelle ~ she looks like a kitten, but she's really just 2 years old ~ she's a tiny one and she's checking out the prizes I won at the last Portland Modern Quilt Guild! A pretty pincushion, some crushed walnut shells (in the jar for more pincushions) and, because a woman there knows I'm in the process of making a kajillion hexagons, gave me 30 she knows she won't be using! Wasn't that nice of her? But that's for another time.



Last, but not least, is a new line of fabric from Sarah Fieke! Go check it out! Her blog is called 'The Last Piece' and she's full of inspiration!

Well, I"m off to work on a project ~ hope everyone has a lovely day!

Vetty's Pink Quilt!

this is the back of the quilt! it turned out so cute ~ a friend of mine called me one day (she was at a fabric store) and said that she had found this really cute fabric with pink in it (she knew I was looking for pink), then sent me a picture of it ~ via cell phone ~ don't you just LOVE that? I said, YES, GET IT! and that's how it turned up on the back of Vetty's pink quilt! had a bit of left over's from the front so put them in the back ~ just loving this quilt.



this is the front! I was thinking of using pink for the sashing and so glad I didn't. I'm not a big fan of white, but think it turned out so crisp and lovely! and yes, Vetty loves PINK!



just another view of the front with a little of the back.

it was a wonderful process for me ~ learned a few things about putting together pieces and quilting. love the putting together part, not so much the quilting part.

I need to plan better when I'm making quilts so I don't put myself in so much of a time crunch to get it done. I do have to say that I love the end product!

Also, I finished another quilt this week that I'll be posting soon ~ for my favorite little boy ~ it was a really fun project because I did free motion quilting!

That's all for today ~ hope everyone is out there doing what they love! Thanks for coming by to check out my quilting progress!

elsa

cutting, sewing, ironing

This is what I've been doing all day ~ luckily I cut out most of the pieces yesterday, so only had a bit left to cut. Making this quilt for a sweet little girl I know ~ she REALLY loves pink, so I think she ought to like it! Now I just need to get it ready to quilt! (and I have 2 other quilt tops to get done too, why oh why do I do that?). Really have a nice sense of completion today. Said I wanted to finish it today and I did!

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This sweet guy is King Big Louie Bean (aka Louie) ~ he was being my helper today ~ sitting all over the fabric and walking in front of me while I was sewing. He's such a love ~ finally put him on the pink cushion on the book shelf where I keep most of my fabric and books. I've got two other kitties, but they don't like the noise of the sewing machine.


Today was a very satisfying day ~ I'm so grateful for the creative women in my life and the encouragement they give me. Hope your day was satisfying too!

a little experiment

Making a quilt for my favorite little girl out of these cute fabrics and couldn't decide what color to do the sashing with ... pink or white. All my quilting friends keep telling me how important white is in quilting but I couldn't hear them (really didn't want to listen cause I'm not much of a white fabric fan). So, I decided to do a little experiment and I've been humbled. They were right. White does make a difference.


I know it probably doesn't show much here but in person you can really see the difference ... so, Annie, Kathie and Carol ... I bow to your experience and will listen (or at least try to) ...

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On another note ... this quilt is for one of my favorite little boys ... it's all about transportation ... cars, trucks, trains, motorcycles and ROCKETS! Just love how it turned out and hope he will too.


wanted to show the back, but my experience in blogging is lacking and I'll have to post it another time ... maybe when it's all done! it's ready to be put together and quilted up.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying their day!