The Latest Stuff!

I got a darning foot for Christmas... this is it!

I used it to free motion quilt around the motorcycle guys. It was the first time I tried it, and surprisingly it went really well! So, you can see I've finished Micheal's quilt.

(The front)

(The back, with Kayla)

Here you can kind of see the quilting I did on the black/white checkered area, but you really can't see the quilting around the guy.

I made my mom some mushroom earrings for Christmas, so here they are...

Here is the fleece blanket I made for my sister. The directions are here. As you can see it's pretty simple. You need 2 piece of fleece the same size. Then cut strips around the fabric and then tie the two sides together.

Christmas Presents!

I can finally post some of the Christmas gifts I've been working on!

These two blankets are going to Ray and Rose, two of Julio's Godchildren. They are three-year-old twins.

This is a flannel panel that I got at Joann's and put binding on as a Christmas gift to Jocelyn. She loves horses and was really excited about the gift.

These are two clip boards that I made for Valery and Rebekah, they should come in handy at their jobs in the public schools. Ruth made one for me last year and I've been making them as gifts for others since then. You can see the directions on Martha Stewart's Website.

These are the magnets I made from bottle caps and paper. They are so easy! You can find the directions I posted under October. I found this idea at Panopolie, one of my new favorite stores in Raleigh.

Busy Day!

I did a lot today. I've been working on these two quilts for a few months. I finished this one below...


... and then took a little break before quilting the second one. I quilted most of it on Saturday and finished quilting Sunday. Then I spend Sunday and a few hours today putting the binding on it.


So now both the quilts are finished... just in time because the baby is coming in December and big brother John will need one too!


Tonight I went to Linda's house and sewed 42 candles on my cake! I did do these with the machine, but I will be hand sewing a flame on each one. My plan is to finished embellishing it during the Christmas break. Then I just have to hand quilt the green boarder and put binding on it. This is my fat quarter challenge which I need to finish by the January 13th meeting.

Gingerbread House

My quilting group decorated gingerbread houses this evening. We had to bring a plain gingerbread house and "candy" to share. This is my gingerbread house...



So, after decorating my house it now looks like this...



I still want to put a border around it and quilt it, so stay tuned for the finished product!

Jewelry Making

Monday night I went to a meeting for my Jewelry Meet-up group. This was the project we did. You had to take "metal letter stamps" and hit them with a hammer to make the indentations in the metal. It was more difficult than it look because you had to hit it hard enough without moving it.

More Cake!

I machine quilted the background, and now I have the tedious job of hand quilting the flowers.

Cake!

In one of my quilting guilds there was a fat quarter challenge. The dark green background behind the cake is the one I picked out of the box. The challenge is to create a quilt that is at least 12x12 and that uses the fat quarter in at least 40% of the quilt, unless you are making a full quilt. I took the opportunity to try something new, and will be hand quilting and embellishing for the first time. You can see Sadie above with the beginning of the wall hanging I am making. I am going to quilt it, then I will add candles and beads to it.

Tonight, I learned how to hand quilt! I went to my friend's house (another guild member who lives in my neighborhood!!!) and she showed me how to hand quilt. Contrary to my expectations, I liked it! I have also added some beads to the flowers. Below you can see what I did tonight. Stay posted... I will be decorating my cake!

Bottle Cap Magnets

I saw bottle cap magnets at a local store and decided to try to make them.


First I made a pattern and used it to find some pictures I liked.


I used Mod Podge to glue the paper into the bottle caps. I put the Mod Podge under and on the picture and let it dry.


After the Mod Podge dried, I filled the cap with Diamond Glaze. Be careful because it's easy to get air bubbles in there.

After the Diamond Glaze dries, cut the magnet tape into a circle and attached it to the back of the bottle cap.

Bird's Nest

Tonight I went to a jewelry group, and here is what I made!

Bookmark

I tried to make a book mark... and here's how it turned out!

First, I went online and found this card stitching pattern at http://cardmakinginspirations.com/demo/stitch5.htm. I printed the pattern and laid it on the paper. Then, using a pin, I poked holes in the paper.



After I poked all the holes, I followed the pattern to make the design you see on the bookmark.

Natalie's Quilt

This is something new I tried... thanks to Julie! This is a birthday present for my niece who just turned three!

Scarf

This is another scarf I made for a friend's birthday!

The Plate

I baked it in the oven for 35 minutes and now it's done!

Dot-Painted China

I found this idea on Martha Stewart's website (http://www.marthastewart.com/article/dot-painted-china). It was very easy to do. I got a ceramic plate, some graphite paper, and a Porcelaine 150 pen. I found the supplies at Michael's!

There are templates on the website, so I just printed one out. I taped it onto the plate with the graphite paper, and then I just used a pencil to transfer it onto the plate.


This is the outline on the plate. Make sure you press hard enough, you can see my hand got tired at the end. This is the most tedious part of the project.


Then you just take the pen and paint dots over the outline.




It must dry for 24 hours, then I will bake it in the oven!

Purple Scarf!

I finished my purple scarf!

Baby Quilt

I finished ones of the baby quilts! Here are the pictures!

Make-up Box

I made a make-up box from one of the fat quarters from Kayla! I got the pattern from http://cyberseams.com/article/104986/holidays/make_a_fabric_gift_box.html and used only the lid pattern to make my box. I added one inch to each side to make it a little bigger. I drew the pattern on some thick interfacing and cut it out.



Then I stitched the corners together like this..



I put fabric around the outside and stitched it around the top, and then I stitched the corners to make it stay.