Christmas Tea towels

Cute, quick and easy from Nancy Halvorsen.
The angel we will take as a hostess gift when we go to a party
tonight. My daughter will get the red Santa and the green
Santa will be mailed on Monday to my sister-in-law.

I just might have to make some of these for myself.

Here are steps 1 through 3 of the Carolina Crossroads mystery
from Bonnie Hunter . The next step is just nine patches
without the accent fabric. I probably won't get to them until
after Christmas. Don't ya just love a good mystery?!

Until next time...
Susie

Sewing Sitters

Aren't these just about the cutest things you ever saw!!!??
They are resin and each one is about 4" tall so they
can be seen really well sitting on a shelf

I found them last year and bought two sets. One I gave
as my brown-bag gift exchange at our guild retreat in
February. Needless to say it was stolen a few times.
I just googled Sewing Sitters and found them on ebay
and at collections.com which is where I bought them.
I paid full price and I see they are drasticlally reduced.
Oh well.

I worked on Bonnie's mystery last night and I'm almost
done with the nine patches. I am so obsessive about
random that I cut all my strips into 3.5" pieces and
mixed them up. Then I cut them again into the 1.5"
sections. All this while watching NCIS and The
Biggest Loser. I love to multitask!

Until next time...
Susie

Winter WH and Scrap Musings

Another Bare Roots pattern. This one is for winter. I have
small wall in my foyer that is perfect for a little wall
hanging. I have one for each season. (See fall's in the
Oct 1 post). I think I changed the words on this one too.
I think it said Merry Christmas and I changed it so
I could leave it up until I put my Spring one up. The cute
little wood hanger I bought at a quilt show.

After my last post about Bonnie Hunter's mystery I
received a few comments that touched me.
I realize that we quilters all have some sort of
compulsion about our fabric. Some of us love to cut
it up and some of us agonize over cutting it up and
alot are in the middle somewhere. I do have some
fabrics that are so special to me that I will probably
never cut it. I had mentioned that I had trouble
cutting whole fat quarters when I am making scrap
quilts and Marilyn said she had the same problem
about cutting into yardage. Well, I have that problem
too!!!. It's a wonder I get any quilts made at all.

I do love my stash and I do use alot of it. I buy alot too
but I am not resolved to use my stash until it is all gone!
Sometimes I buy fabric for a specific use and sometimes
I buy fabric just because. Alot of times I start collecting
certain colors or styles for a future quilt. (i.e. blues, civil
wars, novelties) I don't keep tiny pieces to use and until
recently threw small pieces away. (I define small as less
that 1.5" strip or square) I have now started throwing
them in a bag and plan on making two large dog beds
for my two large dogs.


This eases my guilt.

Until next time...
Susie

OK, I'm doin' the Carolina Crossroads mystery

Well, no one had to twist my arm!
It is Bonnie Hunter's mystery on Quiltville.com

I worked on it last night and this morning, and have half of the
rail blocks done. It does go fast.

I have all the blocks done for another a black, white and red
top using Jackie Robinson's Strip & Slash pattern (see
August 22 post)and I had lots left over so....

...since we are supposed to use our stash (which is hard
for me BTW! What if I need these exact fabrics
someday!!!???) I am being very disciplined and
JUST USING MY STASH!!!

I have another confession to make. Sometimes when I am
cutting strips or squares for scrap quilts, when I come across
a whole, uncut FQ, I don't cut it!!! You see, I have all my
fabrics grouped by color. There are large 1-3 yard pieces
mixed in with FQs or smaller. When I want to give a FQ
or use FQs for a specific quilt I have to unfold each piece
to find one. So as I come across whole FQs I am
separating them in a separate bin. So is this a
justification for not using them or what!!??

There should be a twelve step program for scrap quilters!

Until next time...
Susie

Winter quilt on my bed

Just in time for the snow here in Maryland!
This monster is 110" square and has heavy batting, made from
all civil war reproduction fabrics, shirtings, and many from
my stash that look like civil war era. It was my challenge to
be completely random. My quilt friends tease me because
I do have trouble in that area. I have actually coined the
phrase "planned random."
This quilt won second place for large pieced quilts this year
at the Southern Comforters Quilt show.

Until next time...
Susie

Joy to the World

I know you all have seen this pattern by Nancy Halvorsen.
It was fun to make and JUST fits over my mantle. The
mantle (as well as the house) isn't completely decorated yet
but I always can't wait to hang this so it goes up first.

My bee (there are 9 of us) goes out to dinner for our
Christmas party. We then go back to someone's house
for desert and exchange gifts. We have done a block
exchange, drawn names, or exchanged fat quarters.
But our favorite gift exchange is one we like so much
we have done it for many years. We give each friend
a gift but our dollar limit is $2–3 each. You have to
get very creative when you can only spend that small
amount.

Last year I made everyone slippers. I bought that
rubber shelf liner stuff to use for the soles. This year I
made everyone a cover for a square tissue box. They
are all made with sewing theme fabric to be used
in their sewing rooms. Here is a photo of three of them.

The one on the left has cats in a quilt shop. Then
Sunbonnet Sue in the middle and the one on the
right says "Quilter are Piecemakers". I have thimbles,
hearts, and needles and thread but they aren't done yet.
I have time, our party isn't until the 19th.

Until next time...
Susie