Dancing Blue Jays

A Christmas Gift

2011-12-04T14:48:00.000-08:00

Here is a quilt I made for my oldest niece Nicole for Christmas. This was a kit from Connecting Threads called "Check out the Stars". I just got it back from the quilter last week. She did orange peels in the squares, it turned out really nice. Now to put the binding on...

This is one of the more difficult quilts I've made only because color placement is paramount in being able to see the stars. I think I did OK. I can see them, but then I know they are there! LOL

It's been a long time....

2011-10-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe it's been almost a year since I have posted. I guess I had better get my behind on the wagon again. Here is a Christmas Wall Hanging I just finished. I used a tutorial video on YouTube, and of course I can't find it now! The blocks are made using jelly rolls in the video, although I used honey buns. The fabric line is Figgy Pudding by Basic Grey. I've had these honey buns hanging around my sewing room for a few years now. I originally bought them to make placemats but I love the fabric so much I couldn't bring myself to cut it! I think I will enjoy the fabric hanging on the wall much more. Besides, we don't use placemats in the Clouse house.

An early Christmas gift

2010-11-24T05:15:00.000-08:00

Well, according to my last post I should have my cupcake totes done. I have them all cut out but I only had enough PFF for half of the pieces, so need to make another trip to Jo Anns, after this weekend of course! It's going to crazy in there this weekend!

I moved on to other pending projects. My sister recently moved so I made her some curtains for her kitchen, they match the place-mats that my Grandmother gave her, which I made a few years back using the same pattern below. According to Gram, everyone needs place-mats! LOL I thought my sis could use some cheering up and made her these reversible ones, I stuck with a winter theme so she could use them longer. Emma, my 11 year old, made her some ornaments, and a penguin Christmas wreath, and my son, Jacob, he is 14 is making her a few throw pillows.

This is all a complete surprise of course. My Aunt and Uncle will be here today from Michigan, for the Thanksgiving holiday, and they will be taking this little surprise box home with them.

The pattern for this is called Table Graces. Very easy!

I also finished a Doll sized quilt for a swap on About.com. It is blue and white, and uses 10 different fabrics, as was the challenge. I will not post that pic until after Christmas, as I made 2 and one is a special present for a special someone! :)

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Bali Pops and another Row

2010-11-02T09:26:00.001-07:00

This is a quilt I am making for my sister, Kelly in Michigan for Christmas. I used a package of Bali Pops for this. In case your unfamiliar with Bali Pops, they are 2 1/2 strips of Bali Batiks, and they are all coordinating colors. I used the Autumn package as that is what I had on hand. This is a simple Boxed Square block from www.maryquilts.com. Mary makes quite a bit of charity quilts and she has a lot of instructions for simple, easy quilts. This one went together very fast. I think she will like it.

Another finish today was my last Row Robin. This Row is for Colene in Idaho. Colene's theme was "In My Garden". I chose ladybugs and butterflies because I always see a lot of them in my garden. I chose the daisy because they are my favorite flower, and the watering can, because, well you can't have a garden without a watering can! :)

I had a lot of fun doing the Row Robin with the Arizona Retreat ladies. Not sure I will do it again, as it did take up a lot of my time this year.

Hello Cupcake!

2010-10-28T10:58:00.001-07:00

I am getting started on Christmas gifts earlier than normal this year! I am very impressed with myself! Anywho, I decided to make a few of these Little Cupcake Totes for my nieces and for Emma and her Best Friend, Hannah in Texas. I got 2 done today, they are for Emma & Hannah. I think they turned out so cute! And they are smallish so they can fit a few things in there and it will not be to heavy. I have 2 more to make in different fabrics, lets see if I can get them done before the kids get home from school tomorrow! They do have a half day, wish me luck!

Meet our new family member!

2010-09-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

Meet Zeus. He is a Shetland Sheepdog, or Sheltie/mini-collie. He is just going on 3 months old now. He loves to sleep on Tadd's slippers, or his sandals, pretty much anything of his. Spike is just over 6 years old now, and let me say, puppy hood was a distant memory. Now that we have Zeus it's like we are learning all over again. Not fun.

The kids love him. Spike doesn't much care for him, but he does play with him sometimes. Anyhow, he has been keeping me quite busy, potty breaks, cleaning up after him etc.

I am working on one more lantern for the Halloween lantern wall hanging. I've decided that since I do not have any wall hangings for the holidays I am going to remedy that fact. Good luck to me!

Halloween Lanterns and a Row

2010-09-14T11:13:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest Row I've finished. This one belongs to Misha in WA. Her theme was blue and white snowflakes.

I have spent the past 2 days have been spent in my sewing room. I have the Block of the Month for my Perry Piecemakers Guild so I made the chinese lanterns from about.com/quilting. I got out my very small stash of Halloween fabrics and made 3 lanterns. These are so easy!

I am going to sew them up into a small wall hanging and have it done hopefully before October 1st!

MIA

2010-09-01T04:30:00.000-07:00

Wow it really has been a while since I have posted anything! What have I been up to? Well, summer actually. We planted our first garden this spring, and I think we went a little overboard with it! I just finished canning all of the tomatoes it various forms, diced, pizza sauce, tomato sauce, and lots of pickles. Here is a picture of my laundry room. Yes that is ugly black shelving, it is temporary until Tadd builds me some shelves. Tadd picked up a case of red plums from the commissary for me to make jam. When he brought them home I realized he had bought pluots. Pluots are a cross between a red plum and an apricot. Well. That isn't exactly what I wanted. I decided to carry on and make the jam anyhow, because we all love it so much. I didn't think there would be a huge difference in the taste. Well turns out there is a difference, but in a good way. The jam is yummy and tastes a but like peaches but is very good. Our Bread & Butter pickles turned out wonderful, the sweet pickles and dill pickles, not so much. I need to find a different recipe for next year. We have a 3 inch thick Ball Canning book that has been my 'bible' for canning all summer, and there are several other recipes that are bookmarked for next year that we didn't get to try. Did I mention we planted 72 Roma tomato plants? HA! Yes we are crazy! The tomatoes are still heavy on the plants but we are done and have told my sister-in-laws to have at it. We did plant 4 pumpkin plants in June, these are the jack-o-lantern pumpkins and they are huge! We only managed to save 4, as we had quite a drought this summer, but they are so big we are not going to be able to lift them out of the garden, we will have to roll them! I think we planted them to early as they are turning orange and are about ready. We are going to have quite the pumpkin carving party...in September! LOL!

I haven't gotten in my sewing room all summer, except to do my Row Robins. The kids have kept me busy. They went back to school last week, YAY! Emma is in 5th grade, Jacob in 8th grade, they are growing up so fast! Yesterday I took Spike, my Shih Tzu, he is 6, to the Vet because he just hasn't been himself for a few days now. Turns out he has Lyme Disease! UGH! I have been so diligent about putting that flea and tick Frontline Plus on him every month and he gets it anyway. The Vet told me that I should not be giving him a bath 3 days before or after putting it on. Well I didn't know that. Here I have been giving him a bath the day before so he is all clean. The Vet said the oils in their skin help to soak up the meds. Go figure. Anywho after 24 hours on his meds there is a marked improvement in him, I am so happy! He is my baby!

Well I am off to my sewing room for the morning. Have a safe holiday weekend!

Pat's Row Robin done...sort of

2010-07-16T11:03:00.001-07:00

This is Pat's Row Robin. Pat wanted light and bright batiks. Now that my row is with the other two I am thinking maybe it isn't as bright as the others. To say these blocks were difficult is an understatement! LOL Those itty bitty triangles were a pain in the shorts. The block is a monkey wrench from Eleanor Burns book "Underground Railroad Sampler." I think it is more like a double monkey wrench. Double the fun?? --And yes I know that it is a few inches short, of course it is!!! ha ha ha....no really, I like how it turned out, I just need to tweak it a bit and then get it in the mail to Colene in Idaho.

Potholder Swap

2010-05-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

I joined another swap on About.com Quilting Forums! This one is a pot-holder Swap. You make a pair of pot-holders and send them off. The above pink and green ones are what I received in the mail. Aren't they pretty?
These are the two that I made for someone. When you join swaps you can request colors etc. I didn't request any specifics as my pot-holders stay in my drawer, and I don't really have a theme in my kitchen. The lady I made these for requested 1930s fabrics. I had a lot of fun with these fabrics. The purple is definitely a 1930s reproduction. The orang polka-dot I am not sure, but isn't it just so cute?!! The block on the right is called "Hope of Hartford" and it is from Eleanor Burns book 'Victory Quilts'. All of the blocks in this book are from the 1930s. After trying to finagle the first one, it has a partial seem, I decided to go with something a little easier on the second. I certainly need more practice on the partial seaming!

Lazy Sunday

2010-05-02T15:58:00.001-07:00

We have had a nice, hot weekend. I have forgotten what humidity feels like, and wow, it sure is humid! We've been getting the garden ready to put in next weekend. I have onions and peas coming up real good, and we finished rotatilling (not sure of the spelling, as it wasn't in the spellcheck here!) the rest of the garden yesterday.

Here is a wall hanging I made for "someone", I will not tell who it is for until she gets it in the mail. It has a lot of 3 D accents, so it was real heavy and would not stay on my design wall for me to take a quick picture. I ended up pinning it to my bookcase and quickly taking a picture!

After Sunday lunch at the in-laws we came home and were pretty lazy. Tadd went out to check on the chickens and they had a pretty good hole going, one of them is trying to get out! I guess her little taste of freedom the other day was to much to resist! A few weeks back we had a hole in the fence that we somehow missed and they all got out! We did manage to get them all back with the help of the neighbors. Anywho, we let them out today for a bit to scratch at the grass. They are getting more friendly. This one really likes Jacob, as she was following him around and he was feeding her and petting her. Jacob was pretty happy about that. Although Emma was a little miffed, as they are HER chickens! :)

Becky's Row - Finished!

2010-04-16T06:56:00.001-07:00

I finished up embellishing the blocks for Becky's Row this morning. The detail os the sun on the far left and the eagle follow. I used a copper colored Rayon thread to machine applique the sun. I love the fabric that I got for that sun on the left. As soon as I saw it at the Quilt Store I knew it was the right piece! If you would like to see close ups of the turtle and the sun on the right, see my previous post. Thanks for looking! :)

AZ Retreat Row Robin - Becky's Row

2010-04-14T16:24:00.001-07:00

The following 2 blocks are the first 2 of the 4 that I made for her that are completely finished. The sun is machine appliqued on with a Rayon Gold thread. If you look in picture 2 you can see the swirly I put in the middle. I am with how it turned out.

This is the 2nd block, a desert tortoise. I embroidered his shell, in the red area to look like a real shell, he has embroidered claws and little black bead eyes. I think he is pretty cute. I will have the other 2 done tomorrow.

Take A Stitch Tuesday Challenge (TAST) - Week Two

2010-04-05T06:48:00.000-07:00

Week Two: Knotted Loop Stitch

This stitch was posted on the TAST challenge about 3 weeks ago. If you look to the top of the photo, you can see my sorry attempts at the week one stitch, the Diamond Stitch. I still plan to conquer this stitch, just haven't gotten around to it yet. The Knotted Loop Stitch was fairly easy once I got the rhythm down. As you can see I need to work on spacing the stitches better and not pulling them so tight. This was a fun stitch and I can definitely see myself using this on my crazy quilts. The purple-ly thread is an Impressions by Caron wool/silk thread. The variegated thread is also by Caron and it is a perle cotton from the Watercolors collection. The Diamond Stitch thread was a variegated DMC cotton. I think I will try it with a wool/silk thread next. I forgot to add in my first TAST post that I am using some kind of evenweave fabric that I had in my bin of cross stitch items.

Lancaster Quilt Show

2010-03-28T18:25:00.000-07:00

Yes that is Eleanor Burns & Me at the show!!! That just made my day! I love her books, and her company is wonderful! My Mom and I were so excited to see her and get her to autograph our books! I got her Orion Star book and the autumn leaves pattern. Her son Orion was working with her there, he is nice also. We didn't get to see all of the quilts, I couldn't believe how many there were! I think next year we will try and do a two day overnight trip. My Mother, Aunt, Sister and my Mothers friend came up for a long weekend to go to the show with me. Even my sister, Kelly who doesn't quilt even enjoyed the show. I just love going to QUilt Shows, they are so inspiring! I am off to work on Becky's Row Robin this week, I will share pictures when I am done.

Happy Spring!

2010-03-23T07:39:00.001-07:00

Spring is here! I can see crocuses and daffodils popping their little heads up.

My husband loves hard candy! He particularly likes the old fashioned mix that comes out around Christmas time. The guys at work have been commenting to him about his Santa Claus candy dish in January. So he asked me to get him a Valentines day candy dish, and I found one at Jo Ann's. The one at Jo Ann's is a boring old plastic heart, but it works. After looking everywhere for a St. Patrick's Day dish and never finding one, I told him I would make them for each holiday! What was I thinking? LOL...as if I don't have enough to do in my sewing room! Anywho, the St. Patty's Day one never got made, but I did manage an Easter one this morning. It is simple to make and goes together rather quickly. I have made these before for Christmas gifts a few years ago and the little rectangular Ziploc containers fit in them nicely. So it is only 10 days to Easter, I would say I am pretty well on time for this one. Now on to a Spring one to last until July! :)

If your interested in making one of these here is the link to the tutorial. http://ayumills.blogspot.com/2008/05/tutorial-fabric-basket.html

Take A Stitch Tuesday Challenge - Week One

2010-03-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

I am involved in an embroidery stitch challenge being done by Sharon Boggon over on www.pintangle.com. Every Tuesday she posts a new stitch for us to learn and try and use it in different ways. Week One was the Diamond Stitch. Looking at it online it doesn't look to difficult but once I got started I couldn't figure it out. It reminds me of the pistil stitch, with all the french knot type stitches. I am not going to post my 'interpretation' of this weeks stitch, I am too frustrated with it! I am going to move on to Week 2 which is the Knotted Loop Stitch!

Wish me luck! :)

Arizona Retreat Row Robin 2010

2010-03-05T07:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I am finally getting this in the mail today. I am embarrassed to say that it is about 2 weeks late, as I was supposed to hand this off at the retreat! Long story not so short, I couldn't find the silk thread to do my appliques so I had to order it online. So that is done and I managed to embellish most of it with embroidery and beads. I also stuffed the flower centers to make them puffy and the bugs bodies are puffy. There is supposed to be a butterfly and a dragonfly but the dragonfly looks like a fat little flying caterpillar! LOl He must have had to much Miracle Grow! Anywho I am of to the USPS to get this in the mail to Colene!

Doll Quilt Swap

2010-03-05T05:29:00.001-08:00

I am a member of the About.com Quilting forum. I joined a swap to make a small Doll sized quilt for one of the other ladies. Here is the little quilt I sent out to Wisconsin last Monday. This is a paper pieced block which was a bit challenging. I did machine quilt it myself, only my second time MQing, in about 4 years, I need to practice more. I like how it turned out, especially the Robert Kaufman fabric I used, I really like the fusions line.

Valley of the Sun Retreat 2010 - Phoenix, AZ

2010-03-01T07:49:00.000-08:00

It was just two weekend ago and I was in sunny warm Phoenix, AZ. Being back in Pennsylvania reminds me of how much I miss all my good friends in AZ. We are buried in snow up here but it looks like it is starting to warm up. I can hear the birds chirping happily as they manage to eat all of the bird seed in the feeder in less than 3 days! LOL Every once in a while I see a Blue Jay or a Cardinal, they are so pretty.

Anywho, down to business. I wanted to post my new tote bag! This was a mini class that my friend Carolyn Nelson did at the retreat. All you need is 1 1/4 yards of pre-quilted fabric and 6 yards of canvas webbing. I got my fabric from www.equilter.com and the webbing from Jo Anns. That black and green polka dot fabric on the pocket is the inside of the tote. One of the ladies at the Retreat convinced me to add it as a pocket and cut out one of the flowers and applique it on to sort of break up the eye crossing effect of the polka dots. I think it was a good decision! The only thing I would do next time, If I do make another tote, is to not use the poly blend webbing but the all cotton webbing. The poly blend webbing is not fun to sew and it is quite slippery and if you look close you can see the wavy straps on my tote. I had it filled to the second set of handles on my flight back from AZ! It held up great. Now the cool thing about this tote is that is expands. If you look at the pictures you can see what I mean. In the third picture you can see the larger handles. By the time it is that large you need to have the longer handles to carry it on your shoulder. All in all, I really am happy with this tote, THANKS Carolyn! :-)