Thinking of the Spring Garden

I wanted to show a little wall hanging I just finished up. I had bought some cute fabric with tiny carrots that inspired this, but I ended up not using it. I found a piece in my stash that matched better and even looks like little radishes.

I used some felt for the radishes and peas, and added embroidery. Like I've said before, I love texture and these small touches add so much. No binding here, just right sides together with rickrack, some quilting and done! After the time consuming (for me) design part, the project went very quickly.

We are having a fairly warm day, about 50 degrees and I'm getting spring fever. I can't wait to get out and start digging in the dirt!

What To Do With All These Scrap?

I didn't mean to be gone from the blog so long, but "things" kept me away. Like family - son # 1 going back to Europe, so we went to Chicago to see him, son #3 moving back home from the dorm. And work - even though I work part time, my hours are all over the place and I'm still acclimating.

I started this project a few days ago. I'm going through my huge stash of scraps and cutting the small pieces  into usable squares. Since my color choices are changing, I need to use up the dark reds, blues and greens. I'm thinking a huge nine patch quilt. We'll see...

I also want to come up with a new way to store my fabric. I have been using several drawers in a dresser, but it is hard to see what I have without taking out piles of fabric and risk them getting all jumbled up. I would love to hear how every one organizes their fabric. 

Since I didn't post about Valentine's Day, I'll leave you with the one decoration I actually put up. I made this wreath after admiring one at Joann's that was still $30 on sale. I made it for about $4!

Time for Tea

I've had this design in my mind for awhile now and finally had the time to come up with a workable pattern. 

I haven't done much designing, so it was a real thrill when they actually came together like I envisioned. I think I will be adding a vintage button to each and next time do the quilting by hand. The next batch will be in my shop soon, I hope.

I couldn't resist these tulips from the grocery store. The pink really brightens up the kitchen and makes me happy.  And it's a reminder that spring really is just around the corner!

A Good Day

What a nice Sunday we had, just staying at home. In the morning, our son Andrew came by with Tad, to give Alison a little break. We played and  walked around the yard, watching the chickens and soaking up the sun.

After Tad's nap we had a lunch of homemade vegetable soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. (Well, Tad didn't eat that, we did!)  After they left, Rick and I spent the afternoon trimming the fruit trees. It needs to be done in late winter before the trees start to bud.

As I was putting a dish of lasagna in the oven, some friends stopped by with a plate of chocolates they had made. Aren't they pretty? Yummo!

In between all this, I got some hand quilting done and talked to our other 2 sons on the phone. Have to hear from them at least once a week or this mom gets anxious:)

The only bad part of the day was finding out the bees had died. These days it's not unusual, but we were sad. The guys cleaned out the hive and collected the honeycomb.

Andrew took two big pans of comb home to render the honey. 
And look at this comb without honey. It is so pretty and you can really see how perfect the hexagons are. I'm going to be making some lip balm with this.

Now Rick is watching the game. I'm watching the commercials and quilting. Yes, I'd say it was a good day!

Valentine Swap

Earlier this week I came home from work to find a box on the porch. Don't you just love that?! And this is what was inside - all from my swap partner, Terri from http://tinkerthroughtime.blogspot.com.  We had entered the Valentine's swap hosted by Vivian. 

 

Terri included so many beautiful things! Take a look at that trim, the sparkly hearts, and the velvet and lace.
She also made this cute little box with stickpins and charms.

Thanks so much Terri! I'm going to enjoy using and admiring all these lovelies.

Job Update - I just finished my first week at the library and I have to say I love the work, but not the hours. After being a full time mom for 25 years, I have tried several part time jobs in the last 5 years looking for the right fit. (I'm not interested in pursuing interior design, which is my college degree.) The other jobs I tried had great hours, but left me bored. So even though I have to work some weekends, I'm going to stick with it. What can I say? I love books! 

Fabric Love

I am really excited to be sewing again and new fabric really helps. Last weekend we took a short road trip to Noblesville, a small town north of Indianapolis, and found Always In Stitches. A great shop just full of quilting fabrics. As it was getting near their closing time, I just bought a few pieces:

 

I also picked out some beautiful fabrics from an etsy shop, Sew Deerly Loved.

 

Japanese fabrics with a great feel.

These colors are so different from what I usually work with. I blame it all on blogland! And I say, my style is evolving. That sounds good, doesn't it?

Here is a bag made with some of the new fabric. I got the pattern from an old American Patchwork and Quilting. I did change it up a bit, doing the lining differently.

I love all the details, like the yoyo flower and tied handles.

 

I decided I needed to purge some of my older fabric scraps to make room for the new.  So I made up an old favorite pattern Paddlewheels and Pinwheels by Thimbleberries.  I made one of these years ago and it's in tatters now. 

Very quick and easy, and it showcases hand quilting nicely.

So this is what I'm working on today, while my husband cleans up the basement :)  I don't know if any of our kids are coming for dinner - Tad has been sick, and Eric is doing schoolwork - but I'm making a pork roast. Yum! They should come and help us eat it and the chocolate cake with truffle frosting I made.

I hope everyone has a great week. This will be my first regular week of work. I'll let you know how it goes.

Instead of Doing Housework...

As you can tell from my last post, I have been having a lot of fun making small sewing and quilted projects lately. When I am working on a large quilt I feel like I have to finish it before starting something else. And there are so many cute things I want to make!

Here are a few of the projects I've done lately:

The pattern for this pincushion and needlebook set is from Country Threads. I love anything with herbs, so I had to make it. But I had trouble coming up with enough fabric from my stash. I don't have much lavender and purple, so I had to change up the pattern a bit.

This cute little needlecase is from a tutorial on this blog.

I used a different design for the front (can't remember where I got it, sorry), but I loved what Amy did for the back.

And for the inside:

If you like cute little quilting morsels, you should check out her blog. Lots of inspiration.

Well now I need to get some housework done. Oh, and guess what? I got a job working part time at the library branch near our house. So convenient, and I've always wanted to be a libraian. Being around all those books! I can't wait to start.