January Updates

Where is time going? We've already passed mid January. Yikees!

I have been productive, I am happy to announce that I have finished my Christmas gifts for 2015. 

 They are now in the hands of my very patient friend.  This was the first item to be crossed off my 

Q1 - FAL list.

BA is the recipient of just about every Christmas thing I have ever attempted to make.  Going to her house at Christmas is like going to  a  "crafts my Selina show". Room after room.  We have been crafting friends for upwards of 40 years. Sharing gifts, ideas and challenges the entire time.

So for this Christmas I decided I needed to do something for spring instead of winter.  When we were together in the fall she mentioned that she liked to use placemats.  I have made her Christmas ones in the past.  Spring sounded like a great idea.

As I was finishing them up I came across this tutorial by Julie Hirt  for making rope baskets. Great tutorial and so easy to do. The fabric scraps in the basket and coasters are from the placemats. A great addition to the package. ( she called to thank me and to have me send her the tutorial info )

For Christmas I participated in another postcard swap.  This lovely tree was made for me by       Eglea Senna . It came to me in Florida from Brazil.  I love it.

The  winter bunnies were done by me based on a pattern by Michelle over at The Raspberry Rabbits. They made their way to Brazil and I believe they had a very Merry Christmas there.

My sister saw the basket and coasters that I made for BA and she wanted a set.  Of course she wanted them to match her placemats.  The ones I made last year.  Good thing I am a scrap hoarder.

The basket is about 14 inches across and 4  inches high.

The coasters are about 4 inches across.

It's a good thing that they are addictive to make because we had company for dinner on Sunday who saw them and wanted a set. She went to my stash to pick out her colors.

And I have been able to keep up with the 365 project in spite of the temptation of the baskets and coasters.

Q1 FAL 2016 Goals

This is my first time participating in FAL.  I have several projects that I would like to get finished sooner rather than later so I thought I'd join up. So in the order I would like to see these projects finished let my list begin:

#1

This is the last of my 2015 Christmas presents. It is for 1 very old and patient friend. She follows my blog so I can't say what these fabrics will end up as but hopefully they will have purpose soon.

#2

Baby quilt for my cousin's 1st grand child, who was born last month. Needs to be sandwiched, quilted bound and mailed.

#3

These are my blocks for the 365 Project.  I started on January 1, so I am right on time with this as of today. Hoping by quarter end I have 90 blocks hanging on this wall.

#3

These 16 inch tall tulip blocks by  Michelle Engel Bencsko for Cloud 9 Fabrics, are to be the center pieces to 2 doll quilts that will be 24 inch square.  They will be matched up with hand made dolls created by the local chapter of the  Giving Dolls, Inc. a  group who makes dolls for children in need around the world. To date they have donated more than 30,000 dolls.

#4

 NO Picture - I am participating in the Quilt Doodle Designs - BOM 2016   .  January is done. My goal is to have February and March done by quarter close.

#5

NO Picture - I am signed up with the   MIghty Lucky Quilt Club    This month we are doing a project learning to creatively quilt using bias tape.  I know I will have 3 different projects, by different very talented quilters, 1 per month of which I hope to get at least 1 done.  This is a new area for me. So I won't be racing through in my ususal Devil may care way.

#6

This is a knitting project.  I try and make a few helmet liners each year for the Forgotten Soldiers Outreach, Inc.  I'd like to get at least this one done and a second started this quarter.

While I know this list is very doable at the moment I also know that my biggest problem is getting side tracked. I'm hoping that participating in this FAL will keep me somewhat focused.

Finishes 2015 - Starts 2016

As noted in my last post that I found a couple of UFO's in my knitting stash. I am happy to say that I was able to finish up this pair of socks ( only had to finish one of the feet ).

I also finished this Santa sack that was supposed to be a Christmas 2014 gift for a friend. It too was well past the half way point when I abandoned it for greener pastures.  It is scheduled to go out in Monday's mail.  Better a year or so late than never.  Actually I know if I kept it to send to her next Christmas I wouldn't be able to find it.

  

Once I got my quilty mojo back I started on a baby quilt for a cousins first grand child. Since I shopped my stash for these blocks I am going to use it as my first  piece for

 Sew My Stash 2016

I have committed to Cindys BOM 2016 you can find the details here

quiltdoodledesigns BOM 2016

I got my deer done.  ( also from my stash ) Hope I can be as efficient  with the remaining months.

For the last few weeks I have been trying to come up with something to do for 365 days in a row. I have tried a couple of things in the past but never got more than 30 days done before fading out.

Then I saw the button for this 365 Project and thought it sounded very doable.  I have opted to use only scraps from 2 bags of scraps sent to me by a friend in the Carolina's. There isn't

 enough background fabric in her bags to complete this project so I will shop my stash for creams enough to finish. (it won't be a problem)

Quilty 365 Project

I cut some circles and some background and pulled together a sewing kit.

Tossed them all into the nifty bag she sent with the scraps and I'm off.

Well I'm off to a good start. It's the 2nd and I have 2 blocks done.  I'm hoping that posting will keep me on target.

Off to a wonderfully quilty start to 2016. Hope you are too.

Finding Treasures - HA

I'm in my official holiday quilting slump. I have 2 projects on the table, 1 a  very late Christmas present and 1 a baby gift for a baby born last month.

When this happens I generally switch to knitting or crocheting.  Christmas afternoon found me crocheting hats for pediatric cancer patients in RWJ hospital in NJ and a couple for Operation Shoebox.

By this afternoon I was up to 7 hats and out of small amounts of yarn.  I have a large yarn stash buried under boxes in my garage that I really didn't want to tackle.  Stashed away in the spare bedroom closet I knew I had a large tote of misc yarns.  Didn't know exactly what was in it but I figured I'd be able to find something to work on.  

This is the tote,  It's the largest one that Lands end makes.  It was chock full of treasures, some dating back 4 - 5 -maybe 6 years. Some from earlier this year ( the ones on top ) 

These pictures have been taken after I dumped the bag and sorted its contents.

I found missing needles of various sizes.

This bag contains many skeins of cotton yarn and several started wash cloths and pot holders.

The blue bag contains started projects and small balls of left over yarn. the green bag is a sock and a half, the yellow bag is half a knitted drawstring bag. The purple piece is one of 3 pieces I was going to felt and make into purses for a friend for a Christmas long past.

These 2 bags contain yarns that will be given to a local charity that does yarn related projects.

I even found this vest that I barely remember making that only needs to have the ends woven in. 

Then there was some yarn for socks.

I'm not really sure how all that stuff came out of that one bag.  I'm thinking I don't need that Joanns coupon that is lying on the floor on the right. It's for the big yarn sale that they were having yesterday and today.

I think I should be able to keep myself busy until my quilting mojo comes back.

Christmas Gifts almost done

While I was back in NJ I was able to hand deliver my first Christmas  gift to an old friend.

I haven't crocheted an afghan in several years.  I quite enjoyed it.

I got a little carried away with the size.

I got home and finished this table runner from a free pattern by Lee Heinrich

A Holiday Forest Pillow

Yes it was a pillow pattern that I made into a runner. It's the second one I made, the last one had Purple trees.  I kept that one for myself.

This one is in the mail, another gift down.

I also made a fleece throw for friends.  I own one but I had never made one.

.

Very easy to work up.  I'm actually working on 2 more to hopefully be seen in my next posting.

They are so cuddly. Wonderful to snuggle up in.

They received it today and they love it. 

When I headed up to Jersey I neglected to take a hand work project. I lasted 2 days before I hit the local Michael's

I picked up needles yarn and a basic sock book to keep me company.

I managed to break a land speed  record and finished them before I got home.  1 week.  I think they will be a good stocking stuffer  for my sister.

And today I finished my Temecula Quilts - Wish You a Mini Christmas  piece.

They supplied the patterns for the 12 blocks and suggested 3 different settings.  Heaven forbid I use one of their settings when I could go crazy coming up with my own. 

And this photo just makes me smile.  This is how they deliver Christmas packages in The Villages.

A Very Sad Week

It's been a very long sad week for our family.  Last Saturday our mother passed away after many years of battling Alzheimer / Dementia. I know she is at peace and am thankful that she passed painlessly in her sleep.

Mom was an avid reader. Pretty much a book a day type.  About 4 years ago she lost the ability to follow a story. There have been lots of sad moments over the course of this disease but finding several of her books with multiple book marks was the saddest.

My belief is that she has found a fluffy cloud in heaven and is now seated comfortably reading a book from a never ending pile of books.

She never wanted a funeral, but did want a party, so party we did. We had a lovely repast luncheon for friends and family. I'm sure we made her happy.  I'm sorry I didn't get pictures but my sister in law decorated a small Christmas tree with pictures celebrating moms life hanging from plaid ribbons. It was just perfect.

Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Virtual Cookie Exchange.  When Carol put out feelers to see who would like to participate in this exchange I raised my hand.  Only one problem I really don't bake.

So as long as she was OK with my cookie actually being a piece of fudge we were good.

Several years ago (10 -15) someone at work gave me this wonderful recipe.  It is perfect for people like me who want to participate but baking isn't our thing.

This is pretty much it.  You dump a can of icing (16 oz) and a bag of chips ( 12 oz ) in a pan and stir until melted together.

This pan is chocolate icing and peanut butter chips.  That's all.

Totally melt the chips and turn into a cake pan lined with parchment paper.

Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Throw out the packaging and wash the knife.

I made 3 pans for this exchange. 

1) chocolate and peanut butter chips

2) chocolate and chocolate chips with almond slivers tossed in after melting and before putting in the cake pan

3) chocolate and chocolate chips with raspberry jelly tossed in after melting and before putting in the cake pan

After sitting in the fridge for 2 hours you take it out of the pan and cut into small, bite size pieces. This is a very sweet mouthful.  I cut my pieces into 1 inch squares.

This is where being a quilter comes in handy.

I scrubbed down my slotted ruler and used a pizza cutter instead of a rotary cutter to cut my pieces.

pretty neat huh, squares and diamonds

The first 2 pans were picture perfect and then there was the pan with the raspberry jelly

The recipe sheet suggested adding things like raspberry jelly, marshmallow, nuts, coconut etc.

I had never tried the jelly before, the recipe didn't include measurements on the add ins. I apparently got carried away with the jelly.  The fudge never hardened up.  The sad part is that the raspberry is the tastiest of the 3.

Because I was taking some of the fudge to friends for part of the Thanksgiving dessert, I placed the pieces in tiny cupcake papers.  The blobs in the middle are the raspberry, we used spoons to eat them.

I also took some of the pieces of fudge and boxed them for take home after holiday dinner and some went in a tin to be mailed to friends across the state.

Thanks for stopping by and please follow along and visit the other members of the exchange listed below.  Thanks to Carol at Just Let Me Quilt who coordinated this wonderful event.

December 1

Kris at Kris Loves Fabric

Selina at Selina Quilts (you are here)

Karen at KaHolly

Deonn at 3^rd Degree Bakery

December 2

Colette at What About Rheema?

Carla at Creatin’ In The Sticks

Velda at Granny Can Quilt

Mary Ellen at That’s My Home

Karen at Sugar Free Quilted Designs

December 3

Beth at One Old Goat and Her Little Farm

Carol at Just Sew Quilter

Theresa at Bumbleberry Stitches

Brenda at Brenda’s Quilt Blog

Pat at Quilting Quietly

December 4

Linda at Food Storage Moms

Susan at Super Mom – No Cape!

Kathy at Just Quilt it

Lindsay at Lin's Kitchen

Carol at Just Let Me Quilt

Happy Holidays and thanks for stopping by.