HAPPY NEW YEAR

MERRY CHRISTMAS

or should I say...Merry Trekmas!

from my house to yours....

and a very special birthday shout out to Jesus! 

Been Busy.......sewing and crafting

With Christmas day fast approaching, I had to kick it into high gear.

My little corner of the world looked pretty bad for a couple of days

My finishes in the last three days....

Apron

Gingerbreadman

Cowboy stocking 

Look inside!! 

MooooOOOooooo

6 piggie bank gift card holders

All the little piggies in a row

I still need to make two more gift card holders, edge a fleece blanket, get a couple more gifts, stocking stuffers and plan a meal for, hmmmmm, how many?......16? 19? one of those numbers....lol the more the merrier....my place will be the place to be on the 28th...par-tay

If I can, I want to make wheel covers for my hubs trailer too. I am tired of looking at that ratty ol' burlap keeping his wheels from getting a sunburn.

How are you spending your last few days before Christmas and New Year's Day?  If you don't do Christmas, how do you spend your time? 

Surprisingly, I don't feel too stressed, but it isn't quite crunch time yet. lol

Christmas Steampunk Blog Hop

Welcome to:

 Leslie Rahye's Steampunk Christmas Blog Hop

** It's Steamy ** It's Punky ** It's Christmas **

I knew exactly what I wanted to do, so I searched the web to see if someone had beat me to it........  

Yeeeeeeeeeessssss! 

No one had!! Then I got busy.

Say hello to my little friend..........

All my supplies

The hardest part of all was getting the zipper to comply.

Gingerpunk fun!

Now go and check out the other hoppers to see what kind of steamy goodness they are sharing!!

S U P E R

Guess what I am making?

Now, can I do this without a pattern?

Do I have it ride under the armpits or just a neck tie?

Decisions...decisions......

And the Stockings were hung by the Chimney with care....

Boy, do I hope there is a big fireplace somewhere. Ginormous even!

My daughter-in-law has a stocking made by her grandma that she just loves...it's huge. She asked me to make one for my son and one for their dot that look similar. Her stocking is about 20 years old and I hunted high and low (etsy and ebay) to find a perfect match....no luck.

Last year, I bought a jellyroll of Countdown to Christmas by moda. It was going to be a jellyroll quilt, but this is better.......new traditions for a new family. Yes, I saved all the rest of the fabric for when new little family members might make a debut or if the dil wants to save her gramma's stocking.

The original

I did foundation piecing for the first time.

This is the back side

Even a little pattern matching

Some sweetwater labels

The back of the stocking

The finished products with the original

Just to give you some size context.....this is a 6' tree

things I learned:

• couture is not what a stocking needs to be because it takes for ev er
• you can't ever has enough steam
• youtube makes things look way easier than they really are
• jellyrolls really are a lot of fabric
• organized crazy is an art form and I need tons of practice
• cut your lining at the same time

I really like the way they turned out, but next time, I machine topstitch and not go all Dior with my finishings. lol

Any Christmas sewing going out there in blog land?

Owl Post in my own Home

Well, sort of......

The US Postal Service released Harry Potter Stamps yesterday. I had to have some. 
Yes, I will actually use them on mail....they're fun!
They come in a little booklet that is quite nice.
Enjoy the show...........

Ahhhhhh, I finally found my battery charger so I can use my camera again....blogging...I missed you so...

I'M A PREPPER TOO

Project PREPPER, that is!

I have two receiving blankets and four burp cloths ready for sewin' and sergin'.

The sizes are a little different since I used the leftovers from squaring up the blankies, but they will do the job just the same. lol

Are you a Prepper too? 

Great, guess what song is in my head now? 

ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR QUILT....

Time to bind this baby! wooo hoooo 

Ghastlie Little Geese

All my little duckies, I mean geese. I mean arrows, in a row

Top side

they will go on the back of this quilt

Time to clean up my Ghastlie mess

One lonely little block left......what to do, what to do?

I should be done by next halloween. lol

Goodbye igoogle

It was good while it lasted......

The Ghastlies Leftovers

I had 72 leftover triangles from the snowball blocks.....I just couldn't waste them........

Not sure if I am going to make a mini topper or a row of arrows for the quilt back....leaning toward the arrows going up the quilt back.

When finished, each half square triangle block will be 2" (5 cm)
A topper would be 12" square....tiny little chevron quiltie...tiny...Barbie tiny.

What do you do with your leftovers? I usually toss them in a bag and give them to a friend who loves scrappy quilts...but this time I actually used them.

WICKED BLOG HOP - It's been a Ghas

It's my turn in the Wicked Blog Hop.

I hope you have been looking at all the wonderful things all these talented peeps have made!

It's been quite the Ghastlie challenge to get my post and project up and running. lol

Let's start at the beginning...

• I got left off the hop schedule
• I took way to long to decide on a project
• I ended up having all kinds of family here and my sew Friday didn't happen for as long a time as I needed it to. lol
• I got the quilt top all pieced and ready to quilt and, much to my horror, I have one row going the wrong way.
• Unsandwich and unsew....oy
• THEN.................

The power goes out..thank you gale force winds...not!

With 12" of resewing left...12 measly inches!

Then I realize that my mini quilt is too big for its intended locale

I did manage to get it done!

Front

I am a firm believer that the back should be almost as nice as the front

It has been a Ghastlies kinda day...perfect for a Ghastlies, sans peeps, quilt!

Now go a check out today's hoppers...I am sure they had a much less Ghastlie time of it!  hahahaha

My not-so-much-help helper

Grandmama's Stories
Gracie Oliver Arts
Quilts by Christa
Michelle's Romantic Tangle
Ravelly’s
Pink's Sweet Treats
How Art You?
Georgia-Girl Quilter
I Piece 2-Mary
Words & Stitches
The Distracted Domestic...me!

Doin', not just Thinkin' about Doin'.....

Finally got some sewing in after I did some moving around of tools.

My ironing board, cutting table and sewing machine are all in the same room!

Seems like a small thing but I was going from room to room to room when I worked. 

Great exercise, but a right, royal pain in the backside.

Wanted to do a little machine quilting practice using a sweeterwater table runner kit with Lucy's Crab Shack fabric.......

Problem one:

Go to the only drawer I put my machine quilting gloves in only to pull out four gloves.....none match....all the left hand. Where do all my right  hand gloves end up? 

Insert spooky Twilight Zone song here....do do do do........

Did a row of flowers up the center...back side

Up top

Was trying to free hand some triangles.....lol

Can you say shark fin? 

Guess what? I left my boo boo in...I know, right

What it should look like 

All Done. Usable practice...I like that

Binding ready for the hand sewing 

My non 90% corners turned out great....all of them! Shocked me!

Got a few more items to sandwich up and get done. As you can see, I need all the FMQ practice I can get! Wouldn't mind fitting in a new Halloween costume for myself....if I can.....crossing my fingers....OH! I have a block to do for a blog hop...better to more doin' done!