Needle and Thread

Update: I am still having trouble leaving a comment on blogger and I know that some of you can't leave a comment on mine. Sorry. Not sure why. I have emailed them and let them know of the problem. They do have a page on their website for trouble shooting. I will have to see if I can some how fix it.

Meanwhile, look at this awesome quilt! It is a Bee In My Bonnet (Lori Holt) pattern called Paper Dolls. It is so adorable. It reminds me a little of the American Dolls Historical series from the 1930s/1940s. This will definitely be a future project. I have purchased a pattern of hers called Remembering Grandma's Aprons. I can't wait to start on that one.

Above: Very cute quilt. Look at the detail! Sure wish I could take her class on it. Lori Holt offers it as a block of the month.

I just finished up some custom order mice for a wonderful lady with an amazing imagination.

Here's the mice.

Above: They are the Four Seasons: Spring (yellow) Summer (red), Fall (orange) and Winter (lt blue).

They were so fun to make and design. The customer had a wonderful idea. She came up with the four seasons theme and I had a blast designing them. They are now on their way to Ohio, along with their sweet little pet. I will show the pet at a later date, as soon as they reach their destination. The pet is a surprise thank you.

We have been busy getting ready for school to start. We had a meeting for D#2's school tonight. We are so excited that she will be starting Kindergarten soon. I can't believe that she is that big! They grow up so fast. D#1 will be moving into her dorm on the 20th of this month. She is so excited! We are excited and a little sad (shhhh....don't tell her) that she is starting this wonderful new chapter in her life.

I will share pictures of her campus after we get her settled in.

That's all I have for tonight, so I'll sign off and say "Goodnight",

Holly

March of the Snowmen...

Well...I'm back. Sorry for the little vacation from blogland. This past week I had to work on our neighborhood's newsletter. It was my month. You don't think it would take so long to write/edit, but it took me about 4 days solid to come up with it. I use Publisher and it is wonderful, but still takes me forever.
Since I was so busy this past week, I haven't really done anything crafty. I am going to show you a WIP (work in progress) that I love working on. It is a free applique quilt pattern from Bunny Hill Designs http://www.bunnyhilldesigns.com/ . It was free last year on her website, but it has since been take off (it is on the website for sale-very reasonable price). She offers one free applique quilt pattern a year and last month it was snowmen. The year before, I believe that it was baskets. /This year it is Henrietta the Squirrel in each block (it is under the free patterns tab). So cute and you can work at your own pace. There is one pattern a month and by the end of the year you have 12 (depending on her design) squares finished. I think that I am on #9 with three more to go. I had never, never done real applique before. Sure, I have done machine applique where you iron on fusible web, cut out the design, then iron it onto the background fabric and then go over it with the machine button hole stitch. It looks very pretty, but I wanted more of a challange and this was it! There are several methods of applique: needle turn, freezer paper, hand turn (you turn edges down with your fingers) and dryer sheet (must do more research on this one). I found the freezer paper to be the best fit for me. I throughly enjoyed this. I thought that it would be real difficult, but it wasn't at all.
Here's some picutures of my not so finished blocks:

Above: This was the first block that I attempted. I am not very happy with the wheels. They did not come out as round as I had wanted. Still have fnishing touches to put on him.

Above: I just love the little bird. He is holding a rope that I will be attaching buttons to.

Above: all embroidery stitches are back stitched.

Above: french knot eyes and satin stitch nose. If you look closely you can see the tiny applique stitches.  I tried to make each stitch only 2-3 fabric threads long. Super tiny, but easy to do.

Above Sweet little snowman. Almost all of the fabric I am using are from the French General line. The white is a Moda print.

Above: A snowman on a cupcake, can't get any better than that!

Above: The thread looks orange, but it is red.

Above: The silver thread used on the heart wand was difficult to use.

Above: His ear muffs are pieces of wool felt.

Above: Always wondered if snowmen skied.

Above: Even though these snowmen are just adorable, they kind of remind me of the mutant snowmen from Calvin and Hobbes.

I just love the quilt and can't wait until it is finished. I also love being able to work on it little by little. Maybe I will start on the Henrietta Squirrel soon. She would be so cute made out of wool and the rest of the square made from cotton fabric.

Must say goodnight and be sure to keep those little fingers busy and keep those creative juices flowing,

Holly