Ruthie--Santa came through for me...

Meet Ruthie. She is an American Girl 18" doll and she is Kit's best friend. I eventually will get Kit, as she needs to be with her best friend. I love dolls and have a doll collection and I have loved these 18" dolls for years. Ruthie is going to be at my side sewing and occasionally, we'll get to sew for Ruthie. She is from the Depression era and so the feed sack reproductions will come in real handy. That Santa--he sure knows how to make a girl happy!! Everything is coming up hearts--I have begun to assemble the "Heart Attack" quilt. This is a fun one to sew!!

A finished photo of the Wiener Dog Wonderland quilt. This quilt was so much fun to sew! I ended up putting it on the quilt frames and did a big stitch around the dogs and the large hearts and in the border. It is primitive and really suited the quilt. I can't wait to quilt another quilt this way as it was really fun. I used pearl cotton to quilt it with! Maybe you should give it a try as well.

Little Black dress for Lucy...

One day, while surfing the internet, I was looking for knitted dog sweater patterns to knit Lucy a little sweater as we live where it gets really coooooold....

This is my youngest child holding Lucy in her pretty little black dress.

A side view of her little black dress with the pearl beads. How do you like the ruffles at the bottom of the dress?

Lucy modeling the little black dress for you. I finished sewing the beads on it and we put it on her and snapped some photos. I found this cute pattern on mysavannahcottage.wordpress.com. Her instructions for me were easy to follow and this is a quick knit. If you have a small dog, you might want to make this sweet little sweater for her...

Weiner Dog Wonderland...

My latest project--with one week to go, I just need to put borders on this quilt and then figure out how to quilt it myself. This whole quilt makes me laugh out loud!! It has been a fun project and will go to my husband's aunt who has 3 weiner dogs....

Santa Hot pads...

I saw some Santa hot pads in Hobby Lobby and they looked like this but they were solid red. I thought they were really cute. I went to the local quilt stores and all they had in the red department with dishtowels was this bricked check. So Santa has a modern quilty look this year at my house in my creating corner.

I prewashed the dishtowels because they shrink. I then cut them at 8" and did a 2" x 8" strip of black that I fused for the belt and drew a buckel 2" square with a hole in the center. Fuse, applique and then sandwich your batting between the 2 layers of dishtowel squares (I actually cut the bottom one 1/2" bigger--it just works out better that way and then I trim it down after quilting it). I use one square 8" of left over batting from quilts and 1 8" square of the insul-brite stuff to keep yourself from getting burned. I quilted it on both sides of the belt and put a binding on.

So, what do you think of this project?

Heart Attack...

I was asked by the store to sew up this quilt. I'm totally in love with this. It has a darling name, Heart Attack, and is such a fun Valentine quilt. The pattern is by Crazy Old Ladies...

Look at this yummy fabric that I get to use for the quilt. I can hardly wait to get it cut out and sewn up!! Stay tuned!!

Up on the House Top the Reindeer pause...

I finished the embroidery for Dash Away and then I colored the reindeer with crayon and tied a double bow with a jingle bell around their neck. This was a really fun project and I did the embroidery on the long drive over Thanksgiving weekend. I then made a pillow and stuffed it. Fun project!!

The Reason for the Season

.

"I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for his sheep."

I just love this quilt from the Nancy Halverson Christmas book. She calls the sheep in the lower right hand corner, the wayward one

Patchwork Friends Christmas Party

This is show and share from our Christmas Party at the quilt guild. this beauty was from a couple of years ago block exchange called Almost Amish. The block background was black and the inside was to be jewel tones. This setting was so stunning that it made me inspired to finish mine own.

Adorable Christmas stockings.

A beautiful wall hanging.

What a beautiful quilt. Love the colors, the pattern, everything...

This little quilt got started years ago and is now finished for the teenage boy...isn't it funny how our good intentions sit for years...


Another great Turning 20...

This black, white and red all over quilt is adorable. Love the contrast you get from those colors...The party was wonderful and Kari was so gracious to let us have it in her home. The pictures in the background are paintings that her husband, a Western artist has painted. Absolutely beautiful.

Check out my fun patterns and projects...

As a family, we came down to my brother's house for Thanksgiving in St. George. It is a 6 hour drive and so I came adequately prepared with an embroidery project to work on. It is called Dash Away. It has all the reindeer that help pull Santa's sleigh and it is adorable. I'm almost finished with the embroidery and then you color the reindeer in with crayons and put a tiny jingle bell with narrow ribbon on the necks. I'm going to turn this into a long pillow to tuck in some fun corner.

I found this great pattern called YoYoville by Bunnie Hill. I just love this pattern to pieces and nobody in my neck of the woods carries it and I was going to order it over the internet. They had it here in St. George--yahoo!!!!

I also found this great sewing fabric by Michael Miller at the Daisy Cottage here in St. George. Can't wait to figure out what I want to make with this fabulous fabric!!

Presidential Pardon--Happy Thanksgiving to All...

This little cutie was a charm pack by Sandy Gervais, called Gobble, Gobble. The pattern is named Presidential Pardon...This turkey gets spared by the grace of the president... Happy Thanksgiving to all. Remember to be thankful for your many blessings...

Have a Gratitude Attitude

Ever since I bought the book, Easy Does it For Autumn, by Nancy Halverson, I've wanted to make this little mini quilt. Yesterday, I finally sat down and just did it even though I have 5000 other things to do. It's a great reminder to have a Gratitude Attitude. Even those among us with very little have much more than most the people on earth and we have much to be thankful for. Take time Thursday, on Thanksgiving to reflect on the many blessings we actually have and just be thankful.

Zip It!!!

Saturday, I picked up this magazine at Wal-mart. I noticed that they had these cute make-up pouches in the magazine that claimed it took 60 minutes start to finish. They called for oil cloth, which is a laminated fabric. My dear husband drove me to Preston, ID this morning to the wonderful quilt store, Suppose. They carry the oil cloth that I needed. Here is the article, titled, Zip It!!

Here are the cute little bags that literally sewed up so quickly. The one on the right was the first one I made, taking up only 45 minutes. The one on the left took 30 minutes. It calls for 1/4 yd of fabric per bag. You can get 2 bags and have a piece left over, so it looks like I might make a few more. Fun project!! Give it a try.

Santa Bottle Covers...

Take a sneak peak at these darling Santa bottle covers...would make a fun decoration or be a cute gift for Christmas time. This is another wonderful Nancy Halverson pattern. Fast and fun to sew!!! They hold a 2 liter pop bottle!!!

Just finishing up my Thanksgiving projects--turkey hotpads

Being the Nancy Halverson fan that I am, I whipped up these cute turkey hotpads--(not really). A little time intensive, but so very cute and festive for the season. This pattern I revised for the hotpads using her book Acorn Hollow. I'm so excited to be finally making something from this wonderful book. I've had it for years as I collect cute patterns, but have finally made up a few things.

November mini quilt...

I was really excited that this little mini quilt turned out so cute. It totally sums up just what autumn is--Harvest Blessings. I took the pattern from Acorn Hollow, Nancy Halverson's autumn book from 2005. I have always loved this little book and it is about time I made something from it. I plan to do a few more projects in this book as well...If you haven't guessed by now--Nancy Halverson is one of my favorite designers along with Sandy Gervais and Kim Diehl. What talent....

Patchwork Friends Quilt Guild Meeting

Fun night at quilt guild. We have a lot of talent and fun quilters...Isn't this the cutest Halloween quilt?

This is a really bad picture of a coffee can organizer. What a clever idea. Love the function of it.

Miss Carrie knitted this sweater about 3 times over for her husband for Christmas. It sure turned out cute.

Disappearing 9-patch done with charm squares...

My sister designed this cute table runner with log cabin blocks and the witches...
Here she is again with a completed Halloween table runner to use for next year...

This pretty quilt is done with pre-cuts. Super cute...
This is a darling version of Yellow Brick Road...

Isn't this a sweet quilt done in yellow? Love it... Stay tuned for next month and more lovelys to show...

What do you do on Halloween?

My sister and I planned a Halloween party for the family. We were lucky and had 4 of the siblings there along with husbands, and nieces and children. My brother was in Seattle, my mom not feeling well and my sister had her daughter up from Arizona. My other brother is in St. George. We sure had fun. The requirements for our party: Bring a sp00ky Halloween dish. Don't you love this graveyard chocolate pudding? It was yummy.... Check out these mumified ghosts claiming these delicious cupcakes....Other menu items included Halloween brownies, a fun orange Halloween jello salad, Witches brew, pulled witch pork, broccoli boo salad and spider soup with boney fingers (breadsticks). It was a blast. We played some games and visited...

Our guests of honor--we were lucky to have Snow White visit us along with ....

Spooky the cat, who also joined in the fun...

I made Lucy a tutu--but she kept trying to wiggle out of that one...can't say I blame her... Feel free to share some of your Halloween traditions. I love hearing what others do...Till next year. For now we will put away the goblins...

Post Partum, French Cooking and Lovely girls....

Yesterday, I was the most lucky recipient of this wonderful cookbook by Julia Child. My very best friend in the whole wide world sent this book, (which I have secretly wanted since I saw the movie Julie and Julia). I can't tell you how very excited I am about this. Thank you so very much Shari--you brightened up my day--let me explain... These two beautiful girls (Shari's wonderful daughters) brought me this book yesterday. The older daughter is up visiting from San Antonio and the younger daughter is here attending Utah State University. The timing was exquisite..this is what has been going on in my life...
I have been getting the royal snub from this sweet adorable puppy and I'm afraid to say that I now suffer from post partum--I didn't actually give birth, but I indeed have a baby. She is upset that I have a lot of sewing to push through and very little time and I am not spending that time with her. Therefore--the royal snub. My heart is so sad. Those that know me, know that I am not an animal person, so getting this therapy dog for the dear husband was a giant leap for me. Tune in next week to see if my sewing therapy will mend it for me and Lucy....as the days in our lives continue....