Finally have the quilt top done!

Another Friday Night Sew-In has come and gone, and what do I have to show for it? A quilt top! I've been working on it for a few months, off and on (I think I've shown some of the blocks on a previous FNSI post). I'm not exactly sure that it's big enough - it's supposed to fit a single bed, and I don't have any single beds... So, I hope it's big enough to actually start quilting!
And the picture (it's definitely scrappy!):
I was hoping to start another project - I'm doing a hand-made ornament exchange with some of my online quilting friends, and part of it will be a quilted object. Sorry I can't say more about it just yet - but you never know who'll be reading your blog!

I must be crazy!

Here were are, just a few weeks shy of Christmas, and I have a pile of to-do items as high as my head. Kind of typical for a lot of crafters... So, what did I do to make that list just a wee bit shorter, you ask? Well, truth be told - absolutely nothing! I actually started another project.
It's not my fault really - last week was kind of a tough week, and I just headed out to one of my local quilt shops - I had $10.00 worth of "coupons", and I needed a specific kind of fabric to make ornaments for my quilt group's ornament exchange. That's all I needed - honestly! Well, I did want to pick up a pattern too, but that was it. And then I saw the rulers on the wall, and the Dresden Plate ruler started calling my name.
I've never made a Dresden Plate quilt before, but I've recently seen a few tutorials showing how easy they are to make using the rulers and a sneaky sewing method, and it looks SO do-able. So, I bought the ruler too... and when I got home, I had to cut a strip of fabric, just to try the ruler out - that's my story, and I'm sticking to it! The next thing I knew, I had cut about 20 strips, so then I had to cut the wedges... and now I have this on my table:
I don't know if you can see my fancy "turntable" cutting mat under all of those wedges - I won it last spring in our local shop-hop, and it was exactly what I needed to cut all of these pieces. So, I'm off to do some sewing! What do you have on your schedule today?

Starting November with cards!

What's this? 2 blog posts, back to back, with birthday cards in them?! What is going on? Well, it's like this - I painted my craft room a few weeks ago, and life hasn't been the same since! I have a tiny spot cleared on my cutting table, and it's where I've been doing whatever crafting I have time for - and that doesn't seem like much time lately. I've been working on 2 or 3 quilts, but a lot of that has been cutting parts - not too exciting! I hope to have fabric-related pics soon, but I'm hoping that you'll be SO amazed with my cards that you'll totally forget that I haven't posted quilty stuff for a few weeks. *crossing her fingers*
So, on to the pics! The first card uses my new favourite stamp set, Delicate Doilies. I stamped them using Cherry Cobbler, Kiwi Kiss and Close to Cocoa inks; I mounted the stamped panel on Close to Cocoa C/S, and then mounted it onto the Kiwi Kiss card base. This is going to be the card for my mom's 83rd birthday Nov. 8th. Happy birthday mom - we love you! The second card features a stamped motif; brads mark the 3 visible corners. That panel is applied to C/S with a piece of Designer Paper glued onto it. A label and a petite oval from my collection of Nestabilities draw your eye to the sentiment, and a ribbon ties the whole card together.

One last October card....

I had to wait to post this card, because I wanted the recipient to get it before she saw it here. Now that I know she's seen it, I can pop it up on the blog. I CASE'd one of her favourite card-makers (whiterockmama from Splitcoaststampers), but you'll have to check her post to see the original. Okay, I'm done stalling - I know you want to see the card! Here it is:
I used a punch along the side edge of the front panel. The flowers are the 3 smallest layers of my Nesties Mega Carnations with some branches made with the SU bird punch. I used more Nesties for the scalloped oval and oval (which also got the dot-ty treatment with a Cuttlebug folder); a rectangle of designer paper on top of a matching piece of card-stock, some sheer ribbon and half an hour of work - and you finally have a special birthday card for a special person!

October cards

I've needed a few new cards this month, and haven't posted many of them. I'm posting 2 birthday cards, and also a sympathy card (I needed it too...).

Klosjes!

Like many bloggers, I follow a number of blogs, mostly card-making and quilting ones. One of the quilters I follow had a friend offering 12 weeks of guest posts and give-aways. Who wouldn't sign up to be part of that? Some lucky folks won sewing machines, or Fat Quarter bundles, or any number of quilt-related goodies. While I didn't win any of the "big" prizes, I was a winner of a wonderful secondary prize! Grandmama Jane offered the winner from her post a collection of "Klosjes" (which is Dutch for "spools")! All of the blocks are hand-sewn(!), and she sent me an assortment of blocks, some joined together already, some singles waiting to be joined up, and then a LOT of bits of fabric with sections drawn onto them, ready for me to cut out and sew together!
It's kind of a crazy-busy time for me right now, so I haven't had a chance to do anything with them yet, but I'm counting down the days till things settle down a bit. The best part is that all of the fabrics are either red, white or black (or combos of those colours) - and I LOVE that combination! Here's a pic of the sections Grandmama Jane had sewn together, plus some of the separate blocks:
She also included some fantastic Christmas fabrics, but they've been put aside for a special project, and can't be revealed just yet...
Thanks again Grandmama Jane!

FNSI Oct. 2011 version

How can it be almost the end of October already? I haven't even really started thinking about crafting Christmas gifts yet! Sorry kids, you aren't getting handmade gifts this year....
I've been swamped the past month or so - we have a new crafting group at church, with the emphasis on charity donations (quilts, afghans, hat and mitten sets, etc.) and so much of my time has gone to prep. work for that group. I've also recently painted my crafting space, and I'm still trying to find my way back!
I did make sure to keep track of one of my on-going projects, and that's what I worked on last night. I saw a picture of a really great quilt on someone else's blog, and I loved it enough to try to make one on my own. I've cut strips of fabric to make 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" 'logs' - then I sew four of them together, press and trim (if needed) into an 8 1/2" square, and voila! a quilt block. When you have a bunch of them, you sew them together, making sure to twist them so that the stripes alternate from 'up and down' to 'side to side' - it makes great texture.
I haven't actually sewn any blocks together yet, but I got a lot sewn up last night. The pics are of my starting pile of cut fabrics, and then some of the completed blocks: