HOT project!

Santa's workshop is open and humming!  This is going to be a casserole mat.  My scrappy strip containers were overflowing (thank you, Mary J.!!) and then I saw the hot pad tutorial on the Esch House Blog.  Yippee!  A gift idea AND a way to be able to close my containers again!  A definite "two-fer!!"  These will be pads to put hot casseroles on and feature Insul-Brite insulated batting.  EVERYONE needs these on their Christmas list!

And I get to play with Tonya letters, just in time for the much anticipated release of her first book, "Word Play Quilts!"  Oooo!  I'm so excited to get a copy!!  Come on Santa...get your butt here and deliver me a book!

These hot pads measure 10 x 15 inches, which is what these first 4 efforts will measure when finished.  That is the perfect size to work for a 9 x 13 casserole dish.  Her tutorial is fabulous, and I am working on making several "tops," then I will layer, machine-quilt, and assemble in true elf assembly line fashion.  Ho-ho-ho!

Here are 3 strippy ones without words. 

OK...they are definitely more fun with words.  I made the following words to incorporate in some strippy tree blocks.  I'm going to vary the sizes on these to accommodate steeping teapots and smaller casserole dishes.  This project is getting hot-hot-HOT!!

 

Making some tree blocks...

Now I will attach a "hot!" block to a tree(s) to make more fun casserole mats.

The strips start like this...

Then turn into free-pieced blocks and trees.

Using my 5.5 inch square ruler, it just takes 6 blocks to make a 10 x 15 mat.  Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy!

I'll be back soon with some that are finished!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Calendar stitcheries and preparations...

I'm here, I'm here, I'm still here!  Where did the last 2 weeks go?!?  PREPARATIONS!  But first, check these out...(in no particular order).

January...

 

February...

April...

 

December...

 

May...

 

June...

 

July...

 August...

September...

 

October...

 

November...

March...

These are beautiful Kathy Schmitz designs that are supposed to be stitched in all black and form one small wallhanging, but I decided to make them into individual very small wall hangings...something to change out every month.  I also decided to add a little bit of color to each one.

I still need to quilt simply and bind each one, then they will be a finished Christmas gift for one of my sisters.

Sorry not to post in so long...thank you to those who have emailed me to see where I've been.  As some of you know, my husband and I started doing some home improvement projects and painting half the inside of the house at the end of the summer.  We had been putting it off for years and finally made a commitment to do it.  Then we were blessed to find that my Dad, Stepmother, and my favorite Aunt wanted to come for Thanksgiving.  We were so excited!  Needless to say, we put it in high gear and will be finished with everything by the time they get here on Tuesday.  Whew!!!

Thank God they are coming...no telling how long we would have dragged all this out without the delightful threat of house guests.  Now it will all be done for the whole holiday season.

I always work better with a deadline in mind...

Have a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

The continued tour of the "quilt cave"...

I was invited by Madame Samm of Stash Manicure to continue explaining the organizational madness that is my quilt cave (the basement).  It looks like I will be posting there once a month for a few months to finish showing how I organize my space.  This month I discuss how I deal with patterns, books, and magazines...all that paper that tends to pile up.   Check it out at the link above!

I am lucky to have stash and books, but my set up is pretty humble...lots of second-hand file cabinets from U of M, table tops from the recycle center, etc. I love to dream about how it would all look if I had an unlimited budget to buy shelves, fixtures, fancy containers, etc., like they do on those organizing shows on the cable channels.  I did have to invest in some sturdier shelves from IKEA for my quilt books after my last shelf collapsed into a pile of pressed oatmeal boards and quilt books gone all helter skelter.  That was a sad, sad day...

I just love sheet pocket protectors, hanging file folders, sticky notes...I have a deep down obsession with office supplies...maybe because I love all the things they can help me organize.  As a musician, I also store my loose sheet music and books in file folders like this, in addition to our family personal and financial records.

This is my favorite little "mad pleasure" - it is my idea book.  I save pictures from magazines (that I don't save the directions to), quilt show photos, and little pictures from greeting cards, catalogs, etc. and I glue them randomly into this bound lab record book with a glue stick.  These little snippets give me inspiration about color, lay-out, drawing appliques, little cute sayings to stitch, etc. 

I do love using the bound books, even though they get too fat to properly close after glueing in all that wonderful encouragement.  (Maybe a binder or spiral notebook would work better for you.)  I like how these fit in my cubby, right behind my sewing machine.  They are my "go-to" resource to get to a happy space if I am feeling blue or uninspired.

I think I need to make a correction from my last post.  I posted blocks I had finished for an online bee I belong to.

I called these Disappearing 9-Patch blocks.  I think they are really Disappearing 4-Patches.  Disppearing 9-Patches look like this (thank you Helen of Quilts and ATC's).

Both the Disppearing 4-Patch and the Disappearing 9-Patch are great blocks to make with pre-cut charm squares...do you have a favorite quilt or block pattern that you like using charm squares for??

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Bee Balm blocks for Elaine...

These are Disappearing 9-Patch blocks for Elaine from Texas.  I said "yes" to being in an online quilting bee, and this was the first month's project.  It's an easy block and opens lots of design possibilities.

I can't wait to see what comes next...

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

Done with Thing 1 and Thing 2...and the DRESS...

Halloween is over, so it must be Christmas...according to my local stores.  The two "Cat in the Hat" quilts for my niece and nephew are done and ready to deliver to a local long-arm quilter.  They are basically the same except for the name inserted in the quilt (Eliza or Asa) and the outer border color.

I like "off-roading" without a pattern, but it takes me longer when I do that, so I thought what the heck if they are similar?

I can't wait to see the little fudsters on Christmas morning, propped up on their little quilts, wearing the Thing 1 and Thing 2 outfits I have devised.(complete with little blue wigs!)...aaaaawww!  My 13-yr-old has to wear the "Cat in the Hat" costume in the picture (payment for me making her Halloween costume...I'm not above bribing to get that picture...).

Speaking of things I've devised, some of you wanted to see my daughter's "Glinda" costume (from "Wicked") that I had to make for Halloween.  I was not excited about the project, as it involved a lot of "off-roading" as well, but I hung in there, gritted my teeth and pounded it out...

It was cold in Michigan this year, so a turtleneck was required.  Wearing the wig was warm like wearing a hat, so that was good.  Her best friend was Elphaba (the green one).  I think one person knew who they were (they are the queens of the obscure costumes every year - last year they were two minor characters from West Side Story).

I'm still planning on the applique tutorial, but I am having to re-shoot the pictures because they were blurry.  Now that the Seuss projects are ready for the quilter and my Bee Balm blocks are ready to mail (a future post...), I can exhale a little and think about other things.  These two pictures turned out almost clear...ooo, I love this glue method!  (maybe you will, too...)

I am also scheduled to post on Stash Manicure again this Friday to talk about my filing system for quilt books, patterns, magazines, etc.  

It's another busy week!

In stitches,

Teresa   :o) 

Dr. Seuss balancing act...Thing 1 almost finished...

I have two Dr. Seuss quilts to make for my niece and nephew for Christmas, and I finally got brave and plunged ahead on cutting into the panels I bought for the purpose.  Between my stash and some of the accompanying fabrics, I had good choices for stripping out and arranging the fussy-cut blocks after I cut them apart.

This is the body of the first little quilt.  I have a skinny black with white dot stop border and a yellow print outer border to put on this one, which is for Eliza.  Then Asa's quilt, the second one, will have the same skinny black stop border and an aqua print outer border.

I wasn't happy with the freebie pattern so I came up with my own setting.  It was harder than I thought to dig through my stash bins for just the right shades of red, yellow and aqua to compliment the panels and blend with the purchased yardage.  I ended up having to cut off most of the frames that were printed around each fussy-cut block because of the way they were printed, but in a way that made it easier for me. 

I found my "Cat in the Hat" fabric at the Equilter web site (Robert Kaufman Fabrics).  Even the black and white selection was fun to fussy cut for a filler wonky star block.

Since these babies (who are cousins) will get them at Christmas when we are all together, I am putting their names in the quilts so they can tell them apart.  I bought red union suits and little blue wigs to go with the quilts, so they will be "Thing 1 and Thing 2."  My 13-yr-old daughter will wear her old Cat in the Hat Halloween costume - it will make for a GREAT photo opportunity on Christmas morning when we are all together!

Someone is going to machine quilt these for me, so I needed to drop everything to get them done to meet her Christmas cut off quilting rush.  I'm feeling a little manic between making these quilt tops, getting my sister's log cabin quilt layered and basted for hand quilting and getting my daughter's Halloween costume done.  It's like the Bermuda Triangle of sewing.  It doesn't help that she wants to look like this.

For all of you not familiar with "Wicked," this is Glinda (in the pink dress)...I think this dress is wicked...to MAKE.  I wish she was going as Elphaba (with the green skin)...that would be easier for ME.  Her best friend is doing that one (her Mom doesn't sew...).  Oh well...this too shall pass...

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

The top is finished...maybe...

I love anything out of  a Blackbird Designs book.

This is my version of Chelsea Cottage.  I got all the blocks assembled, then decided it needed a sawtooth border.  The sawtooth border contains alternating red and black HST's.  I LOVE scrappy, and this is SCRAPPY!  I'm still trying to decide if I want an outer border, then must make a decision about the quilting.  I'm leaning toward hand quilting.  It will be a large wall hanging for my sister Laurie.  It's already 54 x 74...already big for a wall hanging.  Hmmm....

Weasley thinks the applique needs a cat or two, since my sister has cats.  Hmmm...

He's my worst critic and my biggest fan, but can be easily bought for some kitty treats.

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)