Shhhh! Don't look now, but the holidays are coming!

The holidays are just around the corner, do you know what you're giving for gifts? No? Well, consider giving Handmade! Our family is having a handmade Christmas this year. I'm making ornaments, coasters, trivets, crayon rolls, tote bags, caramel popcorn and maybe a few other things.

Need some ideas? Check out my Etsy or Artfire shop! I can still take special orders, but remember, they can take up to 6 weeks, depending on what you want.

Take care, & happy shopping!

International Round Robins

I'm a member of the quilting board Scrappy Quilters, and they're running a quilt swap called an International Round Robin, or IRR for short. In this swap, participants are broken into groups (in our case, groups of 6). Each participant makes a center block for a quilt, plus a label for the quilt, and sends it on its merry way to the next participant. The next player then adds a small border to this block, signs the label, & sends it to player #3, who adds their own border & signature, mails it off, well, you get the picture. After your little block has made its way through all the members, you get it back as a grown-up completed top!

I was added to this swap at the last minute, so faced with no clue of what to do, I pulled out a block that Sam had designed using EQ7.

I've made a couple of modifications to her layout, picked my colors, and off I went.

It's quite a lot of pieces, but paper piecing, as difficult as it can be, results in beautiful, and I mean STUNNING corner perfection, which is an absolute necessity in a block like this.

I can't wait to see what the other players add for borders, although I must admit, I'm more than a teeny bit nervous about the quilts I get to work on. I've seen the centers, they are incredible. I feel outclassed! But it's all for fun, and it will be a great experience. 

Back to piecing, I have to send this little center off to Montana, ASAP!

New Storefront

So once again I find that I've been eyeball deep in sewing & other work, and have again neglected to post *any* of my work to this poor blog! No wonder I have so few followers!

In the past few weeks I've added an Artfire storefront, as well as completed some projects that have been waiting around, started some new ones, and done a few orders and gifts.

Back to the sewing machine!

Grandma Churlik's Blocks

When going through boxes of my sewing supplies, I found a box my grandmother had sent to me, easily 4 or 5 years ago. I never really looked through the blocks until now, and I'm sharing them with you.

First, there are 5 blocks that must have been from a swap, as they are all labeled with the maker's name.

Then there are 20 17 inch 8-point star blocks, hand pieced & on muslin squares. Her note was that she had intended to make a queen size quilt, but this was as far as she had gotten.

I will finish this one up, but am concerned about machine piecing it (I don't do handsewing unless absolutely necessary).

There are also 2 'table sets'- placemats and runners, meant to be applique'd and embroidered. These I'll never finish, not my thing, but I'll hold on to them for now.

Quite a find, isn't it?

A few more down!

So I finally finished up Hawaiian Punch, and she's now for sale on Etsy.

This one's been languishing as an unquilted top for about 2 years, so I figured it was time to bite the bullet & get it done. I put it on the frame & made a panto of leaves & flowers, I'm fairly happy with it!

Unfortunately, my machine decided to have a hissy fit, so there are some problems with the quilting, but overall I'm happy with how it turned out.

I've also been working on some criss-cross coasters, both for gifts & to put up for sale in my Etsy shop. I started by going through my box of pre-cut squares from when I sorted & folded my stash. I have a lot of 4 in. squares, it turns out! I also have a lot of 1-1/2 in. ones. I got a silly notion in my head to attempt a micro-mini coaster, and ended up making 4. I think they're adorable, what do you think? Each one is approx 1 inch square.

I've also made some full size ones, but I haven't decided which will be for sale & which will be for gifts. I've got a bunch more waiting to be finished as well, but Halloween is coming soon, and I have costumes to make!

The sewing machine beckons! Come back soon!