snow day or a chance to blog.......

All the cat silhouettes are made. One is already sewn on these block lotto blocks I won. The rest are waiting.

We had blizzard go through yesterday, so I am home!

It started with rain, when the snow came it stuck to everything.

It is kinda pretty.

The birds might not think it is so pretty.

Or maybe they don't really care.

Here is some squeal with delight news.

Inside this magazine....

is......

My Captain A-MOO-ica quilt. Jackie (the sister who will get this quilt) went out and bought the magazine. She took it to work, then Jesse her husband took it to work and then she mailed it to me.

It came yesterday!

There was an article in there about turning children's art work into quilts.

The kids at school were making colorful snowmen. I loved this one and took a picture of it. No one can do art like a 1st grader.

One more snow picture for smalltownquilter or Karen.

 She is stuck in Phoenix for an extra day.

She was supposed to fly out yesterday.

Didn't happen. Something about the weather causing delays.

They will try again today. 

making valentine cards.....

Yesterday I punch out a bunch of hearts from magazine pages. 

I thought I would put them on painted playing cards. I went looking for them and couldn't find them. I don't remember tossing them, but it is possible.

Maybe they will show up some day.

Plan B.

I got out my Sizzix and punched tags from empty cereal, stuffing, cake mix boxes.

I had a stack, I cut until the stack was gone. I ended up with 30.

I wanted at least 21 for the first graders at school.

Time for paint. I used a sponge and started adding paint.

Dab dab dab. 

As one color ran out I poured a new color until all of them were covered in paint.

Time for the Mod Podge. 

Each tag got three hearts, 

the words DREAM BIG (I printed them),

and a strip of the black and white paper (from the shopping bag of a gift shop)

And, done.

With the front anyway.

Looking at this, I forgot one of my steps....stamping the swirl with ink.

I want to add names. But these kids are part of a trend to give your child a common everyday name,

AND spell it differently.

Beside having to spell out their last names, they will be spelling out their first names for the rest of their lives to make sure it is correct.

OH well.

Found this the other day. Needs fixing. 

Dang. 

Big sale at the quilt shop today. I think I am going over there for some shopping!

things went well yesterday...

I started adding the logs to the maple leaves yesterday. The pattern calls for one more row of logs. But I like it with just the two.

These were stacked up while I think.

This only needs one more seam and the corners added. 

Then borders, still thinking on that one.

We are still in blizzard warning. Not much snow has fallen. But the NW winds will pick up and we will be falling back into the cold arctic air. I will mostly stay in and sew some more.

in the middle of all kinds of things.....

My cousin called me tonight. She told me I hadn't blogged since the panda bear at the end of December.

Really?? I checked. She was right.

I couldn't believe it.

I finished making maple leaves. It will be a log cabin type setting. I am in the middle of adding the logs. But I put those aside to work on....

A t-shirt quilt for Crispy's girlfriend. 

I ran out of interfacing for the backs. Another project on hold. 

Although I could start making the columns with what is ready.

Or, here is something else to work on....

The tea-towel quilt. I have thought about this a lot. I think I have a plan now.

Just can't bring myself to cut and commit. 

Then there is always my contracted braille class.

At the rate I am going it will take me a couple years to finish this.

I love doing it, but it really takes all of my concentration to get the lesson ready to mail.

Then I am on pins and needles waiting to hear from the instructor. 

I've been doing pretty good, so far. My lowest grade is a B+,

I always think...this will be the perfect assignment....but no, I mess up something.

We are in a blizzard watch. I was totally unaware of this until I talked to my cousin.

It is also the weekend. One or more of these projects will get worked on!

Christmas and the Celtic Solstice Mystery......

The paper piecing project...

Tractor joe calls our niece Amanda Panda. So, just days before Christmas, I was paper piecing. As I worked on it, I was absolutely sure I would NEVER do it again.

It is confusing.

And messy. But I kept going. 

Here is the finished mug rug. I think it is about 8 by 10 inches.

(the free pattern is here)

It is supposed to be a 6 inch block, but when I printed it....

it was more like 8 inches square. This was okay, some of the sections are so small!

Amanda loved her panda, and as the pain of this subsides....

I may even make another one someday.

The Money Tree....

I wanted a tree to dispense dollar bills that I had taped together into a roll. Only I had no idea how to make one. I opened up a box of never used Christmas decorations...

Found an angel to use instead.

This was for a 20 something nephew. He had the biggest frown of confusion as he followed the directions on his gift.

Just in case he only lifted the tag, I wrote "the dress, not the tag"

I cut a slit in the tube so the rolled money would pull out. He pulled about 10 bills out right away. I told him that I should have added "as needed"  so he re-rolled them and put them back in place.

I think he liked it. 

The mystery continues....

(intro to the Mystery quilt)

We are at step 5 with Bonnie's mystery. I am still sewing that step together.

I had a few done, so I played with all the sections.

This could go in a lot of different directions. I'll just wait for the reveal now.

And hopefully finish up Step 5 today.

tea towels.....

Sophie is having a tea towel challenge.

(click here for link to tea towel challenge 2014)

When it first came up, I wasn't sure....All I could picture were the tea towels with calendars on them. I had NO idea there were tea towels that didn't have calendars.

I found one online that I really loved. It was $20.00. 

Wow...... did I want to spend that much?

For a towel???

Then I found these retro looking ones. 

They came as a 4-pack. I thought they were adorable.

(and cheaper)

I could use one and give the rest to my middle son for Christmas. He needs kitchen towels and loves to fish. But when they arrived they were in a fabric envelope. I cut that apart....

I plan on making some mug rugs from it. He will also get all four towels.

It will be nice practice for the real towel.

The challenge towel,

the one I really love....

After thinking and thinking, 

I ordered it.

The Iowa tea towel. 

I thought about using old embroidery and cutting it up,

I have thought about using selvage edges,

But now I don't know. I have time to mull it over, not a lot, but some time yet.

bags and the mystery quilt......

Last weekend I painted on canvas. I put a white wash over this yet. It needed to be a little softer I thought. Then I cut it up into three sections......

This was the first finished bag. I have one more that needs handles yet. 

And one more piece of canvas that can be sewn into a bag.

Also last weekend I started the Bonnie Hunter Mystery.

click here for INTRO PAGE and links to steps so far

My colors are different. Using red instead of blue. Using yellow instead of orange.

The backgrounds are all whites to creams.

Step Two...the green is blue and the yellow is orange in mine.

I have no idea if these colors will end up working. Time will tell.

I'm in the middle of these chevrons. Hope I get them done today.