wow. a lot of sewing.

Where to begin?

One project at a time.

Stockings.

My sister (Emmy's) first sewing attempt was a huge success.  I whipped up a sample, just to make sure my method was correct.

Took me about an hour.

Super cute, no?

mini red pom-poms!

 

these wavy lines are my new favorite quilting stitch.

(you'll be seeing more of them)

My machine does it all by itself and it works with the walking foot.

I loosely followed this tute - mostly the part about sewing in the lining all pretty.

Emmy did awesome.

Took her three or four nights to finish everything.

It was the first time I'd taught an adult.

She did all the cutting, pinning, sewing and quilting. 

She only had to re-cut 2 pieces and rip out one seam. (she did rip out that one seam three times...)

She did all the quilting, and when it wasn't perfect, I explained that she meant to do it that way, it's called "organic quilting"

we laughed.

a lot.

might have been the late hours - she could only come over after all the kids (hers and mine) were in bed.

it was fun

I totally hope she wants to sew again.

12 Days of Christmas

Here's my 12 Days of Christmas Banner/Bunting.

I adore it.

First time in a LONG time I made something for myself.

Thank you, Fabric Fairy.

It is BY FAR my favorite Christmas decoration.

Well, it's probably a tie with this

Seriously - if you have kids, this is the best nativity there is.  I have a fancy-smancy one too, but I don't set it up.  The visitors that Jesus gets are amazing.  Zhu-zhu pets, spiderman, transformers, polly-pockets, princesses....

Aren't Grandmas Great?

A million years ago when I was a kid, my great-grandma made me this:

She actually made two, one for me and one for my sister.

Exactly the same, except mine has yellow binding, hers has purple.

(cause when you're eleven, purple is no longer cool)

Hand quilted. 

Itty bitty stitches.

Anyhoo, fast forward to a couple of months ago when I decided I wanted to make a quilt like it.  I didn't want to purchase a pattern and the only ones I could find online were paper-pieced, and had more of a wedge look to the rings, mine has square-ish bits.
I was stuck.

My grandma found out I was looking for the pattern, emailed her quilty friend that she had given all the quilting books to, and 6 weeks later I have the pattern. 

Aren't grandmas great?

The pattern is from "Country Quilts in a Weekend" by Fran Roen.  It was published in 1991.

With a title like that I would have NEVER found it on my own.  EVER.

I looked it up, Amazon doesn't even have it.

Upon reading the pattern, I was shocked to find out it was strip pieced.

using 2 1/2" wide strips.

super simple.

I'm working on a tree skirt using the pattern's templates and construction method.

I've got all the arches cut and I wanted to see what it was going to look like and get a sense of how big it will end up being.  about 45" square.

I love things that look difficult but really aren't.

Don't you?