Christmas Project Review #2

Bet you remember seeing a quilt called "Juicy" all over the internet last year.  I loved it when I saw it, and so did my Daughter-In-Law.  Remember when she sent me a box full of her fabric scraps and asked me to make a rather large batch of fabric journals?  Well, I had lots of fabric left over, and promised her a scrap quilt.  So that's what I made for her Christmas gift this year.

I wish I had gotten better pictures before I shipped it, but the weather wasn't nice enough to take them outdoors and this is the best I could do inside.

It's a large throw-size quilt and I used minkee on the back, with bamboo batting in between - both are her favorites.

Hope everyone enjoyed New Year's Eve last night!  Here's to a wonderful 2014.

Cheers!

Christmas Project Review #1

As promised, here is one of the secret Christmas projects I've been working on for the past couple of months.

I made a teepee for each of the grandkids this year.  What a hit!  What child wouldn't love to have their own tent to play in?  We played with tents and forts when we were kids, and this generation is no different.  They loved them!

I followed the instructions in this tutorial, and it was really easy to make.  The sewing is minimal, because you use a twin-size bed sheet, so you don't end up with any exposed raw edges.

And of course, I made a quilt as a Christmas gift.  I'll show you that in my next post, so until then...

Happy New Year!!!

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - A New Year

Happy New Year!  Seems like forever since I've posted anything new here.  The holidays were a flurry of activity, both before - and during - leaving no extra time for blogging.  I made almost all of my Christmas gifts this year, and in hind-sight, I probably got in a little too deep this time.  I got a little stressed out in  my attempts to finish everything on time, but in the end, it all worked out fine.

Following tradition, hubby and I got up early Christmas morning and drove to a nearby State Park at the PA Grand Canyon for a daybreak pancake breakfast.  We always do this when we find ourselves alone on Christmas morning, and it's a very special start to our holiday.  This year there was a fresh snowfall and absolutely no wind.  The weather was perfect.  We built a fire in the huge stone fireplace in the pavillion, cooked pancakes and drank coffee.  A peaceful start to a perfect day.

Our daughter, SIL  and granddaughter were here for most of the week, including Christmas, and the 5 of us had plans to travel to Western PA to see my parents and brothers, but Mother Nature had other plans.  We got dumped with about 18 inches of snow between Wednesday and Saturday so that brought our travel plans to a screeching halt.  Very disappointing, to say the least.  But we made the best of it and enjoyed a quiet end to the week and enjoyed the time together.  And you have to admit - the snow was beautiful.

Little Miss R kept us totally entertained as she played "dress-up" for hours on end.  Grammie's hats, shoes, jewelry, purses, scarves - you name it - she wore it.

Now for some of my Christmas projects...
My husband loved his target quilt, so that was a huge success.  In my rush to get everything done, I neglected to take a picture of it after I finished quilting it, and I just now realized it.  Oh well - I'll take one later.
The Weekender Bag was also a hit, as was the I Spy Matching Game, as you can see here.  She's not yet two years old, but was already finding the pairs and matching them up.

At the last minute, I also decided to make a Computer Bag for my DIL.  I used the Two-Zip Hipster pattern by Dog Under My Desk, but made it twice as wide and an inch taller, so it would hold her laptop computer. I also added a padded, elasticized pocket for the power cord and the mouse, along with some slip pockets on the other side.  I love these fabrics.  They're from the Juggling Summer collection by Moda.

There were many other small miscellaneous gifts, but I neglected to photograph them all.  Besides, I don't want to bore you with picture overload.  Next year I think I need to get an earlier start on my projects...
Thank you for sharing 2012 with me here at the Cotton Cellar, and I look forward to keeping in touch with you all in 2013.  Happy New Year!
Cheers!

Christmas Secrets Revealed

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you enjoyed your Christmas Holiday as much as I did. We had four generations here on Christmas Eve and it was wonderful. Our little house was filled to the brim with laughter, good conversation, plenty of food & wine and the most wonderful memories. And lots of wrapping paper and boxes, of course!
In previous posts, I referred to the secret Christmas projects I was working on, so I thought I'd share some pictures of them now that they've all been delivered.
This first one is a runner made of Dupioni Silk for my mother. I was inspired by this pattern for a knitted "Modern Quilt Wrap", but I'm a beginner knitter and have to admit that I was a little intimidated by the number of color changes and was afraid that if I started it, I would never finish. So I traded the knitting needles for a rotary cutter and sewed it in silk. But it ended up too stiff for a wrap, so it morphed into a runner instead. I think it would look great as a bed runner on a plain white bedspread! But wherever Mom ends up using it, I think the colors are just plain glorious. Next are some crocheted neck warmers. I don't have a lot of crocheting experience either, but this pattern was super easy and I love how they turned out. All four of these were gifts, and since then I've also made one for myself, and I have a list of requests for next Christmas! So it's certainly a "do-again" project.

I finished piecing this quilt quite a while ago, but it took me some time to get around to adding the coral applique (pattern from Oh,Frannson! at Sew,Mama,Sew but doubled in size) then quilt it and bind it. My daughter loved it, since she loves anything beach/ocean related. Link back here to see what I'm planning on doing with the scraps left over from this quilt. The fabrics are from the Neptune collection by Tula Pink for Moda.

There were lots of other hand-made things for my new grandbabies, but in the rush of the holidays, I didn't get pictures of them all.

Now it's time to get my thoughts together and start planning my on-line store... purses & bags, quilts, and more!