Giveaway Day

This is coming up next week.  Hmmmm.....
what should I give away this time????
Check back on Monday for more details!

Christmas Gifts

Warning - the following post contains pictures of Christmas gifts, so my family members should stop here - don't read any further unless you want to ruin the surprise at Christmas.  Proceed at your own risk.  :)
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OK - hopefully we've scrolled down far enough to not ruin the surprises for anyone.  So here we go...
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I just finished making a couple of presents, and thought you might enjoy seeing them.  Remember the old "Memory" or "I Spy" card games we used to play as kids?  This is a fabric version.

I've made 2 sets - one for my grandson, and one for my granddaughter.  There are 25 pairs of matching squares in each (that's 100 squares total - I think I can make them in my sleep now!)  I made them using this tutorial from Cottage Mama.
Then I made a matching fabric box to store them in, using this tutorial from Pink Penguin, only I adjusted the size to fit my project.
The finishing touch was an extra square with the child's initial printed on one side, and the game rules printed on the other (thanks to Cottage Mama for providing the rules with the tutorial).  I printed them out on fabric from my computer, then cut them down to size and made them to match the other squares in the set.

All in all, I'm thrilled with how these turned out and can't wait to see the little ones playing with them.  And Christmas is creeping right up on me, so I'd better get back down to my Cotton Cellar and get to work!  Have a nice weekend!

Tasting Table Tuesday - Selvages

I finally made a selvage project!  I've seen so many of them floating around the internet, and started saving them long ago, but have never made anything with them, until now.  (This is actually my second attempt to make a selvage hat - you don't want to see the first one - trust me!)

I have a friend who will be starting chemo soon, so I wanted to make her a special hat to wear as she looses her hair.  She is a huge fan of Jo Morton fabrics, and also loves paisley.  So I used a Jo Morton paisley for five of the six hat panels, and pieced some Jo Morton selvages for the front panel and the brim.

To be honest, I started out making a beret-style hat that was made totally from pieced together selvages.  It turned out so small that it just perched on the top of my head, and the selvages didn't allow the fabric to drape properly, so it just sat there like a pancake on the top of my head - it looked so ridiculous that I burst out laughing before I took my seam ripper to it, and salvaged what I could of the selvages (try saying that six times fast!).  I think this newsboy cap is a much better pattern for this project, so that's what she's getting...  It would have looked good with selvages all around, but by the time I cut apart the first hat, I was all out of Jo Morton ones.  So the paisley worked, and I hope she likes it...

(I realize this picture's not the best, but I was in a hurry so just dropped the hat on top of a candle hurricane centerpiece on my table - not the best background, but works in a pinch.)

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - where's my wine...?

Is anyone else getting stressed out over the upcoming holidays?  Seems like there are still so many things on my "to do" list and fewer and fewer days to get them done.  I'm so pleased that I finished my husband's quilt though - that one was a priority this year - it seems like his quilt always got bumped to the bottom of the list so this year I decided to knock that one off early.  All that's left is the hand-stitching on the binding and I'll have to do that when he's not around so he won't see it.  Once that's done, I'll post pictures - I promise!  I'm so happy with the quilting on this one - can't wait to show it to you!

Now I'm working on two of these for my grandchildren, but I've made some little changes.  I'll share them soon too...  almost done...

Then there's the hours I've spent tweaking my Etsy listings in preparation for a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale.  That's right - a SALE!  10% off your entire purchase 11/23 through 11/26.  So if you've got any Christmas shopping left to do, check it out.  Many Etsy shops are taking advantage of this promotion.  Just type "Black Friday Etsy" or "Cyber Monday Etsy" in Etsy's search bar and see how many matches pop up.  It's amazing!

Speaking of Etsy - I finally sold my first quilt on Etsy today - in fact, not just one quilt, but TWO!  Everyone told me to be patient, and maybe that patience is starting to pay off.  I've sold lots of smaller items, but not the quilts - until now...  Woo Hoo!!!

Well, gotta get back to work (or maybe that glass of wine I've been craving).  I'm putting in a lot of extra hours volunteering at my local quilt shop these days, so I have to make good use of the little time I have at home and get some more things knocked off that list...

Cheers!

Tasting Table Tuesday - What's Behind Curtain #1?

I'm almost finished quilting my husband's quilt and I've had to do a little "creative engineering" to keep it out of sight.  My quilting machine is the first thing you see when you come down the stairs, and while I trust him to not look, it's a little hard to avert your eyes when the quilt is right under your nose!  So I hung an old shower curtain as a temporary screen.  He knows I'm working on a quilt for him, but I really want to surprise him on Christmas, so I don't want him to see the finished result until then.  It might not be pretty, but it works in a pinch!  I should have pictures of the finished quilt in time for next week's Tasting Table Tuesday post...

By the way, my Juki is behaving VERY nicely!  I'm so glad I decided to keep her :)
Cheers!

Wristlet Roundup at Dog Under My Desk

Erin, at Dog Under My Desk, is doing a Round-Up of items people have made using her patterns, and she has featured some of my Essential Wristlets on her blog post.

Thanks Erin!  And if you want to see what everyone else is making, visit Erin's blog and prepare to be inspired!

Tasting Table Tuesday - Bullseye!

Yesterday I finished piecing my husband's Target quilt.  It's his Christmas present this year, but I can show it to you here because he never reads my blog.  Not really a computer kinda guy...

My original plan was to add sashing between the blocks, but after I laid it all out, I decided I liked the blocks better without sashing.  So I just added a narrow inner border in a muted earthy green, playing off of the bullseye centers, then an outer border of black with narrow brown sketched lines.  I think it's just the right finishing touch.

Now I just have to decide how I want to quilt this...

1. Straight lines on either side of every seam?
2. Concentric circles in each bullseye, and at the intersection of each block (where the brown points all come together)?
3. One big series of concentric circles starting in the very center of the quilt and radiating outwards to the very outer edge of the quilt?
4. Some sort of traditional feather design in each block?

What's your suggestion???

I'm in LOVE!

I knew this would happen...  I've been dreaming about the new Bernina 710 ever since I saw a YouTube video about the 7 Series a few months ago.  The two sides of my brain have been arguing about it ever since.  "I want it - No, I don't need it - But I want it! - The one you have is fine - But the new one is amazing! - Yes, but it's too much money... "

I'm sure you get the picture.  And to make things even tougher, my hubby keeps telling me he'll buy it for me for Christmas if I want it.  How's that for a sweetheart!!!  He knows how much my sewing means to me, and he's SO good to me.  But I also know that I won't sleep at night if we spend that much money before the holidays.  So I'm sleeping on it till after the first of the year, and see how I feel then.

But in the meantime, I stopped at a Bernina dealer this week and "test drove" one.  That was a big mistake.  I never should have done it.  Now I REALLYYYYY want one!  It's the most amazing machine, and the biggest plus is the ginormous 10" of throat space on this baby!!!!

There are so many great features on this machine that I'm not even going to try to list them all.  Stop at your local shop and check it out for yourself.  Or you can see it here if you don't want to make the trip.

If anyone has any first-hand experience with this machine that might sway me one way or the other, I'd love to hear from you.