CHARMING GIRLS CHRISTMAS TAG

The Charming Girls Tag this month is our favorite Christmas decoration. Many of you have posted Mangers. This manger is by far my favorite decoration...it was made by my father a couple years before he died in 1991.

The Holy Family

A really close up. The straw you see peeking out we got at Church this past week. This week we will take the Baby Jesus and have him blessed.

Santa Thru The Years for SewCalGal's Virtual Christmas Quilt

Here is my entry for SewCalGal's Virtual Christmas Quilt Show
http://sewcalgal.blogspot.com/2009/12/virtual-christmas-quilt-show.html
There are lots of prizes you are sure to win one!!!!
This is one of the first quilts I made, back in 1998. It was made at the same time as the Snowman Quilt (posted below). With these two quilts I found my 'niche'...I love applique (the fused raw edge kind) and I love 'scenes. I have difficulty making more than one of anything...so it is my 'cup of tea'.

I've tried to get close ups of all the blocks. Hopefully you can click to enlarge them if you want.

The colors are a little washed out...was a cloudy day.

CHARMING GIRLS DECEMBER PROJECT

I just want to finish FUSING the pieces on the baby quilt I started 12 YEARS AGO!!!! Nothing else...just fuse the darn thing together! Scroll down to see the quilt.

PICTURES AS PROMISED

Here's the Half Pint Quilt all washed and folded.

It is a really pretty quilt...I'm glad I made it, even though those half square triangles were a pain!

I did a loop de loop quilting in the borders and cross hatching thru the main quilt.


It was a bear to quilt with the cotton batting...soooooo HEAVY to move around.
Gotta tell ya...I LOVE the way quilts look with Warm and Natural Cotton batting...but I really think I am going to have to go back to Polyester...simply because of the weight. I am quilting one now...so I will see when I finish the quilt and wash it, how it looks!

Finishes for November Charming Girls Club

I finished two projects...the Fort Hood Quilt (scroll down a couple posts to see) and the Half Pint Quilt Along...(I deleted my pictures before I saved them...grrr...will retake tomorrow).

I WON A GIVEAWAY !!!

I won a wonderful giveaway from Melisa at Sweet Home Quilt Co.

http://www.sweethomequiltco.com/weblog/

I was so excited about this fabric...beautiful browns, golds and greens...just love it....Margret liked it too, but of course she would...she's a Chocolate Doxie...love those brownies!! Thanks Melisa.

Fort Hood Quilt

At last a finish for the Charming Girls Club...and way before the end of the month.

This quilt is going to one of the injured at the terrible tragedy at Fort Hood. Cherri asked for finished quilts to be given to the injured and survivors of the Fort Hood rampage. She has gotten 15 commitments of the 31 requested...but lots more will be needed to give out. So if you have a finished quilt or can make one...PLEASE go to her site and let her know, she will give you the address to send to her son, who is stationed at Fort Hood, and they will be distributed from there. Here is her blog ..............

http://www.lizzyhouse.typepad.com/cherry_house_quilts/

There's a little story about this quilt...several years ago my daughter, Tina, who lives in a residence in upstate New York (with 13 other women) was promised a spot in a 3 bed house in Westchester. She was absolutely GUARANTEED this spot. But somehow lines were crossed and it wound up that she didn't get it...not only that but they said they never offered it to her in the first place...not to make a long story out of this...I started this quilt to give to one of the other women as a housewarming...was going to make all 3 of them special quilts (including Tina). But when all this happened it was put aside. I decided to finish it for the Charming Girls project 2 months ago...but because I'm not fond of it, due of the bad memories, the quilting has gone VERY SLOWLY. So when this call came for quilts I quickly got it finished to donate. And now I can finally say IT'S DONE and it is going to someone who could use a little something special right now!

Projects for Charming Girls This Month

Didn't do tooo well last month with my projects. I did keep up with the Half Pint Quilt Along...but I didn't even start working on the Angel baby quilt. On the other hand I worked furiously on the embroidered flowers quilt...with the lace...it was mighty hard to quilt and I was unable to finish it.

BUT Cherri from Cherry House Quilts http://lizzyhouse.typepad.com/cherry_house_quilts/
asked for some finished quilts for the survivors and victims of the Fort Hood tragedy. Her son is stationed there and will distribute to the victims and families. So I have decided to finish that embroidered quilt and send it out on Monday. So that is number 1 project.

I think I will wait on the Angel baby quilt for now. But here is number 2...I need to send in some embroidered items to Smiles For Children. Haven't been embroidering much lately and they have Christmas shipments coming up...check out their site http://www.smilesforchildrenproject.com/phpBB/index.php?sid=3ec08d5211a9428331a1e733d4ff0eb2

So then there's project number 3, the Half Pint Quilt Along. This week the top will be all finished.

Have alot to do...so I will cut this real short...back in a day or two with pictures.

HALF PINT QUILT ALONG

I'm right on schedule with the Half Pint Quilt Along....not sure how I did it...but here's the proof.

I really like the way it looks...a little sad though that only 1" shows of each of those pretty florals in my layer cake.

The next thing to do is the half square triangles...which I will start on today. Glad that we only have to sew them and not arrange them this week.

HALF PINT 9 PATCHES DONE

Whew...did it. Here are the 9 patches for the Half Pint Quilt Along. It was a bit of a puzzle at times putting them together...but they are done and now I can lay them out.

Half Pint Quilt Along

Here is a quick picture of the fabric for the Half Pint Quilt Along all cut up.........took most of the weekend!

Today's the day we've all been waiting for ..... the start of the Blogger's Quilt Festival...how exciting...I can't wait to see all the different quilts...Click on the link in my sidebar, not the one at the beginning of this post, to get to the site.

The quilt I decided to show is called Here's Comes Frosty...it is one of the first quilts I made and definitely the first and only one that I have ever hand quilted! It was made in 1998. I don't know the name of the designer, but the pattern sure was the cutest...and I was 'in love' with the 'homespuns' and scrappy look...also have always been a 'scenic' person...so here is my offering...

The size of the quilt is approximately 54" x 72".

Here's Frosty melting in front of the stove...there is a winter scene in the window.

A little dog came to travel with Frosty.

Here's a little angel snowman...

I didn't know WHAT I was doing...but I had the cutest piece of fabric that I wanted to use for the backing but it was too small, so I added a border...I so remember 'stressing' over getting it centered.

This is a close up of the fabric...it has receipes on cute sayings.

Well I hope you like...my pictures aren't the best...but you can click to enlarge and maybe see them a little better. I'm off now to check out some of the other quilts. Have a happy day!

Since I actually finished my 2 projects last month, I decided I would do 2 more this month. I recently found a quilt I had started 12 or more years ago...didn't know a thing about quilting...but I had taken a picture of this cute quilt in a shop at one time. Here's what the quilt should look like when finished...

This is what I had done so far...I didn't know anything about binding a quilt...so I added a ruffle! I hope to get the rest of the appliques fused this month.

My second project is a UFO that's been hanging around a couple/three years...it is machine embroidered with applique. I just have to quilt it...that's all I hope for this month...don't think I will be able to bind it...but who knows?

Also on the agenda for this month is the HALF PINT QUILT ALONG. This should be a fun quilt along. I already had all my fabrics...except the backing.

Here's the Maypole layer cake and a couple of other fabrics, I still need to pull about 6 other fabrics from my stash to make up the 48 10" squares needed for the lap quilt. Will choose a backing at a later date.

You can click on the pictures to enlarge. I think that I actually have been able to post in the correct order this time....fingers crossed!!

Jelly Roll Giveaway for a Good Cause

You have to check out this blog:

http://ayankeequilter.blogspot.com/2009/09/free-jellyroll_30.html?showComment=1254341400237#c3331518227256875673

You get to do something really nice for someone AND get an opportunity to win a jellyroll

Charming Girls Finishes for September
You can click on each picture to
enlarge.

This month has been a challenge. But I did manage to complete my 2 projects. The zig zag quilt went along smoothly once I STARTED piecing the back. I'm very pleased with how it turned out...it is so very cheerful and has such pretty colors of the sea...the batiks really made it all happen.

The 2nd project is the Little Bouquet Quilt. Well, this morphed from a bouquet to a landscape/farm scene. I really like it...it's hanging in my kitchen now. I used raw edge applique on the flowers, leaves, stems and fence. Then I stippled the background. After washing I was so happy to see that the stippling really brought out the flowers...they really stand out...can't tell too much in the pictures, but it is very 3D.

Not sure what my next projects will be...I have sooooo many UFO's!!!

You can click on each picture to enlarge.

Jelly Roll Giveaway

Hurry on over to

http://blog.missouriquiltco.com/2009/09/are-you-ready/comment-page-1/#comment-2859

there's a great giveaway going on all week. Missouri Star Quilt Co. is giving away a jelly roll of your choice.

You won't want to miss this.

It's hard to believe a month has gone by...and another group of projects need to be addressed! I didn't complete the 3 projects last month...so I am just going to continue with the 2 that are left. I need to make some more flowers as well as add leaves to the Little Bouquet aka Farm quilt, then sandwich and quilt it. Also still have to piece the backing for the zig zag and quilt that as well. That is all I will commit to this month. I'm not adding pictures, they'd just be repetitive...you can scroll down to see them in an earlier post.

UGG GIVEAWAY

Here's a great opportunity to win a beautiful pair of UGGS. Click on the link in my sidebar.

A FINISH AT LAST ! ONE DOWN...TWO TO GO...NOT SURE IT'S GONNA HAPPEN.

Just came across this 200th post giveaway.... http://sipiweskequilts.blogspot.com/2009/08/200th-post-giveaway.html

Check it out...a pretty wall hanging for the lucky winner!

I plan on finishing 3 projects this month for the Charming Girls' Quilt Club. First up is the zig zag quilt for the Old Red Barn Quilt Along...I have a long way to go with this one. I only have half the blocks cut...but I'm sewing the first half together...not as easy as I thought matching all those points...and batiks are not the easiest fabric to put pins in. I plan to have this top done and hopefully the batting and backing. I don't think I will get to the quilting, but you never know.

Second is a fun little scene from Cherry House Quilts Quilt Along...Little Bouquet. I kind of went off track a bit and made this farm type scene and added different flowers...I still have alot to do. I have to make the stems and leaves, as well as a few more flowers...then batting and backing and quilting. It will be done by the end of the month.

Third project is the Leafy Treetops Quilt Along with http://whosies.blogspot.com/2009/07/sew-along-in-leafy-treetops.html

I have to finish the borders on this and add the applique tree limbs, leaves and birds, as well as batting, backing and quilting.

Whew..............That's it for now...have a great day!