By lee | November 20, 2010
Last week I went on a quilting retreat with some great women. We went to the Silver Falls Conference center in Silver Falls State Park. It’s isolated in the middle of the woods in a beautiful meadow. We had a cozy cabin to sleep in and a nice roomy work room.
My plan for the retreat was to get as many of my planned homemade Christmas presents done as possible. The day after the retreat I had to go in for more surgery so I figured I better get as much done beforehand as I could. Here are a few pictures of some of the projects people were working on.
Melia made this Raggaty Ann doll for her granddaughter.
Instead of using bagged stuffing, Melia just cut up leftover pieces of batting. She had way too much fun chopping it up into little pieces, better than therapy if you need to get some angst out!
Joyce didn’t bring her machine this year and spent the whole time doing handwork. This is only one of the wonderful wool pieces she was working on. I wish I had a picture of the stuffed turkey she made because it was charming.
This is the railing in our cabin where we hung the tops we had finished. In the evenings we all hung out in the living room of the cabin knitting and doing handwork and laughing alot. It was very relaxing and rejuvenating. The weather was very rainy but there was enough of a break each day to get in a good hours walk. It was the perfect way to spend the last few days before going in the hospital. No stress, just fun and companionship. I’m going to have to remember this for the next time. 
Deborah made these blocks. They are for a lovely star quilt for her father and his wife. Lucky them!
Vivienne made these two bowls as Christmas gifts. I just love them and must get back to making some. All the ones I’ve made before, I’ve given away. Next time, I’m making one to keep.
I will most likely be away from the blog until after Thanksgiving. Have a great holiday and enjoy yourself.
By lee | November 12, 2010
Rick and I have a nice little TV room next to the kitchen. It’s a cozy room and my favorite place to sit and relax. We recently got a new love seat for that room and so of course, I decided I had to make new curtains to match the love seat and the pillows. I’ve had this cool, old embroidered tablecloth for years and have always wanted to do something with it. And here was the perfect opportunity. I got some beautiful brown linen to add around the bottom and sides of the tablecloth and voila, lovely curtains.
There is no date or name on the tablecloth so I have no idea who made it or when. I bought it in some antique mall when we lived in California and the woman who worked there had no idea where she got it. But no matter, it is loved and used now and I am ever grateful to the woman who made it.
Here are some close ups of a few of the blocks:
By lee | November 7, 2010
Here’s the promised tutorial on those Pyramid bags I posted a while back. (Actually, that was way back in the spring and I meant to do this post then. I took all the pictures and wrote the draft of the post. And then I forgot to post it. Oops! I can be a total space cadet sometimes.) I’ve tried to break the tutorial down into easy steps with good pictures, but if you’re confused, just leave me a note in the comments.
Step One: start with a piece of quilted fabric measuring 7 1/2″ by 12 1/2″ (I quilted a big hunk of fabric on my longarm and then cut it into the appropriate size) and 7″ zipper.
Step Two: Lay the zipper, right side down onto the right side of the fabric at one of the short ends of the rectangle. I open the zipper first so it’s easier to sew.
Step Three: Close the zipper.
Step Four: Place the other end of the rectangle, right side down, on top of the unsewn side of the zipper and pin it in place. Turn it over and stitch with the zipper showing.
Now you have a tube that looks like this:
Step Five: When you sew the ends of the tube closed, each end will be different. That’s what makes it a pyramid. First you sew the bottom end. You place right sides together and center the end of the zipper in the middle of one of the sides. If you want, you can insert a bead on a small piece of cording into the seam right under the zipper.
Step Six: Before sewing the top end of the bag, first open the zipper. Then, keeping right sides together, pin the tube closed with the zipper on one side, not centered like the other end. Sew.
Now turn your bag right sides out and you’re done!
By lee | November 2, 2010
Mom and I had a lot of fun while she was here. We did some shopping and eating and talking and of course, some crafting. We went to the $5 Friday class up at Collage on Alberta. You pay $5 and you get everything you need to make some sort of small craft. Because the class was on Oct. 29th, the craft was felt skulls.
Everyone got enough supplies to make two skulls. Suki taught the class and she is so great. There are two big tables in the classroom and everyone sat around talking and laughing while they stitched. It was a lot of fun.
Mom was so excited with her skulls that she decided to make a pumpkin when we got home. It turned out really cute.
Mom suggested making lots of small ornaments and having a Halloween tree. Sounds like a great idea to me! Collage also has a store on SE Woodstock now and they also do $5 Fridays. You can check out their class schedule on the link above. This coming Friday is Scrabble Tile Pendants. Sounds too good to pass up. See you there!
By lee | October 28, 2010
My mom has been here for the last few days and we’ve been busy, busy, busy. We’ve been sewing and cooking and eating and visiting. We haven’t finished anything to take a picture of so I thought I’d share this new Spooky banner I finished right before she got here.
I found the instructions for making it on “thecraftingchicks.” I’m not sure how I found their site but they have lots of fun craft ideas. I loved the spooky banner because it’s paper. I have lots of Halloween quilts, and decorations made from paper mache or wood but nothing made from paper.
You use the pages of an old book for the layer under the glittery letters. I really liked that. I cut all the letters myself out of chip board because I couldn’t find the size I wanted in the stores. I wouldn’t recommend that. It was surprisingly difficult and the tip of my finger is still numb! But I got what I wanted so there you go.
This is a small Halloween quilt I think I finished last year. Vivienne paper pieced it and put the top together and I quilted and bound it. Looks great in the living room. Thanks Viv!
