A couple more gifts are done this week ...the long runner for my mom is the same basic pattern as a nother runner I did a few weeks ago but with a different border and bind ing. T he short rectangle is for one of my two sisters in law. I have two more runners to make with a brand new design....or maybe four depending on time! LOL Once I get started it's too much fun to stop. Happy Holidays mean handmade to me.  And since I meandered around them, I am linking up with free motion quilting too . :D

I call this my Russian Star Table Runner.  (It is a 24 inch hexagon) If you use a jelly roll to make it, it could also be called a Jelly Roll Star too.  :D Background: I love how this turned out and I have had several people on Stashbusters ask me how it is done. If you want to make this, please print it out and have it beside you as you go. Having a photo right there helped me a lot. No pattern was available of course! I started out kind of backwards with this table runner by looking for a general gift idea in Google Images for the keywords  "Table Runner" which brought me to this lovely and intriguing photo and blog post on a Russian blog here by Marina Sohonchuk in Volgograd . Thank goodness she has a translator button at the upper right of her blog. I did not understand all of her instructions, but I was able to understand from that posting that the star is made with 9 different fabrics. They are cut and assembled from three sets of printed 1.5 strips and an...

Give Thanks this week and focus on giving --but not shopping.  I am NOT shopping on Black Friday. Nope. Are you? I have things to do here at home. PLENTY to do here at home. And plenty of stash and supplies to do it with! I would really like to focus on my family members and on enjoying the week.  For me, crafting is relaxing. Making things f or gifts is fun. In fact it is more fun than shopping for gifts. I would love to focus on a few sewing projects this Wed-Sunday over the Thank sgiving weekend and host a little internet QUILT and CRAFT ALONG for those who are doing likewise and staying out of the crazy mall frenzy. Along the way, in true de-stashing style,  I have a few items to gift away for prizes too. If you are going to be sewing, crafting, or quilting this weekend anytime Wed- Sunday, leave me a comment below with your email (and  if you can? a dd a link to a pic or blog post about it. ) YOU COULD WIN one of my extra gadgets , a crafty go...

Here you see a  gift I just finished this morning for my daughter. It is a spiral bargello style quilted tree skirt. I sewed on it all Saturday and Sunday this weekend and just had the ties to sew on this morning. It's an early Christmas gift kind of like the one I made for my son and his wife a few weeks ago .  T his spiral design my daughter chose also uses a 10 degree wedge ruler but is about 1/3 more time consuming than the randomly placed 5 inch charm square wedge style because you have to spend more time getting the strip formation right.  There was a SULKY brand online tut o rial and pattern for a single color repeat but I liked the slower color change better seen in the t wo photos below . I think the spiral design is enhanced by the more gradual color change. I saw these two spirals below on Google Images but they only led me to p icture link s and not a tutorial. I ha d to devise my own from looking at that pictures.   http://www.backyar...

Ahhh that little thing called accountability...Gotta love it.  I was spurred by one of my online quilting groups (STASHBUSTERS) this week to double check on how my last year went craft-wise. Did I get much done on my quilting UFOs and outstanding paper project boxes, page kits, knitting and so on?? Now that we are approaching December, can January and the New Year 2013 be far behind?  I daresay it will be all here faster than I am ready! LOL In July I mentioned that I had this list of 2011-2012 supplies and stash to work on.   I know lists are a little boring to read when they are not your own but I hope this will illustrate for some of you how plugging away at your goals weekly does indeed pay off!  Looking at my list now in November, the RED items are incomplete. The black items are completed! Yeah!!  ----------- 12x12 binder style albums and protectors - 5 assorted styles and colors- one album made into baby gift album and 3 filled with hundr...

OH BABY! Nov 11th Note: Ok I truly thought UFO Sun d a y with the talented Leah Da y on her blog here was every S unday, so I posted this when I got it done after working on it last weekend (Nov 4). Either way it is GREAT that it is done! Done is good!  -- Whoohoo!  Back to the Baby Quilts! It is so much fun to sew for a new baby girl in our extended family. Getting ready to gift another handmade quilt to another wonderful family that we love. I got out my stash drawer of fabrics and pulled out anything with reds and oranges. Most of those also had some form of gold tone to them. I worked off that and pulled as many fabrics as I thought I might need. I confess I am not yet a good judge of how much fabric it takes for specific sizes of quilts and I over-picked. Haha. You will see why in a bit.   I have already used most of my pink stash on another  baby quilt a month or two ago see HERE . Since my goal is to use my stash , I am trying very, very...

Please help those in need from Storm Sandy by donating to the RED CROSS  http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/02/4957047/american-red-cross-feeding-thousands.html If you were in the path of all the destruction from that storm--or any disaster --you are in my heart and prayers. I hope the tips below help you know where to turn for aid, give you some pointers on how to help yo urself and your family, and get you going in a good direction when you might be feeling helpless. For t he 8 0% of the country that Sandy didn't damage, BE PREPARED for any kind of emergency in your own location . Too often we wait too long, think it can't happen to us, or just don't take the time to do the steps we know we should to keep our own households running in a time of emergency --or after one happens. SHARE THIS POST When done reading, pass these on by sharing the post so those who need the data in the NE will see it. I know power is out on many of these areas but some cell phones sti...

 Going around in CIRCLES...in a good way! These circles are meant to be--and here is how they are shaping up! This is the pattern for a quilted Christmas tree skirt that I am in the process of making. This pic is from the free tutorial online at http://www.sewwequilt.com/2011/12/comfort-and-joy-guest-from-us-annies.html My daughter - in - law chose this pattern from three possibilities I offered her. These were free p atterns online  (budget friendly) that I thought I could technically tackle. I am so happy to be able to make them something that they actually need,  will use, and hopefully LOVE!  To start, she chose about 1/3 of the fabrics from my existing red, green and gold fabric stash. Hurray for using stash! Then we went shopping and she helped me pick out the other 2/3 of them at the fabric store. FUN! She is so good with colors, she picked some beauties.  I had to laugh when I got ho me and noticed the main fabric is from a known scrapbo...