Christmas Decorations

This past week I worked on some Christmas decorations using the embroidery machine. I decided the more things I made, the better I would get using the machine. So, candy cane holders were my first items to make. 

The bows are very easy to make and available from the EmbroideryIt Etsy Shop HERE. Look under candy holders to see all the others she has. I am going to work on the gingerbread man holders today. The horse pattern was from Embroidery Garden  and was fun to make. Adding these to the Folded Star Ornaments I showed in the last post will give me quite a few ornaments to put up for sale at The Yellow Window.

Do you make ornaments for Christmas trees or package decorations? Which one(s) was the most fulfilling to make?

Apple Cake for Sewing Day

Thursday was Friends' Sewing Day with Teri and Gloria at my house. The hostess bakes a mid-morning snack. I had apples. I did a Google search using "easy apple cake." The recipe I chose was Easy Apple Cake HERE.

I made it the night before and had to have a taste. It was moist and tasted very good.

Lunch was Cabbage Roll soup that Teri made...and was it good! 

We did more chatting than quilting, but that is part of getting together. Gloria got the binding sewn on to her quilt and took it home to hand sew it to the back. I forgot to ask her for a picture. It is a double bed-size, huge and  colorful Lemoyne Star on a black background. Teri layered a small fall panel and did some free-motion quilting around the scarecrow.

I had bindings to sew to potholders. Eight simple potholders that I quilted with serpentine stitching on the diagonal after layering backing, front and 2 layers of batting. 

I finished 3 Michigan potholders. 

Today, I watched a video at Nancy's Notions on how to make folded fabric star ornaments using heavyweight interfacing (which I had ordered last week and it arrived today). The video is located below the picture of the ornaments in a small box. Last year I had tried making one of these ornaments using batting and folded fabrics and was a bit frustrated. The method shown in the video made it so easy. I even used my circular cutter to cut the interfacing!

And I got 2 done (only need buttons in centers) in about 20 minutes. I'm planning to make more for Christmas decorations. And what a way to use up scraps and leftover pieces. I even figured out how to make them different sizes.

What have you been crafting?

Final Week of EQ Seasons Row Along

"Welcome Back" to those of you who visited the Row Along during the last 5 weeks. 

And "Glad You're Here" to those who are visiting for the first time.

IT'S SHOW AND TELL WEEK

This week you are being treated to projects that some of the designers have made 

by combining the rows and/or blocks of some of the other designers.

Those of us who are sharing our designs with you are listed here: 

My projects are shown below this list. I hope they inspire you. 

And if you make a project, post a photo on the Flickr site HERE 

for all of us to "oooh and aaaahh" over!

Marian - Seams To Be Sew - http://www.seamstobesew.com

Doris - The Quilting Queen Online - http://www.quiltingqueenonline.com/

Amy W Sew Incredibly Crazy - http://sewincrediblycrazy.blogspot.com/

Carla - Creatin' In The Sticks - http://createinthesticks.blogspot.com/ (Carla used a fence row.)

Carol - Just Let Me Quilt - http://www.justletmequilt.com/

Jennifer  - Sewhooked.com - http://www.sewhooked.com/

Reeze - Morning Glory Designs -  http://blog.morningglorydesigns.net/

Loreen - School House Quilts - http://loreen.typepad.com/loreens_place/
Marlene - Kissed Quilts - http://kissedquilts.blogspot.com

ME! Nancy  - Patchwork Breeze -  http://patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com

**Darlene at Quilt Shop Gal has a free bonus pattern for everyone. 

This Row Along was a most exciting adventure for me. 

It was the 3rd time I participated in any type of blog hop.

It was the first time I have designed more than "just a block" to share with others.

While I met only one of the 20 designers in person (Reeze Hanson when I took 3 classes from her during the AQS show in August) I feel like I did meet each of them. Via the internet, we shared many ideas, questions and answers, and a good deal of very useful information that got us unstuck a few times. 

Marian Pena did so much to organize this Row Along. She had the help of Amy and Bea. The sponsors that promoted this wonderful event need to be thanked beyond measure. 

Be sure to read past my project post

to find out about the wonderful giveaways 
we have for our visitors during this last week 
of the Row Along. 

They are fantastic!

Here, now, are the projects I designed using various blocks and rows. 

My Welcome Spring banner
is 44" wide by 46" long.
I paper pieced the airplane from Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks
and added my own cloud design.
Carol at FunThreads Designs designed the butterfly.
Darlene at Quilt Shop Gal had a cute bird to sit on my fence.
After a long winter, the squirrel is a bit skinnier than Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts
had designed, but he fits nicely in the space on my fence.
The chicks and grass paper piecing are from Jennifer at Sew Hooked.
 I designed the birdhouse in EQ7 as a paper pieced block.

My vine is wide rick-rack, glued down with permanent fabric glue.

I used "silk" flowers from the craft store which I took apart 

so I had single layers of petals. 

I glued them down on top of the leaves that came with the flowers. 

I glued some beads in the center for a bit of glitz.

I had some pebble fabric for the chicks to walk scratch in. 

I finished the quilt with mitered borders and blue binding.

I want to thank my longarm quilter, Michelle Fialek, 

who does such a wonderful job of making my quilts look spectacular. 

I  made a bed runner for the queen bed in our guest room. 

It measures 60" long x 23" wide.

Again, I used the butterfly from Carol at FunThreads Designs. 

I searched EQ7 using the notecards to find other butterfly patterns

that I appliqued with fusible web. 

I used my fence block pattern with appliqued flowers and leaves on the vines

and yo-yo flowers on the fence posts centers.

The grassy area was made after reading about the filler rows 

that Bea from Beaquilter and Anneke at Stof genoeg shared.

The binding was a fun multi-colored flower fabric that had all the

 colors from the bed runner in it.

Below is a photo taken straight on so you can see the design better. 

I have more projects in the works and will post them as I finish them.

You have until October 31 to get my block free HERE.

But now - about the giveaways!

Northcott - Week 6 - Oct 06 to 13th - Show and Tell Week

To help one lucky person create a Seasons Row Along quilt, 

Northcott Fabrics is supplying 

a selection of 6-8 yards (in 1 yard cuts) worth $60-$80.

You may only enter at one of the designer's sites this week. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

KNKUSA - Oct 06 to 13th, 2015 - - Oct 06 to 13th - Show and Tell Week

Enter to win a wonderful cutting system! 

KNKUSA is giving away a Zing Air basic package to one lucky winner
Free Shipping to anyone in the 48 Contiguous states
If winner is outside of this area, you must agree to pay shipping cost
Value $450.00

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Flickr - Craftsy & Nancy's Notions: From Sept 01, 2015 to October 13, 2015 

Upload a photo of a block or row you made from one of the designer's patterns 

for a chance to win either a Craftsy class of your choice worth up to $40 

or a $10 gift certificate from Nancy's Notions 

good on your next purchase of $10.01 or more. 

You can get a second entry by uploading a photo of a different block or row you have made.

a Rafflecopter giveaway