Easy Street 5

Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas!

It has been crazy here for days. Bet it's been like that at your house too!
Easy Street Part 5 went very fast. Cut out on Friday and finish sewing blocks on Saturday.

Here are all my blocks! Ready to be assembled. Can't wait for the next step.

In the meantime what am I going to sew. I mailed all the Christmas goodies I made. Cleaned up the sewing room and made a few more e-reader stands.

The only thing left is to dig into the UFO pile. There are many! I gave away a lot of orphan blocks several months ago that were haunting me. I only kept a few really old things. One was the Pumpkin wall hanging from way back when, that I quilted for Thanksgiving.

This is another one from around 2000. It was a sorry little laptop. I was teaching a class on fusible web. At that time fusible web was like a brick. So thick it made the top really rigid. I used blocks from several books. I don't remember where I got them at this point. I think I drafted the angel and snowmen but not even sure anymore. LOL

On Saturday after starching the daylights out of the top, I sandwiched it and started FMQ. Even with the starch the white area was stretching. So I quilted the heck out of that area. All and all it looks nice. Nothing I would want to give away. Just a quilt we will pull out for Christmas.

GRANDSON APPROVED!

Merry Christmas!

Go to Bonnie's Linky page to see what eveyone else is up to!

Easy Street 4

I have been plugging away at step 4 of Easy Street. Wanted to finish them before my birthday today.
I am a big OLD 60 today!This will be my quilt. I guess that would be my Diamond Jubilee quilt!
I can't wait to finish it.

Some trials and tribulations along the way. I did a few upside down and a few wonkier than I would have imagined. The seam had slipped but I did not notice untiI I tried to sew the two geese together. I was able to cut the 145 green squares. I only have 18 more geese to sew together! WOOT WOOT!!!

Go to Bonnie's Linky page to see what eveyone else is up to!

Oh Christmas Tree

Happy Holiday everyone!

After making the Pumpkin wall hanging in October, my daughter requested a Christmas Tree shaped walling hanging. She lives in upstate NY and wall space is very limited. I surfed around and quite by accident I came across an idea for a space saving wall hanging at Buzzing and Bumbling. It is a Christmas Tree wall hanging with so many possibilities. There are no specific cutting directions but the idea was just what I was looking for.
I decided to make 3. One for each daughter. So I washed, cut, and starched enough fabric for 3 plus a little extra to make a small tree for AAQI.

This is the one that is now hanging in my living room.

Since I have to mail out the Trees, I wanted to send them ornaments with it as well. I didn't want to spend a fortune on those ornaments either. I hit the local Walmart, and the Dollar Tree. Then Target was next and they had some great Christmas balls for $3.00 a pack. I think there are a dozen in the pack. All in all, I think I only spent about $10.00 for the ornaments for each tree. They are plastic so they won't break in shipping. I did get a long string of red beads for $2.00 at the Dollar General and it was enough bead garland for all three trees. I sewed on ribbon to secure the beads. My daughters will have their trees against the wall. Mine is hanging on my quilt rack. This caused some bowing at the bottom. I fixed this by putting some tabs on the bottom back and running a wooden dowel through the loops.

What I learned --- 1st tree took me about 6 hours to figure out. Next two where sewn up in about 2 hours. Since you have to sew the ribbon tabs in as you go, it is hard to judge how many you really want. I started with the bottom row and worked my way up. 1st and 2nd quilt I have bottom row tabs. On the one going to my daughter in Seattle, I left out the bottom tabs. Hers is going to hang in her cubicle at work and may cause the ornaments to hit the desk top. In other words, customize it for your needs. As for the FMQ, really had to be careful not to quilt down those tabs. I had to pin them out of the way as I added the long loops to mimic tree foliage on the green. Couple of oops moments but not bad. The star at the top did not stand out on the background. I should have used a deeper gold color. Solution was to zigzag around star. I did one in black thread and it was too dramatic so this one I sewed in red instead.

I think half the fun for the recipent will be dressing the tree. My daughter and grandson had a blast putting the ornamanent on while Grandma kept plugging away at the other 2 trees.

Decided at the last minute to make a Christmas stocking for grandchild #3 that will be coming in March. It was a rough year for my daughter. She miscarried earlier on  and was quite depressed. This baby is very special. She will be the first girl! I am very excited.
Last year I made them all Christmas Stockings. Could not wait for Christmas 2013 to make her a stocking, so here it is!

This is a pattern from Calico Moon Patterns. It is called Bottoms Up!
I changed it a little so that it has a lining. It only took me a couple hours to get it done. You can put stuff in the pants as well as the front pocket. Really a fun stocking.

Hope your Holiday is full of Peace and Joy

Aileen from FL


P.S. Amber just posted her tree on FB! So here it is. She loves it! I am so glad!!!!

Shara received hers last night. Here is her decorated tree. 

She loves it. Her co-workers keep stopping at her desk to look at. 

So glad I made it for her!

Also sent her a tiny 8" wreath. She had fun decorating that too.

Happy Holiday!

Easy Street

Easy Street Monday Linky!

I finally got done with my Christmas presents. They are in the mail flying to Seattle and Upstate NY. My daughters read my blog so I can't post until the gifts arrive on Tuesday. They were great fun to make.

Cleaned my sewing area and the began my Easy Street Mystery. I have been looking forward to this mystery. I made Carri the Orca Bay quilt. Finished it in late September. She loves it and sleeps with it every night. All my girls have quilts. Even made king size quilt for my husband. Time for a quilt for myself!

Part one is complete. Part 2 -, I have all cut, but only sewed 30 blocks. Decided to try part 3 and have 20 units done. Easy Peasy so far!!!. My goal this week is to catch up by Friday.

Just wanted to add that I have been collecting B & W and W & B, lime green, purple and teal for 2 years with nothing in mind. Bonnie did blow my mine when she posted her color suggestions!...That is when I knew this quilt was definitely for me!

Happy Frog

I sent in my November AAQI called Happy Frog #12680 a while back, but I forgot to take a picture after I embellished it. DAH....
I kept putting off mailing it because I kept adding to it. I had to wait until AAQI posted it to get the finished quilt.

This is what it looked like before I added a frog button, a lady bug, thread play and hand embroidery.

This is what it looks like after embellishments.

I am not a hand sewer. I did enjoy the fact that I could sit in a chair quietly stitching while my grandson played at my feet..

Happy Quilting
Aileen

Holiday Lane Pillow Blog

 

Thank you to Madame Samm and Paula for hosting Holiday Lane Pillow Blog.

Due to illness this month, I have not been able to complete my project. I hope to post after I have finished with all the medical stuff.

Happy Thanksgiving to All that stopped by.

Aileen

Wicked Giveaway and the Turkey

Wicked was awesome.  
So many talented people making some wonderful items. I got so many ideas for next Halloween!. Thank you to Wendy Witch and Madame Sam for running a terrific Blog Hop. It was a lot of fun.


It was mad crazy here these last few days.  Trying to locate relatives in NJ was just so nerve racking.
Storm Sandy really did an number on NJ/NY area. My MIL just got her power back today. She is 83 and we were really worried about her. She doesn't drive and is an independent spirit which of course makes us worry even more. We are in FL and usually she is the one biting her nails!

Sorry for the delay.

Now for the Giveaway.

I want to Thank everyone that joined my blog. I myself joined quite a few! I just love eye candy.

The winner of the Giveaway is Carmen from Downstairs, Quilting.
I will be sending you an email to get your snail mail. Hope you enjoy the fabric!

Talking Turkey

I was also busy making a small wallhanging for my grandson. My daughter informed me that I needed to hang something on the quilt rack or he would be very upset that Witchy was gone. Oh Boy! Fuse are us! That's the fastest way to make something these days.

My grandson picked out the buttons for the eyes. I have a jar and he has named the sizes of the buttons, Mom, Dad, little kid and baby button. So he chose baby buttons! To funny. He also keeps showing me his mini pumpkins so we add some of those. He loves the Turkey!

Hope you all have an Wonderful Week. Thanks for Stopping by.

Aileen

Wicked

Welcome one and all! This is my very first blog hop!

 I have been meaning to make things for Halloween or Octoberfest, as they now refer to it here in Florida. This is just the push I needed. It all started with the Bowls with Borders. I came to the party late on that blog hop. I really was intrigued with those bowls.  I wanted to play too, but could not.  So I did my own thing. I freehand cut a bowl and then had to figure out what I wanted in the bowl. I put white on the lip so it looked like a spillover and then thought about a cat. Why would a cat risk getting wet? To chase a mouse!! So a quilt was born. I added a spider web, a spider, some beads and buttons! I am not a hand sewer but it really did need those beads.  I donated this to Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative for September. Quilt #11864 The Mouser. I make a least one block a month for AAQI. I am hoping for a cure before I get there!

Since I got this done before “Wicked” started I felt like I was cheating. So I got busy. My oldest daughter has been after me for 4 years now to make a fabric replacement of a foam board pumpkin I had made her when she lived in FL. She is up in the Catskill Mountains of NY now. I took on the challenge to make one in fabric.

This pumpkin is 24 x 24 inches. All free hand. Click here for Tutorial. She received it in the mail yesterday and loves it! 

I made my middle daughter a mini wall hanging for her cubicle at work. She loves owls and rainbows. So I used one of the owls from a pattern by Lavender Rabbit called “Happy Owl O Ween!” I will make the full pattern another time.  This one will knock her socks off for sure! I fused the leaves so that there is fabric on both sides and sewed them down the middle making them 3D. She received them and they are already hanging in her cubicle! First thing she did after saying Thank you, was request more for all the seasons and Holidays. Scoundrel! LOL!

After all this fun, I decided to finish a couple of UFO’s. I have many. I had to stop after 3. I will never get to my Christmas UFO’s at this rate!

The three stacked pumpkins were started by my middle daughter in 2000. I think it is a pattern from a magazine like Woman’s Day but I can’t remember. I found it among my UFO’s so decided to finish it and send it to her with the Owl and other wall hanging.

The Witchy wall hanging is a panel that I cut up and reassembled. It came out cute. I kept one for my grandson and sent this one to DD#2.

 Finally I finished this Pumpkin wall hanging that I made in 1999. I have hung it up several times without being quilted. I was determined to finish it at last. I hung it up but my 2 year old grandson kept asking what happened to the Witch!

He loves all the Halloween wall hangings. I think the Witchy one is his favorite!

GIVEAWAY!

 
I am giving away this cute children's quilt kit called "Fantasy Pony" by Ellen Edith. It includes 5 Fantasy Pony blocks, 3 coordinating 1/2 yards of fabric and a border print.
Drawing will be on  November 3, 2012. Just Leave a comment and Join my blog to enter!

A  great big thanks to Madame Samm and Wendy Witch for doing this terrific blog hop!
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Would love to see what you think of my little quilts!

Please visit our other “Wicked” participants!

Monday, October 22^nd

The Quilting Alleycat (that’s me!)

Words & Stitches

Geema's Wonderings

Quilt Doodle Doodles

Bacontheneggs

Inga

Briarside Lane

Quilts And Smily Faces

Why Knot?

Quilt Matters

Sew Mollie Sue, Quilt Much?

Mad Quilter's Disease

Susie's World

AAQI is Houston Bound

Just re-posting for Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. 
They are on their way to Houston to sell some quilts and spread the word...!

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative is offering more than 2,100 Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts for sale at International Quilt Festival in Houston. Please head over to the front of the Exhibit Hall, Row S and buy a few quilts (Oct 31-Nov 4). All profits fund Alzheimer's research.

See the quilts: http://www.alzquilts.org/houston2012.html

If you would like to help sell quilts, rope people into the booth (it is Texas after all) or generally lend a hand, they need you. Sign up for a 2-3 hour time slots (and get free admission on the days you volunteer) or join their Text Brigade and help "as needed." Learn more and sign up here:

http://aaqiupdate.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/houston-helpers-the-aaqi-text-brigade/

Win this quilt! The AAQI is launching a newsletter to keep supporters informed. One lucky subscriber will win a beautiful little quilt made by Martha Wolfersberger. Sign up here for a chance to win and keep tabs of what the AAQI is up to. The newsletter is free.

http://www.alzquilts.org/newsletter.html

The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative® (www.AlzQuilts.org ) is a national, grassroots charity whose mission is to raise awareness and fund research. The AAQI auctions and sells donated quilts, and sponsors a nationally touring exhibit of quilts about Alzheimer's. The AAQI has raised more than $773,000 since January 2006.

Ami Simms of Flint, Michigan is the founder and executive director of the AAQI, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit operated entirely by volunteers. She is a quilter. Her mother had Alzheimer's.

 

 

Can't go to Houston? Donate a quilt or buy a quilt! Everyone can help! Do it today!

 

Thanks

Aileen

Flower Power AAQI Oct.

I made my mom a square table topper with a medallion design in 2000 in white and pink. I had a baggie of pieces left and over the years I tried to make something out of it. Never enough scraps. I took those pieces and made a background. All the while thinking about the photo I have of Mom and Dad napping in a recliner together on Christmas Day under that table topper. They really thought it was a very small lap quilt. Over the years mom had tried to soften the quilt by washing it to death but I had used a stiffer material for the table topper. I didn't realize that she still thought it was a tiny quilt and would nap with it on point! She is 4' 10" so I can see why she may have thought that it was just for her. That is why I couldn't throw out those scraps. They made me smile every time I ran across them. Yes, I did make her a lap quilt to replace it, long enough to go over her head and under her feet. She was ecstatic.

AAQI October

Flower Power

#12229 

I have 8 quilts going to Houston. I am very happy. I hope they earn a lot of money for Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.

Make a quilt today for AAQI

Carri's Quilt

Today I finally finished Carri's Quilt! It was a very long road to get it done. It is a Bonnie K Hunter Mystery quilt called Orca Bay. I think we started the mystery around Thanksgiving. I had been in a accident in October and really could not do much of anything. Making this quilt was physically painfully but mentally therapeutic! The pieces took me from November to June to make, 15 minutes at a time at first.  I found I had to starch the living daylights out of the scrappy string blocks so they would not stretch when sewn into the larger blocks. The first block I took apart 4 times. It still had the wrong color star points but I left it. I  told Carri it represents me. You have to really look hard to find it, but I know where it is.

The FMQ was really difficult. After ripping out several hours of quilting, I did a meandering stippling. Many places were jerking or just plain wrong, but I kept going. The quilting is not my best work but I made it with love and Carri likes it.

Orca Bay almost there.

Have been sewing on the Orca Bay top for DD#3.  She picked the colors. She loves brown. Jazzed it up with the blue and pink. She has selected yellow for the final border. The brown heart patches have yellow hearts in them. I was surprised but it is her quilt. Here is my grandson checking out grandma's work and doing the bounce test!

I started it in November 2011. In August I decided that I have to finish it in the event of my demise. To many UFO so little time. I wanted to be sure all my girls and grand kids and my husband have a quilt from me that they can use until they are in shreds! My stitching is no way near as neat and pretty as it use to be but they don't care.

I am down to the end border , just have to quilt it next month....I need a break.
Back to the tiny AAQI piecing for a while!.

After the Holidays I hope to make a quilt for my bed. I have a twin size quilt on a queen size bed.

AAQI September Mini Quilt - The Mouser!

Hi Ladies: I just wanted to show you my September mini. It all started because I was watching a blog hop using a bunch of stacked bowls. I thought that was really neat, but I was to late to join the fun. I freehand cut a bowl and then had to figure out what I wanted in the bowl. I put white on the lip so it looked like a spillover and then thought about a cat. Why would a cat risk getting wet? To chase a mouse!! So a quilt was born. 

AAQI is still collecting mini quilts. Ami Simms was feature in Woman's Day for October. I imagine this will help sell a lot of quilts. This will also deplete the supply going to Houston in November. I am going to try a make a few more this month.

Join the fun and donate a 9 x 12 mini quilt to Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative ! All skill levels welcomed and all profit goes to research!

Come on Ladies make just One! It will really help!