Foxes, Fishes, Turtles and Boxes!! Oh, My!

This has been a really fun week! I finished two quilts for my "foxy" baby gifts. The first one was made with a Mama and Me charm pack. I added a fox applique on front. I could not find an applique that I really loved but did find a picture so my very talented daughter-in-law drew one for me! Isn't he adorable? For the backing I ran across an out of print fabric called Nordic Fox. It was a perfect match for the charms! I added a black binding that had red, gray, blue and white dots! Fun, fun, fun!

Mama and Me Charms

My grandson Teddy was my quilt holder this week. See the cute Nordic Foxes?

I was having so much fun with the little charm quilts that I found some green and white dotted charms that I have had forever! Sewed them together and added a fish to the front. I used some of my favorite (and now almost depleted navy and green fabric) for the back and decided to add another applique...this time a turtle! I got my idea for adding the appliques from Aunt Polly's Porch. You have to check out her wonderful quilts for her grandson along with the "grand room" she has designed for him! And be sure to watch out for Yogi! He is adorable.

The "bubbly " front with the cute little fish!

My favorite navy and lime backing with the happy turtle.

I found the aquatic appliques on Craftsy in Pamalama Jo's Designs. Aren't they cute?

Here are close-ups of the three appliques:

Mr. Fox

Mr. Fish

Mr. Turtle

Were you lucky enough to get a free Craftsy class from Joann's? I was and I chose Sew Sturdy: Home Organizers by Annie Unrein. It is a fabulous class and I can't wait until I can make the Catch-All Caddy! Here is the small organizer box that I made. I made it for my granddaughter, Maddie  in her favorite colors of purple and green.

To end this post, I have one more beautiful rose that Maddie picked for me. This might be the last one of the season so I looked at it whenever I could.

THIS, THAT and the OTHER!

Thankfully I am over my summer cold that visited  last week. I really didn't get much sewing done because of my drippy nose and constant sneezing! I finally got things going by the weekend and I finished up my QAYG coin quilt! I am so glad that I made a second one with orange and gray..I really think it is striking and fun at the same time. I made a quilt label with a fox applique because I found out the mother-to-be is going to be using foxes in her decor of the nursery. I think he turned out really cute!(If you can't read the lettering it says: JAS IV...yep this baby is the fourth with these initials) I got my granddaughter to hold the quilt for me. Thank you Maddie!.

Here is the front. I used Connecting Threads Sketched Stone for the sashing and their Orangina in Pin Dots for the binding.

 The backing is Pretty Dots in Light Stone

On the back corner is my cute little appliqued fox!

Close up of JAS IV  2016 

I decided that the baby will need a stuffed fox or two and here is the first one I have made. I have a couple more planned...this will be a really "foxy" baby! It is a pattern from DIY Fluffies. They are not really easy because of their small size so I enlarged the pattern to 120% and I think I will try him at 110% next. One thing about the regular size is that it can be cut out of scraps of fabric but you do have to be patient while sewing him! ( I know it sounds weird but I am in love with his tail!)

Mr. Fox from the front

His profile. Isn't his tail cute!!!!

He told me that this was his best side! LOL!

My last project this week was finishing up the cloth napkins I started a couple of weeks ago. Remember when I made the cord covers and my daughter-in-law thought they were napkin holders? Well, they do work really well for that purpose also! I love lime and navy so that is what I made. My grandson decided they were all right because I made a boy's side and a girl's side. He thought the flowery side was too "girly" but the circles were just right!

For boys and girls!

 I am waiting for some fabric to arrive so I can start a couple more projects. I thought I wouldn't be buying much fabric because I don't live less than a mile from Joann's anymore but the internet makes ordering things way too easy!

And for a final happy thought! The house is under contract. It happened the third day it was on the market. So please cross your fingers that everything goes swimmingly( probably shouldn't have used that term since most everything was underwater last week because of Hermine!)  My house is fortunately in a good high location.

ALMOST NORMAL ....WHATEVER NORMAL IS!

I'm  beginning to get settled in at my son's house. Of course, we don't know how long I will be here...all depends on the sale of the house. It is finally ready to show after a few Property Brothers fixes! We had the whole interior painted, new carpeting in the back half of the house and a deep clean inside. We also had some landscaping down to clean up the look a bit and now it is listing time. Crossing my fingers for a quick sale!

I finished my QAYG coin quilt but guess what? It isn't going to be a gift for my friend's daughter anymore! Why you ask? We "chatted" on Facebook the other day and I now know the rest of her color scheme! She is using touches of orange with foxes so I decided the red binding might not be such a good idea. I ordered some orange fabric for the binding and I found the perfect gray for the sashing so I am starting all over again. I will find something else to do with the first quilt. I really like how it turned out and it is a really quick and easy pattern. Connecting Threads QAYG Coin quilt.

Still haven't gotten all of my camera stuff worked out but here it is!

The back is in Lotta' Dots Steel Gray excuse the wrinkles!

I then found a cute pouch pattern at Fat Quarter Shop called Single Scoop Pouch. I had just gotten some of Cotton and Steel fabric that I thought would be perfect! I fell in love with it when it first came out but waited til I could get it on sale...I'm counting pennies right now.

Monarch in Sunset by Cotton and Steel

Arrows in Sunset by Cotton and Steel

Then I found another quick and easy(and useful) project at Sew4Home! It is a scrap buster to boot, who could ask for anything more?  These went really quick and were so easy to make. My 6 year old grandson knew what they were used for right away! They are cord wraps His mother wasn't sure and took a guess and I love what she came up with...another perfect use for them! Napkin rings(to go with the napkins I am making for her!) Here is a collage of the ones I made this evening...actually there is one more I made but it is holding my sewing machine cords neatly!

One set of small cord wraps in black and brown Lotta Dots and 4 Medium cord wraps in my favorite blue and green!

I had so much fun sewing this week and actually accomplished quite a bit. Now I will start on the baby quilt plus a few little surprises I am going to add to it! Come back and check out what I have come up with!

I almost forgot! I have been watching my daughter-in-law's beautiful rose garden and had my eye on one particular pinkish rose. Tonight my granddaughter brought it to me for my sewing area. I love this since I have a "black" thumb and can't grow anything but dust bunnies! Isn't it gorgeous?

Isn't this a great way to end a blog post?

NEW SURROUNDINGS AND A NEW START !!!!!!!!

Boy has a lot happened in the last month. My son and family arrived in Sarasota on the 25th of July and then the fun began! For the last few months I had begun going through things and packing and throwing away....not fun after 18 years at this house! It was really hard getting rid of lots of my "stuff" but it had to be done. My son is relentless in the "throw away mode" but so organized and fast that things really went better after he started helping. We had yard sales for two weekends and got rid of lots of "stuff"...so much stuff that I made a bit over $500! It was interesting to see what people buy and what they don't! What didn't get sold or given to friends and neighbors went to Goodwill...many, many trips! We also got to know our garbage men quite well! They were amazing.  We turned the keys over to the Real Estate agents, and we pulled out of Sarasota around 12:30 PM on Monday the 8th. It was a long 16 hours to Starkville, MS through much rain and many accident slowdowns. Once my son gets going, he drives straight through....boy was I tired when we arrived at his house. I'm staying with them until the house sells so I have my own room where I have set up a sewing area. I really haven't had much time to do much sewing but I have done a bit.

First off I am making a baby quilt for a friend's daughter who is having a baby in December. I am working on it now since I don't know what my schedule will be like. It is a Quilt As You Go Coin quilt. I have finished all of the coin rows and they are neatly pressed and ready to start the QAYG process.

I am using Connecting Threads' Lotta' Dots with a Light Stone Lotta' Dots  backing to go with the gray walls the nursery has been painted.

Since I really like this quilt, I looked at the fabric that I have with me and found a layer cake that I won sometime ago! I cut the 10" blocks into 4 charms each and then cut them in half to make a huge pile of coins. I can work on the strips in free time and be ready to make a couple of quilts when I finally get settled.

Here are my coins before I divided them into separate colors.

One other project I have started is making cloth napkins. My daughter-in-law really likes be environmentally conscious so I hunted through my fabric that I have with me, and have made two practice napkins and have found some more to make a set of 6. This is really a easy thing and helpful keeping so much paper from landfills. I found a really fun pattern at Chocolate and Zucchini that has two sided napkins. Here are photos of the two sides.

Cute little owls

Coordinating floral fabric

Please forgive the photos but my camera is in the storage unit and I'm having to use my phone...not really too good but til I can get there to retrieve my camera these will have to do! I will try to post somewhat regularly but we will see how things go. It is great to be back!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner......

I finished absolutely nothing this week in the way of sewing! I did get a lot more packing done and enjoyed the comments on Lemons to Lemondade! I learned of many ways to use my lemons in the future. No more waiting.....

AND THE WINNER IS:

Chantal of At the Corner of Scrap and Quilts!!! Here is what she had to say:

 I love your bags. So wonderfully colourful! I too love navy and lime together. I do shy away from bold fabric though. I don't know why since I always appreciate it when others use such fabrics in their projects.
I use to put all my binding leftovers in the bin for string blocks. I saw a quilt made with such leftover bindings strings and now, I'm thinking I can do that too. Fabric that are old or "what was I thinking when I bought that" kind of fabric go for the backing of placemats. I also try to "hide" little pieces of them in my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt, whenever I can. Thank you for the chance to win. Glad to hear you are feeling better!

Thanks to everyone for stopping by and telling your lemonade story. 

Lemons into Lemonade and a GIVEAWAY!

Sorry I missed posting last week with my latest Giveaway but the flu bug had other plans for me! I started feeling "poorly" on Tuesday evening and by Wednesday morning I decided staying in bed was the answer. Didn't start to feel human until Saturday, thus no post!

Anyway, last week I uncovered a jellyroll quilt race quilt that I had made sometime  in the past! I had some jellyrolls that I got at Tuesday Morning. Since they were blue and green strips, I could not pass them by because those are my favorite colors!!! BUT I also knew that I would never quilt it...please don't ask why I made it other than the challenge of the jellyroll race!!  I had even put sashing on the quilt...don't know what I was thinking. OK, now what can I do with a quilt top that I know I will never finish? Cut it up and use it for other things. First thing up was a couple of totes. Just simple totes for the grocery store or the library.

I used some of the sashing for the handles

I lined it with navy blue and added a key fob

Second tote with polka dots for the handles and lining.

Ok, if I have totes, I will need some cute little clutches!

This is made from the two sashings. I do love navy and lime!

Just a plain navy lining.

Another tote with a cute little zipper pull. If you need some split rings check out Home Depot! I found them in the key section. 1 inch rings packaged in 2's for $1 per pkg!!!!

Still another clutch

I used the navy polka dotter fabric

As you can see, every clutch and tote is different because of the layout of the jellyroll race quilt. I was going to make several other projects but the nasty flu decided differently. I have plans for some placemats and maybe a bathmat like Crazy Mom Quilts made. Who knows what else I will come up with...I have a lot of quilt left to cut up!

Now for the GIVEAWAY!  I have filled  a 8"X8"X4" box and you wouldn't believe what you can stuff in a box that size! There is a fat quarter bundle of some really pretty flannel, a Moda charm pack, a mini charm pack, a pack of Universal needles, a roll of heat and bond, a set of three 45 mm rotary blades, a partial Moda jelly roll, 2 spools of Gutermann thread, a package of thin leather strips to use for zipper pulls and a cute little round storage box. Who knows, I might add something else..there is a little room left!  All you need to do to win is leave  a comment telling me how you made lemonade from some "lemon" project of yours. Please be sure to leave your email address in your post so I will be able to get in touch with you if you win! The Giveaway will end at midnight July 14th.  Good Luck to all!

Clutches and WINNERS!!!!!!!!

Not too much sewing going on this week(but I did find more fabric if you can believe it!). I sewed up a few clutches  when I took breaks from packing. Let me tell you, the clutches are a lot more fun! Here are a couple I made.

Found a scrap of this cute fabric that I used for pillowcases for my grandkids.

Love the tape measure fabric and I made several clutches.

My first attempt at faux leather...still have a long way to go with it!

Now on to my winners! Thanks for all of your comments. I have a new bucket list for places to visit. Here are the winners:

Janice said: Just found you on Crazy Mom Quilts. I love your blog design! So cute! I'm pretty content living here in Idaho but wouldn't mind taking a month in Hawaii now and then! :)

 

 

Mary said: I can't imagine what I would find if I had to sort out my sewing room!! Although we have done a lot of traveling, I always love returning home to CA

 

Karen said: The only reason I would consider moving from where I live is my grand babies live in New Orleans.

Quilting Babcia said: Our quilt ministry group has been sewing lots of patchwork pieces, from a huge donation of partially sewn fabric squares. I'm very happy living right where I am at this point in my life - in western New York state near the PA border. Beautiful and peaceful hill country

 

 CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners. I have sent emails to all of you and as soon as I get your snailmail addresses your mini charms will be off! Watch out next week for another giveaway...am working on filling a flat rate envelope. I have a charm pack and some fat quarters already stuffed in it with more stuff to come!