Kquilts Studio Open House

If you live in Central Ohio, this might interest you. Otherwise…you can move on! LOL  I know several of my students follow my blog and I just wanted to announce that the Open House is set for Sat. Jan. 2 from 10 AM to 1 PM.  My  Kquilts Studio website   has all the details of the classes being offered this season.  I have several classes for different levels of quilters (beginners included).  I have 4 PJ parties planned (which are on Friday nights and are FREE!).  They are simple little projects that can be done in an evening …..BUT you must wear PJ’s! Or you will be fined $5.  Lots of fun!  A POWER retreat is also in the works.  And I have one more surprise which won’t be revealed until Preview Day. So…….come join us!

Give this Christmas Away video

What an awesome video...and great message! My parents just got back from Charlotte where they spent 4 days working with hundreds of others packaging all these boxes.

12 days of Christmas

I'm in a sorority and we exchange names for Secret Sisters at Christmas and I drew the name of one of my best friends, who is a fairly new quilter. What fun I had with her gift! I based it on the Twelve Days of Christmas. 

On the first day of Christmas, Joy's sister gave to her:

A quilted purse for Joy----no picture :(

2nd day of Christmas.........

 

two quilting notions

 

 

3rd day of Christmas…….three quilting patterns (again, no picture)

4th day of Christmas……

 

4 spools of thread

 

 

 

 

on the 5th day of Christmas……..

 

 

5 Fat Quarters

 

 

 

on the 6th day of Christmas…

 

a 6” ruler (sorry for the lousy picture, it’s hard to take a good one of shiny acrylic!)

 

on the 7th day of Christmas…..

 

7 Christmas candies

 

 

on the 8th day of Christmas…

 

8” Gingher Scissors

 

 

on the 9th day of Christmas…

 

9 feet of ribbon

 

 

on the 10th day of Christmas….

 

10 sewing needles

 

 

on the 11th day of Christmas…

 

11 Quilting tips

 

 

 

 

on the 12th day of Christmas….

12 Christmas buttons

(and I’m not sure if it’s the picture, or did I really sew on the bottom button crooked?  You’d thought I would have seen that!  It MUST be the picture!)

a free gift for you

I wish I could say this is from me, but it's from Amazon....FREE music! Here's one of the several that I downloaded. I love Point of Grace and I love their rendition of Winter Wonderland.

My favorite Christmas hymn is O Holy Night sung by Aaron Neville. But Winter Wonderland ranks up there in Christmas music. I downloaded almost 300 Christmas songs on my itouch before vacation. (most were of my own CD collection and several of the free downloads). My hubby can't believe that I can listen to Christmas music ALL day long! And I can. BUT only after Thanksgiving and I'll quit the day after Christmas. So, what's your favorite Christmas songs?

hurry to http://www.amazon.com/ and then type in free MP3 music downloads under the search bar. (for some reason, it would not let me copy the link). You can narrow down the search to free Christmas music MP3 downloads as well. If you have never downloaded MP3's from Amazon, you'll have to download the FREE MP3 downloader onto your computer first, but it doesn't take long and well worth the few extra minutes! Thanks to Heather at Freebies4Mom for the tip.

And that's ANOTHER blog you should go visit AND sign up for her daily emails. She is LOADED with all kinds of tips to get FREE stuff!! Already this month, I've gotten free calendars, a free photo book, free Christmas photo cards, free music and a whole lot more. I kept forwarding her emails to my daughters so much, they went and signed up themselves. I just LOVE free stuff, don't you?

Merry Christmas!

where in the world am I?

Yesterday was an awesome day, snorkeling at 3 different sites and driving around, taking in the scenery and a visit into town. I belong here.....they LOVE color! Houses are all different colors and I mean BOLD colors! I wish I could have stopped and took pictures at each new exciting color I saw. Makes for a long trip when you do that, so I was only allowed a few. But I did get to stop and take pictures of REAL pink flamingoes, in their natural habitat....not at a zoo, a hotel, just in their natural living habitat. I had to go through a bit of a marshy area to get even decently close and if I weren't such a pansy, I'd have gotten closer. But, those pictures are to come later, when I get home to that dang computer cord. The pictures I'm going to share are from websites dedicated to this place as well as freebie fish pictures. I spent over an hour and a half sorting through 1000's of photos, trying to find those of the fish I DID see on my little snorkeling excursions. These are just a few that I saw. Blogger is being onery today and so I'll stop here. But great day, just a great day.

So, anyone know where I am?

reading causes raccoon eyes

A new discovery.........okay, not new to me at all and you would think I'd learn....reading on the beach with sunglasses, (and who goes without sunglasses anyway?) causes raccoon eyes. NOTICEABLY! so much that people commented.......oh well.

it was a good book. So I'm a little behind on reading. Who has time to read books when there are tons of blogs to read ,and quilts to sew? I only have time on vacations anymore since I can't haul my machine on vacation..to the beach!

Since I love to snorkel and hubby does NOT, what do you do on vacation where the snorkeling is well known? Short of me going on tours myself, or not going at all...we decided to rent a car and go find beaches that have great snorkeling directly from the beach. So, that's what we are off to tomorrow.

I checked and no quilt shops or even fabric shops listed. I guess sewing is not big over here? Oh well, it forces me to be more well rounded....not my body--LOL--just my experiences.

by the way, does anyone else have problems with blogger and where it places pictures, etc? I downloaded LiveWriter at home but only used it once. And now I'm on a laptop wondering if I should download it on this as well. Getting the photos where you want shouldn't be so hard!

anyway.......have a good day and hope all of you in the midwest are staying warm!

gone again, surfin' in more ways than one

here I sit, on a remote beach withOUT my camera patch cord to the computer. waahhh! I had all these great photos taken of what I was working on furiously before I left and a few of my new, temporary location. It was then that I realized that I grabbed a different bag at the last minute for my computer, leaving my cord behind. And we all know how boring it is to read a blog with no pictures. :( so........I will share a bit where I've been surfin...

I have found a new way to surf all the blogs I so love to read...on the ellyptical!! the only thing is that I have a hard time typing, so I just lurk. And I have found a whole new category to 'nose' around...besides all the wonderful quilty blogs I love so well, here are a few new ones I've been enjoying...

http://www.thriftydecorchick.com/ she made this wonderful wreath, copied off someone, who copied off someone else and then I copied as well! In fact, I made 3 of them so far! But boy, did you notice that the stores sure don't have the stockpile of inventory they used to have. Ornaments are almost gone already and "fagidabout" finding any greenery. I guess the stores don't want to get stuck with excess inventory they have to beg people to take at season's end. I guess there won't be a lot of after Christmas sales on this stuff.

http://www.asoftplacetoland.net/ I'm not participating, but go check out all the wonderful links as these talented ladies share their decorating styles and projects. WARNING: please allow LOTS of time as you could lost for a very, very long time checking them all out. Don't say I didn't warn ya!

http://www.oneprettything.com/ a wonderful blog that scours the internet for all kinds of DIY projects, from kids stuff, sewing things, paper projects and so much more. There's not just one link per day but 20!! ANOTHER place that you could spend a very long time!

and so now I leave you lots time to waste spend seeing so many creative women share their talents.

a little bit of Christmas

Christmas will soon be upon us and if I don’t hurry, it will be another year without my Redwork Holiday Sampler being done. I spent a week a few years ago machine embroidering a whole lot of blocks and even did a set for my friend as a gift. She got her quilt done. Mine? Still sitting in a box. I brought it out a few weeks ago to show

a friend and I thought, why not get it done? And enjoy it! hmmm, novel idea!

the center part is done……now for the sawtooth border. I’m a workin’ on it (like there is nothing else to do at this time of year!)

HOLIDAY PLACEMAT PURSE Tutorial

HOLIDAY PLACEMAT PURSE

I made a bunch of these purses for gifts and thought I'd share it with you too. I'd send y'all one, but the postage would be a bit much, so....grab a cuppa, a red placemat, fur trim and make one yourself..or two...or three!








Supply List:

(1) Placemat- mine was from Wal-Mart and had a bit of metallic sheen. It was 13" x 19", but yours can be whatever size it comes!
(2) 2" x 13" fur trim pieces (if your placemat is not 13"...adjust your fur trim to match your placemat size--it's the side measurement)
(2) 1" x 12" black grosgrain ribbon pieces
(1) 1" x 1 1/2" velcro
red thread



Steps:
Remove any tags from placemat.


Working on the wrong side of the placemat, center the 'soft' (loop) side of the velcro piece on one SIDE of the placemat,(the short side) just below the hem (about 1/4" down). Stitch in place.






Repeat for other part of the velcro (hook), making sure the two pieces line up when you fold your placemat in half.



Fold under 1/4" on both short ends of BOTH grosgrain ribbon pieces. Working on the wrong side of the placemat, pin one side of the ribbon (folded edge down) onto the side of the placemat, (it will be close to the velcro) about 4" from the long edge and pin the other side 4" from the other long edge to create a handle.












Repeat for other ribbon, making sure they line up when the placemat is folded in half. Stitch in
place. (they don't need to be backstitched, as they will get stitched down again when you attach the fur trim.








Working on the RIGHT side of the placemat now, lay one fur trim piece along a side edge. Pin it so the fur trim is right at the edge.











Repeat for other side.














Zig zag along edge of fur trim, gently moving the fur out of the way to stitch. (at this point I had white thread in the top and red thread in the bobbin so the stitches would not show.)












Zig zag along the bottom edge of the fur trim piece, again moving the fur out of the way.











Fold the placemat in half, wrong sides together and pin. Stitch with 1/2" seam, backstitching at the top edge to secure.













To make a box corner: Place your ruler 1" from the bottom folded edge and 1" from the SEAM LINE (so the ruler will actually be at the 1 1/2" mark on the edge of the placemat).















Cut a corner out, being very careful to not 'overshoot' the ruler and cut into the placemat. Repeat on other bottom corner. Remember the 1" mark needs to be on the SEAM LINE and the FOLDED edge.










Match the seam line (with the seam allowances opened) with the bottom fold and pin.
















Stitch with 1/2" seam, back stitching at the beginning and the end.














Zig zag the raw edges to prevent raveling.














Turn the purse inside out and now admire! Great job!!













Alternatives:

* You can use pre-purchased handles from JoAnn's, Michael's or Hobby Lobby instead of the grosgrain ribbon.
* Use beaded trim instead of fur for a bit of fun.
*Using a plain placemat, fill the right side with different strips of ribbon for a striped look.

Here is the basic order for making a purse from a placemat:
1. Attach velcro on the wrong side of the placemat, centered at the short sides of the placemat (which will end up being the top of the purse).
2. Attach handles of your choice.
3. Attach any trim you'd like on the top edge of the purse (or none at all).
4. Fold placemat in half, wrong sides together and stitch side seams with 1/2" seam.
5. Box the corners. The bigger square that you cut, the wider your bottom will be (and therefore your purse will be shorter). Just remember that you cutting your square, using the bottom fold edge and the side SEAM allowance for your measurement marks.

The sky's the limit on what you can do. I bet you look at placemats a whole lot differently from now on! And just wait to see what you can do with 3 placemats! (more to come.........)

Making placemat purses at the PJ party

Last Friday I hosted another PJ party at my Studio and we made Placemat Purses. They are SO quick and easy, and make great gifts! Some couldn't stop at just one!

Sheri made two.........

Chele

Faye

Sam

Nicki

Emma..made another one with quilted black fabric

Natalie
made another one but got away before I could grab another picture

And mine.......Sheri found these placemats at Home Goods and so graciously let me have one. We used big wide handles and secured them with an ultrasuede tab.I embroidered my initial on the placemat before sewing it together. And had to CAREFULLY sew the tabs on to avoid the shell buttons. I removed the end buttons so I could sew it together.

I'm working on a quick little tutorial...