Out of the Box! Finally!

Well after a four month Lay a Way from Denver Doll Emporium she is finally in Seattle in her new home. This is a Littlefee BJD from Fairyland and I had a dress ready and waiting for her that I made . Welcome Lacey!

Chloe is here!

This is my newest doll and a dress I made her. Her name is Chloe and she is a resin doll from the Fairyland company out of Korea. I bought her from http://denverdoll.com They are unusual dolls in the fact they are ball jointed and can be posed in all different ways. The faces are hand painted and they are just gorgeous dolls.. The dress is from a pattern from the http://www.adams-harris.com. Sewing for something this small can be a challenge but they do work up very quickly. What fun!

Bling Shoes

My whole family knows that I love Bling so it makes sense I would pass that trait onto my granddaughter right?

I just made these for my granddaughter and I thought I would share. They were very easy to make. I attached the rhinestones (sizes 5 and 3) with E-6000 glue and used double faced ribbon for the laces. I have shown two different colors of the laces and I also made her a red set. I can't wait to follow up with a photo of her wearing them!

Where Has Time Gone?

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've posted anything. I've made several quilts plus other little projects but my newest project has been Blythe dolls and making clothes for them. Thanks to my machine quilter Krista who introduced me to these wonderful dolls. I am amazed at how many collectors there are out there and how many patterns there are for clothing! I have always collected dolls but not ones that I can make clothes for. These little girls have sparked a whole new interest in doll collecting. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not! Anyway, here is one of the outfits I just made for Mazie. Doesn't she look cute? The pattern is from My Fair Dolly

The year of applique!

I've always wanted to learn how to applique. I tried it once but I didn't like the method and swore I would never do it again. Then I learned the needle turn method and now I'm hooked for life. I made three or four applique quilts last year and I now have several more in progress. The Hawaiian one I made on a single road trip from Seattle to Las Vegas. It holds many great memories of sights Larry and I saw and great conversations we had. The Bird on a Wire quilt was my first attempt at applique and it was the perfect quilt to start with. Because its a primitive style quilt, nothing has to be perfect! Then I got brave and made a Tisket a Tasket. It is a more detailed quilt but so much fun!

Stay tuned for more applique because I love it!!!!

I'm still creating!

I have made several projects since the last post, but haven't posted them. I'm thinking no one is even reading this so I've kind of quit posting. Anyway here is a couple more projects. One is a quilt I just finished that was a friendly competition between a friend and myself. It's called a Tisket A Tasket and is a BunnyHill Design. I loved working on this quilt! It is all hand applique and a small wall size. The other is a little hat I made for my pharmacist's new granddaughter. It is my Christmas version of Jill Eaton's Twizzle Topper.

And Now a Quilt for Kaiya!!

The challenge was on to make a quilt for Kaiya. Her parents wanted her nursery colors to be fushia and purple with touches of gray. They also wanted Eeyore but soon found out that in most stuffed animals, Eeyore is BLUE not gray! I designed this quilt for Kaiya and made Eeyore gray. Its very simple but fits the nursery perfectly!

A Sweater for Kaiya

Just another little pretty for the upcoming Granddaughter! I can't believe she will join the family in two months. We are so excited to meet her. This was made out of two skeins of Zara Plus and the pattern is a Minnowknits pattern. It was very easy and quick to do. I hope she is going to like it!

Kaiya's Quilt

I finished the first of my handmade things for our little Kaiya. She will be here in April or early May and we can't wait to meet and hold her!!! This was a line of fabric called Alpha Buddies and it the flannel version. It is so soft and was quilted by my machine quilter Krista Withers to keep it cuddly. It was a quick and easy quilt and I'm sure it's the first of many.

Just a Little Something Sweet

I was having a day where I just wanted to make something little for myself. I didn't know what, but I have so many big projects I'm working on that I needed to accomplish something small and quick. When I went to my quilting group at Carriage Country Quilts I saw this little kit to make a needlecase. It fit the bill perfectly! I lose my needles ALL the time and I thought this may solve the problem. My husband says "no, you will probably lose the whole case now!" LOL He is probably right, but it sure was fun to make!

ALOHA!!!!!

Ever since I went to Hawaii about ten years ago, I've wanted to make a Hawaiian Quilt. Well, I still feel my applique skills are not up to par for that but maybe in the next year or so. I spotted this quilt class at Pieces Quilt shop taught by an excellent instructor Sheri Thomas. It is one big 42" block made in the traditional Hawaiian style. The pattern comes from the Pacific Rim Quilt Company located in Washington State.

I started this quilt back in May when we drove down to our daughters wedding in Las Vegas. I stitched on it on the way down and the way back, then about another week at home. It has been sitting just waiting to go to my quilter Krista Withers. I finally got it quilted and I just love it! It is my lap quilt and it is VERY bright. The purple background with the lime green design, just screams "hello, wake up!" Hence the name "ALOHA!!"

It Must Be Christmas !!!!!!!

It's that time of year when I'm hearing the old familiar tunes and smelling the Peppermint Mochas at Starbucks! It must be Christmas! I just finished my Christmas Quilt for this year. It's hard to show the detail involved because it's such a large quilt, but I sure enjoyed making it. It is a Crabapple Hill pattern by Meg Hawkey. She was in the Seattle area two years ago and I was fortunate enough to take a class from her. I have gotten hooked on Redwork and am now working on another one of her designs. All the blocks are stitched in Red DMC floss and I used a variety of reds, whites and beige fabrics. I had it quilted by Krista Withers and she is an absolute genius. I wish you could see the beautiful detail of her work! If you click on the picture of the full quilt you can see a closer look at all the blocks.

Hanging this quilt was like putting up a Christmas tree for me! I can now sit in my chair and enjoy the snow people having a good time!

Meeting Jared

It was SO nice to meet Jared Flood and be able to show him my Girasole and Hemlock Ring! He did a book signing at Churchmouse Yarn and Teas and was so personable and wonderful. I was surprised he was so accomplished at such a young age! The evening was very nice with many of his pieces on display as well as champagne and chocolates! Yum! I hope all of you will have an opportunity to meet Jared at some point, as well as knit one of his designs!

I'm still here and still creating!

It's been ages and I have been working on projects, just not writing on this blog. I love the project I'm posting today. It's called Girasole by Jared Flood. It is a fun project but when you work up to 640 stitches on the needle it takes great determinations to keep foraging ahead to finish it. BUT it IS finished and I'm glad I hung in there. Jared Flood is the designer and he will be appearing in the Seattle area, so I intend to take it to show him. I also have another one in red started!

Glinda!

This is the Glinda sock offered by the Woolgirl Oz Sock Club. I loved the yarn (Madelinetosh Sock)and I loved the pattern! This will be a pattern that I definitely will make again. It is designed by Bethany Whitney for the sock club and you make cables without a cable needle. It's a technique that I hadn't done before and I struggled a little at first, but once I got it, I loved the technique. A must pattern for a sock knitter.

I Can't Believe it's July!

Where is time going? It seems it just flies by and seasons change faster than I can enjoy them. How come work days don't fly by that fast? lol Here is my latest candle mat. These are fun little projects and usually only take a day or two to make. Have a Happy 4th of July!

Refocus and Get Knitting!

Well after a year of planning, anticipating and fretting, it's a memory now. But a beautiful memory indeed! The Wynn in Las Vegas did a fabulous job, as well as Maggianos for the reception. I wouldn't have changed a thing! I guess it's back to normal life now and time to concentrate on my knitting and quilting projects.

The past couple of days has been the LYS Tour in the Puget Sound area. In years past, I have gone to several of the shops but this year I was just plain out of energy. I went to the two closest shops to my house and picked up their free patterns. Oh yeah, I also bought the yarn that went with them!! Renaissance Yarns had a lovely pair of fingerless gloves as their free pattern and they had a new yarn to celebrate the occaison called Merisoft, from Punta yarns. It is Merino wool and feels really nice. I chose a varigated turquoise. The Knittery had two patterns. One was a lacy pair of anklet socks made with Trekking Pro Natura. I chose to do these in white. Maybe because of the wedding? lol They also had a scarf that is really lacy and beautiful made out of Silky Alpaca Lace Yarn . I chose the cream color. Hopefully I will be showing some progress on these over the next few months! I know for sure as I knit along I will be reliving a wonderful memory of my daughter's marriage to a wonderful man.

Life is Swirling Around Me

After a year of planning the big wedding day is almost here! I can't believe that in two weeks it will just be wonderful memories. We are driving "the dress" down to make sure it gets there, so there will be lots of knitting time in the car. I thought it was only fitting that I start knitting "The Swirl Shawl" to mimic my life right now. I bought some Pagewood Farms hand dyed sock yarn and some beautiful new doublepointed needles with the greatest points on them. There are several times you have to knit three together, and I go crazy if I don't have a good point. I love these needles by Darn Pretty Needles even though they were a bit expensive ($30),they sure have made me a happy camper. My other toy for this project was a Fibersphere. So far I am loving this gadget too and it will be great for keeping my yarn clean in the car. So, the dress is ready, all plans are in order and I have my knitting and quilting projects ready for the car. Swirl on! Life is good.

Candle Mats and Glassybabys

I have always been a fan of Glassybabys! These beautiful little handblown candle holders became famous after Martha Stewart touted their beauty several years back. Seattle is fortunate to be the home of Glassybabys. Well, between my love of quilting and my love of blown glass, I've found a marriage made in heaven! Wool mats and Glassybabys. There are many candle mat patterns available, but I am drawn to "Annelles Originals" She has a candle mat pattern for every holiday and she also offers the wool to make them. So naturally, I'm going to make several this year and the Shamrock St Patricks Day is the first one! I really enjoyed this project and it was a nice sit in my chair and stitch pattern. Next up....Bunnies!

Finally Finished $5 Quilt!

Way back in February I wrote about a $5 quilt group that I participated in at The Quilt Barn in Puyallup. In 2007 I went once a month a got a pattern and fabric to make a quilt. If you complete your block each month you get the next block free. Well, I finally got it all put together, quilted and the binding stitched on. It's really not a Christmas quilt. There isn't one Christmas fabric in it, but it comes off totally Christmas and it brightens the whole room. Finally finished !!! Merry Christmas!!!