Scissor Caddy

Something I made up from scraps from the 'Tossed Nine-Patch' top...a scissor caddy! I suppose things like this are more for decoration and fun than actual use, but, I thought it turned out really cute! I know it's difficult to see from this picture - that's a yo-yo there in the center with a button, and I quilted the caddy itself in a pale green thread with a loopy meandering stitch.

Finally feeling as if I've recovered from our little vacation. On the down side, recovery also means exhaustion, as the girls have me running to and fro without much break. But, boy, have all those quilters motivated to sew. I've got a good start on Christmas presents...I can't believe I'm saying that already! The day after tomorrow is Halloween, and today it even snowed! Wow...the seasons change while I'm busy with chores, and time goes by so fast. :) Enjoy the rest of your October! :)

Tossed Nine Patch and a WIP

Yay! My Mother & I returned yesterday afternoon from our very first quilt reatreat...what fun! The retreat was organized by a woman from the guild I attend (Hi Holly! *winks*) and she just thought of everything. It was a group of just the nicest ladies, and we had the best time. Mom and I now can't wait for next year! :) Here's my mom hard at work...note the coffee cups and diet coke!!! Bye Saturday evening we were running on fumes!

In between eating (the food and snacks were fabulous!), playing games, and lots of fun gabbing, I managed to complete this top using Eleanor Burns 'Tossed Nine-Patch' pattern...which I was told is also called 'split nine-patch' and if you'd like the pattern it can be found online for free.

It was a nice quick easy pattern and if I find time today I'm going to try and gather up fabric to make a few for Christmas gifts.

I also spent a mini-fortune - well, no, it was definitely a full sized fortune! - on Christmas prints to go with a few panels I bought, and some Christmas fabric I already have in my stash...this is as far as I made it on one of the panels.

I added the second black border and the two strip borders on each side. Hope to get the rest of the borders on before Christmas at least!

Nuthin' Fancy

Yay! Finally a free day! No where to go, no place to be, just me, the girls, and some laundry. Can you believe I finally got to play with the sewing machine in between folding? Not too much, but enough to get me motivated for more!

We are doing a block of the month at the local quilt guild and after seeing a few of the other ladies beautiful blocks I wasn't too thrilled with my own anymore! A few ladies have done black & white and I just love the look so I thought I'd try my own black & white version. I think the blue makes it look kind of Parisian!

Winding Ways...in Pieces

It's been a real struggle to steal away time, but I did begin cutting a new quilt top. I suppose I should finish old projects before starting a new one, but, well, you know how that goes...

I'm using the Winding Ways template pattern from Fat Quarter Friendly Quilts by Fons & Porter...hope it turns out half as nice as the one in the photo. :)