For the Granddaughters

These are little beaded crochet amulet bags to wear around the neck.  They can hold all the magic, amulets, charms etc. a girl possesses...or maybe they will hold some spare change and/or a dollar bill and some chap stick.  Who knows? They are Christmas gifts for the two granddaughters.  

I also bead crocheted a couple of wrap bracelets with button closures for them. 

They are the ones who like to dress in black now. I would rather have made them in all sorts of colors but they aren't for me. 

And I finished crocheting another hat for the hat pile. 

This was goal #18

for Finish-A-Long 2016

I finished one in purple/gray for the other granddaughter quite some time ago. 

When You Wish Upon a Star

Twinklers

60 x 78

Machine Quilted with Loops and Stars

I started making these six inch blocks from scraps a couple of years ago as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  Slowly but surely I made 130 blocks and used a lot of scraps. 

The block instructions may be found at Claudia's Quilt Shoppe. 

I bound it with turquoise polka dots because the backing is turquoise and coincidentally I had just bought a remnant at Hobby Lobby that was just enough yardage for the binding.   Serendipity! 

For the backing I used a nice soft Twin sized sheet from the thrift store.  I used gray thread on top and a blue green (more on the green side) thread in the bobbin.  Those were threads I had on hand. 

I went with my old standby for for machine quilting star quilts - loops and stars.   I guess I need to learn to be more consistent  with my stars because sometimes there's blank spaces that could have been filled in a little better.   But that's not a bother to me right now.  

I think this might be one of the quilts I put in the car survival kits I've made for the adult kids for Christmas. 

This was my goal # 6 

for Q4 Finish-A-Long 2016

This was also my December OMG (One Monthly Goal)

And this sure used a LOT of scraps  - Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

For My Flamingo Loving Sister

My sister  💕💕💕💕💕 flamingos.  She even takes a couple  of those plastic ones with her on vacations to stick out at her campsite.  On her birthday last year she received a pink bicycle that her friends had rigged up with a flamingo head at the handle bars and flamingo body on each side of the curve down from the handle bars. (I'm not describing it very well but it's hilarious especially with her on it with a flamingo hat on her head. )   So, I made her a couple of flamingo pillowcases for Christmas.   I'm not so sure my brother-in-law will enjoy laying his head on a flock of flamingos but he usually goes along with my sister's whims without complaint. 

And  these pillowcases were goal  #20 

for

Q4 Finish-A-Long 2016

I also embroidered a couple of flamingos on a flour sack dishtowel and crocheted a scrubbie and dishcloth to go with it. 

Now I can cross flamingo-lovin' Deb off my Christmas to-do list. 

Feather Bed Finally Finished!

Feather Bed

72 x 90

Hand quilted

A free quilt pattern from Anna Maria Horner

Here is a sideways view because lengthwise it dragged on the ground unless the wind was blowing and I couldn't get a very good picture. And here's a sideways view because I like looking at the finished quilt. 

I was looking for some different ways to use my long, bright colored string scraps and decided on this quilt.  (I also made a string star with them). 

I didn't know what to use for background fabric and then I found a this piece of cheddar feather fabric in my stash I had bought at Hancock's (no longer in business here) at one of those "Spot the Bolt" sales where the fabric was $3.97 per yard.  "Perfect", I said. But there wasn't enough of it.  "Darn", I said.   But after work the next day I stopped at Hancock's and they still had some of this feather fabric left on the sale table but it was a little more expensive but not expensive - like $5.00 per yard.  And so I bought all that I needed. "Yipee", I said.  "It was meant to be". 

I quilted all of the feathers with different colors of perle #8.  And that was all I was going to do but noticed there was a lot of room between the feathers that needed a little something. 

And so I hand quilted some....what else?....feathers! I used Coats and Clarks hand quilting thread in a color I had in my tin of threads that closely matches the tips of the feathers in the fabric. I was hesitant to try the feathers because I wasn't sure my hand stitches were small enough to even go around each little part of the feather I had stenciled in in mechanical pencil.  But I gave it a try, persevered (even when my hands were stiff  or shaky and eyes could not see well) and I'm glad I did because they turned out pretty darned good if I say so myself. And I had a good time doing it. I always have a nice, peaceful, relaxing time hand quilting.  (Pack up all my cares and woes...here I go...hand quilting, you know...) 

Well, I should name this quilt Feathers Galore because here is the backing...birds and feathers!!!  The places where I used the perle to hand quilt the feathers looks like little trees (well, to me they do) on the back and it looks like some of the birds are perched in the trees.  I have the same sort of story about this backing as I do about the background fabric only substitute JoAnn for Hancock and substitute "red dot clearance" for "spot the bolt".   This, too, was meant to be. 

It took months of Sundays to get this Slow Stitched so I'm linking up to

 Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.

And I definitely used scraps so I'm linking up to 

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Oh, and this was my goal #1

for

2016 Finish-A-Long Q4

Goals rock!! 

A Hat. How About That!

I finished yet another hat for one of the granddaughters. The granddaughters love hats and will get quite a variety from this granny for Christmas. 

This was my goal #17 

for 

Q4 Finish-A-Long 2016

Grab Bags

I just completed two "Grab Bags" for Christmas gifts for the granddaughters.  They are pre-teens (one turned 12 on Halloween and the other will be 12 on Dec. 7) and suddenly have abandoned their somewhat Bohemian style for the Goth look. I think that style is called something else now but just the same the color black dominates in their clothing choices and accessories.  Maybe they played with too many of those hideous Monster High dolls after ditching Barbie a few years back. Who knows? I just go with the flow.   They are still the same giggly girls with good grades and good manners I've always known.  They just look a little less colorful. 

I made these Grab Bags from some glow in the dark skull fabric and used the free pattern at AllPeopleQuilt.  Hopefully they fit into their "style". 

For the lining I used some black cat fabric and made pockets out of some spiderweb and eyeball fabric.  Kind of creepy, I know. 

You close them up by putting the side with the longer handle through the shorter handle.  

Of course I had to label my work but didn't figure a "made for you with love by grandma" label would be too cool. So I made up my own label or is it my brand name? - "Cat's Meow"...get it? My name is Cathy (husband calls me Cat) and these Grab Bags made by me are definitely The Cat's Meow! (Corny, I know, but I think the girls will get it kick out of it). 

I experimented with making the labels. First I used 100% polyester twill tape but the ink smeared too much on them.  Then I found this 100% cotton twill tape and it worked a lot better. I was digging around for some pens in my scrap booking stuff and found this little cat stamp and decided to try it too for a little fun.  My ink pad was dried up so had to buy a new one but that's okay because I think I see more Cat's Meow labels in my future. 

These two Grab Bags were goals 24 and 25

for Q4 Finish-A-Long 2016. 

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Moving it Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag

Bag It! at Elm' Street Quilts

For Tom

Quilt of Valor for my brother-in-law, Tom. 

54 x 72

It's the third of three QOV quilts for family members who are veterans. I want to surprise them on Veteran's Day. Now I just need to remember to get them in the mail. 

I was going to make a Disappearing Four Patch for Tom's quilt but when Alycia posted a block for this year's QOV block drive designed by Jan O of  The Colorful Fabriholic I made a few of these nine inch blocks for the drive (speaking of getting things mailed...yikes, I see the envelope of them still sitting here) and decided to make lots more for Tom's quilt. 

These blocks are quick, easy and fun and I love the layout although I think there are endless possibilities for these blocks. 

I quilted it with loops and stars on my DSM using blue thread in the dark sections and white thread in the light sections of the quilt. 

Bound and washed it is oh so crinkly and soft. 

The back is a 100% silky cotton with stars - a sheet from the thrift store that was in excellent condition.   (Oh,, what sheets these people must have at home to sleep on if these are what they take to the thrift store). 

You can see the pattern on the back too since I used blue thread in sections and white thread in others. 

A big thank you to all of our Veterans! 

This was my goal #2

for Q4 Finish-A-Long

Today I'm linking to:

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Zig Zag Rainbow

Zig Zag Rainbow

or Chevron Rainbow if you prefer. 

64 x 80

I've been making these blocks from scraps since, according to my blog, August 2014 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge Project.  I guess it took me that long to come up with 4.5 inch scraps to use but now I have a whole box of scraps that size. 

This quilt is an eclectic mix of fabrics. I like that art deco lady with the poppy hat smoking a cigarette in a cigarette holder.  How often do you see someone smoking these days let alone a smoker depicted in fabric? 

In Zig Zag Rainbow Land Mickey Mouse and Santa mix with spiders and fruits and veggies...

...and cats with hats, owls and rabbits.   The fun part is that you can't tell what all is in the quilt from afar but up close you can find lots of treasures to smile about. 

I quilted it on my DSM (yes, lots of starts and stops to do pivoting and to force the darned quilt through the small harp on my machine) following the zig zags. I used white thread in the neutral areas and used up old bobbins of thread in all the colors of the rainbow in the colored sections. 

Don't look at the back for too long...you may get dizzy. 

Don't know what I'm going to do with this quilt. For now it will sit on a shelf. 

This was my goal #3     for   Q4 Finish-A-Long

This was also my OMG (one monthly goal) for October 

 OMG at Red Letter Quilts

Also linking up to: 

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework 

Fourth Quarter Finish-A-Long Goals

It's time to declare some goals for the Q4 Finish-A-Long. 

1. Feather Bed. I'm in the process of hand quilting it now.

2. A Quilt of Valor surprise for my brother-in-law on Veteran's Day. 

3. Rainbow Chevrons. It's in the process of being machine quilted. 

4. An old, old, old, old Mystery Quilt. I think this will be one of the car quilts for a Car survival kit Christmas gift. 

5. Spools. A big quilt and these 3 inch spools aren't even sewn together yet. 

6. Twinklers. Another large quilt but these six inch blocks aren't sewn together yet. 

7. Fractured. I call it Frazzled. I am stalled on this one because I don't like that middle column. It just doesn't seem to fit.  This is made from scraps so maybe it doesn't matter...or maybe it does. 

8. Wild Kingdom (Jacob's Ladder). It looks kind of yucky in this configuration. This is another one I'm sticking in a Car Survival Kit gift for Christmas. 

9. Kaleidoscope of Butterflies - Some rows are sewn together!

10. Dresdens. Not sewn together yet. And I will be hand quilting. Good luck to me on a finish for this one! 

11. Vintage Butterflies (aka Beggar's Blocks). I was thinking of hand quilting but now I don't know. Hmmmm......

12. Rosebuds

13. Emerald Isle. Need the nine patch emerald isle part. 

14. Starz.  Another really old UFO and another one for the Car Survival Kit Christmas gift. 

15. Donation quilt

16. Donation quilt

17.  Another hat like this for other granddaughter (Christmas gifts). 

18. Another hat like this for other granddaughter but in different colors (Christmas gifts). 

19. Another hat like this for other granddaughter. (Christmas gifts). 

20. Two pillowcases (Christmas gift) for my Flamingo-loving sister. 

21. and 22.   Two clutch purses - one for each of the granddaughters. 

23. Purse for me

24.  and 25.  Glow in the dark skull bag or backpack - one for each granddaughter. 

Can't decide if I will use the Grab Bag pattern or Backpack pattern  from AllPeopleQuilt

26.   and 27.   Pillows.  Probably from orphan blocks. for Christmas gifts.