Busy Busy

Seems like a lot of time has gone again between posts.

This is not to say I have not been busy.

Have made two trips to Michigan for various reasons, decided to move my sewing things

 from one room to another, have finished 5 more quilt tops, and sent them off to be 

quilted, been sewing more, and found a lovely group of ladies

that like to work on scrapbooking and cards.

Since our son bought his home last September, his former room has been empty.
I got to thinking, why not move my sewing things to that room.
There is more space, more light, and as you can see I have a ton of things.

I decided that in the process, I would touch everything.  The process of doing so makes
me go though it all to decide, do I want to continue with a project or abandon it because
I am no longer interested in it.

This is making me go through patterns I have purchased, (found doubles), all the ones
I have gotten from the internet, as well as books.  Haven't even touched my quilt
book library yet.  I have gone through magazines and will donate them to our quilt show for
a fund raiser, along with patterns and books. 

Went through fabric, and donated yards and yards to an organization,
"Quilts for Kids". As you can see, I still have yards and yards!
Going through every container also yielded some projects I wanted to complete,
and had forgotten about.

I still have a lot of things to go through.
Organizing and putting things away takes a lot of time, :)
I am setting up boxes with a whole project in it, so when I go on a retreat, or a sew day,
I have it all there to work on.  It will eliminate a lot of time and energy getting ready.
Can't believe how many plastic bags of projects that one or two items just
need to be finished up.  There are even things that needed to be hand sewn, and they
would be finished.

I am working on one of two tuffets.
I have all the hardware and pattern, just need to sew the tops, and put together. One is sewn, now on
to the second one.  It means another area will be cleaned out!
There was a stack of quilts in the new sewing room that I went through as well.
Some were antique, and the other pile was wall hangings, I had hand quilted many years ago.
Washed and sorted them all out as well.  Time to let them be used and enjoyed by others. 

The new group of ladies has let me join them and I can work on cards.  These
are just a few that are in the works. I am having fun. Instead of only one
a year, I now am getting out twice a month.  I taught a couple of ladies
how to do the iris folding, and they are teaching me to use my scrap papers for other
types of cards.  You can never have too many cards ready for use.
Working on my Christmas card designs as well.

Then to add more things to work on, I have been making mug rugs that we will give to
a special group of ladies in Racine.  I already have 50 in the works or done.
While on the trips to Michigan, I got a lot of hand work done.

As I said we also made two trips to Michigan. One in May and one in June.
Those are for another time.
I have tried to get some birding time in, plus photographing wild flowers.
My little vegetable garden has been a challenge, as the critters have found it tasty.
They days are full and flying by, as always keeping busy.

Hope your summer has been full of fun and good weather.

Mary

Scrap and Spa

Last week I was on another adventure.
My friend Jan, sitting on the right side had invited me to join her and her
daughters in Union Pier, Michigan for a weekend of scrapbooking.
Here we all are.  Two of the ladies were from Ohio, and had been there since
Tuesday,  Most of the rest of us arrived on Thursday.  

We had such a great time.
Jan worked on a scrapbook of her family, and was trying out some
new page layouts.

We had a great room to use for working on our projects.
There were all sorts of machines, and dies to use with them, a computer, copier, ink pads.
In other words, just about everything you would need to work on scrapbook projects.
Everyone, brought their own supplies as well. It is always
nice to have backup.

There was much sharing of designs and ideas.
We had rooms for our stay, and a lovely hostess that cooked
our meals starting on Friday night.
The food was delicious, and Jen was accommodating for those
that had dietary needs.
The beds were so comfortable, I got a great nights sleep each night.

"Let's see, I think I like what you are doing.  Can you show me how you did it?"

The weather was gorgeous as well.
The ladies said it was the first time they had had such great weather,
in the years they have been going.

Several ladies had some of the latest supplies to use in the process.

Jan was showing off some of what she had done.

We were not far from Lake Michigan.
I think everyone got out for walks.

Here is what I worked on.
Notice I have a head start on my Christmas cards for this year.

A couple of the ladies were interested in Iris Folding, so I taught a class.
I had plenty of supplies with me.

A couple of them still need some extra embellishments.
Several still need sayings for the insides.

It was nice to get a few all occasion cards made.

It was so beautiful.
I think we all had a great time.  I know I did.
I love walking along the beach.
Even found a few pieces of sea glass.

I hope everyone is having a great week.
I will be up at a hospital visiting my husband.
He had a right hip replacement Thursday morning, and will be staying
for a couple of days.  Then on to rehab.

Mary

And the new year has started

With the start of the new year, there is the the start of a new quilt.
This one is going to be the result of about 1000 half square triangles from a swap in
2009 through the local quilt shop.  Mine will be all 30's fabric.
As of today I have 27 blocks done, with 4 more to finish.
There will be some pinwheel blocks in the setting triangles.
I am hoping to get this top done before the end of the month.
That is only 310 half square triangles.  I think I have a few more to
use up. There will have to be another quilt in the works to use up
more of those triangles.

This has been a strange winter.
Most of December was warm, no snow for Christmas.
There have been temps up into the 40's and as low as 2 degrees.
We have had slush, rain and finally some snow.
The animals and birds are not quite sure of what to do.
Geese don't know if they should be going North or South.

Saw my official first Robin, January 2, 2016.
Actually saw 7 that day.  They really don't know what direction to go in.

On that same day I came across 2 Bluebirds.  This one was so patient
with me while I took pictures.  Don't you just love the  Bluebird.
He has been the sign of Happiness for ever.

It has been time to work on some new cards.
I used up almost all that I had of Christmas.
Decided to try a few new designs.

Been in need of a few man oriented birthday cards.
My son thought these turned out pretty good. 

Played with a few more birthday cards, but this time feminine.

This female Cardinal is part of the two pair that comer to my feeders
in the backyard.

Finished up a couple more Christmas cross stitching.
This is an envelope pattern by Lynne Nicoletti.
I had seen this on Pinterest, but had a hard time finding the pattern.
I so love how it turned out.

Just another picture of it by my mini Christmas tree.

Made a couple more mini envelopes.
I can use these for gift cards or cash is always good.

My little tree with some new ornaments on it.   

Ron was gone to Buffalo, last weekend for a funeral service.
He left on Friday morning.
I set up a folding table in the family room and worked on more cards.
Added Valentine cards to the recent mix of ones I was in need of.

I love making these cards.
I do everything in stages.
The first part is making the top layer, which is the Iris Folding.
Once you have that part done you have to decide the colors of paper
or card stock to layer behind it.

Then you have to decide how big is the overall card going to be.

Once you have decided the size you need to start putting it together.
Will it be birthday, how about a thank you card.
There is get well, thinking about you, then you have all the holidays.
Most have sayings inside that go with any wording you have
put on the front.
Every part takes time.  I don't like to just throw them together.
Even if  I put 5 cards together with the same design, I take the time to finish each
one differently.  When I see what other ladies have done, there are even more
ideas and possibilities.

It was a good weekend for me, as I got a lot of cards one.
It is so nice to have the weekend to yourself, no housework, no obligations to
anything or anyone.  Ron has due back Sunday night, and by the time he arrived
all was put away until next time.

I hope the first 15 days of your new year have been happy and productive.

Enjoy,
Mary

Christmas quilt is ready to be quilted.

Here it is!  I completed it yesterday.  I love love it.  This is made entirely from my stash, and it is mostly Christmas fabric. Each block has a different background fabric.
Some of the blocks are made from Lori Holt's "Quilty Fun" book.
Lori has a blog, Bee in my Bonnet. Some of the patterns are from Instagram.  She has posted the ones not in the book there.
The border is all scrap Christmas fabric.,  It is off to my quilter.
Once I have it back, I will have a lot of fun added a few touches to it. (Bows on the wreaths, hanger on the Christmas ball. some decorations on the tree, just a couple of accents.)

Also, in my spare time, I have been making Christmas cards. I enjoy using the iris folding technique.  I have been trying out some new patterns.

Today, Andy and I got out some of our decorations.  This leads to house cleaning.  I would rather be sewing.  I did clean up my sewing room.  Time to put all that back in order.  Now to get out the next round of fabric to play with.
I hope you are having a great day.
Mary

Iris Folding

My other passion is making cards using the Iris Folding technique.
Now I know how to make them, but you can always learn another tip or two by taking a class.
A local scrapbook store has been having monthly class, and I have been going.
Like with the umbrella above.  See the raindrops?  That was made doing dry embossing.  It just adds a great touch to the card. 

This rose is simple and can serve for several very different occasions.

When we made the apron, we learned about a new type of die to be used. Dreamweaver has a stencils that now matches some of their dies. Elizabeth Craft designs has come out with some great word dies.  Sizzix has a line of stamps with dies to match.  When I made the apron I left the white division lines to show off the apron.  Others took them out.  We only used one type of paper and ribbons for the bows and straps.
Again this would be a great card for more then one occasion. Mother's Day is coming up.

Easter is also a great occasion for iris folding cards.  Ribbon makes a good source of a medium used for folding. 

Our teacher has also been showing us some great ways to present our cards.  The folds are so creative and fun, and unique ways to make our cards.

Look what else we learned.  Using a simple balloon stamp, put them on the inside and color like the balloons on the outside.  Also, it was suggested, how about stamping the envelope and coloring in the balloons there too.

This one is combining glitzy ribbon and fun folds.

Classes can always be helpful.  I love to go, you never know what else you will learn.

Have a great week.
Mary

Saturday marathon card making.

Saturday, was working on card making day.  Our local Achiever's had an all day crop, 11:00 am until 11:00 pm.  For $10.00 you could spend all or part of the day with uninterrupted work time. No phones, no laundry, no nothing to disturb while you work on your projects.  I chose to work on cards and get caught up.

I had at least 30 or more that were in various stages of  completion.  I worked my way through the pile.  I even got a few new ones started for the next time.  I did work on Valentines, Easter, Christmas and set up a lot for birthdays.
Now it is time to do more iris folding to create more cards for the next time I can spend a day playing with my cards.

Today, it is back to sewing. Got to work on my HO HO HO, then there is Hexies, and then Pincushions. There are always projects to work on!
Have a great sewing day.

Mary