Quick Hand-Makes for Anytime Gifts

My most popular pattern to date is my Easy Reversible Microwave Cozy.

A few years ago I made one for all my coworkers, church family and friends.

I finally got around to making a set for my own home.  I used one of my Pampered Chef bowls as inspiration for my set of four. 

What makes my pattern different?  It does not require a lot of marking like most of the others I've come across. 

You can purchase my pattern on Craftsy for $1.50.  

I also sell a combo pack which includes instructions for medium and large size cozies for $3,

If you are looking to make quick, quilted gifts, look no further!  Your peeps are gonna love these! I guarantee it!

Until next time, God bless and happy stitchin'!

A Thread for Life
In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should,  but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. Romans 8:26

Linking up at:
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Midweek Makers
Needle and Thread Thursday
Finished or Not Friday
Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

Bloggers Quilt Festival Fall 2016 - Gossamer

I love gifts. I love receiving them, and I really love giving them, especially quilty ones!   Last year I wanted to give a good friend an awesome gift. And of course it had to be quilted.  After brainstorming for awhile and looking online, I came up w/the idea for the best gift ever!

I came across Janeen at Quilt Art Designs who makes fabulous paper pieced patterns. I sent her a photo and asked if she could turn it into a  paper pieced pattern.  She absolutely could, and did! 

This is the photo I sent.  It's a pic of my friend's beloved classic bronco, whom he dubbed Gossamer.

This is the pattern she made.

Now all I had left to do was learn the fine art of paper piecing.  

I enlisted the help of my good friend and paper-piecer extraordinaire, Sue!  And for the next 5 weeks, I spent approximately 5 hrs each Thursday making Gossamer. You can read about in this post. 

And this is Gossamer!

I was so very pleased w/how he turned out so you can imagine how I felt when I found out he got an award at the Arizona Quilters Guild Quilt Show!  Yep! He got Honorable Mention! AND it was my first time entering an actual show! Can you say ECSTATIC?! You can read all about it in this post. 

Gossamer measures 22" x 22" and  is entered in the Small Quilt Category.  If he tickles your fancy as much as he tickles mine, I'd be over the moon if you vote for him!  Thank you!

This is my second time participating in the Bloggers Quilt Festival.  My first time was Fall of 2014. You can read about that in this post. A big shout out to Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side for putting this lovely festival together! And huge thanks to the sponsors too for the fabulous prizes!

Linking up at:

A Thread for Life

New to Me

This post contains ad links.
My middle child, Justin (25yrs), finally moved out to his own apartment a few months ago.  Since then, he comes over just about every weekend to wash clothes and conserve his electricity. I don't usually mind but sometimes he wears out his welcome.  I realize this may sound selfish to some, but I've been a single mom since I was 16 yrs old and I'm super excited about finally being an empty-nester and I like having my house to myself.

Anyway, he was going to take me to lunch and a movie for Mother's Day but for whatever reason we didn't go.  We've talked about going but still haven't gotten around to it. But this week, he surprised me w/a wonderful gift!  A sewing machine!

He made friends w/a neighbor at his new complex and during one of their conversations, he told him that I sew/quilt. After his friend found out about me sewing he tried to give Justin the sewing machine and Justin turned it down! But YAY for me, the next time he offered, Justin said why not? And now it's mine! I'm thinking of a name for her. Maybe this one will be a him.

It came in this black case. With the words Peau Soin D'Amour on the case, I figured it wasn't a true sewing machine case. Especially since the machine itself is a Riccar.  Google later confirmed Peau Soin D'Amour is a brand of cosmetics.

It also came w/a vinyl dust cover that is in perfect condition, the instruction manual and extension table.

From what I've read, which isn't much, Riccar was once a major Japanese producer of sewing machines but today the company mostly manufactures vacuum cleaners.  I know for sure the machine is at least 31 years old because the sales receipt that is stapled to the back cover of the instruction manual and it was purchased for $199 cash on March 27, 1985.

It's a clean and solid machine and I'm thrilled it now belongs to me!  Thanks Justin!

My only other sewing machine is my straight stitchin' Babylock Quilters Choice Professional (Wilma) so I'm super excited about the zig-zag stitch and the free arm on the Riccar 8400.

In quilty news, I haven't gotten as far as I thought I would on Scrappy Litter Blox, but I have made progress! This is a Lillyella pattern and will be available in this month's Stash Builder Box on June 14, 2016.

I did manage to finally finish these cute scrap busting bibs and get them listed in my Etsy Shop!

If you haven't already heard, the amazing Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict is coordinating a blog hop! It's called 12 Days of Christmas in July and yours truly will be part of it! Hope to see you there!

Another news flash...
For four days only, you can get any and all classes for 50% off, and that means sunny, inspired afternoons doing exactly what you love. Expires 6/13 @11:59pm MDT. 

A Thread for Life
When we no longer seek God for His blessings, we have time to seek Him for Himself.  - The Moral Foundations of Life, 728 L Oswald Chambers

 Linking up at:

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop!


Until next time, God Bless and Happy Stitchin'!

P.S. My baby boy Joshua, turns 21yrs tomorrow! Happy Birthday son!

WHOOMP There IT Is! #15 - Gossamer

Hello, and welcome to another edition of WHOOMP There IT Is!  And what a special edition it is!

People, I give you, Gossamer!

Late October, I started my very 1st paper pieced project as a Christmas gift for David. Earlier in the year, I sent a photo of his 1976 Ford Bronco, Gossamer, to Janeen Van Niekerk of Quilted Art Designs and she made it into a paper pieced pattern. She does fantastic work by the way and has MANY wonderful patterns. Be sure to check out her pattern store.

I had mentioned to some ladies at Quilters Anonymous about my plans to learn paper piecing in order to make this special gift and they pointed me in Sue's direction.  Sue is a wonderful teacher who does it all; paper piecing, quilting, embroidery, applique, etc and she makes beautiful tops, like the one she's wearing in the pic below.  She taught me the Judy Niemeyer technique of paper piecing. She said I was a fast learner and a dream student. Okay, so she didn't use the words "dream student" but, I know it's what she was thinking. ;)  On a quick side note: Sue just opened up her Etsy shop, AZ Quilted Angel, where she sells gorgeous handmade purses! Be sure to check out her shop as well!

All I'd done before I got to her house was pick out the fabrics I wanted to use.  She pinned up the guide and got me started on cutting out ALL the pieces. And there were a lot! I spent about 5 hours a day for 5 Thursdays at her house working on this masterpiece.  And in my eyes, it is a masterpiece!

This is all I got done the 1st week.

2nd week

3rd week

4th week

5th week

 I made her proud!

If it weren't for Sue coordinating my numbered fabrics w/the respective paper pieces and getting them all lined up for me, it would've taken me much longer to finish. Thank you, Sue!

I thought I would hate paper piecing but I've grown quite fond of it.  I decided early on that if I liked how Gossamer came out, I'd enter it in the Arizona Quilters Guild Quilt Show in March.  I'm extremely pleased w/this finish so it will definitely be entered! David will have to wait a few more months to hang this beauty on the wall!

So here's to my 1st paper pieced project AND my 1st quilt show entry!

Here's another of last week's finishes. The block is called Summer Breeze by Upstairs Hobby Room.

One last thing before I let you go, I've listed another pattern in my Craftsy Pattern Store. My Easy Grocery Bag Catcher pattern is free for a limited time so be sure to download your copy today!

So that's all I've got folks! How about you? Do tell!

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Thank the Host

Everyone likes to hear "thank you" and know their effort is appreciated.

Spread the Love

The more love you give, the more you get. Pick a number (mine is 5) and commit to visiting and commenting on that many link-ups. Let them know where you're visiting from and ask them to visit you. (This works well for me!)

Direct Link

Use a direct link to a specific post, not your main blog.

Link Back

In your blog post, include a link back to my post/blog and/or grab the WHOOMP There IT Is! button above and put in your post or sidebar. Thanks for spreading the love.

Follow Me ;)

Of course, I would love for all you linky-uppers to be followers, but it's NOT required.

Party Hearty! 

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A Thread for Life

WHOOMP There IT Is! #6

Hello and welcome to week #6 of WHOOMP There IT Is! 

I can't believe I haven't opened my giant roll of batting.  It's been standing in the same corner of my bedroom for about 3 weeks now. I'll cut into you soon enough Hobbs, I promise. ;)

Besides the custom quilt order I'm working on at home, I've been going every Thursday to my instructor's house to work on the Christmas gift paper piecing project.  She's a lovely woman from Quilters Anonymous, our chapter of the Arizona Quilters Guild. Anyway, It's all pinned up on her design wall. She's been such a dear, coordinating my numbered fabrics w/the respective paper pieces. She gets several sets together and lines them up for me, so when I finish one, the next one is there ready and waiting. Yesterday was my 3rd week and I believe the 20" square top will be completed in the next 2 Thursdays.  It's been such a pleasure visiting in her home and getting to know her and her husband.

I actually have quite a few things to do "by Christmas"; three other quilts, eight pillowcases and hopefully several (2 dozen or so) simple sewn gifts for friends. On my honor, I will try not to add another thing to my "by Christmas" list!

I've already been thinking about my resolutions for the new year.  However, losing weight or exercising more have not even crossed my mind.  A more important resolution to me, is to do one project at a time.  I need to test and see just how productive I'll be. I'm thinking it will probably be about the same, but w/much less stress and anxiety.  Who's with me? (side note: I wasn't sure if I should've used who's or whose. Grammar Check says "no writing errors were found" either way...so I guess they are both acceptable??) 

Back to the subject of paper piecing though, I'm really falling for it!  I thought I was going to hate it but it's quite amazing.  I love how the Christmas gift project is coming along, but I wanted to have something to show and share this week. Since I'm halfway finished w/the top of the custom order, I decided to use what I've learned paper piecing and do a small solo project. I stitched up these 2 blocks the other night; cups of tea. After I add embroidery floss to the tea bag tags, they shall become a pair of mug rugs.  The pattern is one of several free patterns, by Maartje of Quilt in Amsterdam . Thank you Maartje! 

Thanks for visiting.  Now it's your turn to share what you've been working on.

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Thank the Host

Everyone likes to hear "thank you" and know their effort is appreciated.

Spread the Love

The more love you give, the more you get. Pick a number (mine is 5) and commit to visiting and commenting on that many link-ups. Let them know where you're visiting from and ask them to visit you. (This works well for me!)

Direct Link

Use a direct link to a specific post, not your main blog.

Link Back

In your blog post, include a link back to my post/blog and/or grab the WHOOMP There IT Is! button above and put in your post or sidebar. Thanks for spreading the love.

Follow Me ;)

Of course I would love for all you linky-uppers to be followers, but it's NOT required.

Party Hearty! 

An InLinkz Link-up

A Thread for Life
Waiting in faith is not an easy thing. 

Linking up at:
Paper Piecing Party