SNEEK PEEKS

Don't you just love 'sneek peeks'....or, maybe you hate it...hate that you can't reach inside and pull out the rest of it so you can see the whole thing!! Stick your head inside the photo and have a better 'look see'. Well, here is my super secret 'sneek peek'....this is for a wonderful lady who may be lurking around and she doesn't need to see it until I get it to her. Do you like the colors?? Wow, I certainly do. Can you believe I have made about 38 of these and don't have a one for myself. This one sure makes me want to correct that.

There are some more 'sneek peeks' going around. Jacquie from Tall Grass Prairie is also featuring a 'sneek peek'. Go take a peek yourself and see if you can figure out what their 'goodies' are!

'MORE' TEAPOTS

I have always felt that anything worth doing is worth 'over doing'. That is exactly how I have felt about these cu-tee patoo-tee teapots. I sewed these up last night using some of my 'gifted' fabrics. They are wonderful and so much fun to design and pick out the different fabrics to use. I can't thank Pink Penquin enough for her idea and the tutorial she shared with us. My mind is a 'whirl' with ideas. The darker blue fabric with the tiny stars is some of your fabric GAIL.....thank you so much!!

And of course I had to use some of the fabric Mr. Brown Dirt 'drowned' me in for Christmas. Are we not surprised the grape fabric is from the 'Farmers Market' line..?? Leave it to my farmer man to find the 'only' fabric in the whole store that had the word 'farmer' on it!!! He said this was his favorite one so far.....well, why wouldn't it be, IT'S cute! Thank you Dear Mr. Brown Dirt!

SATURDAY TEAPOT

Thank you Pink Penguin for sharing your lovely teapot tutorial. I just love this design and had so much fun this Saturday playing around with this pattern. Since I have done numerous 'wonky' style projects ( go here to see my teacup and here for my wonky houses) I free handed this without using the freezer paper portion of the tutorial. I also added a handle to mine. I sorta have an idea of how I will finish this out, but my thinking cap is still on. Isn't this teapot a real cutie!!!

WOW.....I CAN'T BELIEVE IT...!!!!

Look at this table runner!!! Isn't it so full of LIFE!!!












It came in the box of fabric shown below!!!

My UPS man delivered this box to me on Monday. I thought...hhhmmmm......who would be sending ME something. And WOW...it was sooo heavy too... 8 POUNDS!!! I wasn't sure of the return address on the box...It doesn't register in my mind....hhhhmmmm.
All this lovely color and fabric just near 'exploded' out of the box!!!



There was also this wonderful book by Jan Mullen. I was just sitting speechless...not 2 days before had I discovered the talents of Jan Mullen and LOVED her creations.
Then the note............Dear Belinda......" I managed to fill this box. What fun! I have 'collected' fabric for most of my life. Working at 'Joann Fabrics' and a now closed quilt shop-I truly have more than I could ever use. Several years ago, when we moved, one of my daughters said that even if I sewed 24/7 the remainder of my life I would never use it all up! Since then, more has crept into the house.
For the last two or three years I have been having fun sharing my collection. In order to fill the box there are a few other colors. I also have sent you a book I had fun with, use it or pass it on to someone else. Finally, I included a chunk of free form log cabins. I have used up a huge amount of scraps making quilts with these log cabins. Four bed quilts, numerous table runners and placements to name a few.
Have fun--your quilts are lovely and I really enjoy your blog."
Much love Gail N. p.s. Need any special colors-let me know!
( sigh )

I'm just still overwhelmed at Gail's generosity!! Look at this wonderful collection of fabrics she sent!!
OK.....how this came about, Gail has no blog. Months back I received an email from Gail with her lovely comments about my blog. Occasionally, through the past months I would receive several other emails from Gail. A few weeks back she emailed me to say she noticed I was going to use my B/W scraps in the B/W Challenge and that if I would send her my address she would send me some of hers.....well, OK!! So I did, and then it never entered my mind again. That is why I didn't know why I was getting a package delivered.
WELL....let me tell you!!! I didn't find 'nairy' a scrap in the whole box!!! I honestly sat 'speechless' as I looked at the bounty! Most pieces would measure out as 'yardage'! Thank you so much Gail!! Forever your 'quilty' friend!!!

TUTORIAL....Let's Make Some Stars.....

1. Choose fabrics....if you want to control your colors like I have here, you will need 8 squares for your background (b/w check) and 9 squares for your star (teal). I have been making stars out of 1 1/2" squares, but for practice or for those of you who have never made a star before I suggest cutting your squares 2 " to start out. This will make it easier for you to handle.
2. Take one of your background squares and one star square and place them right sides together. Your about to sew your star points. Position star square as the above 2nd step shows. Now this does not have to be EXACT, that is what is nice about these stars. Sew it down at an angle. I use a VERY scant 1/4" seam allowance.
3. After sewing down, flip your sewn star square over and just finger press for now.

4. Take another star square , right sides together...position and sew it down at an angle. Flip this square over as well. Finger press.
5. This is how your 3 pieces should look from the front.
6. Flip your 3 piece unit over....here is how the back looks. You are going to sew up 4 of these 3 piece units. You can click on photos for a closer look at my seam lines.


7. Now it's time to do some trimming. I suggest sewing all 4 units up before you trim. Trim your star squares following the outline of your background fabrics.

Trim...trim...trim.

Here is your how the back of your trimmed unit looks. Take a closer look at my seam lines. You can see they are not even and don't match up. That is ok.

8. With your unit still face down, trim off excess of your background fabric leaving a nice seam allowance. MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT CUT THROUGH BOTH FABRICS.

Ok...here you go. Here is your unit from the back........and here is your unit from the front.

Remember, you are to make 4 of these.

Take your left over star square and center it....add your other units and squares around your center as shown here. Now you are ready to sew them all together.

Here is an example of a tiny star I made using up some of my scraps and leftover crumbs. The center square is even 3 different fabric scraps sewn together. When sewing with scraps, just make sure your star point scrap is large enough for when you flip it over it covers the edge of your background square. These stars are so versatile. The sky is the limit in making these little stars. Make them larger, make them smaller. So, STOP...GO NOW......MAKE SOME!! Please email any questions you might have....these tutorials are not as easy as they look, but it's best if you just get some fabric and practice. Look above at my blog header to see some of mine.

NOTE: I don't EVER use steam from my iron when pressing these tiny stars...especially when using my scraps. Some fabrics tend to shrink or draw up more than others resulting in a warped or distorted star. GOOD LUCK!

NEXT QUILT IN LINE....

Round and Round she goes.........I finally got the borders sewn on this Chunky Churndash so I could get it ready to hand quilt. I chose to start in the very middle and quilt it around and around in circles. The biggest hold up for me was whether to space the circles 1" or 1 1/2" apart. I chose to do the 1 1/2" spacing. I think it will be ok, but if I ever hand quilt this design again I will probable go the 1"-ish. We'll just have to wait and see how is turns out when I'm finished. I brought my little hand quilting frame upstairs to my sewing room so I could sit in front of the window where the sun shining in is warm on my lil body!!..... YEAH SUN!!!

LET'S TALK 'BINDING'.....

What is your thinking on binding? Does it matter? Is it very important to you? Do you give much thought to it or do you just pick something just to get it finished? Should it be a definite color contrast or no big deal ? This picture shows several quilts I have showing their bindings. The lavender one and the one with the dark blue binding are vintage. Notice the yellow quilt has binding the same color as its backing and wide border ( gift quilt to my DD ). The lighter blue has the same light color as its backing.
These are questions that have come up this last week for me. I have another quilt that could have been finished, but out of ALL the yards and yards of fabric I posses, I found nothing that seemed to 'be' right. Am I being 'too picky' or should I ' just pick' something and get on with it? I guess 'my' true feelings on the matter is that if you have spent hours and hours getting to this point, it should hold as much importance as the rest of the decisions you made on the quilt. What is your reasoning on the matter?

You should go here to My Homemade Life Blog and see Patty's lovely quilt she just finished machine quilting. I sure like the long and loopy design she used.

Tonya at Lazy Gal Quilting has just finished her 'Rumspringa' quilt using the L-O-V-E alphabet. I am CRAZY over this quilt! She is also showing borders she is auditioning for her new J-O-Y quilt. Go See!!! Be sure and take your sunglasses!!!

Wanda at Exuberant Color is in a 'decision' quandary. Go see if you can help her out!

And if you failed to see my Erma Bombeck quote on my previous post that I have adopted as my New Years resolution.....go read it! A great quote to live by from a GREAT lady!! I miss her!

MY 'ONLY' NEW YEARS RESOLUTION

....."WHEN I STAND BEFORE GOD AT THE END OF MY LIFE...... I WOULD HOPE THAT I WOULD NOT HAVE A SINGLE BIT OF TALENT LEFT AND COULD SAY........I USED EVERYTHING YOU GAVE ME"..........Erma Bombeck...





********************** HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!