Happy Village

 I attended Quilting in the Desert a quilt camp held annually in the Phoenix area.  My class was Happy Villages.  Karen Eckmeier was the instructor and is the author of the book Happy Villages.
Below is our starting point.  A blue sky and pieces of fabric cut according to instructions and arranged on a batting background.

Next we started to build our village by adding a roof here and there.  Windows and doors were added to some of the houses.  I also added a palm tree at this point.

Below is how my village looked at the end of two days of classes.  I still need to do more free motion quilting and add embellishments before applying a binding.

The colors are a little muted because we added a layer of tulle over the entire village before beginning to quilt.  My inspiration came from a photo on Tammy's blog http://tsdailytreasures.blogspot.com/.  She had the photo on her blog late last year.  It was a shopping mall in Dubai that resembled a souk.  I asked her permission to use the photo as an inspiration.  The color palette came from a photo I found of a bead vendor in a souk.  Last I also used a photo of a palace in Dubai.  I tried to use the shaped of arches, doors, and windows that resembled those found in my inspiration photos.  This was a great class.  I will be teaching the Grand Daughters to make a village on their spring break in March. 

Final Banner for A Swap for All Seasons

This is my final banner for A Swap for All Seasons 2015 swap.  We exchanged a 4" x 6" banner each month.  This little banner is on it's way across the Atlantic to May in the United Kingdom.   It is constructed of all vintage pieces.  The base is a vintage dresser scarp, the floral center is from a vintage crochet piece and the lace at the top  is also hand made.  I liked the white trim on the dresser scarf  and wanted it to remain on the banner.  I hope May enjoys this little vintage banner.

Moon Flower Scrap Squad November 2015

This is the quilt I made for November 2015 Quiltmaker Magazines Scrap Squad.  In the original pattern the center medallion was a Christmas ornament.  With a few changes it became a flower.  The fabrics are 30s reproduction fabrics and hand dyes.  The hand dyes were purchased from my friend Karen in Kentucky.  I have a collection of 30s reproduction.  I chose the name Moon Flower because I thought the quilt had a "hippie" vibe.  Below is a close up of the center panel.

I've enjoyed my  year as a member of Scrap Squad and I'm currently working on my 6th and last quilt,

A New Machine and a New Year.

I surprised the granddaughter's this week with a new sewing machine.  Brother Project Runway Special Edition.  It is highly rated by Consumer Reports as a beginning machine and I read some great reviews on the web.  I got a great deal at my local Mulqueen's Sewing Center.  They were excited when I delivered it to their home.

R-2 (youngest granddaughter) started sewing lessons from Mema (that's me) in December.  She made a pillowcase using the burrito method.  If you haven't seen this method of constructing a pillowcase, just Google burrito pillowcase.

Her next project was a cat.  I found the pattern on Craftsy.   R-2 decided she wanted a gray cat which was the first project on the new machine.  She decided the pattern needed "arms" and a tail.  She drew a pattern and sew "arms" and a tail.  It turned out very cute. 

R-1 (oldest granddaughter)  decided she wanted to join in the fun and made this travel pillow following directions from Crafty Gemini.  If you haven't seen the Crafty Gemini videos, you should check them out.  She makes sewing fun and the granddaughter's love to watch her videos.

The girls made four of the neck pillows on their last sewing day of Christmas Vacation.  They even made Mema one.  We had fun picking out fleece at JoAnn's and fleece was 50% off that day!

Happy New Year

I made this banner in 2015 for a Swap for All Seasons.  I thought the words were appropriate for the beginning of a new year.  Hope for a Wonderful 2016 and Faith that I can make each day count.  I started a calendar of my creative activities.  2015 was spent as a member of Quiltmaker Magazine's Scrap Squad.  My last quilt will be shown of Quilty Pleasure blog in February.  My plans are to spend a part of each day working in my studio.  Today I worked on the center panel for my last Scrap Squad quilt.

It's been a long three months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has been over three months since I last posted.  I've experienced some health issues with my right knee.  There have been times when I was unable to walk due to the extreme pain.  Needless to say this put a damper on much of my quilting and sewing.   I should say that I am much better due to a month of therapy.  I'm scheduled to do another month and then evaluation to see if surgery is needed.

I was able to complete a Scrap Squad quilt that was featured on the Quilty Pleasures blog.  The quilt was made from my stash of Christmas fabrics.  It will be on display during the holiday season.

 

I named this quilt Snowy Diamonds.  It was a great way to use up some of those Christmas scraps that I've been collecting for years.

 

 

I plan to add more post of projects as time allows. 

Mini Sampler Swap

It has taken me awhile to post about the Mini Sampler Swap.  You can read about it by clicking the image on the left side of my blog or here.

This is the January sampler I made.  It includes 30s reproduction fabric, a vintage hankie, lace, rick rack, and a flower and button.

 

I received a sampler from Linda.  You can see the sampler on her blog.  I will post a photo of my entire clothes line of samplers later.

 

Here is the sampler I made for Linda in February. The base if from a vintage barkcloth drapery,  I added vintage crochet lace, sequins, and a butterfly.  I also added some mini clothes pins.

 

 

I received a sampler from Heidi that was also on vintage fabric.  I'll post a photo of it later.