Another Christmas Gift

I finished a couple of Christmas gifts for a friend.  Her oldest son was killed in a car accident when he was 19, almost 40 years ago.  She held onto his clothes for all that time.  This year she let me create these 2 quilts from them.  The center squares were a football jersey and a baseball jersey that had their last name on it.  

She was so excited to give these to her daughter and son.  Memory quilts can be so healing.

Felt Calendar

This year my son asked me for a felt calendar for his birthday.  I should explain, his birthday is the 21st of December and for years people combine his birthday and Christmas gift together.  

So this calendar goes just until his birthday.  

I used this tutorial for the basic idea but changed it up a little.  Pockets and numbers are the same.  I have made a couple of Advent Calendars over the years and I enjoy making them.  You can see them here, and here.

These calendars would be so fun to make for a child's birthday.

Ugly Sweater Festival

Last weekend was the "Ugly Sweater Festival" in Elk Horn, Iowa.  A few friends and I decided to go as Log Cabin Quilt Shop was also having 30% off everything in the shop.  (There were other things going on, but quilting items were our main interest.)

And we all had to have our picture taken with the sweater cut out. 

ME!

The cut out by the Danish Wind Mill.

We all had a wonderful time with lots of laughs!

Bus Trip: Day 2!

It's on to Day 2 of the Bus Trip.  We stayed overnight in Owatonna, MN and then went on to Calico Hutch Quilt Shop in Hayward MN.  This is another great shop.  

Love the Barn Quilt on the side of the shop.

The next shop was Mended Hearts Quilting and Boutique in Ellsworth, IA.  Another great shop with lots to check out.  Sorry, I was too busy shopping to take pictures.  I hate when I do that.

And last but by no means least, was Piece Works Quilt Shop in Winterset, IA.  This is my travel buddy and some of the beautiful colors we saw on our trip. 

  

What a fun bus trip this was!

Wow, the months are flying by.

I can not believe how fast October went and now November is flying by into December.  

October was my quilting marathon fun.  Every weekend I had a quilt related time planned.  I've told you about the first 2, but not the other 2.  

Then 3rd weekend in October I went on the Great Fall Escape bus trip through our local quilt shop, Cut Up And Quilt.  

Our first stop was "Heart And Hand Dry Goods" in Sioux City, Iowa.  Such a fun shop.  Lots of great fabrics.

Next on the stop was "Always Your Design" in Dell Rapids, SD.  Another great shop!  I didn't get any pictures here as I was too busy looking at and buying fabric.  I want to return again to this shop.  Check out their website, I have the link on the shop name.

Next was "Sewing Seeds Quilt Co." in New Ulm, MN.   

 Lots of wool projects along with fun fabric projects.  Another one of those stores I want to go back to!

That's the end of the first day of the bus trip, I'll share the second day soon.

Busy Month

October has been and will continue to be a busy month.  

The first weekend of the month I went with my friend Patti to her cabin and we made snap bags for Breast Cancer Survivors.  I have written about this in the past, as we have been making small gifts for a number of years.  Check out the bags!

I had some 10 inch squares leftover from another project and I figured out a way to use them in the bags.  I also had some other fat quarters that worked well.  If you're interested in making the bags, Riley Blake Designs has a video you can use here.  For my pull tabs, I just made prairie points.  But you can do whatever works for you!

This past weekend I met my friends from the Kansas City area at the Farmhouse.  This is the same group of ladies that I went with last year and we stayed at the same place again this year.  Pictures of that Retreat are here on my blog.   

And I have 2 more fun weekends planned for this month!  

Finished!

The UFO challenge for the small group I belong to is finished!  WooHoo!

I do have to show you a little problem I had in the finishing the quilt.  When I was trimming the quilt, I went past the ruler and took a little side trip into the quilt.  As far as the seam allowance and maybe a little more.  I did use a zigzag stitch to repair and I lucked out, it ended up covered by the binding. 

And here is the label.  Always before I just winged the placement of my writing.  This time I used my ruler and Clover Chalk Wheel Line Marker, to draw lines and it was so much better looking.

I love that marker for so many things.  When I need to draw a line on my fabric for HSTs, it's my "go to" tool.  I put a link to it on Amazon, I don't get any kick back for doing that, just thought you would like to see what I'm talking about.  I know other places carry them and they come in other colors. I have used only the white so far, but I love it!  It just disappears when I iron over the line.

Do you have any tools that you can't live without?