Patriotic Bowl Fillers!

Today I wanted to make something fun and quick to do a little decorating. With the cabinets being redone, it is hard to keep the house clean and redo things for the season, but there are some spots I can play with that don't get messed up by my husband.

I wanted something to use as bowl fillers, so I tried two different ornies. One is the flag pillows, a quick and easy project. I used red and white ticking for the flag, then I sewed a backing onto it and lightly stuffed it. I sewed the star onto the blue piece and put that on with a simple running stitch.

I wanted to make a rag flag to put in the basket, but didn't have time today, so I put a piece of blue ticking in it, for now. It looks light in the photo, but it has been antiqued and a lot darker in person. A couple of rag balls and a few things I had in the house and I have a little setting for the top of my chest.

The Patriotic mouse is a piece that I won from Ragpatch Primitives.

The firecrackers I made by using scraps, so the size was dependent on what I grabbed. They measure about 6" x 2". I sewed them on the machine and left the tops open, then added a piece of jute for the fuse. They are stained with a combination of mahogany and walnut stain.

And of course, being the proud Grandma, I had to show a new photo of my grandson. Grandpa is holding him in his lap.

Babies, Birds and Quilt!

It was quite the holiday weekend, I hope your's was much more relaxing. Our DIL went into labor on Saturday and was in labor for two days, so no family cookout, this year. This morning she started pushing and that lasted 4 hours, ugh, mine was in and done in an hour, that is the way to do it, lol.

And here is our new Grandson, Nicholas William St. Germain.

And just in time, I put the label on his quilt today. I had the quilt and finished yesterday and waited for his birthday to add the label.

I finally got my machine back, after repairs and started by doing a simple X in the small blocks. Then I went to do free motion in the larger blocks and couldn't find the free motion. She went and upgraded my computer system and I couldn't find the button to switch over and the shop was closed, so I had to do straight stitching and I cannot sew a straight line. I kept it simple, at this point, I gave up, nothing seemed to be working, the thread was jamming and turning into nests, so whatever was quickest, is what I did. I left the outside border plain, since it was starting to bunch and quilting would have left bad puckers;) This is after a wash, so I left the crinkles.

I looked online and found this saying and thought it was a cute idea for the label, then I just added by grandma. I printed out what I wanted to say, from the computer, then I traced it onto the fabric, using a Faber-Castell artist pen. I used some of the yellow dot fabric from the curtains as a border. I still do not know what to do with the curtains, I made a mess and not sure if my idea is good, so I might give up on that, not my week for thinking.

One thing we did yesterday, was take a walk at one of our favorite parks by the ocean. I wanted to stay close to the hospital, just in case. We noticed a bird on the path and he just stayed there, so I took some photos. Once we started walking, he flew up ahead of us and waiting till we got close and then flew forward. I noticed he had bands on him and found a local breader and sent him an email. He knew who bred that type and the owner emailed me and said he has been missing all week. I sent him a map with a dot of the location we saw him at, so i hope he finds him. I guess he is a young one and hasn't gotten his bearings down, too well.

New Project!

Yesterday I had a me day, nice quiet day all by myself and I wanted to make something just for fun. I have been wanting to make Barbara Brackman's , Union Cradle Quilt but wanted something I could make quick and easily, so I made a few changes.

First I reduced the block size to 6" instead of 8". Then I reduced the appliques by 20% on the scanner to fit with the new size. The original quilt is in two colors, but I wanted a patriotic quilt, so I used red and blue ticking for the blocks and a blue ticking for the border. The border is lighter than I would have used, but it was all I had that worked and I plan on tea staining the quilt, when it is finished. I also used wools for the appliqué and scraps that I had laying around. I want the quilt to be scrappy and old looking, when it is finished, so the wools are ones I cut out from old jackets.

I made the border a bit larger since it will have eagle appliques on it and when the quilt is done, I will use a part of the border as the binding by folding it to the backside.

I might just enter this one into the contest at This-n-That Fabrics. You can enter a patriotic quilt that you have made this year, has to be a new one and it ends this month.

The outer blue is a brushed homespun, but the flash makes it look shiny.