Farmer's Wife Quiltalong

Block #54 Kitchen Woodbox, originally uploaded by LoriRad.

Yes, I got lured into another quilt along! These little six-inch cuties are fun to make!

Hey, Mikey!

Mikey, the silly monkey, pauses for a moment in the backyard before he dashes off to the office.
Check out Larissa's shop for this super cute pattern!

Superbowl Project

The guys will be watching the game. But I'll be playing with these.

I made a little Etsy purchase earlier in the week from Pleasant Home who was destashing. I cleaned her out on these little guys! (I actually bought four packs, but couldn't resist opening at least one before the photo shoot!) I'm thinking another Disappearing Nine Patch is in order....

January Snowballs

I've joined a quilt-a-long for snowball and nine-patch blocks that I found here. The challenge is to make six of each block each month. My challenge for myself is to use as much of my stash as possible, although at some point I'm sure I will have to replenish!

I had a couple of thoughts about how I wanted to approach the colors for this project, but my stash really dictated the final outcome! I want the nine-patches to recede, so I tried to choose neutrals with similar values.

I really like the polka dots and the See Spot Run fabric on the snowballs, but I'm not convinced that they give me the effect I'm looking for. (Maybe the fact that I don't totally know what effect I'm actually looking for might be part of the problem!)

At any rate, as much as I love this fabric, this block is probably not going to make the cut. Not enough contrast.

But isn't that what a design wall (okay, a sheet on the patio) is all about?

Gingerbread

Just a couple of gingerbread cookie softie ornaments. Unfortunately I can't find any more of this shade of brown corduroy. I might have to go on a Goodwill raid!

And a gingerbread girl for fun!

(Don't you know big bows are all the rage among the cookie set?)

Ginger was made using the pattern found here.

Peppermint Apron

The challenge was to make an apron with a peppermint candy theme. 

I used  The Short Stack pattern by the Paisley Pincushion, which was a new pattern company to me, that I found at the Flying Geese Quilters Guild quilt show I went to last November with my mom. I think the apron turned out really nice, even though I didn't bother with the pockets.

Cute apron ties! (I know that's what you were thinking, huh!) What you might not be able to tell from the photo is the amount of trouble that Holiday Cheer fabric gave me. No matter how I placed the pattern piece, one of those ties was going to come out with upside down words. The only remedy was to go back to JoAnns and buy more fabric, which I opted not to do. I can read upside down words--I'm talented like that.

Modeling aprons--not my daughter's favorite thing to do.

One of the many things I learned from this project--half aprons are not my friend. Hence the 19-year-old (skinny) model.

A Quilt for Margaret's Hope Chest

Disappearing Nine Patch  made for a Craft Hope project for Margaret's Hope Chest.

 I love the giant turquoise ric rac and crazy fabrics!

 It's lined with minky dot fabric for maximum snuggle factor, as demonstrated by my lovely model.