Holiday Crafts

First I must apologize to my readers. Maybe I didn't have anything to say, but some of you did. I was remiss in not posting your comments. I'll try and be better about that.

This is new magazine I picked up after thumbing through it at the checkout. It has a lot of cute projects, a few Halloween, a few Thanksgiving, and more for Christmas. What attracted me were there were so many birds featured in the projects.



There's a felt pillow,



A partridge atop a pear tree and



a table runner.



I love these little houses and might try my hand at them. They remind me of those small pasteboard houses with glitter roofs popular when I was a child. The type with a cutout in the rear of the house so you can put a Christmas light inside to light up the windows.



Don't you just love this plump little bird?



This one's made from needle-felted wool roving.



Papier-mache birds,



coasters and,



no birds here, only yummy-looking cupcakes!



And lastly, a bird ornament made from patterned paper and embellished with trims glued to a cutout.

Someone Stop Me!

I signed up for another small quilt swap, the Challenge in a Bag Mini Quilt Swap! This one hosted by Tracyand her Dad, Tom This time we have to choose the fabric we want a quilt made from and any extra embellishments such as ribbons, buttons, ric-rac,that we'd like to see used. We also know who our partner is this time. The finished quilts are due to be exchanged by the end of January. I might add some ric-rac and some buttons. We can also add any other ingredients from our own supplies. I can't wait to get started.

These are the fabrics I'm going to send. It's part of a new line at Joann's called Heidi Grace. They have a kind of sixties look that appealed to me. I am a bit of a fabric snob and do not ever buy fabric for quilting at Joann's but these seemed to be of a better quality. Anyway, the wear and tear on a small quilt is probably minimal. There was also a very cute pink and purple line with houses and birds. Considering the colors and design, they are just perfect for a little girl's quilt. The ones I bought turned out nicely after washing and drying.




I also picked up this Debbie Mumm notions kit for my daughter at college. When I visited her last week I had to sew a button on a jacket using one of those travel kits the Holiday Inn provides.



I think I need to upgrade the contents and take out that blue marking pencil!

Investigations

1. Marianne, 2. Sunday's supper ~ rotini w/ Italian sausage & simple tomato sauce, 3. Float My Boat, 4. Meeting the pregnant princess of the forest, 5. Brush with Fame, 6. Amarcord, 7. green liquid street, 8. eye candy!, 9. can't come to the phone right now, 10. Natalie and Joe, 11. Stand up and take a bow..., 12. little wing } photo credits.

I saw this idea on The Quilts of Mimi Park and decided to give it a try as I'm not, ahem, how shall I say this, not to literate with the usage of Flickr. If you will notice I didn't realize I should rename the pictures before you post them to Flickr! You answer 12 questions and type the answers into the search on Flickr. Then you put your favorite from the first page only into the Mosaic Maker. I used her questions, with my answers, of course!

1. What is your first name? (Marianne)
2. What is your favorite food? (Italian)
3. What high school did you attend? (Newfield)
4. What is your favorite color? (green)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Russell Crowe)
6. Favorite drink? (Wine)
7. Dream vacation? (Venice, Italy)
8. Favorite dessert? (chocolate)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (Doctor)
10. What do you love most in life? (daughter, Natalie)
11. One word to describe you? (Confident)
12. Your Flickr name? (I used 'wings' as my Flickr name yielded nothing)

This was fun! I should mention I have spent a fair amount of Saturday and a little of today perusing quilting blogs with a DQS5 badge in the hopes of figuring out which one is mine! This is how I found this Flickr mosaic. Terrible cheat, I am. I used to search the house with my older brother to snatch a peak prior to the wrapping of Christmas gifts also. That didn't always work out well! Kind of ruined the surprise on Christmas morning.

{This was intended for the end of the binding post I made, but somehow things goofed up. I'd like to blame blogger but I know it was me!}

For the past 2 or 3 full sized quilts I've made, I've used this batting. I ordered it off the internet as I couldn't find it locally. It's wonderful, very clean, thin, soft, and drapes nicely no matter how dense the quilting. I thought it would be better for a doll quilt and I was very pleased with the results. I used to love Warm and Natural but it seems their batting has become thicker over the last few years.

Heartfelt Thanks!

I just want to thank everyone who left a comment about my Doll Quilt. You all are very sweet. It really made my day. Thank you!

Binding

Can we talk about binding?



I had been quilting for about five years and was never satisfied with my finished binding when I happened upon a new technique.



Perfect you say? Heck, my binding was so bad, I had actual lumps where the two ends met! I was open to any suggestions.



That's when I found Nancy Johnson-Srebro's book.



This woman is a genius when it comes to binding. Her method is not complicated and she takes you through the process step by step, picture by picture. Since I bought the book in 1998 it is the only method I use and it gives you four perfect corners and a lump-free joining every time. The book is available on Amazon. I can't recommend highly enough. And no, I don't know the author!

Prior to handsewing the back, I have also found it helpful to pin the binding down and let it "set" for a day or two. This makes it easier to sew as the binding is less liable to pop open.