Happy Birthday America!

Ive been so busy cleaning out this summer that I have hardly done any bloggin on my summer off.  I will have to catch up soon.

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This year as we have every year since 1986, 

I will spend the 4th of July with these people having a huge party.

that georgeous green umbrella is my vintage $5 find about 10 years ago.

It is always a great picnic with family, neighbors, and friends.  Yummy food too!

And I leave you with the words I quilted on this quilt I made for my Dad a long time go.

"Freedom 

to be free

Life liberty 

and the 

pursuit of 

happiness

All people 

are created equal

The great melting pot

we hold these truths

 to be self evident

and the greatest of these 

is love"

keep dreaming...Colleen

My plan for the above quilt.  Notice the date designed 4/9/95.
 I remember sitting in the park on a nice spring day doing this.

Quick and Easy tree skirt

Do you know the very first thing I ever pieced was a Christmas tree skirt?  About a zillion years ago when I was around 20 years old(ok only 22 years ago), my mom asked me to finish a project for her.  She had bought about 10 or 12 yards of Christmas prints at Piece Goods to make a tree skirt.  Mom had cut out 5 inch squares(probably with a cardboard templete) and had stopped there.  So on Christmas vacation home from college I assembled a tree skirt.  She had cut so many squares that I had enough to make two!  One for home and one to put away for me!  It was the easiest pattern ever that I figured out. 

Just piece a large square.

 

Here is a tiny version I made this week for a tree I put together for my sister's boyfriend. When I opened my Christmas scrap bin I saw I still had lots of that old fabric.  So some of the scraps used above were from the old tree skirt.

  The secret to making it is to keep the rows at an even number and leave the center seam on one side halfway open.  I dont use batting or quilt it, though you could if you wanted to.   I sew the backing on like making a pillow. 

 Make sure to sew around the backing at both sides of the open seam being careful not to catch the edge of the fabric on the opposite side.  Cut the backing fabric to create the opening before turning. 

 If you are sewing for a real tree with a thick trunk create a square with an odd number of rows.  Leave out the center block.  That was how I made the larger tree skirts. 

It is a fast and effective way to make a tree skirt of any size.  You could cut the top into a circle to make it round as well. 

I have one for my tree at school that was not scrappy.  I tied red buttons at the intersections of each of the squares.

keep dreaming...Colleen

My October black for my partner.

Thanksgiving...

Happy Thanksgiving! 

 I know I am thankful for another year of life behind me. 

 I didn't mention it earlier in the month but November 5th was an important anniversary for me.  No one else seems to remember it anymore but me.  It has been six years since my last chemo.  I survived that horrible time of uterine cancer that robbed me of years of my life and killed my future children.  Sometimes the pain of loss hits me. 

 But I am thankful for my life, my job, my home and my family.  And my cute cat Kalli.

I hope everyone has a great day with family and friends.  Me I'm off to make zuchinni bread-yum! Then to mom and dad's for fun day.

I know I've been silent for the last week and a half.  As a teacher librarian I've been dealing with a book fair and not a lot of sewing.  The last two days I've been making up for lost time and have a lot of sewing to blog about.  Also my trip to Asheville two weeks ago.

Keep dreaming...Colleen



Georgeous golden leaves of the ginko tree.



Giveaway prizes, swaps, and thank yous just a little late

 I have been out of town and have not posted in a few days.  We had a wonderful quick road trip to PA for my mom's family Christmas.  She has five brothers and sisters and many of my cousins were there.   They had snow too so it was a second white Christmas.

Marlene, Fred, Sylvia(mom), Emily, Deanna, Mike

 I had not seen them in more than a year so is was great to be there.  The drive up we rode through a blizzard of snow in VA. 



Don't you love this old barn in PA?



Right now we have snow in NC, not as much as at Christmas but enough to miss school yesterday and today. 

So I am finally taking down my tree, and as I take off the ornaments

I realized that I had not blogged about the wonderful ornaments I had received from the ornament swap.  First I received this lovely cardinal from Sherry at Blessings from our Nest 

 

Next I received this amazing patchwork ball from Rhonda at Cobblestone Quilting

 

In the mail from Beth at Beas Knees found this glittery and amazing spiderweb and spider in a wool egg sack along with the legend of the Christmas spider, a different version then the one I knew.

 

Our wonderful organizer Tonya and her family made this complex geometrical ball which I love!  I loved the tag she made too, so I attached it to the ornament.

 

And last was sent this amazing hand painted snowman from

The exchange was really a lot of fun !  Thanks Tonya and everyone who sent me an ornament!

 

I was also privileged to win this perfect for me Santa Believe wall hanging from Mary at mequilter. 

This was actually my second quilt I had won. I was the lucky winner of this Christmas mix tape quilt back in November from FeistyEily

I really had a great time with all of the swaps this past year

.  I wish I could show you the candle mat I received in my Candle mat swap. 

This is the one I made with Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas.   We didn't swap with a partner, everyone was assigned a person.  My person loved it however the person who had my name for some reason did not send out or even contact me.  Some people might be upset but I have realized over the years that people are either unable to finish a swap commitment, some forget(I did once in a block exchange but I made it up), or for some reason just want to get and not give.  I always hope in those cases that the person finds some happiness somewhere because the guilt associated with not giving will always be there.

Oh I did a little crafting on the long trip up and back to PA.  I made three felt  flowers.  These large ones will be pins.  I made a small one on a hair clip to match the scarf I wore Sat.

Well I'm going to take the lights of the tree and drag it through the snow for the birds to have some winter shelter. 

Keep dreaming…Colleen

EOY accounting…and a giveaway!

 

Happy New Year’s Eve!

The year in review!

 

Even though the list is incomplete, it shows it has been a great year.  I can’t believe how many things I have made since August! 

Check out Stray Stitches awesome giveaway here!

 

Keep dreaming…Colleen