Happy Holidays!

Yikes!  It's been almost 2 months since my last post on here.  But don't think that my lack of posts has meant I haven't been busy.  Right after I finished the last quilt I blogged about, I started to think and get supplies for my major endeavor--the surprise Christmas quilt. I've decided that everyone in my family will have a quilt made for them by me, so this one is for my Uncle.  I'll only show a brief picture, the finished quilt will be discussed around New Years, after it's given to him.  Think lots of embroidery and quilting.  This will be my first time using stencils for quilting and it's starting to be a challenge!





In-between working on this, I've also made a few things.  One, a quilt for sale at my Etsy shop, CozyCrafts.  'Sleepy time Blanket' is made from a nice printed jersey material backed with a soft fleece-like material.  Nice and cozy and lightly quilted.   Christmas has also come early this year for me--in the form of Black Friday Sales, at Accuquilt.  An Accuquilt GoBaby was just right and with some practical dyes on sale, BAM! Merry Christmas to me!  And you know what goes well with an Accuquilt GoBaby?  Why some Robert Kaufmann Kona solids from the Fat Quarter Shop!  *_*   An extremely happy quilter will probably not leave her workshop for quite some time.

The two square bundles are called Fat Quarters, and the round roll is a Jelly Roll, long strips of fabric that are pre-cut for quilting that uses strips in the design.   The more jewel tone bundle is called Berry, the larger pink tower is Pretty Peony and the Jelly Roll is new Dusty Pallette.  I'm already envisioning what quilts I'll be making with these lovelies--so many choices!  More updates to come once the Holidays wind down!  Happy Holidays to everyone!


P.S.  I've joined the Twitter revolution.  Check me out @CozyCrafts2684!

A Study in Binding...

Here's the latest quilt and this one is all mine. I purchased the kit and pattern at the Madison Quilt expo in September. It was a labor of love, even before the binding. It involves a variety of materials, which were a challenge to cut and clean up after--think fuz, lots and lots of fuz. After assembling the top and basting it, 1/2 way thru quilting my machine died. It was a sad day, yet kinda joyous! I used an $80 Singer for 3 years and made 16 quilts with it!

A new Singer, the Confidence Quilter, and I was back in business. Now for the labor of love--the binding. The pattern has triangles edging the quilt. Oh joy, time to practice my mitered corners, 40 times. And let's not forget how to finish the (what I call 'arm pits') of the triangles. And to finish that labor of love, learn to hand bind it too. Previously I was a machine-binding only girl. After this, I still am, except for I think smaller quilts, since it really did look nice, just took me 2 days and a whole season of Supernatural on Netflix to finish.
Aside from these new challenges, it's a beautiful quilt, and a perfect addition to my Fall.

Hoot!

Recently, I completed a quilt for a friend who asked for an activity blanket for her little boy.  After looking around at some examples on Pintrest and other blogs that I read frequently, this is what I came up with.  Inspired by the corduroy owl print, I had a great time choosing different types of fabric and ribbons; attempting to catch a kids interest without being too garish.  I've had great feedback from the few people I showed it to, so perhaps I'll make another one in the future!

Fall--I'm ready and waiting!

It's starting to get cool in WI now, and little thoughts of Fall keep popping up in my days. Leaves falling, changing colors, Halloween Express stores invading your community like locust, you get the idea! I have the urge to begin crocheting again, drink apple cider by the gallon, and eat Hearshy Kisses filled with caramel.

Currently, I'm working on this traditional quilt I started before my vacation last week. Here's a sneak peak at the results so far.

Amish Country

For the rest of this week I'm visiting family in Philadelphia. Today's trip was to Lancaster County where there is a large Amish community. First stop was Goodville Fabric Outlet, the first fabric outlet I've been to.
It was...overwhelming and amazing and full of great deals. I found some nice soft fabric to back a few quilts--über cheap at 2.99 a yd. Also, I found more of some fabric I purchased at the Madison Quilt Expo. Not sure if I've talked about that yet, but there will be an entry with that near the end of September, when I finish the quilt kit I purchased there.

Besides the fabric outlet, we found an Amish quilt shop to visit. There, imagine a little 1940s house, stuffed with hundreds of hand made quilts, bed sized, pillows, pot holders, and wall hangings. They were amazing! All of the hand quilting, designs, and a lot of appliqué, it was real inspirational for my next 'big' quilt I'm planning for Christmas. Here's a look at the pamphlet from the shop.

A Little Garden Special

It's been a while since I talked much about gardens here, especially since this blog started as a gardening blog.  In mid-August I visited one of Milwaukee's lakefront gems, the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum.  Besides having an amazing house to show a great collection of wrought iron designs, it also has an amazing garden that overlooks Lake Michigan and descends the hillside.  Here's a few pictures from my visit!

Just a little birthday present!

Here's my latest creation, a quilt made for my Aunt's birthday, today!  I experimented with adding crosses into my quilt top.  I think it turned out nice with the peach and blue tones.  It's made with a charm pack from Joann's, thicker batting to make it plusher, and binded with a stripped tan and white fabric.

Good Bye July!

With the end of July, the garden is finally producing.  Eggplant, green and red bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, basil and parsley!   While our garden was busy, I took the chance to see one of our local gardens, Boerner Botanical Gardens.  I was there for a baby shower later that day and was able to see a few of the gardens before the party.

And here was the gift I brought to the baby shower.  A beautiful blue, green, and white quilt, which I saw in the Spring issue of Stitch.  Unfortunately, there was no pattern, just a picture, so this is my attempt at it, an I think it was a success!